2/27/2001 President Bush's tax plan has now been presented to congress.
Was it just me, or did anyone else notice that a lot of the liberals looked like they had a permanent case of constipation? Their faces with the hateful looks just does not show respect for the office of the President. I wouldn't expect them to be all smiles, but they could show just a little professional courtesy. At least Senator Clinton acted politely which is more than I could say for Loserman. Maybe they are full after all.
We notice that despite all the liberal rhetoric, the budget proposal does not reduce any of the key items that the Dems said would happen: all the key spending areas are actually increased - some even more than proposed by Clinton. Amazingly, there is not only room for a huge tax cut, but also over a trillion bucks for unforeseen emergencies!
The plan looks great: (Information obtained from the E-Champions mailing. Go to http://www.EChampions2000.com and sign up for the mailings.)
*FIRST, fund America's priorities;
*SECOND, provide the largest debt reduction in history; and
*THIRD, provide fair and responsible tax relief for all taxpayers.
FUNDS KEY PRIORITIES:
*IMPROVES EDUCATION. Strengthens and reforms education -- provides the Education Department the largest percentage spending increase of any department in recent years (11.5% or $4.6 billion) and triples funding for children's reading programs.
*STRENGTHENS DEFENSE. Strengthens our military by improving the quality of life of our troops and their families and beginning the transition to a 21st century force.
*PROTECTS SOCIAL SECURITY. Preserves and protects Social Security by locking away every penny of the $2.6 trillion Social Security surplus for Social Security.
*PRESERVES MEDICARE. Spends every dime of Medicare receipts over the next 10 years for Medicare, and Medicare only. The President's budget provides a $21 billion increase in Medicare spending over the next year. The budget also provides $153 billion over 10 years in new spending to modernize Medicare with an integrated prescription drug benefit.
*IMPROVES HEALTHCARE. Doubles funding by 2003 for NIH medical research on important health issues like cancer - the largest funding increase in NIH's history. Creates more than 1,200 new community health centers to make health care more accessible.
*PROTECTS THE ENVIRONMENT. Provides the largest increase for conservation funds in history and fully funds the Land and Water Conservation Fund - a $900 million commitment. The President gives EPA the second highest operating budget ever -- $3.7 billion - $56 million higher than the FY 2001 request by President Clinton.
PAYS OFF OUR NATION'S DEBT:
*Pays off the maximum amount of debt possible by providing the fastest, largest debt reduction in history.
*Reduces the government debt to its lowest share of the economy since World War I.
REASONABLE, FAIR TAX RELIEF:
*Uses roughly one-fourth of the budget surplus to provide the typical family of four paying income taxes $1,600 in tax relief. The largest percentage reduction go to those at the lower end.
*It cuts all tax rates, doubles the child tax credit, reduces the marriage penalty, abolishes the death tax, and expands charitable giving.
President Bush believes our country has limitless potential. And it is with your help that we can pass his budget and tax cut. Please contact your Senators and Representatives to support President Bush's tax cut.
To reach your Senators, go to:
http://www.senate.gov/senators/senator_by_state.cfm to find the contact information for the Senators from your state.
To reach your member of the House of Representatives, go to:
http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW.html to find the contact information of your member.
For more information, including a transcript of the President's speech, go to: http://www.bushtaxrelief.com/
2/9/2001 U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft also hit the ground running. He has pledged to punish violent criminals who use firearms instead of harassing law-abiding citizens. Let's look for an increase of federal prosecutions when firearms are abused. I would bet that Ashcroft's first six months will yield more federal firearms prosecutions and convictions than the entire eight years we have suffered under the Clinton/Gore administration. Remember: there is NO parole from those 10 to 20-year federal convictions!
From a www.NRAILA.org newsletter:
TWISTED IRONY FOR MMM?
The February 2 edition of the Washington Post reported that a D.C. Superior Court jury found Barbara Graham guilty of "trying to avenge her son's death by shooting a young man she blamed for the killing." Graham, 49, was convicted on February 1 of nine separate counts, all stemming from a January 26, 2000, shooting that left 23-year-old Kikko Smith paralyzed from the waist down. The "grieving mother" was accused of having shot Smith because she thought he was responsible for the shooting death of her own son, Le'Pierre Clemons, although prosecutors say Smith was not responsible. Clemons had been killed in 1999.
But what seems like a tragic story of misguided revenge doesn't end there. According to a WorldNetDaily (an online news service you can find at www.wnd.com) article from February 5, Barbara Graham is not just a "bereaved mother," but she also "spoke out against gun violence and memorialized shooting victims" at last year's Mother's Day event in Washington, D.C., {emphasas mine} an event orchestrated by the so-called "Million" Mom March (MMM). Graham, according to the online article, got involved with a D.C.-based group called "Mothers on the Move Spiritually" after her son was killed, and this group was one of the sponsors of the MMM event. Thus far, the MMM seems to be silent about what can only be considered a rather tragic story filled with ironic twists, but Mary Ann Smith, Kikko Smith's mother, commented, "From a mother to a mother, she (Graham) knew better.
You can't tell the kids to stop the violence with the mothers running around like this."