......MR. BUSH'S STEALTHY TAX INCREASE............
"President Bush is presiding over a big middle-class tax hike.
As recently as 2000, only about one million taxpayers owed the alternative minimum tax, created by a provision in the federal tax code that is supposed to prevent multimillionaires from using loopholes to avoid paying their fair share. But by the time Americans file their 2005 taxes, some 3 million taxpayers will owe the alternative tax and by 2010, nearly 30 million taxpayers will be hit - among them, a staggering 94 percent of married filers who have children and make $75,000 to $100,000."
Message 21130418
I..---IRAQ**************************************************************************************************
---SEARCH FOR BANNED ARMS IN IRAQ ENDED LAST MONTH
The hunt for biological, chemical and nuclear weapons in Iraq has come to an end nearly two years after President Bush
ordered U.S. troops to disarm Saddam Hussein.
The top CIA weapons hunter is
home, and analysts are back at Langley.
Message 20942775
--- U.N.: Iraq had no WMD after 1994
Message 19871546
--- Early Iraq [Prison] Abuse Accounts Met With Silence
"Detailed allegations of psychological abuse, deprivation, beatings and deaths at U.S.-run prisons in Iraq were met by public silence from the U.S. Army last October - six months before shocking photographs stirred world outrage and demands for action."
Message 20108222
--- BOOKS OF THE TIMES | 'PLAN OF ATTACK'
"Plan of Attack" reveals that President George W. Bush asked Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on Nov. 21, 2001, to start a war plan for Iraq, and to do so in secret because a leak could trigger "enormous international angst and domestic speculation."
Message 20040021
--- Was Bush fixated on 'getting Saddam'?
Former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill said in his memoir that from the first meeting of the National Security Council (NSC) 10 days after the inauguration, the White House seemed obsessed with Saddam Hussein as "a bad person who needed to go."
The White House dismissed O'Neill as a disgruntled employee. But now we have the dramatic account of Richard Clarke, who served as antiterrorism coordinator for 10 years under four presidents. In his newly published memoir, Clarke says that ousting Hussein was"Topic A" from the first NSC meeting, just as O'Neill had said, and there was little discussion of why the Iraqi dictator was being targeted.
Message 19958510
--- The U.S. Winked at Hussein's Evil
" Sometimes democracy works. Though the wheels of accountability often grind slowly, they also can grind fine, if lubricated by the hard work of free-thinking citizens. The latest example: the release of official documents, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, that detail how the U.S. government under presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush nurtured and supported Saddam Hussein despite his repeated use of chemical weapons." Robert Scheer
Message 19644169
---Bush Pals Get Rich Off Iraq ---
Message 18733533
" Most of the US companies contracted or bidding to open up those free markets happen to
enjoy direct or indirect connections to members of the Bush
administration." Ed Vulliamy and Faisal Islam report - The Observer
Message 19070392
*********************************************************************************
III. George W. Bush's Economic and Social WAR on AMERICANS
--- SOCIAL SECURITY
“Privatizing Social Security - replacing the current system, in whole or in part, with personal investment accounts - won't do anything to strengthen the system's finances. If anything, it will make things worse. Nonetheless, the politics of privatization depend crucially on convincing the public that the system is in imminent danger of collapse, that we must destroy Social Security in order to save it.”
“Projections in a recent report by the Congressional Budget Office (which are probably more realistic than the very cautious projections of the Social Security Administration) say that the trust fund will run out in 2052. The system won't become "bankrupt" at that point; even after the trust fund is gone, Social Security revenues will cover 81 percent of the promised benefits. Still, there is a long-run financing problem.
But it's a problem of modest size.” PAUL KRUGMAN
Message 20836389
---Poverty in the U.S. climbs for third year---
"The U.S. poverty rate and the number of Americans without health insurance rose last year, each for the third consecutive year, the Census Bureau reported Thursday.
---Working Your Way Down---
But this recovery is now nearly three years old, and employment and wages are not so much trailing business success as diverging from it. A new study of recent Commerce Department data by the Center on Budget
and Policy Priorities confirms that wage and salary growth has been exceptionally poor, while profits have been unusually robust.- The New York Times
Message 20490060
---A Recovery Trying to Keep Its Legs Suddenly Feels Woozy---
Message 20303863
---Budget Deficit Seen Soaring Above $400 Billion
Message 19024245
********************************************************************************
---THE WAR ON SCIENCE---
---Bush Misuses Science Data, Report Says
The Bush administration persistently manipulates scientific data to serve its ideology and protect the interests of its political supporters, a report by the minority staff of the House Committee on Government Reform says.
Message 19221913
---Stem Cell Battles
Message 20415584
*******************************************************************************
--THE WAR ON THE HOMELAND--
--Bush will not protect the homeland
Message 18785681
*******************************************
--- The War on Children, Students and other people who aren't rich!----
We can thank our children for tax cut
Message 18486434
When you can't afford to eat-Molly Ivins
Message 18379606
********************************************
---The War on Veterans:
"As the war began, members of the House of Representatives
gave speech after speech praising our soldiers, and passed
a resolution declaring their support for the troops. Then
they voted to slash veterans' benefits." PAUL KRUGMAN NYTIMES
Message 18846115
*************************************************************************
---- Bush's War on the Environment----
"The White House has removed damaging references to global warming from a major US government report on the environment"
Message 19047558
Message 18688023;
Huge new loophole erodes Clean Air Act
Message 19261932
***************************************************************
Environmentalists say the Republicans' leadership choices will aid business and end the party's tradition of conservation
"Rep. Richard W. Pombo (R-Tracy) and Sen. James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.) walk the corridors of the U.S. Capitol in cowboy boots. Both also rail against environmental regulations they consider scientifically dubious
and overly burdensome to business.
Message 18544828
***************************************************
United States Infrastructure Decays
--- Report Blasts American Infrastructure---
America's infrastructure is full of cracks, leaks and
holes and is getting worse, according to an analysis by civil engineers that concludes the nation's transportation, water and energy systems have shown little improvement since they were given an overall grade of D-plus in 2001.
Message 19273113
****************************************************
.*******. War on Afghanistan***********
Afghanistan's Future, Lost in the Shuffle
"Why are the Americans helping President Hamid Karzai
and helping his enemies, the warlords, too?"
Message 19094215
Even if It's Not Perfect, a Ballot Beats a Bullet
Message 20462504
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