Top 7 Reasons Why I Don't Like W

A dear friend—last eve—expressed dismay over the anti-W tone of Sapper's (Fair & Balanced) Rants & Raves. Politics is a matter of individual taste. I cannot abide W. The stupid statements. The dishonest and cynical use of 9/11. The dishonesty about the WMD. Now, Paul O'Neill's recent revelations about W as a leader (disengaged and disengenous). All of this contributes to my dissatisfaction with W. If this be (fair & balanced) revulsion, so be it.

Anti-W TV Spots and

All About George Bush

Here's a short list of the top 7 reasons we're ("Bush in 30 Seconds" is a project of the MoveOn.org Voter Fund, a new 527 fund affiliated with MoveOn.org , the pre-eminent online advocacy group in the United States.) running this ad campaign against President George W. Bush and his administration. We hope this informs your own commercials, and inspires you to look further into the policies of the Bush Administration and their effect on the American public.

1. It appears that the Bush Administration has consistently misled the American public about Iraq , most significantly regarding Saddam Hussein's possession of weapons of mass destruction and his ties to al Queda and Osama bin Laden.
   http://www.fair.org/press-releases/beyond-niger.html


2. The Bush Administration's regressive environmental policies have lowered cleanliness standards for our air and water while allowing utility companies (many of whom are Bush campaign contributors) to profit off of the weakened regulations. In 2002, the head of the EPA's Office of Regulatory Enforcement resigned, complaining that the agency was “fighting a White House that seems determined to weaken the rules we are trying to enforce." (CNN, Aug. 22, 2002)
   The Bush Record on the Environment for 2003:
   http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003.asp


3. Bush is underfunding education. The President cut $200 million from his own No Child Left Behind Act, eliminating crucial educational programs for lower income children and cutting professional training for more than 20,000 teachers.
   
   Flawed from its very foundation, No Child Left Behind is based on then-Governor Bush's late-‘90s “Texas Miracle,”—a program of standardized testing designed to increase performance and reduce dropout rates--now recognized as a scandalous failure.
   http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0338/schanberg.php


4. The Bush Administration's Patriot Act threatens our constitutional rights and civil liberties. Passed by a post 9/11 Congress, the Patriot act expands the ability of law enforcement to conduct secret searches, and engage various forms of surveillance, including internet monitoring and wiretapping. It gives the FBI access to American citizens' highly personal medical, financial, mental health, and student records without notification or permission, and allows them to investigate individuals without probable cause of a crime. Finally, it permits non-citizens to be jailed based on mere suspicion and held indefinitely in six month increments without meaningful judicial review.
   http://www.aclu.org/SafeandFree/SafeandFree.cfm?ID=12126&c=207


5. Bush's Tax Cuts only benefit the rich. Bush claimed that his tax cut would “reduce tax rates for everyone who pays income tax.” He failed to mention that this “relief” program would put half of the tax cut's dividends into the hands of our nation's wealthiest 5%, while 8.1 million citizens in the bottom half of the income bracket receive approximately $300 a year.
   http://www.ctj.org/html/gwbfinal.htm


6. 3.3 million jobs (93,000 in August of 2003 alone) have been lost since Bush took office--more than the last 11 Presidents combined. (Bureau of Labor Statistics, June 2001-August 2003) Meanwhile, huge corporations are paying fewer taxes than ever:
   http://www.cbpp.org/10-16-03tax.htm


7. Bush is underfunding homeland security : While energetic in waging war abroad, the Bush administration has been oddly lethargic in fortifying our defenses at home. Domestic security agencies have been neglected. Police and firefighters have been denied essential resources, and muddled public strategy has only spread alarm and confusion.
   http://www.ppionline.org/

More Recommended Reading:

The Great Unraveling: Losing Our Way in the New Century, by Paul Krugman

Dude, Where’s My Country?, by Michael Moore

Lies (And the Lying Liars Who Tell Them): A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right, by Al Franken

The Bush Dyslexicon: Observations on a National Disorder, by Mark Crispin Miller

Bushwhacked: Life in George W. Bush’s America, by Molly Ivins

Bush’s Brain: How Karl Rove Made George W. Bush Presidential, by James Moore

The Lies of George W. Bush: Mastering the Politics of Deception, by David Corn

Weapons of Mass Deception: The Uses of Propaganda in Bush’s War on Iraq, by Sheldon Rampton, John C. Stauben