🚀 go-pugleaf

netspider4@lycos.com (Karl-Hugo Weesberg) wrote in message news:<7666ed5f.0410252213.4d15fd88@posting.google.com>...
> He wants to ban it forever !
> 

You arse.


====================
George W. Bush (Dubya)
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Washington, D.C. 20500
Past Work Experience 
Ran for congress and lost. 
Produced a Hollywood slasher B movie. 
* Got a felony arrest and conviction.
Bought an oil company, but couldn't find any oil in Texas; company
went bankrupt shortly after I sold all my stock.
Bought the Texas Rangers baseball team in a sweetheart deal that took
land using taxpayer money. Biggest move: Traded Sammy Sosa to the
Chicago White Sox.
With father's help (and his name) was elected Governor of Texas. 
Accomplishments in Previous Positions
Changed pollution laws for power and oil companies and made Texas the
most polluted state in the Union.
Replaced Los Angeles with Houston as the most smog-ridden city in
America. Cut taxes and bankrupted the Texas government to the tune of
billions in borrowed money.
Set record for most executions by any governor in American history. 
Became president after losing the popular vote by over 500,000 votes,
with the help of my father's appointments to the Supreme Court.
Accomplishments As President
Attacked and took over two countries. 
Spent the surplus and bankrupted the treasury. 
Shattered record for biggest annual deficit in history. 
Set economic record for most private bankruptcies filed in any
12-month period.
Set all-time record for biggest drop in the history of the stock
market.
First president in decades to execute a federal prisoner. 
First president in U.S. history to enter office with a criminal
record.
First year in office set the all-time record for most days on vacation
by any president in U.S. history.
After taking the entire month of August off for vacation, presided
over the worst security failure in U.S. history.
Set the record for most campaign fundraising trips than any other
president in U.S. history.
In my first two years in office over 2 million Americans lost their
job.
Cut unemployment benefits for more out of work Americans than any
president in U.S. history.
Set the all-time record for most foreclosures in a 12-month period. 
Appointed more convicted criminals to administration positions than
any president in U.S. history.
Set the record for the least amount of press conferences than any
president since the advent of television.
Signed more laws and executive orders amending the Constitution than
any president in U.S. history.
Presided over the biggest energy crises in U.S. history and refused to
intervene when corruption was revealed.
Presided over the highest gasoline prices in U.S. history and refused
to use the national reserves as past presidents have.
Cut healthcare benefits for war veterans. 
Set the all-time record for most people worldwide to simultaneously
take to the streets to protest me (15 million people), shattering the
record for protest against any person in the history of mankind.
Dissolved more international treaties than any president in U.S.
history.
My presidency is the most secretive and unaccountable of any in U.S.
history.
Members of my cabinet are the richest of any administration in U.S.
history (the 'poorest' multimillionaire, Condoleezza Rice, has an
Exxon oil tanker named after her).
First president in U.S. history to have all 50 states of the Union
simultaneously go bankrupt.
Presided over the biggest corporate stock market fraud of any market
in any country in the history of the world.
First president in U.S. history to order a U.S. attack and military
occupation of a sovereign nation.
Created the largest government department bureaucracy in the history
of the United States.
Set the all-time record for biggest annual budget spending increases,
more than any president in U.S. history.
First president in U.S. history to have the United Nations remove the
U.S. from the human rights commission.
First president in U.S. history to have the United Nations remove the
U.S. from the elections monitoring board.
Removed more checks and balances, and have the least amount of
congressional oversight than any presidential administration in U.S.
history.
Rendered the entire United Nations irrelevant. 
Withdrew from the World Court of Law. 
Refused to allow inspectors access to U.S. prisoners of war and by
default no longer abide by the Geneva Conventions.
First president in U.S. history to refuse United Nations election
inspectors (during the 2002 U.S. elections).
All-time U.S. (and world) record holder for most corporate campaign
donations.
My biggest lifetime campaign contributor presided over one of the
largest corporate bankruptcy frauds in world history (Kenneth Lay,
former CEO of Enron Corporation).
Spent more money on polls and focus groups than any president in U.S.
history.
First president in U.S. history to unilaterally attack a sovereign
nation against the will of the United Nations and the world community.
First president to run and hide when the U.S. came under attack (and
then lied saying the enemy had the code to Air Force 1)
First U.S. president to establish a secret shadow government. 
Took the biggest world sympathy for the U.S. after 9/11, and in less
than a year made the U.S. the most resented country in the world
(possibly the biggest diplomatic failure in U.S. and world history).
With a policy of 'disengagement' created the most hostile
Israeli-Palestine relations in at least 30 years.
Fist U.S. president in history to have a majority of the people of
Europe (71%) view my presidency as the biggest threat to world peace
and stability.
First U.S. president in history to have the people of South Korea more
threatened by the U.S. than their immediate neighbor, North Korea.
Changed US policy to allow convicted criminals to be awarded
government contracts.
Set all-time record for number of administration appointees who
violated U.S. law by not selling huge investments in corporations
bidding for government contracts.
Failed to fulfill my pledge to get Osama Bin Laden 'dead or alive.' 
Failed to capture the anthrax killer who tried to murder the leaders
of our country at the United States Capital building. After 18 months
I have no leads and zero suspects.
In the 18 months following the 9/11 attacks I have successfully
prevented any public investigation into the biggest security failure
in the history of the United States.
Removed more freedoms and civil liberties for Americans than any other
president in U.S. history.
In a little over two years created the most divided country in
decades, possibly the most divided the U.S. has ever been since the
Civil War.
Entered office with the strongest economy in U.S. history and in less
than two years turned every single economic category heading straight
down.
Records and References 
At least one conviction for drunk driving in Maine (Texas driving
record has been erased and is not available)
AWOL from National Guard and deserted the military during a time of
war.
Refuse to take drug test or even answer any questions about drug use. 
All records of my tenure as governor of Texas have been spirited away
to my father's library, sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public
view.
All records of any SEC investigations into my insider trading or
bankrupt companies are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public
view.
All minutes of meetings for any public corporation I served on the
board are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public view.
Any records or minutes from meetings I (or my VP) attended regarding
public energy policy are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public
review.
For personal references please speak to my daddy or uncle James Baker
(they can be reached at their offices of the Carlyle Group for
war-profiteering.)

