[link|http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=politicsNews&storyID=7533743&src=rss/ElectionCoverage|Reuters.com]

President Bush plans to ask Congress next week for $419.3 billion in U.S. defense spending for 2006, a 4 percent increase over the current $401 billion military budget, U.S. officials said on Thursday.

That doesn't sound like a big increase until you realize that it doesn't cover current US military operations (another 100 billion or so) or the money going to the department of energy for nuclear bomb research (which has also been upped sharply in the last few years).

The sad things, this increase comes despite the military slashing billions of dollars in projects already.

I fully expect the military to be the only budget that goes up in Bush's new proposal, but after the Republican's in congress pork it out, there is no telling where the money will end up going.

Jay