nations depend announced change world

In December, the nations of the world will meet in Copenhagen, Denmark to try to reach agreement on plans to confront climate change. In order to reap the benefits of an agreement, we need to bring something credible to the table. ... In describing India's new initiatives on clean energy, the Indian environmental minister said recently, “I want to be aggressive, because, frankly, we are a country that is climate dependent” because of rising seas and monsoons. ...In a global context their GDP per capita is too high (and their CO2 emissions too substantial) to be used as an excuse to opt of supporting developing nations vulnerable to climate change. The World Bank International Comparison ...With the world still dependent on fossil fuels for energy and with deforestation continuing at its current rate (cutting forests releases large amounts of carbon dioxide), we are heading towards a world that will be drastically ... “People in almost all the nations of the earth are involved,” stated 350 spokesman Archbishop Desmond Tutu. “It's the same kind of coalition that helped make the word 'apartheid' known around the world.” Perhaps if enough people around the ...The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) estimates that an additional US$28–67 billion will be needed in its target year of 2030 to meet the adaptation needs of developing countries. The World Bank estimates ...Its mountains have defined the state's history, and now the mountains of Virginia look set to determine whether the world begins to tackle global warming. That may sound a little apocalyptic, but please bear with me. The American nation ...”The 13th Congress… notes with concern the impacts of climate change on forests and strongly emphasises the important role forests play in climate change mitigation and adaptation as well as the need for forest-dependent people and forest ecosystems to adapt to this challenge,” states a ... Tierramérica is a specialised news service produced by IPS with the backing of the United Nations Development Programme, United Nations Environment Programme and the World Bank.) ...Almost 9 years later, and as a nation we are still ignorant of the country and the culture! As I understand it before the Taliban took control women did work and were educated. It appears that once again religion, and those that ... Most of the mujahedeed are illiterate, and the Koran is written in Arabic (again illiterate), so they depend on the Mullahs (again not all read) to "interpret", and these patriarchs have decided that women should be barefoot and pregnant! ...Later Mr Brown insisted at a press conference: 'The European agenda for the next five years will be jobs, growth, climate change and world trade. That is the long-term agenda and Tony Blair is well-placed for that." But the Prime Minister, who disclosed that he had spoken to Mr Blair this week, acknowledged that other candidates would also emerge once the Lisbon Treaty is finally ratified by the Czech Republic, the final nation to endorse the document. ...UN ambassador for the International Year of Gorillas, Ian Redmond, said during the World Forestry Congress that protecting animals and stopping bushmeat are not a matter of choice, but are actually essential to guarantee forest preservation . ... A new agreement to control global warming is expected to be sealed at a United Nations summit this December in Copenhagen. One of the key points being negotiated is a mechanism to reduce the deforestation in developing countries ...The statement comes in the wake of the recent World Development Report 2010: Development and Climate Change in which the World Bank suggests that developing countries can shift to lower-carbon paths while promoting development and reducing poverty. However, the report also states that this depends on high-income countries providing financial and technical assistance. Parthan said, “Technology transfer is a critical issue to advancing sustainable energy. ...



• Steve Austin is a big time antiques collector!

• One of the band members who did DeGeneration X's theme song if Triple H's real life brother.

• Test (Andrew Martin) was trained by Bret "The Hitman" Hart.

• Brian Christopher and Scott Taylor were scheduled to have a gay marriage as a part of a storyline at a PPV, but Jerry Lawler, Brian Christopher's father strongly objected.

• Kane (Glen Jacobs) was born in Madrid, Spain.

• Edge (Adam Copeland) is actually engaged to Val Venis's sister.

• Kane (Glen Jacobs) has a degree in English and Teaching.

• Former WWF superstar, Tito Santana owns a hair salon in Roxbury, New Jersey.

• Prior to joining the WWF, Hardcore Holly (Robert Howard) worked as a full-time welder.

• Bret "The Hitman" Hart owns a professional hockey team known as The Calgary Hitmen.

• Shane Douglas and Headbanger Mosh have licenses to teach!

• Jerry Lawler and The Honky Tonk Man are cousins!

• Shawn Michaels is a huge fan of country singer, Garth Brooks!

• Bradshaw used to compete in the NFL, but had to retire due to a knee injury.

• Rocky Maivia is a skilled light tackle salt water fisherman.

• Along with Chyna and Hunter Hearst Helmsley, Perry Saturn was also trained by Killer Kowalski.

• Jimmy Hart composes most of the WCW stars' entrance theme songs.

• Colonel Robert Parker (Tennessee Lee in the WWF) used to wrestle under the name of Robert Fuller before retiring and becoming a manager.

• D-Lo Brown is a Certified Public Accountant!

• Vader knows how to play the piano!

• The Bushwhackers own a restaurant and it's called "The Bushwhackers Down Under!" It's located in the Tampa Bay area of Florida.

• Jerry "The King" Lawler is a die hard Cleveland Indians fan!

• Marc Mero won three New York State golden gloves in boxing before entering pro wrestling.

• Ahmed Johnson used to play football for the Dallas Cowboys.

• Chris Chetti was the first man to graduate from ECW's School of Hardcore.

• Kevin Nash played Super Shredder in "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2" the movie.

• X-Pac is a computer whiz!

• Duke "The Dumpster" Droese loves to do imitations and his best one is none other than Vince McMahon!

• Steve Austin is also good at doing impressions. His best is none other than Eric Bischoff!

• Brian Pillman played two years of football for The Cincinatti Bengals!

• Before entering the WWF, Rena Mero was a model for Guess Jeans wear.

• Before she married Brian Pillman, Melanie Pillman went out with Jim Hellwig (The Ultimate Warrior).

• Brian Lee (Chainz) was the best man at Mark Callaway's (The Undertaker) wedding.

• Greg "The Hammer" Valentine, Marty Jannetty, and Blitzkreig have all used The Hollywood Blondes' theme music.

• Scott Hall agreed to be the best man at Justin Credible's wedding but failed to contact him in the weeks before the ceremony and ultimately no-showed.

• Roddy Piper announced that his last wrestling match would be at WrestleMania III against Adrian Adonis.

• Terry Funk first announced his retirement in 1983.

• In 1995, Marcus Bagwell had calf implants which leaked and he had them removed.

• Vince McMahon, Jr. wanted to become a wrestler, but his father, the late Vince McMahon Sr. strictly forbid him in doing so.

• Before breaking into wrestling, Jerome Young (New Jack) worked as a bounty hunter.

• Tom "Dynamite Kid" Billington despises his cousin Davey Boy Smith so much, he can't bring himself to say his name.

• During one drinking session, Andre The Giant downed 119 bottles of beer.

• Barry Windham's father, Blackjack Mulligan served time for counterfeiting.

• Cactus Jack & Terry Funk were originally scheduled to face the New Age Outlaws in a Barbed Wire Match at WrestleMania XIV, but the PPV people forbid them to do it, hence the Dumpster Match.

• Back when the ECW/WWF angle was going on, the WWF was going to hold a live Raw from the ECW Arena, despite it's size. This idea was nixed however.

• Back in the 1980's Hulk Hogan's opponents were banned from mentioning his receding hair line in interviews.

