The forum, Free Your Mind, has put me on a suspension due to voicing an unpopular opinion concerning the ?elected? President of the United States, the gluttonous ways of American life, and the ironic act of Bush asking Palestinian leader, Yasir Arafat to participate in a voluntary re-election campaign, despite the fact that Bush himself was elected under more suspicious means.
The articles are still posted on the Free Your Mind forum under the titles:
1) (CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS!!!!!) Arafat calls for Democratic Elections in the U.S.A.!!!!
2) Some disturbing facts about George W. Bush's administration (LOOK INSIDE!!!!)
3) The United States in #1....(just check out all of these facts!!!)
I encourage you to view these articles and send a letter to the moderators (paxetaurora and Salome) who suspended me from posting in this forum for an undisclosed period of time.
I am banned, despite the fact that other Interferencers who I happen to disagree with political, spiritually, and economics are currently allowed to print their opinions, which make me vulnerable to humiliation and disallow me to defend my reputation before the website.
This is an outrage.
Please help me and I will most heartedly help each of you should a similar injustice take place against YOU.
Now, I understand that most of you didn?t even bother to read this far, but for those of you who did, I?ve attached the ?questionable? posts, making it easier to understand my case. I have organized them in the same order as listed above.
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1) ''Arafat calls for democratic elections in the United States''
Printed on Thursday, June 27, 2002 @ 14:59:39 EDT ( )
By Rahul Mahajan
YellowTimes.org Guest Columnist
(YellowTimes.org) ? Palestinian Authority President Yasir Arafat stunned the world yesterday by demanding that the United States hold democratic elections for a new Chief Executive before it attempts to continue in its role as broker between Israel and Palestine.
"Mr. Bush is tainted by his association with Jim-Crow-style selective disenfranchisement and executive strong-arm tactics in a southeastern province controlled by his brother," said Mr. Arafat, who was elected with 87 percent of the vote in 1996 elections in the West Bank and Gaza, declared to be free and fair by international observers, including former U.S. president Jimmy Carter. (1) "Our count shows that he would have lost the election if his associates hadn?t deprived so many thousands of African-Americans, an oppressed minority, of the right to vote. He is not the man to bring peace to the Middle East."' (2)
Hugo Chavez, elected president of Venezuela with 62 percent of the popular vote, concurred with Mr. Arafat. Chavez has long been a victim of Bush's anti-democratic attitude, as the Bush administration funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars through the "National Endowment for Democracy" to anti-Chavez forces and reportedly gave the go-ahead for an attempted military coup by those forces. (3) "After it was over and I was back in power," said Chavez, "his administration actually told me 'legitimacy is not conferred by a majority vote.' Unless, of course, it's a majority of the Supreme Court. I respect the local traditions, however quaint, of the United States, but he hardly sets the best example for the Middle East, does he? Why don't we get back to that idea of an international conference to settle the question of Palestine?"
Bush was not without his supporters, however. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, elected head of a country that legally discriminates among its citizens on the basis of religious belief, forbids political candidates from advocating an end to that discrimination, and disenfranchises an entire people through military occupation, dismissed the call as "absurd."
Hamid Karzai, recently "elected" head of Afghanistan by a grand council, or "loya jirga," in which a foreign body, controlled by the United States, selected delegates; unelected warlords who had ravaged the country were permitted to control the meeting and to threaten delegates who refused to vote their way; and the U.S. special envoy to Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, refused to allow at least two other candidates to stand for election, added his support for Mr. Bush in his hour of need. (4) Said Karzai, "In Afghanistan, we have the loya jirga. In the United States, you have your own process - as we understand, it's traditional over there for corporations to play a large part in electing officials and writing legislation. We're very interested in looking into that kind of system ourselves."
Vojislav Kostunica, chosen head of Yugoslavia in an election where the United States spent an estimated $25 million to influence the results, was also keen to rush to Bush's defense, indicating that he saw no procedural problems with the 2000 elections. (5)
And Mahathir Mohamad of Malaysia, long derided for his claim that "Asian culture" is at odds with universal human rights, added, "The elections are strictly an internal matter, and should have no bearing on the status of the United States as a broker. The Palestinians' high-handedness is a serious threat to national independence."
In a surprise move, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, long an ally of the United States, supported Arafat's call, saying, "While we're at it, let's take another look at our agreement on American independence. George Washington was not only unelected, he did rather associate with terrorists. Benedict Arnold would have been a much more suitable partner for peace, n'est ce pas?"
