Life Before Clinton...

President Bush - First 30 Months

Presidency of George W. Bush --the first 30 months

Killed the Kyoto Global Warming Treaty.

Killed U.S. involvement in the International Criminal Court.

Killed the U.S. - CCCP ABM Treaty that was preventing the U.S. from deploying our ABM defenses.

Reversed Clinton's move to strike Reagan's anti-abortion Mexico Policy.

Killed Clinton's CO2 rules that were choking off all of the electricity surplus to California.

Killed Clinton's "ergonomic" rules that OSHA was about to implement; rules that would have shut down every home business in America.

Passed 2 tax cuts----1 of which was the largest Dollar value tax cut in history

Pushed through TWO raises for our military.

Increased Defense Dept funding which had deteriorated during the previous 8 years

Signed TWO bills into law that arm our pilots with handguns in the cockpit

Currently pushing for full immunity from lawsuits for our national gun manufacturers.

Ordered Attorney-General Ashcroft to formally notify the Supreme Court that the OFFICIAL U.S. government position on the 2nd Amendment is that it supports INDIVIDUAL rights to own firearms, NOT a leftist-imagined *collective* right.

Successfully executed 2 wars: Afghanistan and Iraq. 50 million people who had lived under tyrannical regimes now live in freedom.

Changed the tone in the White House, restoring HONOR and DIGNITY to the Presidency

Reorganized bureaucracy...after 9/11, condensed 20+ overlapping agencies and their intelligence sectors into one agency: the Department of Homeland Security.

Initiated discussion on Social security and individual investment accounts.

Improving govt. efficiency with .8 million jobs put up for bid...weakening unions and cutting undeserved pay raises. Wants merit based promotions/raises only.

Executed a WAR ON TERROR by getting world-wide cooperation to track funds/terrorists (has cut off much of the terrorist's funding and captured or killed many key leaders of the al Qaeda network)

Stopped foreign aid that would be used to fund abortions.

Supported and upheld the ban on abortions at military hospitals

Signed E.O. reversing Clinton policy of not requiring parental consent under the Medical Privacy Act

Told the United Nations we weren't interested in their plans for gun control.

Set to sign Partial Birth Abortion Ban

Orchestrated Republican control of the White House, the House AND the Senate.

Killed the liberal ABA's role in vetting federal judges for Congress.

GWB signed an executive order enforcing the Supreme Court's Beck decision (re: union dues being used for political campaigns against individual's wishes)

Brought back our EP-3 intel plane and crew from China without any bribes or bloodshed

Started withdrawing our troops from Bosnia and has announced withdrawal of our troops from Germany and the Korean DMZ.

Signed the LARGEST nuclear arms reduction in world history with Russia

Initiated comprehensive review of our military, which was completed just prior to 9/11/01, accurately reported that ASYMMETRICAL WARFARE was critical.

Has CONSTRUCTION in process on the first ten ABM silos in Alaska, so that America will have a defense against North Korean nukes

Turning around an inherited economy in recession.

Passed tough new laws to hold corporate criminals to account as a result of corporate scandals.

Reduced taxes on dividends and capital gains

In process of eliminating IRS marriage penalty.

Increased small business incentives to expand and to hire new people

Signed into law the No Child Left Behind legislation delivering the most dramatic education reforms in a generation (challenging the soft bigotry of low expectations)

Reorganized the INS in an attempt to safeguard the borders and ports of America and to eliminate bureaucratic redundancies and lack of accountability.

Signed trade promotion authority

Committed US funds to purchase medicine for millions of men and women and children now suffering with AIDS in Africa

Urging Medicare Reform

Urging federal liability reform to eliminate frivolous lawsuits

Supports class action reform bill which limits lawyer fees so that more settlement money goes to victims

Submitted comprehensive energy plan--awaits Congressional action (works to develop cleaner technology, produce more natural gas here at home, make America less dependent on foreign sources of energy, improve national grid, etc.)

Endorses and promotes The Responsibility Era ("In a compassionate society, people respect one another and take responsibility for the decisions they make in life. My hope is to change the culture from one that has said, if it feels good, do it; if you've got a problem, blame somebody else -- to one in which every single American understands that he or she are responsible for the decisions that you make; you're responsible for loving your children with all your heart and all your soul; you're responsible for being involved with the quality of the education of your children; you're responsible for making sure the community in which you live is safe; you're responsible for loving your neighbor, just like you would like to be loved yourself. " -----this quote was too good to leave out)

Started the USA Freedom Corps

Pushing for privatization of Medicare and CHOICES based on current Federal Employee Health benefits program.

Initiated review of all federal agencies with a goal to eliminate federal jobs (review to be done by September 2003) in an effort to reduce the size of federal gov while increasing private sector jobs.

Part of coalition (Russia, Israel, Palestine, USA) for Israeli/Palestinian "Roadmap to Peace"

Challenged the United Nations to live up to their responsibilities and not become The League of Nations ( in other words, completely irrelevant)

Nominated strong, conservative judges to the judiciary.

Changed parts of the Forestry Management Act to allow necessary clean-up of the national forests in order to reduce fire danger.

As part of the national forests clean-up, the President restricted judicial challenges (based on the Endangered Species Act and other challenges) and removed the need for an EIS (Environmental Impact Statement) before removing fuels/logging to reduce fire danger.

Significantly eased field-testing controls of genetically engineered crops.

'brose, what the hell are you talking about?

Exactly.

Thanks.

