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| Dr. David Marlett, Editor | June 21, 2003 | Vol. IV - No. 6 | ||
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| Dr. David Marlett, Editor | June 21, 2003 | Vol. IV - No. 6 | ||
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[ WND.com ]
"Try these for fighting words: "Rumsfeld is a new Hitler" and "Cheney, Rice and Rumsfeld are the Axis of Evil" and "Powell is even more stupid and deceitful than Mrs. Madeleine Albright." And they don't come from French anti-war protesters or San Francisco fringe groups, but from the pages of two of the top government-run newspapers in U.S.-allied Egypt.
With the State Department signing off every year on American taxpayers' annual $2 billion subsidy to the Egyptian government, the average citizen might think someone in Washington would be leaning on Cairo to stop inciting anti-U.S. hatred through the regime's mouthpieces. That citizen would be wrong. The controlled media in Egypt and across the Arab/Muslim world have loaded both their editorials and news sections with vitriol against the United States, providing legitimacy and political cover for ever-intensifying extremism."
* TCN Comment: I'm sick and tired of subsidizing oil-rich Arab countries so that their wealth can be poured into terrorist organizations. Enough is enough. Egypt may or may not be an ally, but that doesn't mean we have to, or ought to, send them BILLIONS of tax dollars every year! A friend you have to buy is not a friend.
How many billions of US dollars have been dumped on the Palestinians? Can anyone tell me why we have given them a dime? Their schools teach hatred of not only Israel, but the US. There media constantly calls for "Hamas-cide" attacks against us and our allies. Their "leadership" lies like a Persian rug. They have been occupying Israeli territory for years now, but have been completely unable to put together any form of a government, or even a police force. Their only stated purpose is the destruction of Israel and the US and yet we pour billions of US tax dollars into their corrupt treasuries.
While on the subject, the "Roadmap to Peace" should be catalogued in the fiction section right next to Hillary's "Living History". There will be no peace in the middle-east or anywhere else as long as Islam has faithful followers. The Koran teaches murder and terrorism against all of those who refuse to convert to its perverted teachings. Any devout Muslim anywhere in the world is a roadblock to the Bush administration's "Roadmap to Peace"
[ NewsMax.com ]
Congress appears poised this year to pass a prescription-drug benefit for seniors as part of an overall Medicare reform package, but the new entitlement could put serious financial pressure on younger taxpayers and the U.S. Treasury for decades to come, say analysts.
"With the support of the Bush administration, or at least with the White House's passive acquiescence, Congress appears on course to enacting a huge new entitlement aimed at middle-income Americans," writes Stuart M. Butler, Ph.D., vice president of Domestic and Economic Policy Studies at the Heritage Foundation, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank.
"And as President Clinton's Medicare administrator puts it, 'In signing it, as he will surely be forced to do, he will preside over the biggest expansion of government health benefits since the Great Society,'" Butler said.
Under plans being considered by the House and Senate, generally speaking the government would give subsidies to private insurers to offer prescription-drug coverage to Medicare patients, according to the National Center for Policy Analysis, or NCPA. "Although the details are not fixed, it is expected that a policy would cost a retiree about $35 a month on top of current Medicare premiums," the center said.
* TCN Comment: I can see the look on Hillary's face now. Key components of her health care bill being passed and she isn't getting credit for doing it!
This bill is wrong from beginning to end, but none of our elected officials have the backbone to stand up and say so. AARP is for it, and they represent the largest block of voters in the country, so that settles it.
As it now stands the program has a deductible and then pays for 50% of the prescription price until a certain limit is reached. Then the program pays nothing until expenditures reach another point when it starts paying 90% of costs. Am I the only one that sees the accounting nightmare in this, not to mention the potential for fraud and the enormous bureaucracy that is going to be required to support this scheme?
Another key flaw in the program is the fact that EVERYONE qualifies for the coverage. Whether the patient is a homeless beggar with no means of support or Donald Trump who could buy the hospital (if he doesn't already own it) doesn't matter at all. ALL are voters and the purpose here is to buy votes, so ALL qualify for the handout.
And who is it that is providing the cash for buying these votes? You and every other American who receives a paycheck are footing the bill. It comes right off of the top.
[ NewsMax ]
Six-year-old gangsters, tempting innocent passersby with their illegal contraband, were shut down last week after a daring daylight raid by the Naples, Fla., police department.
Avigayil, leader of the tiny band of post-toddlers, thinking she was safe from the long arm of the law, brazenly placed her lemonade stand in a residential area, where anyone with the proper change could partake of the pale yellow nectar. According to WBBH-TV, the blatant acts of selling lemonade without a city permit could not be allowed to continue in Naples.
"We didn't have a permit, so she called the cops," said 6-year-old Avigayil to NBC-2 TV, speaking about the neighbor who squealed. Accordingly, Avigayil's mom was not about to take the shutting down of her daughter's business enterprise lightly. "I was kind of shocked because I didn't know we needed a permit for 6-year-old girls to sell lemonade," said Avigayil's mom, who marched down to Naples City Hall.
According to the Naples police, they do not usually shut down businesses owned and operated by 6-year-olds. However, because there was a formal complaint made by someone who apparently has the personality associated with the yellow fruit, the police claim they had to act.
Of course, not everyone will agree with that understanding. Some people will naturally assume that a 6-year-old running a lemonade stand free from governmental regulations is about as old an American tradition as you can find. Some people might even believe that the Naples police could have told the little girl's neighbor what she could do with her complaint.