Arafat, busy working on a plan to find a new Israeli leader not tainted with the massacre of hundreds of innocents in Sabra and Shatila to negotiate with, could not be reached for further comment. (6)
DISCLAIMER: This piece is satire ? sort of. All the quotes have been made up. All the background facts are true, and have been footnoted for that reason. It's the kind of news piece that might appear in a world in which other countries' heads of state felt free to tell the truth about certain U.S. policies.
[Rahul Mahajan is the Green Party candidate for Governor of Texas. He is a member of the Nowar Collective (http://www.nowarcollective.com) and serves on the National Board of Peace Action. His book, "The New Crusade: America?s War on Terrorism,? (http://www.monthlyreview.org/newcrusade.htm) has been described as "mandatory reading for anyone who wants to get a handle on the war on terrorism." His other work can be seen at http://www.rahulmahajan.com. This article first appeared on http://www.counterpunch.com.]
Rahul Mahajan encourages your comments: rahul@tao.ca
Footnotes:
(1). Palestine and the Palestinians, Samih Farsoun with Christina Zacharia, Westview Press 1997, p. 284.
(2). See "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy," Greg Palast, Pluto Press 2002.
(3). See, e.g., "Warning to Venezuelan leader," Greg Palast, BBC Newsnight, May 13, 2002, http://www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=155&row=1.
(4). See, e.g., "Stifled in the Loya Jirga," Omar Zakhilwal, Washington Post, June 14, 2002, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy...-2002Jun14.html and "Afghanistan: Gangsters, Murderers, and Stooges Used to Endorse Bush's Vision of 'Democracy,' " Robert Fisk, the Independent, June 10, http://www.commondreams.org/views02/0610-02.htm.
(5). "Milosevic, Trailing in Polls, Rails Against NATO," Steven Erlanger, New York Times, September 20, 2000.
(6). See, e.g., "The Fateful Triangle: the United States, Israel, and the Palestinians," Noam Chomsky, South End Press 1999 (2nd edition).
YellowTimes.org encourages its material to be reproduced, reprinted, or broadcast provided that any such reproduction must identify the original source, http://www.YellowTimes.org. Internet web links to http://www.YellowTimes.org are appreciated.
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2) With all the praise bestowed upon America's el presidente, I thought I should shed light on a few less that flattering facts concerning our golden boy, George W. Bush and his administration. If anything, this will serve as great gospel for the watercooler
? Quoted as saying ?It?s amazing I won. I was running against peace, prosperity, and incumbency.? (June 14, 2001, refering to his presidental victory).
? During the 1930?s and 1940?s, Prescott Bush, W.Bush?s Grandfather, was one of seven directors in the Union Banking Corporation, owned by Nazi industrialists. After filtering their money through a Dutch bank, they hid as estimated $3 million in Bush?s bank. As a principal player, it?s unlikely that Bush would have been unaware of the Nazi connection. The government eventually seized the assets and the bank dissolved in 1951, after which Prescott Bush---and his father, Sam Bush received $1.5 million.
? Got into Yale in 1964 when other applicants had higher SAT?s and much better grades. Earned a C average at Yale University
? Bush raised a record-breaking $190 million during his 2000 campaign. 2/3?s came from just over 700 individuals.
? Cut $39 million from federal spending on libraries.
? Cut $35 million in funding for advanced pediatric training for doctors.
? Cut funding for research into renewable energy sources by 50%
? Delayed rules that would reduce ?acceptable? levels of arsenic in drinking water.
? Cut funding for research into cleaner, more efficient cars and trucks by 28%
? Revoked rules strengthening the power of the government to deny contracts to companies that violate federal laws, environmental laws, and workplace safety standards.
? Allowed Secretary of the Interior, Gale Norton to request suggestions for opening up national monuments for foresting, coal mining, and oil and gas drilling.
? Broken campaign promise to invest $100 million per year in rain forest conservation.
? Reduced by 86% the Community Access Program, which coordinated care for people without health insurance among public hospitals, clinics, and other health care providers.
? Nullified a proposal to increase public access to information about the potential ramifications of chemical plant accidents.
? Cut funding for the Girls and Boys Clubs of America programs in public housing by $60 million.
? Pulled out of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol agreement on global warming, which was ultimately signed by 178 other countries.
? Rejected an international accord to enforce the 1972 treaty banning germ warfare.
? Cut $200 million from workforce training program for dislocated workers.
? Cut $200 million from the Childcare and Development grant, a program that provides childcare to low-income families as they are forced from welfare to work.
? Eliminated prescription contraceptive coverage to federal employees (though Viagra is still covered).