• Stan Lane was once billed as Stan Flair because people thought he resembled Ric Flair.

• All Japan Pro Wrestling hasn't fed it's fans a count-out or a disqualification in over five years. • Shawn Michaels is married to former Nitro Girl, Whisper!

• Marc Mero didn't leave WCW over money issues. He left because of the angle he was in where he was involved with another man's wife. • Larry Zbyszko is a licensed pilot.

• Sid once backed down from a fight with Brian Pillman in a hotel bar, retreated to his car to arm himself with a weapon with which to defend himself and returned clutching a squeegee.

• Ted Dibase was once the Mid-South North American Heavyweight Champion.

• World Championship Wrestling was once called Georgia Championship Wrestling.

• In many of his WrestleMania matches Randy Savage would foreshadow the result of his bout by the color hat he wore to the ring. Two examples: 1 when he wrestled the Ultimate Warrior at WMVII as a heel and left as a babyface, he entered the ring wearing a white hat. 2. when he defeated Ric Flair at WMVIII to take the WWF strap, he wore a gold costume.

• Hulk Hogan agreed to drop the world title to the Ultimate Warrior at WrestleMania VI because he was planning on retiring and wanted to pass the torch on to his babyface successor so he wouldn't have to come back and get "revenge" on a heel for his fans.*Hogan forced McMahon to give him the strap at the end of WMIX by threatening to no-show his tag earlier on the show with Brutus Beefcake against IRS & Ted Dibiase.

• WrestleMania VII was moved from the Rose Bowl to the Sports Arena in Los Angeles because Vince McMahon feared a sniper might try and take out lead heel Sgt. Slaughter, playing the role of a Iraqi sympathizer during the Gulf War.

• Apparently feeling he had nothing to lose, Sid Justice doublecrossed Vince McMahon by kicking out of Hogan's legdrop at WMVIII. Sid had been caught cheating on a drug test a few weeks earlier and was going to be suspended. Sid's manager, Harvey Whippleman (who is said to have supplied Sid with the false urine sample that WWF official Dave Hebner found Sid carrying in a vile) reacted quickly, jumping into the ring and getting his man disqualified before all hell broke loose.

• McMahon wanted a Flair-Hogan main event for WMVIII, but before Flair surprisingly was unable to re-up on a contract with WCW, McMahon signed Sid with the promise he would wrestle Hogan at the next WM. So, McMahon went with a double main event of Hogan-Sid and Flair-Savage.

• Prior to WMX, McMahon had Lex Luger come out with the world belt for a television taping, scheduled to air after the pay-per-view. Either planning a swerve all along or changing his mind after word got out, McMahon had Bret Hart win the three-way tournament between Hart, Luger and Yokozuna.

• In 1994, WCW used to hire paid models and actors to sit in the audience to cheer and boo their wrestlers because the audience was usually dead for their shows.

• When WCW did the World Wide show, they used to have a monitor to tell the audience who to cheer and who to boo. One one occasion when Rick Rude and the Equalizer (the "heels") came out, the audience accidentally cheered for them and WCW had to reshoot their entrance over again.

• When Shawn Michaels was attacked outside of a nightclub by approximately 10 "thugs" (actually it was by a marine group), Shawn was accompanied by Davey Boy Smith and Sean Waltman (1-2-3 Kid). Shawn tried to be the brave one and he ended up suffering for it.

• The WWF says that the Dynamite Kid left the WWF and retired because of an injury. Actually, the Kid still wrestles in England and the real reason he left was because of a locker room fight with him and Jacques Rougeau. The Bulldog opted to keep contact with the WWF and because of that and other reasons, the Bulldog and the Dynamite Kid haven't spoken in years.

• On May 11, 1987, Kevin Von Erich collapsed in the middle of the ring during an eight-man bout pitting him, The Fantastics, and Bruiser Brody against Brian Adias, Black Bart, Al Madril, and Al Perez. Fantastic Tommy Rogers, seeing Von Erich turning blue, administers cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

• Bam Bam Bigelow was chosen as the opponent for Lawrence Taylor at WMXI because he was the WWF's best big man worker. Bigelow says that as payment for doing the job he was promised a big babyface push down the road. That didn't happen as The Cliq (not fans of Bam Bam) began gaining political power, and Bigelow wasn't with the company very much longer.

• The Undertaker is undefeated at WrestleMania's. His record as of right now is 9-0.

• Prior to entering the squared circle, Steve Corino worked in a milk processing plant in Philadelphia.

• Elektra was once married to Big Dick Dudley.

• Washington Redskins head coach George Allen once offered Andre the Giant a contract to play professional football.

• Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair's first match took place in October 1991 with the "Nature Boy" winning the contest.

• J.J. Dillon thought of the Model gimmick for Rick Martel.

• Rick Martel is a gourmet chef.

• The Warlord (real name Terry Szopinski) was forced to retire following a 1996 car accident involving a Pizza Hut delivery carrier. A lawsuit is depending.

• DDP credits Bobby "The Brain" Heenen for coming up with the name Diamond cutter.

• Spike Dudley is a former third grade teacher from Rhode Island before getting into the wrestling business.

• Kurt Angle's wife is a former stripper.

• In the summer of 1995, Kurt Angle failed in a tryout to make the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League.

• Al Snow is well trained in martial arts, mat grappling, free style, hardcore, and shoot-fight wrestling.

• Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty won the WWF tag team title from Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart in October of 1990 at a taping for Saturday Night's Main Event. Neidhart had been fired and was filling contractual obligations, which including jobbing the tag titles to another team. In what should have been a minor point, the top rope broke at one point during the match. The Rockers defended the titles for a week after that, but then Neidhart was re-hired by the WWF, and Vince McMahon decided that the title change never actually happened, in one of the goofier decisions of the 90s, and one of many to affect the careers of Shawn and Bret. As an explanation, a story was sent to Pro Wrestling Illustrated about the rope break causing an "unfair working environment" for both teams, and hence the title reign was annulled. This was simply to cover up for the fact that they reported the title change as fact a week prior and needed a reason to no longer report it as such. The title change was edited out of the Main Event broadcast, and thus went down in history that the Rockers never had the belt.

• From 1986-1989 Ric Flair averaged 34 minutes per-match. In that span he had 19 matches that lasted longer than 50 minutes. • The Rock's wife Dany is the Associate Vice President of Merrill Lynch.

• Leatherface caused the scar on Mick Foley's left arm.

• Hulk Hogan earned 1.8 million dollars with his match up against Randy Macho Man Savage at Wrestlemania 5.

• Buff Bagwell, before becoming a wrestler was a model, exotic dancer and acted in a few Soft Porn flicks.

• The Peoples Eyebrow was first named the "Heat Brow". The Rock called it that in college, but he changed the name do to the fact that the name didn't catch on.

• D'Lo Brown began his career as the "head of security" for the Gangstas in Smokey Mountain Wrestling. He later debuted in the WWF as one of the many members of Faarooq's Nation of Domination entourage.

• Former Nitro Girl Fyre (Teri Byrne) attended Arizona State University, and used to be a mortgage home broker.

• Rick Rude was trained by Eddie Sharkey, who also trained the Road Warriors, Barry Darsow, and Nikita Koloff.

