There is a series of pictures on the internet showing Mexican students hoisting a Mexican flag up a flag pole at the Montebello H.S. in California during a strudent protest against immigration reform. An e-mailed response...
Yup, the event took place and clearly angry protest, of any kind, can create "bad publicity" for ANY movement or public response, when supporters run amok, especially among student protesters at this anti-immigration reform rally, as per your e-mail.
Progressive and Conservative movements have to constantly defend the "bad conduct" of their supporters all the time...ask the Tea Party Movement; they would certainly understand bad behavior by some of their more "demonstrative" supporters and struggle, like all movements, to defend the actions of supporters who are not media-savvy. It's a constant pain for professional staff members of all movements. Remember John McCain's retort to a supporter who called Obama a Muslim during a town-hall meeting?
I would however like to share a view from Mexico, since I live in Mexico.
There are over a million ex-pats (mostly retired Americans) living in Mexico (Alaska...600,000 population) and I live in the largest ex-pat community. After a year, I am surprised at the number of Americans, after living here for 20 years, who have never tried to learn Spanish. And today being Cinco de Mayo, I am surprised at the number of Americans who hoist up the U.S. flag, especially on the 4th of July.
When it happens here, there is no commotion or remarks, in fact, our plaza, in town, has a Mexican, Canadian and U.S. flag waving.
In the end, the ugly "Nativist" movements in America (read anti-Catholic, Italian, Irish immigrant, etc.) have been part of our national DNA since the days of our Founding Fathers. These were not our proudest moments...
I often times ask my ex-pats friends here why we don't practice here in Mexico, what we insist upon immigrants in the U.S. You would think what's good for the goose is good for the gander.
Just a thought...Paz!
May 5, 2010
You're Angry NOW but Silent Between 2000 and 2008?
There are thousands of e-mail missives suggesting deep anger with the Obama Administration, especially with the Healthcare Reform Bill, and yet these very same people were surprisingly quiet between 2000 and 2008, while corporate greed ran rampant and a war predicated on the threat of WMDs was found groundless.
This e-mail response to such angry pandering will give you a quick list of Healthcare Reform benefits while also listing went when wrong between 2000 and 2008 whereby today's angry mob were rendered speechless or complicit. Why the disconnect with a false-threat and engaged war and anger when helping fellow Americans with life and death decisions.
Feel free to cut and paste the following points when responding to angry e-mail.
You’re Mad NOW…Where Were You Between 2000 and 2008?
I don’t get it…people are angry NOW but didn’t say a word between 2000 and 2008. And conservatives are angry because Healthcare reform is helping fellow Americans?
I’ve added a nice simple list of benefits embodied in the new Healthcare Reform Bill, hammered out the GOP and Democrats. Not perfect? Of course not, that’s why a democracy must travel the bumpy road of compromise. What I want to know is what REALLY upsets you about this bill. What benefits listed below do people disapprove of so vehemently while saying nothing when we went to war losing hundred-of-thousands of American and civilian lives, when in fact there never were WMDs?
Mind you, that Republicans have been in power 21 of the last 30 years and did NOTHING while everyone knew something had to be done in healthcare reform starting from Truman, Nixon and forward.
In addition, at the bottom of this missive, I provided 100 screw-ups between 2000 and 2008 that somehow left conservative Republicans speechless (Read: No Angry e-mail). Healthcare reform… bad: War and corporate greed…good?
WITHIN THE FIRST YEAR OF ENACTMENT
*Insurance companies will be barred from dropping people from coverage when they get sick. Lifetime coverage limits will be eliminated and annual limits are to be restricted. (You really don’t like this?)
*Insurers will be barred from excluding children for coverage because of pre-existing conditions. (You really don’t like this?)
*Young adults will be able to stay on their parents' health plans until the age of 26. Many health plans currently drop dependents from coverage when they turn 19 or finish college. (You really don’t like this?)
*Uninsured adults with a pre-existing conditions will be able to obtain health coverage through a new program that will expire once new insurance exchanges begin operating in 2014. (You really don’t like this?)
*A temporary reinsurance program is created to help companies maintain health coverage for early retirees between the ages of 55 and 64. This also expires in 2014. (You really don’t like this?)
*Medicare drug beneficiaries who fall into the "doughnut hole" coverage gap will get a $250 rebate. The bill eventually closes that gap which currently begins after $2,700 is spent on drugs. Coverage starts again after $6,154 is spent. (This was a Bush initiative!)
*A tax credit becomes available for some small businesses to help provide coverage for workers. (You really don’t like this?)
*A 10 percent tax on indoor tanning services that use ultraviolet lamps goes into effect on July 1. (Or should we subsidize people who should know better than soak themselves in ultra-violet rays and develop skin cancer?)
