As always, soliciting FReeper comments, observations, and opinions.

Please check out Phsstpok’s EXCELLENT Thread. It provides an in-depth analysis of this week’s shows.

Good morning AB, and everyone. Happy Memorial Day too.

From FReeper Snugs’ graphics shop, here are last week's winners:

Bush Lied!

President Bush has not lied. Not once, and it’s driving Democrats nuts since they DO lie and lying is a standard within their party. They have a hard time explaining that everyone does it is in itself a Democrat party lie and an excuse for their own bad behavior.

This is not to say I agree with everything President Bush has proposed or done. I don’t. I was opposed to the Harriet Myers nomination to the Supreme Court. I was opposed to the prescription drug benefit. I currently oppose the broad proposasl to resolve illegal immigration using amnesty and without stronger border security precautions.

Having said that, President Bush has an outstanding record of accomplishment as President of the United States and he gets little credit for everything he has done and is doing.

We cannot forget the Republican Congress either. Two points. One, the President does not have to veto a House bill if the congress has worked with the White House in passing bills within the parameters the two branches have worked out. Does that mean the White House likes all the pork and provisions of the bills? No, but it means the totals are within bounds and House Republicans will have to justify their actions to their constituents. Secondly, we have to remember 1994 was historic in that congress changed party leadership for the first time in forty years. There continues to be major reorganizations going on in every agency and political unit. Forty years of abuse cannot be turned around overnight, and the various upheavals going on just reinforce the aspect that business is NOT being carried on as usual anymore.

On this Memorial Day weekend, we need to take pride in our accomplishments as a country as we give thanks to the sacrifices by our men and women in the military, as well as their families. For each item the press and Democrats complain about, we can provide a dozen benefits and advantages of being an American and living in the greatest country the world has ever seen. The only way this will change is for Democrats to regain political power and the media given a pass on its biased deceit and misreporting.

What is President Bush’s real record? Pick your own issue at http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/

Judicial Nominations http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/judicialnominees/

The most important accomplishments President Bush has done were getting Justices Roberts and Alito confirmed to the US Supreme Court. After all these years of justices thwarting the will of the people, now we have some common sense on our highest court. Now, maybe we can return to US legal standards and not foreign country principles or Scottish Law.

Milan D. Smith, Jr. was confirmed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on May 16, 2006.

Judge Michael Chagares was confirmed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit on April 4, 2006.

Judge Samuel A. Alito was confirmed as Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court on January 31, 2006.

Judge John Roberts was confirmed as Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court on September 29, 2005.

Susan Bieke Neilson was confirmed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit on October 27, 2005.

Thomas B. Griffith was confirmed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on June 14, 2005.

Judge William H. Pryor Jr. was confirmed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit on June 9, 2005.

Judge Richard Allan Griffin was confirmed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit on June 9, 2005.

Judge David McKeague was confirmed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit on June 9, 2005.

Justice Janice Rogers Brown was confirmed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on June 8, 2005.

Justice Priscilla Owen was confirmed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on May 25, 2005.

Budget Management http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/budget/2007/index.html

President Clinton’s budgets were out of balance from end to end and one of the first things he did as president was to raise taxes (retroactively, I might add). It was the Republican takeover of congress that put the brakes on spending and put fiscal responsibility back into government. The Contract With America was “promises made, promises kept” and congress passed all but one contract item within the first one hundred days of the next congressional term. If voters don’t like the amount of spending today, talk to your US House Representative. They are the ones proposing and passing these spending bills.

Fiscal Discipline & Managing for Results

In 2007, the President proposes to continue the successful pro-growth policies that have encouraged robust economic growth and job creation. A strong economy, together with spending restraint, is critical to reducing the deficit. The FY 2007 Budget builds on last year’s successful spending restraint by again holding the growth of overall discretionary spending below inflation, proposing to reduce non-security discretionary spending below the previous year’s level, and calling for the elimination or reduction of programs not getting results or not fulfilling essential priorities. Like last year, the budget proposes savings and reforms to mandatory spending programs, whose unsustainable growth poses the real long-term danger to our fiscal health.

Continuing Our Economic Expansion

The Budget continues the President’s pro-growth policies vital to our economy’s continued expansion. With the full implementation of the President’s tax relief plan in 2003, the Nation has added more than 4.7 million new jobs, productivity has increased at a 3 percent annual rate, homeownership has reached all-time highs, and the American economy is growing faster than other major industrialized nations.