• The British Bulldog (Davey Boy Smith) paid the WWF $100,000 to get out of his contract to leave for WCW.

• The orginial Midnight Express was a six man tag team in Alabama, consisting of Dennis Condrey, Randy Rose, and Norvell Austin.

• Mark Henry and Pittsburgh Steeler Kevin Henry are cousins.

• Jerry Jarrett brought Rick Rude to Memphis, and gave him the nickname "Ravishing."

• ECW's Dawn Marie appeared in the original Austin Powers MTV special as one of the go-go dancers and actually had a couple of speaking lines.

• Gorgeous George, real name Stephanie Bellars, spent jail time as a teenager for burglaziring a home and slashing a girl's face with a broken beer bottle.

• "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan got the idea of bringing a 2x4 to the ring from the movie, "Walking Tall."

• Jim Hellwig (The Warrior) studied to be a chiropractor in Atlanta.

• Demolition Ax (Bill Eadie) is a former school teacher.

• Two days before WrestleMania 9, Hogan was injured in a jet-ski accident. That explains the shiner he had when he wrestled at WrestleMania 9. • Roddy Piper was Ric Flair's best man.

• Before becoming a wrestler, Val Venis used to race motocross.

• The Big Bossman was a prison guard in Georgia.

• Randy Savage was trained by his father, Angelo Poffo.

• Dusty Rhodes played college football at West Texas.

• Verne Gagne trained Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat.

• Lex Luger played college football at Penn State.

• Meng once wrestled as jobbber Larry Hurst.

• Johnny Ace once dated former adult film star Seka.

• Madusa is an accomplished singer.

• The original idea for UPN's Smackdown! was for an all women wrestling show.

• Kevin Nash was a doorman/bouncer at a Michigan night club before entering the wrestling business.

• Disco Inferno was released from his WCW contract in '97 after refusing to do the job for Jacquelyn (now Jacky in the WWF). He returned to the promotion later in the year only after agreeing to wrestle her. However, Ted Turner had a 'no man against woman violence' clause on his networks. So Disco had to avoid making physical contact with her throughout the entire match.

• Linda McMahon is a laywer. • Bad News Brown used the name "The Ultimate Warrior" before Jim Hellwig.

• "Sweet" Stan Lane is the only wrestler ever trained by Ric Flair.

• Del Wilkes sold the rights to the Patriot gimmick to Tom Brandi.

• Simon Diamond was a catcher on the Virginia Commonwealth baseball team for three years but then he got hurt and that ended his baseball career. He did eventually go back to college and get his degree in English.

• Bruce Hart gave Wayne Farris The Honkey Tonk Man name.

• Chyna is fully licensed to compete in boxing.

• The WWF considered giving Dustin Rhodes a "Gunslinger" gimmick, before coming up with Goldust.

• Rikishi has a brother that wrestles as Fatu in Japan. • Jimmy Hart thought of the 3 Count gimmick.

• Jimmy Hart and Jerry Lawler attended the same high school in Memphis (not at the same time).

• Prior to WrestleMania IV, USA Today got a copy of the post-WrestleMania WWF Magazine which listed Randy Savage as champion before the tournament (where Savage beat Dibiase in the finals) took place. McMahon publicly referred to it as a coincidence.

• The Ultimate Warrior left the WWF in 1991 because he and Vince McMahon did not come to terms on his future role...Warrior wanted to be in the title situation but the WWF saw differently...in 1992, the Warrior disappeared again because he did not want to get involved in a second-rate feud with Nailz.

• In 1991, Ric Flair was fired/quit WCW. He showed up in the WWF soon thereafter holding the WCW title and claimed to be the "Real World's champion." The reason he was able to leave the company with the title is because he owned that title. WCW later bought it back from Flair for reportedly $75,000.

• On May 26, 1987, Hacksaw Jim Duggan and the Iron Sheik were arrested by N.J. State police. Duggan was charged with possession of marijuana and drinking alcohol while driving. Sheik was charged with possession of marijuana and cocaine. Duggan received a conditional discharge and Sheik received one year probation.

• On July 4, 1989, Davey Boy Smith, Jason the Terrible, and Chris Benoit were injured in a head-on automobile accident in Jasper, Alberta. Smith suffered a cracked vertebrae in his back and needed a hundred stitches in his head after being thrown through the windshield of the car. Jason suffers 2 fractures in his left leg. Benoit suffers an injured right knee.


That before Mark Henry joined the WWE ,he was actually sponsored by Titan Sports during the 1996 Olympic's in which he compeated in the sport of weight lifting


Mark Henry and Pittsburgh Steeler Kevin Henry are cousins


Gorgeous George (real name Stephanie Ballars) ,spent jail time as a teenager for burglaziring a home and slashing a girl's face with a broken beer bottle.


Eddie Guerrero's father Gori invented the camel clutch.


Terry Funk is Jason Harvey's Godfather.


Ryan Shamrock's real name is Alesha Webb and she is a top less dancer form Houston ,Texas


The WWE's first pick for the Mr Perfect gimmick was Terry Tayor


Former Freebird Jimmy Garvin is now an airline pilot.


D'Lo Brown began his career as "the head of security" for the gangstas in the smoke mountain wrestling.He later made his debut in the WWE as a member of the nation of Domination.


Nitro Girl Fyre attended Arizona State University and used to be a mortgage home broker.


The Warlord (real name Terry Szopinski) was force to retire from wrestling following a car accident in 1996


ECW'S Dawn Marie appeared in the original Austin Powers MTV sepecial as one of the go-go dancers and actually had a couple of speaking lines.


Chris Chetti was the first man to graduate from ECW's House of Hardcore wrestling school


Taz and Chris Chetti are cousins.


Paul Wight played college basketball at Wichita State


Nicole Bass's married name is Fuchs.


Jerry Jarrett brought Rick Rude to Memphis and give him the nickname "Ravishing"


Rick Rude still held half of the NWA Tag team title when he signed with the WWE (The NWA later claimed that The Rock 'n' Roll Express won back thous titles in a match that never took place)


Rick Rude was for a short time managed by his sister Raven.


Rude was the only foreign talent to make the finals of G-1 Tournament in Japan.


That before Mark Henry joined the WWE ,he was actually sponsored by Titan Sports during the 1996 Olympic's in which he compeated in the sport of weight lifting

Mark Henry and Pittsburgh Steeler Kevin Henry are cousins


Gorgeous George (real name Stephanie Ballars) ,spent jail time as a teenager for burglaziring a home and slashing a girl's face with a broken beer bottle.


Eddie Guerrero's father Gori invented the camel clutch.


Terry Funk is Jason Harvey's Godfather.


Ryan Shamrock's real name is Alesha Webb and she is a top less dancer form Houston ,Texas


The WWE's first pick for the Mr Perfect gimmick was Terry Tayor


Former Freebird Jimmy Garvin is now an airline pilot.


D'Lo Brown began his career as "the head of security" for the gangstas in the smoke mountain wrestling.He later made his debut in the WWE as a member of the nation of Domination.


Nitro Girl Fyre attended Arizona State University and used to be a mortgage home broker.


