84 reasons to trim the bush

[RadiationBoy]

Quote:

In no particular order, except from bad to bad:

1. Significantly eased field-testing controls of genetically engineered crops.
2. Cut federal spending on libraries by $39 million.
3. Cut $35 million in funding for doctors to get advanced pediatric training.
4. Cut by 50% funding for research into renewable energy sources.
5. Revoked rules that reduced the acceptable levels of arsenic in drinking water.
6. Blocked rules that would require federal agencies to offer bilingual assistance to non-English speaking persons. This, from a candidate who would readily fire- up his Spanish-speaking skills in front of would-be Hispanic voters.
7. Proposed to eliminate new marine protections for the Channel Islands and the coral reefs of northwest Hawaii (San Francisco Chronicle, April 6, 2001).
8. Cut funding by 28% for research into cleaner, more efficient cars and trucks.
9. Suspended rules that would have strengthened the government's ability to deny contracts to companies that violated workplace safety, environmental and other federal laws.
10. OK'd Interior Department appointee Gale Norton to send out letters to state officials soliciting suggestions for opening up national monuments for oil and gas drilling, coal mining, and foresting.
11. Appointed John Negroponte - an un-indicted high-level Iran Contra figure to the post of United Nations Ambassador.
12. Abandoned a campaign pledge to invest $100 million for rain forest conservation.
13. Reduced by 86% the Community Access Program for public hospitals, clinics and providers of care for people without insurance.
14. Rescinded a proposal to increase public access to information about the potential consequences resulting from chemical plant accidents.
15. Suspended rules that would require hardrock miners to clean up sites on Western public lands.
16. Cut $60 million from a Boy's and Girl's Clubs of America program for public housing.
17. Proposed to eliminate a federal program, designed and successfully used in Seattle, to help communities prepare for natural disasters.
18. Pulled out of the 1997 Kyoto Treaty global warming agreement.
19. Cut $200 million of work force training for dislocated workers.
20. Eliminated funding for the Wetlands Reserve Program, which encourages farmers to maintain wetlands habitat on their property.
21. Cut program to provide childcare to low-income families as they move from welfare to work.
22. Cut a program that provided prescription contraceptive coverage to federal employees (though it still pays for Viagra).
23. Cut $700 million in capital funds for repairs in public housing.
24. Appointed Otto Reich - an un-indicted high-level Iran Contra figure - to Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs.
25. Cut Environmental Protection Agency budget by $500 million.
26. Proposed to curtail the ability of groups to sue in order to get an animal placed on the Endangered Species List.
27. Rescinded the rule that mandated increased energy-saving efficiency regulations for central air conditioners and heat pumps.
28. Repealed workplace ergonomic rules designed to improve worker health and safety.
29. Abandoned campaign pledge to regulate carbon dioxide, the waste gas that contributes to global warming.
30. Banned federal aid to international family planning programs that offer abortion counseling with other independent funds.
31. Closed White House Office for Women's Health Initiatives and Outreach.
32. Nominated David Lauriski - ex-mining company executive - to post of Assistant Secretary of Labor for Mine Safety and Health.
33. OK'd Interior Secretary Gale Norton to go forth with a controversial plan to auction oil and gas development tracts off the coast of eastern Florida.
34. Announced intention to open up Montana's Lewis and Clark National Forest to oil and drilling.
35. Proposes to re-draw boundaries of nation's monuments, which would technically allow oil and gas drilling "outside" of national monuments.
36. Gutted White House AIDS Office.
37. Renegotiating free trade agreement with Jordan to eliminate workers' rights and safeguards for the environment.
38. Will no longer seek guidance from The American Bar Association in recommendations for the federal judiciary appointments.
39. Appointed recycling foe Lynn Scarlett as Undersecretary of the Interior.
40. Took steps to abolish the White House Council on Environmental Quality.
41. Cut the Community Oriented Policing Services program.
42. Allowed Interior Secretary Gale Norton to shelve citizen-led grizzly bear re- introduction plan scheduled for Idaho and Montana wilderness.
43. Continues to hold up federal funding for stem cell research projects.
44. Makes sure convicted misdemeanor drug users cannot get financial aid for college, though convicted murderers can.
45. Refused to fund continued cleanup of uranium-slag heap in Utah.46. Refused to fund continued litigation of the government's tobacco company lawsuit.
47. Proposed a $2 trillion tax cut, of which 43% will go to the wealthiest 1% of Americans.
48. Signed a bill making it harder for poor and middle-class Americans to file for bankruptcy, even in the case of daunting medical bills.
49. Appointed a Vice President quoted as saying "If you want to do something about carbon dioxide emissions, then you ought to build nuclear power plants." (Vice President %@!#$& Cheney on "Meet the Press.")
50. Appointed Diana "There is no gender gap in pay" Roth to the Council of Economic Advisers. (Boston Globe, March 28, 2001.)
51. Appointed Kay Cole James - an opponent of affirmative action - to direct the Office of Personnel Management.
52. Cut $15.7 million earmarked for states to investigate cases of child abuse and neglect.
53. Helped kill a law designed to make it tougher for teenagers to get credit cards.
54. Proposed elimination of the "Reading is Fundamental" program that gives free books to poor children.
55. Is pushing for development of small nuclear arm to attack deeply buried targets and weapons, which would violate the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
56. Proposes to nominate Jeffrey Sutton - attorney responsible for the recent case weakening the Americans with Disabilities Act - to federal appeals court judgeship.
57. Proposes to reverse regulation protecting 60 million acres of national forest from logging and road building.
58. Eliminated funding for the "We the People" education program which taught School children about the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and citizenship.
59. Appointed John Bolton - who opposes nonproliferation treaties and the U.N. - to Under-Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security.
60. Nominated Linda Fisher - an executive with Monsanto - for the number-two job at the Environmental Protection Agency.
61. Nominated Michael McConnell - leading critic of the separation of church and state - to a federal judgeship.
62. Nominated Terrence Boyle - ardent opponent of civil rights - to a federal judgeship.
63. Canceled 2004 deadline for automakers to develop prototype high mileage cars.
64. Nominated Harvey Pitts - lawyer for teen sex video distributor - to head SEC.
65. Nominated John Walters - strong opponent of prison drug treatment programs - for Drug Czar. (Washington Post, May 16, 2001.)
66. Nominated J. Steven Giles - an oil and coal lobbyist - for Deputy Secretary of the Interior.
67. Nominated Bennett Raley - who advocates repealing the Endangered Species Act - for Assistant Secretary for Water and Science
68. Is seeking the dismissal of class-action lawsuit filed in the U.S. against Japan by Asian women forced to work as sex slaves during WWII.
69. Earmarked $4 million in new federal grant money for HIV and drug abuse prevention programs to go only to religious groups and not secular equivalents.
70. Reduced by 40% the Low Income Home Assistance Program for low-income individuals who need assistance paying energy bills.
71. Nominated Ted Olson - who has repeatedly lied about his involvement with the Scaiffe-funded "Arkansas Project" to bring down Bill Clinton - for Solicitor General.
72. Nominated Terrance Boyle - foe of civil rights - to a federal judgeship.
73. Proposes to ease permit process - including environmental considerations - for refinery, nuclear and hydroelectric dam construction. (Washington Post, May 18, 2001.)
74. Proposes to give government the authority to take private property through eminent domain for power lines.
75. Proposes that $1.2 billion in funding for alternative renewable energy come from selling oil and gas lease tracts in the Alaska National Wildlife Reserve.
76. Appoints Army Secretary Thomas White who is being investigated for selling Enron stock just before Enron posted losses. White was a former Enron executive who is alleged to have dumped his stock after being contacted by an Enron official.
77. Took 3 months of vacation of first 9 months in office as president.
78. Had absolutely no concern about terrorism before 9-11
79. Many of his big campaign supporters are crooks who doctored their books in order to screw investors.
80. Wants to fulfill a personal vendetta against Hussein causing a huge and costly war with destabilization of the middle east and Russia and china siding with the Arabs.
81. Wants to kill minimum wage and it's enforcement so that people work at slave wages for his corporate supporters.
82. Wants to take away benefits from the elderly and children in order to compensate for giant tax cuts for super rich.
83. Gave the Taliban approximately $40 million in may, 2001 so that they would allow pipelines for his buddies at Enron.
84. Wants to create the most polluted country on earth by eliminating anti pollution laws so that his super rich factory owner supporters can get richer.

