Pork at its Finest

I received this nice little ditty from the people at Citizens Against Government Waste. First of all, not one of these expenditures is something which is for the benefit of the United States of America nor do they involve national issues. These are just pork projects plain and simple. What is wrong with you America (and the people you elect) to think that the American taxpayers need to pay for streetscape design, a ferry that benefits one city, or an Opera House renov that will be used by less than .1% of the population of the USA? Did anyone notice that the examples listed are all coming from Democrats? Why, we are already in debt by $1.3 trillion dollars, what is another couple of million?!

Tell us which of the following THUD pet projects YOU think is the most wasteful, irresponsible expenditure by lawmakers in the face of our nation’s $1.3 trillion deficit:

•$6,800,000 for streetscape design in 12 cities across the country. House appropriator Norm Dicks (D-Wash.) requested the largest amount, $1,000,000 for downtown Tacoma, Wash.

•$1,750,000 requested by House appropriator Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) and Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.) for “The Wave,” a 2.7-mile downtown streetcar system in Fort Lauderdale that is estimated to cost $46 million per mile.

•$750,000 added by Reps. Shelley Berkley (D-Nev.) and Dina Tutus (D-Nev.) for the construction of a solar power array at the Three Square Food Bank in Las Vegas. According to the organization’s website, $1 can pay for three individual meals, so for the cost of the solar power array, needy citizens could receive 2,250,000 meals.

•$500,000 for a new ferry service in Berkeley, Calif. Requested by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), these federal tax dollars will pay for the acquisition of two ferries, which would come equipped with solar panels.

•$150,000 added by Rep. Mark Schauer (D-Mich.) for renovation of the Tibbits Opera House in Coldwater, Mich. According to financial information provided in the opera house’s most recent annual report, charging an additional $3.56 per ticket would offset the cost of the renovations without burdening federal taxpayers, the vast majority of whom will never visit the Tibbits Opera House.

Politicians: Wake up!

I would like to know when politicians of all makes and models will wake up to the fact that you just can't hide anything anymore! In this age of technology, speed, and information dissemination why do these silly people think that they can hide any little indiscretion? Oh, I know, it is because they are too busy trying to get more--get more for themselves (in the form of political donations as well as personal donations), get more for their state (in the form of pork, usually!), and then whatever else that will put them in a better light/position to run and do it all over again. Even people that I deemed as basically honest are coming up with some lazy excuses as to what they did and did not know about campaign contributions and who gave them, then who received state contracts. One of my favorite newsletters is the one I get from Citizens Against Government Waste. I love the fact that they point out waste that comes in the form of pork, money procured for unimportant projects, money wasted on projects, and money procured for projects that shouldn't be federally funded. This nation is so far away from what the Founding Fathers intended in this regard. The Founding Fathers had no intention for the Federal Government to support so many of these pork projects. They were very concerned that the Federal Government play a limited role and that states' rights should control the majority of laws and influence. When can we get back to this? Not any time soon, apparently because politicians continue to think that they can somehow "hide" or mask indiscretions or even things that look bad from us, the general public, and spend us into oblivion.

What we already thought but now can see

The Truth About Sarah Palin

RUN GIRL RUN !!!!!!

Very interesting facts on two very different ladies. Sarah Palin

Democrat, Independent, or Republican....the second half of this

email should make all of us very sick, send this on .....

especially the second half......

READ TO THE VERY END! VERY ENLIGHTENING!!!

AND VERY DISTURBING!!!

By Dewie Whetsell, Alaskan Fisherman.

As posted in comments on Greta's article referencing the MOVEON ad about Sarah Palin.

The last 45 of my 66 years I've spent in a commercial fishing

town in Alaska. I understand Alaska politics but never understood

national politics well until this last year. Here's the breaking point:

Neither side of the Palin controversy gets it. It's not about persona, style, rhetoric, it's about doing things. Even Palin supporters never mention the things that I'm about to mention here.

1. Democrats forget when Palin was the Darling of the Democrats,

because as soon as Palin took the Governor's office away from a fellow Republican and tough SOB, Frank Murkowski, she tore into the Republican's "Corrupt Bastards Club" (CBC) and sent them packing. Many of them are now residing in State housing and wearing orange jump suits. The Democrats reacted by skipping around the yard, throwing confetti and singing, "la la la la" (well, you know how they are). Name another governor in this country that has ever done anything similar.