The Warlord (real name Terry Szopinski) was force to retire from wrestling following a car accident in 1996


ECW'S Dawn Marie appeared in the original Austin Powers MTV sepecial as one of the go-go dancers and actually had a couple of speaking lines.


Chris Chetti was the first man to graduate from ECW's House of Hardcore wrestling school


Taz and Chris Chetti are cousins.


Paul Wight played college basketball at Wichita State


Nicole Bass's married name is Fuchs.


Jerry Jarrett brought Rick Rude to Memphis and give him the nickname "Ravishing"


Rick Rude still held half of the NWA Tag team title when he signed with the WWE (The NWA later claimed that The Rock 'n' Roll Express won back thous titles in a match that never took place)


Rick Rude was for a short time managed by his sister Raven.


Rude was the only foreign talent to make the finals of G-1 Tournament in Japan.
some facts are wrong! im sorry
dude im not this geeky i always copy crap !!!! doesn't every one!





President Bush's Accomplishments

Abortion & Traditional Values
1. Banned Partial Birth Abortion — by far the most significant roll-back of abortion on demand since Roe v. Wade. 2. Reversed Clinton's move to strike Reagan's anti-abortion Mexico Policy. 3. By Executive Order (EO), reversed Clinton's policy of not requiring parental consent for abortions under the Medical Privacy Act. 4. By EO, prohibited federal funds for international family planning groups that provide abortions and related services. 5. Upheld the ban on abortions at military hospitals. 6. Made $33 million available for abstinence education programs in 2004. 7. Supports the Defense of Marriage Act — and a Constitutional amendment saying marriage is between one man and one woman. 8. Requires states to conduct criminal background checks on prospective foster and adoptive parents. 9. Requires districts to let students transfer out of dangerous schools. 10. Requires schools to have a zero-tolerance policy for classroom disruption (reintroducing discipline into classrooms). 11. Signed the Teacher Protection Act, which protects teachers from lawsuits related to student discipline. 12. Expanded the role of faith-based and community organizations in after-school programs.
Budget, Taxes & Economy
1. Signed two income tax cuts, one of which was the largest dollar-value tax cut in world history. 2. Supports permanent elimination of the death tax. 3. Turned around an inherited economy that was in recession, and deeply shocked as a result of the 9/11 attacks. 4. Is seeking legislation to amend the Constitution to give the president line-item veto authority. 5. In process of permanently eliminating IRS marriage penalty. 6. Increased small business incentives to expand and to hire new people. 7. Initiated discussion on privatizing Social Security and individual investment accounts. 8. Killed Clinton's "ergonomic" rules that OSHA was about to implement; rules would have shut down every home business in America. 9. Passed tough new laws to hold corporate criminals to account as a result of corporate scandals. 10. Reduced taxes on dividends and capital gains. 11. Signed trade promotion authority. 12. Reduced and is working to ultimately eliminate the estate tax for family farms and ranches. 13. Fight Europe's ban on importing biotech crops from the United States. 14. Exempt food from unilateral trade sanctions and embargoes. 15. Provided $20 million to states to help people with disabilities work from home. 16. Created a fund to encourage technologies that help the disabled. 17. Increased the annual contribution limit on Education IRA's from $500 to $2,000 per child. 18. Make permanent the $5,000 adoption tax credit and provide $1 billion over five years to increase the credit to $10,000. 19. Grant a complete tax exemption for prepaid or college tuition savings plans. 20. Reduced H1B visas from a high of 195,000 per year to 66,000 per year.
Character & Conduct as President
1. Changed the tone in the White House, restoring HONOR and DIGNITY to the presidency. 2. Has reintroduced the mention of God and faith into public discourse. 3. Handled himself with enormous courage, dignity, grace, determination, and leadership in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 hijackings and anthrax attacks. He almost single-handedly held this country together during those searing days:
Just three days after the attacks, in his address at the National Cathedral, the President reassured the nation when he said: "War has been waged against us by stealth and deceit and murder. This nation is peaceful, but fierce when stirred to anger. This conflict was begun on the timing and terms of others. It will end in a way, and at an hour, of our choosing."
On Friday, September 14, 2001, President Bush visited Ground Zero. Standing on a crushed and burned fire engine atop the smoldering pile at Ground Zero, he put his arm around a retired firefighter who had volunteered to help, and began speaking to the crowd. Rescue workers shouted that they could not hear him. Someone handed him a small American flag and bullhorn. The President spontaneously shouted: "I can hear you. The rest of the world hears you. And the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon." The crowd roared with cheers and chants of "USA! USA! USA!" Then he raised that American flag and rallied a nation.
Education & Employment Training
1. Signed the No Child Left Behind Act, delivering the most dramatic education reforms in a generation (challenging the soft bigotry of low expectations). The very liberal California Teachers union is currently running radio ads against the accountability provisions of this Act. 2. Announced "Jobs for the 21st Century," a comprehensive plan to better prepare workers for jobs in the new millennium by strengthening post-secondary education and job training, and by improving high school education. 3. Is working to provide vouchers to low-income students in persistently failing schools to help with costs of attending private schools. (Blocked in the Senate.) 4. Requires annual reading and math tests in grades three through eight. 5. Requires states to participate in the National Assessment of Education Progress, or an equivalent program, to establish a national benchmark for academic performance. 6. Requires school-by-school accountability report cards. 7. Established a $2.4 billion fund to help states implement teacher accountability systems. 8. Increased funding for the Troops-to-Teachers program, which recruits former military personnel to become teachers.
Environment & Energy
1. Killed the Kyoto Global Warming Treaty. 2. Submitted a comprehensive Energy Plan (awaits Congressional action). The plan works to develop cleaner technology, produce more natural gas here at home, make America less dependent on foreign sources of energy, improve national grid, etc. 3. Established a $10 million grant program to promote private conservation initiatives. 4. Significantly eased field-testing controls of genetically engineered crops. 5. Changed parts of the Forestry Management Act to allow necessary cleanup of the national forests in order to reduce fire danger. 6. Part of national forests cleanup: Restricted judicial challenges (based on the Endangered Species Act and other challenges), and removed the need for an Environmental Impact Statement before removing fuels/logging to reduce fire danger. 7. Killed Clinton's CO2 rules that were choking off all of the electricity surplus to California. 8. Provided matching grants for state programs that help private landowners protect rare species.
