Saturday, October 28, 2006
Back in June the US Supreme court decided it is ok to seize private property and give it to anyone who will pay more taxes than you do. Eminent domain has been around a long time, but it used to be there at least had to be a tag on it saying it was for public use. Now the government can take your property away and give it to a corporation or someone willing to build a store which will be subject to more taxes than you currently are paying on that property.
Bush just signed the Military Commissions Act 2006, which :
1. Takes away the right of detainees to habeas corpus (the traditional right of detainees to challenge their detention)
2. Gives the US President the power to detain indefinitely anyone—US or foreign nationals, from within the US, and from abroad—it deems to have provided material support to anti-US hostilities, and even use secret and coerced evidence (do any of you remember his speech where he said if you are not supporting me and my agenda then you are the enemy????)
3. Gives US officials immunity from prosecution for torturing detainees that were captured before the end of 2005 by US military and CIA.
Amnesty International says the legislation will lead to violations of international law and standards and accuses the US Congress of “failing human rights” by voting for this Act and says it “deeply regrets that Congress failed to resist this executive pressure and instead has given a green light for violations of the USA’s international obligations.”
Striping habeas corpus and other fundamental rights:
Strip the US courts of jurisdiction to hear or consider habeas corpus appeals challenging the lawfulness or conditions of detention of anyone held in US custody as an “enemy combatant.”
Prohibit any person from invoking the Geneva Conventions or their protocols as a source of rights in any action in any US court.
Permit civilians captured far from any battlefield to be tried by military commission rather than civilian courts, contradicting international standards and case law.
Limit the right of charged detainees to be represented by counsel of their choosing.
* Fail to provide any guarantee that trials will be conducted within a reasonable time.
* Permit the executive to convene military commissions to try “alien unlawful enemy combatants”, as determined by the executive under a dangerously broad definition, in trials that would provide foreign nationals so labeled with a lower standard of justice than US citizens accused of the same crimes. This would violate the prohibition on the discriminatory application of fair trial rights
* Establish military commissions whose impartiality, independence and competence would be in doubt, due to the overarching role that the executive, primarily the Secretary of Defense, would play in procedures and in appointments of military judges and military officers.
* Permit, in violation of international law, the use of evidence extracted under cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, or as a result of “outrages upon personal dignity, particularly humiliating or degrading treatment”, as defined under international law.
* Permit the use of classified evidence against a defendant, without the defendant necessarily being able effectively to challenge the “sources, methods or activities” by which the government acquired the evidence.
* Give the military commissions the power to hand down death sentences, in contravention of international standards…. The clemency authority would be … President Bush [who] has led a pattern of official public commentary on the presumed guilt of the detainees, and has overseen a system that has systematically denied the rights of detainees.
* Permit the executive to determine who is an “enemy combatant” under any “competent tribunal” established by the executive.
* Narrow the scope of the War Crimes Act by not expressly criminalizing acts that constitute “outrages upon personal dignity, particularly humiliating and degrading treatment” banned under Article 3 common to the four Geneva Conventions.
* Prohibit the US courts from using “foreign or international law” to inform their decisions in relation to the War Crimes Act. The President has the authority to “interpret the meaning and application of the Geneva Conventions.”
* Endorse the administration’s “war paradigm”—under which the USA has selectively applied the laws of war and rejected international human rights law.
In the last five years the administration has systematically engaged in violations of international law that have included:
* Secret detention
* Enforced disappearance
* Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment
* Outrages upon personal dignity, including humiliating treatment
* Denial and restriction of habeas corpus
* Indefinite detention without charge or trial
* Prolonged incommunicado detention
* Arbitrary detention
* Unfair trial procedures
Yet you keep hearing Bush and friends (there was a moose and a squirrel that had more credibility than the current administration.. ) keep portraying the USA as a nation of laws and one that in the “war on terror” is committed to what it calls the “non-negotiable demands of human dignity,” including the “rule of law.”
The newly signed Military Commissions Act of 2006 in fact violates international law. Thousands of detainees remain in indefinite detention without charge or trial in US custody in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantánamo. In passing the Military Commissions Act, Congress has failed these detainees and their families. Congress has passed into law, the same way Germany did for Hitler, the means to the demise of the land of the free.
Bush just signed the Military Commissions Act 2006, which :
1. Takes away the right of detainees to habeas corpus (the traditional right of detainees to challenge their detention)
2. Gives the US President the power to detain indefinitely anyone—US or foreign nationals, from within the US, and from abroad—it deems to have provided material support to anti-US hostilities, and even use secret and coerced evidence (do any of you remember his speech where he said if you are not supporting me and my agenda then you are the enemy????)
