Surely CI, you don't really perceive The Guardian to be a reliable source of opinion or news!
my insert
cicerone imposter wrote:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1671984,00.html --------------------------------------------------The American nightmare
The Bush administration's defence of unauthorised phone taps shows a chilling disregard for the rule of law, writes Philip James
Wednesday December 21, 2005
Is America becoming what it most fears: a big brother state ruled by diktat, where no one is protected from eavesdropping by the secret police, and everything is permitted in defence of the homeland, including torture?
...
FISA, the act still cannot, in the words of the 2002 Court of Review decision, "encroach upon the president's constitutional power."Public opinion still lags behind the outrage of senators. In a country that still feels it could be one day away from the next terrorist attack, public opinion may never catch up. Fear may still triumph over hope.
...
ยท Philip James is a former senior Democratic party strategist
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cicerone imposter
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Fri 23 Dec, 2005 03:39 pm
icant, We are not a kindom with a king as our ruler. We must all follow the laws of this country, whether you are president or the most poor and uninfluential.
You can continue to believe in the "good-heartedness" of Bushco, but there are too many actions of this president that refutes that.
1. cut benefits for our vets.
2. cut benefits for the poorest in this country.
3. cut loans for students to attend college
4. impose federal mandates on all schools in this country
5. increase our federal debt while cutting taxes for the wealthiest of citizens
6. increase government spending without increasing revenue
7. tried to cut social security benefits with lies.
8. jumped on a plane from Texas to DC to get the supreme court to save one brain damaged women, while over 45 million in this country goes without health insurance.
9. as commander in chief, we have seen crimes perpetrated against our prisoners by our soldiers
10. Bush continues his rhetoric of "stay the course" while Rummy announces our reduction of forces.
11. Bush swore on the bible that he would protect the Constitution, but he is guilty of unauthorized spying on US citizens.
12. Bush can't be trusted.
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cicerone imposter
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Fri 23 Dec, 2005 04:26 pm
EU-wide warrant over 'CIA kidnap'
Abu Omar was allegedly kidnapped from a Milan street An Italian court has issued Europe-wide arrest warrants for 22 suspected CIA agents accused of helping to kidnap a Muslim cleric in Milan in 2003.
The suspects are accused of abducting Osama Mustafa Hassan, also known as Abu Omar, without Italian permission, and flying him to Egypt for interrogation.
The new warrants allow for the suspects' detention anywhere in the 25-nation EU, a prosecutor said.
The authorities had already issued arrest orders within Italy.
The BBC's defence correspondent, Rob Watson, describes the case as one of the best documented alleged cases of the CIA's policy of extraordinary rendition.
Extradition unlikely
Italy says the alleged operation hindered Italian terrorism investigations.
No arrests have so far been made.
All 22 suspects are thought to have returned to the US, a formal Italian extradition request seems unlikely, our correspondent adds.
Italian Justice Minister Roberto Castelli has signed the warrants, a move officials described as a formality.
There was no word on whether Mr Castelli would seek extradition, but he has previously accused the judge involved of being a leftist militant and anti-American.
Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is a close US ally and has said he can see no basis for the case.
'No knowledge'
The extraordinary rendition policy involves seizing suspects and taking them to third countries for questioning without court approval.
It has been the subject of controversy recently, with human rights groups alleging that suspects are tortured, and that the CIA has secret prisons where it keeps prisoners without reference to US or international law.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice recently defended the use of rendition, saying it was an established practice and suggesting it was often carried out with the knowledge, or participation, of European governments.
Mr Hassan, 42, is believed to have been abducted on 17 February 2003, and flown out of the country from a US base in Aviano, north of Venice.
He reportedly called his family last year, telling them he had been tortured with electric shocks during his detention.
The CIA has refused to comment on the case and the Italian government has said it had no prior knowledge of any kidnap plot.
Mr Hassan is believed to have arrived in Italy in 1997, where he was granted refugee status.
Interesting article even if nothing comes of it.
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ican711nm
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Fri 23 Dec, 2005 05:33 pm
cicerone imposter wrote:
icant, We are not a kindom with a king as our ruler. We must all follow the laws of this country, whether you are president or the most poor and uninfluential.