Because America needs more than a temporary expansion, taxpayers need more than temporary tax relief. The Budget proposes to make permanent the tax relief enacted in 2001 and 2003, preventing a tax increase on families and small businesses.
The strength of our economy has produced rapid increases in the level of Federal receipts, which are critical to reducing the deficit. From 2004 to 2005, receipts grew 14.5 percent ($274 billion), or more than twice as fast as the economy itself. The Budget forecasts receipts to grow another $132 billion from 2005 to 2006, an increase of 6.1 percent.

Education http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/education/

Unions may hate it but accountability had to return to education. When and where possible, vouchers and more school choice is being introduced.

With NCLB, The Nation Made A New Commitment To Reforming Education. NCLB benefits and empowers children, parents, teachers, and schools. America is challenging the soft bigotry of low expectations; ending the shuffling of children through the system; and building an education system that prepares children for the demands of the global economy. The Administration is raising expectations and increasing accountability; giving local authorities more flexibility with Federal funds; requiring curricula based on proven methods of successful teaching; and giving parents options when schools fail.

The President Has Made Education Funding A Priority. Since 2001, the Administration has increased spending on elementary and secondary education by 41 percent. Title I funding for disadvantaged students is up 45 percent, and funding for the Reading First program has quadrupled.

NCLB Is Raising Standards And Ensuring That The Educational Progress Of More Children Than Ever Before Is Measured. The role of the Federal government is to insist on standards, provide resources, hold people accountable, and help school districts meet those standards. Under NCLB, schools that take Federal education money must show whether children are learning and whether expectations are being met. Because states are testing students and measuring performance, we can see that NCLB is producing results as test scores go up and the achievement gap narrows.

Homeland Security http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/homeland/

Like President Bush, I had doubts with establishing the Department of Homeland Security. I still do, but congress did it and we now have to make it work.

Hurricane Relief http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/hurricane/

The White House did the exercise of Lessons Learned on hurricane response and preparedness. There is plenty of blame to go around: national, state and local. The goal is to fix it, not put blame where it does not belong.

Hurricane Katrina And Its Aftermath Provide Us With The Imperative To Design And Build A Unified System. The Lessons Learned Report confirms the imperative of integrating and synchronizing the Nation's homeland security policies, strategies, and plans across Federal, State, and local governments, as well as the private sector, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), faith-based groups, communities, and individual citizens. To achieve this, the Report identifies three immediate priorities:

First, we must implement a comprehensive National Preparedness System to make certain that we have a fully national system that ensures unity of effort in preparing for and responding to natural and man-made disasters;
Second, we must create a Culture of Preparedness that emphasizes that the entire Nation - at all levels of government, the private sector, communities, and individual citizens - shares common goals and responsibilities for homeland security; and
Third, we must implement corrective actions to ensure we do not repeat the problems encountered during Hurricane Katrina.

Immigration http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/immigration/

Still coming up and like most Freepers I have grave doubts with the US Senate dealing responsibly on this issue. But to say President Bush has done nothing is wrong. Could the White House do more? I believe so, but I do not have all the information to make the decisions. Plus, the White House has a finite budget to work with, not unlimited funds to do everything they might want to do.

Securing Our Borders Is The Basic Responsibility Of A Sovereign Nation And An Urgent Requirement Of Our National Security. President B http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/immigration/ush's proposals to better secure our borders include increasing the number of Border Patrol agents, ending the practice of "catch and release" along the southern border, eliminating bureaucratic obstacles to returning illegal immigrants to their home countries, and sending National Guard members to the border for temporary assignment to assist the Border Patrol during the transition as new Border Patrol agents are added and new technology comes online.

Jobs & Economy http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/economy/

Solid growth and new records are being set after the Clinton Recession of 2000. The Clinton Presidency encouraged corruption and looked the other way as businesses like World Com and Enron were cooking the books and getting sweetheart deals brokered by the Clinton Administration. Today? The playing field is even and there has been no legitimate charge of corruption between the White House and business. The US Justice Department is actually going after criminals rather than the Elian Gonzales’ or Branch Dividian’s of the world.

Today, The Government Released New Jobs Figures - 138,000 Jobs Created In April. The economy has created about 2 million jobs over the past 12 months - and more than 5.2 million since August 2003. The unemployment rate is 4.7 percent - lower than the average of the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s.

