Subj:	Fw: SHOCKER! : ...***Know what your President is Doing?
Date:	3/3/02 8:39:40 AM Pacific Standard Time

       Subject: KNOW WHAT YOUR PRESIDENT IS DOING

What the President has done in his first 6 months

By:  Dr. David A. Sprintzen Professor of Philosophy Co-Director,
Institute for Sustainable Development
C.W. Post College,Long Island University
720 Northern Boulevard
Brookville, NY 11548-1300
(516)299-3051 fax: (516) 299-4140 dsprintz@liu.edu

The First Six Months of George W. Bush: Whatever your beliefs, know
what your President is doing. Here is a list of his work in his first
six months:

* Significantly eased field-testing controls of genetically engineered
crops.
* Cut federal spending on libraries by $39 million.
* Cut $35 million in funding for doctors to get advanced pediatric
training.
* Cut by 50% funding for research into renewable energy sources.
* Revoked rules that reduced the acceptable levels of arsenic in
drinking water.
* Blocked rules that would require federal agencies to offer
   bilingual assistance to non-English speaking persons. This, from a
   candidate who would readily fire-up his Spanish-speaking skills in
   front of would-be Hispanic voters.
* Proposed to eliminate new marine protections for the Channel
   Islands and the coral reefs of northwest Hawaii (San Francisco
   Chronicle, April 6, 2001).
* Cut funding by 28% for research into cleaner, more efficient cars
and trucks.
* Suspended rules that would have strengthened the government's
   ability to deny contracts to companies that violated workplace
   safety, environmental, and other federal laws.
* OK'd Interior Department appointee Gale Norton to send out letters
   to state officials soliciting suggestions for opening up national
   monuments for oil and gas drilling, coal mining, and foresting.
* Appointed John Negroponte--an unindicted high level Iran Contra
   figure--to the post of United Nations ambassador.
* Abandoned a campaign pledge to invest $100 million for rain forest
   conservation.
* Reduced by 86% the Community Access Program for public hospitals,
   clinics, and providers of care for people without insurance.
* Rescinded a proposal to increase public access to information about
   the potential consequences resulting from chemical plant accidents.
* Suspended rules that would require hardrock miners to clean up
   sites on Western public lands.
* Cut $60 million from a Boy's and Girl's Clubs of America program
   for public housing.
* Proposed to eliminate a federal program designed to help
   communities (and successfully used in Seattle) prepare for natural
   disasters.
* Pulled out of the 1997 Kyoto Treaty global warming agreement.
* Cut $200 million of work force training for dislocated workers.
* Eliminated funding for the Wetlands Reserve Program, which
   encourages farmers to maintain wetlands habitat on their property.
* Cut program to provide childcare to low-income families as they
   move from welfare to work.
* Cut a program that provided prescription contraceptive coverage to
   federal employees (though it still pays for Viagra).
* Cut $700 million in capital funds for repairs in public housing.
* Appointed Otto Reich--an unindicted high level Iran Contra
   figure--to Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs.
* Cut Environmental Protection Agency budget by $500 million.
* Proposed to curtail the ability of groups to sue in order to get an
   animal placed on the Endangered Species List.
* Rescinded rule that mandated increased energy-saving efficiency
   regulations for central air conditioners and heat pumps.
* Repealed work place ergonomic rules designed to improve worker
   health and safety.
* Abandoned campaign pledge to regulate carbon dioxide (CO2), the
   waste gas that contributes to global warming.
* Banned federal aid to international family planning programs that
   offer abortion counseling with other independent funds.
* Closed White House Office for Women's Health Initiatives and
Outreach.
* Nominated David Lauriski--ex-mining company executive--to post of
   Assistant Secretary of Labor for Mine Safety and Health.
* O.K.'d Interior Secretary Gale Norton to go forth with a
   controversial plan to auction oil and gas development tracts off the
   coast east of Florida.
* Announced intention to open up Montana's Lewis and Clark National
   Forest to oil and drilling.
* Proposes to re-draw boundaries of nation's monuments, which would
   technically allow oil and gas drilling "outside" of national
monuments.
* Gutted White House AIDS Office.
* Renegotiating free trade agreement with Jordan to eliminate
   safeguards for the environment and workers' rights.
* Will no longer seek guidance from The American Bar Association in
