New Bush Policies Limit Reach of Child Insurance Plan
From the Washington Post
Excerpt: The Bush administration, engaged in a battle with Congress over whether a popular children's health insurance program should be expanded, has announced new policies that will make it harder for states to insure all but the lowest-income children.

New administrative hurdles, which state health officials were told about late last week, are aimed at preventing parents with private insurance for their children from availing of the government-subsidized State Children's Health Insurance Program. But Democrats and children's advocates said that the announcement will jeopardize coverage for children whose parents work at jobs that do not provide employer-paid insurance.

Under the new policy, a state seeking to enroll a child whose family earns more than 250 percent of the poverty level -- or $51,625 for a family of four -- must first ensure that the child is uninsured for at least one year. The state must also demonstrate that at least 95 percent of children from families making less than 200 percent of the poverty level have been enrolled in the children's health insurance program or Medicaid -- a sign-up rate that no state has yet managed

Labels: bush, health

Geronimo's Great-grandson Wants Bones Back
From the Boston Globe
Excerpt: Legend has it that Yale University's ultrasecret Skull and Bones society swiped the remains of American Indian leader Geronimo nearly a century ago from an army outpost in Oklahoma, and now Geronimo's great-grandson wants the remains returned.

Harlyn Geronimo, of Mescalero, N.M., wants to prove the skull and bones that were purported spirited from the Indian leader's burial plot in Fort Sill, Okla., to a stone tomb that serves as the club's headquarters are in fact those of his great-grandfather.

If so, he wants to bury them near Geronimo's birthplace in southern New Mexico's Gila Wilderness.

"He died as a prisoner of war, and he is still a prisoner of war because his remains were not returned to his homeland," said Harlyn Geronimo, 59. "Presently, we are looking for a proper consecrated burial."

If the bones aren't those of Geronimo, Harlyn Geronimo is certain they belonged to one of the Apache prisoners who died at Fort Sill. He said they should still be returned.

Harlyn Geronimo sent a letter last year to President Bush, asking for his help in recovering the bones. He figures since the president's grandfather, Prescott Bush, was allegedly one of those who helped steal the bones in 1918, the president would want to help return them to their rightful place.

But Harlyn Geronimo said: "I haven't heard a word."

The White House did not respond to messages asking for comment.
More

Labels: bush

US agencies disobey 6 laws that president challenged
From the Boston Globe
Excerpt: Federal officials have disobeyed at least six new laws that President Bush challenged in his signing statements, a government study disclosed yesterday. The report provides the first evidence that the government may have acted on claims by Bush that he can set aside laws under his executive powers.

...

Bush's signing statements have drawn fire because he has used them to challenge more than 1,100 sections of bills -- more than all previous presidents combined. The sample the GAO studied represents a small portion of the laws Bush has targeted, but its report concluded that sometimes the government has gone on to disobey those laws.

For example, one law requires the Customs and Border Patrol to relocate its illegal immigrant checkpoints near Tucson every seven days to prevent smugglers from being able to predict where they are, but the agency failed to do so. The border patrol told the GAO that the law is flawed because it "diverts resources," and it characterized the requirement as "advisory."

In his signing statement of Oct. 18, 2005, Bush instructed the border patrol to view the "relocation provision as advisory rather than mandatory" on the assertion that only the president has the constitutional authority to decide how to deploy law enforcement officers.
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Labels: agency, bush, immigration

Bush Administration Fights Mad Cow Testing
From AP via the Witchita Eagle
Excerpt: The Bush administration said Tuesday it will fight to keep meatpackers from testing all their animals for mad cow disease.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture tests less than 1 percent of slaughtered cows for the disease, which can be fatal to humans who eat tainted beef. But Arkansas City-based Creekstone Farms Premium Beef wants to test all of its cows.

Larger meat companies feared that move because, if Creekstone tested its meat and advertised it as safe, they might have to perform the expensive test, too.