3. Gives US officials immunity from prosecution for torturing detainees that were captured before the end of 2005 by US military and CIA.
Amnesty International says the legislation will lead to violations of international law and standards and accuses the US Congress of “failing human rights” by voting for this Act and says it “deeply regrets that Congress failed to resist this executive pressure and instead has given a green light for violations of the USA’s international obligations.”
Striping habeas corpus and other fundamental rights:
Strip the US courts of jurisdiction to hear or consider habeas corpus appeals challenging the lawfulness or conditions of detention of anyone held in US custody as an “enemy combatant.”
Prohibit any person from invoking the Geneva Conventions or their protocols as a source of rights in any action in any US court.
Permit civilians captured far from any battlefield to be tried by military commission rather than civilian courts, contradicting international standards and case law.
Limit the right of charged detainees to be represented by counsel of their choosing.
* Fail to provide any guarantee that trials will be conducted within a reasonable time.
* Permit the executive to convene military commissions to try “alien unlawful enemy combatants”, as determined by the executive under a dangerously broad definition, in trials that would provide foreign nationals so labeled with a lower standard of justice than US citizens accused of the same crimes. This would violate the prohibition on the discriminatory application of fair trial rights
* Establish military commissions whose impartiality, independence and competence would be in doubt, due to the overarching role that the executive, primarily the Secretary of Defense, would play in procedures and in appointments of military judges and military officers.
* Permit, in violation of international law, the use of evidence extracted under cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, or as a result of “outrages upon personal dignity, particularly humiliating or degrading treatment”, as defined under international law.
* Permit the use of classified evidence against a defendant, without the defendant necessarily being able effectively to challenge the “sources, methods or activities” by which the government acquired the evidence.
* Give the military commissions the power to hand down death sentences, in contravention of international standards…. The clemency authority would be … President Bush [who] has led a pattern of official public commentary on the presumed guilt of the detainees, and has overseen a system that has systematically denied the rights of detainees.
* Permit the executive to determine who is an “enemy combatant” under any “competent tribunal” established by the executive.
* Narrow the scope of the War Crimes Act by not expressly criminalizing acts that constitute “outrages upon personal dignity, particularly humiliating and degrading treatment” banned under Article 3 common to the four Geneva Conventions.
* Prohibit the US courts from using “foreign or international law” to inform their decisions in relation to the War Crimes Act. The President has the authority to “interpret the meaning and application of the Geneva Conventions.”
* Endorse the administration’s “war paradigm”—under which the USA has selectively applied the laws of war and rejected international human rights law.
In the last five years the administration has systematically engaged in violations of international law that have included:
* Secret detention
* Enforced disappearance
* Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment
* Outrages upon personal dignity, including humiliating treatment
* Denial and restriction of habeas corpus
* Indefinite detention without charge or trial
* Prolonged incommunicado detention
* Arbitrary detention
* Unfair trial procedures
Yet you keep hearing Bush and friends (there was a moose and a squirrel that had more credibility than the current administration.. ) keep portraying the USA as a nation of laws and one that in the “war on terror” is committed to what it calls the “non-negotiable demands of human dignity,” including the “rule of law.”
The newly signed Military Commissions Act of 2006 in fact violates international law. Thousands of detainees remain in indefinite detention without charge or trial in US custody in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantánamo. In passing the Military Commissions Act, Congress has failed these detainees and their families. Congress has passed into law, the same way Germany did for Hitler, the means to the demise of the land of the free.
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Overdue Impeachment .. Vote against Facism.
This is going to be a long entry. With the election right around the corner, there are some things you need to consider before you go cast your vote. If you have been reading my blog, you know I am pretty much anti-Bush, but I think you need to know some of the reasons. And since I know this is going to be a long haul, stop now, go get your cuppa (of whatever you usually drink) and get comfy.
There are 14 criteria for determining if you are dealing with a fascist regime. These 14 points came from a professor who studies fascist governments.
1. Powerful & continuing nationalism
flags fly everywhere,
2. Distain for the recognition of human rights
looking the other way or even supporting torture, imprisonment for long periods with no recourse,
3. identifying enemies or scapegoats as unifying cause
rallying people to stop or get rid of perceived foes (illegal aliens/undocumented workers?)
4. Supremacy of the military
disproportionate funding to the military even when there are homeland issues of major concern.
5. Rampant sexism
6. Controlled mass media
7. Obsession with national security
Even your toothpaste cannot be taken onboard a plane now.
