05/09 Morning Afternoon Report

This is just really stupid. I mean, I understand the point of the law, which is to keep prices fair. But, to penalize someone for supporting the community via discounted products is really bad.

Center City BP owner Raj Bhandari has been offering senior citizens a 2 cent per gallon price break and discount cards that let sports boosters pay 3 cents less per gallon. But the state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection says those deals violate Wisconsin's Unfair Sales Act, which requires stations to sell gas for about 9.2 percent more than the wholesale price. Bhandari said he received a letter from the state auditor last month saying the state would sue him if he did not raise his prices.

I’ve coached youth sports, I know how hard it is to keep a team equipped. And senior citizen discounts?
(…come on…let’s be real about this…)

That wasn’t the only stupid piece of legislative work that came to light. If Iraq was a construction project, and there were no lives on the line, I probably wouldn’t have too much trouble with the Democrats latest war funding proposal. This kind of funding initiative will get soldiers killed. Fortunately, it seems a large portion of the Senate understands that.

Under the bill, which is not expected to become law, Bush would get a $42.8 billion down payment. Then, after getting White House war progress reports in July, Congress would cast votes late that month on whether to release an additional $52.8 billion to continue fighting in Iraq through September, or whether to use the money to withdraw most of the troops by the end of this year.

Of course, President Bush is promising to veto this one, too.
(…I would love to see the Democrats fund the Senate like that. Can you imagine what would happen if they only got so much money IF they met some sort of real-world performance measurement?...)

Vice President Cheney, meanwhile, told the Iraqi government to get their act together. No one is oblivious to the fact that Shiites and Sunnis are killing each other over desire for power and control in Iraqi society. Iraqi leadership must hammer out those power sharing agreements, or most everything will fall apart. US officials have even put pressure on for the Iraqis to forgo a parliamentary recess in order to get this done. The US troop surge is only a short term measure. So, the Iraqis have to step up.

And, there was this announcement from Any Soldier.

Ssgt. Christopher N. Hamlin, 24, of London, KY, died May 4 in Baghdad, Iraq. He died of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle during combat operations. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, TX.

As with the team at Any Soldier, the prayers of our family go out to the family.