In the third presidential debate, John Kerry stated he had, by actual
count, 24 plans to improve our country. Those plans were not spelled
out, only promised. Well, I have definite plans to ensure the health,
long lives and financial security of my family, to provide college
educations for my
grandchildren, to guarantee my car starts every time and will never be in an
accident, to eliminate all weeds from my garden, and many others, although
my plans unfortunately total less than 24. I shall be more than delighted to
explain all these in detail after the November presidential election.
  So, my question is: Why should anyone with an IQ over 75 be swayed by
Kerry?s plans?  Please spare me if your answer is: I hate Bush. Just give me a
plausible, repeat, plausible reply why I should vote for someone with vague,
dificult to implement plans.

monroe22,

I won't try to persuade you of anything or try to tell you why you
should vote for or against anyone.

But I will say that we have some very complex problems that aren't
simple to solve.  As an employee in a fairly typical high-tech
business, I sit on project teams that go on for years--teams whose
problem-solving and development programs are difficult to explain to
my colleague in the next cubicle who doesn't happen to serve on the
same team.  I even happen to know--and maybe you do too--that an
ordinary family can have problems whose solutions can't be summed up
in a few sound bites.  Why should we expect something simpler when it
comes to an issue such as health care or military strategy at the
national level?

Realistically, what will it take to deal with the major domestic and
international issues that we have to deal with in the U.S.?  A lot
more than can be spelled out with a clock ticking minutes on TV.  A
plan that can be explained briefly to a wide audience made up of
people with exceedingly disparate contexts, levels of understanding,
biases, assumptions, and ability to pay attention--and little common
ground--would have to be very simplistic.  Such a plan would probably
not begin to cope with the real issue.  It couldn't be much besides
hot air.

A real, sound plan would not be reducible to catchy little slogans and
encapsulizations without gross distortion and invitation to criticism
based on shallow generalizations.

There is no reason to assume that a plan you don't understand is
vague.  All you know is that your understanding of it is vague.

I agree that all the "I have a plan" assertions sounded rather thin,
but I happen to believe there is substance behind them and not lies. 
Belief is pretty much what it comes down to, for you and for me--for
all of us.  And if I'm wrong, well, I'll take my chances on the
unknown rather than the all-too-well-known.

Archae0pteryx
(not a researcher, but someone with an IQ over 75)

archaeOpteryx-ga: First, could you change your GA handle to something
easier to spell? Apart from that, my understanding of Kerry's plans is
vague? Excuse me, I am a political junkie, and have never, repeat
never, seen Kerry's plans spelled out in detail. By the way, I was in
technical research for 30 years, and am not totally oblivious to
problem-solving by teams...so don't think you have some superior
overview not available to others, even though your IQ surpasses 75. If
you prefer to take your chances on the unknown, that makes you a
gambler...so, help yourself.
monroe22

Honestly, the only reason one should be swayed by Kerry's plans is
because they are better than Bush's.  (Please note that I'm not saying
that they are, I'm just saying that that is why one would be swayed,
which is what you asked.)

Of course, you have to know what their plans are in order to compare
them.  Luckily for us (computer users) we have access to vast amounts
of information.  It certainly isn't easy, but I would recommend
comparing the plans on the candidates' web sites.

www.johnkerry.com and www.georgewbush.com

monroe, dear.
they both have plans, as whyisitso has pointed out; it doesn't take a
very high IQ to read all about it . . . but we all know about the best
laid plans of . . . all plans are difficult to impliment, especially
if congress is not in favor . . .
am I sounding vague?

I'll turn the question around: there are, for me, some very good
reasons NOT to vote for George Bush. One that tops the list is the
doctrine that this administration has been riding on from day one, the
Project for the New American Century.
(http://www.newamericancentury.org/) which by the way, doesn't seem to
appear on the official Bush website. The majority of the original
authors of this doctrine are in Bush's cabinet and they are the ones
running the show. I am not in favor of America basically taking over
the planet.  All they needed was "a new Pearl Harbor" to kick everyone
into fear mode and feed the defense and oil industries with a
guaranteed future of unending wars.  They got it with 9/11 and no
wonder the are SO many disturbing unanswered questions surrounding
9/11, even now after the so-called investigation.  What a sham.  The
American people deserve better.

So, what's wrong with having SECRET plans?

Most politicians announce plans and then spend their entire term in
office explaining and apologising for not meeting them.

It?s obviously far less wasteful to have secret plans.

For a Secret Plan-type Politico (SPP)

If his/her plans don't pan out, then there's no explaining or
apologising to be done.