FISA, the act still cannot, in the words of the 2002 Court of Review decision, "encroach upon the president's constitutional power."
cicerone imposter wrote:
You can continue to believe in the "good-heartedness" of Bushco, but there are too many actions of this president that refutes that.
I never posted that I believe in the "good heartedness" of Bushco. Nor did I ever post that I do not believe in the "good heartedness" of Bushco. But I did say something to the effect that regardless of George Bush's reasons for invading Iraq, he did the right thing invading Iraq.
my comments
cicerone imposter wrote:
1. cut benefits for our vets. False! Veteran's benefits have been increasing according to my veteran acquaintenances.
2. cut benefits for the poorest in this country.
3. cut loans for students to attend college
4. impose federal mandates on all schools in this country That is the real price of federal aid to education: do what the government thinks is well, then get aided well; do what the government thinks is poorly, get aided poorly. I am opposed to all federal aid to education. It has generally worsened education. My education and that of most of my classmates was entirely without federal aid.
However, the GI Bill, an original version of a federal voucher system for college students, did work very well for the GI veterans in my class -- educators had to compete for those federal dollars. Perhaps, if the feds insist on aiding eucation, that's a productive way to give any federal aid to education.
In my case, by working 12 hours per day for ten weeks each of four summers, I paid for my own college education. Since then the cost of education has risen much faster than the cost of living. Because of that, unless my grandchildren win a lottery or a scholarship, they're going to have to still borrow after working to help themselves, after parents help, and after grand parents help.
5. increase our federal debt while cutting taxes for the wealthiest of citizens False! I'm not wealthy, much less among the wealthiest, but I got quite a tax cut too!
6. increase government spending without increasing revenue False! Federal income has been rising rapidly in the last year and a half due to rapid improvements in the economy over this same period.
7. tried to cut social security benefits with lies. False! They tried to restructure social security for the younger folks so that for them social security would function less as a damned exploding pyramid club forcing younger generations to pay more and more for the retirement of older generations.
8. jumped on a plane from Texas to DC to get the supreme court to save one brain damaged women, while over 45 million in this country goes without health insurance. False! That number is less than 5 million when one takes into account those who freely choose to be self-insured. Even an old biuzzard like me freely chooses to buy health insurance with a very large deductible
9. as commander in chief, we have seen crimes perpetrated against our prisoners by our soldiers Bush didn't perpetrate those crimes; less than a hundred prison guards out of thousands perpetrated those crimes.
10. Bush continues his rhetoric of "stay the course" while Rummy announces our reduction of forces. If we can stay the course with fewer troops, let's do it!
11. Bush swore on the bible that he would protect the Constitution, but he is guilty of unauthorized spying on US citizens. False! The spying on US citizens authorized by Bush was also authorized by his predecessors. If it wasn't unauthorized for Bush's predecessors, then it wasn't unauthorized for Bush.
12. Bush can't be trusted. To do what? Who in government would you trust more to do whatever it is you want done!
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ican711nm
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Fri 23 Dec, 2005 05:43 pm
emphasis added by me
cicerone imposter wrote:
EU-wide warrant over 'CIA kidnap'
Abu Omar was allegedly kidnapped from a Milan street An Italian court has issued Europe-wide arrest warrants for 22 suspected CIA agents accused of helping to kidnap a Muslim cleric in Milan in 2003.
The suspects are accused of abducting Osama Mustafa Hassan, also known as Abu Omar, without Italian permission, and flying him to Egypt for interrogation.
... Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is a close US ally and has said he can see no basis for the case.
...
Mr Hassan, 42, is believed to have been abducted on 17 February 2003, and flown out of the country from a US base in Aviano, north of Venice.
He reportedly called his family last year, telling them he had been tortured with electric shocks during his detention.
The CIA has refused to comment on the case and the Italian government has said it had no prior knowledge of any kidnap plot.
Mr Hassan is believed[/color] to have arrived in Italy in 1997, where he was granted refugee status.
...
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dyslexia
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Fri 23 Dec, 2005 05:48 pm
ican, could you mix some red and green into your posts? Tis the season and all that tommyrot.
Your friend, The Dys.
btw we lost the invasion 2 1/2 years ago, don't you read the news?
