Re: CV of a Star Guest

[Guest guest]

I'm nothing if not consistent... I am sure you knew I would respond to

this.

Neil Gardner wrote:

> During my tenure,Houston replaced Los Angeles the most smog-ridden

> city in America.

Bull. Los Angeles is polluted because of its dry climate and the

surrounding mountains, which tend to trap the smog in the basin,

allowing the UV rays from the Sun to convert oxides of nitrogen into

ozone and PAN. This would not happen in a more moist climate like

Houston, which also lacks the ring of mountains like LA has.

> I cut taxes and bankrupted the Texas treasury to the tune of billions

> in borrowed money.

I never heard about Texas going bankrupt.

> With the help of my brother, the Governor of Florida, and my father's

> appointments to the Supreme Court, I became President after losing

> by over 500,000 votes.

He didn't lose by 500,000 votes. He had 500,000 or whatever less votes

in the popular vote. The popular vote doesn't matter... it never has in

the 216 year history of our Constitution. It's all about electoral

votes. No one disputes the electoral votes in any of the states except

Florida, so it came to pass that whomever carried Florida would win the

election, regardless of the popular vote.

The first vote count in Florida (before all of this nonsense about

election stealing even became an issue) had Bush as the winner. That

was the " real " count, and he won it fair and square. In the 49 other

states, the returns on the elections were taken at face value, and if

the same were done in Florida, none of the controversy would have

happened.

That controversy started when Gore lost in Florida, and decided to

contest the Florida results, but ONLY in strongly Democratic counties

(the ones in which the ballot was designed by Democrats, and where

Democrats set up the polling places, oversaw the election, and the

counting of the votes). So he requested a recount, to which he is

entitled per Florida law, and lost again.

So then, Gore's effort to find more votes for himself having failed, he

demanded a hand recount, and he wanted them to count ballots with

" hanging chads " and " dimpled chads " as votes, when Florida law is QUITE

clear on this-- these are not votes. The Florida Supreme Court, whose

only task is to apply Florida law, decided to disregard the law when

they approved the hand recount. Since this was a Federal election, it

became a Federal matter, and it took the US Supreme Court to apply

Florida law as it was written.

The time to dispute whether election laws are fair is not during the

election. Once the polling places open, the election and counting of

the votes have to take place according to the laws on the books at that

point. If the laws are found to be suboptimal during that election,

that would be a good reason for the legislature to consider changing

them for the _next_ election-- but nothing gives any court the right to

change them in the middle of an election. The courts do not have the

power to make laws, even though they often usurp that power from the

legislative branch, illegally.

I have voted with punch cards. I would guess that many of us here

have. And I checked the back of my ballot when I was done to make sure

that there was nothing hanging off of it. I mean, come on, if you are

told that you have to punch through the card to have a vote be valid,

and you don't punch through the card, then that's not a vote. That's

what the law said in Florida, and that is what the Florida supremes

should have upheld. It was only when they messed up that the US

supremes had to step in.

> I spent the US surplus and effectively bankrupted the US Treasury.

The country is not bankrupt. You keep using these perjorative terms

that are not accurate. In addition, Bush did not spend the surplus. A

President does not have that kind of power. Congress has that power--

the President can only propose things.

> I shattered the record for the largest annual deficit in US history.

A President does not have that kind of power. It is simplistic to

credit the President with anything good that happens in his term, or to

blame him for everything bad. The deficit is a result of a recession

caused by the burst of the dotcom bubble (which happened in Clinton's

term) and of the economic fallout from 9-11. Business dropped off a lot

after 9-11; the stock market went way down. This had nothing to do with

Bush.

> I set an economic record for most private bankruptcies filed in any

> 12-month period.

It is simplistic to credit the President with anything good that happens

in his term, or to blame him for everything bad. If that claim is

accurate (and I don't know that it is, with so many other lies in this

anti-Bush rant), it is a result of the economy, which Bush has handled

as well as a President could. Bush has been right-on economically,

since day one-- the fact that the economy has been bad for much of

Bush's term shows that the President has little control over the economy.

> I set the all-time record for the biggest drop in the history of the

> US stock market.

It is simplistic to credit the President with anything good that happens

in his term, or to blame him for everything bad. That is a result of

the economy, which Bush has handled as well as a President could. If

you haven't noticed, Bush is still the President, and the stock market

is close to 10,000 again. The fall in the stock market had nothing to

do with Bush's economic policy, as I outlined above, but the rise back

to that level has had everything to do with it. Cutting taxes is THE

way that a President can boost the stock market.

> After taking-off the entire month of August, I presided over the

> worst security failure in U.S.history.