We're Not in Lake Wobegon Anymore

By Garrison Keillor


Something has gone seriously haywire with the Republican Party. Once, 
it was the party of pragmatic Main Street businessmen in steel-rimmed 
spectacles who decried profligacy and waste, were devoted to their 
communities and supported the sort of prosperity that raises all
ships.
They were good-hearted people who vanquished the gnarlier elements of 
their party, the paranoid Roosevelt-haters, the flat Earthers and 
Prohibitionists, the antipapist antiforeigner element. The genial 
Eisenhower was their man, a genuine American hero of D-Day, who made
it
OK for reasonable people to vote Republican. He brought the Korean War
to a stalemate, produced the Interstate Highway System, declined to 
rescue the French colonial army in Vietnam, and gave us a period of 
peace and prosperity, in which (oddly) American arts and letters 
flourished and higher education burgeoned-and there was a degree of 
plain decency in the country. Fifties Republicans were giants compared
to todays'. Richard Nixon was the last Republican leader to feel a 
Christian obligation toward the poor.

In the years between Nixon and Newt Gingrich, the party 
migrated southward down the Twisting Trail of Rhetoric and sneered at 
the idea of public service and became the Scourge of Liberalism, the 
Great Crusade Against the Sixties, the Death Star of government, a
gang
of pirates that diverted and fascinated the media by their sheer 
chutzpah, such as the misty-eyed flag-waving of Ronald Reagan who,
while
George McGovern flew bombers in World War II, took a pass and made 
training films in Long Beach. The Nixon moderate vanished like the 
passenger pigeon, purged by a legion of angry white men who rose to 
power on pure punk politics. "Bipartisanship is another form of date 
rape," says Grover Norquist, the Sid Vicious of the GOP. "I don't want
to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I 
can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub." The boy 
has Oedipal problems and government is his daddy.

The party of Lincoln and Liberty was transmogrified into the 
party of hairy-backed swamp developers and corporate shills,
faith-based
economists, fundamentalist bullies with Bibles, Christians of 
convenience, freelance racists, misanthropic frat boys, shrieking 
midgets of AM radio, tax cheats, nihilists in golf pants, brownshirts
in
pinstripes, sweatshop tycoons, hacks, fakirs, aggressive dorks, 
Lamborghini libertarians, people who believe Neil Armstrong's moonwalk
was filmed in Roswell, New Mexico, little honkers out to diminish the 
rest of us, Newt's evil spawn and their Etch-A-Sketch president, a
dull
and rigid man suspicious of the free flow of information and of
secular
institutions, whose philosophy is a jumble of badly sutured body parts
trying to walk. Republicans: The No1 reason the rest of the world
thinks
we're deaf, dumb and dangerous.

Rich ironies abound! Lies pop up like toadstools in the 
forest! Wild swine crowd round the public trough! Outrageous 
gerrymandering! Pocket lining on a massive scale! Paid lobbyists sit
in
committee rooms and write legislation to alleviate the suffering of 
billionaires! Hypocrisies shine like cat turds in the moonlight! O
Mark
Twain, where art thou at this hour? Arise and behold the Gilded Age 
reincarnated gaudier than ever, upholding great wealth as the sure
sign
of Divine Grace.

Here in 2004, George W. Bush is running for reelection on a 
platform of tragedy-the single greatest failure of national defense in
our history, the attacks of 9/11 in which 19 men with box cutters put 
this nation into a tailspin, a failure the details of which the White 
House fought to keep secret even as it ran the country into hock up to
the hubcaps, thanks to generous tax cuts for the well-fixed, hoping to
lead us into a box canyon of debt that will render government
impotent,
even as we engage in a war against a small country that was undertaken
for the president's personal satisfaction but sold to the American 
public on the basis of brazen misinformation, a war whose purpose is
to
distract us from an enormous transfer of wealth taking place in this 
country, flowing upward, and the deception is working beautifully.