WHAT HAPPENS IN 2011
*Medicare provides 10 percent bonus payments to primary care physicians and general surgeons.
*Medicare beneficiaries will be able to get a free annual wellness visit and personalized prevention plan service. New health plans will be required to cover preventive services with little or no cost to patients.
*A new program under the Medicaid plan for the poor goes into effect in October that allows states to offer home and community based care for the disabled that might otherwise require institutional care. (You really don’t like this?)
*Payments to insurers offering Medicare Advantage services are frozen at 2010 levels. These payments are to be gradually reduced to bring them more in line with traditional Medicare.
*Employers are required to disclose the value of health benefits on employees' W-2 tax forms.
*An annual fee is imposed on pharmaceutical companies according to market share. The fee does not apply to companies with sales of $5 million or less.
WHAT HAPPENS IN 2012
*Physician payment reforms are implemented in Medicare to enhance primary care services and encourage doctors to form "accountable care organizations" to improve quality and efficiency of care. (You really don’t like this?)
*An incentive program is established in Medicare for acute care hospitals to improve quality outcomes. (You really don’t like this?)
*The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which oversees the government programs, begin tracking hospital readmission rates and puts in place financial incentives to reduce preventable readmissions. (You really don’t like this?)
WHAT HAPPENS IN 2013
*A national pilot program is established for Medicare on payment bundling to encourage doctors, hospitals and other care providers to better coordinate patient care.
*The threshold for claiming medical expenses on itemized tax returns is raised to 10 percent from 7.5 percent of income. The threshold remains at 7.5 percent for the elderly through 2016.
*The Medicare payroll tax is raised to 2.35 percent from 1.45 percent for individuals earning more than $200,000 and married couples with incomes over $250,000. The tax is imposed on some investment income for that income group.
*A 2.9 percent excise tax in imposed on the sale of medical devices. Anything generally purchased at the retail level by the public is excluded from the tax. (I purchased my CPAP machine on CPAP.com for $350, the insurance company was charged $2,500 for the same machine. Hmmmmm?)
WHAT HAPPENS IN 2014
*State health insurance exchanges for small businesses and individuals open. (You really don’t like this, because the GOP insisted upon it!)
*Most people will be required to obtain health insurance coverage or pay a 2.5% tax if they don't. Healthcare tax credits become available to help people with incomes up to 400 percent of poverty purchase coverage on the exchange.
*Health plans no longer can exclude people from coverage due to pre-existing conditions. (You really don’t like this?)
*Employers with 50 or more workers who do not offer coverage face a fine of $2,000 for each employee if any worker receives subsidized insurance on the exchange. The first 30 employees aren't counted for the fine.
*Health insurance companies begin paying a fee based on their market share.
WHAT HAPPENS IN 2015
*Medicare creates a physician payment program aimed at rewarding quality of care rather than volume of services. (You really don’t like this?)
WHAT HAPPENS IN 2018
*An excise tax on high-cost employer-provided plans is imposed. The first $27,500 of a family plan and $10,200 for individual coverage is exempt from the tax. Higher levels are set for plans covering retirees and people in high risk professions. (Reporting by Donna Smith; Editing by David Alexander and Eric Beech)
AND CONSERVATIVES DIDN”T GET UPSET WITH ANY OF THE FOLLOWING?
1. Failing to build a real international coalition prior to the Iraq invasion, forcing the US to shoulder the full cost and consequences of the war.
2. Approving the demobilization of the Iraqi Army in May, 2003 – bypassing the Joint Chiefs of Staff and reversing an earlier position, the President left hundreds of thousands of armed Iraqis disgruntled and unemployed, contributing significantly to the massive security problems American troops have faced during occupation.
3. Not equipping troops in Iraq with adequate body armor or armored HUMVEES.
4. Ignoring the advice Gen. Eric Shinseki regarding the need for more troops in Iraq – then Bush is belatedly adding troops, having allowed the security situation to deteriorate in exactly the way Shinseki said it would if there were not enough troops.
5. Ignoring plans drawn up by the Army War College and other war-planning agencies, which predicted most of the worst security and infrastructure problems America faced in the early days of the Iraq occupation.
6. Making a case for war which ignored intelligence that there were no Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq.
7. Deriding Clinton for "nation-building" during the 2000 debates, then engaging American troops in one of the most explicit instances of nation building in American history.
8. Predicting along with others in his administration that US troops would be greeted as liberators in Iraq.
9. Predicting Iraq would pay for its own reconstruction.
10. Wildly underestimating the cost of the war.
11. Trusting Ahmed Chalabi, who has dismissed faulty intelligence he provided the President as necessary for getting the Americans to topple Saddam.
