Mission Accomplished Anniversary…
The President will veto the war funding bill today. The democrats presented the President with the bill on the anniversary of the “Mission Accomplished” speech, which the President gave on this date in 1993.
Remember the “Mission Accomplished” sign?
We all know now that the sign was placed there by the Bush Administration. It was a great political trick if the mission had really been accomplished. This trick was coupled with the landing in a jet on the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln by the President. Great TV at the time, but oh how times have changed.
Like many, The Western Word (TWW) is growing weary of the fight about the war in Iraq. TWW still believes the “surge” plan should be given a chance to work. This is the last chance. Give it until September/October and then see where we’re at.
If we have not made progress, then one pretty great idea is the one by U.S. Sen. Joe Biden D-Del. TWW has read it and his plan may be the best course if the “surge” does not work. You can read it HERE.
It basically federalizes the country and gives Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds a way to share power peacefully.
The next few weeks will probably give us a war funding bill that contains benchmarks but no timelines. I imagine the pork contained in the bill will stay. The democrats made some points.

Appropriations Time…
This year gives the democrats their first full Appropriations cycle since being in the majority. There are 12 appropriations bills and there’s about a trillion dollars to spend. The appropriators are basically the check writers and TWW believes being on the appropriations committee is the key committee assignment in the House or Senate.
The bills need to be passed by October 1. It has not been completed by October 1 since 1994 (when the democrats were last in control.) The House hopes to have the 12 bills passed by July recess. Then on to the Senate.
It will be interesting to see how well Montana fairs this year with only Congressman Denny Rehberg, R-Mont., having a seat at the appropriations table.

Speaking of Appropriations…
It appears U.S. Sen. Diane Feinstein, D-Calif., has run into some trouble while she was the top democrat on the Military Construction Appropriations subcommittee (MilCon) – at least according to this STORY. Sen. Feinstein may have directed millions of dollars to companies owned by her husband. Hmmm…a democrat…imagine that. She is no longer on MilCon.

May Day 2007…
Today thousands of immigrants (legal and illegal) are marching in various cities across our country calling it the “National Mobilization to Support Immigrant Workers!”
There are reports of close to 12 million illegal immigrants in our country. Just imagine how hard these many people are on our system (law enforcement, schools, hospitals, etc.) Last month, TWW commented about immigration reform.
Here are the four things that TWW believes need to be done.
1. We must seal the borders to prevent illegal immigrants from gaining access to our country.
2. We must find a way to deal with illegals who are already here.
3. We must develop a system where companies that employ these workers can easily identify who is legal through some sort of identification card (tamper resistant) and be held highly accountable if they hire illegals.
4. There must be no amnesty for those in this country illegally. None.