With new attacks on his favorite victim ( Iraq, see: The Iraqi Wheel of Misfortune. ( 11-18-98 ) ) continuing and renewed villifications of Independant Counsel Kenneth Starr ( see: Not safe to be an Independant Counsel ( 8-7-98 ) ), Bill Clinton goes on the campaign trail again? But what or who is he campaigning for ( about )? It seems like Clinton has decided to hedge all of his bets, so he is out, doing the two things he obviously does best: ' wag the dog ' and make promises/tell lies ( not including spending other people's hard earned money ). Okay, so these two may actually be inter-connected.
He used his last Saturday radio address in an attempt to rehabilitate any loss in his popularity with women, by proposing new spending on programs designed to ' help ' them specifically. He used this occasion to rhetorically call on the 106th Congress to pass, the ' Paycheck Fairness Act ' ( notice how the tax and spend Democrats just love the catchy names ), introduced by Tom Daschle and Rosa DeLauro, in the Senate and House respectively. This reported 14 million dollar proposal contains three new elements of bureaucracy for the socialists in the audience: 1) Triple the number of enforcement workers at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ( to make sure all the Coke cans have clean tops? ). 2) Provide technical assistance to employers on how to comply with equal pay laws ( all you folks with telemarketing experience start lining up? ). And 3) Create new public service announcements alerting women to their rights ( the right to be groped or propositioned in a vulgar manner once without the option of redress? ). This new spending bill also opens up awards for damages in lawsuits to unrestricted levels and increases the education and office expenses for the EEOC itself. It's the old throw money at it to fix it routine again, that Democrats seem to embrace with all their being!
He used a campaign-like speech this Monday to introduce more spending for his two favorite pet socialist programs to cement the central governmental control over the private lives of the people of America; education and health care. The Associated Press reported them, but I have not independantly verfied:
" The proposals, which are subject to approval by the Republican-controlled Congress, call for $190 million in increased spending in fiscal 2000 over last year's figures for adult education and family literacy programs, $368 million more for job retraining assistance, and $405 million to increase youth employment. "
" The administration is seeking a $95 million increase in adult education grants to increase the number of teachers and the resources available for adults who are learning to read. The president also proposes a 10 percent tax credit for employers who provide workplace literacy programs. For disadvantaged youth, the package calls for a new $100 million program promoting partnerships between schools and employers to reduce school dropout rates and a new $50 million program that would help empowerment zone businesses increase the number of at-risk youths hired. "
" President Clinton said today that America's booming economy presents a unique opportunity to address the nation's problems, and he proposed a $2.5 billion spending increase for the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The president announced his proposal in an East Room speech to the nation's mayors, who heartily applauded the initiative. If approved by Congress, it would raise HUD's budget to $28 billion for housing programs for the needy. "
Great, just great...Clinton announces a budget surplus and then shows us just how he will spend it for us!
Clinton continues his lies in regards to ' increasing defense spending '. Clinton always hated the military, and he only uses this fictitious increase in spending in an attempt to deceive the public. The proposed Pentagon budget is 261 billion dollars. This is 3 billion less than the 264 billion alloted to the Defense Department this year ( including an additional 4.5 billion to pay for Bosnia and Iraq operations ). So, maybe without the extra bucks for Bosnia - 1.8 billion and Iraq - 1.1 billion ( sort of reminds you of LBJ and his Vietnam escapades, huh? ), it is a very minimal increase. There is some money in there for a missile defense ( in the year 2000, 4+ billion with 1+ for research into a limited continental defense system for the United States finally ); inserted because Democrats and Republicans alike have been clammoring for it and not because it is a wonderful idea from the Whitehouse who tried to bring us Hillary's Health-care Plan of Cronyism. There are modest increases for military salaries ( reportedly, the Senate Armed Services Committee already has proposed pay increases larger than Clinton's ), but these are offset by decreases in other areas of military spending, including a bunch of proposed additional base closures ( hopefully these are not to be sold to the Red Chinese military like they tried to do with leasing the Long Beach naval yard? )! Only a confessed and experienced liar like Clinton could try to represent this sham military budget as a large and patriotic increase of spending on defense. The only increase in defense spending which Bill Clinton understands, is last month's bill from Greg Craig and David Kendall!
Interestingly, it is being reported that the Congressional Budget Office is projecting that almost one-third of the 2.6 trillion dollar surplus ( 787 billion ) could come from the non-Social Security side of the budget, beginning in 2001. If you don't know how I feel about raping the Social Security trust fund to achieve balance, read : ACCOUNT OVERDRAWN: ( 8-24-98 ) and UNPAID BALANCE. ( 9-2-98 ) . I believe we should take the trust fund off budget and use any surplus to begin repaying the National Debt, before doing anything else! Do you realize that the National Debt has almost doubled since Bill Clinton took office?
While he was doing his campaigner-in-chief thing, he neglected to mention this. NASA last week quoted Russian space officials as saying the launch of the next module for the International Space Station would be postponed until next September, because it needs more testing. Great, we flush billions of dollars down the Russian toilet via the IMF sewer-like aquaduct, and they are still over a year behind schedule! See: Clinton's IMF Flushes 5 Billion Down Russian Toilet. ( 8-28-98 ) . A friend of mine who works in the aerospace industry told me that we ( the world ) would be lucky if we received one more of the promised space station pieces before having someone else start construction on the parts promised by Russia!
Am I the only one who has a problem with this President's continued campaign-like antics? Clinton's budget includes some elements Republicans have traditionally rejected in the past to achieve the astronomical surplus numbers, including a 55-cent-a-pack increase in Federal cigarette taxes. I am not a smoker, but I do understand that one should be extra careful, when ' counting these chickens before they hatch '! This is what a distinguished Republican Senator had to say about Clinton's budget proposal, " There is no question that this document is the rebirth of big government. The president can't resist a program for every problem ", said Pete Domenici, Senate Budget Committee Chairman. That just about says it all!
- Bongo ( Is he looking for new intern talent to audition, as well? )
Updated ( 2-1-99 )
(c)1999 Bongo.