Posted by Kev Hoffman at cpe-65-25-176-239.wi.rr.com on December 04, 2003 at 01:27:59:
In Reply to: Re: The Top 7 Reasons NOT To Vote For George W. Bu posted by cynicalderek on December 04, 2003 at 01:08:23:
: Hippies just won't be happy until we all live like fucking hillbillys, will they?
They'll be happier when future generations have a useable planet left. Those crazy liberals, and they're crazy ideas about global-warming, huh?
: : 3. Bush is underfunding education. The President cut $200 million from his own No Child Left Behind Act, eliminating crucial educational programs for lower income children and cutting professional training for more than 20,000 teachers.
: Oh, wait, you mean he withdrew money from schools systems that waste it. School systems that just get worse and turn out more and more idiots no matter how much money the government throws at the problem? Wow, that's really too bad.
No, it's because mandatory testing (run by the state gov'ts) actually restricts the learning of the students...the money goes towards tools to help kids learn only what is on a standardized test. Not a really effective way of teaching, is it?
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: : 4. The Bush Administration's Patriot Act threatens our constitutional rights and civil liberties. Passed by a post 9/11 Congress, the Patriot act expands the ability of law enforcement to conduct secret searches, and engage various forms of surveillance, including internet monitoring and wiretapping. It gives the FBI access to American citizens' highly personal medical, financial, mental health, and student records without notification or permission, and allows them to investigate individuals without probable cause of a crime. Finally, it permits non-citizens to be jailed based on mere suspicion and held indefinitely in six month increments without meaningful judicial review.
: : http://www.aclu.org/SafeandFree/SafeandFree.cfm?ID=12126&c=207
: I agree that the patriot act is a horrible idea to a certain degree. But I don't think that it will ever happen anyway. And let us also keep in mind that it has many democratic supporters as well as republican opposition.
It's certainly a noble idea, but within it's provisions it tends to limits freedoms, those are the parts I disagree with.
: : 5. Bush's Tax Cuts only benefit the rich. Bush claimed that his tax cut would “reduce tax rates for everyone who pays income tax.” He failed to mention that this “relief” program would put half of the tax cut's dividends into the hands of our nation's wealthiest 5%, while 8.1 million citizens in the bottom half of the income bracket receive approximately $300 a year.
: : http://www.ctj.org/html/gwbfinal.htm
: Well, hmmm, since the rich make most of the fucking money it makes sense that they would get more back than joe thousandaire. Oh my God, how terrible.
They get a larger percentage. THAT'S the unfair part' not the total amount of money they receive.
: : 6. 3.3 million jobs (93,000 in August of 2003 alone) have been lost since Bush took office--more than the last 11 Presidents combined. (Bureau of Labor Statistics, June 2001-August 2003) Meanwhile, huge corporations are paying fewer taxes than ever:
: : http://www.cbpp.org/10-16-03tax.htm
: Most analysts are predicting the economy will jump early next year. I guess we'll see.
: : 7. Bush is underfunding homeland security : While energetic in waging war abroad, the Bush administration has been oddly lethargic in fortifying our defenses at home. Domestic security agencies have been neglected. Police and firefighters have been denied essential resources, and muddled public strategy has only spread alarm and confusion.
: : http://www.ppionline.org/ppi_ci.cfm?knlgAreaID=124&subsecid=900019&contentid=251895
: If it wasn't for Bush, there would be NO fucking homeland security at all. It would be that pussy al gore saying, "I don't want no trouble fellas, come on in the White House and make yourselves at home."
: : More Recommended Reading:
: : The Great Unraveling: Losing Our Way in the New Century, by Paul Krugman
: : Dude, Where’s My Country?, by Michael Moore
: : Lies (And the Lying Liars Who Tell Them): A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right, by Al Franken
: : The Bush Dyslexicon: Observations on a National Disorder, by Mark Crispin Miller
: : Bushwhacked: Life in George W. Bush’s America, by Molly Ivins
: : Bush’s Brain: How Karl Rove Made George W. Bush Presidential, by James Moore
: : The Lies of George W. Bush: Mastering the Politics of Deception, by David Corn
: : Weapons of Mass Deception: The Uses of Propaganda in Bush’s War on Iraq, by Sheldon Rampton, John C. Stauben
: You have a healthy dose of hippy books there. Why don't you throw in a book that isn't a smear campaign against the country? You know, just for shits and giggles.
It's not a smear campaign against the country, it's for improving the country; there's a difference. If you don't want to accept it, fine, but please don't bash those that do write these books, or speak their thoughts/opinions, only because they're doing it against someone you may currently be in favor of, that, my friend, is unpatriotic.