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

To: pompsander who wrote (760990)	4/5/2007 2:38:01 PM
From: DuckTapeSunroof	Respond to of 769670

New Indictment Likely in Abramoff Case April 5, 2007 By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS nytimes.com Italia Federici, the head of a Republican environmental advocacy group, has been told by federal investigators that she is a target for criminal prosecution in the corruption inquiry involving the lobbyist Jack Abramoff. The Justice Department told Ms. Federici that she faced up to five charges in the influence-peddling scandal that has produced convictions against one lawmaker, two senior Bush administration officials and several Congressional aides. Mr. Abramoff entered a guilty plea as part of an agreement to cooperate with prosecutors. Ms. Federici was a co-founder of the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy, along with Gale A. Norton, former secretary of the interior, and Grover Norquist, founder of the conservative group Americans for Tax Reform. Investigators are looking at the hundreds of thousands of dollars that Ms. Federici’s environmental advocacy council received from Mr. Abramoff’s Indian tribal clients and from energy and mining companies.

To: pompsander who wrote (760990)	4/5/2007 2:38:47 PM
From: PROLIFE	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 769670

why is it that you so called "compassionate" libbers can only think of money...who cares about money? If we go bankrupt saving lives it is better than sitting back and doing nothing.

To: pompsander who wrote (760990)	4/5/2007 3:00:27 PM
From: DuckTapeSunroof	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

LOL! Aside from the HUGE war costs not being counted in the 'official' Bush deficit estimate, as you correctly pointed out, don't forget that these OTHER tricks are employed to try to keep the red ink numbers down: 1) Bush admin. officially projects that there will be NO CHANGES in the current AMT. So, (because bracket creep and inflation are beginning to sweep more and more middle class people into the Alternative Minimum Tax levy), his projections ASSUME tens of billions of revenue from this source --- and rising very quickly to much more. Take this crutch away from the projections, and the deficit rises fast. 2) The Bush deficit projections officially ASSUME that the Estate Tax returns in full-force at the old high rates, right on schedule. They assume ADDITIONAL tens of billions from this going forward. 3) The Bush admin. projections officially ASSUME the expiration of the 'Bush tax cuts' right on schedule in the coming years. (Thus: they assume the Capital Gains rate going back up to the graduated Income Tax rate... and the Income Tax Rates returning to their previous forms.) 4) They ASSUME huge cost containments in Medicare/Medicaid (that have never been demonstrated...), low ball the drug benefit cost projections by over $100 Billion over the next decade, easily... and make quite low assumptions for other areas of government spending, debt servicing, etc., etc. Take ANY of these assumptions away and the deficit is rising, not failing. Take several away, and their 'projections' are exposed as the laugh that they are. In short, the REAL federal deficit is NOT currently failing. It is still RISING. And, will in the next few years enter a period of terrible growth as demographic effects hit on top of all the above.