In a move that just makes me ill the Senate has approved a bill that allows torture. I just can’t beleive it. I thought that we were the good guys. I thought we wore the white hats. Obviously, I was wrong. We will do anything in the name of “security.” Although the bill outlaws torture it gives the president the right to use “aggressive techniques” which is a euphemism for torture. The bill gives the president the power to decide what’s appropriate and what is not.
NC Republicans in the Do-Nothing Republican Congress Refuse to Extend Middle Class Tax Cuts
NC Democrats Lowered Taxes for Working Families
Raleigh–The cost of living may be going up for middle class families in North Carolina, but that’s not stopping North Carolina Republicans in the Do-Nothing Congress from blocking Democratic efforts to extend critical middle class tax cuts. In the past two weeks alone, Democrats in the Senate have tried to extend a range of tax benefits that include the college tuition tax deduction, the state and local sales tax deduction, and the Research and Development (R&D) tax credit. The Bush Republicans in the Do-Nothing Congress blocked them each time.
While the average cost of a college education has soared by 44 percent during the Bush Administration, Senate Republicans like Elizabeth Dole and Richard Burr are raising taxes on 3.6 million Americans, including 90,237 in North Carolina, by blocking Democratic efforts to extend the college tuition tax deduction. By refusing to extend a tax provision that allows teachers to deduct out of pocket expenses, the Bush Republicans in the Senate are raising taxes on 3.3 million teachers-including 97,654 in North Carolina.
In the House, Democrats have fought to increase the child tax credit to $1,100, to provide more tax relief through marriage penalty relief and the 10 percent rate cut, and to exempt all middle-income families from the Alternative Minimum Tax. [H.R. 4359, Vote 208, 5/20/04; H.R. 4275, 5/13/04; H.R. 4181, 4/28/04; H.R. 4227, 5/5/04] Representatives Charles Taylor, Robin Hayes, Sue Myrick, Walter Jones, and Howard Coble all voted against this tax relief. Democrats have tried to lower health care costs for small businesses through a 50 percent tax credit to help small businesses and the self-employed buy health care coverage. [H.R. 2073] House Republicans have refused to act on these critical middle class tax cuts.
“Bush Republicans and the rest of the Republican Do-Nothing Congress are all talk, but no action when it comes to cutting taxes for middle class families,” said North Carolina Democratic Party Chair Jerry Meek. “While Democrats have fought to extend middle class tax cuts that would protect the economic security of teachers, homeowners and parents, Republicans like Elizabeth Dole and Richard Burr have consistently blocked those efforts.”
“Republicans want to run North Carolina like they’re running Washington. In our state, Democrats passed a budget that lowered the income tax rate and sales tax rate to benefit working families. And, unlike the big spenders in Washington, North Carolina Democrats balanced the budget. Guess who were the only legislators to oppose it? Republicans.”
Democratic Policy Committee report:
http://democrats.senate.gov/dpc/dpc-printable.cfm?doc_name=fs-109-2-140
Another thoughtful, intelligent president on the Daily Show! This is a great interview by John.
Oh, now he’s done done it. Keith Olbermann and the folks at Countdown has put together exactly what the Bush administration was given prior to 9/11. I had some specific examples listed on my website. But it’s a little bit different when they list the exact documents. The one thing that I was not aware of was that Osama bin Laden may have been offered to the Bush administration in February of 2001! This is major. Ari Fleischer was asked a question in February about an offer from Sudan brokered through Saudi Arabia to give up bin Laden. Ari Fleischer states that he’ll get back to the reporter and there is no record that he ever brought up the subject again. Interesting. (The first several minutes need to be edited off of this but, because of my own time constraints, I thought it’s best that I posted now.)
Now we get to play the old familiar game he should she said. President Clinton said on Fox News Sunday that the Bush administration was given a comprehensive anti-terror plan. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice fired back in an interview with the New York Post. She states that the Bush administration was not given a plan. So what are we to believe? On one hand we have President Clinton who is trying to set the record straight and trying to clear his name. On the other hand, we have the Bush administration which has only one in a row in its quiver. That arrow is terror. If the Bush administration is not fighting terror as vigorously as they would like us to believe they would be in a great deal of trouble with the midterm elections. Therefore, each party has a reason to bend the truth.
What data do we have to help us with this conundrum? Well, there’s the 9/11 commission report. The report seems to support President Clinton’s assertion that the Bush administration was given a plan and a report seems to be devoid of any actions that the Bush administration took prior to 9/11. Is there any other evidence? Well there is the book The Price of Loyalty which was about Paul O’Neill’s time in the Bush Cabinet. This book notes that there are no high level principals meeting on Osama bin Laden prior to September of 2001. This seems to support President Clinton’s assertions. There of course is Richard Clarke’s book, Against All Enemies, which conservatives like to attack but the bottom line is the data contained within the book, the actual facts, are not in dispute. The 9/11 Commission clearly supports Richard Clarke’s view of what happened in the Bush administration prior to 9/11. There’s even more evidence, the fact that the Bush administration does not point to any solid event or press conference or press release or meeting suggests that they had a completely and totally different agenda when they came into the White House.
Do you remember what Donald Rumsfeld was pushing prior to 9/11? The missile defense shield!
Errington C. Thompson, MD, is a surgeon, scholar, fulltime sports fan and part-time political activist. He is active in a number of community projects and initiatives. Through medicine, he strives to improve the physical health of all he treats...