The President Worked With Congress To Reduce Income Taxes For Every American Who Pays Income Taxes. The Administration and Congress doubled the child tax credit, reduced the marriage penalty, cut taxes on capital gains and dividends, created incentives for small businesses to purchase new equipment and hire new workers, and put the death tax on the path to extinction. Altogether, this tax relief left $880 billion in the hands of American workers and businesses.

If The Democrats In Congress Have Their Way And Let The Tax Relief Expire, The American People Will Be Hit With $2.4 Trillion In Higher Taxes Over The Next Decade. To keep our strong economy driving forward, Congress needs to make tax relief permanent.

Medicare http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/medicare/

I did not like this initially, and I’m still dubious. But, I admit there is more competition than expected and the program has started out well. Certainly better than Hillary-care or socialized medicine.

Medicare Drug Coverage Offers More And Better Choices Than Ever Before. Beneficiaries can choose from a number of private plans to find the one that best serves them - and plan providers are competing for seniors' business. That means seniors can save more and get the coverage they want.

The Competition To Serve Seniors Has Been Stronger Than Expected, Lowering Costs For Seniors And The Government. The average premium seniors pay for their prescription drug benefit is just $25 per month instead of $37 per month, and this year the Federal government will spend 20 percent less overall on the Medicare drug benefit than was projected last July.

Patriot Act http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/patriotact/

President Signs USA PATRIOT
Improvement and Reauthorization Act

"The law allows our intelligence and law enforcement officials to continue to share information. It allows them to continue to use tools against terrorists that they used against -- that they use against drug dealers and other criminals. It will improve our nation's security while we safeguard the civil liberties of our people. The legislation strengthens the Justice Department so it can better detect and disrupt terrorist threats. And the bill gives law enforcement new tools to combat threats to our citizens from international terrorists to local drug dealers."

-- President George W. Bush
March 9, 2006

Renewal in Iraq http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/iraq/

The war in Iraq and Afghanistan are successes and are working their way to the end of America having to occupy these countries as they take over more military responsibility effectively. Compared to Clinton in Somalia and Haiti, the American military has redeemed itself and risen back to the greatest military in the history of the world.

The Advance Of Freedom Is The Story Of Our Time. Just 25 years ago, there were only 45 democracies. Today, Freedom House reports there are 122 democracies, and more people live in liberty than ever before. Since the beginning of 2005, remarkable democratic change has occurred across the globe in places like Afghanistan, Lebanon, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, and Iraq. Freedom House has declared 2005 "one of the most successful years for freedom since Freedom House began measuring world freedom" more than 30 years ago.

Social Security http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/social-security/

Sure wish President Bush could get this going but he cannot do it alone and congress can’t seem to bring themselves to address the issue. It’s now up to voters to put pressure on our representatives.

Just 13 years from now, in 2017, the government will begin to pay out more in Social Security benefits than it collects in payroll taxes – and shortfalls then will grow larger with each passing year.

By the year 2027, the government will somehow have to come up with an extra $200 billion a year to keep the system afloat.
By 2033, the annual shortfall will be more than $300 billion a year.
By 2041, when workers in their mid-20s begin to retire, the system will be bankrupt – unless we act now to save it.

Corporate Responsibility http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/corporateresponsibility/

· The Administration continues to pursue an aggressive agenda to fight corporate fraud and abuse:

Exposing and punishing acts of corruption
Holding corporate officers and directors accountable
Protecting small investors, pension holders and workers
Moving corporate accounting out of the shadows
Developing a stronger, more independent corporate audit system
Providing better information to investors.

· Since the exposure of the corporate fraud scandals, the President has taken decisive action to combat corporate fraud and punish corporate wrongdoers.

On March 7, 2002 the President announced his "Ten-Point Plan to Improve Corporate Responsibility and Protect America's Shareholders," based on three core principles: information accuracy and accessibility, management accountability, and auditor independence. Following the President.s proposals, the SEC took decisive action to implement the "Ten Point Plan" to improve the quality of corporate disclosure and the accountability of executives and auditors. The SEC proposed rules and adopted policies consistent with all ten of the President's reforms.

Home Ownership http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/homeownership/

Increasing Homeownership

The US homeownership rate reached a record 69.2 percent in the second quarter of 2004. The number of homeowners in the United States reached 73.4 million, the most ever. And for the first time, the majority of minority Americans own their own homes.

