The Truth... Please help me understand!
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| Tue, 08-24-2004 - 4:49pm |
Bush's tax cuts overwhelmingly favor the wealthy.
The top 1% will save more than $30,000 per year while 31% save nothing at all. Source: Citizens for Tax Justice and AFL/CIO
The nation faces a record $500 billion deficit. The biggest cause of the deficit is Bush's tax cuts. Source: www.govexec.com
President Bush is under-funding education with the smallest percentage increase in funding in eight years. Source: Committee on Education and the Workforce
2.9 million jobs have been lost under the Bush Administration. Source: New York Times
Bush misled the public about the reasons for going to war with Iraq. No weapons of mass destruction have been found. Source: The Guardian
Bush's Medicare bill helps corporations, not the elderly. 43.6 million U.S. citizens do not have health care. Source: www.misleader.org
Halliburton, the company where Vice President Dick Cheney was CEO, was given multi-billion dollar contracts in Iraq without competitive bidding. Source: New York Review of Books
Pentagon officials found that Halliburton overcharged the U.S. government by $61 million for gasoline in Iraq. Source: Associated Press
2 – Number of nations George W. Bush has attacked and taken over since coming into office.
130 – Approximate number of countries (out of a total of 191 recognized by the United Nations) with a U.S. military presence.
10 million – Estimated number of people worldwide who took to the streets in opposition to the invasion of Iraq , setting an all-time record for simultaneous protest.
$100 billion – Estimated cost of the war in Iraq to U.S. citizens by the end of the year.
104 – Number of American combat deaths in Iraq between May 2003 (when Bush landed on an aircraft carrier and declared an end to the open conflict and the middle of October 2003.
907 – Number of U.S. deaths in Iraq as of July 26th, 2004.
37 – Percentage of Americans who approve of Bush's handling of the situation with Iraq. Source: NY Times
95 - Percentage of Army Reserve Soldiers in Iraq and other Middle East bases experiencing significant pay problems. Source: GAO report
What the bipartisan 9/11 commission said on the link between Iraq and Al Qaeda: "We have no credible evidence that Iraq and Al Qaeda cooperated on attacks against the United States."
BUSH: MONEY MANAGER
$28 billion - Amount of proposed cuts to veterans' benefits in the congressional Republicans' budget resolution for fiscal year 2004.
$127 billion - Amount of U.S. budget surplus in fiscal year 2001, the last year Clinton was president.
$374 billion - Amount of U.S. budget deficit in fiscal year 2003.
#1 - This year's deficit will be the biggest in U.S. history.
$7.29 trillion - Current national debt.
$1.98 billion - Amount on average the national debt increases each day.
$23,396 – Amount of each citizen's share of the national debt as of October 21, 2003.
#1 – Record for most bankruptcies filed in a single year (1.57 million) set in 2002.
#1 – Set record in 2003, for most residential real-estate foreclosures in a one-quarter period.
1.6 – Percentage increase in economic growth since Bush took office, the slowest rate of increase over an equivalent period for any administration in 50 years.
Bush: Has Lots of Friends
$11.5 million – Amount of hard money Bush raised through the controversial “Pioneerâ€
program. Pioneers pledged to raise at least $100,000 by bundling together checks from friends and family.
212 – Total number of Pioneers identified by the Bush 2000 campaign.
524 – Total number of Pioneers later revealed through court documents.
61 – Number of Pioneers subsequently named to government posts.
19 – Number of Pioneers subsequently appointed as U.S. ambassadors.
2 – Number of Pioneers subsequently appointed to the Cabinet.
$5.3 million – Amount Bush raised this past September 30 toward his re-election campaign, breaking the one-day record he himself set.
Bush: The Environment
58 million- Number of acres of public lands Bush has opened to road building, logging, and drilling.
200 - Number of public-health and environmental laws Bush has worked to downgrade or weaken since taking office.
#1 - Rank of U.S. worldwide in terms of greenhouse gas emissions.
Bush: More Like the French Than He Would Care to Admit
28 - Number of vacation days Bush took in August this year, the second-longest vacation of any president in U.S. history (Record holder: Richard M. Nixon.)
13 - Number of vacation days the average American receives each year.
Bush: Loves to Travel
65 – Approximate number of fund-raisers attended in 2002.
0 – Number of trips taken to Afghanistan before waging war against that country.
0 – Number of trips taken to Iraq before waging war against that country.
0 – Number of funerals or memorials Bush has attended for soldiers killed in Iraq.
Bush: Tough On Crime
#1 – First president to execute a federal prisoner in the last 40 years.
8 – Number of days after that first execution that a second federal prisoner was executed.
#1 – As governor of Texas , executed more prisoners (152) than any governor in modern U.S. history.
Bush: Employment Record
2.4 million – Number of Americans who lost their jobs during the first two and half years of the Bush administration.
9 million – Number of workers unemployed as of September 2003.