? Cut $700 million in funds for public housing repairs.
? Cut half a billion dollars from the Environmental Protection Agency?s budget.
? Overturned workplace ergonomic rules designed to protect worker?s health and safety.
? Abandoned campaigns pledges to regulate carbon dioxide emissions, a major contributor to global warming.
? Prohibited any federal aid from going to international family planning organizations that provide abortion counseling, referrals, or services with their own funds.
? Nominated former mining company executive Dan Lauriski as Assistant Secretary of Labor for Mine Safety and Health.
? Appointed Lynn Scarlett, a global warming skeptic and an opponent of stricter standards on air pollution, as Undersecretary of the Interior.
? Approved Interior Secretary Gale Norton?s controversial plan to auction off areas close to Florida?s eastern shore for oil and gas development.
? Announced plans to allow oil drilling in Montana?s Lewis and Clark National Forest.
? Threatened to shut down the White House AIDS office.
? Decided no longer to seek guidance from the American Bar Association on federal judicial appointments.
? Denied college financial aid to students convicted of misdemeanor drug charges (though convicted murderers are still eligible for financial aid).
? Allocated only 3% of the amount requested by Justice Department lawyers in the government?s continued litigation against tobacco companies.
? Pushed through tax cut, 43% of which goes to the wealthiest 1% of Americans.
? Signed a bill making it harder for poor and middle-class Americans to file for bankruptcy, even when facing overwhelming medical bills.
? Appointed affirmative action opponent Kay Cole James to direct the Office of Personnel Management.
? Cut $15.7 million from programs dealing with child abuse and neglect.
? Proposed elimination of the ?Reading in Fundamental? programs, which gives free books to poor children.
? Pushed for development of ?mini-nukes?, designed to attack deeply buried targets, a violation of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
? Tried to reverse regulation protecting 60 million acres of national forest from logging and road building.
? Appointed John Bolton, an opponent of nonproliferation treaties and the United Nations, as Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security.
? Made Monsanto executive Linda Fisher deputy administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.
? Nominated Michael McConnell, a leading critic of the separation of church and state, to a federal judgeship.
? Nominated civil rights opponent Terrence Boyle to a federal judgeship.
? Canceled the 2004 deadline for automakers to develop prototype high-mileage cars.
? Names John Walters, an ardent opponent of prison drug treatment programs, as drug czar.
? Appointed oil and coal lobbyist J. Steven Giles as Deputy Secretary of the Interior.
? Named Bennett Raley, who has called for the repeal of the Endangered Species Act, as Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Water and Science.
? Sought the dismissal of a class-action lawsuit files in the United States against Japan by Asian women forced to work as sex slaves in World War II.
? Appointed as solicitor general Ted Olson, your chied lawyer in the Florida voting debacle.
? Proposed the selling of oil and gas tracts in the Alaska Wildlife Preserve.
? Stated his favorite childhood book was ?The Very Hungry Caterpillar? which wasn?t even released until he graduated from college.
? In 1976 he was arrested and held in jail for a drunk driving (DUI). His sister was in the car at the time.
? Wife, Laura Bush killed a high school friend at the age of 17, when running a stop sign and hitting his car.
? As governor of Texas, he held what is commonly referred to as a ?ceremonial job?.
? Vice President Dick Cheney has had 2 drunk driving arrests in the past 25 years.
? Quote from Saturday Night Live, ?George Bush said he didn?t reveal the drunk driving charge because of what his daughters might think of him. He had preferred that they think of him as a man with numerous failed business ventures who now executes people?. Ironically his daughter have numerous alcohol charges themselves.
? Claimed in 1999 that he hadn?t committed a felony related to drugs in the past 25 years, which sheds suspicion on the time period pre-dating 1974. If he did use the drug cocaine, he proves to be a hypocrite in requiring all financial aid to college students go to non-drug offenders.
? Annual salary as President: $400,000.
? Served in the Texas Air National Guard, but according to the ?Boston Globe?, he skipped out and failed to report back for a year and a half.
? There is a time period during the 1970?s that never appears on Bush?s official biography.
? Became a partner in the Texas Rangers baseball program despite only putting up 1/100th of the money for the team.
? Conned the taxpayers of Arlington to spend millions of dollars on a new Texas Rangers' stadium.