Military and Defense http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/defense/

This is a no brainer. For any country that’s in trouble, who would you want to bail you out? China, Russia or France? How about the UN? Okay, how about NATO? Nope. There is ONE military superpower that is not imperialistic, that can help you with the intent of finishing the job and going home. That’s the United States of America.

Thanks for the threads AB and Phsstpok who will be doing the honors today. Good Morning to you Morgan, has spring sprung in Denver yet?

Hi Rodguy! Yep, spring is making her appearance.

Posted something I was working on last night too.

Great job last week EC and once again cudos to everyone who participated in last week thread. We are averaging nearly 1,000 posts a week now here.

THIS WEEK (ABC): Sen. John Warner, R-Va.; Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa.; singer Tony Orlando.

What the hell kind of lineup is this? While Tony is there, maybe he can "Tie a Yellow Ribbon" around Murtha's mouth.

Wow special award time and we are only at post # 5,really something Morgan, congrats.

Excellent listings!

I got tired of the complaints from people who claim they don't believe the MSM for news then turn around and use it to evaluate everything Bush is doing or has done.

Thanks Alas, EC,& Good Morning to everyone!

Why ABC dropped Duncan Hunter & chose John Warner?

Why is that if & when a handful of soldiers out of hundreds of heroes mis-behave it is big crime of the entire military (as MSM portrays)?

Congratulations to last weeks winning posters. They were great.

If you add up the number of politicians appearing on this mornings talk shows who have some role in the immigration debate you get eight. Of the eight, seven are pro-amnesty and only one, Sensenbrenner, represents the 80-90% of us who are opposed to this travesty.
So typical.

The media is quiet on the Marine story. Must be resting up to go 24/7 next week. Why wait for the report? Why wait for any charges. Hmmm....Rumsfeld must go.

Can you think of how the Administration can handle this effectively.

Because the hate the military and believe they are molded in the same form as "Jenjis" Khan.

They truly believe this crap. They think soldiers are natural born killers eager to off someone.

Nice summary, Morgan. I would just add this:

Media declared the Prez lame duck and he can't push his agenda with his "sinking" polls. Dems and even some repubs want to believe that. MSM expressed doubts about Hayden's confirmation.

I believe we are on our way to a major Constitutional confrontation on Fourth Amendment guarantees of unreasonable search and seizure. I think this is also going to present a growing impediment to the confirmation of General Hayden - Dianne Feinstein

The Committee must finally take the steps necessary to fix an intelligence system that has broken on President Bush's watch, including not only determining if General Hayden is the right man for the job ahead, but also completing its investigation into the Administration's misuse of Iraq intelligence. - Harry Reid

Earlier this year General Hayden appeared before the Press Club where he said of the program: 'the intrusion into privacy is also limited: only international calls.' . . . It is hard to see however--if the leaks about this program are accurate -- how the only intrusions into Americans' privacy are related to international phone calls as General Hayden said at the National Press Club. - Carl Levin

All the above three dems ended voting for his confirmation.

General Hayden was brought into National Security arena by President Clinton - Greg Kelly kept repeating it on Fox multiple times. Funny, he didn't mention that Hillary Clinton voted against his confirmation.

Feds cut off phone tax after 108 years -> Treasury Department will no longer collect a 3% federal excise tax on long-distance calls and would refund about $15 billion to taxpayers.

Senate confirmed the other following nominations:

Brett M. Kavanaugh (staff secretary to President Bush and onetime aide to Kenneth W. Starr) to a seat on the federal appeals court.

R. David Paulison on Friday as director of FEMA.

Dirk Kempthorne of Idaho was approved for interior secretary.

Robert J. Portman as director of the Office of Management and Budget.

Robert McDowell as New FCC Commissioner (giving the agency a Republican majority)

Congress also voted against Flag-burning & against protesting before military funerals (which Prez will sign tomorow).

Lame Duck indeed.

I agree. When Ken Lay was convicted, they said it is a big warning to all businesses.

When Moussaoui was convicted, they were raising all sorts of doubts, like how could he be responsible for the 9/11 attack?

Unbelievable.

an intelligence system that has broken on President Bush's watch,

LOLOLOL. I don't miss much of the nonsense coming out of Harry Reid's mouth, but that one did get by me. Thank you for the hearty laugh.

Fiscal Discipline & Managing for Results

Continuing Our Economic Expansion

President Signs USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act

President Signs USA PATRIOT
Improvement and Reauthorization Act