This is not a partisan post, unless you consider pointing out the obvious an overt act of bias.
I. Lower Taxes Cost More
Writing about the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Slacktivist had this insight: "The poor in America eventually receive a begrudging, belated assistance that proves far costlier, far less effective and far less efficient than a timelier response."
2001: Federal budget for flood control in Lousiana is $69 million. Clinton leaves White House with $200+ billion budget surplus.
2005: Senator Landrieu (D) requests $27 million for federal hurricane protection in the Lake Pontchartrain region. Bush approves $5.7 million. Federal flood control budget for the state $33 million lower than in 2001.
June, 2005: Bush cuts $71.2 million from the budget of the New Orleans Corps of Engineers.
September, 2005: Bush asks for $52 billion to pay for Hurricane Katrina's damage. Federal budget surplus now negative $330 billion.
II. It's Not Bureaucracy, It's Incompetent Bureaucrats
September 6, 2005: "Bureaucracy is not going to stand in the way of getting the job done for the people," says Bush.
January 2001: Bush appoints Joe Allbaugh, who has no experience in disaster management, as head of FEMA.
November 25, 2002: Department of Homeland Security created; largest expansion of federal government in fifty years.
December 2002: Allbaugh leaves FEMA and is succeeded by his former college roommate Michael Brown, who was fired from his previous job at the International Arabian Horse Association for incompetence and mismanagement.
March 2003: FEMA becomes part of Homeland Security.
September 1, 2005: Director Brown admits he didn't know about the thousands of refugees stranded at the convention center in New Orleans, even though they've been on television for days.
III. Flip-Flopping Isn't Just for John Kerry Anymore
November 18, 2003: Massachusetts Supreme Court rules same-sex couples have the right to marry.
November 20, 2003: Tom DeLay denounces a "runaway judiciary."
July 14, 2004: "Activist judges...are not letting up in their efforts to redefine marriage for the rest of America," says Bush.
September 6, 2005: California State Legislature legalizes same-sex marriage.
September 7, 2005: Spokesperson for California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger says the Governator believes "the issue of same-sex marriage should be settled by the courts."
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5 comments:
I'm not really sure why Schwartzenegger is going that route. Maybe what he has in mind is that the courts should rule on the previously enacted proposition or something. It's a bit odd. I'd like to hear his explanation.
I don't want to hear a single word from Schwarzenegger.
He clearly believes in gay rights up and down the line...and just as clearly doesn't care enough to go to the mat for us. He is capable of singlehandedly making an unbelievable difference for thousands of gay couples, and he's putting his own career first.
As I've said about many Republicans: I hope he dies of cancer. A painful kind that requires multiple unhelpful surgeries. And young, too.
Great post... I'm stealing some of it to post in mine. Excellent. :)
Some of your points contribute to my reasons for leaving the Republican party. I am now an independent who dislikes either major party and remains a registered Republican because you reall can't be party-less in this nation.
On Republican spending: it is interesting that bureaucracy grows more under Republican presidents than under Democrats. For example, Richard Nixon started several agencies that are now major bureaucracies. I think he grew the size of the federal government more than Lyndon Johnson. That's pretty difficult to top with the War on Poverty and the Great Society. Anyway, Bush is no conservative when it comes to spending, that's for sure. Furthermore, infrastructure is one of the things the feds should pay out on, so cutting budgets in the past, not so good. I would add that in order for the levee to have held, they would have had to start construction during the Clinton years.
loved the title of that post! nice blog :-)
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