Posted on 08/11/2003 5:18:37 PM PDT by ohioWfan
Today President Bush made his first trip outside of Texas since beginning his ’working vacation’ at the beginning of the month. He traveled to Arizona with Secretary of Agriculture, Ann Veneman, to observe the fire damage from the Aspen wildfires, touring Inspiration Rock in Coronado National Forest near Summerhaven, and promoting the need for healthy forests, and the prevention of fire devastation through controlled thinning of forests and underbrush. Later he travelled to Denver, Colorado to participate in a fundraiser, calling the departure of Liberian President, Charles Taylor, a ’positive step,’ and introducing his nominee for EPA director, Utah Governor, Mike Leavitt. Enjoy your Daily Dose of Dubya!!
Sort of like a long, cool drink on a hot day, eh admiral?
LOL! We headed straight for Crawford though, Ohio, which has a population of 705 or something like that. It's just a tiny little town. We went to the little restaurant where the Bushes eat occasionally and they had been there just the previous day. :-(
We drove out the road he lives on until the Secret Service had it all blocked off and turned us away. We didn't expect to see him however and it was just neat knowing he was very close to where we were.
Anyone for peach cobbler? Peaches are now in season, and I'm feeling daring...
My motto in life is 'If God had wanted us to see the sun rise, he would have made it later in the day.' :o)
Good to see you, Maigrey.......drop by more often. And aren't the peaches unusually good this year? Yummers!
All we saw was the panhandle, and it's not all that pretty......and nowhere NEAR where the President was..........sigh........
Glad you're back!
Yeah, I know, it was the only time I had, eating breakfast, before heading off for another 12 and half hour work day. So, here I am and getting a chance to peak again, while I'm eating lunch! See you next week. My kids start back next week too.
On our way back from the walking park we go to, there is a roadside orchard and market where they have (almost) fresh tomatoes and straight from the tree peaches (when in season).
As bad as this sounds, I like peaches, but I hate the skin. (I prefer nectarines because of this...) This is why I'm going to try my hand at making peach cobbler: to avoid the skin. (go figure...)
You could just put them in the garbage. :o)
I like peach cobbler, and peach pie, but not nearly as much as fresh peaches......or a rare treat of peach ice cream!
(Have you tried rubbing the skin for a while when you wash them to get most of the fuzz off?)
Christmas shopping idea -- Give everyone the...
George W. Bush Action Figure!
In September, KB Toys will begin selling an action figure depicting President Bush when he landed on the USS Abraham Lincoln.
From the article announcing the product: The company recommends that only those 14 and older use the Bush doll, which it says is an "adult collectible item" and emphatically not a toy. It may, in fact, pose a choking hazard for the president's Democratic opponents.
I'm wondering if I need to go and get some tapioca for it or not. I guess I'll be hunting google shortly for some answers.
I was going to suggest getting a basket of peaches from Jones Orchard but they only ship their jams and jellies, not their peaches. (and they homemake their peach preserves/jams/jellies.)
When my Mom bought a $4.00 basket this morning (about 4 lbs worth) the owner put in another 5 peaches (about 2 lbs worth!) in the sack at no charge! That's why I love local growers...
For Democrats, especially '04 wannabes, a once promising recession appears increasingly mired in quagmire. Deepening quagmire. By almost every key measure, from rising personal income to falling weekly initial jobless claims, the recession is struggling badly.
Democrat campaign strategists had hoped the recession would be a 1-termer (at least) -- lasting all 4 years of Bush's tenure, then resigning from public service in January, 2005, as a new Democrat president gets sworn in. This is the rosey scenario, or cakewalk theory. The hope was that the recession would unseat Bush as it did his father back in '92. Hardline Democrats -- the Howard Dean wing of the party -- see this recession as recession-lite, and there is no way it can beat Bush by trying to be recession-lite, they argue. Dean proposes disarming the economy -- repeal of the Bush tax cuts across-the-board, turning recession-lite into real recession. Less hardline factions, led by Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, argue that, to increase the recession's appeal among more moderate swing voters and peel them away from Bush, recession-lite is the only way to go. He notes the recession that undid Bush's father was, for all intents and purposes, recession-lite, too.
Although the recession had remained remarkably popular with Democrats since taking office in January, 2001, there are growing signs of trouble. Among Democrats, the recession had once commanded towering 100% approval ratings in its handling of the economy, but no more. Recent polls show rising doubts on the recession's credibility as an almost daily barrage of bullish news on the economy, from Wall Street to Main Street, takes its toll. Everyday, it seems, the recession gets pummeled by gloomy news of an accelerating economy. Some Democrats wonder if the recession had exaggerated evidence of its existence, or of the imminent threat it posed on the Bush administration. The slide in confidence in the recession and rising disapproval of its performance among Democrats likely will only grow worse, if recent economic signs are any harbinger.
Among the slew of worrisome signals fueling growing doubts over the recession's credibility: The latest government report on second quarter GDP (Gross Domestic Product) shows a better-than-expected 2.4% annual growth rate, despite the war in Iraq and terror jitters, with analysts expecting 4%-5% growth for the second half; not only is consumer spending sizzling, business investment -- whose anemic performance had been a big drag on the economy since the dot-com collapse -- is gaining momentum as well; the surge in business spending is, like the stock market rally, a leading indicator -- it presages future hiring, pushing the key unemployment rate down; the housing boom is still booming, despite the recent jump in interest rates (prompted by an accelerating economy); the service sector soared in July, the Institute for Supply Management's key index rocketing to 65.1 percent, up from an already bullish 60.6 in June. The sizzling July figure was the sizzle-ing-est since the survey began exactly 6 years ago, and presages 6% GDP growth for the 3rd quarter; factory orders in June jumped 1.7% -- better than expected, propelled by soaring durable goods orders, the index's 3rd increase these past 4 months; productivity jumped a 5.7 percent annualized rate for the 2nd quarter, while initial jobless claims dropped below the benchmark 400k/week for the first time in 6 months for the week ending August 2.
Amid the recession's increasingly sluggish performance, the growing frustration has driven Democrats to ask, 'who lost the recession?' Or was the recession distracted by coverage of Kobe Bryant, Scott Peterson and the California recall election? Did the recession mislead us into thinking this would all be a cakewalk? Did the recession willfully exaggerate its capabilities? If the tax cuts undermined the recession's momentum, why not repeal 'em all?!
These are just some of the questions Democrats are increasingly asking themselves these days.
Anyway, that's...
My two cents...
"JohnHuang2"PS -- won't be here tonight, but see y'all Wednesday. Have a great day :-)
Our president needs to spend some time during one of his days finding out just what the hell this is all about and stopping it dead in its tracks!!!
This is insanity running wild!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
