Thank you for all your hard work - and for the ping !!
Posted on 07/01/2003 8:46:22 AM PDT by justshe
The Summer of Our Discontent with George W. Bush
The amount of discontent being expressed toward President George W. Bush on Free Republic seems to be increasing exponentially.
For the purpose of discussion, I have attempted to to draw up 2 lists. The first list is of accomplishments or 'directions' this administration is going. The second list, is for those items or behaviors many would like to see addressed or changed. I have made every attempt to list as many items as I could recall....or find by perusing MANY threads. I am sure I have missed some items.
Obviously, some of you will think some items on each list are not correct, that they should either NOT be listed, or are listed on the wrong list. Either way, it IS a start.
I have gleaned these items from multiple threads and posts going back over two years on Free Republic. These are NOT listed in any 'time-line' order.
If you have individual ping lists.....please use them to facilitate the widest possible discussion.
Presidency of George W. Bush --the first 30 months
Killed the Kyoto Global Warming Treaty.
Killed U.S. involvement in the International Criminal Court.
Killed the U.S. - CCCP ABM Treaty that was preventing the U.S. from deploying our ABM defenses.
Reversed Clinton's move to strike Reagan's anti-abortion Mexico Policy.
Killed Clinton's CO2 rules that were choking off all of the electricity surplus to California.
Killed Clinton's "ergonomic" rules that OSHA was about to implement; rules that would have shut down every home business in America.
Passed 2 tax cuts----1 of which was the largest tax-Dollar value tax cut in history
Pushed through TWO raises for our military.
Increased Defense Dept funding which had deteriorated during the previous 8 years
Signed TWO bills into law that arm our pilots with handguns in the cockpit
Currently pushing for full immunity from lawsuits for our national gun manufacturers.
Ordered Attorney-General Ashcroft to formally notify the Supreme Court that the OFFICIAL U.S. government position on the 2nd Amendment is that it supports INDIVIDUAL rights to own firearms, NOT a leftist-imagined "collective" right.
Successfully executed 2 wars: Afghanistan and Iraq. 50 million people who had lived under tyrannical regimes now live in freedom.
Changed the tone in the White House, restoring HONOR and DIGNITY to the Presidency
Reorganized bureaucracy...after 9/11, condensed 20+ overlapping agencies and their intelligence sectors into one agency: the Department of Homeland Security.
Initiated discussion on Social security and individual investment accounts.
Improving govt. efficiency with .8 million jobs put up for bid...weakening unions and cutting undeserved pay raises. Wants merit based promotions/raises only.
Executed a WAR ON TERROR by getting world-wide cooperation to track funds/terrorists (has cut off much of the terrorist's funding and captured or killed many key leaders of the al Qaeda network)
Stopped foreign aid that would be used to fund abortions.
Ended abortions on military bases
Signed E.O. reversing Clinton policy of not requiring parental consent under the Medical Privacy Act
Told the United Nations we weren't interested in their plans for gun control.
Set to sign Partial Birth Abortion Ban
Orchestrated Republican control of the White House, the House AND the Senate.
Killed the liberal ABA's role in vetting federal judges for Congress.
GWB signed an executive order enforcing the Supreme Court's Beck decision (re: union dues being used for political campaigns against individual's wishes)
Brought back our EP-3 intel plane and crew from China without any bribes or bloodshed
Started withdrawing our troops from Bosnia and has announced withdrawal of our troops from Germany and the Korean DMZ.
Signed the LARGEST nuclear arms reduction in world history with Russia
Initiated comprehensive review of our military, which was completed just prior to 9/11/01, accurately reported that ASYMMETRICAL WARFARE was critical.
Has CONSTRUCTION in process on the first ten ABM silos in Alaska, so that America will have a defense against North Korean nukes
Turning around an inherited economy in recession.
Passed tough new laws to hold corporate criminals to account as a result of corporate scandals.
Reduced taxes on dividends and capital gains
In process of eliminating IRS marriage penalty.
Increased small business incentives to expand and to hire new people
Signed into law the CFR legislation (under dark of night)
Signed into law the No Child Left Behind legislation delivering the most dramatic education reforms in a generation (challenging the soft bigotry of low expectations)
Reorganized the INS in an attempt to safeguard the borders and ports of America and to eliminate bureaucratic redundancies and lack of accountability.
