Big Government Britney Spears Supported Bush?

[jku]

Report Finds Size Of Government Up Sharply Under Bush
Thu Sep 04 2003 12:53:44 ET

The Bush Administration has brought the era of big government back, say a Brookings Institution scholar and a growing
number of conservatives dismayed about such growth under the Republicans' watch.

The Wall Street Journal on Thursday reports:

"While the number of official government employees declined slightly after President Bush took office, the Brookings study
to be released Friday finds the number of full-time employees working on government contracts and grants has zoomed by more
than one million people since 1999, bringing the overall head count to more than 12.1 million as of this past October."

The "eight-page report is likely to fuel debate about the administration's approach, at a time when budget deficits are
ballooning and Mr. Bush is pressuring Democrats to hold down federal spending." The report "finds that the growth is
happening entirely outside traditional civil-service hiring channels.

'The Bush administration is overseeing a vast expansion of the largely hidden federal work force of contractors and
grantees,' according to the report, written by Paul Light, who directs the Center for Public Service at Brookings, a
nonpartisan think tank."

Interesting. Now we have proof as to why we REALLY went to war in Iraq. The War justified these huge corporate contracts to political donors at the expense of you and me.

BUSH TO AMERICA: "Sorry kids, no money for college or Americorps, my political donor put a downpayment on a mansion in Newport Beach. He's got illegal immigrant mouths in foreign countries building his house and doing his landscaping to feed."

And did anyone see Britney Spears with Tucker Carlson, smacking her gum like a dope saying: "I support the President in, like, whatever he does - and the war and stuff like that - its cool, hehe!"

And SPEARS is a role model of a generation!? Hey kids, blindly follow and believe everything you're told. Don't ask a question - Brit doesn't like it.
What happened to Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell, and patchouli man?

[cheetah]

You know it's bad news when Britney SPears is anyone's role model!

Anyway, who honestly didn't suspect that the war in Iraq might have a tinsyitsy bitsy bit to do with Bush's oil connections from the get-go? And after we found out Halliburton had a contract there before the war had even officially begun, well, you can't deny it.

[tmodelford]

What I find so humorous is the fact that Bushy Boy is now asking the U.N. for help, after he so arrogantly refused to listen to anything any of its members had to say about the war. Personally, I hope the U.N. doesn't cough up one red penny. He got himself into this mess, he ought to get himself out of it.

And another thing . . . Bush LIED to the country about what the Iraqis were up to. But why isn't anybody talking about that? Bill Clinton made the mistake of cavorting with an intern, and he paid DEARLY for it. Bush goes over with an army, beats up on a little country, murdering thousands in the process, and it's no big deal.

And as for Bush's so-called Christianity . . . How can someone profess to believe that God is the creator of all human life, and then beat feet to kill as many Iraqis as he can? I just don't get it. I don't get the man, his stupid opinions, and his confounded popularity. Honestly, it makes me want to leave the country.

[jku]

$87 BILLION!?

Don't leave the country. Stay and be active. You live in MEMPHIS - man, you could do SO much more than I ever could in California.
Get active, find and staunchly support a candidate you believe in.

This President is Calvin Coolidge - I just wish the people who voted for Bush were the ones who had to pay for his war.
Why, in our 30s/40s, will we as a generation be forced to pay huge taxes, support our aging parents, pay for our kids, AND suffer a cut in wages, job opportunity, health insurance, and inadequate housing!? Where is the "American Dream" of "freedom and prosperity" going to be after Bush is done raping this country?

And tell me how we are fighting "terrorism" when there are more terrorists in the world NOW, than before we went to war?

Can you imagine the insanity if Clinton did just ONE of Bush's blunders (huge deficit, lied about war, DUI, paid for an abortion as a youth, deserted National Guard duty, cocaine use, steal an election, pork money to defense, etc, etc...) - oh yeah, I forgot, its a "liberal" media.

Duh!

Did you see his speech - he can't even read from a prompter!?
He isn't qualified to be a TV anchor, much less President!

[pisces2473]

Did Bush really pay for an abortion, or were you just using that as an example???

[jku]

I hate being a hater, but I know so many people "admire" for his Christianity and Anti-Abortion views.

