This should keep the morine busy for awhile.
Easy Rob, there are facts listed here. Read carefully.
Hey, Chieffy, you might not understand all this but you may think
it's funny.
100 Facts and 1 Opinion
The Non-Arguable Case Against the Bush Administration
by JUDD LEGUM
IRAQ
1. The Bush Administration has spent more than $140 billion on a war
of choice in Iraq.
Source: American Progress
2. The Bush Administration sent troops into battle without adequate
body armor or armored Humvees.
Sources: Fox News, Boston Globe
3. The Bush Administration ignored estimates from Gen. Eric Shinseki
that several hundred thousand troops would be required to secure
Iraq.
Source: PBS
4. Vice President Cheney said Americans "will, in fact, be greeted
as liberators" in Iraq.
Source: Washington Post
5. During the Bush Administration's war in Iraq, more than 1,000 US
troops have lost their lives and more than 7,000 have been injured.
Source: globalsecurity.org
6. In May 2003, President Bush landed on an aircraft carrier in a
flight suit, stood under a banner proclaiming "Mission
Accomplished," and triumphantly announced that major combat
operations were over in Iraq. Asked if he had any regrets about the
stunt, Bush said he would do it all over again.
Source: Yahoo News
7. Vice President Cheney said that Iraq was "the geographic base of
the terrorists who have had us under assault for many years, but
most especially on 9/11." The bipartisan 9/11 Commission found that
Iraq had no involvement in the 9/11 attacks and no collaborative
operational relationship with Al Qaeda.
Source: MSNBC , 9-11 Commission
8. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice said that high-
strength aluminum tubes acquired by Iraq were "only really suited
for nuclear weapons programs," warning "we don't want the smoking
gun to be a mushroom cloud." The government's top nuclear scientists
had told the Administration the tubes were "too narrow, too heavy,
too long" to be of use in developing nuclear weapons and could be
used for other purposes.
Source: New York Times
9. The Bush Administration has spent just $1.1 billion of the $18.4
billion Congress approved for Iraqi reconstruction.
Source: USA Today
10. According to the Administration's handpicked weapon's inspector,
Charles Duelfer, there is "no evidence that Hussein had passed
illicit weapons material to al Qaeda or other terrorist
organizations, or had any intent to do so." After the release of the
report, Bush continued to insist, "There was a risk--a real risk--
that Saddam Hussein would pass weapons, or materials, or information
to terrorist networks."
Sources: New York Times, White House news release
11. According to Duelfer, the UN inspections regime put an "economic
strangle hold" on Hussein that prevented him from developing a WMD
program for more than twelve years.
Source: Los Angeles Times
TERRORISM
12. After receiving a memo from the CIA in August 2001 titled "Bin
Laden Determined to Attack America," President Bush continued his
monthlong vacation.
Source: CNN.com
13. The Bush Administration failed to commit enough troops to
capture Osama bin Laden when US forces had him cornered in the Tora
Bora region of Afghanistan in November 2001. Instead, they relied on
local warlords.
Source: csmonitor.com
14. The Bush Administration secured less nuclear material from sites
around the world vulnerable to terrorists in the two years after
9/11 than were secured in the two years before 9/11.
Source: nti.org
15. The Bush Administration underfunded Nunn-Lugar--the program
intended to keep the former Soviet Union's nuclear legacy out of the
hands of terrorists and rogue states--by $45.5 million.
Source: armscontrol.org
16. The Bush Administration has assigned five times as many agents
to investigate Cuban embargo violations as it has to track Osama bin
Laden's and Saddam Hussein's money.
Source: Associated Press
17. According to Congressional Research Service data, the Bush
Administration has underfunded security at the nation's ports by
more than $1 billion for fiscal year 2005.
Source: American Progress
18. The Bush Administration did not devote the resources necessary
to prevent a resurgence in the production of poppies, the raw
material used to create heroin, in Afghanistan--creating a potent
new source of financing for terrorists.
Source: Pakistan Tribune
19. Vice President Cheney told voters that unless they elect George
Bush in November, "we'll get hit again" by terrorists.
Source: Washington Post
20. Even though an Al Qaeda training manual suggests terrorists come
to the United States and buy assault weapons, the Bush
Administration did nothing to prevent the expiration of the ban.
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
21. Despite repeated calls for reinforcements, there are fewer
experienced CIA agents assigned to the unit dealing with Osama bin
Laden now than there were before 9/11.
Source: New York Times
22. Before 9/11, John Ashcroft proposed slashing counterterrorism
funding by 23 percent.
