109 Reasons Why Bush Must Go!!!
"Beware the leader who bangs the drums of war in order to whip the citizenry into a patriotic fervor, for patriotism is indeed a double-edged sword. It both emboldens the blood, just as it narrows the mind. And when the drums of war have reached a fever pitch and the blood boils with hate and the mind has closed, the leader will have no need in seizing the rights of the citizenry. Rather, the citizenry, infused with fear and blinded by patriotism, will offer up all of their rights unto the leader and gladly so.
How do I know? For this is what I have done. And I am Caesar."
-- Julius Caesar
"People can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. Tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism."
-- HERMAN GOERING
"There ought to be limits to freedom."
-- GWBUSH
If you need any more reasons to stand up and keep fighting, put the list below on a dartboard and pick one!
109 REASONS WHY BUSH MUST GO (and the list keeps growing):
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 address 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 Montana's Lewis and Clark National Forest to oil and drilling.
35. Proposes to redraw 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 worker's 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 reintroduction 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 Dick 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 Undersecretary 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. FOR THIS COMMENT: "You know, I was campaigning in Chicago and somebody asked me, is there ever any time where the budget might have to go into deficit? I said only if we were at war or had a national emergency or were in recession. (Laughter.) Little did I realize we'd get the trifecta. (Laughter.)" -- 2/27/02 -- Charlotte Convention Center, Charlotte, North Carolina
80. MANY OF HIS BIG CAMPAIGN SUPPORTERS ARE CROOKS WHO DOCTORED THEIR BOOKS IN ORDER TO SCREW INVESTORS.
81. 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.
82. WANTS TO KILL MINIMUM WAGE AND ITS ENFORCEMENT SO THAT PEOPLE
WORK AT SLAVE WAGES FOR HIS CORPORATE SUPPORTERS.
83. WANTS TO TAKE AWAY BENEFITS FROM THE ELDERLY AND CHILDREN IN ORDER TO COMPENSATE FOR GIANT TAX CUTS FOR SUPER RICH.
84. GAVE THE TALIBAN 38 MILLION IN MAY 2001 SO THAT THEY WOULD ALLOW
PIPELINES FOR HIS BUDDIES AT ENRON.
85. 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.
86. Under his administration the stock market has sunk to its lowest levels since October 1998.
87. Nominated and supports Harvey Pitt as head of the SEC. Pitt represented the accounting industry and corporate defendants as a lawyer (and thus has recently had to recluse himself 29 times from pending SEC cases). That background actually gives him a strong knowledge base. The problem, as New Your Attorney General Eliot Spitzer says, is that Pitt has "internalized the values of his clients." He cam in talking about a "kinder, gentler SEC," and held cozy meetings with the folks he should be regulating aggressively. Pitt sees no inherent conflict
of interest when "independent" accountants audit a company's books while pocketing millions in consulting fees from the same company. -- Newsweek, 7/22/02
88. FOR EMBARRASSING THE UNITED STATES WHEREVER HE GOES AROUND THE WORLD: This is a translation of the original German Der Spiegel Article published May 19, 2002. Washington - It was Condoleezza Rice, national security advisor, who helped her boss out of the embarrassing situation. During a conversation between the two presidents, George W. Bush, 55, (USA) and Fernando Henrique Cardoso, 71, (Brazil), Bush bewildered his colleague with the question: "Do you have blacks, too?" Rice, 47, noticing how astonished the Brazilian was, saved the day by telling Bush "Mr. President, Brazil probably has more blacks than the USA. Some say it's the Country with the most blacks outside Africa." Later, the Brazilian president Cardoso said, regarding Latin America, Bush was till in his "learning phase."
89. FOR EMBARRASSING THE UNITED STATES WHEREVER HE GOES AROUND THE WORLD: Israel: Vacillates on policy with our strongest ally in the Middle East. First says push the Arabs into the desert! Then the next minute says don't.
90. FOR EMBARRASSING THE UNITED STATES WHEREVER HE GOES AROUND THE WORLD: Arab Allies: This policy will FORCE friendly Arab governments to turn against us -- otherwise they'll be faced with serious rebellions among their own people!
91. Latin America: Supports a doomed and immoral coup in Venezuela.
92. Mexico: While demanding that Mexico open up to the "free market" [said], "I will continue to sledgehammer its economy by giving massive agricultural subsidies to U.S. companies." (These subsidies push millions of Mexican farmers into poverty -- thus thwarting Mexico's new government's attempt to warm up to the U.S.).
93. China: It may just be enough to keep publicly forgetting whether China is in the "Axis of Evil" or not. We were hoping that selling the Chinese government a thoroughly bugged 747 would do the trick, but they're still hanging on as an ally!
94. Our Northern neighbor. On the map they sure look big, but don't worry -- there's only a million or two people up there. First, we'll continue to deride them for not doing enough to help with the war on terror even as we drop bombs on their soldiers in Afghanistan.
95. Europe: One word...KYOTO! But just to be safe we're also pulling out of many other treaties near and dear to European hearts such as the Accord on Biological Weapons and the International Court.
96. Empties out the US bank account by giving out $300 tax refunds. Then a few months later announces that the US doesn't have enough money to pay its bills. In one quick action reverses the trend of the Clinton administration to significantly reduce the deficit and starts it on it's way up again.