Gosh, I sound like such an LA fruitcake, but I have a friend who finsihed at Columbia J-school and got a job at Hustler off La Cienega here in LA. During the time of the election in 2000, he told a group of us at dinner that Larry Flynt had found the woman who Bush paid an abortion for. Word was getting out, Flynt went on TC later that week to discuss it, Drudge also had some stuff on it - then the story vanished. What I found out later was that the Republicans heard that their guy was gonna go down and Gore had the election wrapped up in the Southern States if this story got out - they alledgedly threatned, intimidated, and then tried to pay off the woman who was going to speak out about her abortion.

She mysteriously pulled out at the last minute. No one knows what happened to her. Flynt was really crushed - I was told he has a soft spot for his Southern brethren and felt they were being manipulated by the Republicans.

But if you know anything about Bush's life till the age of 40, the story is VERY plausible. He was in Midland through his mid 20s and 30s - drinking and womanizing (not sanctioned in Corinthians, I think, right?) - he had a steady girlfriend, and was going to marry her, but the Bush family found out she was Jewish and called off the engagement. I think it was after or during that time that he would fly planes on the weekend Air National Guard, and get drunk Monday through Friday - that was at the age of most people on this list.

I found this article that detailed that period:
¶ Last week, AANEWS covered allegations made by adult entertainment mogul Larry Flynt that George W. Bush was "involved" with an abortion in Houston, Texas during the 1970s. Flynt made the charges during an appearance on the CNN program "Crossfire," and an October 24 appearance on the Bernie Ward program on radio KGO-AM in San Francisco. There were suggestions that the story was about to break on BBC, and Flynt's charges ended up at the top of Matt Drudge's website two days later when the porn baron was told to "put up or shut up," and produce the evidence.

The story went beyond tabloid interest, though, when CNN mysteriously pulled transcripts and references to Flynt's appearance on the "Crossfire" program. Drudge's involvement was curious, considering his earlier claim that he had located an illegitimate child born to an African American prostitute, and fathered by none other than Bill Clinton. DNA tests exonerated the president, though, from this liaison.

So far, the allegations over a Bush-linked abortion have failed to crack the mainline media's "glass ceiling," although the story continues to percolate on the internet. It did receive an unexpected boost last Thursday when a story ("Bottom-feeding At 'Crossfire'") by civil libertarian Nat Hentoff appeared in the unlikely venue of the right-wing Washington Times newspaper. It recounted word-by-word the exchange between "Crossfire" host Bob Novak and Flynt, and noted that afterwards "Neither Mr. Novak nor the other host, Bill Press, followed up with a demand that Mr. Flynt provide the 'proof.' "

http://www.atheists.org/flash.line/elec23.htm

[Benwa]

If you look at history, religion has never had too much of a problem with murder. As long as they aren't of your religion. Pagan romans crucifying countless christians, Christian Spaniards slaughtering Native americans, Christian Settlers slaughtering native americans, Hitler slaughtering the jews, the Jews launching missiles at palestinians, the palestinians blowing up jews. So the whole "Shall not kill" thing is apparently a flexible rule. The average religious fella follows the rule, but as a whole its flexible.

I don't like how bush's speech writers put all that scripture crap into his speeches. It's got no business being in a presidential address. Its also funny when he gives props to the muslim world, "our muslim brothers". I suspect the middle east muslims have a different take, you know getting blown up and all. I'm surprised we aren't using nepalm, thats very biblical. Raining down fire on your enemies. Guess we'll have to settle for cluster bombs.

I feel the most dangerous thing about the admin is that anyone who disagrees is made out to be a horrible human being. Disagreeing makes you *gasp* unpatriotic! How does thinking there are alternatives to massive war make me a bad person? It doesn't. Screw 'em. Its a sad thing to see things george orwell wrote about are seeing fruition.

[jku]

I think Benwa is 100% right.
The whole abortion issue has NOTHING to do with babies and saving lives - and everything to do with fighting feminism and keeping women in the "kitchen and bedroom."

If you look at the roots of the "Anti-abortion movement" in the early 70s, it was a direct outgrowth at the anger right wing reactionaries at the time were feeling towards the increased role of women in our society.

[dakotagopher]

I would disagree on abortion……maybe originally the pro life folks were mainly anti-feminist, but I think, on average, the modern pro lifer is driven by concern for the child and/or moral and ethical motivations. Which of course is not uniform from person to person. But that is another thread.

