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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: SecularBull who wrote (120017)	12/29/2000 12:35:10 PM
From: calgal	Respond to of 769667

Bush Names Four to New Team Friday, December 29, 2000 George W. Bush nominated four new members of his Cabinet Friday, filling slots in the Education, Interior, Health and Human Services, and Veterans Affairs departments. David Zalubowski/AP Former Colorado Attorney General Gale Norton, nominated for interior secretary, previously served in that department in the Reagan administration. Houston schools chief Rod Paige will serve as education secretary; former Colorado Attorney General Gale Norton will take over at Interior; Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson will helm HHS; and Anthony Principi will lead Veterans Affairs. Bush has three remaining Cabinet posts to fill, which he said he hopes to do by the end of next week. They include secretaries for the departments of Energy, Labor and Transportation. Bush announced his Cabinet nominees at a short Washington ceremony before flying back to Austin, Texas, for the holiday weekend. Education: Bush described Paige, widely credited with creating one of the country's best urban school districts, as a "reformer, and someone who had a record of results, who understands that it's important to set the highest of high standards." Test scores and academic performance improved under Paige's tenure as superintendent of the 90 percent-minority Houston Independent School District, the largest district in Texas and seventh-largest in the nation. Paige said he will expand on the work he and Bush have done in Texas. "The bottom line is this: When we set high standards for our schools and our children, and when we give our schools and our children the support they need and hold them accountable for results, public education can get the job done," he said. Interior: Norton, 46, previously served in President Reagan's Interior Department, where she worked to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, a key item on the Bush agenda that has drawn fire from environmentalists. She served two terms as Colorado attorney general and was barred by state law from running for re-election in 1998. One of her major accomplishments in that office was negotiating the national tobacco settlement. AP/Wide World Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson is credited with a decline in the state's welfare case load. Norton said she will work with all levels of government to protect natural resources. "An entire one-third of our land is owned by the federal government," she said. "Together with the other departments that own that land, the Department of the Interior faces the challenge of seeing that our land is used in an environmentally responsible way." Health and Human Services: Once confirmed, Thompson, 59, would head one of the government's largest departments, which includes the Food and Drug Administration, Medicare and Medicaid health insurance programs, and the Head Start program for children. As well, it provides financial assistance to low-income families. Thompson is credited with lowering the number of people on welfare in his state. Since he was first elected governor in 1986, the number of welfare families in Wisconsin has fallen from more than 98,000 to just over 16,000. He pledged to make similar progress nationally on such social issues as health-care reform, opportunities for the disabled and "helping the poor find work and helping the working-poor find rewards in their efforts." "These are all tough issues," Thompson said, "but solving tough issues is why I got into this business, and I know it is why President-elect Bush sought this job and why he traversed such a grueling road to get the opportunity to lead this great nation." The Planned Parenthood Federation of America immediately announced that it would strongly oppose Thompson's confirmation. Veterans Affairs: Bush said Principi, a decorated Vietnam War veteran, will modernize the veterans' health care system "so all our veterans are treated with dignity." "Tony understands that one of our goals will be to make sure that claims will be processed faster," he said. Principi said the country must make sure its military personnel are provided for. "America now reaps the fruit of the service of 24 million veterans," he said. "However, their service imposes upon us a reciprocal obligation. The president-elect has charged me with the mission of transforming that obligation into the benefits and services earned by generations of veterans." — The Associated Press contributed foxnews.com

To: SecularBull who wrote (120017)	12/29/2000 1:44:11 PM
From: one_less	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769667

Jefferson actively condemned slave owners yet did not free his own slaves. He was considered kind and good by the people who lived at his plantation at Montecello. Recently he has gotten a lot of criticism and is considered a hypocrite especially by the revisionists. For such a deeply committed stand (all men are created equal...endowed with inalienable rights); it seems odd that he would not have been the first to send his own slaves to freedom. As one digs a little deeper (which you should always do when things don't look right on the surface) you see that Jefferson worried that the slaves of his plantation were dependant on him. He searched for a solution that would give them a decent life and found none off the plantation. He remained committed to changing the system that had brought this about and went to his death in bankruptcy largely because he was not able to afford to keep slaves on the plantation. But, it was his opinion that freeing them would do more harm to them than good. This bankrutcy occurred at everyones surprise. In all of his affairs Jefferson was an compulsive records keeper. Yet no one is able to explain why he went so far in debt while keeping people at Montecello. No one debates the fact that he was the strongest critic of slavery, condemning the practice and the slave owners who continued it. Jefferson is believed to have expressed a great love for the people at the Montecello plantation and to have been deeply in love with at least one. A modern day analogy might be this. Many people blame Global warming on the burning of fossil fuels. I suspect you would agree with them. At what point in life did you stop riding in cars or using fossil fuel to heat your home? If you are an advocate against burning more fossil fuels I suspect that you are searching for a solution that will not do more harm than good. If one doesn't come along you will continue using the internal combustion engine. I maintain my position that any man who will take a stand against the cultural status quo (for a just cause) is moral. I can't believe how many people I see on this thread who always take a predictable stand based on what ever party they got tagged with the first time they ever voted.