Just the same, according to an NBC-2 TV report, "the city played Mr. Nice Guy." The city apparently did not charge Avigayil for her lemonade stand and will not charge her for each day of its use. Avigayil can now once again sell lemonade for as long as the city does not get another complaint about a 6-year-old girl trying to act like a 6-year-old.
* TCN Comment: The good people of Naples, FL will be able to sleep better at night knowing that their police department is out there enforcing the letter of the law.
This is certainly a case of tax dollars well invested. If Naples has enough officers on the job to handle complaints like this, it is time for a major lay-off.
Department of Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta raised the ire of groups like Concerned Women for America (CWA) when earlier this week he gave DOT - and therefore, taxpayer-funding to a "gay pride" event held at DOT headquarters.
The event involved Mineta giving an honorary plaque to Massachusetts State Senator Jarrett T. Barrios, a leading homosexual and Democratic activist.
CWA analyst Peter LaBarbera said of Mineta's actions: "We expected this sort of taxpayer-funded 'gay' activism under Bill Clinton, but not more than two years into the Bush presidency."
On Wednesday, homosexual employees at the Department of Justice accepted an offer from a Democratic senator to hold their annual "pride" program in a Congressional meeting room.
DOJ Pride had scheduled its annual gathering for Wednesday in the department's main hall, but an agency spokesman said the organization would have to pay for all costs related to the event since the department did not officially sponsor it.
However, Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) arranged for the program to take place on Friday in the Russell Senate Office Building at tax payer expense.
* TCN Comment: It's called misappropriation of government funds.
[ CNSNews.com ]
Think Republicans are the party of small government? Federal domestic spending rose 8 percent from 2001 to 2002, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, at a time when the GOP controlled the White House and the U.S. House.
A decade ago, when Democrats controlled all of Congress and the presidency, spending rose 4.8 percent from 1993 to 1994.
Now the Congressional Budget Office is forecasting a $400 billion budget deficit this year, about 4 percent of the Gross Domestic Product. That could mean trouble for the GOP in elections.
"People think we're increasing spending just for defense," said Brian Riedl, federal budget analyst for the Heritage Foundation. "But Congress has also gone on a spending spree in areas such as education, health research, [$190 billion in] farm subsidies, unemployment benefits, highways and small, low-priority programs.
"Really, Congress isn't saying no to anybody right now," said Riedl. Federal spending per American household is now at $21,000 annually, up from $16,000 in 1999, he noted.
The largest increases in fiscal year 2002 federal spending came in the form of programs such as Medicare ($251 billion, up 5.8 percent), unemployment compensation, earned income tax credits and food stamps.
Medicaid payments increased $148 billion (11.1 percent). Federal procurement awards, which include contracts for the Department of Defense, increased by 10 percent.
Although much of the federal budget is effectively on autopilot for programs such as Social Security and Medicare, Riedl and other analysts blame Republicans for ramping up discretionary spending.
"The Republican reputation for being for small government is wholly undeserved," said Riedl. "Republicans are politicians first, and they're trying to spend money to get themselves re-elected.
"The current crop of Republicans is surprising in their lack of principles," he surmised. "They seem willing to spend on any special interest they need to win re-election next year."
Budget Committee Chairman Jim Nussle, R-Iowa, is one oft-cited exception. He and Majority Leader Tom DeLay have called for across-the-board budget cuts and have given committees until Sept. 1 to identify waste, fraud and abuse in federal programs.
"Nussle deserves a lot of credit for putting those programs on the table," said the Concord Coalition's Harry Zeeve. "But it was met with virtually no support" by his own party, much less by Democrats.
Zeeve wants all programs on the chopping block. "Being a deficit hawk, I'd have pretty much everything on the table. There really would be no sacred cows."
The group Citizens Against Government Waste believes there are "tens of billions of dollars" in waste, fraud and abuse that can be eliminated.
Riedl points specifically at agriculture and corporate subsidies. But education and health spending should also be pruned, he believes.
"I don't want to say all these programs are bad and unworthy, but when you're also at the same time fighting a war on terrorism and building up the homeland, you really have to set priorities," said Riedl.
There are signs that the Bush administration is beginning to fret over profligate spending.
To succeed Office of Management and Budget Director Mitch Daniels, Bush has nominated Joshua B. Bolten, a deputy White House chief of staff, who has a reputation of fiscal restraint.
Bolten publicly vowed to keep "a very watchful eye on the people's money" and be "a tight-fisted custodian of the people's money."
[ London Telegraph ]
Britain is to propose a radical reform of the United Nations Security Council which would expand membership from 15 to 25 countries as part of an initiative to avoid a repetition of the deep splits during the Iraq crisis.
The Security Council was created by the victorious Allies after the Second World War. In New York this autumn Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, will table a series of measures intended to make it more accurately reflect current political realities.
Proposals will include doubling the number of permanent members from the existing five - Britain, America, Russia, France and China - to include Germany, India, Japan, one Latin American country and one African country.
Its non-permanent membership should be increased to 25, but the existing five permanent members would retain their veto rights which would not be extended to any new members.
"If you were to extend veto rights to 10 permanent members, you might as well shut up shop tomorrow," a British official said.
TCN Comment: Why wait until tomorrow? Shut up shop today. The UN failed to reach the goals it was set up to accomplish. Like any other government with no accountability it only served to breed corruption and drain its economic sources dry. It should have never been attempted, but for scheduling the closing, today is much more appropriate than tomorrow.
"Europeans are wimps. They are weak, petulant, hypocritical, disunited, sometimes anti-Semitic and often anti-American appeasers ... their values and their spines have dissolved in a lukewarm bath of multilateral, transnational, secular and postmodern fudge." -- Timothy Garton Ash
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