Dems eye bill to protect gays, end war

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.wtol.com/Global/story.asp?S=8212611

WASHINGTON (AP) - U.S. Sen. Carl Levin says he wants to use a major defense policy bill to expand federal hate crimes laws to protect gays and bring troops home from Iraq.

The Michigan Democrat says he also wants to use the bill to force the Iraqi government to pay more toward reconstruction costs.

Only the reconstruction provision is considered to have a chance at passing, and even that depends heavily on Republican cooperation.

[theboss]

1. That's a fairly ambitious bill

Why not reinstate the estate tax and add articles of impeachment to it as well?

[OneBlueSky]

2. why should the Iraqis be expected to foot the bill for the massive damage that WE caused? . . .

seems that Sen. Levin and his cohorts are forgetting the "Pottery Barn rule" -- you break it, you bought it . . . and in this case, the United States is responsible for breakage on a scale unmatched since the Dresden bombings of World War II . . . how can we expect the Iraqis to pay for the destruction WE inflicted -- particularly when that destruction includes great chunks of their infrastructure, their economic base, and their population? . . .

[NNN0LHI]

3. Levin is smart enough to know that most Americans would prefer we rob the Iraqis blind if possible

At least the ones I know feel that way. That is why he is attaching the other stuff to the bill that the Republicans would never vote for.

Don

[xchrom]

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