The concentration of wealth and power in the hands of the few 
is the death knell of democracy. No republic in the history of
humanity
has survived this. The election of 2004 will say something about what 
happens to ours. The omens are not good. Our beloved land has been 
fogged with fear--fear, the greatest political strategy ever. An
ominous
silence, distant sirens, a drumbeat of whispered warnings and alarms
to
keep the public uneasy and silence the opposition. And in a time of 
vague fear, you can appoint bullet-brained judges, strip the bark off 
the Constitution, eviscerate federal regulatory agencies, bring public
education to a standstill, stupefy the press, lavish gorgeous tax
breaks
on the rich.

There is a stink drifting through this election year. It isn't 
the Florida recount or the Supreme Court decision. No, it's 9/11 that
we
keep coming back to. It wasn't the "end of innocence," or a turning 
point in our history, or a cosmic occurrence, it was an event, a lapse
of security. And patriotism shouldn't prevent people from asking hard 
questions of the man who was purportedly in charge of national
security
at the time. Whenever I think of those New Yorkers hurrying along Park
Place or getting off the No.1 Broadway local, hustling toward their 
office on the 90th floor, the morning paper under their arms, I think
of
that non-reader George W. Bush and how he hopes to exploit those
people
with a little economic uptick, maybe the capture of Osama, cruise to 
victory in November and proceed to get some serious nation-changing
done
in his second term.

This year, as in the past, Republicans will portray us 
Democrats as embittered academics, desiccated Unitarians, whacked-out 
hippies and communards, people who talk to telephone poles, the party
of
the Deadheads. They will wave enormous flags and show over and over
the
footage of firemen in the wreckage of the World Trade Center and
bodies
being carried out and they will lie about their economic policies with
astonishing enthusiasm. The Union is what needs defending this year. 
Government of Enron and by Halliburton and for the Southern Baptists
is
not the same as what Lincoln spoke of. This gang of Pithecanthropus 
Republicanii has humbugged us to death on terrorism and tax cuts for
the
comfy and school prayer and flag burning and claimed the right to know
what books we read and to dump their sewage upstream from the town and
clear-cut the forests and gut the IRS and mark up the constitution on 
behalf of intolerance and promote the corporate takeover of the public
airwaves and to hell with anybody who opposes them.

This is a great country, and it wasn't made so by angry 
people. We have a sacred duty to bequeath it to our grandchildren in 
better shape than however we found it. We have a long way to go and
we're
not getting any younger. Dante said that the hottest place in Hell is 
reserved for those who in time of crisis remain neutral, so I have 
spoken my piece, and thank you, dear reader. It's a beautiful world, 
rain or shine, and there is more to life than hate and war

===================
DISGUSTED?  Weeks ago, John Zogby pointed out
on his website that 47% of democrats don't just disagree with
Bush--they
personally despise him.  Among undecideds, Bush's job approval rating
is 30%.
Thus, Zogby gives Kerry a 80-100 point advantage in the electoral
college.  In
4 years, we have gone from the largest federal budget surplus we have
ever had
to the largest deficit we have ever had; From the largest job growth
we have
ever had, to the first president since Herbert Hoover to have a net
decline of
jobs during his tenure.  Investors have done worse than during the
Wategate
years.

Bush's Chairman of the Council of Economic advisors believes that
outsourcing
is good for the country (don't laugh, he said it); Certainly, we could
find
someone in Bangalore, India who could do a better job.
====================
1. Social Security Surplus

BUSH PLEDGES NOT TO TOUCH SOCIAL SECURITY SURPLUS... "We're going to
keep the promise of Social Security and keep the government from
raiding the Social Security surplus." [President Bush, 3/3/01] ...BUSH
SPENDS SOCIAL SECURITY SURPLUS The New York Times reported that "the
president's new budget uses Social Security surpluses to pay for other
programs every year through 2013, ultimately diverting more than $1.4
trillion in Social Security funds to other purposes." [The New York
Times, 2/6/02]

2. Patient's Right to Sue

GOVERNOR BUSH VETOES PATIENTS' RIGHT TO SUE... "Despite his campaign
rhetoric in favor of a patients' bill of rights, Bush fought such a
bill tooth and nail as Texas governor, vetoing a bill coauthored by
Republican state Rep. John Smithee in 1995. He... constantly opposed a
patient's right to sue an HMO over coverage denied that resulted in
adverse health effects." [Salon, 2/7/01] ...CANDIDATE BUSH PRAISES
TEXAS PATIENTS' RIGHT TO SUE... "We're one of the first states that
said you can sue an HMO for denying you proper coverage... It's time
for our nation to come together and do what's right for the people.
And I think this is right for the people. You know, I support a
national patients' bill of rights, Mr. Vice President. And I want all
people covered. I don't want the law to supersede good law like we've
got in Texas." [Governor Bush, 10/17/00] ...PRESIDENT BUSH'S
ADMINISTRATION ARGUES AGAINST RIGHT TO SUE "To let two Texas
consumers, Juan Davila and Ruby R. Calad, sue their managed-care
companies for wrongful denials of medical benefits �would be to
completely undermine' federal law regulating employee benefits,
Assistant Solicitor General James A. Feldman said at oral argument
March 23. Moreover, the administration's brief attacked the policy
rationale for Texas's law, which is similar to statutes on the books
in nine other states." [Washington Post, 4/5/04]