8. Religion & government intertwined
(God wants George W. to be president???? Yes he actually said that.) Christian sentiments are continually espoused by the current administration.
9. Corporate power protected
Can you say Enron?
10. Labor power suppressed
11. Disdain for intellectuals and the arts
Free expression openly attacked
12. Obsession with crime and punishment
13. Rampant crony and corruption
14. Fraudulent elections
Sometimes elections are complete shams. Other times the judiciary is used to control elections.
Ok, I could not help it, I had to make a few comments along the way. The current administration fits neatly into every single one of those criteria. Lets have a little look at some of the things Bush and friends have done.
1. In exchange for large U.S. oil companies gaining access to occupied territories, Bush reportedly gave $43 million of your tax dollars to the Taliban in May of 2001 - only 4 months before their September 11th attacks on the United States!
2. Bush had no concern about terrorist attacks on the U.S. before 9/11/01 After Bush's "election" was officially announced, President Clinton requested numerous meetings with Bush - specifically to discuss terrorists threats and making them a priority of Bush's Regime. Bush refused to meet with Pres. Clinton, but allowed one of his staff "underlings" to talk to Clinton instead. Not surprisingly, Bush never bothered to find out what Clinton had to say.
3. Bush wholeheartedly supported the infamous "Patriot Act," which infringes on most of your constitutional rights. In addition, he is an outspoken supporter of the "Patriot Act II."
4. Bush pulled the United States out of the Kyoto Treaty, a global warming agreement between major world powers, signed in 1997. Like global warming is not a pressing issue???
5. Bush banned federal aid to any international group offering abortions or abortion counseling, even if their funding from those projects came from other sources. THE HYPOCRISY HAS SPOKEN
6. Bush used his presidential powers to repeal the Alternative Minimum Tax for corporations. All taxes paid under the AMT since its 1987 inception were refunded to the corporations. Do we have any guesses how Bush is financing his campaign?
7. CRIMINAL ALERT!!! Bush appointed Elliott Abrams to the National Security Council. Abrams was convicted during the Reagan administration for Iran-Contra ties. He also signed into law stronger penalties for drug use, even though it is “irrelevant” that he did cocaine.
8. Bush proposed to nominate the attorney responsible for the court case that weakened the Americans with Disabilities Act, Jeffrey Sutton, to judgeship in a federal appeals court.
9. Bush turned the 9/11/01 terrorist attacks on the U.S. into a scheme to justify severely limiting civil rights and attacking the Constitution and to avert public attention from the extreme economic threats the Bush Regime has invoked upon the millions of middle-class, working-class, and poor Americans, while giving break after break to large corporations and rich individuals. (as well as using it as a rallying point for going to war.)
10. Of Bush's proposed $2 trillion tax cut 43% goes to the wealthiest 1% of Americans.
11. Bush cut $35 million in funding for doctors to receive advanced pediatric training. ( "No child left behind, unless they're ill"??)
12. Bush has already packed the federal courts with radical conservative judges - Charles Pickering, Priscilla Owens, and Miguel Estrada -etc.
13. Bush finally realized the giant tax cuts for the rich had an effect on the economy. What does he want to do about it? He wants to take away benefits from children and the elderly to compensate.
14. Bush used his infinite "wisdom" to completely halt international negotiations designed to monitor and prevent the production of biological and chemical weapons. (The weapons of mass destruction are right here?)
15. Bush refused to federally fund the continued clean up of a uranium-slag heap in Utah. The large Mormon population there doesn't care if their kids come out with birth defects and die at a young age - do they??
16. The Bush Regime took an anti-human rights stance in the U.S. and abroad, by treating basic human rights as an obstacle of setting up civic security. Who needs freedom anyway? (secret prisons, countries throwing us out for them... violations of the Geneva Convention are rampant.)
17 Bush leaves abused and neglected children behind by cutting $15.7 million that was supposed to aid states in investigating their cases. As long as they're educated, who cares how they're treated.
18. Pay very close attention to this one: Bush used the 9/11/01 terrorist attacks on the U.S. to create the Department of Homeland Security. Ironically, Hitler also created such an office, the Reichshauptsicherheitamt, or "Main Office of Homeland Security," and look where he took Germany. True Americans, BEWARE!!!
19. Bush lied to the American public and Congress about the Taliban's motives in the 9/11/01 attacks in order to gain approval of extremist foreign policies and shield their eyes from the true dangers of the "Patriot Act."
20. Bush repealed the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, while spending billions of tax dollars building a large national missile defense. (and you wonder why North Korea won’t cooperate?)