12. Disbanding the Sunni Baathist managers responsible for Iraq's water, electricity, sewer system and all the other critical parts of that country's infrastructure.
13. Failing to give UN weapons inspectors enough time to certify if weapons existed in Iraq.
14. Including discredited intelligence concerning Nigerian Yellow Cake in his 2003 State of the Union.
15. Announcing that "major combat operations in Iraq have ended" aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln on May 1, 2003, below a "Mission Accomplished" banner – more U.S. soldiers have died in combat since Bush's announcement than before it.
16. Awarding a multi-billion dollar contract to Halliburton in Iraq, which then repeatedly overcharged the government and served troops dirty food.
17. Refusing to cede any control of Post-invasion Iraq to the international community, meaning reconstruction has received limited aid from European allies or the U.N.
18. Failing to convince NATO allies why invading Iraq was important.
19. Having no real plan for the occupation of Iraq.
20. Limiting bidding on Iraq construction projects to "coalition partners," unnecessarily alienating important allies France, Germany and Russia.
21. Diverting $700 million into Iraq invasion planning without informing Congress.
22. Shutting down an Iraqi newspaper for "inciting violence" – the move, which led in short order to street fighting in Fallujah, incited more violence than the newspaper ever had.
23. Telling Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan about plans to go to war with Iraq before Secretary of State Colin Powell.
24. Allowing several members of the Bin Laden family to leave the country just days after 9/11, some of them without being questioned by the FBI.
25. Focusing on missile defense at the expense of counter-terrorism prior to 9/11.
26. Thinking al Qaeda could not attack without state sponsors, and ignoring evidence of a growing threat unassociated with "rogue states" like Iraq or North Korea.
27. Threatening to veto the Homeland Security department – The President now concedes such a department "provides the ability for our agencies to coordinate better and to work together better than it was before."
28. Opposing the creation of the September 11th commission, which the President then expects "to contain important recommendations for preventing future attacks."
29. Denying documents to the 9/11 commission, only relenting after the commissioners threatened a subpoena.
30. Failing to pay more attention to an August 6, 2001 PDB entitled "Bin laden Determined to Attack in U.S."
31. Repeatedly ignoring warnings of terrorists planning to use aircraft before 9/11.
32. Appointing the ultra-secretive Henry Kissinger to head the 9/11 commission – Kissinger stepped down weeks later due to conflicts of interest.
33. Asking for testimony before the 9/11 commission be limited to one hour, a position from which the president later backtracked.
34. Not allowing national Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice to testify before the 9/11 commission – Bush changed his mind as pressure mounted.
35. Cutting an FBI request for counter-terrorism funds by two-thirds after 9/11.
36. Telling Americans there was a link between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda.
37. Failing to adequately secure the nation's nuclear weapons labs.
38. Not feeling a sense of urgency about terrorism or al Qaeda before 9/11.
39. Reducing resources and troop levels in Afghanistan and out before it was fully secure.
40. Not providing security in Afghanistan outside of Kabul, leaving nearly 80% of the Afghan population unprotected in areas controlled by Feudal warlords and local militias.
41. Committing inadequate resources for the reconstruction of Afghanistan.
42. Counting too heavily on locally trained troops to fill the void in Afghanistan once U.S. forces were relocated to Iraq.
43. Not committing US ground troops to the capture of Osama Bin Laden, when he was cornered in the Tora Bora region of Afghanistan in November, 2001.
44. Allowing opium production to resume on a massive scale after the ouster of the Taliban.
45. Opposing an independent inquiry into the intelligence failures surrounding WMD – later, upon signing off on just such a commission, Bush claimed he was "determined to make sure that American intelligence is as accurate as possible for every challenge in the future."
46. Saying: "We found the weapons of mass destruction. We found biological laboratories."
47. Trusting intelligence gathered by Vice President Cheney's and Secretary Rumsfeld's "Office of Special Plans."
48. Spending $6.5 billion on nuclear weapons this year to develop new nuclear weapons this year – 50% more in real dollars than the average during the cold war – while short-changing the troops on body armor.
49. Ignoring the importance of the Middle East peace process, which has deteriorated with little oversight or strategy evident in the region.
50. Siding with China in February, 2004 against a democratic referenda proposed by Taiwan, a notable shift from an earlier pledge to stand with "oppressed peoples until the day of their freedom finally arrives."
51. Undermining the War on Terrorism by preemptively invading Iraq.
52. Failing to develop a specific plan for dealing with North Korea.
53. Abandoning the United States' traditional role as an evenhanded negotiator in the Middle East peace process.
54. Signing a report endorsing outsourcing with thousands of American workers having their jobs shipped overseas.
55. Instituting steel tariffs deemed illegal by the World Trade Organization – Bush repealed them 20-months later when the European Union pledged to impose retaliatory sanctions on up to $2.2 billion in exports from the United States.