3. Tobacco Buyout

BUSH SUPPORTS CURRENT TOBACCO FARMERS' QUOTA SYSTEM... "They've got
the quota system in place -- the allotment system -- and I don't think
that needs to be changed." [President Bush, 5/04] ...BUSH
ADMINISTRATION WILL SUPPORT FEDERAL BUYOUT OF TOBACCO QUOTAS "The
administration is open to a buyout." [White House spokeswoman Jeanie
Mamo, 6/18/04]

4. North Korea

BUSH WILL NOT OFFER NUCLEAR NORTH KOREA INCENTIVES TO DISARM... "We
developed a bold approach under which, if the North addressed our
long-standing concerns, the United States was prepared to take
important steps that would have significantly improved the lives of
the North Korean people. Now that North Korea's covert nuclear weapons
program has come to light, we are unable to pursue this approach."
[President's Statement, 11/15/02] ...BUSH ADMINISTRATION OFFERS NORTH
KOREA INCENTIVES TO DISARM"Well, we will work to take steps to ease
their political and economic isolation. So there would be -- what you
would see would be some provisional or temporary proposals that would
only lead to lasting benefit after North Korea dismantles its nuclear
programs. So there would be some provisional or temporary efforts of
that nature." [White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan, 6/23/04]

5. Abortion

BUSH SUPPORTS A WOMAN'S RIGHT TO CHOOSE... "Bush said he...favors
leaving up to a woman and her doctor the abortion question." [The
Nation, 6/15/00, quoting the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, 5/78] ...BUSH
OPPOSES A WOMAN'S RIGHT TO CHOOSE "I am pro-life." [Governor Bush,
10/3/00]

6. OPEC

BUSH PROMISES TO FORCE OPEC TO LOWER PRICES... "What I think the
president ought to do [when gas prices spike] is he ought to get on
the phone with the OPEC cartel and say we expect you to open your
spigots...And the president of the United States must jawbone OPEC
members to lower the price." [President Bush, 1/26/00] ...BUSH REFUSES
TO LOBBY OPEC LEADERS With gas prices soaring in the United States at
the beginning of 2004, the Miami Herald reported the president refused
to "personally lobby oil cartel leaders to change their minds." [Miami
Herald, 4/1/04]

7. Iraq Funding

BUSH SPOKESMAN DENIES NEED FOR ADDITIONAL FUNDS FOR THE REST OF
2004... "We do not anticipate requesting supplemental funding for '04"
[White House Budget Director Joshua Bolton, 2/2/04] ...BUSH REQUESTS
ADDITIONAL FUNDS FOR IRAQ FOR 2004 "I am requesting that Congress
establish a $25 billion contingency reserve fund for the coming fiscal
year to meet all commitments to our troops." [President Bush,
Statement by President, 5/5/04]

8. Condoleeza Rice Testimony

BUSH SPOKESMAN SAYS RICE WON'T TESTIFY AS 'A MATTER OF PRINCIPLE'...
"Again, this is not her personal preference; this goes back to a
matter of principle. There is a separation of powers issue involved
here. Historically, White House staffers do not testify before
legislative bodies. So it's a matter of principle, not a matter of
preference." [White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan, 3/9/04]
...BUSH ORDERS RICE TO TESTIFY: "Today I have informed the Commission
on Terrorist Attacks Against the United States that my National
Security Advisor, Dr. Condoleezza Rice, will provide public
testimony." [President Bush, 3/30/04]

9. Science

BUSH PLEDGES TO ISSUE REGULATIONS BASED ON SCIENCE..."I think we ought
to have high standards set by agencies that rely upon science, not by
what may feel good or what sounds good." [then-Governor George W.
Bush, 1/15/00] ...BUSH ADMINISTRATION REGULATIONS IGNORE SCIENCE "60
leading scientists�including Nobel laureates, leading medical experts,
former federal agency directors and university chairs and
presidents�issued a statement calling for regulatory and legislative
action to restore scientific integrity to federal policymaking.
According to the scientists, the Bush administration has, among other
abuses, suppressed and distorted scientific analysis from federal
agencies, and taken actions that have undermined the quality of
scientific advisory panels." [Union of Concerned Scientists, 2/18/04]

10. Ahmed Chalabi

BUSH INVITES CHALABI TO STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS...President Bush
also met with Chalabi during his brief trip to Iraq last Thanksgiving
[White House Documents 1/20/04, 11/27/03] ...BUSH MILITARY ASSISTS IN
RAID OF CHALABI'S HOUSE "U.S. soldiers raided the home of America's
one-time ally Ahmad Chalabi on Thursday and seized documents and
computers." [Washington Post, 5/20/04]