? Bush?s ?hatchet man?, James Baker once said in 1992, ?Fuck the Jews, they don?t vote for us anyway.?
o He reneged on our agreement with the European Community to cut our carbon dioxide emissions.
o He started a New Cold War, this time with China, over an American spy plane that knocked one of their planes out of the sky, killing the pilot.
o He allowed the peace process in the Middle East to crumble, resulting in some of the worst slaughter we?ve ever seen between Israelis and Palestinians.
o He started a new Cold War with Russia by actively preparing to violate the anti-ballistic missile (ABM) treaties of the 1970?s.
o He threatened to unilaterally reduce our presence in the former Yugoslavia, resulting in renewed violence between the ethnic groups in the region.
o He defied UN human rights agreements, resulting in the United Nations removing the United States from its Human Rights Commission.
o He bombed civilians in Iraq, just like his Daddy did.
o He stepped up the drug was in South American, resulting in the United States helping the Colombians to shoot down a plane full of American missionaries, killing a Michigan mother and her child.
o He cut off any hope of reducing tensions with North Korea, guaranteeing not only that mass starvation there will continue but that its leader, film-nut Kim Jong II, will never return his overdue videos from Blockbuster.
o He turned basically every country in the world against us by stating he was going to go ahead and build the nutty ?Star Wars? missile defense system.
o Pardoned David Lamp, Vincent Mietlicki, John Wadsworth, and James Weathers Jr. who were executives at Koch Industries, the largest privately held Oil Company in America, whose CEO and vice president are the brothers Charles and David Koch. In Sept 2000, the federal government brought a 97-count indictment against Koch Industries and its four employees mentioned above for knowingly releasing 91 metric tons of benzene, a cancer-causing agent, into the air and water, and for covering up the deadly release from federal regulators. It wasn?t Koch?s first run-in with the law; it wasn?t even their first THAT YEAR. Earlier that year Koch had been fined $35 million for illegal pollution in six states. Koch Industries gave over $800,000 to Bush?s campaign and fellow Republian campaigns. Bush and his Attorney General John Ashcroft dropped the charges from 97 to a mere 9. None of the men faced prison time, paid any fines.
3) Among the top 20 industrialized nations, the United States is #1 in?.:
o Millionaires
o Billionaires
o Military spending
o Firearm deaths
o Beef production
o Per capita energy use
o Carbon dioxide emissions (more than Australia, Brazil, Canda, France, India, Indonesia, Germany, Italy, Mexico, and the United Kingdom combined).
o Total and per capita municipal waste (720 kilograms per person per year).
o Hazardous waste produced (by a factor of more than 20x our nearest competitor, Germany).
o Oil consumption
o Natural gas consumption
o The least amount of tax revenue generated (as a % of gross domestic product).
oThe least amount of federal and state government expenditure (as a percentage of GDP).
o Budget deficit (as a percentage of GDP).
o Daily per capita consumption of calories.
o Lowest voter turnout.
o Number of political parties represented in the lower or single house.
o Recorded rapes (by a factor of almost 3x our nearest competitor?Canada).
o Births to mothers under the age of 20 (again, more than twice as many as Canada, and nearly twice as many as #2 New Zealand).
o Number of international human rights treaties not signed.
o Among countries in the United Nations with a legally constituted government to not ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
o Number of known execution of child offenders.
o Likelihood of children under the age of 15 to commit suicide with a gun.
o Likelihood of children under the age of 15 to die from gunfire.
o Lowest 8th grade math scores.
o Becoming the first society in history in which the poorest group in the population are childrenAmong the top 20 industrialized nations, the United States is #1 in?.:
o Millionaires
o Billionaires
o Military spending
o Firearm deaths
o Beef production
o Per capita energy use
o Carbon dioxide emissions (more than Australia, Brazil, Canda, France, India, Indonesia, Germany, Italy, Mexico, and the United Kingdom combined).
o Total and per capita municipal waste (720 kilograms per person per year).
o Hazardous waste produced (by a factor of more than 20x our nearest competitor, Germany).
o Oil consumption
o Natural gas consumption
o The least amount of tax revenue generated (as a % of gross domestic product).
oThe least amount of federal and state government expenditure (as a percentage of GDP).
o Budget deficit (as a percentage of GDP).
o Daily per capita consumption of calories.
o Lowest voter turnout.
o Number of political parties represented in the lower or single house.
o Recorded rapes (by a factor of almost 3x our nearest competitor?Canada).
o Births to mothers under the age of 20 (again, more than twice as many as Canada, and nearly twice as many as #2 New Zealand).
o Number of international human rights treaties not signed.
o Among countries in the United Nations with a legally constituted government to not ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
o Number of known execution of child offenders.
o Likelihood of children under the age of 15 to commit suicide with a gun.
o Likelihood of children under the age of 15 to die from gunfire.
o Lowest 8th grade math scores.
o Becoming the first society in history in which the poorest group in the population are children
The articles are still posted on the Free Your Mind forum under the titles:
1) (CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS!!!!!) Arafat calls for Democratic Elections in the U.S.A.!!!!