56. Promoting economic policies that failed to create new jobs.
57. Promoting economic policies that failed to help small businesses
58. Pledging a "jobs and growth" package would create 1,836,000 new jobs by the end of 2003 and 5.5 million new jobs by 2004—the president fell 6,000,000 jobs short of the mark.
59. Running up a foreign deficit of "such record-breaking proportions that it threatens the financial stability of the global economy."
60. Issuing inaccurate budget forecasts accompanying proposals to reduce the deficit, omitting the continued costs of Iraq, Afghanistan and elements of Homeland Security.
61. Claiming his 2003 tax cut would give 23 million small business owners an average tax cut of $2,042 when "nearly four out of every five tax filers (79%) with small business income would receive less" than that amount.
62. Passing tax cuts for the wealthy while falsely claiming "people in the 10 percent bracket" were benefiting most."
63. Passing successive tax cuts largely responsible for turning a projected surplus of $5 trillion into a projected deficit of $4.3 trillion.
64. Moving to strip millions of overtime pay.
65. Not enforcing corporate tax laws.
66. Backing down from a plan to make CEOs more accountable when "the corporate crowd" protested.
67. Not lobbying oil cartels to change their mind about cutting oil production.
68. Passing tax cuts weighted heavily to help the wealthy.
69. Moving to allow greater media consolidation.
70. Nominating a notorious proponent of outsourcing, Anthony F. Raimondo, to be the new manufacturing Czar—Raimondo withdrew his name days later amidst a flurry of harsh criticism.
71. Ignoring calls to extend unemployment benefits with long-term unemployment reaching a twenty-year high
72. Threatening to veto pension legislation that would give companies much needed temporary relief.
73. Under-funding No Child Left Behind
74. Breaking his campaign pledge to increase the size of Pell grants.
75. Signing off on an FY 2005 budget proposing the smallest increase in education funding in nine years.
76. Under-funding the Title I Program, specifically targeted for disadvantaged kids, by $7.2 billion.
77. Freezing Teacher Quality State Grants, cutting off training opportunities for about 30,000 teachers, and leaving 92,000 less teachers trained than the president called for in his own No Child Left Behind bill.
78. Freezing funding for English language training programs.
79. Freezing funding for after school programs, potentially eliminating 50,000 children from after-school programs.
80. Not leveling with Americans about the cost of Medicare – the president told Congress his new Medicare bill would cost $400 billion over ten years despite conclusions by his own analysts the bill would cost upwards of $500 billion over that period.
81. Silencing Medicare actuary Richard Foster when his estimates for the Administration's Medicare bill were too high.
82. Letting business associate David Halbert, who owns a company which stands to make millions from new discount drug cards, craft key elements of the new Medicare bill.
83. Underfunding health care for troops and veterans.
84. Allowing loopholes to persist in Mad-Cow regulations.
85. Relaxing food labeling restrictions on health claims.
86. Falsely claiming the restrictions on stem cell research would not hamper medical progress.
87. Reducing action against improper drug advertising by 80 percent.
88. Abandoning the Kyoto Treaty without offering an alternative for reducing greenhouse effect.
89. Counting on a voluntary program to reduce emissions of harmful gasses—so far only a tiny fraction of American companies have signed up.
90. Gutting clean air standards for aging power plants.
91. Weakening energy efficiency standards.
92. Relaxing dumping standards for mountaintop mining, and opening the Florida Everglades and Oregon's Siskiyou National Forest to mining.
93. Lifting protection for more than 200 million acres of public land.
94. Limiting public challenges to logging projects and increased logging in protected areas, including Alaska's Tongass National Forest.
95. Weakening environmental standards for snowmobiles and other off-road vehicles while pushing for exemptions for air pollution proposals for five categories of industrial facilities.
96. Opposing legislation that would require greater fuel efficiency for passenger cars.
97. Reducing inspections, penalties for violations, and prosecution of environmental crimes.
98. Misleading the public about the Washington mad cow case and the likely effectiveness of USDA's weak testing program.
99. Withdrawing public information on chemical plant dangers, previously used to hold facilities accountable for safety improvements.
100. Cutting grants to state and local governments in FY 2005, forcing states to make massive cuts in job training, education, housing and environment.
This e-mail response to such angry pandering will give you a quick list of Healthcare Reform benefits while also listing went when wrong between 2000 and 2008 whereby today's angry mob were rendered speechless or complicit. Why the disconnect with a false-threat and engaged war and anger when helping fellow Americans with life and death decisions.
Feel free to cut and paste the following points when responding to angry e-mail.
You’re Mad NOW…Where Were You Between 2000 and 2008?