11. Department of Homeland Security

BUSH OPPOSES THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY..."So, creating a
Cabinet office doesn't solve the problem. You still will have agencies
within the federal government that have to be coordinated. So the
answer is that creating a Cabinet post doesn't solve anything." [White
House spokesman Ari Fleischer, 3/19/02] ...BUSH SUPPORTS THE
DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY "So tonight, I ask the Congress to
join me in creating a single, permanent department with an overriding
and urgent mission: securing the homeland of America and protecting
the American people." [President Bush, Address to the Nation, 6/6/02]

12. Weapons of Mass Destruction

BUSH SAYS WE FOUND THE WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION..."We found the
weapons of mass destruction. We found biological laboratories...for
those who say we haven't found the banned manufacturing devices or
banned weapons, they're wrong, we found them." [President Bush,
Interview in Poland, 5/29/03] ...BUSH SAYS WE HAVEN'T FOUND WEAPONS OF
MASS DESTRUCTION "David Kay has found the capacity to produce
weapons.And when David Kay goes in and says we haven't found
stockpiles yet, and there's theories as to where the weapons went.
They could have been destroyed during the war. Saddam and his henchmen
could have destroyed them as we entered into Iraq. They could be
hidden. They could have been transported to another country, and we'll
find out." [President Bush, Meet the Press, 2/7/04]

13. Free Trade

BUSH SUPPORTS FREE TRADE... "I believe strongly that if we promote
trade, and when we promote trade, it will help workers on both sides
of this issue." [President Bush in Peru, 3/23/02] ...BUSH SUPPORTS
RESTRICTIONS ON TRADE "In a decision largely driven by his political
advisers, President Bush set aside his free-trade principles last year
and imposed heavy tariffs on imported steel to help out struggling
mills in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, two states crucial for his
reelection." [Washington Post, 9/19/03]

14. Osama Bin Laden

BUSH WANTS OSAMA DEAD OR ALIVE... "I want justice. And there's an old
poster out West, I recall, that says, 'Wanted: Dead or Alive.'"
[President Bush, on Osama Bin Laden, 09/17/01] ...BUSH DOESN'T CARE
ABOUT OSAMA "I don't know where he is.You know, I just don't spend
that much time on him... I truly am not that concerned about
him."[President Bush, Press Conference, 3/13/02]

15. The Environment

BUSH SUPPORTS MANDATORY CAPS ON CARBON DIOXIDE... "[If elected],
Governor Bush will work to...establish mandatory reduction targets for
emissions of four main pollutants: sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide,
mercury and carbon dioxide." [Bush Environmental Plan, 9/29/00]
...BUSH OPPOSES MANDATORY CAPS ON CARBON DIOXIDE "I do not believe,
however, that the government should impose on power plants mandatory
emissions reductions for carbon dioxide, which is not a 'pollutant'
under the Clean Air Act." [President Bush, Letter to Sen. Chuck Hagel
(R-NE), 3/13/03]

16. WMD Commission

BUSH RESISTS AN OUTSIDE INVESTIGATION ON WMD INTELLIGENCE FAILURE...
"The White House immediately turned aside the calls from Kay and many
Democrats for an immediate outside investigation, seeking to head off
any new wide-ranging election-year inquiry that might go beyond
reports already being assembled by congressional committees and the
Central Intelligence Agency." [NY Times, 1/29/04] ...BUSH SUPPORTS AN
OUTSIDE INVESTIGATION ON WMD INTELLIGENCE FAILURE "Today, by executive
order, I am creating an independent commission, chaired by Governor
and former Senator Chuck Robb, Judge Laurence Silberman, to look at
American intelligence capabilities, especially our intelligence about
weapons of mass destruction." [President Bush, 2/6/04]

17. Creation of the 9/11 Commission

BUSH OPPOSES CREATION OF INDEPENDENT 9/11 COMMISSION... "President
Bush took a few minutes during his trip to Europe Thursday to voice
his opposition to establishing a special commission to probe how the
government dealt with terror warnings before Sept. 11." [CBS News,
5/23/02] ...BUSH SUPPORTS CREATION OF INDEPENDENT 9/11 COMMISSION
"President Bush said today he now supports establishing an independent
commission to investigate the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks." [ABC News,
09/20/02]

18. Time Extension for 9/11 Commission

BUSH OPPOSES TIME EXTENSION FOR 9/11 COMMISSION... "President Bush and
House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) have decided to oppose
granting more time to an independent commission investigating the
Sept. 11, 2001, attacks." [Washington Post, 1/19/04] ...BUSH SUPPORTS
TIME EXTENSION FOR 9/11 COMMISSION "The White House announced
Wednesday its support for a request from the commission investigating
the September 11, 2001 attacks for more time to complete its work."
[CNN, 2/4/04]

19. One Hour Limit for 9/11 Commission Testimony

BUSH LIMITS TESTIMONY IN FRONT OF 9/11 COMMISSION TO ONE HOUR...
"President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have placed strict
limits on the private interviews they will grant to the federal
commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks, saying that they will
meet only with the panel's top two officials and that Mr. Bush will
submit to only a single hour of questioning, commission members said
Wednesday." [NY Times, 2/26/04] ...BUSH SETS NO TIMELIMIT FOR
TESTIMONY "The president's going to answer all of the questions they
want to raise. Nobody's watching the clock." [White House spokesman
Scott McClellan, 3/10/04]