2) Some disturbing facts about George W. Bush's administration (LOOK INSIDE!!!!)
3) The United States in #1....(just check out all of these facts!!!)
I encourage you to view these articles and send a letter to the moderators (paxetaurora and Salome) who suspended me from posting in this forum for an undisclosed period of time.
I am banned, despite the fact that other Interferencers who I happen to disagree with political, spiritually, and economics are currently allowed to print their opinions, which make me vulnerable to humiliation and disallow me to defend my reputation before the website.
This is an outrage.
Please help me and I will most heartedly help each of you should a similar injustice take place against YOU.
Now, I understand that most of you didn?t even bother to read this far, but for those of you who did, I?ve attached the ?questionable? posts, making it easier to understand my case. I have organized them in the same order as listed above.
#######################################################################
1) ''Arafat calls for democratic elections in the United States''
Printed on Thursday, June 27, 2002 @ 14:59:39 EDT ( )
By Rahul Mahajan
YellowTimes.org Guest Columnist
(YellowTimes.org) ? Palestinian Authority President Yasir Arafat stunned the world yesterday by demanding that the United States hold democratic elections for a new Chief Executive before it attempts to continue in its role as broker between Israel and Palestine.
"Mr. Bush is tainted by his association with Jim-Crow-style selective disenfranchisement and executive strong-arm tactics in a southeastern province controlled by his brother," said Mr. Arafat, who was elected with 87 percent of the vote in 1996 elections in the West Bank and Gaza, declared to be free and fair by international observers, including former U.S. president Jimmy Carter. (1) "Our count shows that he would have lost the election if his associates hadn?t deprived so many thousands of African-Americans, an oppressed minority, of the right to vote. He is not the man to bring peace to the Middle East."' (2)
Hugo Chavez, elected president of Venezuela with 62 percent of the popular vote, concurred with Mr. Arafat. Chavez has long been a victim of Bush's anti-democratic attitude, as the Bush administration funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars through the "National Endowment for Democracy" to anti-Chavez forces and reportedly gave the go-ahead for an attempted military coup by those forces. (3) "After it was over and I was back in power," said Chavez, "his administration actually told me 'legitimacy is not conferred by a majority vote.' Unless, of course, it's a majority of the Supreme Court. I respect the local traditions, however quaint, of the United States, but he hardly sets the best example for the Middle East, does he? Why don't we get back to that idea of an international conference to settle the question of Palestine?"
Bush was not without his supporters, however. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, elected head of a country that legally discriminates among its citizens on the basis of religious belief, forbids political candidates from advocating an end to that discrimination, and disenfranchises an entire people through military occupation, dismissed the call as "absurd."
Hamid Karzai, recently "elected" head of Afghanistan by a grand council, or "loya jirga," in which a foreign body, controlled by the United States, selected delegates; unelected warlords who had ravaged the country were permitted to control the meeting and to threaten delegates who refused to vote their way; and the U.S. special envoy to Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, refused to allow at least two other candidates to stand for election, added his support for Mr. Bush in his hour of need. (4) Said Karzai, "In Afghanistan, we have the loya jirga. In the United States, you have your own process - as we understand, it's traditional over there for corporations to play a large part in electing officials and writing legislation. We're very interested in looking into that kind of system ourselves."
Vojislav Kostunica, chosen head of Yugoslavia in an election where the United States spent an estimated $25 million to influence the results, was also keen to rush to Bush's defense, indicating that he saw no procedural problems with the 2000 elections. (5)
And Mahathir Mohamad of Malaysia, long derided for his claim that "Asian culture" is at odds with universal human rights, added, "The elections are strictly an internal matter, and should have no bearing on the status of the United States as a broker. The Palestinians' high-handedness is a serious threat to national independence."
In a surprise move, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, long an ally of the United States, supported Arafat's call, saying, "While we're at it, let's take another look at our agreement on American independence. George Washington was not only unelected, he did rather associate with terrorists. Benedict Arnold would have been a much more suitable partner for peace, n'est ce pas?"
