I should have noted that celebrated author, producer, director and physician died last November.
Interesting quote which shows he is at least not of the radical right like his predecessor. Although I don't think Bush is really of that persuasion - I think it was a persona he took that he and his advisers thought would win him votes.
"My fellow Americans," Bush said, "at long last, we have reached the end of the dark period in American history that will come to be known as the Clinton Era, eight long years characterized by unprecedented economic expansion, a sharp decrease in crime, and sustained peace overseas. The time has come to put all of that behind us."
Bush swore to do "everything in [his] power" to undo the damage wrought by Clinton's two terms in office, including selling off the national parks to developers, going into massive debt to develop expensive and impractical weapons technologies, and passing sweeping budget cuts that drive the mentally ill out of hospitals and onto the street.
During the 40-minute speech, Bush also promised to bring an end to the severe war drought that plagued the nation under Clinton, assuring citizens that the U.S. will engage in at least one Gulf War-level armed conflict in the next four years.
"You better believe we're going to mix it up with somebody at some point during my administration," said Bush, who plans a 250 percent boost in military spending. "Unlike my predecessor, I am fully committed to putting soldiers in battle situations. Otherwise, what is the point of even having a military?"
On the economic side, Bush vowed to bring back economic stagnation by implementing substantial tax cuts, which would lead to a recession, which would necessitate a tax hike, which would lead to a drop in consumer spending, which would lead to layoffs, which would deepen the recession even further.
Wall Street responded strongly to the Bush speech, with the Dow Jones industrial fluctuating wildly before closing at an 18-month low. The NASDAQ composite index, rattled by a gloomy outlook for tech stocks in 2001, also fell sharply, losing 4.4 percent of its total value between 3 p.m. and the closing bell.
Asked for comment about the cooling technology sector, Bush said: "That's hardly my area of expertise."
Turning to the subject of the environment, Bush said he will do whatever it takes to undo the tremendous damage not done by the Clinton Administration to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. He assured citizens that he will follow through on his campaign promise to open the 1.5 million acre refuge's coastal plain to oil drilling. As a sign of his commitment to bringing about a change in the environment, he pointed to his choice of Gale Norton for Secretary of the Interior. Norton, Bush noted, has "extensive experience" fighting environmental causes, working as a lobbyist for lead-paint manufacturers and as an attorney for loggers and miners, in addition to suing the EPA to overturn clean-air standards.
Bush had equally high praise for Attorney General nominee John Ashcroft, whom he praised as "a tireless champion in the battle to protect a woman's right to give birth."
"Soon, with John Ashcroft's help, we will move out of the Dark Ages and into a more enlightened time when a woman will be free to think long and hard before trying to fight her way past throngs of protesters blocking her entrance to an abortion clinic," Bush said. "We as a nation can look forward to lots and lots of babies."
Continued Bush: "John Ashcroft will be invaluable in healing the terrible wedge President Clinton drove between church and state."
The speech was met with overwhelming approval from Republican leaders.
"Finally, the horrific misrule of the Democrats has been brought to a close," House Majority Leader Dennis Hastert (R-IL) told reporters. "Under Bush, we can all look forward to military aggression, deregulation of dangerous, greedy industries, and the defunding of vital domestic social-service programs upon which millions depend. Mercifully, we can now say goodbye to the awful nightmare that was Clinton's America."
"For years, I tirelessly preached the message that Clinton must be stopped," conservative talk-radio host Rush Limbaugh said. "And yet, in 1996, the American public failed to heed my urgent warnings, re-electing Clinton despite the fact that the nation was prosperous and at peace under his regime. But now, thank God, that's all done with. Once again, we will enjoy mounting debt, jingoism, nuclear paranoia, mass deficit, and a massive military build-up."
An overwhelming 49.9 percent of Americans responded enthusiastically to the Bush speech.
"After eight years of relatively sane fiscal policy under the Democrats, we have reached a point where, just a few weeks ago, President Clinton said that the national debt could be paid off by as early as 2012," Rahway, NJ, machinist and father of three Bud Crandall said. "That's not the kind of world I want my children to grow up in."
"You have no idea what it's like to be black and enfranchised," said Marlon Hastings, one of thousands of Miami-Dade County residents whose votes were not counted in the 2000 presidential election. "George W. Bush understands the pain of enfranchisement, and ever since Election Day, he has fought tirelessly to make sure it never happens to my people again."
