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

To: Zoltan! who wrote (129900)	3/1/2001 2:39:47 PM
From: calgal	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

The refund president Cal Thomas jewishworldreview.com -- LISTENING to the reaction of congressional Democrats to President Bush's Tuesday night speech in which he said the people, not the government, know best how to spend their own money, one would think that the tax and spend party has finally seen the light. After several decades of deficit spending, Democrats suddenly claim to be fiscally responsible. They say the Bush tax cut plan would put the nation in "jeopardy,'' even though they raised no such concerns when they controlled Congress and spent the money faster than it came in. Major liberal newspapers and the broadcast networks are in overdrive, trying to convince the public that the Bush plan is "risky.'' After years of portraying all things Republican as evil, irresponsible and benefiting only "the rich,'' they take a poll (ABC/Washington Post) and guess what? A majority say they don't want a tax cut. The big media claim Bush's proposal would ruin education and create new deficits. But how can that be when he asks for a reduction, not in the budget, but only the rate of increase from eight to four percent? According to Congressional Budget Office projections, the Treasury will have over $1 trillion left after the spending increases and an across-the-board tax cut in which everyone who pays taxes will get relief and some lower income earners will be eliminated from the tax rolls. Bush says this will allow the poor to move ahead instead of treading water because of the taxes they must pay to a government already awash in money. Only in Washington is a reduction of the rate of increased spending considered a "cut.'' Sen. John Breaux (D-La.) worries that the projected surplus won't be there in 10 years. It has a better chance if taxes are cut now. When John F. Kennedy cut taxes, he fueled an economic boom. A similar boom occurred after Ronald Reagan cut taxes. Breaux acknowledged on the Fox News Channel that the Democrat Congress failed to reduce spending after the Reagan tax cuts, which is what produced the deficit and drove up the debt. If Congress had lived up to its promised spending reductions, "we wouldn't have had the deficits,'' said Breaux. Bush's debut before Congress was a mixture of humor and humility. As the Fox News Channel's Brit Hume noted, the first half of Bush's speech was compassionate; the second half was conservative. Bush hit a lot of liberal themes. He praised individual Democrats; he promised an end to racial profiling; he wants to reform Medicare and institute a prescription drug benefit. But he closed the deal on his tax cut proposal saying, "Let the American people spend their own money to meet their own needs,'' and "The surplus is not the government's money, it's the people's money.'' "Taxes are too high and government is charging more than it needs,'' Bush noted. "The people of America have been overcharged and on their behalf, I am here asking for a refund.'' Democrats will have a difficult time demonizing President Bush. He is not as inviting a target as former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Bush is a nice and decent guy, who speaks the language of other people who regard themselves as pretty nice and decent, too. Democrats will try to demonize him but it's a risky scheme. While they try to make him into an ogre, he will be dominating the agenda. While they try to portray him as mean, he will be killing their strategy with images of kindness and compassion. George W. Bush intends to rescue people from the clutches of their own government and give them the hope that can be within them if they will look there instead of to Washington. Bush is growing in the job after only a month in office. This was his most comfortable formal speech yet, even better than his well-written and well-delivered Inaugural Address. It also again exceeded expectations. If he keeps exceeding expectations, the expectations will rise. If Bush continues to meet the rising expectations, he has a good chance of bringing much of the rest of the nation along. I believe that's called leadership. jewishworldreview.com

To: Zoltan! who wrote (129900)	3/1/2001 2:42:37 PM
From: MulhollandDrive	Respond to of 769670

Don't you love a woman of principle? Wednesday February 28 7:32 PM ET UPDATE 1-Courtney Love sues Universal over contract (adds quotes, background, byline) By Sue Zeidler LOS ANGELES(Reuters) - Rock star Courtney Love filed a countersuit Wednesday against Universal Music, aiming to break her contract and reveal what she describes as ''repressive and unfair working conditions'' of the recording industry. ``Artists who have generated billions of dollars for the music industry die broke and uncared for by the business they made wealthy,'' Love said in a statement issued Wednesday. Standard recording agreements often lock in artists for many years, requiring them to bear many of their own production and marketing costs, taking a huge chunk of any financial returns they may enjoy, Love's lawyer, A. Barry Cappello said. ``I'm driven by the misfortune of other artists who don't have my privilege and ability,'' Love said. Love also controls the estate and catalog of her late husband, Nirvana star Kurt Cobain, whose music generates millions of dollars annually. Representatives for the actress and singer/songwriter appeared earlier in Los Angeles Superior Court Wednesday for a hearing to determine if her countersuit against Universal could be filed. A spokesperson for Love said the motion had been granted. A spokesperson for Vivendi Universal, the world's biggest music company, was not immediately available for comment but in legal papers dismissed Love's suit as meritless and inflammatory, designed to attract media attention. Universal first sued Love in February 2000 seeking damages for five undelivered albums when she attempted to end her contractual relationship with the recording company. Music and legal experts call Love's contract with Universal an industry-standard agreement. Love Says Labels Intimidate Artists But Cappello, Love's attorney, said the case is taking aim specifically at the industry's practice of locking artists into long-term contracts that extend for much longer than allowed in other businesses, like television, film and sports. In 1987, the record companies lobbied legislators to pass an amendment to the Labor Code Section 2855 that applies only to recording artists and allows record companies to sue recording artists for damages if the artists do not fulfill their original contract. But after seven years, this amendment is no longer relevant, said Cappello, and artists have the legal right to terminate a recording contract without repercussions, he said. Labels, nevertheless, continue to intimidate artists who try to end contracts after seven years by suing them for lost profits, he said. He said this suit ``will shake the very core of the way business is conducted in the music industry, and it will give countless musicians the financial and artistic freedom they do not currently enjoy.'' ``I'm one in a long line of artists who have tried to break free since the (Universal/PolyGram) merger. Beck, Garbage, Sheryl Crow and others have tried to leave or sue that company and they've all been shut down or threatened,'' she said. Crow's attorney, Jay Cooper said, ``Sheryl expressed some unhappiness but never threatened to sue and eventually we renegotiated the contract.'' He concurred with Love, however, that the record labels often have the advantage over artists. ``The record companies have a lot of strong bargaining power because the artists don't have a lot of places they can go,'' he said. ``I think this case will have an impact on the industry and can change the terms of contracts,'' he said. ``Many artists feel they are tied to the contracts for too long.'' Love told the Los Angeles Times in an interview on Wednesday: ``I could end up being the music industry's worst nightmare -- a smart gal with a fat bank account who is unafraid to go down in flames fighting for a principle.'' ``Look, you show a music industry contract to any attorney in any other business, and their jaw just hits the floor. I'm ready to take this thing all the way to the Supreme Court,'' she told the Times. Love's complaint also alleges that major labels force unconscionable, impossible-to-perform contracts upon artists knowing artists have no choice but to sign them if they want access to the companies' strong promotional muscle. To get exposure on radio and MTV, which is needed to sell sell millions of records, artists have little alternative but to agree to these unfair contracts, Cappello said., Officials for the Recording Industry Association of America, the trade group for the world's major labels, declined to comment on the suit. Reuters/Variety REUTERS