But if something good pops up, the SPP can always claim that it was
one of his/her secret plans.

It?s the WAVE OF THE FUTURE!

Wow, Kerry?s the Man!

(Remember you read this first here.)

In specific regards to his plan, he has a very detailed document
titled "Our plan for America."  You can find it here:
http://www.johnkerry.com/pdf/our_plan_for_america.pdf

I don't know if the USA government ever operated efficiently from the
standpioint of the average grandchild. I think we should be willing to
make sacrifices to make more freedom for the next generation. IMHO,
John Kerry, The Democratic party, and most liberals in both parties
are heading us away from self determination and freedom and into the
clutches of rich internationalists. Our opinions and our vote has
little control over these rich and powerful internationalists. I
suggest the Libertarian Party = lots less government.   Neil

neilzero-ga:  I agree with your assessment of the major parties.
Libertarians unfortunately can only get a tiny percentage of the vote.
The Electoral College pretty much locks us into a two party system,
which I believe is the greater good, despite its drawbacks, but that's
another topic.

  To others: Sure, I know there are websites which tell all you need
to know about political policies. But IMHO, I doubt if those sites
cause many to re-think their choice. The overwhelming majority of the
public is spoon-fed by the media, and that usually in sound bites.
(Like the old Army saying: The food is terrible and such small
portions.) Thus, Kerry reels off plan after plan, knowing full well
that few ordinary citizens will have the time or patience to study
them in detail. AND...any plan, Bush's or Kerry's, can be refuted from
some viewpoint. What bothers me about Kerry is his blizzard of plans,
many of which he says he will fund by taxing the rich more heavily
(Teresa excepted, of course), an obviously badly flawed concept.
Wonder if he thinks he would have Congress eating out of his hand if
he should win? In a perverse fashion, I can almost hope he wins,
because he has the potential for damaging the Democratic party much as
Carter did.
monroe22

yeah, right.  Kerry's going to make an exception for Teresa.

that would be a really smart PR move

what color is the sky in your world?

timespacette-ga: Same as yours, but much clearer. Why would any favors
for the lovely Teresa be made public? How is it the Bush
administration is accused of back door deals for Halliburton, hence
Cheney, but you would have us believe that the saintly Kerry would
never, O never ever, protect his wife's fortune, hence his. Do you
actually BELIEVE the President of the US is a powerless wimp who
cannot possibly make secret things happen? Naivete, thy name is
timespacette.
monroe22

"Do you actually BELIEVE the President of the US is a powerless wimp
who cannot possibly make secret things happen?"

Actually I beleive our President is a coward and a chicken hawk, and
he's made plenty of things happen that he wouldn't want any of us to
know about.  Allowing a terrorist attack on the United States sort of
stands out as the salient point here (see:
<http://www.interlinkbooks.com/BooksN/New_Pearl_Harbor.html>)

But here are a few more facts about our "fearless" misleader:

(If you like, just skip to #96 to read about 'the secret things he's made happen'.)

First, there's IRAQ ...

1. The Bush Administration has spent more than $140 billion on a war
of choice in Iraq.
         Source: American Progress <http://www.Americanprogress.org> 
 
2. The Bush Administration sent troops into battle without adequate
body armor or armored Humvees.  Sources: Fox News
<http://www.foxnews.com/story/02933,101061,00.html>
The Boston Globe  <http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2003/12/18/troops_seen_vulnerable_in_humvees>

3. The Bush Administration ignored estimates from Gen. Eric Shinseki
that several hundred thousand troops would be required to secure Iraq.
Source: PBS <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/invasion/interviews/fallows.html>

4. Vice President Cheney said Americans "will, in fact, be greeted as
liberators" in Iraq.
Source: The Washington Post
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A44801-2003Mar28?language=printer>

5. During the Bush Administration's war in Iraq, more than 1,000 US
troops have lost their lives and more than 7,000 have been injured.
Source: globalsecurity.org
<http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/iraq_casualties.htm>

6. In May 2003, President Bush landed on an aircraft carrier in a
flight suit, stood under a banner proclaiming "Mission Accomplished,"
and triumphantly announced that major combat operations were over in
Iraq. Asked if he had any regrets about the stunt, Bush said he would
do it all over again. Source: Yahoo News
<http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;cid=615&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;e=8&amp;u=/nm/20040926/pl_nm/campai>

7. Vice President Cheney said that Iraq was "the geographic base of
the terrorists who have had us under assault for many years, but most
especially on 9/11." The bipartisan 9/11 Commission found that Iraq
had no involvement in the 9/11 attacks and no collaborative
operational relationship with Al Qaeda.  Source: MSNBC
<http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3403519/>  , 9-11 Commission 
<http://www.9-11commission.gov/report/911Report_Ch2.htm>

8. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice said that high-strength
aluminum tubes acquired by Iraq were "only really suited for nuclear
weapons programs," warning "we don't want the smoking gun to be a
mushroom cloud." The government's top nuclear scientists had told the
Administration the tubes were "too narrow, too heavy, too long" to be
of use in developing nuclear weapons and could be used for other
purposes.  Source: New York Times 
<http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/03/international/middleeast/03tube.html>

9. The Bush Administration has spent just $1.1 billion of the $18.4
billion Congress approved for Iraqi reconstruction.  Source: USA Today
 <http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2004-09-15-sens-iraq_x.htm>

10. According to the Administration's handpicked weapon's inspector,
Charles Duelfer, there is "no evidence that Hussein had passed illicit
weapons material to al Qaeda or other terrorist organizations, or had
any intent to do so." After the release of the report, Bush continued
to insist, "There was a risk--a real risk--that Saddam Hussein would
pass weapons, or materials, or information to terrorist networks." 
Sources: New York Times
<http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/07/politics/07intel.html> , White
House news release  <http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/10/20041006-9.html>

11. According to Duelfer, the UN inspections regime put an "economic
strangle hold" on Hussein that prevented him from developing a WMD
program for more than twelve years. Source: Los Angeles Times
<http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-weapons7oct07,1,4800576.story?coll=la-headlines-world>

TERRORISM 

12. After receiving a memo from the CIA in August 2001 titled "Bin
Laden Determined to Attack America," President Bush continued his
month-long vacation.  Source: CNN.com 
<http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/04/10/august6.memo/>

13. The Bush Administration failed to commit enough troops to capture
Osama bin Laden when US forces had him cornered in the Tora Bora
region of Afghanistan in November 2001. Instead, they relied on local
warlords. Source: csmonitor.com
<http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0304/p01s03-wosc.html>

14. The Bush Administration secured less nuclear material from sites
around the world vulnerable to terrorists in the two years after 9/11
than were secured in the two years before 9/11.
Source: nti.org  <http://www.nti.org/e_research/analysis_cnwmupdate_052404.pdf> 

15. The Bush Administration underfunded Nunn-Lugar--the program
intended to keep the former Soviet Union's nuclear legacy out of the
hands of terrorists and rogue states--by $45.5 million.
Source: armscontrol.org 
<http://www.armscontrol.org/act/2004_03/NunnLugarFunding.asp>

16. The Bush Administration has assigned five times as many agents to
investigate Cuban embargo violations as it has to track Osama bin
Laden's and Saddam Hussein's money.
Source: sfgate.com  <http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi-Ff=/news/archive/2004/04/29/national1842EDT0787.DTL>

17. According to Congressional Research Service data, the Bush
Administration has underfunded security at the nation's ports by more
than $1 billion for fiscal year 2005.  Source: American Progress
<http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&amp;b=106593>

18. The Bush Administration did not devote the resources necessary to
prevent a resurgence in the production of poppies, the raw material
used to create heroin, in Afghanistan--creating a potent new source of
financing for terrorists.  Source: Pakistan Tribune 
<http://paktribune.com/news/index.php?id=68404>

19. Vice President Cheney told voters that unless they elect George
Bush in November, "we'll get hit again" by terrorists. Source:
Washington Post  <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A2917-2004Sep7.html>

20. Even though an Al Qaeda training manual suggests terrorists come
to the United States and buy assault weapons, the Bush Administration
did nothing to prevent the expiration of the ban.
Source: sfgate.com  <http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/09/11/MNGO68N6P91.DTL>

21. Despite repeated calls for reinforcements, there are fewer
experienced CIA agents assigned to the unit dealing with Osama bin
Laden now than there were before 9/11.  Source: New York Times 
<http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB081FFE35540C768DDDA00894DC404482>

22. Before 9/11, John Ashcroft proposed slashing counterterrorism
funding by 23 percent.
Source: americanprogress.org 
<http://www.americanprogress.org/atf/cf/%7bE9245FE4-9A2B-43C7-A521-5D6FF2E06E03%7d/CUTTINGCOUNTERTERROR.PDF>

23. Between January 20, 2001, and September 10, 2001, the Bush
Administration publicly mentioned Al Qaeda one time.  Source:
commondreams.org  <http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0903-04.htm>