Signed trade promotion authority
Committed US funds to purchase medicine for millions of men and women and children now suffering with AIDS in Africa
Urging Medicare Reform
Urging federal liability reform to eliminate frivolous lawsuits
Supports class action reform bill which limits lawyer fees so that more settlement money goes to victims
Submitted comprehensive energy plan--awaits Congressional action. ( works to develop cleaner technology, produce more natural gas here at home, make America less dependent on foreign sources of energy)
Endorses and promotes The Responsibility Era ("In a compassionate society, people respect one another and take responsibility for the decisions they make in life. My hope is to change the culture from one that has said, if it feels good, do it; if you've got a problem, blame somebody else -- to one in which every single American understands that he or she are responsible for the decisions that you make; you're responsible for loving your children with all your heart and all your soul; you're responsible for being involved with the quality of the education of your children; you're responsible for making sure the community in which you live is safe; you're responsible for loving your neighbor, just like you would like to be loved yourself. " -----this quote was too good to leave out)
Started the USA Freedom Corps
Pushing for passage of Prescription Drug Benefit package for Seniors which will have 'means' testing with a goal towards privatization of Medicare and CHOICES based on current Federal Employee Health benefits program.
Initiated review of all federal agencies with a goal to eliminate federal jobs (review to be done by September 2003) in an effort to reduce the size of federal gov while increasing private sector jobs.
Part of coalition (Russia, Israel, Palestine, USA) for Israeli/Palestinian "Roadmap to Peace"
Challenged the United Nations to live up to their responsibilities and not become The League of Nations ( in other words, completely irrelevant)
Nominated strong, conservative judges to the judiciary.
Changed parts of the Forestry Management Act to allow necessary clean-up of the national forests in order to reduce fire danger.
As part of the national forests clean-up, the President restricted judicial challenges (based on the Endangered Species Act and other challenges) and removed the need for an EIS (Enivironmental Impact Statement) before removing fuels/logging to reduce fire danger.
Significantly eased field-testing controls of genetically engineered crops.
Cut federal spending on libraries by $39 million.
Cut $35 million in funding for doctors to get advanced pediatric training.
Cut funding for research into renewable energy sources by 50%.
Revoked rules that reduced the acceptable levels of arsenic in drinking water.
Blocked rules that would require federal agencies to offer bilingual assistance to non-English speaking persons
Proposed to eliminate new marine protections for the Channel Islands and the coral reefs of northwest Hawaii
Cut funding for research into cleaner, more efficient cars and trucks by 28%
Suspended rules that would have strengthened the government's ability to deny contracts to companies that violated workplace safety, environmental and other federal laws.
Approved the sending of letters by Interior Department appointee Gale Norton to state officials soliciting suggestions for opening up national monuments for oil and gas drilling, coal mining, and foresting.
Appointed John Negroponte -- an unindicted high-level Iran Contra figure to the post of United Nations Ambassador.
Abandoned a campaign pledge to invest $100 million for rainforest conservation.
Reduced by 86% the Community Access Program for public hospitals, clinics and providers of care for people without insurance.
Rescinded a proposal to increase public access to information about the potential consequences resulting from chemical plant accidents.
Suspended rules that would require hardrock miners to clean up sites on public lands.
Cut $60 million from a Boy's and Girl's Clubs of America program for public housing.
Proposed to eliminate a federal program, designed and successfully used in Seattle, to help communities prepare for natural disasters
Eliminated funding for the Wetlands Reserve Program, which encourages farmers to maintain wetlands habitat on their property.
Cut program to provide childcare to low-income families as they move from welfare to work.
Cut a program that provided prescription contraceptive coverage to federal employees (though it still pays for Viagra).
Cut $700 million in capital funds for repairs in public housing
Appointed Otto Reich -- an un-indicted high-level Iran Contra figure -- to Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs.
Cut the budget of the Environmental Protection Agency by $500 million.
Proposed to curtail the ability of groups to sue in order to get an animal placed on the Endangered Species List
Rescinded the rule that mandated increased energy-saving efficiency regulations for central air conditioners and heat pumps.
Abandoned campaign pledge to regulate carbon dioxide, the waste gas that contributes to global warming.
Gutted the White House AIDS Office.
Renegotiated a free trade agreement with Jordan to eliminate workers's rights and safeguards for the environment.
Cut the Community Oriented Policing Services program
Allowed Interior Secretary Gale Norton to shelve citizen-led grizzly bear re-introduction plan scheduled for Idaho and Montana wilderness
Continues to hold up federal funding for stem cell research projects
Makes sure convicted misdemeanor drug users cannot get financial aid for college, though convicted murderers can
Refused to fund continued cleanup of uranium-slag heap in Utah
Refused to fund continued litigation of the government's tobacco company lawsuit.
Signed a bill making it harder for poor and middle-class Americans to file for bankruptcy, even in the case of daunting medical bills
Cut $15.7 million earmarked for states to investigate cases of child abuse and neglect
Helped kill a law designed to make it tougher for teenagers to get credit cards
Canceled 2004 deadline for automakers to develop prototype high mileage cars.
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
Reduced the Low Income Home Assistance Program by 40%; it aided low-income individuals who need assistance paying energy bills
Told U.N. "NO" re: global tax
Items still to be accomplished and/or addressed
Allow sunsetting of AWB
Fix illegal immigration issues and border control
Limit/eliminate federal entitlement programs
Cut size of federal budget
Shrink federal government job force
Hate all Dems and do not treat them civilly
Don't appoint any homosexuals to public office
Don't meet with Grover Norquist--or Muslims--or Homosexuals
Kill all terrorists in Israel
Drop the idea of a Palestinian state
"Eliminate" all Palestinians
Need means testing on Senior Rx legislation
Get the United States out of the United Nations
Banish the United Nations from U.S. soil.