21. Bush shows his true opinion on affirmative action, by appointing outspoken affirmative action opponent Kay Cole James to direct the Office of Personnel Management.
22. # Bush nominated a lawyer for a teen sex video distribution company, Harvey Pitts, to head the Securities and Exchange Commission. (Then he publicly decries Foley’s actions, while perhaps reprehensible, all the “boys” who got those e-mails were of legal age of consent.. something that keeps being left out of the press.)
23. Bush and Cheney both refused to testify under oath - or by themselves - to the 9/11 Commission. What are they trying to hide from the public?
24. After screwing up that nation's economy to the point of a record high number of jobless Americans, Bush cut $200 million in funding to help retrain dislocated workers. Oh well, if they're jobless, they can't pay their inflated working-class taxes, now can they?
25. Bush proposed a measure to use eminent domain to the government to seize private property for power lines.
26. # Bush took steps to abolish the White House Council on Environmental Quality.
27. After the U.N. questioned Bush's "war on terrorism," the Bush Regime decided the nation should act with a small group of other nations stupid enough to believe the "weapons of mass destruction" fables. (France among others knew these were fables.)
28. Bush nominated the leading critic of the separation of church and state, Michael McConnell, to a federal judgeship. (When Christian rules become our laws, we are no longer a nation of religious freedom.)
29. Bush's oil buddies celebrated when he nominated J. Steven Giles as Deputy Secretary of the Interior. Giles was an oil and coal lobbyist!
30. After brother Jeb "guaranteed Florida" in the 2000 elections, thousands of eligible voters in the state were mysteriously turned away from the polls. Bush and co. denies this ever happened, takes the election, and screws the world... (does this sound like election tampering to anyone?)
31. Bush cut $60 million from a Boy's and Girl's Clubs of America program for public housing.
32. Undermining a Clinton-era agreement, Bush gave $95 million to North Korea for their nuclear programs and waived the part of the agreement that required inspections to ensure no weapons-grade plutonium was being hidden. (and now leads the UN in sanctions against North Korea, with underlying threats of war on yet another front.)
33. Bush adds another passionate opponent of civil rights to his list by nominating Terrence Boyle to a federal judgeship.
34. Looking for a little more waste in America? Try Bush proposing to ease environmental considerations for permits for refineries, nuclear plants, and hydroelectric dam construction.
35. Bush nominated Linda Fisher - an executive for Monsanto - to the Environmental Protection Agency. Monsanto is one of the largest farming and pesticide biotechnology companies in the world.
36. "There is no gap in gender pay," implies Bush Council of Economic Advisers appointee Diana Roth. (Last time I looked women still made 37 cents to a dollar in the same job.)
37. Bush cut $700 million in capital funds for public housing repairs.
38. Promises, promises... Or outright lies! Bush promised $15 billion in AIDS funding for Africa in his 2003 State of the Union Address, then "accidentally" left it out of the budget.
39. Bush eased field-testing controls of genetically engineered crops.
40. In a Supreme Court Case, Bush opposed affirmative action at Michigan State.
41. Just because he can't read more than 5 words at a time, Bush is working to ensure you won't be able to - by cutting federal spending on public libraries by $39 million.
42. Bush created $4 million in federal grant money for HIV and drug abuse prevention programs - but only for religious groups and non-secular equivalents. (what happened to separation of church and state?)
43. Eliminating workers' rights and environmental safety, Bush renegotiated a free trade agreement with Jordan.
44. Bush proposed to reverse a federal regulation to protect 60 million acres of national forest from logging and road building.
45. # More Iran-Contra ties... Bush appointed unindicted high-level Iran-Contra figure, John Negroponte, as the United Nations Ambassador.
46. Even more Iran-Contra ties... Bush appointed unindicted high-level Iran-Contra figure, Otto Reich, as the Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs.
47. In these scandalous times of war crimes committed by Americans with possible ties to the executive staff, it's not hard to figure out why Bush renounced U.S. support for an International Criminal Court and aggressively campaigned to exempt all American personnel from its jurisdiction. He threatened to pull American support from all U.N. peacekeeping operations unless he got his way...
48. More reductions for the good of the corporations... Bush cut 28% of government funding for researching cleaner, more efficient automobiles.
49. # Too bad Bush isn't an endangered species - he might not have nominated an advocate for repealing the Endangered Species Act, Bennett Raley, as the Assistant Secretary for Water and Science. (or maybe your vote will help make him an endangered species?)