24. The Bush Administration granted the 9/11 Commission $15 million to
investigate the September 11 attacks and $50 million to the commission
that investigated the Columbia space shuttle crash. Source:
commondreams.org  <http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0903-04.htm>

25. More than three years after 9/11, just 5 percent of all
cargo--including cargo transported on passenger planes--is screened.
Source: commondreams.org 
<http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0903-04.htm>

NATIONAL SECURITY 

26. During the Bush Administration, North  Korea quadrupled its
suspected nuclear arsenal from two to eight weapons.  Source: New York
Times  <http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/07/international/07DISPATCHES.html>

27. The Bush Administration has openly opposed the Comprehensive Test
Ban Treaty, undermining nuclear nonproliferation efforts.  Source:
commondreams.org  <http://www.commondreams.org/headlines01/0707-01.htm>

28. The Bush Administration has spent $7 billion this year--and plans
to spend $10 billion next year--for a missile defense system that has
never worked in a test that wasn't rigged.
Sources: www.gao.gov/new.items/d04409.pdf
<http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d04409.pdf> , Los Angeles Times
<http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-silo16aug16,1,6650148.story>

29. The Bush Administration underfunded the needs of the nation's
first responders by $98 billion, according to a Council on Foreign
Relations study.  Source: nationaldefensemagazine.org 
<http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/article.cfm?Id=1160>

CRONYISM AND CORRUPTION 

30. The Bush Administration awarded a multibillion-dollar no-bid
contract to Halliburton--a company that still pays Vice President
Cheney hundreds of thousands of dollars in deferred compensation each
year (Cheney also has Halliburton stock options). The company then
repeatedly overcharged the military for services, accepted kickbacks
from subcontractors and served troops dirty food.  Sources: The
Washington Post <http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&amp;contentId=A56429-2003Aug27&amp;notFound=true>
, The Tapei Times <http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2003/12/14/2003079545>
, BBC News <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3425043.stm>

31. The Bush Administration told Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan about
plans to go to war with Iraq before telling Secretary of State Colin
Powell.  Source: detnews.com 
<http://www.detnews.com/2004/books/0404/23/books-132067.htm>

32. The Bush Administration relentlessly pushed an energy bill
containing $23.5 billion in corporate tax breaks, much of which would
have benefited major campaign contributors.
Source: taxpayer.net
<http://www.taxpayer.net/TCS/PressReleases/2003/04-11energybill.htm> ,
Washington Post  <http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A5053-2003Nov21?language=printer>

33. The Bush Administration paid Iraqi-exile and neocon darling Ahmad
Chalabi $400,000 a month for intelligence, including fabricated claims
about Iraqi WMD. It continued to pay him for months after discovering
that he was providing inaccurate information.
Source: MSNBC  <http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4992558> 

34. The Bush Administration installed as top officials more than 100
former lobbyists, attorneys or spokespeople for the industries they
oversee.
Source: Source: commondreams.org 
<http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0523-02.htm>

35. The Bush Administration let disgraced Enron CEO Ken Lay--a close
friend of President Bush--help write its energy policy.  Source: MSNBC
 <http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4830129/>

36. Top Bush Administration officials accepted $127,600 in jewelry and
other presents from the Saudi royal family in 2003, including
diamond-and-sapphire jewelry valued at $95,500 for First Lady Laura
Bush.  Source: Seattle Times 
<http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2001997123_bushgifts05.html>

37. Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge awarded lucrative
contracts to several companies in which he is an investor, including
Microsoft, GE, Sprint, Pfizer and Oracle.  Source: cq.com 
<http://www.cq.com/corp/show.do?page=crawford/20040923_homeland>

38. President Bush used images of firefighters carrying flag-draped
coffins through the rubble of the World Trade  Center to score
political points in a campaign advertisement. Source: The Washington
Post <http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2wpdyn?pagename=article&amp;contentId=A39789-2004Apr24&amp;notFound=true>

THE ECONOMY 

39. President Bush's top economic adviser, Greg Mankiw, said the
outsourcing of American jobs abroad was "a plus for the economy in the
long run."
Source: CBS News  <http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/02/13/opinion/main600351.shtml>

40. The Bush Administration turned a $236 billion surplus into a $422
billion deficit.
Sources: Fortune <http://www.fortune.com/fortune/investing/articles/0,15114,593431,00.html>
, dfw.com  <http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/opinion/9758966.htm>

41. The Bush Administration implemented regulations that made millions
of workers ineligible for overtime pay.
Source: epinet.org  <http://www.epinet.org/newsroom/embargoed/bp-flsa-e.pdf> 