Stop all foreign aid.
Stop all foreign aid to the Palestinians
Eliminate Steel and Wood tarrifs
Talk non-stop, at every opportunity, about judicial nominees and lack of Senate vote.
Push Frist out.....bring back Trent Lott
Fire Karl Rove
Fire Colin Powell
He knows that he has to say something provocative to keep it interesting. How many times will people listen to the same thing if it's not even controversial?
The GOP must be thanking God for it's apologists...
This pretty much sums it up....
Thank you for all your hard work - and for the ping !!
Much !!!!!
I am so disappointed that a person as ridiculous as he is is so prominent on FR (frequency-wise).
Actually, he has not signed this bill, although he certainly intends to. It got hung up in the Senate last time.
For example, the Senate last year attached an amendment to a massive defense authorization bill to repeal an existing ban on performing abortions in military medical facilities, except to save the life of the mother, or in cases of rape or incest. In a September 24 letter to members of the House-Senate conference committee on that bill, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said, "The President's senior advisers would recommend that the President veto the bill if it changes current law" on the use of military facilites for abortion –– the traditional formula for a veto threat. The offensive provision was quietly dropped in conference, and the bill was signed into law on December 2.
I'm glad you qualified those remarks.
You can be dismissive of the Reagan Era, as much as you like. The facts are the facts. Reagan was POTUS only 14 years ago. That's less then a generation. I didn't compare PresBush`s political agenda or his public tempermant with that of PresReagan, to slight GW Bush. It was done as a compliment. So don't get so defensive. Long ago George W.Bush said that he greatly admired PresReagan and the accomplishments of his Presidency. (And no, I don't have the exact quote, so don't ask for one.) PresBush has made similiar remarks on several occasions throughout the 2000 campaign and during his time in the WH. Most people think any comparisions of Bush to Reagan, are just fine.
I'll tell you one thing, if Ronald Reagan was POTUS in 2001, there would never have been a 9-11. IMO, of course.
"Constantly" might be a stretch. But, I can certainly identify with those who mourn the weakening and tearing down of our Constitution at the hands of Democrats and Republicans alike (not to mention their SCOTUS appointees).
I can't help but wonder how we'd be ranting non-stop about Campaign Finance Reform and The Patriot Act if they'd been passed and signed into law by Democrats.
It's just that, after a while, it becomes obvious that there will be no real reform until things get bad enough, or the slippery slope gets steep enough. Until then, vilifying the Republicans and Bush as socialists and casting third-party protest votes will accomplish nothing other than perhaps help get Democrats elected.
It's all a matter of perspective. Some see the glass as 2/3 full, others as 4/5 empty. Once there's a big enough hole in the bottom and/or there's only a few drops left, people will wake up and do something. Consider that Al Gore was one robe short of counting and recounting chads until he could manufacture enough votes to win Florida and the presidency. If the decision had gone in his favor, I was prepared to fly the flag upside down (the distress signal) or burn it in my driveway. On the one hand, I'm glad the Constitution prevailed, if only barely. But, the slow march of socialism continues. Revolution will wait for a darker day. To ensure its arrival, Dems will 'Bork' any and every even marginally-conservative SCOTUS appointee Bush might have occasion to throw at them, no matter what race or gender. If he manages to get a Clarence Thomas past them, it will be only by the grace of God. Let's hope Bush has what it takes to appoint a Clarence Thomas.
(Thanks for the kind words. Don't let my lengthy reply discourage you from complimenting others. ;O)
"When I began entering into the give and take of legislative bargaining in Sacramento, a lot of the most radical conservatives who had supported me during the election didn't like it. "Compromise" was a dirty word to them and they wouldn't face the fact that we couldn't get all of what we wanted today. They wanted all or nothing and they wanted it all at once. If you don't get it all, some said, don't take anything. "I'd learned while negotiating union contracts that you seldom got everything you asked for. And I agreed with FDR, who said in 1933: 'I have no expectations of making a hit every time I come to bat. What I seek is the highest possible batting average.'
"If you got seventy-five or eighty percent of what you were asking for, I say, you take it and fight for the rest later, and that's what I told these radical conservatives who never got used to it.
Ronald Reagan, in his autobiography, An American Life
Well, you mustn't forget that the terrorist types 'tried' President Reagan, too - remember Beirut?
President Reagan's response, IIRC, was swift and sure, and he wasn't too worried about what other countries thought of it.
President Reagan is my favorite president of my lifetime, so far anyway ;-), but we mustn't pretend that he was perfect, or that everything was 100% wonderful during those 8 years.
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