Arafat, busy working on a plan to find a new Israeli leader not tainted with the massacre of hundreds of innocents in Sabra and Shatila to negotiate with, could not be reached for further comment. (6)
DISCLAIMER: This piece is satire ? sort of. All the quotes have been made up. All the background facts are true, and have been footnoted for that reason. It's the kind of news piece that might appear in a world in which other countries' heads of state felt free to tell the truth about certain U.S. policies.
[Rahul Mahajan is the Green Party candidate for Governor of Texas. He is a member of the Nowar Collective (http://www.nowarcollective.com) and serves on the National Board of Peace Action. His book, "The New Crusade: America?s War on Terrorism,? (http://www.monthlyreview.org/newcrusade.htm) has been described as "mandatory reading for anyone who wants to get a handle on the war on terrorism." His other work can be seen at http://www.rahulmahajan.com. This article first appeared on http://www.counterpunch.com.]
Rahul Mahajan encourages your comments: rahul@tao.ca
Footnotes:
(1). Palestine and the Palestinians, Samih Farsoun with Christina Zacharia, Westview Press 1997, p. 284.
(2). See "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy," Greg Palast, Pluto Press 2002.
(3). See, e.g., "Warning to Venezuelan leader," Greg Palast, BBC Newsnight, May 13, 2002, http://www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=155&row=1.
(4). See, e.g., "Stifled in the Loya Jirga," Omar Zakhilwal, Washington Post, June 14, 2002, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy...-2002Jun14.html and "Afghanistan: Gangsters, Murderers, and Stooges Used to Endorse Bush's Vision of 'Democracy,' " Robert Fisk, the Independent, June 10, http://www.commondreams.org/views02/0610-02.htm.
(5). "Milosevic, Trailing in Polls, Rails Against NATO," Steven Erlanger, New York Times, September 20, 2000.
(6). See, e.g., "The Fateful Triangle: the United States, Israel, and the Palestinians," Noam Chomsky, South End Press 1999 (2nd edition).
YellowTimes.org encourages its material to be reproduced, reprinted, or broadcast provided that any such reproduction must identify the original source, http://www.YellowTimes.org. Internet web links to http://www.YellowTimes.org are appreciated.
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2) With all the praise bestowed upon America's el presidente, I thought I should shed light on a few less that flattering facts concerning our golden boy, George W. Bush and his administration. If anything, this will serve as great gospel for the watercooler
? Quoted as saying ?It?s amazing I won. I was running against peace, prosperity, and incumbency.? (June 14, 2001, refering to his presidental victory).
? During the 1930?s and 1940?s, Prescott Bush, W.Bush?s Grandfather, was one of seven directors in the Union Banking Corporation, owned by Nazi industrialists. After filtering their money through a Dutch bank, they hid as estimated $3 million in Bush?s bank. As a principal player, it?s unlikely that Bush would have been unaware of the Nazi connection. The government eventually seized the assets and the bank dissolved in 1951, after which Prescott Bush---and his father, Sam Bush received $1.5 million.
? Got into Yale in 1964 when other applicants had higher SAT?s and much better grades. Earned a C average at Yale University
? Bush raised a record-breaking $190 million during his 2000 campaign. 2/3?s came from just over 700 individuals.
? Cut $39 million from federal spending on libraries.
? Cut $35 million in funding for advanced pediatric training for doctors.
? Cut funding for research into renewable energy sources by 50%
? Delayed rules that would reduce ?acceptable? levels of arsenic in drinking water.
? Cut funding for research into cleaner, more efficient cars and trucks by 28%
? Revoked rules strengthening the power of the government to deny contracts to companies that violate federal laws, environmental laws, and workplace safety standards.
? Allowed Secretary of the Interior, Gale Norton to request suggestions for opening up national monuments for foresting, coal mining, and oil and gas drilling.
? Broken campaign promise to invest $100 million per year in rain forest conservation.
? Reduced by 86% the Community Access Program, which coordinated care for people without health insurance among public hospitals, clinics, and other health care providers.
? Nullified a proposal to increase public access to information about the potential ramifications of chemical plant accidents.
? Cut funding for the Girls and Boys Clubs of America programs in public housing by $60 million.
? Pulled out of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol agreement on global warming, which was ultimately signed by 178 other countries.
? Rejected an international accord to enforce the 1972 treaty banning germ warfare.
? Cut $200 million from workforce training program for dislocated workers.
? Cut $200 million from the Childcare and Development grant, a program that provides childcare to low-income families as they are forced from welfare to work.
? Eliminated prescription contraceptive coverage to federal employees (though Viagra is still covered).
? Cut $700 million in funds for public housing repairs.
? Cut half a billion dollars from the Environmental Protection Agency?s budget.