Source: americanprogress.org
23. Between January 20, 2001, and September 10, 2001, the Bush
Administration publicly mentioned Al Qaeda one time.
Source: commondreams.org
24. The Bush Administration granted the 9/11 Commission $3 million
to investigate the September 11 attacks and $50 million to the
commission that investigated the Columbia space shuttle crash.
Source: commondreams.org
25. More than three years after 9/11, just 5 percent of all cargo--
including cargo transported on passenger planes--is screened.
Source: commondreams.org
NATIONAL SECURITY
26. During the Bush Administration, North Korea quadrupled its
suspected nuclear arsenal from two to eight weapons.
Source: New York Times
27. The Bush Administration has openly opposed the Comprehensive
Test Ban Treaty, undermining nuclear nonproliferation efforts.
Source: commondreams.org
28. The Bush Administration has spent $7 billion this year--and
plans to spend $10 billion next year--for a missile defense system
that has never worked in a test that wasn't rigged.
Sources: www.gao.gov/new.items/d04409.pdf, Los Angeles Times
29. The Bush Administration underfunded the needs of the nation's
first responders by $98 billion, according to a Council on Foreign
Relations study.
Source: nationaldefensemagazine.org
CRONYISM AND CORRUPTION
30. The Bush Administration awarded a multibillion-dollar no-bid
contract to Halliburton--a company that still pays Vice President
Cheney hundreds of thousands of dollars in deferred compensation
each year (Cheney also has Halliburton stock options). The company
then repeatedly overcharged the military for services, accepted
kickbacks from subcontractors and served troops dirty food.
Sources: The Washington Post, The Taipei Times, BBC News
31. The Bush Administration told Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan
about plans to go to war with Iraq before telling Secretary of State
Colin Powell.
Source: detnews.com
32. The Bush Administration relentlessly pushed an energy bill
containing $23.5 billion in corporate tax breaks, much of which
would have benefited major campaign contributors.
taxpayer.net, Washington Post
33. The Bush Administration paid Iraqi-exile and neocon darling
Ahmad Chalabi $400,000 a month for intelligence, including
fabricated claims about Iraqi WMD. It continued to pay him for
months after discovering that he was providing inaccurate
information.
Source: MSNBC
34. The Bush Administration installed as top officials more than 100
former lobbyists, attorneys or spokespeople for the industries they
oversee.
Source: Source: commondreams.org
35. The Bush Administration let disgraced Enron CEO Ken Lay--a close
friend of President Bush--help write its energy policy.
Source: MSNBC
36. Top Bush Administration officials accepted $127,600 in jewelry
and other presents from the Saudi royal family in 2003, including
diamond-and-sapphire jewelry valued at $95,500 for First Lady Laura
Bush.
Source: Seattle Times
37. Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge awarded lucrative
contracts to several companies in which he is an investor, including
Microsoft, GE, Sprint, Pfizer and Oracle.
Source: cq.com
38. President Bush used images of firefighters carrying flag-draped
coffins through the rubble of the World Trade Center to score
political points in a campaign advertisement.
Source: Washington Post
THE ECONOMY
39. President Bush's top economic adviser, Greg Mankiw, said the
outsourcing of American jobs abroad was "a plus for the economy in
the long run."
Source: CBS News
40. The Bush Administration turned a $236 billion surplus into a
$422 billion deficit.
Sources: Fortune, dfw.com
41. The Bush Administration implemented regulations that made
millions of workers ineligible for overtime pay.
Source: epinet.org
42. The Bush Administration has crippled state budgets by
underfunding federal mandates by $175 billion.
Source: cbpp.org
43. President Bush is the first President since Herbert Hoover to
have a net loss of jobs--around 800,000--over a four-year term.
Source: The Guardian
44. The Bush Administration gave Accenture a multibillion-dollar
border control contract even though the company moved its operations
to Bermuda to avoid paying taxes.
Sources: New York Times, cantonrep.com
45. In 2000, candidate George W. Bush said "the vast majority of my
tax cuts go to the bottom end of the spectrum." He passed the tax
cuts, but the top 20 percent of earners received 68 percent of the
benefits.
Sources: cbpp.org, vote-smart.org
46. In 2000, candidate George W. Bush promised to pay down the
national debt to a historically low level. As of September 30, the
national debt stood at $7,379,052,696,330.32, a record high.
Sources: www.georgewbush.com , Bureau of the Public Debt
47. As major corporate scandals rocked the nation's economy, the
Bush Administration reduced the enforcement of corporate tax law--
conducting fewer audits, imposing fewer penalties, pursuing fewer
prosecutions and making virtually no effort to prosecute corporate
tax crimes.