   recommendations for the federal judiciary appointments.
* Appointed recycling foe Lynn Scarlett as Undersecretary of the
Interior.
* Took steps to abolish the White House Council on Environmental
Quality.
* Cut the Community Oriented Policing Services program.
* Allowed Interior Secretary Gale Norton to shelve citizen-led
   grizzly bear re-introduction plan scheduled for Idaho and Montana
   wilderness.
* Continues to hold up federal funding for stem cell research
projects.
* Makes sure convicted misdemeanor drug users cannot get financial
   aid for college, though convicted murderers can.
* Refused to fund continued cleanup of uranium-slag heap in Utah.
* Refused to fund continued litigation of the government's tobacco
   company lawsuit.
* Proposed a $2 trillion tax cut, of which 43% will go to the
   wealthiest 1% of Americans.
* Signed a bill making it harder for poor and middle-class Americans
   to file for bankruptcy, even in the case of daunting medical bills.
* Appointed a Vice President quoted as saying, "If you want to do
   something about carbon dioxide emissions, then you ought to build
   nuclear power plants" (Vice President Dick Cheney on "Meet the
Press").
* Appointed Diana "There is no gender gap in pay" Roth to the
   Council of Economic Advisers (Boston Globe, March 28, 2001).
* Appointed Kay Cole James--an opponent of affirmative action--to
   direct the Office of Personnel Management.
* Cut $15.7 million earmarked for states to investigate cases of
   child abuse and neglect.
* Helped kill a law designed to make it tougher for teenagers to get
   credit cards.
* Proposed elimination of the "Reading Is Fundamental" program
   that gives free books to poor children.
* Is pushing for development of small nuclear weapons to attack
   deeply buried targets--weapons, which would violate the
Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
* Proposes to nominate Jeffrey Sutton--attorney responsible for the
   recent case weakening the Americans with Disabilities Act--to
federal appeals court judgeship.
* Proposes to reverse regulation protecting 60 million acres of
   national forest from logging and road building.
* Eliminated funding for the "We the People" education program
   which taught school children about the Constitution, the Bill of
Rights, and citizenship.
* Appointed John Bolton--who opposes nonproliferation treaties and
   the U.N.--to Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and
   International Security.
* Nominated Linda Fisher--an executive with Monsanto--for the number
   two job at the Environmental Protection Agency.
* Nominated Michael McConnell--leading critic of the separation of
   church and state--to a federal judgeship.
* Nominated Terrence Boyle--- ardent opponent of civil rights--to a
   federal judgeship.
* Canceled 2004 deadline for automakers to develop prototype high
mileage cars.
* Nominated Harvey Pitts--lawyer for teen sex video distributor--to
head SEC.
* Nominated John Walters--strong opponent of prison drug treatment
   programs--for Drug Czar (Washington Post, May 16, 2001).
* Nominated J. Steven Giles--an oil and coal lobbyist--for Deputy
   Secretary of the Interior.
* Nominated Bennett Raley--who advocates repealing the Endangered
   Species Act-for Assistant Secretary for Water and Science.
* Is seeking the dismissal of class-action lawsuit filed in the U.S.
   against Japan by Asian women forced to work as sex slaves during
WWII.
* Earmarked $4 million in new federal grant money for HIV and drug
   abuse prevention programs to go only to religious groups and not
   secular equivalents.
* Reduced by 40% the Low Income Home Assistance Program for
   low-income individuals who need assistance paying energy bills.
* Nominated Ted Olson--who has repeatedly lied about his involvement
   with the Scaiffe--funded "Arkansas Project" to bring down Bill
   Clinton-for Solicitor General.
* Nominated Terrance Boyle--foe of civil rights--to a federal
judgeship.
* Proposes to ease permit process--including environmental
   considerations--for refinery, nuclear, and hydroelectric dam
   construction (Washington Post, May 18, 2001).
* Proposes to give government the authority to take private property
   through eminent domain for power lines.
* Proposes that $1.2 billion in funding for alternative renewable
   energy come from selling oil and gas lease tracts in the Alaska
   National Wildlife Reserve.
* Plans on serving genetically engineered foods at all official
   government functions.
* Forced out Forest Service chief Mike Dombeck and appointed a timber
   industry lobbyist
:
***To me, the brutal, soul-less ASSAULT on Afghanistan tops this list.