50. Bush ran from his duties, so he's not a veteran. That's probably why he cut the Veterans' Administration budget by $25 billion. (so.. its like, support our troops ONLY while they allow themselves to be weapons.. then screw them.)
51. Many of Bush's buddies own oil companies, so it's not at all shocking that he cut government funding to research renewable energy sources by 50%!
52. Nuclear Bush undermined the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the Comprehensive Test Ben Treaty by supporting testing of new nuclear weapons and refusing to rule out a nuclear first strike on non-nuclear nations.
53. Bush doesn't like women, or so one can assume following his closure of the White House Office for Women's Health Initiative and Outreach.
54. Who cares about the environment? Not Bush, he cut $500 million from the Environmental Protection Agency's budget.
55. Bush suspended U.S. support for the U.N.'s family planning programs and stopped short of supporting the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).
56. How about all-out opposing the U.N.? Maybe Bush is just like his Under-Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, John Bolton, who opposes nonproliferation treaties and the United Nations.
57 Bush has refused to release federal funding designed to provide for stem cell research projects.
58. # Thanks to Bush, federal employees can have Viagra but no contraceptives, due to his cut of a program that provided prescription contraceptive coverage.
59. # Create an international offensive against the spread of AIDS? Nah, Bush refused to participate and helped his buddies in the pharmaceutical business capitalize by increasing costs of life-saving medications
60. Bush suspended rules requiring rock miners to clean up sites on Western public lands. Think your tax dollars will end up paying for the clean ups?
61. Bush cut a federal program to provide child care to low-income families transitions from welfare to work. So, they can work but cannot get child care, without using pretty much all their earnings.. leaving them what to live on?
62. Bush's America will stay uniformed about potential consequences from chemical plant accidents, thanks to his cancellation of a proposal to increase the public's access to the information.
63. Undermining world peace, Bush condoned the Israeli reoccupation of Palestinian territory and rejected the U.N. Security Council's resolutions that provide a framework for conflict resolution between the two. The resolutions have been supported by previous U.S. administrations.
64. Bush abolished rules mandating energy-saving regulations for central air conditioners and heat pumps. What was that about an energy crisis?
65. Bush proposed a bill to prevent groups from suing to have an animal placed on the Endangered Species List. Again, too bad Bush isn't an endangered species.
66. Convicted of murder? That's okay, you can get financial aid for college. However, if you've ever been convicted of a misdemeanor drug charge, Bush has made sure you will never get financial aid for college.
67. Once upon a time there was a 2004 deadline for auto makers to develop PROTOTYPE high mileage cars. Nevertheless, just like the June 30, 2004, Iraq deadline, Bush has pushed the prototype deadline up indefinitely. Maybe this one's because his oil buddies fear losing revenue if people actually get more than 30 or 40 MPG...
68. Bush censored the environmental concerns found by scientists his administration hired - to make it look like global warming is not a major threat.
69. "The terrorists are coming, the terrorists are coming!" That's all that our Chicken-Little-In-Chief cares about. Therefore, Bush proposed eliminating a federal program to help communities prepare for natural disasters. The program had been developed and successfully used in Seattle. Never mind that! "The terrorists are coming, the terrorists are coming!" Besides, he made most of these terrorists with his little war.
70. Bush 2000 campaign pledge: To invest $100 million in rain forest conservation. This was a promise the "compassionate conservative" didn't keep
71. Another broken promise... Bush failed to increase public education funding and failed to fund the so-called "No Child Left Behind Act." It seems every child gets left behind, except those whose rich mommies and daddies send them to private or boarding schools.
72. Bush 2000 campaign pledge: To regulate carbon dioxide emissions. He didn't, decided it would be "too costly." This from the guy who has created the largest deficit in history!
This is just the tip of the iceberg here. There is nothing new or profound here, all these things are public record. There are longer lists all over the internet.
How about if we apply the 3 strikes laws to the oval office? Lets see, just with my short list 72 divided by 3 is 24 strikes.. then there the over 800 laws he has broken.. that's just the US laws.. not counting the long standing treaties and the Geneva Convention violations.. I would say we are a bit overdue for the impeachment. So if you won’t start the impeachment, best make sure you vote this guy out of office.. while you still have a vote. Lets try not to forget that corporal who became Hitler... its looking more and more fascist here every day.
There are 14 criteria for determining if you are dealing with a fascist regime. These 14 points came from a professor who studies fascist governments.
1. Powerful & continuing nationalism
flags fly everywhere,
2. Distain for the recognition of human rights
looking the other way or even supporting torture, imprisonment for long periods with no recourse,
3. identifying enemies or scapegoats as unifying cause
rallying people to stop or get rid of perceived foes (illegal aliens/undocumented workers?)
