Veterans Day activities resound throughout the republic. Restaurants are offering free meals to geezers in goofy military baseball caps (yes, I do have one), the classical music station is awash in anthemic tributes and Veterans Day sales are the P.O.D. (Navy jargon: Plan of the Day). Oh yes, and parades out the wahzoo. In other words, business as usual.

Now, I don't begrudge any vet his/her shot at remembrance and gratitude, much less free chow. But this year, I think we deserve more that that. This year, this veteran would appreciate some apologies. I won't be holding my breath, but here's my short list:

George W. Bush, Chickenhawk-in-Chief: For peddling a concoction of fear and lies in order to sell a war that (a) has resulted in tens of thousands of unnecessary deaths and mutilations and (b) is destructive to America's global interests. That, and a total lack of competence as Commander-in-Chief.

Dick Cheney, Vice-Sneer: For the advocacy of torture, including Soviet-style gulags, for "suspected terrorists," a policy that puts American servicemen in even greater danger as they struggle against what is proving to be a formidable, and predictable, insurgency. That, and for pimping out the CIA to support Bush's war in Iraq.

Donald Rumsfeld, Defense Fuhrer: For waging Bush's war in Iraq on the cheap, to the considerable consternation of actual military officers, thus resulting in the systematic trashing of the structural integrity of our Army and National Guard. That, and having no plan for victory or withdrawal.

Georgia Senator Saxby Chambliss: For comparing former Senator Max Cleland, a triple-amputee from the Vietnam War, to Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein just to win an election. That, and for wanting to take food out of the mouths of poor kids in order to help pay for Bush's war in Iraq. I'll say it again: Senator Chambliss is a chickenhawk and a disgrace.

Swift Boat Republicans: For wearing those idiotic "Purple Heart Band-Aids" in order to make fun of the war record of Senator John Kerry just to win an election. Their behavior was an insult to every veteran who has been wounded in the service of their country. That, and... well, that's plenty.

The Mainstream Media (MSM): For allowing the Cheney/Rumsfeld "cabal" to use them as snake-oil salesmen for Bush's war in Iraq, in spite of early and compelling evidence that it was based on a pack of lies. That, and for their general recalcitrance in speaking truth to power.

Congressional Democrats: For (a) allowing themselves to be steamrollered into voting for the war in the first place and (b) continuing to dump vast amounts of blood and treasure into the resultant, and predictable, quagmire. That, and for sniveling cowardice in confronting the Bushoids venality.

The Democratic Leadership Council (DLC): For continuing to endorse Bush's war in Iraq. That, and for pretending to be Democrats.

That's a start. But while we're on the subject, here are a few other items to consider:

The Bush administration requested a princely 2.7 percent increase in Veterans Affairs (VA) spending, even though the VA's under-secretary testified last year that the VA health care system needs a 13 to14 percent increase annually to maintain their current level of services. This, as Republican leaders in Congress blocked $2 billion in emergency funding for veterans' health care from a supplemental funding bill.

Wounded U.S. soldiers have returned home from Bush's war in Iraq only to learn that they are being referred to credit agencies that want the soldiers to pay for lost equipment or for charges for military housing.

Veterans comprise roughly one-fourth of all homeless Americans. According to the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, nearly 200,000 veterans are homeless on any given night. Most of these cases are attributed to lingering effects of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and substance abuse, compounded by a lack of family and social support networks. In other words, neglect.

So, by all means, take in the parades, the hoopla and the well-meaning tributes to vets. But, in my opinion, the men and women serving in the armed forces today are being used by Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Chambliss and other lesser men to the actual detriment of their country.

Those who currently serve will, if they live, join the ranks of veterans - a group I am proud to be a member of. But I seriously doubt that the men they work for will care any more about them then than they do now. And they will offer no apologies.

Happy Veterans Day.

OK, I don't claim to be a great leader of women, or men, for that matter; but it seems to me that when 60% of the people you're supposed to be leading think you're going in the wrong direction, and question your integrity to boot, a reasonable cognitive response would be to do some serious reevaluation and consider altering your course to reflect the reality that your current plan of action is fundamentally messed up.

Or you could just say, "screw it" and stay the course. Which is exactly what the Bush Junta and its supporters have decided to do. Only more so; after all, they've got a war, several hurricanes and those obscene tax cuts for their base to pay for. In case you haven't heard how they intend to do it, here's the latest abomination from the halls of Congress.

The U.S. Senate has approved a plan to save about $35 billion over the next five years by cutting, among other things, federal spending on prescription drugs, agriculture supports and student loans. In this case, Senate Republicans, including Georgia's appalling Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson - but, to be fair, not Chafee (RI), Coleman (MN), Collins (ME), DeWine (OH) and Snowe (ME) - were joined by Democrats Ben Nelson of Nebraska (where, we must assume, poor people do not abide) and Mary Landrieu of Louisiana. Which is, like... totally... unbelievable.

As always, the situation is worse on the House side: $54 billion in cuts to Medicaid, food stamps, student loans, agriculture subsidies and child support enforcement. The House measure would also allow states to impose premiums and co-payments on poor Medicaid recipients. But wait...

According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the food stamp cuts in the House measure would knock nearly 300,000 people off nutritional assistance programs, including 70,000 legal immigrants. About 40,000 children would lose eligibility for free or reduced-price school lunches.

Still another House provision would roll back a court-ordered expansion of foster care support, denying foster care payments to relatives who take in children removed from their parents' homes by court order. That provision would reduce the coverage of foster care payments to about 4,000 children a month and cut $397 million from the program through 2010.

Talk about bold strategies.

The GOP knows that our economic situation is untenable. They know that the majority of Americans disapprove of their policies. They know that the elections in 2006 and 2008 are going to be most vigorously contested. Yet they remain committed to doing away with the very functions of government that actually make life somewhat easier for people of marginal means. "Starving the beast" is their charming expression for this shameful strategy; and now they've decided to go for the gusto.

No more of that "Compassionate Conservative" nonsense; Bush and his fellow travelers apparently figure that if their days are numbered, they might as well make themselves and their pals as rich as possible; and if that means sticking it to the poor, the middle class and America's kids, so be it. It's what you might call the "Rapture mentality:" If you're convinced that you have got your ticket out, it really doesn't matter what happens to everyone else.

I submit that this scorched-earth campaign extends as well to the judiciary, specifically the nomination of Judge Samuel Alito to replace Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor (whose enduring legacy, let us recall, is that she brought about this world 'o' crap by awarding Bush the Presidency in 2000). Alito - a kinder, gentler fascista - is a darling of the Talibangelicals, and will probably be confirmed, much to the delight of those who envision an America where anyone with a uterus should not have too damned much freedom on her hands.

The sad, soul-numbing truth is that our federal government has been hijacked by men and women who are working assiduously to insure the triumph of one economic class, the über-wealthy, and one moral viewpoint, Christian Dominionism. They repeatedly lie to the American public and employ appeals to fear, moral intolerance and faux-patriotism as cynical tools in the cause of destroying effective government and advancing a restrictive social agenda. And, faced with the deleterious effects of policies based on their dissembling, they manifest no acknowledgement of their human fallibility, much less any shame, contrition or accountability.

Just like George W. Bush. Now that's leadership.