I don’t get it…people are angry NOW but didn’t say a word between 2000 and 2008. And conservatives are angry because Healthcare reform is helping fellow Americans?
I’ve added a nice simple list of benefits embodied in the new Healthcare Reform Bill, hammered out the GOP and Democrats. Not perfect? Of course not, that’s why a democracy must travel the bumpy road of compromise. What I want to know is what REALLY upsets you about this bill. What benefits listed below do people disapprove of so vehemently while saying nothing when we went to war losing hundred-of-thousands of American and civilian lives, when in fact there never were WMDs?
Mind you, that Republicans have been in power 21 of the last 30 years and did NOTHING while everyone knew something had to be done in healthcare reform starting from Truman, Nixon and forward.
In addition, at the bottom of this missive, I provided 100 screw-ups between 2000 and 2008 that somehow left conservative Republicans speechless (Read: No Angry e-mail). Healthcare reform… bad: War and corporate greed…good?
WITHIN THE FIRST YEAR OF ENACTMENT
*Insurance companies will be barred from dropping people from coverage when they get sick. Lifetime coverage limits will be eliminated and annual limits are to be restricted. (You really don’t like this?)
*Insurers will be barred from excluding children for coverage because of pre-existing conditions. (You really don’t like this?)
*Young adults will be able to stay on their parents' health plans until the age of 26. Many health plans currently drop dependents from coverage when they turn 19 or finish college. (You really don’t like this?)
*Uninsured adults with a pre-existing conditions will be able to obtain health coverage through a new program that will expire once new insurance exchanges begin operating in 2014. (You really don’t like this?)
*A temporary reinsurance program is created to help companies maintain health coverage for early retirees between the ages of 55 and 64. This also expires in 2014. (You really don’t like this?)
*Medicare drug beneficiaries who fall into the "doughnut hole" coverage gap will get a $250 rebate. The bill eventually closes that gap which currently begins after $2,700 is spent on drugs. Coverage starts again after $6,154 is spent. (This was a Bush initiative!)
*A tax credit becomes available for some small businesses to help provide coverage for workers. (You really don’t like this?)
*A 10 percent tax on indoor tanning services that use ultraviolet lamps goes into effect on July 1. (Or should we subsidize people who should know better than soak themselves in ultra-violet rays and develop skin cancer?)
WHAT HAPPENS IN 2011
*Medicare provides 10 percent bonus payments to primary care physicians and general surgeons.
*Medicare beneficiaries will be able to get a free annual wellness visit and personalized prevention plan service. New health plans will be required to cover preventive services with little or no cost to patients.
*A new program under the Medicaid plan for the poor goes into effect in October that allows states to offer home and community based care for the disabled that might otherwise require institutional care. (You really don’t like this?)
*Payments to insurers offering Medicare Advantage services are frozen at 2010 levels. These payments are to be gradually reduced to bring them more in line with traditional Medicare.
*Employers are required to disclose the value of health benefits on employees' W-2 tax forms.
*An annual fee is imposed on pharmaceutical companies according to market share. The fee does not apply to companies with sales of $5 million or less.
WHAT HAPPENS IN 2012
*Physician payment reforms are implemented in Medicare to enhance primary care services and encourage doctors to form "accountable care organizations" to improve quality and efficiency of care. (You really don’t like this?)
*An incentive program is established in Medicare for acute care hospitals to improve quality outcomes. (You really don’t like this?)
*The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which oversees the government programs, begin tracking hospital readmission rates and puts in place financial incentives to reduce preventable readmissions. (You really don’t like this?)
WHAT HAPPENS IN 2013
*A national pilot program is established for Medicare on payment bundling to encourage doctors, hospitals and other care providers to better coordinate patient care.
*The threshold for claiming medical expenses on itemized tax returns is raised to 10 percent from 7.5 percent of income. The threshold remains at 7.5 percent for the elderly through 2016.
*The Medicare payroll tax is raised to 2.35 percent from 1.45 percent for individuals earning more than $200,000 and married couples with incomes over $250,000. The tax is imposed on some investment income for that income group.
*A 2.9 percent excise tax in imposed on the sale of medical devices. Anything generally purchased at the retail level by the public is excluded from the tax. (I purchased my CPAP machine on CPAP.com for $350, the insurance company was charged $2,500 for the same machine. Hmmmmm?)
WHAT HAPPENS IN 2014
*State health insurance exchanges for small businesses and individuals open. (You really don’t like this, because the GOP insisted upon it!)
*Most people will be required to obtain health insurance coverage or pay a 2.5% tax if they don't. Healthcare tax credits become available to help people with incomes up to 400 percent of poverty purchase coverage on the exchange.
