Democrat "accomplishments?"

Reuters thinks so...



I was reading the news on the net just now, when I happened across a "story" by Reuters boasting of the 'accomplishments' of the Democrats as Congress goes into recess.

The trouble is, there are no accomplishments.

Read the story and see for yourself.

Here's the list Reuters puts out, and you will see my response in italics:

"Democrats will point to these accomplishments:

* The first minimum wage increase in a decade went into effect in July helping the lowest-paid workers. Republicans repeatedly blocked the pay hike when they controlled Congress.

I am all for everyone getting higher wages, but when it comes at the expense of shutting down small businesses, I have to say no. Increased payroll costs means higher costs passed on to consumers, less jobs available for those entering the work-force, and sometimes small businesses being forced to shut their doors. For those lucky enough to get a minimum wage job, I say count yourself fortunate. Thanks to the democrats, those jobs will be much less plentiful (and if they're able to push through a tax increase, it will get even worse.)

* Republicans lost their majority in last November's elections largely because of the Iraq war, but also due to voter disgust with ethics violations that left some Republican lawmakers and aides in jail or under investigation. Democrats pushed through ethics and lobbying reforms that public advocacy groups applauded while also saying the provisions could have been stronger. Bush is expected to sign the bill into law.

We've already been through this time and time again. Democrat scandals greatly outweigh anything that Republicans have done. Sure was interesting the timing of the Mark Foley story. Simply a "political ploy" which the Drive-By Media picked up and ran with. No, the Republicans lost their majority because they were not the conservatives that the voters had thought they were. The ethics/lobbying reforms may help some, but they were simply a token to make the Democrats look better than the ugly truth that surrounds them day after day.

* Congress passed, and Bush signed into law on Friday, a series of post-September 11 anti-terrorism steps that had been recommended by an independent commission in 2004. These include broader screening of cargo bound for the United States, allocating more federal grants to cities at high-risk of attack and improving emergency workers' communications systems so they can better coordinate during an attack or natural disaster.

This legislation has been around for far longer than January...both parties have been working hard to craft this bill for MONTHS. The dems cannot take credit for this. It's like the relief pitcher striking out the last man getting credit for winning the game when all the runs were scored in the first inning.

* The House and Senate passed different versions of a bill to significantly expand child health insurance coverage for those in low-income families not poor enough to qualify for Medicaid. Bush has threatened to veto either version, but Democrats may be able to override him.

How in the world do you Dems propose to pay for all these entitlements? Why not just give all of us free "healthcare," have the government take over the ownership of all business, abolish the free press, outlaw all religions (especially those that advocate freedom) and imprison those who won't go along? You laugh now, but Hillary is already saying a lot of this...

* The House and Senate passed bills to help students handle soaring college costs and crack down on misconduct in the student loan industry. They likely will send Bush a bill in September that goes directly to the stressed wallets of middle-class parents.

Same as above. A future bill does not count as an accomplishment. Just out of curiousity, where is the money coming from to help these college students? Let me guess...more taxes? Gutting our defense budget?

* A popular measure allowing broader stem cell research that supporters hope will help cure Parkinson's disease and other incurable illnesses was passed a second time and Bush vetoed it a second time.

A popular measure? Maybe in San Francisco, but not in the rest of the US!! EMBRYONIC stem cell research, which has NEVER shown any successful studies, is for what this legislation was asking for more funding. ADULT stem cells, umbilical cord stem cells, and others HAVE shown successful studies. Gee, I wonder why the President vetoed the Dems' bills....Hmmmmm. Passing legislation that rewards the destruction of human life is NOT an accomplishment. It's a travesty.

* Appealing to growing consumer fears of global warming and U.S. reliance on foreign oil, the Senate passed a bill mandating that cars get 40 percent better fuel efficiency and encouraging a dramatic increase in ethanol as a fuel. Democrats hope to send Bush a bill after the August recess.

Global warming? Uh...since when should the government try to change the natural progression of our planet's natural cyclic temperature change? The tiny microscopic fraction of potential temperature increase that could be attributed to humans is outweighed a million times over by the fluctuations in solar radiation and cyclic temperature change that has been noted by many scientists over and over. 30 years ago Newsweek was talking about global cooling. Last year there was a story in August saying "it's the hottest it's been in 2000 years." I would like to know what humans could have down 2000 years ago to cause those hot temperatures back then. If they didn't cause that temperature change, then it must be a....cycle. If our top people today cannot predict the weather accurately, how in the world can they say my SUV is killing polar bears? They can't!

I am all for being better stewards of the planet we have been given and the resources we use, but creating a "crisis" and then pushing legislation to somehow avert this crisis is all a ruse to allow more government control over our lives. There are other ways of accomplishing environmental stewardship. Running up the cost of corn so that scores of poor families in Mexico and Latin America cannot afford corn tortillas is not a way to save the planet (unless you're one of those population control nutjobs.)

* A fiscal 2008 budget plan passed with new controls that attempt to impose fiscal responsibility after years of huge budget deficits. Under the plan, any new tax cuts or spending increases would have to be paid for. Republicans complain there is no guarantee Bush's tax cuts will be renewed after 2010.

First of all...tax cuts have been proven to usher in MUCH MORE revenue to the general treasury that tax increases. Democrats wanting more money spent on spinach and their other pork projects instead of outfitting our troops to win the war on terror (which they do NOT want us to win, by the way) is proof of the DNC's inability to control their own spending. Cutting unnecessary pork, limiting the increases in federal dispersements, and good old-fashioned accountability will do much more than the dems throwing more bureaucracy at us. The trouble is, this disease is not limited to the dems; many republicans also showed their true colors (and greed) in the past few years, and that's why they were voted out!

* After six years of mostly getting a free pass from Republicans, the Bush administration is facing oversight by committees with probes ranging from the Justice Department's firing of federal prosecutors to the Pentagon's handling of the death in Afghanistan of ex-football player Pat Tillman.

This is an accomplishment? No, this is payback. These investigations are simply a payback for the investigation into the Clinton-Lewinsky-Wag the Dog scandal. Henry Waxman is having a field-day. Clinton fired ALL of the attorneys general when he came in, and no one batted an eye. When Bush fires only fires those that he thought were not doing what he had asked, then there's an investigation. Pat Tillman's situation is one of many that our military has had to deal with over the centuries. It is not a Bush thing, it's a war thing.

Congress has oversite, people. Who do you think are on the committees that oversee appropriations, rules, and other aspects of our government? Senators and Representatives, that's who. No, this isn't a Congress oversite of the Executive, it's a Democrat whiny "we want our power back" oversite of a Republican President willing to take out Saddam for the butcher, liar, and threat that he was. Pathetic is what I call these "investigations." And the American People see right through it. The latest polls I heard had Congressional approval at 6%, not 33%. Bush's approval has been going up, and the last I heard it was 45% in one poll (for what that's worth...polls are so subject to error anymore with the way they're designed, I really don't trust any of them.) Keep in mind people, it is the DNC and the DBM who pay attention to and use "polls" more than the RNC. Why? Propaganda tends to work.

I know Mr. Jackson will respond with "where's your source?" for many of my retorts. I would counter that Reuters does not provide any proof for their claims; they just say "its so." Reuters, we don't buy your propaganda.