A federal judge ruled in March that such tests must be allowed. The ruling was to take effect Friday, but the Agriculture Department said Tuesday it would appeal -- effectively delaying the testing until the court challenge plays out.

Labels: agency, bush, health

White House Visitor Records No Longer Open to Public
From CNN
Excerpt: The White House and the Secret Service quietly signed an agreement last spring in the midst of the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal declaring records identifying visitors to the White House are not open to the public. The Bush administration did not reveal the existence of the memorandum of understanding until last fall.

The White House is using it to deal with a legal problem on a separate front, a ruling by a federal judge ordering the production of Secret Service logs identifying visitors to the office of Vice President Dick Cheney.

In a federal appeals court filing three weeks ago, the administration's lawyers used the memo in a legal argument aimed at overturning the judge's ruling. The Washington Post is suing for access to the Secret Service logs. The five-page document dated May 17 declares that all entry and exit data on White House visitors belongs to the White House as presidential records rather than to the Secret Service as agency records.

Therefore, the agreement states, the material is not subject to public disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act. More

Labels: bush, cheney, records, secrecy, white house

Bush Claims No Warrant Needed to Open Mail
From the New York Daily News
Excerpt: President Bush has quietly claimed sweeping new powers to open Americans' mail without a judge's warrant, the Daily News has learned.
The President asserted his new authority when he signed a postal reform bill into law on Dec. 20. Bush then issued a "signing statement" that declared his right to open people's mail under emergency conditions.

That claim is contrary to existing law and contradicted the bill he had just signed, say experts who have reviewed it.
>More

Labels: bush, privacy, signing statements, warrant

White House Publishing Rules Restrict Scientists
From the Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Excerpt: The Bush administration is clamping down on scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey, the latest agency subjected to controls on research that might go against official policy.

New rules require screening of all facts and interpretations by agency scientists who study everything from caribou mating to global warming. The rules apply to all scientific papers and other public documents, even minor reports or prepared talks, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press. More

Labels: bush, science, white house

Ties to GOP Trumped Know-How Among Staff Sent to Rebuild Iraq
From the Washington Post
Excerpt: After the fall of Saddam Hussein's government in April 2003, the opportunity to participate in the U.S.-led effort to reconstruct Iraq attracted all manner of Americans -- restless professionals, Arabic-speaking academics, development specialists and war-zone adventurers. But before they could go to Baghdad, they had to get past Jim O'Beirne's office in the Pentagon. ...

...O'Beirne's staff posed blunt questions to some candidates about domestic politics: Did you vote for George W. Bush in 2000? Do you support the way the president is fighting the war on terror? Two people who sought jobs with the U.S. occupation authority said they were even asked their views on Roe v. Wade .

Many of those chosen by O'Beirne's office to work for the Coalition Provisional Authority, which ran Iraq's government from April 2003 to June 2004, lacked vital skills and experience. A 24-year-old who had never worked in finance -- but had applied for a White House job -- was sent to reopen Baghdad's stock exchange. The daughter of a prominent neoconservative commentator and a recent graduate from an evangelical university for home-schooled children were tapped to manage Iraq's $13 billion budget, even though they didn't have a background in accounting.

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Labels: agency, bush, corruption, CPA, gop, iraq, reconstruction

Report: IRS to Cut Audits on Wealthiest
From UPI
Excerpt: The Bush administration plans to cut nearly in half the number of auditors who review tax returns of some of the wealthiest U.S. taxpayers.

Plans call for eliminating 157 of the Internal Revenue Service's 345 estate tax lawyers, The New York Times reported. The cuts will affect audits of taxpayers who are subject to gift and estate taxes when they transfer assets to their children and others, the newspaper said.

IRS Deputy Commissioner Kevin Brown told the Times he ordered the staff cuts because the number of Americans who are subject to the estate tax has fallen under the Bush administration.

However, six IRS estate tax lawyers whose jobs are at risk told the newspaper the cuts are part of a behind-the-scenes move at the IRS to shield people with political connections and complex tax-avoidance devices from thorough audits.