42. The Bush Administration has crippled state budgets by underfunding
federal mandates by $175 billion.  Source: cbpp.org 
<http://www.cbpp.org/5-12-04sfp.htm>

43. President Bush is the first President since Herbert Hoover to have
a net loss of jobs--around 800,000--over a four-year term.  Source:
The Guardian <http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0>

44. The Bush Administration gave Accenture a multibillion-dollar
border control contract even though the company moved its operations
to Bermuda to avoid paying taxes. Sources: The New York Times
<http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/02/technology/02secure.html> ,
cantonrep.com <http://www.cantonrep.com/index.php?Category=13&amp;ID=165841&amp;r=0>

45. In 2000, candidate George W. Bush said "the vast majority of my
tax cuts go to the bottom end of the spectrum." He passed the tax
cuts, but the top 20 percent of earners received 68 percent of the
benefits. Sources: cbpp.org <http://www.cbpp.org/4-23-04tax.pdf> ,
vote-smart.org  <http://www.vote-smart.org/speech_detail.php?speech_id=3225>

46. In 2000, candidate George W. Bush promised to pay down the
national debt to a historically low level. As of September 30, the
national debt stood at $7,379,052,696,330.32, a record high.
Sources: www.georgewbush.com
<http://web.archive.org/web/20001109012700/www.georgewbush.com/issues/index.html>
, Bureau of the Public Debt 
<http://www.publicdebt.treas.gov/opd/opdpenny.htm>

47. As major corporate scandals rocked the nation's economy, the Bush
Administration reduced the enforcement of corporate tax
law--conducting fewer audits, imposing fewer penalties, pursuing fewer
prosecutions and making virtually no effort to prosecute corporate tax
crimes.
Source: iht.com  <http://www.iht.com/articles/514400.html> 

48. The Bush Administration increased tax audits for the working poor.
Source: theolympian.com 
<http://www.theolympian.com/home/news/20030211/frontpage/396.shtml>

49. In 2000, candidate George W. Bush promised to protect the Social
Security surplus. As President, he spent all of it.  Sources:
georgewbush.com <http://web.archive.org/web/20001109020800/www.georgewbush.com/issues/socialsecurity.html>
, Congressional Budget Office
<http://www.cbo.gov/showdoc.cfm?index=1821&amp;sequence=0#table1>

50. The Bush Administration proposed slashing funding for the largest
federal public housing program, putting 2 million families in danger
of losing their housing.  Source: San Francisco Examiner
<http://www.sfexaminer.com/article/index.cfm/i/052004n_section8>

51. The Bush Administration did nothing to prevent the minimum wage
from falling to an inflation-adjusted fifty-year low.  Source: Los
Angeles Times  <http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/la-fi-riskshift10oct10,1,317719>

EDUCATION 

52. The Bush Administration underfunded the No Child Left Behind Act
by $9.4 billion.
Source: nwitimes.com 
<http://nwitimes.com/articles/2004/02/08/opinion/forum/3c791f12b6bed63e86256e3000221963.txt>

53. In 2000, candidate George W. Bush promised to increase the maximum
federal scholarship, or Pell Grant, by 50 percent. Instead, each year
he has been in office he has frozen or cut the maximum scholarship
amount.  Source: Source: edworkforce.house.gov 
<http://edworkforce.house.gov/democrats/pellgrantsummary.html> x

54. The Bush Administration's Secretary of Education, Rod Paige,
called the National Education Association--a union of teachers--a
"terrorist organization."  Sources: CNN.com 
<http://www.cnn.com/2004/EDUCATION/02/23/paige.terrorist.nea>

HEALTHCARE 

55. The Bush Administration, in violation of the law, refused to allow
Medicare actuary Richard Foster to tell members of Congress the actual
cost of their Medicare bill. Instead, they repeated a figure they knew
was $100 billion too low.   Source: Washington Post
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A12758-2004Sep10.html>
, realcities.com  <http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/nation/8164060.htm>

56. The nonpartisan GAO concluded the Bush Administration created
illegal, covert propaganda--in the form of fake news reports--to
promote its industry-backed Medicare bill.  Source: General Accounting
Office  <http://www.gao.gov/decisions/appro/302710.pdf>

57. The Bush Administration stunted research that could lead to new
treatments for Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, diabetes, spinal injuries,
heart disease and muscular dystrophy by placing severe restrictions on
the use of federal dollars for embryonic stem-cell research.  Source:
CBS News  <http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/07/08/eveningnews/main628171.shtml>