? Overturned workplace ergonomic rules designed to protect worker?s health and safety.
? Abandoned campaigns pledges to regulate carbon dioxide emissions, a major contributor to global warming.
? Prohibited any federal aid from going to international family planning organizations that provide abortion counseling, referrals, or services with their own funds.
? Nominated former mining company executive Dan Lauriski as Assistant Secretary of Labor for Mine Safety and Health.
? Appointed Lynn Scarlett, a global warming skeptic and an opponent of stricter standards on air pollution, as Undersecretary of the Interior.
? Approved Interior Secretary Gale Norton?s controversial plan to auction off areas close to Florida?s eastern shore for oil and gas development.
? Announced plans to allow oil drilling in Montana?s Lewis and Clark National Forest.
? Threatened to shut down the White House AIDS office.
? Decided no longer to seek guidance from the American Bar Association on federal judicial appointments.
? Denied college financial aid to students convicted of misdemeanor drug charges (though convicted murderers are still eligible for financial aid).
? Allocated only 3% of the amount requested by Justice Department lawyers in the government?s continued litigation against tobacco companies.
? Pushed through tax cut, 43% of which goes to the wealthiest 1% of Americans.
? Signed a bill making it harder for poor and middle-class Americans to file for bankruptcy, even when facing overwhelming medical bills.
? Appointed affirmative action opponent Kay Cole James to direct the Office of Personnel Management.
? Cut $15.7 million from programs dealing with child abuse and neglect.
? Proposed elimination of the ?Reading in Fundamental? programs, which gives free books to poor children.
? Pushed for development of ?mini-nukes?, designed to attack deeply buried targets, a violation of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
? Tried to reverse regulation protecting 60 million acres of national forest from logging and road building.
? Appointed John Bolton, an opponent of nonproliferation treaties and the United Nations, as Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security.
? Made Monsanto executive Linda Fisher deputy administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.
? Nominated Michael McConnell, a leading critic of the separation of church and state, to a federal judgeship.
? Nominated civil rights opponent Terrence Boyle to a federal judgeship.
? Canceled the 2004 deadline for automakers to develop prototype high-mileage cars.
? Names John Walters, an ardent opponent of prison drug treatment programs, as drug czar.
? Appointed oil and coal lobbyist J. Steven Giles as Deputy Secretary of the Interior.
? Named Bennett Raley, who has called for the repeal of the Endangered Species Act, as Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Water and Science.
? Sought the dismissal of a class-action lawsuit files in the United States against Japan by Asian women forced to work as sex slaves in World War II.
? Appointed as solicitor general Ted Olson, your chied lawyer in the Florida voting debacle.
? Proposed the selling of oil and gas tracts in the Alaska Wildlife Preserve.
? Stated his favorite childhood book was ?The Very Hungry Caterpillar? which wasn?t even released until he graduated from college.
? In 1976 he was arrested and held in jail for a drunk driving (DUI). His sister was in the car at the time.
? Wife, Laura Bush killed a high school friend at the age of 17, when running a stop sign and hitting his car.
? As governor of Texas, he held what is commonly referred to as a ?ceremonial job?.
? Vice President Dick Cheney has had 2 drunk driving arrests in the past 25 years.
? Quote from Saturday Night Live, ?George Bush said he didn?t reveal the drunk driving charge because of what his daughters might think of him. He had preferred that they think of him as a man with numerous failed business ventures who now executes people?. Ironically his daughter have numerous alcohol charges themselves.
? Claimed in 1999 that he hadn?t committed a felony related to drugs in the past 25 years, which sheds suspicion on the time period pre-dating 1974. If he did use the drug cocaine, he proves to be a hypocrite in requiring all financial aid to college students go to non-drug offenders.
? Annual salary as President: $400,000.
? Served in the Texas Air National Guard, but according to the ?Boston Globe?, he skipped out and failed to report back for a year and a half.
? There is a time period during the 1970?s that never appears on Bush?s official biography.
? Became a partner in the Texas Rangers baseball program despite only putting up 1/100th of the money for the team.
? Conned the taxpayers of Arlington to spend millions of dollars on a new Texas Rangers' stadium.