More

Labels: agency, bush, irs

United Arab Emirates firm to operate six major U.S. ports
From the World Tribune
Excerpt: The Bush administration has approved a deal in which a United Arab Emirates company would operate six major ports in the United States.
A U.S. government panel has determined that the UAE firm, DP World, would not endanger national security.
DP World, based in Dubai, has offered $6.8 billion for the purchase of a British firm that operates the ports of Baltimore, Miami, New York, New Jersey, New Orleans and Philadelphia, Middle East Newsline reported.
More
Also see: Who's got control the Panama Canal?

Labels: bush, national security, UAE

FDA Tries to Limit Drug Suits in State Courts
From the Washington Post
Excerpt: People who believe they were injured by drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration should not be allowed to sue drug companies in state courts, the agency said yesterday in a formal policy statement. ...
... "It's a typical abuse by the Bush Administration -- take a regulation to improve the information that doctors and patients receive about prescription drugs and turn it into a protection against liability for the drug industry," he said in a statement.

The Bush administration has intervened in a number of state liability cases against drug and medical device manufacturers with friend-of-the-court briefs supporting the companies. Yesterday's policy statement was just a way to make the same points on a broad and general basis, Gottlieb said. More

Labels: agency, bush, FDA, health, law

Bush's Guard Service may affect Miers Nomination
From the Austin American Statesman
Excerpt: A former Texas lottery official, who claimed that then-Gov. George W. Bush's desire to cover up his National Guard record helped steer decisions about a key lottery contract, said he wants to talk to senators about Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers' possible role in that effort. ...

... Littwin claimed in a federal lawsuit that lottery operator GTECH held sway over the Texas Lottery Commission because former GTECH lobbyist Ben Barnes was involved in helping get Bush into the Texas Air National Guard during the Vietnam War.

GTECH, which settled the suit in 1999 and paid Littwin $300,000 without admitting wrongdoing, said in court filings that Littwin's Guard-related claims were "preposterous." More

Labels: bush, law, military, supreme court

Rescuers Deployed for Photo-Op
From the Dallas Morning News
Excerpt: Two Richardson firefighters recently headed to Louisiana believing they would help with Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. Instead, they were asked to do little – except stand behind President Bush at a news conference. ...
...After spending a couple of days training in Atlanta, Mr. Whitson said that he and Mr. Saldivar were flown Sept. 5 on a charter flight to New Orleans, where they were supposed to stand in the background with other firefighters while Mr. Bush held a news conference. But the president didn't make it to his planned appearance in New Orleans that day.
Mr. Whitson said the group of 50 firefighters were then put on a bus headed for Baton Rouge, where the president was scheduled to meet with evacuees, Gov. Kathleen Blanco and other officials. But the firefighters didn't arrive in time for those presidential visits... More

Labels: bush, katrina

Firms with Bush-Cheney ties clinching Katrina deals
From USA Today
Excerpt: Companies with ties to the Bush White House and the former head of FEMA are clinching some of the administration's first disaster relief and reconstruction contracts in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. At least two major corporate clients of lobbyist Joe Allbaugh, President Bush's former campaign manager and a former head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, have already been tapped to start recovery work along the battered Gulf Coast.
One is Shaw Group Inc. and the other is Halliburton Co. subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root. Vice President Dick Cheney is a former head of Halliburton... More

Labels: bush, cheney, contractors, FEMA, katrina, spending

Offers of Aid Refused ~ Levee Fix was Photo Op 
Press Release from Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu
Excerpt: "I understand that the U.S. Forest Service had water-tanker
aircraft available to help douse the fires raging on our riverfront, but
FEMA has yet to accept the aid. When Amtrak offered trains to evacuate
significant numbers of victims -- far more efficiently than buses -- FEMA again dragged its feet. Offers of medicine, communications equipment and other desperately
needed items continue to flow in, only to be ignored by the agency.

