Four years ago when Gore won the popular vote and the Supremes appointed Dubya the anger was palpable. It still is, and to many of us it was clear that Bush fully planned to do as much damage as possible in the first four years lest he suffer the fate of his father, not getting a second term. He has done just that. The deregulation that Reagan visited on the U.S. in the 1980s is a drop in the bucket compared to all of the reversals of programs and the dismantling of social services and other departments. What Bush has done to education is ridiculous. The only people who are truly better off are the very rich, and that's obscene. Need more money for the war? Okay, lets take it away from the CHiPS program. (Health care for poor children). Tens of thousands of children were dropped from the rolls here in Texas alone.

When the Kerry health plan was put forward, one of the conservative think tanks plonked a $1.5 trillion in ten years pricetag on it (where did they get the number?) with the remark ("we're assuming it would work, so this is how much it would take.") Wasn't anyone else paying attention? Bush doesn't have a real plan, and health care in the U.S. doesn't work for millions of people. Tax breaks don't cut it--too many people have other needs for the money than paying for health insurance out of their own pocket for a miniscule tax return. Truth be told, health care hasn't worked for a anyone, any administration, for as long as we've been around, but it was getting better. CHiPS was a substantial start. (And Hillary DID have the right idea!) Bush cut back or dismantled what had been working. So pull up your socks and plan to spend as much as it will take to fix health care (or live with the pissant amount Bush is going to spend while he quips "Don't get sick!")

from Factcheck.org

The Bush ad gives Kerry's plan a "1.5 trillion dollar price tag" and the figure is shown twice on screen during the ad. What the ad doesn't say is that the figure covers a full 10 years, and that it's the highest of three independent estimates issued so far. The figure comes from a study by the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative, pro-business think tank in Washington.

But as we've previously reported, the Bush campaign originally quoted a study by Ken Thorpe of Emory University, who estimates the total cost of Kerry's plan to be $653 billion over 10 years. A third study released later by The Lewin Group concluded that Kerry's plan would cost about $1.25 trillion over 10 years.

The estimates all agree that Kerry's ambitious and expensive plan would provide health coverage for a large portion of the 45 million who currently lack it. The American Enterprise Institute put the figure of those who would gain insurance at 24 million, the Lewin Group put it at 25 million and Thorpe is estimating 27 million.

There are always choices that have to be made, and one assumes that the person in charge has the best view of the "big picture." So to consciously lie to the congress and the American public (and the rest of the world) about Saddham, to start a war without any significant support (that coalition is a joke, a collection of miniscule third world countries once you get below number four on the list) and to arbitrarily wage that war instead of looking out for the people here is an ego trip of monstrous scope. Bush's big picture shows him that multinational corporations rule the world and that he wants to position American industry (and many of them are his pals) to win in this the game.

Anyone see the 20/20 about the 5000 member Saudi royal family and their collectively concupiscent lifestyle? That's what we're supporting by fighting in Iraq, the power and oil folks in the Middle East and the lifestyle they aspire to hide. George W. Bush is so busy staring into the hypnotic glazed-over Saudi eyes that he isn't able to make responsible and rational decisions as the American head of state. He's not stupid, he's not insane, he's deluded and he's as greedy as hell.

Don't believe the numbers. Get out and vote because you're determined to get this SOB out of Washington, where he never belonged in the first place.

SRS