Also, while Bush emphasizes his spirituality, he never has made himself out to be a lifelong saint. It is unfair to hammer the guy for moral mistakes he made in his youth if he has made a dedicated shift in his life, as W seems to have done. People can change, and it appears he has changed for the better. I’ve never made a “vote” decision based on a politician’s lifestyle in his 20’s; that is just not relevant for the most part, to me. Who among us could withstand total scrutiny of age 18 to 30?

Not this cat.

Again we seem to be back to criticizing Bush more for his appearance and public persona than his policy. Typical left wing garbage. If you can’t beat the message, hammer on the messenger. That is a sign the message is in the right.

Clinton & Reagan were great on TV, very smooth, but that has nothing to do with being a good prez. It’s unfortunate that this has become such a priority for major office holders. Abe Lincoln couldn’t get elected to major office in today’s America, based on nothing more than appearance. A smooth TV persona from the prez makes the population feel good though, and that is what we like. What a joke.

Brittney Spears is a dimwit, but horribly popular with youth. Not unlike most of the rest of the entertainers out there. Strange that she went on record supporting Bush. Very rare for Hollywood type to do so. Recent study showed that youth of today lack the ability to differentiate between a “hero” and an “entertainer” (I think that was the term). Brittney & the others like here are held up as the example of aspiration to youth. What a joke. I do volunteer work with inner city kids, mostly boys age 10-14, and it is sick to see them imitate the rappers and sports “heros.” Most of these kids are being led down the path of destruction; by the time they figure out that their heros are worthless, it’ll be too late to recover educationally/vocationally to climb to the next social strata. Thus they will look to government to take care of them and punish those, through higher taxation, who have managed to climb to the next strata.

I think Bush is in for a pretty stiff fight in 2004, IF (and this is a big IF) the Dem candidate actually proposes solid alternatives instead of just bashing Bush. It still boggles the mind about how the Dems seem to constantly make this mistake. I will not vote for somebody whose biggest selling point consists of ripping on the other guy. Tell me why your idea is better and if it makes more sense than your opponent, you have my vote. Too many vote blindly along partisan lines, on either side of the spectrum.

[cheetah]

Originally posted by jku
I think Benwa is 100% right.
The whole abortion issue has NOTHING to do with babies and saving lives - and everything to do with fighting feminism and keeping women in the "kitchen and bedroom."


I couldn't agree more. If pro-lifers really wanted to stop having "innocent babies" killed, they would work more on sex education and prevention, since evidence shows that is the most effective way to reduce abortion: by reducing unwanted pregnancies. Since pro-lifers typically don't aim their resources to this end (esp. religious ones that don't want kids to know how babies are made), I can only assume their desire to save innocent babies is disingenuous at best.

[cheetah]

Originally posted by dakotagopher

Again we seem to be back to criticizing Bush more for his appearance and public persona than his policy. Typical left wing garbage. If you can’t beat the message, hammer on the messenger. That is a sign the message is in the right.


Well, there's plenty wrong with his message, too. Of course, usually the "liberal" media doesn't allow too much criticism of his policies, as they are basically publicists for him now.

How about this war he started because God told him to? The war that we had no real evidence to start, that we did in violation of UN policies, that we did with hardly any international support and that we are now spending our few tax dollars on? How about his bogus claims of a link between Al Qaeda and Hussein? Or his failure to find bin Laden?

And that's just about his foreing policy. His domestic policy ain't too great either.

Maybe you would ilke Dean a little better than the other Dems. He is known, in his speeches, for talking about what Bush is doing wrong, but then talking about how things can be done right, which is why people say they feel so positive and uplifted after seeing him on the stump. I have read this in articles, too, but have yet to see him speak in person myself.

[dakotagopher]

Cheetah –

There you go! Good points all. All arguable of course, but all relevant points.

What I’m saying is, when you attack Bush personally for his speech pattern, apparant low IQ, appearance, etc, you come off looking like a third grader on the playground and hurt your credibility.

I watched the Dem “debate” the other night. Rapidly turned into a Bush Bashing. Again, tell me about your ideas! What is In It For Me (the classic sales strategy) if I vote for you? Why would you be a good leader? Why are you the logical candidate? Why does it make more sense to vote for you than for Bush? Don’t just toss mud at Bush. I sincerely hope for a true choice in this next election.