2. Now with the CBC gone, there were fewer Alaskan politicians to protect the huge, giant oil companies here. So she constructed and enacted a new system of splitting the oil profits called "ACES." Exxon (the biggest corporation in the world) protested and Sarah told them, "don't let the door hit you in the stern on your way out." They stayed, and Alaska residents went from being merely wealthy to being filthy rich. Of course, the other huge international oil companies meekly fell in line. Again, give me the name of any other governor in the country that has done anything similar.

3. The other thing she did when she walked into the governor's office is she got the list of State requests for federal funding for projects, known as "pork." She went through the list, took 85% of them and placed them in the "when-hell-freezes-over" stack. She let locals know that if we need something built, we'll pay for it ourselves. Maybe she figured she could use the money she got from selling the previous governor's jet because it was extravagant. Maybe she could use the money she saved by dismissing the governor's cook (remarking that she could cook for her own family), giving back the State vehicle issued to her, maintaining that she already had a car, and dismissing her State provided security force (never mentioning - I imagine - that she's packing heat herself). I'm still waiting to hear the names of those other governors.

4. Now, even with her much-ridiculed "gosh and golly" mannerism, she also managed to put together a totally new approach to getting a natural gas pipeline built which will be the biggest private construction project in the history of North America. No one else could do it although they tried. If that doesn't impress you, then you're trying too hard to be unimpressed while watching her do things like this while baking up a batch of brownies with her other hand.

5. For 30 years, Exxon held a lease to do exploratory drilling at a place called Point Thompson. They made excuses the entire time why they couldn't start drilling. In truth they were holding it like an investment. No governor for 30 years could make them get started. Then, she told them she was revoking their lease and kicking them out. They protested and threatened court action. She shrugged and reminded them that she knew the way to the court house. Alaska won again.

6. President Obama wants the nation to be on 25% renewable resources for electricity by 2025. Sarah went to the legislature and submitted her plan for Alaska to be at 50% renewable by 2025. We are already at 25%. I can give you more specifics about things done, as opposed to style and persona. Everybody wants to be cool, sound cool, look cool. But that's just a cover-up. I'm still waiting to hear from liberals the names of other governors who can match what mine has done in two and a half years. I won't be holding my breath.

By the way, she was content to return to AK after the national election and go to work, but the haters wouldn't let her. Now these adolescent screechers are obviously not scuba divers. And no one ever told them what happens when you continually jab and pester a barracuda. Without warning, it will spin around and tear your face off. Shoulda known better.

You have just read the truth about Sarah Palin that sends the media, along with the democrat party, into a wild uncontrolled frenzy to discredit her. I guess they are only interested in skirt chasers, dishonesty, immoral people, liars, womanizers, murderers, and bitter ex-presidents' wives.

So "You go, Girl." I only wish the men in Washington had your guts, determination, honesty, and morals.

I rest my case. Only FOOLS listen to the biased media.

If you've read this far ...........now, open your eyes

First Lady Michelle Obama's Servant List and Pay Scale

First Lady Requires More Than Twenty Attendants

1. $172,2000 - Sher, Susan (Chief Of Staff)

2. $140,000 - Frye, Jocelyn C. (Deputy Assistant to the

President and Director of Policy And Projects For The First Lady)

3. $113,000 - Rogers, Desiree G. (Special Assistant to the

President and White House Social Secretary)

4. $102,000 - Johnston, Camille Y. (Special Assistant to the

President and Director of Communications for the First Lady)

5. $100,000 - Winter, Melissa E. (Special Assistant to the

President and Deputy Chief Of Staff to the First Lady)

6. $90,000 - Medina , David S. (Deputy Chief Of Staff to the First Lady)

7. $84,000 - Lelyveld, Catherine M. (Director and Press Secretary to the First Lady)

8. $75,000 - Starkey, Frances M. (Director of Scheduling and Advance for the First Lady)

9. $70,000 - Sanders, Trooper (Deputy Director of Policy and Projects for the First Lady)

10. $65,000 - Burnough, Erinn J. (Deputy Director and Deputy Social Secretary)

11. $64,000 - Reinstein, Joseph B. (Deputy Director and Deputy Social Secretary)

12. $62,000 - Goodman, Jennifer R. (Deputy Director of

Scheduling and Events Coordinator For The First Lady)

13. $60,000 - Fitts, Alan O. (Deputy Director of Advance and Trip Director for the First Lady)