58. The Bush Administration reinstated the "global gag rule," which
requires foreign NGOs to withhold information about legal abortion
services or lose US funds for family planning.
Source: healthsciences.columbia.edu 
<http://www.healthsciences.columbia.edu/dept/sph/cgsh/IWGSSPWorkingPaper1English.pdf>

59. The Bush Administration authorized twenty companies that have been
charged with fraud at the federal or state level to offer Medicare
prescription drug cards to seniors.  Source: American Progress
<http://www.americanprogress.org/site/lookup.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&amp;b=84766>

60. The Bush Administration created a prescription drug card for
Medicare that locks seniors into one card for up to a year but allows
the corporations offering the cards to change their prices once a
week.  Source: Washington Post
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&amp;contentId=A54971-2004Apr29&amp;notFound=true>

61. The Bush Administration blocked efforts to allow Medicare to
negotiate cheaper prescription drug prices for seniors.  Source:
American Progress <http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&amp;b=24890>

62. At the behest of the french fry industry, the Bush Administration
USDA changed their definition of fresh vegetables to include frozen
french fries.  Source: commondreams.org
<http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0615-02.htm>

63. In a case before the Supreme Court, the Bush Administrations sided
with HMOs--arguing that patients shouldn't be allowed to sue HMOs when
they are improperly denied treatment. With the Administration's help,
the HMOs won.  Source: ABC News
<http://abcnews.go.com/wire/Politics/ap20040622_165.html>

64. The Bush Administration went to court to block lawsuits by
patients who were injured by defective prescription drugs and medical
devices.  Source:  <http://> Washington Post 
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A50163-2004Apr4?language=printer>

65. President Bush signed a Medicare law that allows companies that
reduce healthcare benefits for retirees to receive substantial
subsidies from the government. Source: Bloomberg News
<http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&amp;sid=afbDpPGzrT9w&amp;refer=us>

66. Since President Bush took office, more than 5 million people have
lost their health insurance.
Source: CNN.com  <http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/08/26/census.poverty.ap> 

67. The Bush Administration blocked a proposal to ban the use of
arsenic-treated lumber in playground equipment, even though it
conceded it posed a danger to children.
Source: Miami Herald  <http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/7179884.htm> 

68. One day after President Bush bragged about his efforts to help
seniors afford healthcare, the Administration announced the largest
dollar increase of Medicare premiums in history.
Source: iht.com  <http://www.iht.com/articles/537385.htm> 

69. The Bush Administration--at the behest of the tobacco
industry--tried to water down a global treaty that aimed to help curb
smoking. Source: tobaccofreekids.org 
<http://tobaccofreekids.org/Script/DisplayPressRelease.php3?Display=633>

70. The Bush Administration has spent $270 million on abstinence-only
education programs even though there is no scientific evidence
demonstrating that they are effective in dissuading teenagers from
having sex or reducing the transmission of sexually transmitted
diseases.
Source: salon.com  <http://archive.salon.com/news/feature/2004/02/24/abstinence/print.html>

71. The Bush Administration slashed funding for programs that
suggested ways, other than abstinence, to avoid sexually transmitted
diseases. Source: LA Weekly 
<http://www.laweekly.com/ink/04/31/news-ireland.php>

ENVIRONMENT 

72. The Bush Administration gutted clean-air standards for aging power
plants, resulting in at least 20,000 premature deaths each year.
Source: cta.policy.net 
<http://cta.policy.net/proactive/newsroom/release.vtml?id=24900&amp;PROACTIVE_ID=cecfcfccc6cfc6c9c6c5cecfcfcfc5cececdcac8c8c6cecbcdc5cf>

73. The Bush Administration eliminated protections on more than 200
million acres of public lands. Source: calwild.org
<http://www.calwild.org/press/nowild_nytimes050403.php>

74. President Bush broke his promise to place limits on carbon dioxide
emissions, an essential step in combating global warming.  Source:
Washington Post <http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A46212-2003Dec31?language=printer>

75. Days after 9/11, the Bush Administration told people living near
Ground Zero that the air was safe--even though they knew it
wasn't--subjecting hundreds of people to unnecessary, debilitating
ailments. Sierra Club  <http://www.sierraclub.org/groundzero/> , EPA
<http://www.epa.gov/oig/reports/2003/WTC_report_20030821.pdf>

76. The Bush Administration created a massive tax loophole for
SUVs--allowing, for example, the write-off of the entire cost of a new
Hummer. Source: Washington Post 
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A1861-2003Sep25?language=printer>

77. The Bush Administration put former coal-industry big shots in the
government and let them roll back safety regulations, putting miners
at greater risk of black lung disease. Source: New York Times
<http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/09/politics/09coal.html?hp>