Defense & Foreign Policy
1. Successfully executed two wars in the aftermath of 9/11/01: Afghanistan and Iraq. 50 million people who had lived under tyrannical regimes now live in freedom. 2. Saddam Hussein is now in prison. His two murderous sons are dead. All but a handful of the regime's senior members were killed or captured. 3. Leader by leader and member by member, al Maida is being hunted down in dozens of countries around the world. Of the senior al Qaeda leaders, operational managers, and key facilitators the U.S. Government has been tracking, nearly two-thirds have been taken into custody or killed. The detentions or deaths of senior al Qaeda leaders, including Khalid Shaykh Muhammad, the mastermind of 9/11, and Muhammad Atef, Osama bin Laden's second-in-command until his death in late 2001, have been important in the War on Terror. 4. Disarmed Libya of its chemical, nuclear and biological WMD's without bribes or bloodshed. 5. Continues to execute the War On Terror, getting worldwide cooperation to track funds/terrorists. Has cut off much of the terrorists' funding, and captured or killed many key leaders of the al Qaeda network. 6. Initiated a comprehensive review of our military, which was completed just prior to 9/11/01, and which accurately reported that ASYMMETRICAL WARFARE capabilities were critical in the 21st Century. 7. Killed the old US/Soviet Union ABM Treaty that was preventing the U.S. from deploying our ABM defenses. 8. Has been one of the strongest, if not THE strongest friend Israel has ever hand in the U.S. presidency. 9. Part of the coalition for an Israeli/Palestinian "Roadmap to Peace," along with Great Britain, Russia and the EU. 10. Pushed through THREE raises for our military. Increased military pay by more than $1 billion a year. 11. Signed the LARGEST nuclear arms reduction in world history with Russia. 12. Started withdrawing our troops from Bosnia, and has announced withdrawal of our troops from Germany and the Korean DMZ. 13. Prohibited putting U.S. troops under U.N. command. 14. Paid back UN dues only in return for reforms and reduction of U.S. share of the costs. 15. Earmarked at least 20 percent of the Defense procurement budget for next-generation weaponry. 16. Increased defense research and development spending by at least $20 billion from fiscal 2002 to 2006. 17. Ordered a comprehensive review of military weapons and strategy. 18. Ordered a review of overseas deployments. 19. Ordered renovation of military housing. The military has already upgraded about 10 percent of its inventory and expects to modernize 76,000 additional homes this year. 20. Is working to tighten restrictions on military-technology exports. 21. Brought back our EP-3 intel plane and crew from China without any bribes or bloodshed.
Globalization & Internationalism
1. Challenged the United Nations to live up to their responsibilities and not become another League of Nations (in other words, showed the UN to be completely irrelevant). 2. Killed U.S. involvement in the International Criminal Court. 3. Told the United Nations we weren't interested in their plans for gun control (i.e., the International Ban on Small Arms Trafficking Treaty).* 4. The only President since the founding of the UN to essentially tell that organization it is irrelevant. He said: "The conduct of the Iraqi regime is a threat to the authority of the United Nations, and a threat to peace. Iraq has answered a decade of UN demands with a decade of defiance. All the world now faces a test, and the United Nations a difficult and defining moment. Are Security Council resolutions to be honored and enforced, or cast aside without consequence? Will the United Nations serve the purpose of its founding, or will it be irrelevant?" We all know the outcome and the answer. 5. Told the Congress and the world, "America will never seek a permission slip to defend the security of our country."
Government Reform
1. Improved government efficiency by putting hundreds of thousands of jobs put up for bid. This weakens public-sector unions and cuts undeserved pay raises. 2. Initiated review of all federal agencies with the goal of eliminating federal jobs (completed September 2003) in an effort to reduce the size of the federal government while increasing private sector jobs. 3. Led the most extensive reorganization the Federal bureaucracy in over 50 years: After 9/11, condensed 20+ overlapping agencies and their intelligence sectors into one agency, the Department of Homeland Security.* 4. Ordered each agency to draft a five-year plan to restructure itself, with fewer managers. 5. Converted federal service contracts to performance-based contracts wherever possible so that the contractor has measurable performance goals.
Health
1. Strengthen the National Health Service Corps to put more physicians in the neediest areas, and make its scholarship funds tax-free. 2. Double the research budget of the National Institutes of Health. 3. Signed Medicare Reform, which includes:
A 10-year privatization option.
Prescription drug benefits: Prior to this reform, Medicare paid for extended hospital stays for ulcer surgery, for example, at a cost of about $28,000 per patient. Yet Medicare would not pay for the drugs that eliminate the cause of most ulcers, drugs that cost about $500 a year. Now, drug coverage under Medicare will allow seniors to replace more expensive surgeries and hospitalizations with less expensive prescription medicine.
More health care choices: As President Bush stated, "…when seniors have the ability to make choices, health care plans within Medicare will have to compete for their business by offering higher quality service [at lower cost]. For the seniors of America, more choices and more control will mean better health care. These are the kinds of health care options we give to the members of Congress and federal employees. What's good for members of Congress is also good for seniors.
New Health Savings Accounts: Effective January 1, 2004, Americans can set aside up to $4,500 every year, tax free, to save for medical expenses. Depending on your tax bracket, that means you'll save between 10 to 35 percent on any costs covered by money in your account. Every year, the money not spent would stay in the account and gain interest tax-free, just like an IRA. These accounts will be good for small business owners, and employees. More businesses can focus on covering workers for major medical problems, such as hospitalization for an injury or illness. At the same time, employees and their families will use these accounts to cover doctors visits, or lab tests, or other smaller costs. Some employers will contribute to employee health accounts. This will help more American families get the health care they need at the price they can afford.
Homeland Security, Border Enforcement & Immigration
