Perspective: Beware of George W. Bush's agenda

George W. Bush is dashing naive hopes that he will be a unifying centrist and a "compassionate conservative" president by announcing plans to review Bill Clinton's last-ditch actions to protect 60-million forest acres. Translation: "We'll open up that land to oil drilling and development."

His nominee for Interior secretary, Gale Norton, is a James Watt protegee who represents the "Western mentality" that Bush praises. Look for oil rigs off Florida's Gulf Coast.

A free-market advocate, Bush says he will stop any continuation of aid to help Russia move to a free market economy until it proves in advance that it is corruption-free. Huh?

He will stop any aid to world-wide family planning agencies if abortion is even mentioned, showing his utter lack of appreciation for the fact that overpopulation is the Earth's greatest crisis.

He will pay political debts by pushing his announced $1.3-trillion "make the rich richer" tax cut. The last time a Republican president carried out his tax-cut promise, it tripled the national debt. We have almost recovered fiscally under a Democratic president.

Bush is sounding like a man with a mandate, rather than one who was given the office by a partisan decision by the U.S. Supreme Court. Watch out, America!
-- Joseph F. Bohren, Tampa

Conservation devalued

George W. Bush is off to a good start, vowing to overturn the conservation efforts enacted by President Clinton. We have a Republican governor threatening to sue and two Republican senators vowing to overturn these acts in Congress or the courts.

What a shame, when we cannot leave 2 percent of the country's total land alone for future generations.
-- Doris C. Miller, St. Petersburg

Sour grapes

Re: Bill Clinton will remain a thorn in the right side, by Diane Roberts, Jan. 14.

Sour grapes strike again. Roberts can't even admit that George W. Bush won Florida, and Al Gore tried to steal the election from him through the courts. Bush won the count and the recount, and there was no legal reason to go any further than that. We don't "interpret" votes; we count votes.

And who but a sore loser cares if Bush didn't win the popular vote; it's totally irrelevant. He did win 30 states and two-thirds of the counties in the country and got enough electoral votes to win. That's why we have an Electoral College -- to protect and balance the smaller states against the larger ones.

And once and for all, Clinton was not impeached because he had sex with Monica Lewinsky. He was impeached because he broke the law by committing perjury and obstruction of justice by lying about evidence in a civil law suit. Who cares if Newt Gingrich, Bob Livingston and Henry Hyde had affairs? Once again, it's totally irrelevant. I'm surprised a college instructor can't grasp that simple fact.

Clinton has been good at two things: lying and covering his tracks by whatever means necessary. You'd better believe the paper shredders have been working overtime in Washington. It's too bad Clinton will never be held accountable for all the damage he has done to the nation. Conservatives don't hate the man; they hate what he's done to weaken the nation and the Constitution.
-- Walter Powell, Palm Harbor

Too many stains

He stained his commander-in-chief title when he dodged the draft to avoid serving.

He stained his country when he protested it in foreign lands.

He stained the presidency with his acts in the Oval Office.

He stained his marriage with an intellect below his navel.

He stained his women's rights legacy by acting as a perpetual predator rather than an advocate.

He stained our legal system with lies under oath.

He stained the confidence of our people in the presidency itself with his blatant lies to them.

This is the record, in part, of our ex-president who is leaving office with a 65 percent approval rating. God help us.

Oh, one final stain . . . that one on Monica Lewinski's dress.
-- Daniel Depoalo, Hudson

A shameful image

Re: On his watch, Jan. 14.

I was truly outraged by the editors' poor judgment in allowing Jeff Goertzen's Times photo illustration to be printed depicting my president with a cigar hanging out of his mouth. He should be remembered for all the good he did for our nation and not for what Americans had to deal with because of one human failure. Shame on you. You need to do a better job.
-- Debra L Swihart, Treasure Island

An appalling picture

Re: Clinton photo illustration.

In all the years I've been a subscriber to the St. Petersburg Times, I have never been so appalled as I was when I saw the picture of our president on the front page of last Sunday's paper. Was it really necessary to show him with a big cigar in his mouth (a reminder of the Monica Lewinsky scandal) and with disheveled hair?

I was disturbed, first of all, by the impression this would have on our youth. First, because of the Lewinsky episode and, second, because of the smoking problem of our youth. Terrible.

As for his hair, never have we seen the president with messy hair, even when he was running in the wind.

With the hundreds and thousands of pictures of Bill Clinton available, I just can't understand why you had to use this particular one.
-- Vi Swift, Belleair Bluffs

Great art work

I want to thank Jeff Goertzen for his great Sunday front page art work.
-- William Sterner, Tampa

It's not so simple

Re: Levels of viciousness are irrelevant, letter, Jan. 14.

The letter writer seems to find a simple solution to the complex problem of murder. I wish I found the problem as simple. True, he does not say that we ought to "fry" every convicted murderer, but his statement "murder is murder" and his following arguments don't leave much room for doubt.

Many of us believe that people who are totally insane should not be put to death for the crime, yet the most horrible crimes are committed by the most insane people. Can anyone believe that a man (in Milwaukee) who murders, butchers and eats his acquaintances has any spark of sanity about him? What does anyone gain by the execution of such a creature?

The letter writer says "murder is murder," but he does not deal with the problem of the innocent man/woman who is convicted of murder. There have recently been many stories in the media of convicted murderers who have been proved innocent.

Only God can be both just and merciful. We humans cannot, and we usually have no way of knowing which approach is best. It would surely help if we had convincing evidence that capital punishment reduces crime. Every opinion cited regarding capital punishment can be countered by an argument on the other side. It appears to me that murder is not a simple problem to be solved by simple solutions.
-- Nelson R. Eldred, Tampa

Show some humility

Re: See there, I told you so, by Bill Maxwell, Jan. 7.

Bill Maxwell could learn that a little humility goes a long way. In this column, he scoffs at better journalists who annually confess their gaffes of the previous year in mea culpa essays. He then pens a tribute to himself in a self-congratulatory anti-mea culpa.

Maxwell has become the journalistic equivalent of the football player who does cartwheels in the end zone and points to himself after scoring a touchdown. Bravo.
-- Thomas Farrell, Tampa

Take responsibility

Re: Military gambles with slot machines, Jan. 14.

Will it never end? Will people ever accept responsibility for their own actions? An Air Force woman loses $28,000 in slot machines at a military post, and it isn't her fault for being stupid -- it's the government's fault. She feels "the military let me down." Give us a break.

I've been thinking of suing Sara Lee bakery -- its coffee cakes are so good I'm getting fat. It's not my fault, it's the bakery's.
-- Jerry Fisher, St. Pete Beach

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