78. The Bush Administration said that even though the weed killer
atrazine was seeping into water supplies--creating, among other
bizarre creatures, hermaphroditic frogs--there was no reason to
regulate it. Source: Washington Post
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A3733-2004Aug15.html>

79. The Bush Administration has proposed cutting the budget of the
Environmental Protection Agency by $600 million next year. Source:
ems.org <http://www.ems.org/bush_budget/FY05_analysis.pdf>

80. President Bush broke his campaign promise to end the maintenance
backlog at national parks. He has provided just 7 percent of the funds
needed, according to National Park Service estimates.
Source: bushgreenwatch.org <http://www.bushgreenwatch.org/mt_archives/000026.php> 

RIGHTS AND LIBERTIES 

81. Since 9/11, Attorney General John Ashcroft has detained 5,000
foreign nationals in antiterrorism sweeps; none have been convicted of
a terrorist crime. Source: hrwatch.org
<http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20041004&amp;s=cole>

82. The Bush Administration ignored pleas from the International
Committee of the Red Cross to stop the abuse of prisoners in US
custody. Source: Wall Street Journal
<http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB108384106459803859,00.html?mod=home_whats_news_us>

83. In violation of international law, the Bush Administration hid
prisoners from the Red Cross so the organization couldn't monitor
their treatment.  Source: hrwatch.org
<http://www.hrwatch.org/english/docs/2004/09/10/usint9338.htm>

84. The Bush Administration, without ever charging him with a crime,
arrested US citizen José Padilla at an airport in Chicago, held him on
a naval brig in South Carolina for two years, denied him access to a
lawyer and prohibited any contact with his friends and family.
Source: news.findlaw.com
<http://news.findlaw.com/wp/docs/padilla/padrums121803opn.pdf>

85. President Bush's top legal adviser wrote a memo to the President
advising him that he can legally authorize torture. Source:
news.findlaw.com <http://news.findlaw.com/wp/docs/torture/30603wgrpt.html>

86. At the direction of Bush Administration officials, the FBI went
door to door questioning people planning on protesting at the 2004
political conventions.  Source: New York Times
<http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/16/politics/campaign/16fbi.html?hp>

87. The Bush Administration refuses to support the creation of an
independent commission to investigate the abuse of foreign prisoners
in American custody. Instead, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld
selected the members of a commission to review the conduct of his own
department.  Source: humanrightsfirst.org
<http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/us_law/PDF/detainees/Military_Leaders_Letter_President_Bush_FINAL.pdf>

FLIP FLOPS 

88. President Bush opposed the creation of the 9/11 Commission before
he supported it, delaying an essential inquiry into one of the
greatest intelligence failure in American history.  Source:
americanprogressaction.org
<http://www.americanprogressaction.org/site/pp.asp?c=klLWJcP7H&amp;b=118263>

89. President Bush said gay marriage was a state issue before he
supported a constitutional amendment banning it. Sources: CNN.com
<http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0002/15/lkl.00.html> , White House
<http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/02/20040224-2.html>

90. President Bush said he was committed to capturing Osama bin Laden
"dead or alive" before he said, "I truly am not that concerned about
him." Source: americanprogressaction.org
<http://www.americanprogressaction.org/site/pp.asp?c=klLWJcP7H&amp;b=118263>

91. President Bush said we had found weapons of mass destruction in
Iraq, before he admitted we hadn't found them.  Sources: White House
<http://www.whitehouse.gov/g8/interview5.html> , americanprogress.org
<http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&amp;b=28200>

92. President Bush said, "You can't distinguish between Al Qaeda and
Saddam when you talk about the war on terror," before he admitted
Saddam had no role in 9/11.  Sources: White House
<http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/09/20020925-1.html> ,
Washington Post <http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A25571-2003Sep17?language=printer>

BIOGRAPHY 

93. George Bush didn't come close to meeting his commitments to the
National Guard. Records show he performed no service in a six-month
period in 1972 and a three-month period in 1973.
Source: boston.com <http://www.boston.com/news/politics/president/bush/articles/2004/09/08/bush_fell_short_on_duty_at_guard/>

94. In June 1990 George Bush violated federal securities law when he
failed to inform the SEC that he had sold 200,000 shares of his
company, Harken Energy. Two months later the company reported
significant losses and by the end of that year the stock had dropped
from $3 to $1.
Source: The Guardian <http://www.guardian.co.uk/bush/story/0,7369,752706,00.html> 

95. When asked at an April 2004 press conference to name a mistake he
made during his presidency, Bush couldn't think of one. Source: White
House <http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/04/20040413-20.html>

