David Sirota: Pentagon Report Shows GOP Bankruptcy Vote Comes Back to Crush U.S. Troops

From David Sirota.

This is just simply heinous and one in a very long list of insulting and harmful actions by the Bush-Cheney-Rove GOP (and I still believe there is a very large part of the GOP who stands for FAR better things than these criminals) against the troops they depend to fight their cooked wars, are happy to have their pictures taken with such troops, only then to take measure after measure to hurt these troops and their families.

From David's article (and David, btw, tells us he will start work on Tuesday with the Ned Lamont campaign in Connecticut - three cheers and my fervent wish that David and Ned wipe the floor with Joe Lieberman):

Back in 2005, when the credit card industry lobbyists were corralling republican and Democratic lawmakers to vote for the corporate-written Bankruptcy Bill, Sen. Dick Durbin offered an amendment (details attached) to preserve existing protections for troops serving in Iraq. National guardsmen, for instance, sometimes are forced to take a pay cut from their regular jobs when they are called into service and deployed overseas. Lord knows our soldiers serving in Iraq have enough to worry about - and gutting their bankruptcy protections while they were deployed was something Durbin thought was unacceptable. Unfortunately, only 38 of his Senate colleagues agreed with him, and his amendment was defeated.

[Check out the names of these fuckers!]

Those voting against the amendment included Montana Sen. Conrad Burns (R), Ohio Sen. Mike DeWine (R), Virginia Sen. George Felix Allen [that's George "Macaca" Allen to you!], Jr., Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum (R), Missouri Sen. Jim Talent (R), Rhode Island Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R) - all incumbents facing serious challenges for reelection.

Now, according to a new Pentagon report highlighted by USA Today (story linked below), "As many as one in five members of the armed services are being preyed on by loan centers set up near military bases that can charge cash-strapped military families interestso of 400% or more." Let's be clear - trying to take advantage of soldiers at a time of war when they are under stress is a form of war profiteering. And thanks to our bought-off Congress - it's all perfectly legal. Here's hoping the senators who voted against Durbin's amendment get hammered for it.