Source: iht.com
48. The Bush Administration increased tax audits for the working
poor.
Source: theolympian.com
49. In 2000, candidate George W. Bush promised to protect the Social
Security surplus. As President, he spent all of it.
Sources: georgewbush.com, Congressional Budget Office
50. The Bush Administration proposed slashing funding for the
largest federal public housing program, putting 2 million families
in danger of losing their housing.
Source: San Francisco Examiner
51. The Bush Administration did nothing to prevent the minimum wage
from falling to an inflation-adjusted fifty-year low.
Source: Los Angeles Times
EDUCATION
52. The Bush Administration underfunded the No Child Left Behind Act
by $9.4 billion.
Source: nwitimes.com
53. In 2000, candidate George W. Bush promised to increase the
maximum federal scholarship, or Pell Grant, by 50 percent. Instead,
each year he has been in office he has frozen or cut the maximum
scholarship amount.
Source: Source: edworkforce.house.gov x
54. The Bush Administration's Secretary of Education, Rod Paige,
called the National Education Association--a union of teachers--
a "terrorist organization."
Sources: CNN.com
HEALTHCARE
55. The Bush Administration, in violation of the law, refused to
allow Medicare actuary Richard Foster to tell members of Congress
the actual cost of their Medicare bill. Instead, they repeated a
figure they knew was $100 billion too low.
Source: Washington Post, realcities.com
56. The nonpartisan GAO concluded the Bush Administration created
illegal, covert propaganda--in the form of fake news reports--to
promote its industry-backed Medicare bill.
Source: General Accounting Office
57. The Bush Administration stunted research that could lead to new
treatments for Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, diabetes, spinal injuries,
heart disease and muscular dystrophy by placing severe restrictions
on the use of federal dollars for embryonic stem-cell research.
Source: CBS News
58. The Bush Administration reinstated the "global gag rule," which
requires foreign NGOs to withhold information about legal abortion
services or lose US funds for family planning.
Source: healthsciences.columbia.edu
59. The Bush Administration authorized twenty companies that have
been charged with fraud at the federal or state level to offer
Medicare prescription drug cards to seniors.
Source: American Progress
60. The Bush Administration created a prescription drug card for
Medicare that locks seniors into one card for up to a year but
allows the corporations offering the cards to change their prices
once a week.
Source: Washington Post
61. The Bush Administration blocked efforts to allow Medicare to
negotiate cheaper prescription drug prices for seniors.
Source: American Progress
62. At the behest of the french fry industry, the Bush
Administration USDA changed their definition of fresh vegetables to
include frozen french fries.
Source: commondreams.org
63. In a case before the Supreme Court, the Bush Administrations
sided with HMOs--arguing that patients shouldn't be allowed to sue
HMOs when they are improperly denied treatment. With the
Administration's help, the HMOs won.
Source: ABC News
64. The Bush Administration went to court to block lawsuits by
patients who were injured by defective prescription drugs and
medical devices.
Source: Washington Post
65. President Bush signed a Medicare law that allows companies that
reduce healthcare benefits for retirees to receive substantial
subsidies from the government.
Source: Bloomberg News
66. Since President Bush took office, more than 5 million people
have lost their health insurance.
Source: CNN.com
67. The Bush Administration blocked a proposal to ban the use of
arsenic-treated lumber in playground equipment, even though it
conceded it posed a danger to children.
Source: Miami Herald
68. One day after President Bush bragged about his efforts to help
seniors afford healthcare, the Administration announced the largest
dollar increase of Medicare premiums in history.
Source: iht.com
69. The Bush Administration--at the behest of the tobacco industry--
tried to water down a global treaty that aimed to help curb smoking.
Source: tobaccofreekids.org
70. The Bush Administration has spent $270 million on abstinence-
only education programs even though there is no scientific evidence
demonstrating that they are effective in dissuading teenagers from
having sex or reducing the transmission of sexually transmitted
diseases.
Source: salon.com
71. The Bush Administration slashed funding for programs that
suggested ways, other than abstinence, to avoid sexually transmitted
diseases.
Source: LA Weekly
ENVIRONMENT
72. The Bush Administration gutted clean-air standards for aging
power plants, resulting in at least 20,000 premature deaths each
year.
Source: cta.policy.net
73. The Bush Administration eliminated protections on more than 200
million acres of public lands.
Source: calwild.org
74. President Bush broke his promise to place limits on carbon
dioxide emissions, an essential step in combating global warming.