"But perhaps the greatest disappointment stands at the breached 17th Street levee. Touring this critical site
yesterday with the President, I saw what I believed to be a real and significant effort to get a handle on a major cause of this catastrophe. Flying over this
critical spot again this morning, less than 24 hours later, it became apparent that yesterday we witnessed a hastily prepared stage set for a Presidential photo opportunity; and the desperately needed resources we saw were this morning reduced to a single, lonely piece of equipment."...More

Labels: bush, katrina

Flashback Bush Budget Cuts Emergency Preparedness
From KOMO-TV Seattle
Excerpt: President Bush targeted scores of federal programs on Monday to make room for his $1.6 trillion tax cut, proposing to slash funds for emergency preparedness, urban police patrols, energy conservation and pediatrician training...
...The budget also would eliminate the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Project Impact, a $25 million effort to help communities get ready for natural disasters.
More

Labels: bush, katrina, spending

Male Prostitute Made Almost 200 Trips to White House
Excerpt from FOX-23 News: "A conservative writer who quit his job covering President Bush amid criticism for his pointedly political questions visited the White House 196 times in two years, the Secret Service has disclosed."

Also see: Jeff Gannon Exposed, in 'Doonesbury' and New Documents
From Editor & Publisher
Excerpt: "More surprising, according to the documents: Guckert got into the White House three dozen times when there were no scheduled briefings. And on at least 14 occasions, Raw Story reported, 'Secret Service records show either the entry or exit time missing.' "

Flashback: A Hireling, a Fraud, and a Prostitute: Bush's agent in the press corps has given spin a new level of meaning
February 17, 2005

Flashback: White House Call Boy Scandal
June 30, 1989

Labels: bush, gannon, secret service

Bush Battles over Sick Workers
From the Associated Press
Excerpt: The Bush administration is locked in a rare election-year fight with fellow Republicans in the Senate over a troubled program for tens of thousands of weapons plant workers who got sick building nuclear bombs.

The lawmakers say they don’t understand why the administration is blocking a Senate-passed amendment to the defense bill that would overhaul a compensation program bogged down by delays and other problems.

"I can’t fully understand what their resistance is," said Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who is in a tough re-election battle in Alaska. "We’ve been hammered by our constituents.”...

..."These people are sick and dying," said Terrie Barrie of Craig, Colo., whose husband was sickened while working at the former Rocky Flats plant near Denver. "The administration, the Department of Energy, is just refusing to listen." ...
...The lawmakers complain the Energy Department has squandered much of the $95 million it received since Congress created the program. As of the end of July, the agency has paid only 31 claims out of about 25,000 filed. The $700,000 in paid claims amounts to an average benefit of roughly $22,500... More

Labels: agency, bush, DOE, health, spending

Bush Campaign Lawyer Tied to Group's Anti-Kerry Ads
From Reuters
Excerpt: A top lawyer for President Bush's re-election campaign has been providing legal advice to the group that has accused Democrat John Kerry of lying about his Vietnam War record, informed sources said on Tuesday.

The sources, who asked not to be identified, said Ben Ginsberg, the Bush campaign's chief outside counsel, has also been giving legal advice to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the group that is attacking Kerry.

Bush's campaign insists it has no relationship with the group and has denied Kerry's charge that it is a front for the president's re-election team... More

Labels: bush, kerry, politics

Bush Avoided Attacking Terrorist Suspect
From NBC News
Excerpt: With Tuesday’s attacks, Abu Musab Zarqawi, a Jordanian militant with ties to al-Qaida, is now blamed for more than 700 terrorist killings in Iraq. But NBC News has learned that long before the war the Bush administration had several chances to wipe out his terrorist operation and perhaps kill Zarqawi himself — but never pulled the trigger. ...
...Military officials insist their case for attacking Zarqawi’s operation was airtight, but the administration feared destroying the terrorist camp in Iraq could undercut its case for war against Saddam...