SECRECY 

96. The Bush Administration refuses to release twenty-seven pages of a
Congressional report that reportedly detail the Saudi Arabian
government's connections to the 9/11 hijackers.
Source: philly.com <http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/nation/9591690.htm?1c> 

97. Last year the Bush Administration spent $6.5 billion creating 14
million new classified documents and securing old secrets--the highest
level of spending in ten years.
Source: openthegovernment.org
<http://www.openthegovernment.org/otg/secrecy_reportcard.pdf>

98. The Bush Administration spent $120 classifying documents for every
$1 it spent declassifying documents. Source: openthegovernment.org
<http://www.openthegovernment.org/otg/secrecy_reportcard.pdf>

99. The Bush Administration has spent millions of dollars and defied
numerous court orders to conceal from the public who participated in
Vice President Cheney's 2001 energy task force.
Source: Washington Post <http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/12/15/scotus.cheney/> 

100. The Bush Administration--reversing years of bipartisan
tradition--refuses to answer requests from Democratic members of
Congress about how the White House is spending taxpayer money.
Source: Washington Post
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A9708-2003Nov6?language=printer>

 
and to answer your question about whether I think Kerry would do this
sort of thing, no I don't.

cheers, timespacette

Beautiful, timespacette, beautiful.  I thank you, and I hope many see
this.  But monroe22's question was disingenuous, it seems.  It wasn't
a sincere inquiry asking for a reasoned response.  It was bait, as
revealed by the mocking and insulting tone instead of a will to honest
discussion.  How fitting.  I'll remember that.

Archae0pteryx

timespacette-ga, and others: Yes, certainly it was a bait.
Timespacette took it, hook, line and sinker, once again proving how
naive she (presumably a she) is. All that research to convince us that
she is, of course, the guardian of the eternal truths, and all who
disagree with her are fools. Laughable.
monroe22

Hello Monroe,
I haven't used any adjectives on you, sir, or called anyone a fool, or
even implied it. Not even GWB, who I believe is more clever than he
lets on.  Okay, alright, so I did call him a coward and a chicken
hawk, true.  But it's not a matter of 'hating Bush'. We's all God's
chillun, if you know what ah mean. I just hope someone, or several
people, will read what's here and do some serious considering before
marking up their ballots on Tuesday.

As for all my "research", it's the age of cut and paste, you silly goose!

ooops!  there I go!    

Well, to respond to your original request, which was: "just give me a
plausible, repeat, plausible reply why I should vote for someone with vague,
dificult to implement plans..." 
the five star answer to that is ...
a) anybody's plan is inherently ephemeral, and 
b) "vote for Kerry because he's not George W. Bush"
... which was my only point in laying out the hundred reasons why.  I
am not in the 'anybody but Bush' camp. I think John Kerry is a
perfectly acceptable alternative to the path of self destruction.

so now that it's come to name-calling I think I'll say goodbye; thanks
for the bait and all the cookies ...
yours,
timespacette

Plans always are difficult or ephemereal. And most are sheer pretence.

Many years ago, I worked for a very large Canadian multi-national
whose Prez had decided to diversify into a somewhat similar range of
heavy equipment.

My job was to produce a financial justification for a new facility in
the UK so I took the production requirements as a starting point and
visited the three existing facilities to enquire if we really needed
another facility.

The General Managers at each facility told the same story. Each had
ample spare capacity and would love the additional workload ... so I
made my recommendation accordingly.

The MD then explained to me that the Prez really wanted a new facility!

So I quickly re-worked the analysis to justify the investment and
Guess What? the proposal was flown to Canada the following day and the
approval came back across the wire a few hours later!

There had never been a quicker response, ever!

And I became the blue-eyed boy ... promotion, the lot!

But I felt such a fraud.

Yes, the new facility did get built but of course it soon closed ...
at a great loss.

But by that time I had moved on to produce similar fictional figures
for other multi-nationals.

Never believe anything that sounds plausible.

It doesn't matter on whether someone vote for Bush, Kerry, no one at
all, or even don't know that there's election. Considering that both
Bush and Kerry are controlled by the same group of people and the
result of the election is already been decided before there's even a
voting.


So the question is, why would anyone care at all about the election?



> Do you actually BELIEVE the President of the US is a powerless wimp
> who cannot possibly make secret things happen?

Well... In regard of wimp, it's up to each person, but he or she is
certainly powerless.

The last president who try to gain power got assasinated remember?

In other words, no, it doesn't matter on who become president and
which party become the ruling party, because the result would be still
the same.