14. $57,500 - Lewis, Dana M. (Special Assistant and Personal Aide to the First Lady)

15. $52,500 - Mustaphi, Semonti M. (Associate Director and

Deputy Press Secretary to The First Lady)

16. $50,000 - Jarvis, Kristen E. (Special Assistant for

Scheduling and Traveling Aide to The First Lady)

17. $45,000 - Lechtenberg, Tyler A. (Associate Director of

Correspondence For The First Lady)

18. $43,000 - Tubman, Samantha (Deputy Associate Director, Social Office)

19. $40,000 - Boswell, Joseph J. (Executive Assistant to the

Chief Of Staff to the First Lady)

20. $36,000 - Armbruster, Sally M. (Staff Assistant to the Social Secretary)

21. $35,000 - Bookey, Natalie (Staff Assistant)

22. $35,000 - Jackson, Deilia A. (Deputy Associate Director of

Correspondence for the First Lady)

(This is community organizing at it's finest.)

There has NEVER been anyone in the White House at any time who has created such an army of staffers whose sole duties are the facilitation of the First Lady's social life. One wonders why she needs so much help, at taxpayer expense, when even Hillary, only had three; Jackie Kennedy one; Laura Bush one; and prior to Mamie Eisenhower social help came from the President's own pocket.

Note: This does not include makeup artist Ingrid Grimes-Miles, 49, and "First Hairstylist" Johnny Wright, 31, both of whom traveled aboard Air Force One to Europe .

FRIENDS.....THESE SALARIES ADD UP TO SIX MILLION, THREE HUNDRED

SIXTY FOUR THOUSAND DOLLARS ($6,364,000) FOR THE 4 YEARS OF OFFICE?????

AND WE ARE IN A RECESSION????? WELL....MOST OF US ARE. I GUESS IT'S OK

TO SPEND WILDLY WHEN IT'S NOT YOUR OWN MONEY?????

Copyright 2009 CanadaFreePress.Com

Yes, I know, The Canadian Free Press has to publish this because

the USA media is too scared they might be considered racist. Sorry USA !

What can I say?? . . .

New Mosque at Ground Zero How insulting!

Please listen.



I couldn't agree more heartily! Just because something is legal, doesn't make it the right thing to do. I am sure there are other locations where the mosque could be built that wouldn't offend tender hearts. Places where the healing that has begun would not be interrupted by a blatant reminder of the evil that was done in the name of that religion. Sure we have laws that guarantee freedom of speech and religion. But the whole key to our country's greatness is the way we have been adapting over the last two hundred years to make societies that work through consideration, politeness, selflessness, that we take a matter into account and weigh it while formulating an opinion or plan, that we have thoughtful and sympathetic regard, and our opinion should be obtained by reflection. This group is well aware of the offensiveness of their plan to America. So why is America letting/encouraging this to happen? It seems to me that they could build a mosque a further distance without it having to be a reminder of the horrible things that happened. Because these people claimed to be doing the horrible deeds in the name of Islam they know that this will be a sore spot rubbed raw by the building of a mosque. The Mormon Pioneers were persecuted at their beginning in this country. So they left for the west and settled in Utah. As their church has grown and they need to add places of worship, they do everything in their power to make sure that this is backed, endorsed, and held in favorable regard by the country and community where it is going to sit. Seems like a good plan. When we all play nice together and try to get along, wonders happen! Mutual respect begets mutual respect. And with respect, hopefully, comes understanding.

Porker of the Month: Rep. Louise Slaughter

I got this little ditty from an email that I receive periodically from the Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW). See: This is exactly what I was talking about in my previous blog entry.

Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) has named House Rules Committee Chairwoman Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) Porker of the Month for conjuring up an eponymous House “rule” that would have allowed House Democrats to ram through the $2.3 trillion healthcare reform bill without directly voting on it. The invocation of the “Slaughter Rule” was one of the last steps in the tortured journey of the bloated, expensive healthcare bill. In an effort to absolve vulnerable House Democrats of having to take an unpopular vote on the Senate version of the bill without an ironclad guarantee that the Senate would later enact corrections to the most toxic provisions, Chairwoman Slaughter jury-rigged a proposed “self-enacting” rule that would allow the House to vote to “deem” the Senate bill as passed without forcing members to cast individual votes up or down. To quote former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, “Last year, the House was passing bills without reading them. This year, they’re passing bills without voting on them.” This mind-boggling disintegration of the legislative process into procedural travesty enabled by Chairwoman Slaughter provoked questions of constitutionality, fairness, and transparency, and in the end was not used to pass the abominable healthcare bill. For her mindless slaughter of the legislative process and leading an assault on the credibility of Congress, House Rules Committee Chairwoman Slaughter is CAGW’s March Porker of the Month.