Labels: bush

Bush moved to Alabama unit without Air Force permission
From New York Daily News
Excerpts: George W. Bush left his Texas Air National Guard assignment and moved to Alabama in 1972 even though the Air Force denied his request for a transfer, according to his military records ... The Air Force quickly rejected Bush's request, saying the fighter pilot was "ineligible" to move to the Alabama unit Bush wanted - a squadron of postal handlers ... Nevertheless, Bush stayed in Alabama until his Texas commanders finally gave him written authorization five months later to train there...

Another aspect of Bush's service that continues to prompt questions is why he missed a physical in 1972 that caused him to be suspended as a pilot. In 1999, Bush spokeswoman Karen Hughes said Bush missed his physical because he was in Alabama, and there were only a few special doctors who could do physicals ...

Lawrence Korb, a former assistant secretary of defense for personnel and a Navy flier in Vietnam, said a pilot losing his flight status was a serious matter.

"We spent $1 million to train him to fly," Korb said. "You're supposed to be ready to fly if we need you. If you didn't show up for your flight physical, good heavens!"

Also see: Ex-officer: Bush file's details caused concern
From USA Today

Labels: bush

Bush Denied Davis Funds to Clear Trees
from the Los Angeles Times
Excerpt: "The Bush administration took six months to evaluate Gov. Gray Davis' emergency request last spring for $430 million to clear dead trees from fire-prone areas of Southern California. The request was finally denied Oct. 24, only hours before wildfires roared out of control in what has become the largest fire disaster in California history.

Rep. Mary Bono (R-Palm Springs), a leader in the effort to get federal assistance for fire prevention, questioned Thursday why the Federal Emergency Management Agency did not rule sooner.

'FEMA's decision was wrong,' Bono said. 'The timing couldn't have been worse.... We knew this disaster was going to happen with certainty. It was only a matter of when, and we were trying to beat the clock with removing the dead trees.'....."

Labels: bush

Bush: "I'd like to express my condolences for the loss of the Senate"
Austin Statesman

For the Latest Breaking news, click here.

Labels: bush

Bush and Blair share same false 9-11 memory
Both claim to have seen the first plane hit the World Trade Center on TV live on TV.
George W Bush:
"I was in Florida. And my Chief of Staff, Andy Card -- actually, I was in a classroom talking about a reading program that works. I was sitting outside the classroom waiting to go in, and I saw an airplane hit the tower -- the TV was obviously on. And I used to fly, myself, and I said, well, there's one terrible pilot. I said, it must have been a horrible accident. But I was whisked off there, I didn't have much time to think about it. And I was sitting in the classroom, and Andy Card, my Chief of Staff, who is sitting over here, walked in and said, 'A second plane has hit the tower, America is under attack.' "
Town Hall Meeting Transcript, December 4, 2001
Tony Blair:
"I remember it very, very clearly. I was about to give the speech to the Trades Union Congress in Brighton, and so I was preparing my speech and the television was on in the background. You saw the first plane crash, and then people came in and started to brief me on it, and then of course it became clear a short time afterwards that this was not simply a terrible accident but was almost certainly a terrorist incident, and then everything changed." BBC News, September 11, 2002

Nobody else saw footage of the first plane hitting until hours later. Were they watching some bizarre closed-circuit broadcast from the Twilight Zone? Do you think that's what they were watching at the DC Ritz Carlton on 9-11, when James A. Baker and Frank Carlucci of The Carlyle Group were meeting with the Bin Laden family?

Labels: bush, carlyle group, September 11

Bush blasts proposition that would offer drug users treatment
Flashback from the Naples (FL) News
Excerpts: Gov. Jeb Bush called a ballot proposition that would allow some drug offenders to escape imprisonment by entering treatment programs "misleading" and said it would "destroy" Florida's drug court program. ..."This amendment would destroy the best drug court system in the country," Bush said in an address simulcast to similar graduation ceremonies statewide. "It would require that first- and second-time offenders, irrespective of what their crime was, be given treatment. What the drug court does is provide services, but also says there's a consequence."

