Posted on 01/31/2004 8:27:03 PM PST by Hillary's Lovely Legs
Edited on 01/31/2004 8:35:55 PM PST by Admin Moderator. [history]
* Senator John Kerry: Massachussetts senator. Accepted campaign funds from Vivian Mannerud, a Democratic campaign donor linked to cocaine trafficker Jorge Cabrera. Even when other Democrats returned such donations, he opted to keep them. Mannerud hosted an $18,000 Kerry fund-raiser, gave $1,000 in donations and arranged foreign travel for Kerry's staff as recently as April 2000. Though Kerry's advisors warned him that Mannerud's drug connection could prove troublesome, Kerry wasn't swayed. "We accept her word she had no knowledge of Mr. Cabrera's illicit activities," the Herald quoted Kerry spokesman David Wade as saying.- Boston Herald
* Jerome Berlin, a lawyer who was indicted in 1990, and later acquitted, of federal conspiracy charges of bribing public officials. He hosted a fund-raising dinner on December 3, 1995? in Coral Gables, FL at his home, which was also attended by Ms. Mannerud, Marvin S. Rosen and Cabrera..
* Marvin S. Rosen, finance chairman of the Democratic National Committee. Attended a fund-raising dinner on December 3, 1995? in Coral Gables, FL at Jerome Berlin's home, which was also attneded by Ms. Mannerud, Jerome Berlin, and Cabrera...
1983 : (CABRERA PLEADS GUILTY OF OBSTUCTION FOR CONSPIRING TO BRIBE A WITNESS) In 1983, he [Cabrera] pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice for conspiring to bribe a grand jury witness and served 42 months in prison. In 1988, he [Cabrera] pleaded guilty to filing a false income-tax return and served one year in prison.
NOVEMBER 1995 : (CABRERA WRITES CHACK TO DEMOCRATS) On his return to the US several days after that meeting [with Democrat fundraiser Vivian Mannerud in Havana's Copacabana Hotel] , in November 1995, Cabrera wrote a check for $20,000 to the DNC from an account that included the proceeds from smuggling cocaine from Colombia to the US, said the investigators, who spoke on condition of anonymity. - "Drug Smuggler Made Clinton Donation in Cuba, Investigators Say, " By DON VAN NATTA Jr., New York Times, April 4, 1997 MIAMI
1995 : (CABRERA MEETS GORE) Within two weeks of the contribution, Cabrera met Gore at the dinner in Miami. At the event, Gore posed for photographs with Cabrera, who has two felony convictions dating from the 1980s and is now in a prison here on a drug-smuggling conviction.- "Drug Smuggler Made Clinton Donation in Cuba, Investigators Say, " By DON VAN NATTA Jr., New York Times, April 4, 1997 MIAMI
DECEMBER 1995 : (CABRERA ATTENDS WHITE HOUSE RECEPTION HOSTED BY HILLARY CLINTON) Ten days later, Cabrera attended a Christmas reception at the White House hosted by Hillary Rodham Clinton. Mrs. Clinton posed for photographs with Cabrera, who has two felony convictions dating from the 1980s and is now in a prison here on a drug-smuggling conviction. - "Drug Smuggler Made Clinton Donation in Cuba, Investigators Say, " By DON VAN NATTA Jr., New York Times, April 4, 1997 MIAMI
JANUARY 1996 : (CABRERA ARRESTED) In early January 1996, three weeks after having attended the Christmas reception at the White House, Cabrera was arrested and charged with importing 6,000 pounds of cocaine into the US on boats through the Florida Keys.
1996 late : (CABRERA PLEADS GUILTY) Late last year, he [Cabrera] pleaded guilty to those charges and was sentenced to 19 years in federal prison and fined $1.5 million. The new details about the location for the solicitation of Cabrera's contribution and the source of the money have come to light in congressional investigators' interviews here with Cabrera. The investigators, who are looking into possible abuses of campaign fund-raising, are trying to determine whether Cabrera "laundered" drug money when making his $20,000 "soft money" contribution to the campaign.
Oh, so now if I want a tax cut I'm greedy? LOL!
THe question WAS NOT would you support or oppose a tax cut that didn't apply to YOU. The question was given a choice between two tax INCREASES, one that increases YOUR taxes, and one that doesn't, which would you pick? If you tell me you would pick yours, you are either a liar or a sucker.
Whoa! I'm late to this discussion and I don't really have a side in your interchange here, but I want to interject a thought for the purpose of clarity.
And, Lord help me, I'm going to use a term of A. Rand for the purposes of simplicity. (Oh, the list of people that will get a kick out of this is fairly long.)
Ayn used a concept about self interest being a factor in making decisions. But she always called it "enlightened self interest". Now that qualifier is what we need here.
Enlightened implies looking ahead, judging the whole, looking at secondary effects and the similar detailed analysis.
I may oppose things that seem to be in my initial interest, not out of altruism, or principle alone, but often out of taking the long view.
Efforts to place the tax burden on the ten percent making the most money as an interest group that had little ability to prevent that burden have always been opposed by me on principle, but also on "enlightened self interest"...I always expected to eventually be amongst that group.
Now, I have spent a few years, with the exception of this past year, happily falling in that category. This year hasn't been all that nice to me.
But does that change the long view for me? Nope.
So let's keep the disagreement away from first effects. And let's not assume that looking at simple answers will give us simple truths.
It's not stealing, it's sharing.
Good, because I just "shared" it.
Comparison of Bush Budget (FY04) with Past Budget Averages
FY04
Proposal |
Post-WWII
Average (FY46 - FY02) |
Clinton
Budgets (FY94 FY01) |
G.H.W. Bush
Budgets (FY90 - FY93) |
Reagan
Budgets (FY82 - FY89) |
|
Total Receipts as percent of GDP |
17.0%
|
17.9%
|
19.4%
|
17.7%
|
18.0%
|
Total outlays as percent of GDP |
19.7%
|
19.5%
|
19.6%
|
22.0%
|
22.3%
|
Deficit (-)/Surplus as percent of GDP |
-2.7%
|
-1.6%
|
-0.1%
|
-4.3%
|
-4.3%
|
Annual growth in total receipts (average % change from previous fiscal year, FY96 $) |
2.7%
|
2.9%
|
4.9%
|
0.5%
|
2.5%
|
Annual growth in total outlays (average % change from previous fiscal year, FY96 $) |
2.2%
|
2.3%
|
1.5%
|
1.9%
|
2.7%
|
Defense spending as a percent of total outlays |
17.5%
|
35.5%
|
17.1%
|
21.7%
|
26.7%
|
Non-defense discretionary spending as a percent of total outlays |
19.2%
|
19.4%*
|
17.6%
|
16.6%
|
17.1%
|
Net interest costs as percent of total outlays |
7.9%
|
10.5%*
|
13.9%
|
14.5%
|
13.2%
|
Other mandatory spending as a percent of total outlays |
55.4%
|
41.6%*
|
51.4%
|
46.2%
|
42.9%
|
Debt held by public at end of fiscal year as percent of GDP |
36.9%
|
44.0%
|
43.0%
|
46.3%
|
36.7%
|
Gross Debt at end of fiscal year as percentof GDP |
64.8%
|
56.2%
|
63.4%
|
61.8%
|
45.4%
|
* includes only data back to 1962 since the distinction between discretionary and mandatory began only in that year. |
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