20. Gay Marriage

BUSH SAYS GAY MARRIAGE IS A STATE ISSUE... "The state can do what they
want to do. Don't try to trap me in this state's issue like you're
trying to get me into." [Gov. George W. Bush on Gay Marriage, Larry
King Live, 2/15/00] ...BUSH SUPPORTS CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT BANNING
GAY MARRIAGE "Today I call upon the Congress to promptly pass, and to
send to the states for ratification, an amendment to our Constitution
defining and protecting marriage as a union of man and woman as
husband and wife." [President Bush, 2/24/04]

21. Nation Building

BUSH OPPOSES NATION BUILDING... "If we don't stop extending our troops
all around the world in nation-building missions, then we're going to
have a serious problem coming down the road." [Gov. George W. Bush,
10/3/00] ...BUSH SUPPORTS NATION BUILDING "We will be changing the
regime of Iraq, for the good of the Iraqi people." [President Bush,
3/6/03]

22. Saddam/al Qaeda Link

BUSH SAYS IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO DISTINGUISH BETWEEEN AL QAEDA AND
SADDAM... "You can't distinguish between al Qaeda and Saddam when you
talk about the war on terror." [President Bush, 9/25/02] ...BUSH SAYS
SADDAM HAD NO ROLE IN AL QAEDA PLOT "We've had no evidence that Saddam
Hussein was involved in Sept. 11." [President Bush, 9/17/03]

23. U.N. Resolution

BUSH VOWS TO HAVE A UN VOTE NO MATTER WHAT... "No matter what the whip
count is, we're calling for the vote. We want to see people stand up
and say what their opinion is about Saddam Hussein and the utility of
the United Nations Security Council. And so, you bet. It's time for
people to show their cards, to let the world know where they stand
when it comes to Saddam." [President Bush 3/6/03] ...BUSH WITHDRAWS
REQUEST FOR VOTE "At a National Security Council meeting convened at
the White House at 8:55 a.m., Bush finalized the decision to withdraw
the resolution from consideration and prepared to deliver an address
to the nation that had already been written." [Washington Post,
3/18/03]

24. Involvement in the Palestinian Conflict

BUSH OPPOSES SUMMITS... "Well, we've tried summits in the past, as you
may remember. It wasn't all that long ago where a summit was called
and nothing happened, and as a result we had significant intifada in
the area." [President Bush, 04/05/02] ...BUSH SUPPORTS SUMMITS "If a
meeting advances progress toward two states living side by side in
peace, I will strongly consider such a meeting. I'm committed to
working toward peace in the Middle East." [President Bush, 5/23/03]

25. Campaign Finance

BUSH OPPOSES MCCAIN-FEINGOLD... "George W. Bush opposes
McCain-Feingold...as an infringement on free expression." [Washington
Post, 3/28/2000] ...BUSH SIGNS MCCAIN-FEINGOLD INTO LAW "[T]his bill
improves the current system of financing for Federal campaigns, and
therefore I have signed it into law." [President Bush, at the
McCain-Feingold signing ceremony, 03/27/02]



===================
Saddam was a good guy when Reagan armed him, a bad guy when Bush's
daddy
made war on him, a good guy when Cheney did business with him and a
bad
guy when Bush needed a "we can't find Bin Laden" diversion.

Trade with Cuba is wrong because the country is communist, but trade
with China and Vietnam is vital to a spirit of international harmony.

The United States should get out of the United Nations, and our
highest
national priority is enforcing U.N. resolutions against Iraq.

A woman can't be trusted with decisions about her own body, but
multi-national corporations can make decisions affecting all mankind
without regulation.

Jesus loves you, and shares your hatred of homosexuals and Hillary
Clinton.

The best way to improve military morale is to praise the troops in
speeches while slashing veterans'
benefits and combat pay.

If condoms are kept out of schools, adolescents won't have sex.

A good way to fight terrorism is to belittle our long-time allies,
then
demand their cooperation and money.

Providing health care to all Iraqis is sound policy.
Providing health care to all Americans is socialism.

HMOs and insurance companies have the best interests of the public at
heart.

Global warming and tobacco's link to cancer are junk science, but
creationism should be taught in schools.

A president lying about an extramarital affair is a impeachable
offense.
A president lying to enlist support for a war in which thousands die
is
solid defense policy.

Government should limit itself to the powers named in the
Constitution,
which include banning gay marriages and censoring the Internet.

The public has a right to know about Hillary's cattle trades, but
George
Bush's driving record is none of our business.

Being a drug addict is a moral failing and a crime, unless you're a
conservative radio host. Then it's an illness, and you need our
prayers
for your recovery.

You support states' rights, which means Attorney General John Ashcroft
can tell states what local voter initiatives they have the right to
adopt.

What Bill Clinton did in the 1960s is of vital national interest, but
what Bush did in the '80s is irrelevant.