Labels: bush

Bush seeks more power, money for security
From AP via the Miami Herald
Excerpts: - President Bush's homeland security strategy says the United States faces grave threats of terrorism and needs broad new powers to fight back - from possible domestic use of military forces to presidential authority for transferring money without congressional approval...
It's unlikely that Bush will get all the new power or spending he wants. For example, House and Senate Appropriations Committee members of both parties - those responsible for how tax dollars are spent - have already flatly rejected the president's request for broad budget transfer authority within the new Homeland Security agency. Some of the more fundamental changes would involve the military. Bush suggests that Congress perform a "thorough review" of the Reconstruction-era "posse comitatus" law that bars use of the military in civilian law enforcement.
The document does not say in precisely which situations such a change might apply, saying the "threat of catastrophic terrorism" makes it necessary to "determine whether domestic preparedness and response efforts would benefit" from military involvement.
The strategy also contemplates giving the federal government greater authority to deploy the National Guard, which is now under state control. This would be coordinated under the new U.S. Northern Command, which is to "update plans to provide military support" - including maintaining order or loaning equipment - in cases of terrorist attacks or natural emergencies...

Labels: bush

Bush's resume from his campaign website at the Internet Archive
There's a neat service called the "Wayback Machine" that will let you see what websites looked like years ago at www.archive.org. When you type in www.georgewbush.com now, GW's 2000 campaign website, it takes you to the Republican National Committee's page. But click here to look at that site in the Wayback Machine. This is the page where the Bush outlines his career. You'll notice he makes little mention of his service in the military (real story), and this is what he has to say about his years in the oil industry:

He began his career in the oil and gas business in Midland in 1975 and worked in the energy industry until 1986. After working on his father’s 1988 presidential campaign he assembled the group of partners that purchased the Texas Rangers baseball franchise in 1989 and which later built the Ranger’s new home, the Ballpark at Arlington.

It says that his career in the oil business ended in 1986, but the Washington Post reports that Bush was the director of Harken "from 1986 to 1993, after he sold his failed oil and gas exploration concern to the company." The whole insider trading allegation involves events that happened in 1990.
This portion of Bush's career was completely omitted from his 2000 campaign website.

The most disturbing aspect of this whole Harken incident that is being completely ignored by the media is the fact that Arbusto Energy, George W. Bush's company that was eventually bought by Harken, was financed by money from none other that the Bin Laden family. I wish the press would explore this issue, because it would certainly add an interesting new dimension to this drama that many say is "no big deal".

Labels: bush

Bush took loans prohibited under new Corporate Abuse Policy
From the Washington Post
Excerpts: As a Texas businessman, President Bush took two low-interest loans from an oil company where he was a member of the board of directors, engaging in a practice he condemned this week in his plan to stem corporate abuse and accounting fraud.
Bush accepted loans totaling $180,375 from Harken Energy Corp. in 1986 and 1988, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings. Bush was a director of Harken from 1986 to 1993, after he sold his failed oil and gas exploration concern to the company. He used the loans to buy Harken stock...
Bush attacked corporate loans during his speech on Wall Street on Tuesday, when he offered proposals to tighten the accountability of corporate executives while stopping short of the tougher measures headed toward passage in the Senate. "I challenge compensation committees to put an end to all company loans to corporate officers," he said.

Labels: bush

Bush orders flights by drugs traffickers to be shot down
From the Independent (UK)
Excerpts: President George Bush is preparing to order the resumption of the controversial policy of shooting down aircraft suspected of flying drugs to and from Latin America. The CIA-run drugs interdiction scheme was suspended last year amid outcry after Peruvian air force fighter planes shot down a small aircraft over Peru, killing an American missionary, Veronica Bowers, and her seven-month-old daughter. An American surveillance aircraft had helped to track the plane after its crew wrongly identified the Baptist missionaries as probable drug smugglers...
The new scheme, which will be extended to Peru at a later stage, will be taken out of the hands of the CIA, apparently at the request of its director, George Tenet, who has insisted that the agency no longer wants to be associated with the programme. It will be managed instead by the State Department, with intelligence back-up from the Pentagon. Information on suspected drug flights would be gathered from ground-based radar and other sources, officials said...End excerpt
Also see: A failed policy, a secret war, a dead mother and child
From MSNBC, August 2, 2001

