Burning Bush

Illustration by Bob AulThe 350,000-member National Taxpayers Union is known for propping up penny-pinching conservatives and knocking free-spending liberals around the block with equal vigor. But included in "new" research of Orwellian political new-speak conducted by the National Taxpayers Union Foundation (NTUF), which describes itself as the mother group's research arm, are examples employed by the Bush White House, according to a June 24 report on the Conservative News Service website (CNSNews.com).

• "Investments in . . ." Despite calling for federal spending restraint, the Bush administration's 2004 budget trumpets "major new investments in . . . education, Medicare, health care, homeland security, energy independence, compassion and the unemployed" that will raise spending by tens of billions each year, NTUF said.

• Homeland Security Since Sept. 11, this slogan has been the rallying cry for stale subsidy schemes that prop up everything from Amtrak to peanuts, NTUF said.