*Health plans no longer can exclude people from coverage due to pre-existing conditions. (You really don’t like this?)
*Employers with 50 or more workers who do not offer coverage face a fine of $2,000 for each employee if any worker receives subsidized insurance on the exchange. The first 30 employees aren't counted for the fine.
*Health insurance companies begin paying a fee based on their market share.
WHAT HAPPENS IN 2015
*Medicare creates a physician payment program aimed at rewarding quality of care rather than volume of services. (You really don’t like this?)
WHAT HAPPENS IN 2018
*An excise tax on high-cost employer-provided plans is imposed. The first $27,500 of a family plan and $10,200 for individual coverage is exempt from the tax. Higher levels are set for plans covering retirees and people in high risk professions. (Reporting by Donna Smith; Editing by David Alexander and Eric Beech)
AND CONSERVATIVES DIDN”T GET UPSET WITH ANY OF THE FOLLOWING?
1. Failing to build a real international coalition prior to the Iraq invasion, forcing the US to shoulder the full cost and consequences of the war.
2. Approving the demobilization of the Iraqi Army in May, 2003 – bypassing the Joint Chiefs of Staff and reversing an earlier position, the President left hundreds of thousands of armed Iraqis disgruntled and unemployed, contributing significantly to the massive security problems American troops have faced during occupation.
3. Not equipping troops in Iraq with adequate body armor or armored HUMVEES.
4. Ignoring the advice Gen. Eric Shinseki regarding the need for more troops in Iraq – then Bush is belatedly adding troops, having allowed the security situation to deteriorate in exactly the way Shinseki said it would if there were not enough troops.
5. Ignoring plans drawn up by the Army War College and other war-planning agencies, which predicted most of the worst security and infrastructure problems America faced in the early days of the Iraq occupation.
6. Making a case for war which ignored intelligence that there were no Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq.
7. Deriding Clinton for "nation-building" during the 2000 debates, then engaging American troops in one of the most explicit instances of nation building in American history.
8. Predicting along with others in his administration that US troops would be greeted as liberators in Iraq.
9. Predicting Iraq would pay for its own reconstruction.
10. Wildly underestimating the cost of the war.
11. Trusting Ahmed Chalabi, who has dismissed faulty intelligence he provided the President as necessary for getting the Americans to topple Saddam.
12. Disbanding the Sunni Baathist managers responsible for Iraq's water, electricity, sewer system and all the other critical parts of that country's infrastructure.
13. Failing to give UN weapons inspectors enough time to certify if weapons existed in Iraq.
14. Including discredited intelligence concerning Nigerian Yellow Cake in his 2003 State of the Union.
15. Announcing that "major combat operations in Iraq have ended" aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln on May 1, 2003, below a "Mission Accomplished" banner – more U.S. soldiers have died in combat since Bush's announcement than before it.
16. Awarding a multi-billion dollar contract to Halliburton in Iraq, which then repeatedly overcharged the government and served troops dirty food.
17. Refusing to cede any control of Post-invasion Iraq to the international community, meaning reconstruction has received limited aid from European allies or the U.N.
18. Failing to convince NATO allies why invading Iraq was important.
19. Having no real plan for the occupation of Iraq.
20. Limiting bidding on Iraq construction projects to "coalition partners," unnecessarily alienating important allies France, Germany and Russia.
21. Diverting $700 million into Iraq invasion planning without informing Congress.
22. Shutting down an Iraqi newspaper for "inciting violence" – the move, which led in short order to street fighting in Fallujah, incited more violence than the newspaper ever had.
23. Telling Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan about plans to go to war with Iraq before Secretary of State Colin Powell.
24. Allowing several members of the Bin Laden family to leave the country just days after 9/11, some of them without being questioned by the FBI.
25. Focusing on missile defense at the expense of counter-terrorism prior to 9/11.
26. Thinking al Qaeda could not attack without state sponsors, and ignoring evidence of a growing threat unassociated with "rogue states" like Iraq or North Korea.
27. Threatening to veto the Homeland Security department – The President now concedes such a department "provides the ability for our agencies to coordinate better and to work together better than it was before."
28. Opposing the creation of the September 11th commission, which the President then expects "to contain important recommendations for preventing future attacks."
29. Denying documents to the 9/11 commission, only relenting after the commissioners threatened a subpoena.
30. Failing to pay more attention to an August 6, 2001 PDB entitled "Bin laden Determined to Attack in U.S."
31. Repeatedly ignoring warnings of terrorists planning to use aircraft before 9/11.
32. Appointing the ultra-secretive Henry Kissinger to head the 9/11 commission – Kissinger stepped down weeks later due to conflicts of interest.
33. Asking for testimony before the 9/11 commission be limited to one hour, a position from which the president later backtracked.