Our Freedom

There is a quote over on the right side of my blog by Abraham Lincoln. It says that we will lose our freedoms through our own actions and not from outside forces. Read it. It is as true today as it was the day he said it. America needs to carefully consider who they are electing to Congress. We need to make sure that they will follow the will of the people and not be power and money hungry. By passing Obamacare, we have just given up a little more of our freedom to the federal government. This is how it happens. We give up a little power for this and a little power for that, and before you know it, you are enslaved to a federal government whose elected officials now hold all the power.

Earmarks

I read a truly enlightening article at the Wall Street Journal's web site. It was written by Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC). Look it up. This is the title of the article: Earmarks: Corrupting and Wasteful. I added a link to the title of this post.

Deem and Pass

I can't believe that the Democrats and Obama are trying a new tactic to get this health care bill passed. So the American people get clued in about the reconciliation strategy and oppose it. Now the Democrats and Obama are trying to "Deem and Pass" the bill in the Senate. I even heard Nancy Pelosi say that we should just get the bill passed and deal with the little problems in the bill later. Why are these people still in office? They are enacting legislation that the American people do not support. Legislatures are supposed to represent the people and their wishes. This seems to be lacking in a most appalling way. I also oppose the little kickbacks to states like Nebraska who buy their way out of having to participate in Obamacare. The thing is, when the founders of our country tried to unite the different states into a nation, it was a struggle. It took a long time to write up a constitution that would unite while still giving states autonomy. The states weren't willing to combine into one nation because they were afraid that they would lose their rights as a state and they weren't willing to do that. Knowing that makes this bill all the more detestable. The compulsory actions from the Federal government are infringing on states rights and on the rights of the American people. Virginia, Idaho and Utah have passed laws to nullify ObamaCare's mandate that everyone purchase health insurance.

Congress: Stop this mess!
Don't pass Obamacare!

We need a different solution.

A member of the European parliament, Daniel Hannan, told Fox News that Britain's National Health Care was a "60-year mistake." Britain's socialized medicine had brought nothing but trouble in the form of lawsuits and poor quality of care in various forms. Is this what you want, people of America? Protest LOUDER!!!

Reconciliation

In the dictionary, the word "reconcile" has several different meanings. One of those meanings is to restore to friendship or harmony. Another definition is to check (a financial account) against another for accuracy. I think that the latter is probably the definition that applies to the parliamentary process that was introduced in 1974 as a way to help "reconcile" the U.S. budget to account for changes that needed to happen because of changing economic conditions. This is usually used as a tool to reduce the deficit.

Right now, the Senate is trying to use this little "tool" to ram through Obamacare. I guess that this use of the tool would fall under another definition of "reconcile": to cause to submit to or accept something unpleasant. This is not a budget adjustment. In fact, this is really a budget increase of elephantine proportions. Robert Byrd, Senator from West Virginia, in March told the Washington Post "The misuse of the arcane process of reconciliation--a process intended for deficit reduction--to enact substantive policy changes is an undemocratic disservice to our people and to the Senate's institutional role." He was referring to health reform and cap and trade.

A funny point that the Wall Street Journal observed was what Nancy Pelosi said about getting this bill passed.

"'They know that this will take courage,' Nancy Pelosi said in an interview over the weekend, speaking of the Members she'll try to strong-arm. 'It took courage to pass Social Security. It took courage to pass Medicare,' the Speaker continued. 'But the American people need it, why are we here? We're not here just to self-perpetuate our service in Congress.'

Leave aside the irony of invoking the 'American people' on behalf of a bill that consistently has been 10 to 15 points underwater in every poll since the fall, and is getting more unpopular by the day, particularly among independents."

Does anyone think it ironic that Pelosi acts like she is not just here to "self-perpetuate" her  service in Congress? HA! What a joke! This is like the last chance the democrats have to pass Obamacare. Most people think this is an abuse of power from what I am reading. What do you think?

