There are some problems with your list. The partial birth abortion ban succeeded in outlawing this one procedure (for now at least) but doctors are free to switch to other late-term abortion methods. The bill was smoke and mirrors. Essentially, nothing was accomplished.
He signed a bill that no liberal or moderate would have signed. Imperfections in the bill do not change that fact. Or is not really a conservative act unless it achieves the end goal in one herculean swoop?
Testing in the school has created a HUGE mandated new bureaucracy that has to be paid for either with federal or local tax dollars. Did you think those tests and the people needed to compile info just popped out of the ground free? Our local school system is spending tons of money trying to comply with education mandates and so far sees no positive return.
Testing is the only way to create true accountability in the school systems. Accountability is a conservative principal. Ergo... The results of testing can be dramatic. My wife is an educator in Texas. She hates the testing, but loves the dramatic results it has produced. It is unfortunate if your local school system is suffering sticker shock but the investment will be worth it. Do you really believe the flaws in education were such that positive results would show up in a matter of months. It takes a year or more just to overcome the inertia of teacher resistance.
He told the UN where to go for a little while but is now starting to crawl back to them and to countries that didn't support us because he fears if he doesn't get some help, he could lose the election on this issue. What a man.
A curious observation, which I can't say I have seen other than interpretation in the media which wants it to be true. The only country that I have seen a tangible alteration in behavior toward is Canada and that was after Canada had a change in leadership. The new leadership being decidedly more pro-American.
I can't possibly read through this whole thread so please forgive me if I'm repeating.
"He signed a bill that no liberal or moderate would have signed. Imperfections in the bill do not change that fact. Or is not really a conservative act unless it achieves the end goal in one herculean swoop?"
Well, I'm not sure that a moderate wouldn't have signed it. In fact, many of us consider Bush moderate in many ways, and he signed it. Anyway, my point is that the bill will not necessarily save a single life. Every baby that would have been killed using the outlawed method can still be killed using another one. So what is accomplished?
"Testing is the only way to create true accountability in the school systems. Accountability is a conservative principal. Ergo... The results of testing can be dramatic. My wife is an educator in Texas. She hates the testing, but loves the dramatic results it has produced. It is unfortunate if your local school system is suffering sticker shock but the investment will be worth it. Do you really believe the flaws in education were such that positive results would show up in a matter of months. It takes a year or more just to overcome the inertia of teacher resistance."
Actually, I live in a state (Virginia) that has had a pretty stiff testing system for years -- tougher than what Bush wants. Teacher resistance has already been overcome and the system is in place. But now Bush wants us to jump through some other hoops and he wants us to dig up the tax money to do it. Well what if we want to spend that money on something else, like replacing crumbling buildings? In my view, the federal government has absolutely no business or right to tell local school systems what to do. I thought that was the conservative view?