1. *See Government Reform above. Under President Bush's leadership, America has made an unprecedented commitment to homeland security. 2. Has CONSTRUCTION in process on the first 10 ABM silos in Alaska so that America will have a defense against North Korean nukes. Has ordered national and theater ballistic missile defenses to be deployed by 2004. 3. Announced a 9.7% increase in government-wide homeland security funding in his FY 2005 budget, nearly tripling the FY 2001 levels (excluding the Department of Defense and Project BioShield). 4. Before DHS was created, there were inspectors from three different agencies of the Federal Government and Border Patrol officers protecting our borders. Through DHS, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) now consolidates all border activities into a single agency to create "one face at the border." This not only better secures the borders of the United States, but it also eliminates many of the inefficiencies that occurred under the old system. With over 18,000 CBP inspectors and 11,000 Border Patrol agents, CBP has 29,000 uniformed officers on our borders. 5. The Border Patrol is continuing installation of monitoring devices along the borders to detect illegal activity. 6. Launched Operation Tarmac to investigate businesses and workers in the secure areas of domestic airports and ensure immigration law compliance. Since 9/11, DHS has audited 3,640 businesses, examined 259,037 employee records, arrested 1,030 unauthorized workers, and participated in the criminal indictment of 774 individuals. 7. Since September 11, 2001, the Coast Guard has conducted more than 124,000 port security patrols, 13,000 air patrols, boarded more than 92,000 vessels, interdicted over 14,000 individuals attempting to enter the United States illegally, and created and maintained more than 90 Maritime Security Zones. 8. Announced the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS), an internet-based system that is improving America's ability to track and monitor foreign students and exchange visitors. Over 870,000 students are registered in SEVIS. Of 285 completed field investigations, 71 aliens were arrested. 9. This week, the US-VISIT program began to digitally collect biometric identifiers to record the entry and exit of aliens who travel into the U.S on a visa. Together with the standard information, this new program will confirm compliance with visa and immigration policies. 10. Eliminated INS bureaucratic redundancies and lack of accountability. 11. Split the Immigration and Naturalization Service into two agencies: one to protect the border and interior, the other to deal with naturalization. 12. Signed the workplace verification bill to prevent hiring of illegal aliens. 13. Established a six-month deadline for processing immigration applications. 14. Information regarding nearly 100% of all containerized cargo is carefully screened by DHS before it arrives in the United States. Higher risk shipments are physically inspected for terrorist weapons and contraband prior to being released from the port of entry. Advanced technologies are being deployed to identify warning signs of chemical, biological, or radiological attacks. Since September 11, 2001, hundreds of thousands of first responders across America have been trained to recognize and respond to the effects of a WMD attack.
Judiciary & Tort Reform
1. Is urging federal liability reform to eliminate frivolous lawsuits. 2. Killed the liberal ABA's unconstitutional role in vetting federal judges. The Senate is supposed to advise and consent, not the ABA. 3. Is nominating strong, conservative judges to the judiciary. 4. Supports class action reform bill which limits lawyer fees so that more settlement money goes to victims.
Politics
1. His leadership resulted in Republican gains in the House and Senate, solidifying Republican control of both houses of Congress and the presidency. 2. Signed an EO enforcing the Supreme Court's Beck decision regarding union dues being used for political campaigns against individual's wishes.
Second Amendment
1. Ordered Attorney General Ashcroft to formally notify the Supreme Court that the OFFICIAL U.S. government position on the 2nd Amendment is that it supports INDIVIDUAL rights to own firearms, and is NOT a Leftist-imagined "collective" right. 2. Signed TWO bills into law that arm our pilots with handguns in the cockpit. 3. Currently pushing for full immunity from lawsuits for our national gun manufacturers. 4. *See Globalization & Internationalism.
Traditional Values, Compassion & Volunteerism
1. Endorses and promotes "The Responsibility Era." President Bush often speaks of the necessity of personal responsibility and civic volunteerism. He said, "In a compassionate society, people respect one another and take responsibility for the decisions they make in life. My hope is to change the culture from one that has said, if it feels good, do it; if you've got a problem, blame somebody else — to one in which every single American understands that he or she is responsible for the decisions that you make; you're responsible for loving your children with all your heart and all your soul; you're responsible for being involved with the quality of the education of your children; you're responsible for making sure the community in which you live is safe; you're responsible for loving your neighbor, just like you would like to be loved yourself." 2. Started the USA Freedom Corps, the most comprehensive clearinghouse of volunteer opportunities ever offered. For the first time in history, Americans can enter geographic information about where they want to get involved, such as state or zip code, as well as areas of interest ranging from education to the environment, and they can access volunteer opportunities offered by more than 50,000 organizations across the country and around the world. 3. Established the The White House Office and the Centers for the Faith-Based and Community Initiative — located in seven Federal agencies. The faith-based initiative supports the essential work of these important organizations. The goal is to make sure that grassroots leaders can compete on an equal footing for federal dollars, receive greater private support, and face fewer bureaucratic barriers. Work focuses on at-risk youth, ex-offenders, the homeless and hungry, substance abusers, those with HIV/AIDS, and welfare-to-work families. 4. The White House released a guidebook fully describing the Administration's belief that faith-based groups have a Constitutionally-protected right to maintain their religious identity through hiring — even when Federal funds are involved. 5. Issued an EO implementing the Supreme Court's Olmstead ruling, which requires moving disabled people from institutions to community-based facilities when possible. 6. Increased funding for low-interest loan programs to help people with disabilities purchase devices to assist them. 7. Revised the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Section 8 rent subsidies to disabled people, permitting them to use up to a year's worth of vouchers to finance down payments on homes. HUD has started pilot programs in 11 states. 8. Committed US funds to purchase medicine for millions of men, women and children now suffering with AIDS in Africa. 9. Heeding the words of our own Declaration of Independence, the president laid out the non-negotiable demands of human dignity for all people everywhere. On January 29, 2002, he said, "No nation owns these aspirations, and no nation is exempt from them. We have no intention of imposing our culture. But America will always stand firm for the non-negotiable demands of human dignity." As stated by the President, they are a virtual manifesto of conservative principles:
Equal Justice
Freedom of Speech
Limited Government Power
Private Property Rights
Religious Tolerance
Respect for Women
Rule of Law