4. Supremacy of the military
disproportionate funding to the military even when there are homeland issues of major concern.
5. Rampant sexism
6. Controlled mass media
7. Obsession with national security
Even your toothpaste cannot be taken onboard a plane now.
8. Religion & government intertwined
(God wants George W. to be president???? Yes he actually said that.) Christian sentiments are continually espoused by the current administration.
9. Corporate power protected
Can you say Enron?
10. Labor power suppressed
11. Disdain for intellectuals and the arts
Free expression openly attacked
12. Obsession with crime and punishment
13. Rampant crony and corruption
14. Fraudulent elections
Sometimes elections are complete shams. Other times the judiciary is used to control elections.
Ok, I could not help it, I had to make a few comments along the way. The current administration fits neatly into every single one of those criteria. Lets have a little look at some of the things Bush and friends have done.
1. In exchange for large U.S. oil companies gaining access to occupied territories, Bush reportedly gave $43 million of your tax dollars to the Taliban in May of 2001 - only 4 months before their September 11th attacks on the United States!
2. Bush had no concern about terrorist attacks on the U.S. before 9/11/01 After Bush's "election" was officially announced, President Clinton requested numerous meetings with Bush - specifically to discuss terrorists threats and making them a priority of Bush's Regime. Bush refused to meet with Pres. Clinton, but allowed one of his staff "underlings" to talk to Clinton instead. Not surprisingly, Bush never bothered to find out what Clinton had to say.
3. Bush wholeheartedly supported the infamous "Patriot Act," which infringes on most of your constitutional rights. In addition, he is an outspoken supporter of the "Patriot Act II."
4. Bush pulled the United States out of the Kyoto Treaty, a global warming agreement between major world powers, signed in 1997. Like global warming is not a pressing issue???
5. Bush banned federal aid to any international group offering abortions or abortion counseling, even if their funding from those projects came from other sources. THE HYPOCRISY HAS SPOKEN
6. Bush used his presidential powers to repeal the Alternative Minimum Tax for corporations. All taxes paid under the AMT since its 1987 inception were refunded to the corporations. Do we have any guesses how Bush is financing his campaign?
7. CRIMINAL ALERT!!! Bush appointed Elliott Abrams to the National Security Council. Abrams was convicted during the Reagan administration for Iran-Contra ties. He also signed into law stronger penalties for drug use, even though it is “irrelevant” that he did cocaine.
8. Bush proposed to nominate the attorney responsible for the court case that weakened the Americans with Disabilities Act, Jeffrey Sutton, to judgeship in a federal appeals court.
9. Bush turned the 9/11/01 terrorist attacks on the U.S. into a scheme to justify severely limiting civil rights and attacking the Constitution and to avert public attention from the extreme economic threats the Bush Regime has invoked upon the millions of middle-class, working-class, and poor Americans, while giving break after break to large corporations and rich individuals. (as well as using it as a rallying point for going to war.)
10. Of Bush's proposed $2 trillion tax cut 43% goes to the wealthiest 1% of Americans.
11. Bush cut $35 million in funding for doctors to receive advanced pediatric training. ( "No child left behind, unless they're ill"??)
12. Bush has already packed the federal courts with radical conservative judges - Charles Pickering, Priscilla Owens, and Miguel Estrada -etc.
13. Bush finally realized the giant tax cuts for the rich had an effect on the economy. What does he want to do about it? He wants to take away benefits from children and the elderly to compensate.
14. Bush used his infinite "wisdom" to completely halt international negotiations designed to monitor and prevent the production of biological and chemical weapons. (The weapons of mass destruction are right here?)
15. Bush refused to federally fund the continued clean up of a uranium-slag heap in Utah. The large Mormon population there doesn't care if their kids come out with birth defects and die at a young age - do they??
16. The Bush Regime took an anti-human rights stance in the U.S. and abroad, by treating basic human rights as an obstacle of setting up civic security. Who needs freedom anyway? (secret prisons, countries throwing us out for them... violations of the Geneva Convention are rampant.)
17 Bush leaves abused and neglected children behind by cutting $15.7 million that was supposed to aid states in investigating their cases. As long as they're educated, who cares how they're treated.
18. Pay very close attention to this one: Bush used the 9/11/01 terrorist attacks on the U.S. to create the Department of Homeland Security. Ironically, Hitler also created such an office, the Reichshauptsicherheitamt, or "Main Office of Homeland Security," and look where he took Germany. True Americans, BEWARE!!!