Pay-As-You-Go

As if I wasn't already irritated with the Obama Administration for all the money that they are spending, now I have fuel for my fire. The Administration has tried to put through a $10 billion bill that extends the jobless insurance and funds some transportation projects. Well, along comes Jim Bunning who is a Republican from Kentucky. He has threatened to put this bill on hold until the Congress or the Administration finds a way to pay for it. You would have thought he had threatened to kill all children under the age of two the way he has been vilified. However, he is just trying to play by President Obama's own rules to pay-as-you-go. The Wall Street Journal has called this Mr. Bunning's finest hour. The Journal had this to say about the reaction from Congress and the Administration:

"The faux indignation has been something to behold. 'It is simply unfair for one Senator to attempt to hold the Senate hostage,' said Senator Richard Durbin. 'Unfair,' cried Jay Rockefeller. The Obama Administration has attacked Mr. Bunning for playing 'political games' and forcing a furlough of 2,000 government workers. (The horror!)"

Gasp! I bet that didn't affect Obama or the congressional paycheck. But it affects ours. Because more money spent is more money that has to be collected from us the lucky taxpayers. Actually, I think we should throw a party for Mr. Bunning. I'd pitch in $5. After all, he tried to save us $10 billion.

(What I'd really like to know is if the Obama Administration has obeyed the pay-as-you-go rule even once.)

The Tea Party Movement

I am really liking the things I am hearing from the tea party movement. I like the ideas of smaller government, more states rights, lower taxes, greater individual liberties. I like that they are saying that the issues should be explored without attacking other people because that has no place in what the tea party is about. I like that Sarah Palin said that the Constitution provides the best road map towards a more perfect union. The United States Federal government is so far away from the intents of the the original founders of our country, and I believe that is why our country is such a wreck! I do believe that. We must stick to the Constitution and Bill of Rights. That is the only way our country can be saved from the problems that now exist and the problems that will surely surface as we go more in debt to run this country. I am staying tuned to see what the Tea Party says and does. I hope you will too.

Addendum

I would like to add to my last post. There are several problems with the huge budget that the President is proposing. One of the priceless gifts we have as a nation is that we are "free." When anyone or when a nation goes in to debt, they quickly become not free. They are no longer free because they are beholden to the ones who hold the debt. In this way, we are becoming less and less a free people as our obligations add up.

In another vein, the projects and things that the budget is proposed to be used for fall short of the inalienable rights of "the preservation of life and liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."  I read of the pork that is included in every bill proposed by Congress and I know that it has nothing to do with inalienable rights. As much as people want it to be, health care is not an inalienable right. As glad as we are to have federal help for some things, as often as not they fall into the pork category and not in the inalienable right category. If we want to be free and happy, we have to be free of debt. We also need to provide for ourselves. People who rely on the government and others for handouts and assistance do not have happiness. They might think that they do, but ask them what happiness is after they have had a chance to succeed at providing for themselves and they will give you a different definition of happiness.  Benjamin Franklin put it this way:

I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the means. I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. In my youth I traveled much, and I observed in different countries, that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer.

~Benjamin Franklin, On the Price of Corn and Management of the Poor, November 1766

Could I suggest that we lead or drive the poor out of poverty rather that leaving them to wallow in it?

The New Budget

I am fit to be tied with the news of a proposed budget for the United States. I would like to insert this section from a Wall Street Journal article the day after the budget was released:

"One rule of budget reporting is to watch what the politicians are spending this year, not the frugality they promise down the road. By that measure, the budget that President Obama released yesterday for fiscal 2011 is one of the greatest spend-while-you-can documents in American history.

We now know why the White House leaked word of a three-year spending freeze on a few domestic accounts before this extravaganza was released. No one would have noticed such a slushy promise amid this glacier of spending. The budget reveals that overall federal outlays will reach $3.72 trillion in fiscal 2010, and keep rising to $3.834 trillion in 2011.

In the "out years" in mid-decade, the White House promises that spending will fall all the way back to 23% of GDP. Even if you choose to believe such a political prediction, that still means Mr. Obama is proposing a new and more or less permanently higher plateau of federal spending.

And here you thought the "stimulus" was supposed to be temporary."


Everyone should be running to the phone or their computer and complaining to every one of their senators and representatives. Not only is spending going up, but the deficit is not being paid off--it is getting bigger! What is this country coming to? Who voted for this guy? Are you glad that you did? Does anyone think that we won't have to pay for this? Do you realize that your taxes are going up?

"Not happy, Bob, not happy..."