Source: Washington Post
75. Days after 9/11, the Bush Administration told people living near
Ground Zero that the air was safe--even though they knew it wasn't--
subjecting hundreds of people to unnecessary, debilitating ailments.
Sierra Club , EPA
76. The Bush Administration created a massive tax loophole for SUVs--
allowing, for example, the write-off of the entire cost of a new
Hummer.
Source: Washington Post
77. The Bush Administration put former coal-industry big shots in
the government and let them roll back safety regulations, putting
miners at greater risk of black lung disease.
Source: New York Times
78. The Bush Administration said that even though the weed killer
atrazine was seeping into water supplies--creating, among other
bizarre creatures, hermaphroditic frogs--there was no reason to
regulate it.
Source: Washington Post
79. The Bush Administration has proposed cutting the budget of the
Environmental Protection Agency by $600 million next year.
Source: ems.org
80. President Bush broke his campaign promise to end the maintenance
backlog at national parks. He has provided just 7 percent of the
funds needed, according to National Park Service estimates.
Source: bushgreenwatch.org
RIGHTS AND LIBERTIES
81. Since 9/11, Attorney General John Ashcroft has detained 5,000
foreign nationals in antiterrorism sweeps; none have been convicted
of a terrorist crime.
Source: hrwatch.org
82. The Bush Administration ignored pleas from the International
Committee of the Red Cross to stop the abuse of prisoners in US
custody.
Source: Wall Street Journal
83. In violation of international law, the Bush Administration hid
prisoners from the Red Cross so the organization couldn't monitor
their treatment.
Source: hrwatch.org
84. The Bush Administration, without ever charging him with a crime,
arrested US citizen José Padilla at an airport in Chicago, held him
on a naval brig in South Carolina for two years, denied him access
to a lawyer and prohibited any contact with his friends and family.
Source: news.findlaw.com
85. President Bush's top legal adviser wrote a memo to the President
advising him that he can legally authorize torture.
Source: news.findlaw.com
86. At the direction of Bush Administration officials, the FBI went
door to door questioning people planning on protesting at the 2004
political conventions.
Source: New York Times
87. The Bush Administration refuses to support the creation of an
independent commission to investigate the abuse of foreign prisoners
in American custody. Instead, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld
selected the members of a commission to review the conduct of his
own department.
Source: humanrightsfirst.org
FLIP FLOPS
88. President Bush opposed the creation of the 9/11 Commission
before he supported it, delaying an essential inquiry into one of
the greatest intelligence failure in American history.
Source: americanprogressaction.org
89. President Bush said gay marriage was a state issue before he
supported a constitutional amendment banning it.
Sources: CNN.com, White House
90. President Bush said he was committed to capturing Osama bin
Laden "dead or alive" before he said, "I truly am not that concerned
about him."
Source: americanprogressaction.org
91. President Bush said we had found weapons of mass destruction in
Iraq, before he admitted we hadn't found them.
Sources: White House, americanprogress.org
92. President Bush said, "You can't distinguish between Al Qaeda and
Saddam when you talk about the war on terror," before he admitted
Saddam had no role in 9/11.
Sources: White House, Washington Post
BIOGRAPHY
93. George Bush didn't come close to meeting his commitments to the
National Guard. Records show he performed no service in a six-month
period in 1972 and a three-month period in 1973.
Source: Boston Globe
94. In June 1990 George Bush violated federal securities law when he
failed to inform the SEC that he had sold 200,000 shares of his
company, Harken Energy. Two months later the company reported
significant losses and by the end of that year the stock had dropped
from $3 to $1.
Source: The Guardian
95. When asked at an April 2004 press conference to name a mistake
he made during his presidency, Bush couldn't think of one.
Source: White House
SECRECY
96. The Bush Administration refuses to release twenty-seven pages of
a Congressional report that reportedly detail the Saudi Arabian
government's connections to the 9/11 hijackers.
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer
97. Last year the Bush Administration spent $6.5 billion creating 14
million new classified documents and securing old secrets--the
highest level of spending in ten years.
Source: openthegovernment.org
98. The Bush Administration spent $120 classifying documents for
every $1 it spent declassifying documents.
Source: openthegovernment.org
99. The Bush Administration has spent millions of dollars and defied
numerous court orders to conceal from the public who participated in
Vice President Cheney's 2001 energy task force.
Source: Washington Post
100. The Bush Administration--reversing years of bipartisan
tradition--refuses to answer requests from Democratic members of
Congress about how the White House is spending taxpayer money.
Source: Washington Post
OPINION
If the past informs the future, four more years of the Bush
Administration will be a tragic period in the history of the United
States and the world.