? Bush?s ?hatchet man?, James Baker once said in 1992, ?Fuck the Jews, they don?t vote for us anyway.?
o He reneged on our agreement with the European Community to cut our carbon dioxide emissions.
o He started a New Cold War, this time with China, over an American spy plane that knocked one of their planes out of the sky, killing the pilot.
o He allowed the peace process in the Middle East to crumble, resulting in some of the worst slaughter we?ve ever seen between Israelis and Palestinians.
o He started a new Cold War with Russia by actively preparing to violate the anti-ballistic missile (ABM) treaties of the 1970?s.
o He threatened to unilaterally reduce our presence in the former Yugoslavia, resulting in renewed violence between the ethnic groups in the region.
o He defied UN human rights agreements, resulting in the United Nations removing the United States from its Human Rights Commission.
o He bombed civilians in Iraq, just like his Daddy did.
o He stepped up the drug was in South American, resulting in the United States helping the Colombians to shoot down a plane full of American missionaries, killing a Michigan mother and her child.
o He cut off any hope of reducing tensions with North Korea, guaranteeing not only that mass starvation there will continue but that its leader, film-nut Kim Jong II, will never return his overdue videos from Blockbuster.
o He turned basically every country in the world against us by stating he was going to go ahead and build the nutty ?Star Wars? missile defense system.
o Pardoned David Lamp, Vincent Mietlicki, John Wadsworth, and James Weathers Jr. who were executives at Koch Industries, the largest privately held Oil Company in America, whose CEO and vice president are the brothers Charles and David Koch. In Sept 2000, the federal government brought a 97-count indictment against Koch Industries and its four employees mentioned above for knowingly releasing 91 metric tons of benzene, a cancer-causing agent, into the air and water, and for covering up the deadly release from federal regulators. It wasn?t Koch?s first run-in with the law; it wasn?t even their first THAT YEAR. Earlier that year Koch had been fined $35 million for illegal pollution in six states. Koch Industries gave over $800,000 to Bush?s campaign and fellow Republian campaigns. Bush and his Attorney General John Ashcroft dropped the charges from 97 to a mere 9. None of the men faced prison time, paid any fines.
3) Among the top 20 industrialized nations, the United States is #1 in?.:
o Millionaires
o Billionaires
o Military spending
o Firearm deaths
o Beef production
o Per capita energy use
o Carbon dioxide emissions (more than Australia, Brazil, Canda, France, India, Indonesia, Germany, Italy, Mexico, and the United Kingdom combined).
o Total and per capita municipal waste (720 kilograms per person per year).
o Hazardous waste produced (by a factor of more than 20x our nearest competitor, Germany).
o Oil consumption
o Natural gas consumption
o The least amount of tax revenue generated (as a % of gross domestic product).
oThe least amount of federal and state government expenditure (as a percentage of GDP).
o Budget deficit (as a percentage of GDP).
o Daily per capita consumption of calories.
o Lowest voter turnout.
o Number of political parties represented in the lower or single house.
o Recorded rapes (by a factor of almost 3x our nearest competitor?Canada).
o Births to mothers under the age of 20 (again, more than twice as many as Canada, and nearly twice as many as #2 New Zealand).
o Number of international human rights treaties not signed.
o Among countries in the United Nations with a legally constituted government to not ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
o Number of known execution of child offenders.
o Likelihood of children under the age of 15 to commit suicide with a gun.
o Likelihood of children under the age of 15 to die from gunfire.
o Lowest 8th grade math scores.
o Becoming the first society in history in which the poorest group in the population are childrenAmong the top 20 industrialized nations, the United States is #1 in?.:
o Millionaires
o Billionaires
o Military spending
o Firearm deaths
o Beef production
o Per capita energy use
o Carbon dioxide emissions (more than Australia, Brazil, Canda, France, India, Indonesia, Germany, Italy, Mexico, and the United Kingdom combined).
o Total and per capita municipal waste (720 kilograms per person per year).
o Hazardous waste produced (by a factor of more than 20x our nearest competitor, Germany).
o Oil consumption
o Natural gas consumption
o The least amount of tax revenue generated (as a % of gross domestic product).
oThe least amount of federal and state government expenditure (as a percentage of GDP).
o Budget deficit (as a percentage of GDP).
o Daily per capita consumption of calories.
o Lowest voter turnout.
o Number of political parties represented in the lower or single house.
o Recorded rapes (by a factor of almost 3x our nearest competitor?Canada).
o Births to mothers under the age of 20 (again, more than twice as many as Canada, and nearly twice as many as #2 New Zealand).
o Number of international human rights treaties not signed.
o Among countries in the United Nations with a legally constituted government to not ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
o Number of known execution of child offenders.
o Likelihood of children under the age of 15 to commit suicide with a gun.
o Likelihood of children under the age of 15 to die from gunfire.
o Lowest 8th grade math scores.
o Becoming the first society in history in which the poorest group in the population are children