I agree, Dean appeals to me more than the other Dem candidates. I know JKU is concerned Dean is pretty beatable, but I am not so sure. If the economy stays in a slump and the Dem candidate sets the agenda instead of just parrying everything Bush says, Bush is in for a fight, even money he gets beat.

[cheetah]

Originally posted by dakotagopher

What I’m saying is, when you attack Bush personally for his speech pattern, apparant low IQ, appearance, etc, you come off looking like a third grader on the playground and hurt your credibility.



I agree that those aren't the most valid criticisms, either. However, it is pretty frustrating when it happens on both sides. In "Decision 2000" or whatever crappy name they came up with, a lot of people liked Bush betetr BECAUSE he made those mistakes. Made them feel not so dumb, maybe. Also, people disliked Gore because he wore too mush blush on that TV appearance. People are superficial on both sides, but I think at least eloquence and ability to express oneself in an intelligent manner is a lot more germane to the position of the presidency than how much blush one wears in a TV appearance!

[jku]

I think Dakota is right, that using personal attacks is bad debate strategy. "What are you going to do?" is a question we should all be asking all politicians - not just the Dems. But, and this is clear, Republicans severely diminished political debate in this country, starting with Carter - and going to new lows with Clinton. Calling Clinton a rapist, muderer, pervert, pothead, and Anti-American wasn't an attack on his character? And why does character in youth ("I did not inhale") matter when it comes to Democrats, but it's just a "youthful indiscretion" when we're talking about Bush and Schwarzenegger? Doesn't that define hypocrisy from the political right?

And we know what Bush is going to do if re-elected... Continue to moon his ass at the international community, then go and ask for his pants back. We the American people will continue to live under the goblin of fear - he has the Secret Service and Air Force One. We pay insane levels of taxes with little in return in terms of safety and secuirty, healthcare, and education - Bush has a job set-up at the Carlyle Corportation, his Grandfather's connections to Harvard and Yale, money from Richard Rainwater and the oil/military industry? Where do we, the middle class, sit in that equation?

I don't think terror and terrorism are a reality to Bush - he seems distant from its impact and what it really means to be scared on a daily basis - or even where it comes from? He sees 9/11 as a chance to get re-elected and prove his superiority to a father that berated him, and fought with him as a youth. It's a good prime-time Lifetime drama - bad American politics.

The fact that we haven't been attacked means nothing Dakota. The FBI and CIA were severely restricted prior to 9/11 in their investigation of Saudi nationals taking flight lessons in the United States - please look at a man named John O'Neill. This was months prior to 9/11. The August 6, 2001 memo that Bush received but ignored (and it was blacked out of the 9/11 report) tells me that if Gore were President, he would have taken the threat of terrorism more seriously BEFORE 9/11, not after - and it may well have not ever occured. After 9/11, restrictions were lifted and we were able to use our full resources to catch terrorists. But the borders are still porous - and only 2% of tankers coming into our ports are examined today? Where is Bush on our DOMESTIC security concerns?

I'm frightened of the Bush re-election, and so are an ever growing number of Americans according to recent polls.

Can you imagine if a Democrat was President, and he was floundering on the economy, war, and foreign policy like Bush is? I think there would have been a coup at the White House. Seriously.

Also Dakota and Bumber (btw, I enjoyed your debate on tax numbers with engineer!), how are we as a generation going to pay this massive debt off? There isn't as much oil coming from IRAQ (BTW, JFK too thought Vietnam had WAY more oil and tin than they actually had), and it seems like it will take decades to create an infrastructure.

Don't we desperately need the International Community?

Don't we need a new leader that understands the importance of respecting allies and working together?

Didn't Bush senior pay for 10% of the first war with Iraq, Japan paying 70%?

Why is GW getting America to pay for 90% of the war today?

What does the President have against hardworking American taxpayers?

PS - in re to Abotion - conservatives are so certain a woman should keep her baby, but the minute the baby is born conservatives believe we should cut all support programs that a poor single mother may need to raise her child? Why is that?
Doesn't that make it clear that anti-abortionists are really just anti-feminists? And what liberals want women to have to undergo that horrible procedure - abortion is a scary, horrifying, pscyhologically scarring process - but what a woman does with that pregnancy is CLEARLY her choice and no one elses!

But a child that knows it wasn't wanted in this world, unloved, and resented - isn't that worse!?