34. Not allowing national Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice to testify before the 9/11 commission – Bush changed his mind as pressure mounted.
35. Cutting an FBI request for counter-terrorism funds by two-thirds after 9/11.
36. Telling Americans there was a link between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda.
37. Failing to adequately secure the nation's nuclear weapons labs.
38. Not feeling a sense of urgency about terrorism or al Qaeda before 9/11.
39. Reducing resources and troop levels in Afghanistan and out before it was fully secure.
40. Not providing security in Afghanistan outside of Kabul, leaving nearly 80% of the Afghan population unprotected in areas controlled by Feudal warlords and local militias.
41. Committing inadequate resources for the reconstruction of Afghanistan.
42. Counting too heavily on locally trained troops to fill the void in Afghanistan once U.S. forces were relocated to Iraq.
43. Not committing US ground troops to the capture of Osama Bin Laden, when he was cornered in the Tora Bora region of Afghanistan in November, 2001.
44. Allowing opium production to resume on a massive scale after the ouster of the Taliban.
45. Opposing an independent inquiry into the intelligence failures surrounding WMD – later, upon signing off on just such a commission, Bush claimed he was "determined to make sure that American intelligence is as accurate as possible for every challenge in the future."
46. Saying: "We found the weapons of mass destruction. We found biological laboratories."
47. Trusting intelligence gathered by Vice President Cheney's and Secretary Rumsfeld's "Office of Special Plans."
48. Spending $6.5 billion on nuclear weapons this year to develop new nuclear weapons this year – 50% more in real dollars than the average during the cold war – while short-changing the troops on body armor.
49. Ignoring the importance of the Middle East peace process, which has deteriorated with little oversight or strategy evident in the region.
50. Siding with China in February, 2004 against a democratic referenda proposed by Taiwan, a notable shift from an earlier pledge to stand with "oppressed peoples until the day of their freedom finally arrives."
51. Undermining the War on Terrorism by preemptively invading Iraq.
52. Failing to develop a specific plan for dealing with North Korea.
53. Abandoning the United States' traditional role as an evenhanded negotiator in the Middle East peace process.
54. Signing a report endorsing outsourcing with thousands of American workers having their jobs shipped overseas.
55. Instituting steel tariffs deemed illegal by the World Trade Organization – Bush repealed them 20-months later when the European Union pledged to impose retaliatory sanctions on up to $2.2 billion in exports from the United States.
56. Promoting economic policies that failed to create new jobs.
57. Promoting economic policies that failed to help small businesses
58. Pledging a "jobs and growth" package would create 1,836,000 new jobs by the end of 2003 and 5.5 million new jobs by 2004—the president fell 6,000,000 jobs short of the mark.
59. Running up a foreign deficit of "such record-breaking proportions that it threatens the financial stability of the global economy."
60. Issuing inaccurate budget forecasts accompanying proposals to reduce the deficit, omitting the continued costs of Iraq, Afghanistan and elements of Homeland Security.
61. Claiming his 2003 tax cut would give 23 million small business owners an average tax cut of $2,042 when "nearly four out of every five tax filers (79%) with small business income would receive less" than that amount.
62. Passing tax cuts for the wealthy while falsely claiming "people in the 10 percent bracket" were benefiting most."
63. Passing successive tax cuts largely responsible for turning a projected surplus of $5 trillion into a projected deficit of $4.3 trillion.
64. Moving to strip millions of overtime pay.
65. Not enforcing corporate tax laws.
66. Backing down from a plan to make CEOs more accountable when "the corporate crowd" protested.
67. Not lobbying oil cartels to change their mind about cutting oil production.
68. Passing tax cuts weighted heavily to help the wealthy.
69. Moving to allow greater media consolidation.
70. Nominating a notorious proponent of outsourcing, Anthony F. Raimondo, to be the new manufacturing Czar—Raimondo withdrew his name days later amidst a flurry of harsh criticism.
71. Ignoring calls to extend unemployment benefits with long-term unemployment reaching a twenty-year high
72. Threatening to veto pension legislation that would give companies much needed temporary relief.
73. Under-funding No Child Left Behind
74. Breaking his campaign pledge to increase the size of Pell grants.
75. Signing off on an FY 2005 budget proposing the smallest increase in education funding in nine years.
76. Under-funding the Title I Program, specifically targeted for disadvantaged kids, by $7.2 billion.
77. Freezing Teacher Quality State Grants, cutting off training opportunities for about 30,000 teachers, and leaving 92,000 less teachers trained than the president called for in his own No Child Left Behind bill.