That was great, I don't think I've laughed this hard
in a very long time.....BRAVO

My sense of the true difference is that Clinton was all gas with a pipeline into the NYT. Bush is all action and doesn't talk about it. I like W!

Applause, applause - thanks!

Ambrose, politics is much to serious to get sentimental over. Ignore your wishes, face reality. The Republic is over, but elections are still meaningful. What we are in is Civil War without the organized killing (yet). Wars can only be won if you can avoid losing. If Bustamante is elected after this recall that will be a major defeat.

Whining that you don't like how things have turned out is mere self pity. Stop it.

Leave trying to live in your own fantasy to Liberals.

Don't those who are insecure and who have the least to say always speak the loudest like the clintins of the world?

Aren't those who are confident in their abilities the ones who always let their actions speak for them like GWB?

Simple as that.

bump

THANK YOU!!!

So when you fire the first shot, who will it be at? Or do you actually think things could get THAT bad? And is that mentality a common sentament here?

No, not by any means.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)

It was a heart-warming day when I saw Eric Rudolph being raked over the coals on an anti-abortion thread here. Many FReepers came forward to denounce a violent comment from within their midst as being unchristian and immoral in and of itself. It renewed my faith in the deep and abiding tolerance that can be found among most FReepers. Intolerance is not tolerated here.

I think there is a strong will to change America one way or another on Free Republic, but partly due to the strong military and law-enforcement representation, one would have to say that there is also a strong sense of America, right or wrong (i.e., we'll fix it, no matter what -- just don't let it come to any harm). A similar epithet is "love it or leave it!" -- often hurled with gusto. In other words, within the family it's all scrapping and dissent. When threatened, we all pull together to defend what we have.

I think each one of us holds a picture of how America could quickly transition into tyranny in his mind. Why is that? I think it comes from highly prizing something. When you love something dearly, you realize how easy it would be to lose it. That's the typical FReeper: always on guard, never overconfident in American liberty, and ready to stand up to a slight or a threat to America at any moment. Fundamental to most of us is a deep respect for the rule of law.

There is a subtlety to the "rule of law" concept that I am struggling to articulate for myself right now. It's based on a strong belief I have that the founding fathers were among the most brilliant students of the Enlightenment in history. They saw the power of ideas blossoming in Smith, Locke, Milton, and Rousseau. They realized that if they could capture that spirit into a set of laws that would guide their new nation into perpetuity (of course with modification mechanisms in place), that they could build a new kind of nation such as never had been seen before. It wouldn't be a utopia, but it would be a lasting democracy.

So our Constitution and the laws that are made based on it, are an extension of the Enlightenment, the Age of Reason. They indicate a faith in our ability to reason with each other, and our faith that human beings ought to be allowed to follow their own consciences. It was no mere blind rule of law to which John Adams referred when he said, "We are a nation of laws, not men." It was the idea that this Constitution, its amendments, and our whole legal system of checks and balances were the very best humanity had to offer in terms of liberty and justice. Above everything in America, we have chosen to do the best we can, and we have agreed to live by it.

Sometimes FReepers get a bit passionate and start talking about what to do if the system breaks down. But it's normally just because they care so much. Recently the talk about Moore has gotten me worried because I don't think he is not worthy of the legacy our founding fathers left to us in the Constitution, and is therefore not worth the ruckus and rabble rousing we've seen from day to day. But that, too, will pass.

The good thing about a republic is that someone we've elected, or someone appointed by someone we elected long before -- is always deciding what's legal and what isn't! And sometimes that seems really wrong even if it's really what being a nation of laws and not men is all about.

Nice list

Only thing missing is "President Bush used his veto power to..........."

Is the man ever going to veto something?

Not at all, Aunty. Somehow you have things exactly wrong. I am not making anything like a threat. I find it strange you can see what I said in the way you did.

First, as Clausewitz said, "War is politics by other means." This is a famous statement that I have never heard contraverted. The "other means" Clausewitz is talking about is organized killing. To say that we are in a war without organized killing is to say we are involved in, subject to, and unable to avoid politics.

Look at it this way: "politics" plus "organized violence" = "war". "War" minus "organized violence" = "politics". You could then say "politics" equals "peace", but by "peace" most people mean a time when it is safe not to take politics seriously. There is, in fact, no such time. To believe otherwise is fantasy.

When politics takes "organized killing" as a tool we call this state "war." However, politics is not different from war except by the one choice of not engaging in organized killing. As serious as war is, and war is as serious as things get, politics is equally serious, and governed by the same rules as war is.

Remember that war is part of politics, and therefore war is subject to the same rules as politics. "War" is the same game as "politics" with the only difference being that organized killing is added to politics as a way of pursuing political ends.

Me, I am a peace loving guy, and my only effort here is to make sure people understand the stakes at risk in our current political situation. I am hoping that I can help defer, hopefully forever, the shift to pursuing political goals through organized violence. My method is to try to get people to think about the world as we find it and to act realistically enough that we can avoid the highly unpleasant consequences of foolish action.

What I am attempting is the avoidance of war. I see war coming unless people behave much more practically in the future than they have in the past. I want them to change how they think so that they will change their actions so that war will be avoided. I emphatically do not want war to happen.

You with me?

Obviously I am not communicating with you. What does the famous Clinton quote mean in this context? Do you need a background on Clausewitz? Perhaps you are thinking I am saying something in Orwell's Newspeak, like his famous "War is Peace" from 1984? I am saying politics is important and not to be taken lightly. I am saying there is very little room in politics for fantastic thinking. Would you help me communicate with you?