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Mortkat
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Fri 23 Dec, 2005 06:02 pm
Ican- An excellent riposte. I am sure that it can not be rebutted.
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Mortkat
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Fri 23 Dec, 2005 06:09 pm
I have never considered Asians as Minorities. The only group I consider Minority in the USA are African-American. I have posted a list of SAT scores by Asians on these threads and have noted that African-Americans would do well to emulate their culture.
Anyway, Walter Hinteler cannot get off the hook. It is his people who gassed and burned 6,000,000 Jews.
There is absolutely no moral equivalence between what the Nazis did and what the USA did in World War II to the Japanese and both Walter Hinteler and Cicerone know it.
Walter Hinteler may protest that he is not of the generation who killed 6,000,000 Jews. He is correct. However, if he was in the USA and went to a meeting that included many African-Americans, he would be charged with racism and leaving the legacy of slavery for African-Americans. If he were to protest that his generation was liberal and would not have done that to Blacks, he would not be let off the hook--BLOOD GUILT SAY THE AFRICAN AMERICANS.
BLOOD GUILT- WALTER HINTELER. (or, are the African Americans wrong, as I have always held?)
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dyslexia
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Fri 23 Dec, 2005 06:11 pm
gatos, we're just marking the days, watching the line.
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ican711nm
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Fri 23 Dec, 2005 06:45 pm
dyslexia wrote:
ican, could you mix some red and green into your posts? Tis the season and all that tommyrot.
Your friend, The Dys.
btw we lost the invasion 2 1/2 years ago, don't you read the news?
I'll throw in a little white too for a "white christmas."
We won the Iraq war by removing Saddam Hussein's government in less than 30 days. Don't you read the news instead of fool's opinion.
We are winning the peace:HERE'S A LOOK AT MEASURABLE PROGRESS
The Bush administration's solution is the seven-step course they specified in 2003. It is the course they have stayed and are staying and have repeatedly declared they will stay. Their solution is to establish a democracy in Iraq secured by the Iraqis themselves.
They have completed five of the seven steps in their solution: (1) Select an initial Iraq government to hold a first election.
(2) Establish and begin training an Iraq self-defense military.
(3) Hold a democratic election of an interim government whose primary function is to write a proposed constitution for a new Iraq democratic government.
(4) Submit that proposed constitution to Iraq voters for approval or disapproval.
(5) After approval by Iraq voters of an Iraq democratic government constitution, hold under that constitution a first election of the members of that government. (6) Help train, as specified by the new Iraq government, an Iraq military to secure that Iraq government.
(7) Remove our military from Iraq in a phased withdrawal.
Step (6) and step (7) are both in progress.
Is their progress toward their solution fast enough? NO!
Have they committed many blunders along the way? YES!
Are they making measurable progress toward their solution? YES! Is an increase in Iraqi voter turnout of more than two-million measurable progress? YES!
Not bad for government work! Who in government would have done a better job? Why do you think so?
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cicerone imposter
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Fri 23 Dec, 2005 08:39 pm
Iraq: As Coalition Shrinks, Who Will Shoulder Additional Burdens?
By Charles Recknagel
(file photo)
The Netherlands has announced that it will withdraw its 1,350 troops from Iraq by mid-March. It's the latest in a string of similar announcements by Washington's allies, including plans by Poland and Ukraine to get mostly or completely out of Iraq over the course of this year. When the troop reductions are complete, how much of the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq will be left, and who will shoulder the additional security burdens?
Prague, 18 January 2005 (RFE/RL) -- As Iraq nears its 30 January elections for a National Assembly and provincial assemblies, more European countries are announcing they are wrapping up their military involvement in the country.
This week, the Netherlands became the latest state to formally announce plans to call home its troops. Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende said yesterday that the Netherlands will pull its 1,350 soldiers out of Iraq on 15 March. The Netherlands joins a list of 14 other countries that have either announced plans to reduce or pull out their forces or have already done so.
Analysts say the shrinking of the coalition force -- which has included some 38 states -- reflects the unwillingness of many governments to keep troops in Iraq when domestic public opinion opposes the deployments. Edwin Bakker of the Netherlands Institute of International Relations in The Hague described the mood in his country.