==================
Bush Cuts Children's Health While Rewarding HMOs


During today's trip to Tennessee 1, President Bush will hold a
photo-op at a children's hospital and then attend a $2,000-per-person
fundraiser at the home of a top health insurance executive 2. The two
events provide a perfect display of how the President has misled
America on health care policy: at the same time that he has tried to
slash funding for children's hospitals, his budget lavishes billions
of dollars on health insurance companies who fund his campaign.

During today's first event, the President is expected to praise
children's hospitals. However, his budget this year proposes to freeze
funding for grants to these hospitals, preventing their federal grants
from keeping pace with inflation 3. He also proposes a $94 million cut
to the Community Access Program 4 - effectively eliminating another
program that provides grants to children's hospitals in need. And he
is trying to slash $158 million (68%) from training grants for
specialties that include pediatrics 5. These efforts are consistent
with his past policies: last year, the President proposed cutting $86
million (30%) from grants to children's hospitals 6. And in 2002, he
proposed to cut $35 million (14%) from grants for children's hospitals
to train pediatricians 7.

After his photo-op at the children's hospital, the President will
attend a fundraiser at the home of Clay Jackson 8, an executive 9 at a
health insurance company called BB&T 10. Unlike the children's
hospitals whose budgets have been cut, insurance executives like
Jackson have a lot to thank the President for. For instance, the
President crafted a Medicare bill that gives health insurance
companies a new $130 billion subsidy 11, while forcing many seniors
off traditional Medicare and into HMOs 12. The President has also done
nothing to address the skyrocketing costs of health care, sitting by
last year as HMOs raised premiums by 13% 13 and raked in an extra $6.7
billion from Americans 14.

Sources:

   1. "Bush to pump health care, campaign coffers with Nashville
visit", WATE.com, 05/27/2004.
   2. "Bush expected in Nashville for Republican fund-raiser",
Nashville City Paper, 05/11/2004.
   3. AAMC.org, 02/06/2004.
   4. House Budget Committee.
   5. House Budget Committee.
   6. Democratic Policy Committee, 05/20/2004.
   7. Children's Defense Fund Action Council.
   8. OpenSecrets.Org.
   9. "BB&T to Acquire Nashville-Based Agency", Insurance Journal,
08/04/2003.
  10. BB&T.
  11. F.A.I.R. Medicare.
  12. Public Citizen, 02/13/2003.
  13. "Health costs skyrocket", CNN Money, 09/22/2003.
  14. "HMO profits jumped 52%", CBS Marketwatch, 05/04/2004.


===================
Published on Tuesday, August 10, 2004 Misuse of Strength 
At Camp Pendleton last week, Dick Cheney stated that "terrorist
attacks are not caused by the use of strength. They are invited by the
perception of weakness." Nonsense! If that were true, the 2001 attacks
would have happened anywhere else but here. The US was and is the
strongest nation militarily and financially; the targets were the very
symbols of that strength. It is not weakness, but the heavy-handed
misuse of strength that invites attacks.
Strength can be used to empower others and build them up, inspiring
partnership and mutuality. Or it can be used to bully others and
control them, which inspires hatred and revenge. The first use of
strength builds hope, the second, hopelessness. And hopeless people do
desperate things.
At the time of the 2001 attacks, Middle Eastern hostility toward the
US was primarily based on US support of Israel's right to security
over and above Palestine's right to an unoccupied sovereign state.
That continues to be a core issue. Bush's support of Sharon, as he
bulldozes Gaza, adds to his illegal settlements and walls off other
parts of the Palestinian West Bank, is deepening the resentment among
Arabs and Muslims.
In the background are decades of US employment of puppet bullies (the
Shah, Saddam), no matter what they did to their people, in order to
control Mideast oil.
The average US citizen has no grasp of what US actions and policies in
the Middle East mean to those who suffer from them, and no grasp of
the hatred they inspire. We need to know this: as long as our
government uses strength in a heavy-handed, bullying way, that
strength will continue to spread hatred and hopelessness. And it is
hatred and hopelessness in response to a bully that breed vengeful
suicidal attacks.
After the 2001 attacks, the US had a choice: we could have used
intelligence to find and bring to trial those who planned and
subsidized the attacks (they are still free) while reaching out to the
larger Arab and Muslim community, people who were not responsible, to
deal with their justified grievances. We could have used our strength
to apologize for past harm, to heal old wounds, and to empower the
peoples of the Middle East to work toward their own goals�dialogue
without bullying, sovereignty without occupation, and control of their
own resources. That use of strength could have eventually led to
respectful cooperation, could have built hope.
We could have joined with all the other nations that shared our shock
and grief, acknowledged that we are all in this together, reaffirmed
the treaties we had just (since January 2001) renounced, and invested
our billions in attacking hunger, disease, and other causes of
despair. That use of strength could have built hope.
Instead, we repeated the kind of bullying that inspired hatred in the
first place. We invaded a country that posed no threat but had
enviable oil reserves. We killed twelve thousand civilians (a new
study says 37,000) , imprisoned tens of thousands, most without reason
(Red Cross), permitted a systematic pattern of torture and abuse
(Taguba report, Red Cross, civil rights groups). We have co-opted
Iraqi oil, dictated their constitution, shut out opposing views, and
are digging in with several permanent military bases.
Now the US has appointed another longtime CIA-backed strongman (with
similar credentials as Saddam Hussein had when he was hired), widely
distrusted by the Iraqi people, as prime minister. A week before he
took office, Mr. Allawi is reported to have shot dead 6 alleged but as
yet untried insurgents. Is this democracy? Does this herald the dawn
of human rights and the rule of law in Iraq? Or does that matter as
long as he answers to us?
"Sixteen months ago, Iraq was a gathering threat to the United States
and the civilized world. Now it is a rising democracy, an ally in the
war on terror and the American people are safer for it," or so claims
Dick Cheney.
That may be all we see in the mainstream media; what does the rest of
the world see? Before the 2003 US invasion, Iraq was not a threat to
anyone. Now it's a puppet state pretending to be a democracy, a cash
cow for US corporations policed by a hired thug who will protect their
interests.
The Iraqi people still have only sporadic electricity and sewage in
the streets, but they have, thanks to KBR contracts, several growing
US military bases, and the world's largest US embassy. A strong
majority of Iraqis think of the US as occupiers, not allies. Any
Iraqis who want their country to be free from US military and
corporate control have no voice, no place, and no hope.
Middle Eastern Arabs and Muslims, and other peoples around the world,
see the "preemptive" war policy to mean that whenever the US
government wants a country, for its resources or strategic advantage,
it can label that country a threat and use milita


