Bush:
No child left behind act.
The Fiscal Year 2004 budget submitted by President Bush fell $9 billion short of the amount authorized for 2004 and his FY 2003 budget fell $7.2 billion short of approved funding. [Office of Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, 6/9/03; Associated Press, 2/24/03]
Between fiscal years 2002 and 2004, education spending in 35 states was unable to keep pace with increases in inflation and enrollment. [The Wallace Foundation,
www.wallacefoundation.org; Education Week, 1/7/04]
The man has pushed forward mandates to increase the level of education in the united states and ran heavily on this platform for his first term. He has not financially backed his own legislation. Many schools do not have the resources required to meet these new standards. Overpopulation, outdated text books, old outdated facilities, old techology. How can we force schools to increase the standard of education without giving them the tools to do so.
Jobs.
Last month's job growth fell below expectations with only 32,000 new jobs created.
Bush has touted that in the past 12 months, just under 1 million new jobs were created and tried to spin that as an amazing event. The average job growth has hovered around 100,000 new jobs per month since 1990. The growth rate of June and July of this year combined was around the 100,000 mark.
Bush was advised by many against his tax breaks and rebate plan. The enconomy has been stale due to consumer confidence brought about by a myriad of events, mostly 9-11. Giving middle-class people a small rebate isn't going to affect their confidence or spending habits enough to stir a stale economy given this market situation and world events.
The tax break that affected the upper class also didn't spur any upper market investments. Most used the cut to balance what losses they had taken prior and very little investment came from this crowd.
Health Care
The Prescription Drug and Assistance Program for senior citizens as part of Medicare has been one of the most amazing disappointments brought about by this administration.
This plan is supposed to provide a discount card to relieve the cost burden to the elderly for prescription drugs. This would be a welcome addition except for the fact that is hard to get and the system was poorly planned.
You can only qualify for the card if you are NOT receiving Medicaid prescription benefits. There IS an enrollment fee for the program. Private companies are allowed to release cards under this program that are not guaranteed to be accepted and they are not limited on the premiums they charged. There are quite a few official Medicare cards, but you can only have 1 card at a time, and different cards are accepted at different locations and can cover different medicines depending on the provider. If you need to switch cards, you have to file a statment of need and wait on the card, unable to use the card for your prescriptions until you receive the new card. You are entitled to a $600.00 credit on your card for 2005, but only if you fall into the following category:
Your annual income in 2004 is no more than $12,569 if you
are single, or no more than $16,862 if you are married
In March, they had to revise the guide down to 36 pages because it was too complicated for many to understand. This has created a huge strain on the local Department of Human Services in trying to handle requests for help for this program in addition to the responsibilites they had in the past.
War
This administration did not bother to verify their intelligence reports. They relied heavily on foreign intelligence that could not be verified. There was no established connection between Iraqi funding terrorism. Iraq was no immediate threat to the United States or our soldiers in the area at the time. The people of the United States were misled into a war that was not needed.
Yes, Saddam hurt many of his own people. He was a horrible dictator. He was a threat in the past. Bush Sr. and Clinton each had opportunites to press the war and eliminate him. Instead he was disarmed and watched. In times of oppression people rise up. There have been previous attempts at Civil War in that nation. It would have been successful on it's own at some point.
If you argue that it was needed. fine. Then why charge in with little support from the United Nations. This administration has put the largest strain on foreign relations that I have seen in my lifetime or can remember from history. The world hates us because of our aggression.
Some argue that the forceful nature was needed. Afterall, Lybia was scared enough to announce voluntary disarming. But I pose this. Regan did the same thing, but never had to life a finger to put a scare into people. The Star Wars propaganda did more to deter hostility than anything G.W. has done so far.
Kerry Slander
People attack Kerry for flipflopping on issues. The man had reasons. When the Bush administration targetted Kerry for not supporting Body Armor for troops, they tried to spin that as negative. What they did not provide was the information behind it. In that spending package, there was also a large amount of pork-barrel spending. A lot of wasted money that could have been used elsewhere. It was unfortunate that the body armor was in that package, but that is exactly why it was in that package. They wanted to get the alternate spending pushed so much, that important things were added to the bill that almost couldn't afford to be denied. This is the dirty truth of politics.
The swift boat ads. Kerry did speak out against the fact that SOME soldiers did do exactly what he described. Many Vietnam soldiers were tried and convicted of horrid crimes. Innocent people were slaughtered, not by accident, by American soldiers, that is a plain and simple fact. It happened. Kerry protested it. How can you fault him for that fact.
Soldiers from Vietnam were unjustly treated horrible when they returned for many reasons. The war was not a war we could win with the resources we had at the time. These swiftboat veterans obviously have a bad taste from these events and they are angry at Kerry for speaking out because it is the exact same sentiment that they received when they came back from Vietnam. It does NOT counter the argument that these things did happen.
I applaud Kerry for speaking out and making it known.
Stem Cell Research
I am a firm believer that the seperation of Church and State is something that should be taken seriously.
Religious motives on behalf of Bush have limited the most amazing scientific opportunity that has happened in our lifetime. The waste material from birth and aborted fetuses are exactly that, being wasted due to the restriction on collection of new stem cell material.
I am pro-choice to a point. I believe Abortion laws in the U.S. are borderline. If the abortion was legal, the stem cells should be allowed to be collected.
We have the potential to cure cancer, aids, other terminal diseases. REGROW damaged organs and other tissue. Repair damaged nerve cells. Once our current small stock of stem cells are gone, our research stops and we will never know the full extent of what is possible.
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The deal is, Bush has not followed through on many of his promises from his first election. His administration has fumbled the ball on many topics and I am honestly scared at what 4 more years could do with him as president.
Kerry has not clarified his position in many areas. But I am willing to give him a chance in office. He has a large number of economic advisors supporting his policies, whatever it may be.
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I think it is more rediculous to let Bush stay in office than take a chance on Kerry. Yes, I am a registered Republican.
If McCain was running as opposition, I would be out there will Bells on supporting him for office, but he isn't.