"In general, we have never been very enthusiastic in joining the allied troops there, but we thought it was our obligation to bring safety to [the Iraqis]. And I think in the course of time we have seen, of course, some attacks on Dutch soldiers, two of them have been killed, and we have seen a worsening of the situation. So, more and more people have started to have some doubts about whether we can really make a difference," Bakker said.
As European states increasingly pull out of the coalition, some commentators say the moves mark the end of efforts by Washington and London to "internationalize" their involvement in Iraq.
Those efforts were intended to mend trans-Atlantic rifts over the invasion of Iraq, which was opposed by France, Germany, and Russia, among others. But the drive to build a coalition also created new frictions as Washington wooed support from new allies, particularly in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.
Former British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook wrote on 14 January in the British daily "The Guardian" that recent announcements of troops reductions and withdrawals by Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland, and the Ukraine are "puncturing [U.S. Secretary of Defense] Donald Rumsfeld's famous boast that he had the support of what he dubbed New Europe."
Many of the nations once characterized as the "New Europe" are among those now announcing troop reductions. Last week, Ukraine said it plans to bring home its 1,600 troops in the first half of this year. In December, Poland said it would cuts its forces by nearly one-third, to 1,700 troops, by February. In November, Hungary said it would withdraw its 300 troops from Iraq by 31 March.
The reductions could leave the coalition in Iraq with just three countries with sizeable deployments apart from the United States and Britain. They are South Korea, with 3,600 troops; Italy, with 3,160 soldiers; and Poland, with the remaining 1,700 troops. Other allies that have said they will remain have from less than 1,000 to just a few dozen troops in the country. They range from Australia to Georgia to Kazakhstan.
Many of the nations once characterized as the "New Europe" are among those now announcing troop reductions.
As more states pull out of the coalition, Washington has appeared to accept the trend by softening its once strong criticism of states that did so. When Spain announced last year it was recalling its 1,400 troops following a change of government, U.S. President George W. Bush told Madrid to avoid actions that give "false comfort to terrorists or enemies of freedom in Iraq."
By contrast, Washington this month sharply rejected any suggestions that Kyiv had disappointed the United States by ending its deployment. U.S. State Department spokesman Adam Ereli told reporters that he rejects "any notion that anybody is running scared in this matter."
Many of the countries wrapping up their military presence have tied their departures to the holding of Iraq's first democratic election at the end of this month. The election for a National Assembly is intended to result in a new interim Iraqi government that has broad domestic support for crushing the insurgency.
But if the election is intended to speed Iraq's stabilization, the run-up to the polls has seen a sharp increase in insurgent attacks. The violence raises the question of how much the shrinking of the coalition will complicate the tasks of the remaining members.
Some analysts say the withdrawals may only marginally change the security situation because they will occur in the least restive areas of the country. The multinational force, led by Poland, is deployed south of the Sunni Triangle, where most of the recent violence has occurred.
Phillip Mitchell, a ground forces specialist at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, told RFE/RL: "The Poles have been operating in a relatively benign environment compared with, let's say, the U.S. in the Sunni Triangle and, indeed, further north in Mosul. So, therefore, I would see their [eventual] withdrawal and perhaps the withdrawal of the Dutch force as being a matter which has some consequence. But the allies in those areas -- either the U.S. or the U.K. forces -- would be able to take over their area of operations with relative ease."
Mitchell said he expects U.S. forces to the north of the multinational force's sector, and British troops to the south, to extend their areas of control to make up for the troop withdrawals.
Mitchell also said U.S. and British officials hope that Iraq's fledgling security forces will grow strong enough in the coming months to undertake increased duties in less restive areas of the country.
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cicerone imposter
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Fri 23 Dec, 2005 08:51 pm
United States Has Many Disagreements with Its Allies: Analysis
The Bush Administration has declared that it will regard its relations with its allies, particularly with European Union and Japan, as a pillar in its foreign policies. In fact, however, there exist many problems between the United States and its allies. Europe and Japan have obviously different views on a series of major issues from that of the United States.
