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Bush Says Americans 'Ought to Have' Broadband and a Pony by 2007
wrttnwrd writes "George Bush is calling for universal broadband by 2007. He doesn't say how, or who's going to pay for it, or who's going to build it, but hey, isn't almost good enough? (for all of you Boondocks readers out there)" First step to universal broadband: don't have your Justice Department argue against communities providing their own broadband service. And don't forget the pony!
Not quite. During the civil war, General William Tecumseh Sherman issued an order to provide some blacks with 40 acres, and for the army to loan them mules. However, he had no authority to do this, so his order (and promises) were worthless.
http://www.snopes.com/business/taxes/blacktax.a
Tarsnap: Online backups for the truly paranoid
This is not recorded anywhere in any historical document. This is a legend that has been passed on over the years.
If it is a legend then I don't know what to make of this:
From Order by the Commander of the Military Division of the Mississippi, January 15, 1865:
"The three parties named will subdivide the land, under the supervision of the Inspector, among themselves and such others as may choose to settle near them, so that each family shall have a plot of not more than (40) forty acres of tillable ground, and when it borders on some water channel, with not more than 800 feet water front, in the possession of which land the military authorities will afford them protection, until such time as they can protect themselves, or until Congress shall regulate their title."
Nothing about mules, but still...
"You are only young once, but you can be immature forever." -www.animemusicvideos.org
5.6% unemployment: Low for Clinton, High for Bush.
The Bureau of Labour Statistics doesn't agree with you.
During Clinton's term in office, the unemployment rate dropped from 7.5% to 4.0%. During the first three years of Bush's term, it rose from 4.0% to 6.0%.
Tarsnap: Online backups for the truly paranoid
A few points.
First, we're up to 591 now.
Second, America's large-scale deployment lasted from 1965-1973. So the 56,000 casualties were spread out over eight years. While I'm glad that we're only losing around 600 troops a year rather than 7000, "It's not as bad as Vietnam, so it must be okay" doesn't strike me as a healthy perspective.
You want the truthiness? You can't handle the truthiness!
Even though this is from 1994 let me guess that the survey asked for landlines and the increase is due to switch to mobile. Second I did a little googeling and it seems the the Phone question was one of the ones targeted as a NOSY question and a few groups were advocating "Just say no" to that one.
Young men even in the lower income bracket is the one with the most discretionary money.
Meaning most likely wrong and the portion that is "right" it is of Choice not Necessity
Help fight continental drift.
The story is a little onesided. Kerry thinks everybody should have broadband, too. Check the CBS article Bush, Kerry see broadband as election issue. If it asks for a member ID and a password, use "memberid" and "password" respectively. Bush says he wants broadband for everybody by 2007, Kerry says he wants to spur technologies that will bring broadband to everybody. Same thing. However, on slashdot, we're only allowed to point out when Republicans say stupid things, not when Democrats do. Didn't you read the F.A.Q.?
We don't have a state-run media we have a media-run state.
1. Anger most of the population
I know you're just trying to be funny, but let's look at this a little more closely, hmm?
Newsweek, 3/26: 49% favorable job approval; 47% likely to vote for the president. The other polls are pretty close, within a percent or two. Given that the polls have margins of error of 3-5%, all we can conclude is that about half of the people in the country right now think the president is doing a good job and plan to vote to re-elect him.
Does that sound like "most of the population" is "angered" to you? Because it sounds more like a very small segment of the population is "angered" to me, that a larger segment is dissatisfied, and that about half are either satisfied or pleased.
How about a little honesty, huh?
Here's the link. The urban legend is the idea that there was a bill passed recently with this title that gave blacks credit on their income tax as a slavery reparation. The IRS claims to have gotten over 100k bogus tax returns claiming this refund (and apparently they mistakenly did send refunds to many of those). But the story of freed slaves being promised "40 Acres and a Mule" after the end of slavery is not really an urban legend, although the person promising had no authority to do so. And the phrase was used throughout the twentieth century as a symbol of America's failure to deal responsibly with the legacy of slavery.
Except the AWOL aligations were false, and the White House proved otherwise. This was a blatent attempt of the Democrats to portray John Kerry as the "war hero" while Bush as a deserter.
1 -bush-guard-usat_x.htm
In fact, the White House didn't have a leg to stand on. They talked out their asses for a while until they convinced everyone who doesn't pay attention that they had a case. If you paid attention, like I did, you'd have a different view. To give you some documentation, I googled it. Here's a good article on the subject:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2004-02-1
It's from USA Today. A relevant excerpt (boldfaces mine):
In an interview that aired Sunday on NBC's Meet the Press, Bush said he fulfilled his Guard commitment and offered to make his records public. Host Tim Russert asked, "Would you authorize the release of everything to settle this?" Bush replied, "Yes, absolutely."
Since then, White House officials have released only documents concerning whether Bush fulfilled his service obligations. White House statements have not addressed the release of any papers that could show disciplinary actions, medical exams, legal scrapes and the like.
On Tuesday, the White House released pay records from a military archive in Denver that it said showed Bush was paid for at least the minimum training time he was obligated for in 1972 and 1973.
But the records showed only what days he was paid for, not where he was or what duty he performed. Neither did they address outstanding questions about why Bush missed a required physical in 1972, forcing him to stop flying, or what happened during a five-month gap in 1972 when Bush didn't show up for training.
Here's another article for your perusal (boldfacing mine, again):
White House press secretary Scott McClellan said the records "show that he was paid for his service, and you get paid for the days on which you serve."
That's the proof the white house had, BTW. Pay records. I've heard members of the national guard at the time say that they had managed to get paid without even showing up for duty. We'll assume for the sake of argument that GWB was 'getting paid for the days on which he served,' though:
The records indicate that between May 1972 and May 1973, Bush served 14 days -- two days in October, four days in November, six days in January and two days in April. The White House offered no indication of why there was a gap in Bush's service from April to October, 1972.
That's a five month gap. Nobody knows where he was during those five months.
AWOL----absent for 30 days or less.
Desertion-----absent for more than 30 days with evidence of no intent to return to duty.
Five months-----150 days
PUBLIC SPLIT ON WHETHER BUSH IS A DIVIDER -CNN scrolling banner, 10/15/2004
CANADA:
Life expectancy at birth:
Definition Field Listing Rank Order
total population: 79.83 years
female: 83.38 years (2003 est.)
male: 76.44 years
(http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/g
USA:
Life expectancy at birth:
Definition Field Listing Rank Order
total population: 77.14 years
female: 80.05 years (2003 est.)
male: 74.37 years
(http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/g