Bush concluded his speech on a note of healing and redemption.
"We as a people must stand united, banding together to tear this nation in two," Bush said. "Much work lies ahead of us: The gap between the rich and the poor may be wide, be there's much more widening left to do. We must squander our nation's hard-won budget surplus on tax breaks for the wealthiest 15 percent. And, on the foreign front, we must find an enemy and defeat it."
"The insanity is over," Bush said. "After a long, dark night of peace and stability, the sun is finally rising again over America. We look forward to a bright new dawn not seen since the glory days of my dad."
"Tech industry makes late bid to stop copyright law" is the headline today.
"The New Zealand Computer Society says a new law taking effect next month could see ISPs having to cut off families and businesses, if a third party accuses them of copyright breaches.
The society said today that section 92a of the Copyright (New Technologies) Amendment Act 2008 "seriously upsets the balance between the rights of copyright holders and those of computer and internet users".
Section 92a, championed by previous associate arts minister Judith Tizard, stated that ISPs must look to disconnecting the internet service of those that have been repeatedly accused of accessing copyrighted material online.
The changes have also been opposed by other groups including the internet Society of New Zealand (InternetNZ), the Telecommunications Users Association of NZ, the ISP Association of NZ, Telecommunications Carriers Forum, Women in Technology, the NZ Open Source Society.
Placing ISPs in the position where they have to act on accusation alone, without proper judicial process, places them in an impossible situation where they are expected to take an unethical stance and action by potentially denying an essential service from Kiwi families and businesses, based on the accusation of a third party, So either they risk breaching ethical standards of behaviour, or risk breaching the law.
Guilt by accusation is not acceptable in any other area of law, not appropriate in
I would guess that the political parties will be exempt from the law. Typical effort by Judith Tizard - the good news is that she lost her seat at the last election. Typical also the lack of common sense tech-idiot MP's passed such a dopey law. At one stage they were going to pass a law that we would have to destroy our CD's after 2 years if they were copy's of the originals (Backups). Also it is still illegal to format shift video!! Who said the lunatics are running the asylum.
Sorry to hear about Steve Jobs aving to step down from Apple. With pancreatic cancer things are not looking good.
Patrick McGoohan - Prisoner Number 6 - is dead at 80. I remember when TV was first introduced to NZ friends up the road had it and my brother would go and watch.
I had little interest in watching, as most of it seemed to be rubbish - probably still is. The only program I can remember that seemed even half decent was Danger Man, starring Patrick McGoohan. It seemed the only thing with a bit of intelligence.
Figures out this week show our TV viewing is rising. Defeats me as I know I watch less now due to the Internet. Sport and News. Nothing else on Free To Air. I always tape the films on Sky - I say tape but they are mostly on the Hard Drive Recorder - then if they are rubbish I delete them. It is odd but I can usually tell within 10-15 minutes if a film is worth watching.
Halfway through the first month already. Christine and Angela have gone to Palmerston North today taking Sophia along for the ride.
Tried to post this as usual in Arial Font but it keeps reverting to Georgia. Why is beyond me. Tried Verdana but it does the same. Must be a Blogger fault. (Later in trying to correct it, it seems to have fixed itself except the colour changed - so I've changed it back!!)
First Quiz night of the year last night but only 6 teams. We shared the bonus with two other teams and came 2nd. Not much $$$ but it was fun. Bonus was a pure guess of a soccer score. We called ourselves "Zealand New is not a stupid name. Yeah Right!" after the idiot who recently called her child Zealand-New. The other members of the family also had idiotic names.
Cricket was a washout. Incredibly the weather has been great but everywhere the Windies went it rained - even in Napier.
Just happened to notice that next Monday is Anniversary Day. Not working means I tend not to notice any holidays sneaking up.
Talking Work:-
IT IS 1944, and there is a war on. In a joint army and air force headquarters somewhere in
At that point, an odd thing happens - nothing at all. The paper flood ceases; the war goes on regardless. As Major Parkinson later mused: "There had never been anything to do. We'd just been making work for each other."
That feeling might be familiar to many working in large organisations, where decisions can seem to be bounced between layers of management in a whirl of consultation, circulation, deliberation and delegation. It led Major Parkinson - in civilian dress, C. Northcote
Parkinson, naval historian, theorist of bureaucracy and humorist. This is "Parkinson's law", first published in an article of 1955, which states: work expands to fill the time available for its completion.