78. Freezing funding for English language training programs.
79. Freezing funding for after school programs, potentially eliminating 50,000 children from after-school programs.
80. Not leveling with Americans about the cost of Medicare – the president told Congress his new Medicare bill would cost $400 billion over ten years despite conclusions by his own analysts the bill would cost upwards of $500 billion over that period.
81. Silencing Medicare actuary Richard Foster when his estimates for the Administration's Medicare bill were too high.
82. Letting business associate David Halbert, who owns a company which stands to make millions from new discount drug cards, craft key elements of the new Medicare bill.
83. Underfunding health care for troops and veterans.
84. Allowing loopholes to persist in Mad-Cow regulations.
85. Relaxing food labeling restrictions on health claims.
86. Falsely claiming the restrictions on stem cell research would not hamper medical progress.
87. Reducing action against improper drug advertising by 80 percent.
88. Abandoning the Kyoto Treaty without offering an alternative for reducing greenhouse effect.
89. Counting on a voluntary program to reduce emissions of harmful gasses—so far only a tiny fraction of American companies have signed up.
90. Gutting clean air standards for aging power plants.
91. Weakening energy efficiency standards.
92. Relaxing dumping standards for mountaintop mining, and opening the Florida Everglades and Oregon's Siskiyou National Forest to mining.
93. Lifting protection for more than 200 million acres of public land.
94. Limiting public challenges to logging projects and increased logging in protected areas, including Alaska's Tongass National Forest.
95. Weakening environmental standards for snowmobiles and other off-road vehicles while pushing for exemptions for air pollution proposals for five categories of industrial facilities.
96. Opposing legislation that would require greater fuel efficiency for passenger cars.
97. Reducing inspections, penalties for violations, and prosecution of environmental crimes.
98. Misleading the public about the Washington mad cow case and the likely effectiveness of USDA's weak testing program.
99. Withdrawing public information on chemical plant dangers, previously used to hold facilities accountable for safety improvements.
100. Cutting grants to state and local governments in FY 2005, forcing states to make massive cuts in job training, education, housing and environment.
May 1, 2010
Johns Hopkins "Cancer Update"...A Hoax!
There is a Johns Hopkins "Cancer Update" circulating the Web, that supposedly details how cancer spreads and provides methods to treat cancer. It's a hoax!
Whenever I receive an e-mail without REAL links to reputable websites, I become suspicious. The John Hopkins “Cancer Update” e-mail suggesting better therapies, while attacking common protocols used today, is malicious in that it could influence people to make bad decisions that could be deadly.
The first, and easiest search, is Snopes.com, because they cite, reference and provide real links to the referenced websites in order to combat misinformation.
Snopes.com provides a copy of the false information and declares whether the e-mail is false, true or mixed. This John Hopkins "Cancer Update" is considered FALSE ...please read!
http://www.snopes.com/medical/disease/cancerupdate.asp
More importantly, Snopes.com directs you to the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center which, in an effort to rebut such e-mail, has given a rebuttal to all contentions embedded in this bogus e-mail. Interestingly enough, there is quite a bit of misinformation on the Web suggesting that artificial sweetners are a cause for human cancer and is contained in the bogus e-mail. John Hopkins seems to disagree!
If you really want to know the latest information on cancer protocol currently accepted by reputable cancer centers, please read John Hopkins response to the above urban legend.
http://www.hopkinskimmelcancercenter.org/index.cfm/cID/1684/mpage/item.cfm/itemID/1016
Join me in combating misinformation circulating the internet by researching information before forwarding, thereby providing light, rather than heat, in all public discourse.
Whenever I receive an e-mail without REAL links to reputable websites, I become suspicious. The John Hopkins “Cancer Update” e-mail suggesting better therapies, while attacking common protocols used today, is malicious in that it could influence people to make bad decisions that could be deadly.
The first, and easiest search, is Snopes.com, because they cite, reference and provide real links to the referenced websites in order to combat misinformation.
Snopes.com provides a copy of the false information and declares whether the e-mail is false, true or mixed. This John Hopkins "Cancer Update" is considered FALSE ...please read!
http://www.snopes.com/medical/disease/cancerupdate.asp
More importantly, Snopes.com directs you to the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center which, in an effort to rebut such e-mail, has given a rebuttal to all contentions embedded in this bogus e-mail. Interestingly enough, there is quite a bit of misinformation on the Web suggesting that artificial sweetners are a cause for human cancer and is contained in the bogus e-mail. John Hopkins seems to disagree!
If you really want to know the latest information on cancer protocol currently accepted by reputable cancer centers, please read John Hopkins response to the above urban legend.
http://www.hopkinskimmelcancercenter.org/index.cfm/cID/1684/mpage/item.cfm/itemID/1016
Join me in combating misinformation circulating the internet by researching information before forwarding, thereby providing light, rather than heat, in all public discourse.
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