Labels: bush

Bush admits failing to report stock deal
Chicago Daily Herald

Labels: bush

Bush Slashing Aid for E.P.A. Cleanup at 33 Toxic Sites
From the New York Times
Excerpts: The Bush administration has designated 33 toxic waste sites in 18 states for cuts in financing under the Superfund cleanup program, according to a new report to Congress by the inspector general of the Environmental Protection Agency. The cuts, imposed because the cleanup fund is hundreds of millions of dollars short of the amount needed to keep the program on schedule, mean that work is likely to grind to a halt on some of the most seriously polluted sites in the country, confronting the surrounding communities with new uncertainty over when the work will resume, how quickly it will proceed and who will pay for it.
Among the sites that for now would receive less money — in some cases, none — are a manufacturing plant in Edison, N.J., where the herbicide Agent Orange was produced, several chemical plants in Florida and two old mines in Montana...Like all sites covered by the Superfund program, the 33 that are targeted for reductions are among the most contaminated grounds in the country and pose some level of health and environmental hazards to their communities...
The fund was set up in 1980 with a special tax on chemical and oil companies to clean up so-called orphan sites, or those where the polluter could not be identified or would not pay, as well as for recalcitrant companies and emergency action.
But the trust fund is running out of money. Congress let the corporate taxes expire in 1995. Without them, the fund has dwindled from a high of $3.8 billion in 1996 to a projected $28 million next year. President Bush's budget made clear that he did not intend to reauthorize the tax.

Labels: bush

Bush's Trifecta Joke: Not funny, not even true
From MSNBC
Excerpts: This is its basic telling: “You know, when I was running for president, in Chicago, somebody said, would you ever have deficit spending? I said, only if we were at war, or only if we had a recession, or only if we had a national emergency. Never did I dream we’d get the trifecta.” ...So far, the president has told the joke on the record at least 14 times. It originated, evidently, as an anecdote he told to business leaders Oct. 3 — three weeks after the terrorist attacks — when he explained his three-part reasoning for going into deficit spending...However, the real problem with the joke is that it is a complete falsehood...Bush never told any audience, or any reporter, in Chicago that he could foresee three conditions under which deficit spending might be necessary. In fact, throughout the entire campaign, Bush had been insistent that budget surpluses would continue...

Labels: bush

Bush opposes labeling of genetically engineered food
From the Houston Chronicle
Excerpts: The Bush administration opposes the labeling of genetically engineered food, Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson told the world's premier biotechnology industry gathering.
"Mandatory labeling will only frighten consumers," he said during a breakfast speech Monday at the BIO 2002 conference. "Labeling implies that biotechnology products are unsafe." ...
U.S. officials have said the labeling could cost U.S. companies $4 billion a year...Critics complain that not enough testing has been done to determine the long-term health effects of splicing the genes of two species together to create food. "The science is so immature, we don't know what we are doing," Canadian genetics professor David Suzuki said at an anti-biotech rally in a Toronto park on Sunday

Labels: bush

Bush rejects bid to halt oil drilling off California coast
From the San Francisco Chronicle
Excerpts: President Bush has rejected Gov. Gray Davis' plea to extend the same protections against oil and gas drilling to California that he granted Florida last week. "A major difference between Florida and California is that Florida opposes coastal drilling and California does not," Interior Secretary Gale Norton wrote Davis on Bush's behalf in a letter released Friday.
California Resources Secretary Mary Nichols called that reasoning "100 percent wrong" and suggested that "someone has been giving (Norton) very bad advice." Davis was sharply critical, noting that California has taken the federal government to court to block drilling on 36 undeveloped leases off the coast of Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties. A judge agreed with the state a year ago; a hearing on the Bush administration's appeal is set for Monday.

Labels: bush