President Bush's Accomplishments

Spotted at Rightnation.us and GOPUSA.com reprinted here for your pleasure. I encourage people who support Bush to learn how effective our President has been, and liberals ought to browse this too. Just remember, the liberal media can't cover up the truth of his accomplishments. The Bush Administration 2001-2004
Abortion & Traditional Values
1. Banned Partial Birth Abortion — by far the most significant roll-back of abortion on demand since Roe v. Wade. 2. Reversed Clinton's move to strike Reagan's anti-abortion Mexico Policy. 3. By Executive Order (EO), reversed Clinton's policy of not requiring parental consent for abortions under the Medical Privacy Act. 4. By EO, prohibited federal funds for international family planning groups that provide abortions and related services. 5. Upheld the ban on abortions at military hospitals. 6. Made $33 million available for abstinence education programs in 2004. 7. Supports the Defense of Marriage Act — and a Constitutional amendment saying marriage is between one man and one woman. 8. Requires states to conduct criminal background checks on prospective foster and adoptive parents. 9. Requires districts to let students transfer out of dangerous schools. 10. Requires schools to have a zero-tolerance policy for classroom disruption (reintroducing discipline into classrooms). 11. Signed the Teacher Protection Act, which protects teachers from lawsuits related to student discipline. 12. Expanded the role of faith-based and community organizations in after-school programs.
Budget, Taxes & Economy
1. Signed two income tax cuts, one of which was the largest dollar-value tax cut in world history. 2. Supports permanent elimination of the death tax. 3. Turned around an inherited economy that was in recession, and deeply shocked as a result of the 9/11 attacks. 4. Is seeking legislation to amend the Constitution to give the president line-item veto authority. 5. In process of permanently eliminating IRS marriage penalty. 6. Increased small business incentives to expand and to hire new people. 7. Initiated discussion on privatizing Social Security and individual investment accounts. 8. Killed Clinton's "ergonomic" rules that OSHA was about to implement; rules would have shut down every home business in America. 9. Passed tough new laws to hold corporate criminals to account as a result of corporate scandals. 10. Reduced taxes on dividends and capital gains. 11. Signed trade promotion authority. 12. Reduced and is working to ultimately eliminate the estate tax for family farms and ranches. 13. Fight Europe's ban on importing biotech crops from the United States. 14. Exempt food from unilateral trade sanctions and embargoes. 15. Provided $20 million to states to help people with disabilities work from home. 16. Created a fund to encourage technologies that help the disabled. 17. Increased the annual contribution limit on Education IRA's from $500 to $2,000 per child. 18. Make permanent the $5,000 adoption tax credit and provide $1 billion over five years to increase the credit to $10,000. 19. Grant a complete tax exemption for prepaid or college tuition savings plans. 20. Reduced H1B visas from a high of 195,000 per year to 66,000 per year.
Character & Conduct as President
1. Changed the tone in the White House, restoring HONOR and DIGNITY to the presidency. 2. Has reintroduced the mention of God and faith into public discourse. 3. Handled himself with enormous courage, dignity, grace, determination, and leadership in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 hijackings and anthrax attacks. He almost single-handedly held this country together during those searing days:
Just three days after the attacks, in his address at the National Cathedral, the President reassured the nation when he said: "War has been waged against us by stealth and deceit and murder. This nation is peaceful, but fierce when stirred to anger. This conflict was begun on the timing and terms of others. It will end in a way, and at an hour, of our choosing."
On Friday, September 14, 2001, President Bush visited Ground Zero. Standing on a crushed and burned fire engine atop the smoldering pile at Ground Zero, he put his arm around a retired firefighter who had volunteered to help, and began speaking to the crowd. Rescue workers shouted that they could not hear him. Someone handed him a small American flag and bullhorn. The President spontaneously shouted: "I can hear you. The rest of the world hears you. And the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon." The crowd roared with cheers and chants of "USA! USA! USA!" Then he raised that American flag and rallied a nation.
Education & Employment Training
1. Signed the No Child Left Behind Act, delivering the most dramatic education reforms in a generation (challenging the soft bigotry of low expectations). The very liberal California Teachers union is currently running radio ads against the accountability provisions of this Act. 2. Announced "Jobs for the 21st Century," a comprehensive plan to better prepare workers for jobs in the new millennium by strengthening post-secondary education and job training, and by improving high school education. 3. Is working to provide vouchers to low-income students in persistently failing schools to help with costs of attending private schools. (Blocked in the Senate.) 4. Requires annual reading and math tests in grades three through eight. 5. Requires states to participate in the National Assessment of Education Progress, or an equivalent program, to establish a national benchmark for academic performance. 6. Requires school-by-school accountability report cards. 7. Established a $2.4 billion fund to help states implement teacher accountability systems. 8. Increased funding for the Troops-to-Teachers program, which recruits former military personnel to become teachers.
Environment & Energy
1. Killed the Kyoto Global Warming Treaty. 2. Submitted a comprehensive Energy Plan (awaits Congressional action). The plan works to develop cleaner technology, produce more natural gas here at home, make America less dependent on foreign sources of energy, improve national grid, etc. 3. Established a $10 million grant program to promote private conservation initiatives. 4. Significantly eased field-testing controls of genetically engineered crops. 5. Changed parts of the Forestry Management Act to allow necessary cleanup of the national forests in order to reduce fire danger. 6. Part of national forests cleanup: Restricted judicial challenges (based on the Endangered Species Act and other challenges), and removed the need for an Environmental Impact Statement before removing fuels/logging to reduce fire danger. 7. Killed Clinton's CO2 rules that were choking off all of the electricity surplus to California. 8. Provided matching grants for state programs that help private landowners protect rare species.
Defense & Foreign Policy
1. Successfully executed two wars in the aftermath of 9/11/01: Afghanistan and Iraq. 50 million people who had lived under tyrannical regimes now live in freedom. 2. Saddam Hussein is now in prison. His two murderous sons are dead. All but a handful of the regime's senior members were killed or captured. 3. Leader by leader and member by member, al Maida is being hunted down in dozens of countries around the world. Of the senior al Qaeda leaders, operational managers, and key facilitators the U.S. Government has been tracking, nearly two-thirds have been taken into custody or killed. The detentions or deaths of senior al Qaeda leaders, including Khalid Shaykh Muhammad, the mastermind of 9/11, and Muhammad Atef, Osama bin Laden's second-in-command until his death in late 2001, have been important in the War on Terror. 4. Disarmed Libya of its chemical, nuclear and biological WMD's without bribes or bloodshed. 5. Continues to execute the War On Terror, getting worldwide cooperation to track funds/terrorists. Has cut off much of the terrorists' funding, and captured or killed many key leaders of the al Qaeda network. 6. Initiated a comprehensive review of our military, which was completed just prior to 9/11/01, and which accurately reported that ASYMMETRICAL WARFARE capabilities were critical in the 21st Century. 7. Killed the old US/Soviet Union ABM Treaty that was preventing the U.S. from deploying our ABM defenses. 8. Has been one of the strongest, if not THE strongest friend Israel has ever hand in the U.S. presidency. 9. Part of the coalition for an Israeli/Palestinian "Roadmap to Peace," along with Great Britain, Russia and the EU. 10. Pushed through THREE raises for our military. Increased military pay by more than $1 billion a year. 11. Signed the LARGEST nuclear arms reduction in world history with Russia. 12. Started withdrawing our troops from Bosnia, and has announced withdrawal of our troops from Germany and the Korean DMZ. 13. Prohibited putting U.S. troops under U.N. command. 14. Paid back UN dues only in return for reforms and reduction of U.S. share of the costs. 15. Earmarked at least 20 percent of the Defense procurement budget for next-generation weaponry. 16. Increased defense research and development spending by at least $20 billion from fiscal 2002 to 2006. 17. Ordered a comprehensive review of military weapons and strategy. 18. Ordered a review of overseas deployments. 19. Ordered renovation of military housing. The military has already upgraded about 10 percent of its inventory and expects to modernize 76,000 additional homes this year. 20. Is working to tighten restrictions on military-technology exports. 21. Brought back our EP-3 intel plane and crew from China without any bribes or bloodshed.
Globalization & Internationalism
1. Challenged the United Nations to live up to their responsibilities and not become another League of Nations (in other words, showed the UN to be completely irrelevant). 2. Killed U.S. involvement in the International Criminal Court. 3. Told the United Nations we weren't interested in their plans for gun control (i.e., the International Ban on Small Arms Trafficking Treaty).* 4. The only President since the founding of the UN to essentially tell that organization it is irrelevant. He said: "The conduct of the Iraqi regime is a threat to the authority of the United Nations, and a threat to peace. Iraq has answered a decade of UN demands with a decade of defiance. All the world now faces a test, and the United Nations a difficult and defining moment. Are Security Council resolutions to be honored and enforced, or cast aside without consequence? Will the United Nations serve the purpose of its founding, or will it be irrelevant?" We all know the outcome and the answer. 5. Told the Congress and the world, "America will never seek a permission slip to defend the security of our country."