19. Bush lied to the American public and Congress about the Taliban's motives in the 9/11/01 attacks in order to gain approval of extremist foreign policies and shield their eyes from the true dangers of the "Patriot Act."
20. Bush repealed the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, while spending billions of tax dollars building a large national missile defense. (and you wonder why North Korea won’t cooperate?)
21. Bush shows his true opinion on affirmative action, by appointing outspoken affirmative action opponent Kay Cole James to direct the Office of Personnel Management.
22. # Bush nominated a lawyer for a teen sex video distribution company, Harvey Pitts, to head the Securities and Exchange Commission. (Then he publicly decries Foley’s actions, while perhaps reprehensible, all the “boys” who got those e-mails were of legal age of consent.. something that keeps being left out of the press.)
23. Bush and Cheney both refused to testify under oath - or by themselves - to the 9/11 Commission. What are they trying to hide from the public?
24. After screwing up that nation's economy to the point of a record high number of jobless Americans, Bush cut $200 million in funding to help retrain dislocated workers. Oh well, if they're jobless, they can't pay their inflated working-class taxes, now can they?
25. Bush proposed a measure to use eminent domain to the government to seize private property for power lines.
26. # Bush took steps to abolish the White House Council on Environmental Quality.
27. After the U.N. questioned Bush's "war on terrorism," the Bush Regime decided the nation should act with a small group of other nations stupid enough to believe the "weapons of mass destruction" fables. (France among others knew these were fables.)
28. Bush nominated the leading critic of the separation of church and state, Michael McConnell, to a federal judgeship. (When Christian rules become our laws, we are no longer a nation of religious freedom.)
29. Bush's oil buddies celebrated when he nominated J. Steven Giles as Deputy Secretary of the Interior. Giles was an oil and coal lobbyist!
30. After brother Jeb "guaranteed Florida" in the 2000 elections, thousands of eligible voters in the state were mysteriously turned away from the polls. Bush and co. denies this ever happened, takes the election, and screws the world... (does this sound like election tampering to anyone?)
31. Bush cut $60 million from a Boy's and Girl's Clubs of America program for public housing.
32. Undermining a Clinton-era agreement, Bush gave $95 million to North Korea for their nuclear programs and waived the part of the agreement that required inspections to ensure no weapons-grade plutonium was being hidden. (and now leads the UN in sanctions against North Korea, with underlying threats of war on yet another front.)
33. Bush adds another passionate opponent of civil rights to his list by nominating Terrence Boyle to a federal judgeship.
34. Looking for a little more waste in America? Try Bush proposing to ease environmental considerations for permits for refineries, nuclear plants, and hydroelectric dam construction.
35. Bush nominated Linda Fisher - an executive for Monsanto - to the Environmental Protection Agency. Monsanto is one of the largest farming and pesticide biotechnology companies in the world.
36. "There is no gap in gender pay," implies Bush Council of Economic Advisers appointee Diana Roth. (Last time I looked women still made 37 cents to a dollar in the same job.)
37. Bush cut $700 million in capital funds for public housing repairs.
38. Promises, promises... Or outright lies! Bush promised $15 billion in AIDS funding for Africa in his 2003 State of the Union Address, then "accidentally" left it out of the budget.
39. Bush eased field-testing controls of genetically engineered crops.
40. In a Supreme Court Case, Bush opposed affirmative action at Michigan State.
41. Just because he can't read more than 5 words at a time, Bush is working to ensure you won't be able to - by cutting federal spending on public libraries by $39 million.
42. Bush created $4 million in federal grant money for HIV and drug abuse prevention programs - but only for religious groups and non-secular equivalents. (what happened to separation of church and state?)
43. Eliminating workers' rights and environmental safety, Bush renegotiated a free trade agreement with Jordan.
44. Bush proposed to reverse a federal regulation to protect 60 million acres of national forest from logging and road building.
45. # More Iran-Contra ties... Bush appointed unindicted high-level Iran-Contra figure, John Negroponte, as the United Nations Ambassador.
46. Even more Iran-Contra ties... Bush appointed unindicted high-level Iran-Contra figure, Otto Reich, as the Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs.
47. In these scandalous times of war crimes committed by Americans with possible ties to the executive staff, it's not hard to figure out why Bush renounced U.S. support for an International Criminal Court and aggressively campaigned to exempt all American personnel from its jurisdiction. He threatened to pull American support from all U.N. peacekeeping operations unless he got his way...
48. More reductions for the good of the corporations... Bush cut 28% of government funding for researching cleaner, more efficient automobiles.