The contradictions and differences between Europe and the United States have never been so prominent as they are at present. As President Bush paid his first visit to Europe, the general public of EU expressed strong anti-US sentiment, EU leaders were disobedient to the United States over the crucial issues of security and environment. European allies of the United States do not want to remain the "second-class countries" under US protection and sandwiched between US-Soviet antagonism during the Cold War age, rather, they want to form a common foreign policy on the basis of unified economies and establish an armed force which is at least relatively independent of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and is capable of handling Europe's own security affairs. Proceeding from their own conditions, they do not agree to bring their own economic models closer to that of the US economy, their views on certain issues are quite different from that of the United States, particularly over the question concerning their attitude toward death penalty and the management of firearms.
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cicerone imposter
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Fri 23 Dec, 2005 08:52 pm
Support the Warrior Not the War: Give Them Their Benefits!
by Ashley L Decker
The recent rally cry "Support Our Troops" seems to me little more than a perverted, propaganda ploy to "Support the War." But we can support our troops, without supporting the war, by rectifying some of the following conditions.
The House of Representatives have recently voted on the 2004 budget which will cut funding for veteran's health care and benefit programs by nearly $25 billion over the next ten years. It narrowly passed by a vote of 215 to 212, and came just a day after Congress passed a resolution to "Support Our Troops." How exactly does this vote support our troops? Does leaving our current and future veterans veterans without access to health care and compensation qualify as supporting them?
The Veteran's Administration, plagued by recent budget cuts, has had to resort to charging new veterans entering into its system a yearly fee of $250 in order for them to receive treatment. It is a sad irony that the very people being sent to fight the war are going to have to pay to treat the effects of it.
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cicerone imposter
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Fri 23 Dec, 2005 08:54 pm
Editorial | Budget CutsChildren and the poor unfairly targetedIt would have been difficult for budget-cutters in Congress to devise a plan to punish poor children more severely if they had set out with that goal in mind.
House Republican leaders are pushing for a vote tomorrow on a $54 billion deficit-reduction plan. From food stamps to health care to child-support enforcement, children in low-income families would bear a cruelly disproportionate share of these proposed cuts.
The legislation would cut food stamps for 225,000 low-income families in which one or more adults is working. (So much for the notion of rewarding people for getting off of welfare.) Another 70,000 legal immigrants would be denied food stamps. Because of these cuts, 40,000 children would lose their eligibility for free school lunches, too.
For the first time, Congress would require premiums and copays to be charged under Medicaid for children to visit a doctor's office, or for a hospital stay. States would be allowed to severely curtail publicly subsidized health services available to children.
All that tough talk from conservatives about deadbeat dads paying child support? It's just that - talk. This legislation would cut child-support enforcement programs by $5 billion over five years. States would fill in some of that gap. But the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that, as a result of these cuts, $7.9 billion in child support payments would go uncollected over the next five years.
While lawmakers were at it, they decided to cut about $400 million in foster-care payments. Student aid is also on the chopping block.
Cutting such programs in the name of "deficit reduction" is a budgetary lie. This plan won't reduce the deficit at all, if Congress follows it up as expected later this month with $70 billion in tax cuts. It's perverse even by this Congress' standards to cut free school lunches to make way for extended tax relief for the wealthy from capital gains and stock dividends. But that would be the net effect of lawmakers' actions, before they depart Washington for the holidays and go home to give thanks.
There are other, more humane places to cut the budget. The Senate version spares food stamps and limits the pain for Medicaid recipients, instead saving money by lowering overpayments to Medicare managed care plans, as recommended by a nonpartisan advisory panel.
If Congress were making the hard choices, it would cut the nearly $24 billion in highway pork projects from the recently approved transportation bill. It could cut the $11 billion Moon/Mars mission. It could curb runaway Pentagon spending.
One of the tax cuts to be taken up later this month is the extension of relief from the Alternative Minimum Tax, which is hitting more and more upper-middle-class earners. Fixing that problem is necessary, but its cost should be offset by closing corporate tax loopholes, not by squeezing low-income families.