this was taken from http://www.democracymeansyou.com/serious/84reasons.htm but I thought it was something everyone should read.

-Rad

[M31]

Interesting reading.

[sigmazeta314]

I agree, this is something everyone should read. Iti s interesting...biased but interesting. As a conservative I cannot disagree with many of the plans, proposals, etc on this list... in fact I support many of them. I am however certain that most presidents have left a legacy of issues equally lengthy that some people will be diametrically opposed to while others are wholey supporters of.

Political affilliations aside, it is hard to agree on a sole person to make the decisions for an entire country...it is even more difficult to agree on a congress of representatives to express the opinions of the public...with as close to the best system as we can realistically ask for, we still have problems...at least have a system, flawed as it may be.

"To Man: he is mad; he cannot make a worm, and yet he will be making gods by the dozens."
--Montaigne


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Sigma Zeta 314

[redkitty]

Quote:

with as close to the best system as we can realistically ask for

Actually, not very close at all to the best. Our particular system, the U.S. constitutional republic, was the first of its kind and is now over 200 years old. As with most technologies, more recent models have incorporated significant improvements over the original. Unfortunately, ours was deliberately constructed to be extremely difficult to upgrade. Many desirable modifications are not even a possibility, due to the original design specs. We are told this is a feature, not a bug.

If you are at all interested in politics, go read this very entertaining and thoughtful book:
The Frozen Constitution by Daniel Lazare.
Or as I like to think of it, "Why Nothing Ever Gets Fixed in the USA".

By the way, I don't think the people who are currently running the USA are conservatives by any reasonable definition of the word, unless perhaps you classify them as monarchists.

[Darkwolven]

Hmm...when I glanced at it first I thought it said 84 treasons. Maybe it should.

[sigmazeta314]

redkitty: You are right about the lack of upgrades to our system, but in comparison to most of the rest of the world and with relation to the ability to concieve and institute a system that is both better and more desireable by the majority of the US population, I conseider our system to be among the best.

And I must apologize for implying that the country is run by "conservatives" it is not...they are more like monarchists and even swing toward being megalomaniacal capitalists.

-Sigma Zeta 314

[Nichotin]

we all knew bush isnt the sharpest circle in the house, but seriously, i sure hope gore or someone else wins the next election.

[redkitty]

Everybody for "someone else" raise your hands. That's almost always my preference.

[tubebuoy]

I see over 75 reasons to re-elect him

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[sigmazeta314]

Amen, tubeboy!

-Sig Z 314