You know our country is in the crapper when the price of gas goes down
only 1 cent, and it makes BIG news on TV. Sorry there dumb-dumber, but
you'll lose in november, know why? Because Bush is the very worse
president this country has ever seen. He has shattered all records on
overspending, loss of jobs, record high unemployment, record high gas
prices, record high inflation, record high lines at soup kitchens and
food pantrys, he's quadrupled our national debt, he's dragged us into
a idiotic war, changed us from the envy of the world to being one of
the most hated countrys on earth, he wants to quit the UN, bring back
the draft (he'll need lots more people to die for him in his next
war), and in a recent poll of the worlds leaders GWB was voted the top
threat to world peace today. Every decision he has made has been a
disaster. There is no question his judgement is the worse we've ever
seen. There really is only reason you'd still vote for him, you just
can't stand the thought of dems taking power again. We need somebody
new, ANYBODY but Bush. You know that really is too bad, because on nov
2nd when we hand the chimp his butt on a platter, you'll be a very,
very unhappy (more than usual) man.  So if I were a republican I'd
whine too, but only because I wasted my vote on such a FU as GWB in
the first place,  and I sure as hell wouldn't vote for Bush again.
Nobody anywhere, in history, has ever done the kind of damage that
this jerk has done in 4 years. How many buttknobs can bankrupt TWO oil
companys in oil-rich Texas? After taking over the country with
billions in surplus, it took him 6 short months to bankrupt the
country. I mean I could go on, but it is very plain that NOBODY,
ANYWHERE, EVER, did anywhere near the damage he has done, and nobody
could possibly do a worse job. He's the worse president this country
has ever had in our entire history, only possibly topped by his idiot
father.

http://www.airforcetimes.com/story.php?f=1-AIRPAPER-357916.php

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1008-23.htm
http://www.thousandreasons.org/listB.html 
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0514-14.htm 
http://politicalhumor.about.com/library/blbushresume.htm 
http://www.totse.com/en/politics/political_spew/awarmongerexpl169226.html
http://www.cafeshops.com/votebushout 
Use your brains, vote for http://www.johnkerry.com/ 
http://www.awolbush.com/
http://www.runagainstbush.org/
http://www.bushgreenwatch.org
http://brillig.com/debt_clock
http://icasualties.org/oif
http://costofwar.com
http://www.iraqbodycount.net
http://www.alternet.org/election04/2004/09/002436.html
Here are three reasons to vote for someone other than Bush, ANYBODY
but Bush.
1. His overly optimistic, "my way or the highway" foreign policy has
alienated us from the rest of the world and the strategy has proven a
failure. He needs to listen to his more diplomatic advisors, such as
Powell and Rice, rather than Cheney, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz. Will he
do this? I do not see it happening.
2. Civil liberties. Bush has strongly supported the flawed, knee jerk
reaction to terrorism known as the Patriot Act. His unwilligness to
relent, despite proven Constitutional offenses this Act has caused, is
simple irresponsible. He also continues to push for DOMA and other
legislation which would make law the continued inequality for gays and
lesbians, not to mention trying reinstate the draft.
3. Fiscally irresponsible. Bush has allowed for and contributed to,
the largest spending spree on both foreign and domestic policy. It is
simply bad economic policy to cut taxes while also increasing
spending, even in a recession. Government is getting bigger and more
intrusive under Bush, supposedly a conservative, than it did under the
more liberal Clinton.
My vote will go to the candidate who supports civil liberties, smaller
government and free enterprise, John Kerry. Nobody, even if they
tried, could possibly do a worse job of leading our country than Bush
has.
1. 2,250,000 missing jobs 
2. 700+ Billion dollar deficit 
3. 1900+ dead Americans in Bush's wars