#1 – The administration is well on its way to being the first since Herbert Hoover's to preside over an overall loss of jobs during its complete term in office.
Bush: Helping the Rich
#1 – Has assembled the wealthiest Cabinet in U.S. history.
$10.9 million – Average wealth of the members of Bush's original 16-person Cabinet.
75 – Percentage of Americans unaffected by Bush's 2003 cuts in the capital-gains and dividend taxes.
$42,000 – Average savings members of Bush's Cabinet are expected to receive this year as a result of cuts in capital-gains and dividends taxes.
$42,228 – Median household income in the U.S. in 2001.
$116,000 – Amount Vice President Dick Cheney is expected to save each year in taxes.
9 – Number of members of Bush's Defense Policy Board who also sit on the corporate board of, or advise, at least one defense contractor.
Bush: Helping the Poor
43.6 million – Number of Americans without health insurance as of 2002.
$300 million – Amount cut in December 2002 from the federal program that provides subsidies to poor families so they can heat their homes during the winter.
Bush: Foreign Relationships
35 – Number of countries to which U.S. has suspended military assistance after they failed to sign agreements giving Americans immunity from prosecution before the International Criminal Court.
#1 – First American president to ignore the Geneva Convention on warfare (by refusing to allow inspectors access to U.S.-held prisoners of war).
Bush: Public Opinion

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I was not refering to the Gov. While in Korea I was one of few I knew that enjoyed the company of the local Koreans. I had befriended a few of them who had no problem with us. However they were quick to explain that some of their family members especially older ones were less then understanding of our place in that country. Several had lost children, parents, spouses etc. Which though it may not be all our fault, they believed that it was because of our soldiers that they were lost. Also alot of them had experienced rape and tourcher from US soldiers. While this has nothing to do with the current government, there is deep seeded anger, frustration, and yes hatred amongst some of the common people in other countries. I found similar problems in Thailand while I was there. I could care less about the crud that was shown on tv and radio about protesters. It's the regular everyday people I met while I was in country that struck me.
As I said this has little to do with the current gov. but the fact is that there are alot of people that do not like us, at the very least. I have been out of service for a few years so I really don't know what the common people of the middle east think of us, but you shouldn't be so quick to assume that the hatred that is spoke of on TV, by protesters, and Gov. propiganda is not shared at least partially by regular everyday members of these countries. They may have other freadoms they didn't have under the old rule, but they also have certain religious beliefs and ideas that we will never fully understand. Some feel, as I understand it that we are defiling their country by being there. Top that off they have lived under their own beliefs and teachings for so long that many do not grasp the concept that there old ways are wrong, which can cause anger , hatred etc. towards our soldiers, country, gov. who are taking what they know away from them and telling them that we are write and their ways are wrong. No matter how wrong we think their ways are, you can not take all they know and force a new way of life on them and expect everyone to be happy with the change. So although many of us may like to think we saved them from the awfull things that were happening, and they are all going to be happy about our presence there, that is not always the way it is.
Venus
"Doubt that, hon. Are you aware that most of the people who have 401Ks or IRAs were affected by these cuts?"
Your answer is incorrect. Your 401's and IRA do not get and never have been taxed when you complete a trade within the plan. So Bush's cut did not effect people whom ONLY have money in 401's or IRA's.
Sorry, Venus.
Miffy - Co-CL For The Politics Today Board
Renee ~~~
Renee ~~~
This argument makes me feel absolutely ashamed to be living here. Have people completely lost their minds? Do people actually think it's 'not that bad' that American soldiers tortured (YES, tortured) Iraqi prisoners? How can you say something like that? Why is it so hard to believe that our country could be doing horrible things to people? It's very dangerous, I think, to see America as being more 'civilized' than any other country, simply b/c we're America, no questions asked. Our country has done horrible things to other countries. Really, really awful things. But people are able to tell themselves that we do it for good reasons, b/c we're Americans...we wouldn't do anything bad to anyone! And if we do something that looks bad, well, it's just the liberal media making it look that way!
Yes, Saddam Hussein and the Taliban did horrible, unspeakable things to people. So we rush in to 'save' those people, and oops, a few 'bad apples' end up raping children and sexually humiliating a few detainees. But at least we let them live, right?
America is in a really bad situation right now, whether you choose to see it or not, and we're not going to get anywhere unless people wake up.
The capital gains and dividend tax cuts affected every single person in this country by encouraging investment in the economy. Many economists credit these cuts with the economic growth we are now enjoying.
No one is condoning any of these actions-any US soldiers who are caught in these activities are prosecuted-unlike the government of Iraq, which encouraged and PARTICIPATED in the behavior. It was a US soldier who turned in the offenders at Abu Ghraib. A few horrendous people manage to make their way into our military, the same way they manage to make their way into every military on earth, and into the general population. Don't condemn our entire nation and our entire military for the actions of a few. No one's saying those actions are ok, only that they don't rise to the level of what Saddam and his henchmen have done, and that they are not representative of our nation or our military as a whole.
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