With nearly all Democrats opposed to these budget cuts, the decision will rest with a handful of Republican lawmakers who are capable of moderation. Among them are Reps. Curt Weldon, Jim Gerlach and Mike Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Chris Smith, Jim Saxton and Frank LoBiondo of New Jersey, and Michael Castle of Delaware. They must recognize that this budget plan makes choices that are morally wrong
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cicerone imposter
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Fri 23 Dec, 2005 08:56 pm
College loans bear biggest part of budget-cutting plan
Tuesday, December 20, 2005; Posted: 10:58 a.m. EST (15:58 GMT)
WASHINGTON (AP) -- As Congress moves to slash $40 billion in spending, no program will take a bigger hit than college loans, where almost $13 billion would be cut over five years.
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cicerone imposter
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Fri 23 Dec, 2005 09:01 pm
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cicerone imposter
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Fri 23 Dec, 2005 09:08 pm
The Federal Debt
The federal debt is the total of all the deficits and surpluses that the federal government runs each year. The daily change in the debt can be seen on the website of the Treasury Department's Bureau of the Public Debt. At the time of Bush's first inauguration in 2001, the federal debt stood at $5,727,776,738,304.64. At the time of his second inauguration on January 20, 2005, the federal debt stood at $7,613,772,338,689.34. Thus, the federal debt increased almost $2 trillion under the first four years of Bush's reign. The federal debt at the end of the last three fiscal years is as follows:
Fiscal Year Federal Debt
FY 2002 $6,228,235,965,597.16
FY 2003 $6,783,231,062,743.62
FY 2004 $7,379,052,696,330.32
As anyone with high credit card balances knows, maintaining a high debt level costs a lot of money in the form of interest payments. The interest expense for the last three fiscal years is as follows:
The interest expense for the first three months of FY 2005 (Oct., Nov., & Dec.) was $120,248,160,823.07. The interest expense on this massive debt is the third largest expense in the federal budget.
The Federal Bureaucracy
According to the FY 2005 budget, the estimated total of executive branch full-time equivalent (FTE) federal employees (excluding postal employees) at the end of FY 2005 is 1,875,000. This is up substantially from the number of 1,737,000 at the end of FY 2001. The federal bureaucracy mainly consists of the executive branch departments, the offices under the Executive Office of the President (EOP), and other assorted federal agencies and commissions.
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Mortkat
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Sat 24 Dec, 2005 03:52 am
Let us begin with the Federal Debt. It is obvious that Cicerone Imposter does not understand the meaning of the Federal Debt. He apparently does not realize that the federal debt and the yearly deficits that make up the federal debt MUST BE VIEWED WITH RELATION TO THE GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT.
The government's ablity to finance its debt is tied to the size and strength of the economy or the Gross Domestic Product. As a percentage of GDP.debt held by the public was HIGHEST at the end of World War II, at 109 percent, then fell to 24 percent in 1974. That decline, from 109 to 24 occurred because the economy grew faster than the debt accumulated. Even though the debt held by the public rose from 242 Billion to 344 Billion in those years above, the economy grew faster.
The only way the economy can grow faster is if the entrepreneurs have enough capital to create new jobs.
Much of the US History has been spent in debt. Indeed, the US first got into debt in 1790 when it assumed the Revolutionary war debts of the Continental Congress.
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Mortkat
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Sat 24 Dec, 2005 03:54 am
The No Child Left Behind Law can be easily handled. The Congress must revoke the Law but they will not since the political fall out would be too great. The LAW was passed by a RESOUNDING BIPARTISAN MARGIN- 384-45. Perhaps there can be a nation wide petition to change the law but I doubt it with such a broad based vote.
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Mortkat
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Sat 24 Dec, 2005 04:07 am
I am very much afraid that Cicerone Imposter has no idea of what is happening on the College Loan front, but our legislators do.
The USSC recently ruled that Social Security payments could be used to repay college loans outstanding. Cicerone apparently does not know that there has been 33 BILLION DOLLARS BORROWED BY STUDENTS FOR COLLEGE LOANS, BUT THAT IS NOT THE REAL PROBLEM. THE REAL PROBLEM IS THAT SEVEN BILLION(7) HAS NOT BEEN REPAID TO THE GOVERNMENT--THAT'S OUR MONEY--AND HALF OF THAT SEVEN MILLION THAT IS DELINQUENT HAS BEEN DELINQUENT FOR OVER TEN YEARS.