97. WASHINGTON: As the stock market plummets, President Bush has struggled in vain over the past two weeks (July 2002) to shore up faith in an investment system dogged by corporate scandal and a crisis of confidence. Wall Street has rendered a vote of no confidence in the president's efforts thus far; economists and political analysts widely concur, giving Bush generally poor marks for his attempts to lead the nation out of its market malaise. His tepid positions regarding corporate governance have put him far behind the curve on an issue at the core of the pessimism driving stock prices near a four-year low, said Donald Straszheim, president of Straszheim Global Advisors, Inc., in Santa Monica, Calif.
98. Bush and Atty. General Ashcroft attempted to set up neighborhood watch groups similar to those in China, Cuba and other countries where dissent to government policies is dangerous and local watch committees monitor signs of disloyalty to the state. The TIPS program would have neighbors spying on neighbors. Bush and Ashcroft seemed to forget that whatever we do for national security must be within the bounds of the constitution. At the very least, their judgment should be seriously questioned.
99. The Cato Institute, one of Washington's multimillion-dollar conservative think tanks states that "Ashcroft is a clear and present danger to democracy." It says that Ashcroft and Bush "have supported measures that are antithetical to freedom, such as secretive subpoenas, secretive arrests, secretive trials and secretive deportations . . . those are telltale signs of societies that are unfree." --The Washington Spectator, August 1, 2002.
100. "Think Tank disputes Bush on Test ban. - The U. S. Government's premier scientific think tank on July 31, 2002 disputed the Bush administration's main technical arguments against an international treaty that would permanently ban nuclear test explosions. A national Academy of Sciences study found that the potency and safety of the U. S. Nuclear arsenal could be assured without periodic underground tests. The U. S. is the only major world power not to have signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (of 1996). It has been signed by 165 nations and ratified by 31, including Russia, Britain and France." -- Knight Rider newspapers, August 1, 2002
101. Bush puts special interests before lifesaving program! Washington: Every administration makes certain compromises -- in policy and appointments -- to satisfy important political constituencies. But most administrations draw the line at compromises that cost lives. The Bush administration now has crossed that line -- not accidentally but deliberately. The decision announced during the week of July 23, 2002 to withhold the $34 million United States contribution to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) will cost uncounted women and children their lives. This organization supports family planning and maternal health programs in more than 140 countries, including education programs to prevent HIV/AIDS. Its projects have a proven track record of reducing mortality rates for mothers and infants, as well as limiting population growth. UNFPA says that the loss of the U. S. Contribution -- 12 percent of its $270 million budget -- will translate to 2 million more unwanted pregnancies, 800,000 more abortions, 4,700 more dead mothers and 77,000 more deaths among children under 5. When our government allows special interest pleading to cost lives, it shames us all. -- David Broder, syndicated columnist
102. "The perception abroad of a new American unilateralism is even more serious. A number of U. S. Actions -- our rejection of the Kyoto treaty on global warming; refusal of initial offers of NATO help in Afghanistan; rejection of agreements to create an International Criminal Court; ban land mines; and restrict chemical and biological warfare; as well as the U. S. Declaration of a 'first strike' policy that might include an attack on Iraq - have convinced foreign observers that the United States no longer feels any need to consult its friends or, indeed, any need for friends at all. A top European business leader and former EU commissioner who has long been counted among America's best friends said, 'After World War II, America was all-powerful and created a new world by defining its national interest broadly in a way that made it attractive for other countries to define their interests in terms of embracing America's. In particular, the United States backed the creation of global institutions, due process, and the rule of law. Now,' he said, 'you are again all-powerful and the world is again in a period of restructuring but, without talking to anyone, you appear to be turning your back on things you have championed for half a century and defining your interest narrowly in terms of your own immediate national security.'" -- Clyde Prestowitz, founder and president of the Economic Strategy Institute
103. Slashed spending on childcare food programs by 80%
104. Public and Native American housing grants eliminated.
105. Rental housing loans for rural areas cut by two-thirds.
106. Special benefits for disabled coal miners cut by two-thirds.
107. Cut food stamp program by one-third.
108. He screwed the New York firefighters by vetoing a bill that would help them with their medical problems as WTC emergency workers such as asbestos inhalation and bone injuries.
109. And most importantly . . . He never won in the first place!! Bush lost the election. He was handed the Presidency by the Supreme Court, but only by circumventing the laws of Florida and the tradition of America's democratic principle. When all the votes were counted by the nonprofit NORC, it was proven that Gore got more votes in Florida.
According to the Associated Press: "In the review of all the state's disputed ballots, Gore edged ahead under all six scenarios for counting all undervotes and overvotes statewide."
According to MSNBC.com: "In other words, he got more votes than George Bush. Gore won under a strict-counting scenario and he won under a loose-counting scenario. He won if you count "hanging chads" and he won if you counted a "dimpled chad." He won if you counted a dimpled chad only in the presence of another dimpled chad on the same ballot -- the so-called "Palm Beach" standard. He even won if you counted only a fully-punched chad. He won if you counted partially-filled oval on an optical scan and he won if you counted only a fully-filled optical scan. He won if you fairly counted the absentee ballots. No matter how you count it, if everyone who legally voted in Florida had had a chance to see their vote matter, Al Gore would be sitting in the Oval Office today." http://www.msnbc.com/news/656430.asp?0si
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------