Nimh writes
Quote:Pork is unprecedently out of hand with this administration.
Not even close. Presidents don't utilize ?'pork'. ?'Pork' is the way many legislators justify their re-election. It has swelled every federal budget dramatically ever since politicians learned they could use our money to buy our votes. Proportionately, I am reasonably certain the current administration has probably had less pork in the budget than was identifiable with prior administrations, but I'm not sufficiently interested to look it all up.
Nimh writes
Quote:Fox, I gather that of your six points of criticisms regarding the Republican Party, (only) numbers 1 and 2 (and perhaps 3) would count as criticisms of the President and his administration as well?
The President and most of his administration are registered Republicans and the President is the assumed titular head of his party in practice, not by law. The president can propose an agenda but cannot enact most of it without the consent of Congress. Congress puts together a budget and enacts legislation that the President either signs into law or vetoes. That the president has not used his veto power makes him culpable in any budgetary indiscretions. When he isn't on the record as supporting or objecting to any particular action, we can assume he consents to whatever initiatives Congress undertakes or does not undertake. So we criticize or compliment the President for vision, ideas, and leadership, but it is the responsibility of Congress to follow through to get it done. The President can't spend a dime or obligate the USA to a single penny that is not first authorized by Congress and outside a very narrow process of executive privilege, the President can't do much of anything that is not authorized automatically by the Constitution or by the constitutional consent of Congress.
Lola writes
Quote:Have you ever thought of putting money into alternative sources of energy? All other sources of energy are superior to oil in every way except expediency.
Yes, and eventually we'll have to do that. We would have already done that if the environmental wackos had not nixed development of nuclear powered energy sources. We have virtually limitless coal resources, but that industry is pretty well shut down until better environmentally-friendly ways to use it can be found. They're even objecting to the wind farms now as birds are being diced by the wind chargers. How many more wild rivers do we want to dam to generate more electricity?
Petroleum, with adequate environmental controls, is the mostly plentiful, environmentally friendly, and affordable fuel source available for many purposes, and there are sufficient reserves to take us well into the next century if we are allowed to tap it. (There is probably enough oil on the U.S. coastal shelves plus Alaskan reserves to make us entirely self sufficient for instance.) Use of petroleum now will buy us time to develop new and better energy sources for the time when the petroleum reserves run dry.
Lola writes
Quote:What exactly is "bowing to political expediency?" If you mean that they've been forced to consider the opinion of 49 per cent of the voters and have recognized the dangers they face if they continue to push for less and less democracy, then I suggest you re-think your priorities.
Well Roosevelt thought it was a good idea. Clinton thought it was a good idea. The Democrats were one loud chorus that social security was in crisis and had to be saved until it looked the GOP might actually act to do that. So now they scare the old folks and spew their venomous propaganda that the GOP intends to dismantle social security, instead of putting their shoulder to the wheel and helping find solutions now before there truly is a crisis. The President is already starting initiatives to educate the public as to possibilities and intentions and reassure them that nothing is going to be done that is not a good thing for them and for generations to come.
Lola writes
Quote:It's not Bush that's doing anything. And there's very little that is honest or sincere about him. The extremists in your party are driving us crazy because of the utter audacity with which they have dismembered our representative government.
And it is this kind of irresponsible rhetoric that is going to keep the GOP in office for a very long time I think.