Presiding over something is not the same as causing it. It first became

apparent that bin Laden was a threat during Clinton's two terms, and

Clinton squandered every opportunity to do something about the growing

threat. Clinton had many chances to get bin Laden... the Sudan

practically offered to put him in a box and gift wrap it for Clinton,

and Clinton said no. Clinton did little after bin Laden attacked

embassies in Africa and the USS Cole... he lobbed a few cruise missiles

at aspirin factories and abandoned terrorist training camps, but he did

nothing to stop the growing threat of al Qaeda. 9-11 was planned for

years, most of them under Clinton. Clinton's haphazard and impotent

response to bin Laden made the problem a lot worse.

> I am supporting development of a nuclear " Tactical Bunker Buster, " a

> WMD.

Good.

> In my State Of The Union Address, I lied about our reasons for

> attacking Iraq, then blamed the lies on our British friends.

It has never been proven that he lied about that. While it seems so,

there has never been any proof that this was not the result of bad

intelligence.

> In my first year in office over 2-million Americans lost their jobs

> and that trend continues every month.

It is simplistic to credit the President with anything good that happens

in his term, or to blame him for everything bad. In addition, it does

NOT continue every month... for the last three months, jobs have been

added.

> I set the all-time record for most foreclosures in a 12-month period.

It is simplistic to credit the President with anything good that happens

in his term, or to blame him for everything bad. If that is accurate, it

is a result of the economy, which Bush has handled as well as a

President could.

> I presided over the biggest energy crisis in US history and refused

> to intervene when corruption involving the oil industry was revealed.

You mean California? That was a state matter, and it was Gray '

job to fix that. Gray has paid the price for his corruption.

> I presided over the highest gasoline prices in US history.

It is simplistic to credit the President with anything good that happens

in his term, or to blame him for everything bad. The US gas prices are

not the highest in history if you account for inflation. They're right

in line with what they have been historically, if you consider them in

adjusted dollars. In addition, it is not the President's job to ensure

low gas prices. I did not see that power enumerated anywhere in the

Constitution.

> I have set the all-time record for most people worldwide to

> simultaneously protest me in public venues (15 million people)

> shattering the record for protest against any person in the history

> of mankind.

The people that would have generated more protests (like those in the

Chinese government) would have killed the protesters. Look, people said

similar things about Reagan, when he refused to play nice with

the USSR. People feared his " cowboy " tactics... they worried about him

provoking " the Bear... " and now, he is credited even by those on the

left with ending the Cold War, and defeating the biggest threat the west

had ever known. We'll have to wait and see how history records this.

Many revered historical figures were not popular when they were doing

their historical actions.

> I'm proud that the members of my cabinet are the richest of any

> administration in US history. My " poorest millionaire, " Condoleeza

> Rice, had a Chevron oil tanker named after her.

Clinton held that record in the year 2000, if this is even true.

> I am the first president in US history to order an unprovoked,

> pre-emptive attack and the military occupation of a sovereign nation.

> I did so against the will of the United Nations, the majority of US

> citizens, and the world community.

The UN security council mandates explicitly stated that if Iraq pursued

WMD programs, or did not cooperate with inspectors, then military action

would be taken. Iraq did not comply... until there was a real threat of

US invasion, Hussein did not allow UN inspectors into the country. In

those two years or so when there were no inspectors, when the UN was

being openly and flagrantly flouted by Hussein, there was tremendous

opportunity to hide his WMD that were known to exist at the time that

those resolutions were drafted. And even before that, Hussein did not

cooperate fully with the inspectors. This was all against UN

resolutions... the UN lost its spine when it came time to back up its

empty words.

US polls showed broad support for the invasion of Iraq, at the time it

happened, around 70% if I recall. That does not leave any room for a

" majority " of US citizens being against it.

> I withdrew the US from the World Court of Law.

If this is true, good.

> I am the first president in history to refuse United Nations election

> inspectors (during the 2002 US election).

If this is true, good.

> I am the all-time US and world record-holder for receiving the most

> corporate campaign donations.

Good for him!

> I garnered the most sympathy for the US after the World Trade Center

> attacks and less than a year later made the US the most hated country

> in the world, the largest failure of diplomacy in world history.

Opinion ebbs and flows. It's hardly set in stone. Bush is not out

there to be Mr. Friendly... he's out to protect US (and all other

countries hated by bin Laden, which is the west in general).

> I am first president in history to have a majority of Europeans (71%)

> view my presidency as the biggest threat to world peace and security.

Thus showing that most Europeans are stupid.

> I have so far failed to fulfill my pledge to bring Osama Bin Laden

> and Saddam Hussein to justice.

And Clinton did any better? Bush has done more to bring those two to

justice than anyone else would have.

> Please consider my experience when voting in 2004 -

I will, certainly.