Government Reform
1. Improved government efficiency by putting hundreds of thousands of jobs put up for bid. This weakens public-sector unions and cuts undeserved pay raises. 2. Initiated review of all federal agencies with the goal of eliminating federal jobs (completed September 2003) in an effort to reduce the size of the federal government while increasing private sector jobs. 3. Led the most extensive reorganization the Federal bureaucracy in over 50 years: After 9/11, condensed 20+ overlapping agencies and their intelligence sectors into one agency, the Department of Homeland Security.* 4. Ordered each agency to draft a five-year plan to restructure itself, with fewer managers. 5. Converted federal service contracts to performance-based contracts wherever possible so that the contractor has measurable performance goals.
Health
1. Strengthen the National Health Service Corps to put more physicians in the neediest areas, and make its scholarship funds tax-free. 2. Double the research budget of the National Institutes of Health. 3. Signed Medicare Reform, which includes:
A 10-year privatization option.
Prescription drug benefits: Prior to this reform, Medicare paid for extended hospital stays for ulcer surgery, for example, at a cost of about $28,000 per patient. Yet Medicare would not pay for the drugs that eliminate the cause of most ulcers, drugs that cost about $500 a year. Now, drug coverage under Medicare will allow seniors to replace more expensive surgeries and hospitalizations with less expensive prescription medicine.
More health care choices: As President Bush stated, "…when seniors have the ability to make choices, health care plans within Medicare will have to compete for their business by offering higher quality service [at lower cost]. For the seniors of America, more choices and more control will mean better health care. These are the kinds of health care options we give to the members of Congress and federal employees. What's good for members of Congress is also good for seniors.
New Health Savings Accounts: Effective January 1, 2004, Americans can set aside up to $4,500 every year, tax free, to save for medical expenses. Depending on your tax bracket, that means you'll save between 10 to 35 percent on any costs covered by money in your account. Every year, the money not spent would stay in the account and gain interest tax-free, just like an IRA. These accounts will be good for small business owners, and employees. More businesses can focus on covering workers for major medical problems, such as hospitalization for an injury or illness. At the same time, employees and their families will use these accounts to cover doctors visits, or lab tests, or other smaller costs. Some employers will contribute to employee health accounts. This will help more American families get the health care they need at the price they can afford.
Homeland Security, Border Enforcement & Immigration
1. *See Government Reform above. Under President Bush's leadership, America has made an unprecedented commitment to homeland security. 2. Has CONSTRUCTION in process on the first 10 ABM silos in Alaska so that America will have a defense against North Korean nukes. Has ordered national and theater ballistic missile defenses to be deployed by 2004. 3. Announced a 9.7% increase in government-wide homeland security funding in his FY 2005 budget, nearly tripling the FY 2001 levels (excluding the Department of Defense and Project BioShield). 4. Before DHS was created, there were inspectors from three different agencies of the Federal Government and Border Patrol officers protecting our borders. Through DHS, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) now consolidates all border activities into a single agency to create "one face at the border." This not only better secures the borders of the United States, but it also eliminates many of the inefficiencies that occurred under the old system. With over 18,000 CBP inspectors and 11,000 Border Patrol agents, CBP has 29,000 uniformed officers on our borders. 5. The Border Patrol is continuing installation of monitoring devices along the borders to detect illegal activity. 6. Launched Operation Tarmac to investigate businesses and workers in the secure areas of domestic airports and ensure immigration law compliance. Since 9/11, DHS has audited 3,640 businesses, examined 259,037 employee records, arrested 1,030 unauthorized workers, and participated in the criminal indictment of 774 individuals. 7. Since September 11, 2001, the Coast Guard has conducted more than 124,000 port security patrols, 13,000 air patrols, boarded more than 92,000 vessels, interdicted over 14,000 individuals attempting to enter the United States illegally, and created and maintained more than 90 Maritime Security Zones. 8. Announced the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS), an internet-based system that is improving America's ability to track and monitor foreign students and exchange visitors. Over 870,000 students are registered in SEVIS. Of 285 completed field investigations, 71 aliens were arrested. 9. This week, the US-VISIT program began to digitally collect biometric identifiers to record the entry and exit of aliens who travel into the U.S on a visa. Together with the standard information, this new program will confirm compliance with visa and immigration policies. 10. Eliminated INS bureaucratic redundancies and lack of accountability. 11. Split the Immigration and Naturalization Service into two agencies: one to protect the border and interior, the other to deal with naturalization. 12. Signed the workplace verification bill to prevent hiring of illegal aliens. 13. Established a six-month deadline for processing immigration applications. 14. Information regarding nearly 100% of all containerized cargo is carefully screened by DHS before it arrives in the United States. Higher risk shipments are physically inspected for terrorist weapons and contraband prior to being released from the port of entry. Advanced technologies are being deployed to identify warning signs of chemical, biological, or radiological attacks. Since September 11, 2001, hundreds of thousands of first responders across America have been trained to recognize and respond to the effects of a WMD attack.
Judiciary & Tort Reform
1. Is urging federal liability reform to eliminate frivolous lawsuits. 2. Killed the liberal ABA's unconstitutional role in vetting federal judges. The Senate is supposed to advise and consent, not the ABA. 3. Is nominating strong, conservative judges to the judiciary. 4. Supports class action reform bill which limits lawyer fees so that more settlement money goes to victims.
Politics
1. His leadership resulted in Republican gains in the House and Senate, solidifying Republican control of both houses of Congress and the presidency. 2. Signed an EO enforcing the Supreme Court's Beck decision regarding union dues being used for political campaigns against individual's wishes.
Second Amendment
1. Ordered Attorney General Ashcroft to formally notify the Supreme Court that the OFFICIAL U.S. government position on the 2nd Amendment is that it supports INDIVIDUAL rights to own firearms, and is NOT a Leftist-imagined "collective" right. 2. Signed TWO bills into law that arm our pilots with handguns in the cockpit. 3. Currently pushing for full immunity from lawsuits for our national gun manufacturers. 4. *See Globalization & Internationalism.
Traditional Values, Compassion & Volunteerism
1. Endorses and promotes "The Responsibility Era." President Bush often speaks of the necessity of personal responsibility and civic volunteerism. He said, "In a compassionate society, people respect one another and take responsibility for the decisions they make in life. My hope is to change the culture from one that has said, if it feels good, do it; if you've got a problem, blame somebody else — to one in which every single American understands that he or she is responsible for the decisions that you make; you're responsible for loving your children with all your heart and all your soul; you're responsible for being involved with the quality of the education of your children; you're responsible for making sure the community in which you live is safe; you're responsible for loving your neighbor, just like you would like to be loved yourself." 2. Started the USA Freedom Corps, the most comprehensive clearinghouse of volunteer opportunities ever offered. For the first time in history, Americans can enter geographic information about where they want to get involved, such as state or zip code, as well as areas of interest ranging from education to the environment, and they can access volunteer opportunities offered by more than 50,000 organizations across the country and around the world. 3. Established the The White House Office and the Centers for the Faith-Based and Community Initiative — located in seven Federal agencies. The faith-based initiative supports the essential work of these important organizations. The goal is to make sure that grassroots leaders can compete on an equal footing for federal dollars, receive greater private support, and face fewer bureaucratic barriers. Work focuses on at-risk youth, ex-offenders, the homeless and hungry, substance abusers, those with HIV/AIDS, and welfare-to-work families. 4. The White House released a guidebook fully describing the Administration's belief that faith-based groups have a Constitutionally-protected right to maintain their religious identity through hiring — even when Federal funds are involved. 5. Issued an EO implementing the Supreme Court's Olmstead ruling, which requires moving disabled people from institutions to community-based facilities when possible. 6. Increased funding for low-interest loan programs to help people with disabilities purchase devices to assist them. 7. Revised the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Section 8 rent subsidies to disabled people, permitting them to use up to a year's worth of vouchers to finance down payments on homes. HUD has started pilot programs in 11 states. 8. Committed US funds to purchase medicine for millions of men, women and children now suffering with AIDS in Africa. 9. Heeding the words of our own Declaration of Independence, the president laid out the non-negotiable demands of human dignity for all people everywhere. On January 29, 2002, he said, "No nation owns these aspirations, and no nation is exempt from them. We have no intention of imposing our culture. But America will always stand firm for the non-negotiable demands of human dignity." As stated by the President, they are a virtual manifesto of conservative principles:
Equal Justice
Freedom of Speech
Limited Government Power
Private Property Rights
Religious Tolerance
Respect for Women
Rule of Law