April 30, 2004

The Federal Goverment Will Count Hatchery Fish As Wild

I thought this was a joke - THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION has decided that a hatchery fish is just as good as a wild one, and that a concrete raceway is just as good as a cool-running stream. In a policy bombshell measured in megatons, the federal government has decided that the hundreds of millions of salmon produced in fish hatcheries will be counted when determining if salmon deserve federal protection under the Endangered Species Act. As a result -- federal protection for as many as 27 stocks has been brought into question. Federal officials confirmed that the new policy will guide the decision whether to remove 15 stocks from federal protecction this summer. The implications go beyond salmon, however. For the first time in 30 years, the goal of the ESA has been altered. The consequences are likely to be widespread. Read the whole story.|AMP|nbsp; Source Tide-Pool

April 29, 2004

Bush's Approval Rating at All-Time Low

NEW YORK (Reuters) - President Bush's approval rating is at an all-time low and fewer than half of Americans now believe invading Iraq was the right thing to do, according to a CBS/New York Times poll released on Wednesday.

The poll found that if the presidential election due in November was held today, 46 percent of Americans would vote for Democrat John Kerry and 44 percent would vote for Bush -- if independent Ralph Nader stayed out of the race. Read the whole story

Bush and Cheney will meet the 9/11 commission

Bush needs Cheney to hold his hand. Isn’t that sweet. Do you know what makes me CRAZY? President Bush and Vice-President Cheney will meet the 9/11 commission today, together, in private, not under oath and the White house refuses to allow a transcript or recording of their testimony to be made. Why does the president need the vice-president to be present? So they can make sure their stories are the same? Why are they refusing to testify under oath? Why is the president’s lawyer going to be present? But, what I find most troubling is the White House’s refusal to allow any transcript or recording of their testimony. What are they hiding? What is it that they don’t want us to know?

Posted by Crazy Eddie at 12:15 AM | Comments (856)

April 26, 2004

John Kerry releases military records

In response to the bombardment from right wing pundits questioning John Kerry’s military service, the Kerry’s campaign released John Kerry’s military records yesterday. The records show Kerry was a highly praised commander credited with killing at least 20 enemy soldiers. How dare the Bush supporters question Kerry’s military service when their candidate jumped ahead of hundreds of applicants to hide in the Air National Guard during the Vietnam War? Kerry received three Purple Hearts, the Silver Star, the Bronze Star and the National Defense Service Metal. Can you name the combat metals George Bush received? Oh that’s right he didn’t see any combat, he hid in the Guard. How many combat metals did Dick Chaney Receive? Oh, that’s right he did serve in the military. How many combat metals did Donald Rumsfeld receive? Oh, he didn’t serve either.

Posted by Crazy Eddie at 11:58 PM | Comments (546)

Here they go again - "wacky" idea of raising the gasoline tax by 50 cents

A Bush ad released March 30 attacked Kerry for once supporting the "wacky" idea of raising the gasoline tax by 50 cents per gallon. That was a decade ago. He never voted for, or sponsored, legislation to impose such a tax, and he doesn't support one now. More recently, the man who later became Bush's own chief economist said higher gasoline taxes would lead to "less traffic congestion, safer roads, and reduced risk of global warming" and that raising gasoline taxes 50 cents to pay for a cut in income-tax rates "may be the closest thing to a free lunch that economics has to offer." How "wacky" is that? Source
FACTCHECK.ORG

Illegal immigration from Mexico is spiking

Until we secure the borders we can not be safe from terrorism The Associated Press is reporting that illegal immigration from Mexico is spiking as several thousand migrants a day rush across the border in hopes of getting work visas under a program President Bush proposed. Over a half a million illegal immigrants poured in to the U.S. in the past six months. If all these Mexicans can get across the bolder so easy: what is stopping terrorists from entering the country the same way? This problem is not only an issue about jobs, but it a national security issue. Until we secure the borders we can not be safe from terrorism.

Posted by Crazy Eddie at 12:13 AM | Comments (668)

Bush ads released April 26 recycle some distortions of Kerry's voting record on military hardware

Here they go again Bush’s re-election campaign, starting this week, which seeks to portray Kerry as weak on national security. Cheney, who was defense secretary from 1989-1992, “tried to kill” more than 81 weapons programs, including M-1 tanks, Apache helicopters, F-16 fighter planes and B-2 bombers, McAuliffe said. He also pushed for closing more than 70 domestic military installations, and reducing the size of the military by 500,000 active duty personnel and 200,000 reservists, McAuliffe said. Source MSNBC News Services


Bush campaign bases its claim mainly on Kerry's votes against overall Pentagon money bills in 1990, 1995 and 1996, but these were not votes against specific weapons. And in fact, Kerry voted for Pentagon authorization bills in 16 of the 19 years he's been in the Senate. So even by the Bush campaign's twisted logic, Kerry should -- on balance -- be called a supporter of the "vital" weapons, more so than;an opponent.
Source FactCheck.org

April 25, 2004

Images of our fallen soldiers returning home

The Bush White House has prohibited the press from showing images of our fallen soldiers returning home. The pentagon|AMP|nbsp; said this policy was out of respect for the families. Others believe that this policy is to sanitize the war. They are afraid if the public sees the constant flow of flag draped coffins, then support for this war would slip and people may start questioning why we are fighting this war in the first place. The website www.memoryhole.org successfully obtained the banned photos from the Air Force under the freedom of information act. After the White found out the Air Force had released 365 photos, the pentagon stopped the release of the photographs to anyone else.Our troops who return home alive are greeted as heroes. Shouldn't our fallen troops be greeted as heroes also?|AMP|nbsp; I personally feel that these images are a tribute to the ultimate sacrifice made by these brave men. These photographs remind us of the real cost of war.

Posted by Crazy Eddie at 11:48 PM | Comments (319)

Here they go again - Another dishonest Bush Ad

A Bush ad claims Kerry got "more special interest money than any other senator," which is false. While it is true that Kerry got $640,000 over the past 15 years from individual lobbyists. Bush campaign itself has reported raising $960,000 from individual lobbyists in the past year alone. The ad|AMP|nbsp;says|AMP|nbsp;Kerry got "millions from executives at HMO's, telecoms, drug companies," which is|AMP|nbsp;true -- for Kerry's entire political career. But so|AMP|nbsp;far Kerry's presidential campaign has received|AMP|nbsp;a small fraction of what the Bush campaign has received from those particular sources. By any definition, Bush's "special interest" money|AMP|nbsp;greatly exceeds Kerry's. Source FACTCHECK.ORG

April 24, 2004