Yes, I should be studying, but this is too good to pass up. Jesse informs me that the Bush administration is encouraging Army units deploying to Iraq to ask for donations from businesses, friends, and family to purchase makeshift steel armor for their Humvees and body armor for themselves. Why? Because the Pentagon doesn't have enough of them.

From the weekly Democratic Party radio address:

"The Army's 428th Transportation Company, headquartered in Jefferson City, Missouri, shipped out to Iraq two weeks ago. They had to ask local businesses to donate the steel to armor their vehicles. When the Bush Administration heard about this, their response wasn't `never again.' It was `good idea' - they emailed instructions to other units letting them know how they could use homemade armor to protect their own Humvees from attacks. I believe our soldiers deserve better.

"Even more shocking, tens of thousands of other troops arrived in Iraq to find that - with danger around every corner - there wasn't enough body armor to protect them. Many of their families on the homefront - mothers and fathers, husbands and wives and children - were forced to raise the money to buy it for them. They went to their neighbors for donations - and dipped into their savings to give their sons and daughters the equipment to save their lives - which the Army should be providing. Last month, a young newlywed in Virginia even gave her husband body armor for Valentine's Day as he prepared to ship out to Iraq."

I'm going to be sick.