49. # Too bad Bush isn't an endangered species - he might not have nominated an advocate for repealing the Endangered Species Act, Bennett Raley, as the Assistant Secretary for Water and Science. (or maybe your vote will help make him an endangered species?)
50. Bush ran from his duties, so he's not a veteran. That's probably why he cut the Veterans' Administration budget by $25 billion. (so.. its like, support our troops ONLY while they allow themselves to be weapons.. then screw them.)
51. Many of Bush's buddies own oil companies, so it's not at all shocking that he cut government funding to research renewable energy sources by 50%!
52. Nuclear Bush undermined the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the Comprehensive Test Ben Treaty by supporting testing of new nuclear weapons and refusing to rule out a nuclear first strike on non-nuclear nations.
53. Bush doesn't like women, or so one can assume following his closure of the White House Office for Women's Health Initiative and Outreach.
54. Who cares about the environment? Not Bush, he cut $500 million from the Environmental Protection Agency's budget.
55. Bush suspended U.S. support for the U.N.'s family planning programs and stopped short of supporting the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).
56. How about all-out opposing the U.N.? Maybe Bush is just like his Under-Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, John Bolton, who opposes nonproliferation treaties and the United Nations.
57 Bush has refused to release federal funding designed to provide for stem cell research projects.
58. # Thanks to Bush, federal employees can have Viagra but no contraceptives, due to his cut of a program that provided prescription contraceptive coverage.
59. # Create an international offensive against the spread of AIDS? Nah, Bush refused to participate and helped his buddies in the pharmaceutical business capitalize by increasing costs of life-saving medications
60. Bush suspended rules requiring rock miners to clean up sites on Western public lands. Think your tax dollars will end up paying for the clean ups?
61. Bush cut a federal program to provide child care to low-income families transitions from welfare to work. So, they can work but cannot get child care, without using pretty much all their earnings.. leaving them what to live on?
62. Bush's America will stay uniformed about potential consequences from chemical plant accidents, thanks to his cancellation of a proposal to increase the public's access to the information.
63. Undermining world peace, Bush condoned the Israeli reoccupation of Palestinian territory and rejected the U.N. Security Council's resolutions that provide a framework for conflict resolution between the two. The resolutions have been supported by previous U.S. administrations.
64. Bush abolished rules mandating energy-saving regulations for central air conditioners and heat pumps. What was that about an energy crisis?
65. Bush proposed a bill to prevent groups from suing to have an animal placed on the Endangered Species List. Again, too bad Bush isn't an endangered species.
66. Convicted of murder? That's okay, you can get financial aid for college. However, if you've ever been convicted of a misdemeanor drug charge, Bush has made sure you will never get financial aid for college.
67. Once upon a time there was a 2004 deadline for auto makers to develop PROTOTYPE high mileage cars. Nevertheless, just like the June 30, 2004, Iraq deadline, Bush has pushed the prototype deadline up indefinitely. Maybe this one's because his oil buddies fear losing revenue if people actually get more than 30 or 40 MPG...
68. Bush censored the environmental concerns found by scientists his administration hired - to make it look like global warming is not a major threat.
69. "The terrorists are coming, the terrorists are coming!" That's all that our Chicken-Little-In-Chief cares about. Therefore, Bush proposed eliminating a federal program to help communities prepare for natural disasters. The program had been developed and successfully used in Seattle. Never mind that! "The terrorists are coming, the terrorists are coming!" Besides, he made most of these terrorists with his little war.
70. Bush 2000 campaign pledge: To invest $100 million in rain forest conservation. This was a promise the "compassionate conservative" didn't keep
71. Another broken promise... Bush failed to increase public education funding and failed to fund the so-called "No Child Left Behind Act." It seems every child gets left behind, except those whose rich mommies and daddies send them to private or boarding schools.
72. Bush 2000 campaign pledge: To regulate carbon dioxide emissions. He didn't, decided it would be "too costly." This from the guy who has created the largest deficit in history!
This is just the tip of the iceberg here. There is nothing new or profound here, all these things are public record. There are longer lists all over the internet.
How about if we apply the 3 strikes laws to the oval office? Lets see, just with my short list 72 divided by 3 is 24 strikes.. then there the over 800 laws he has broken.. that's just the US laws.. not counting the long standing treaties and the Geneva Convention violations.. I would say we are a bit overdue for the impeachment. So if you won’t start the impeachment, best make sure you vote this guy out of office.. while you still have a vote. Lets try not to forget that corporal who became Hitler... its looking more and more fascist here every day.
