0
POPSFollow This Dime How are we to dissect a deluge like this one? We might begin by categorizing the earmarks handed out by Congress, sorting the foolish earmarks from the costly earmarks from the earmarks made strictly on a cash basis. We could try a similar approach to government contracting: the no-bid contracts, the no-oversight contracts, the no-experience contracts, the contracts handed out to friends of the vice president. We might consider the shoplifting career of one of the president's former domestic policy advisers or the habitual plagiarism of the president's liaison to the Christian right. And we would certainly have to find some way to parse the extraordinary incompetence of the executive branch, incompetence so fulsome and steady and reliable that at some point Americans stopped being surprised and began simply to count on it, to think of incompetence as the way government works.
13
POPSObama funnels federal money to top campaign contributors While the Adler Planetarium earmarks look normal on the surface, there is a catch. The Chairman and two of the Vice Chairman of the Adler Planetarium Board of Trustees raised a total of almost $250,000 for Sen. Obama’s 2008 Presidential campaign. The Adler Planetarium was probably pleasantly surprised when they found that their earmark increased by $2.7 million dollars, in other words, by a factor of ten. The Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Frank Clark, stands out amongst Obama supporters. On Sen. Obama’s website, Mr. Clark is listed as a bundler who raised in excess of $200,000 for the Senator’s Presidential campaign. In 2004, Mr. Clark donated $5,000 to the then State Senator Obama’s U.S. Senate bid. In 2005, Mr. Clark became the Chairman of the Board at Adler Planetarium, and in 2006 Sen. Obama earmarked $300,000 to the Planetarium.
7
POPSMoyers: Conservatives had their chance and Blew it!
On top of such bungled calamities as Iraq and Katrina… GEORGE W. BUSH: Again I want to thank you all for- and Brownie you're doing a heck of a job. BILL MOYERS: The conservative regime sent spending into the stratosphere…borrowed trillions from the future to pay for their agenda, and rewarded their wealthy base with huge tax cuts. Earmarks and contracts fattened lobbyists on K Street, which Newt Gingrich and Tom DeLay honed into a ruthless shakedown machine exploited by conservative movement stars like Grover Norquist, Ralph Reed, and Jack Abramoff. JACK ABRAMOFF: Senator, I respectfully invoke the privileges previously stated. SEN. KENT CONRAD: And I'd say to you Mr. Abramoff, shame on you. BILL MOYERS: And after crusading for the impeachment of Bill Clinton, conservatives pushing family values turned out to be their own worst enemies. Some of their foot soldiers in politics and the religious right were outed for adultery, stalking Capitol Hill pages, soliciting sex. Be
3
POPSConservatives At Odds With McCain But perhaps more importantly, he has long been an advocate of entitlement reform. He was early an ardent support of personal accounts for Social Security, and has pushed for serious Medicare reform, including means-testing. Almost alone among Republicans, he opposed the disastrous Medicare prescription drug benefit. "On domestic policy, he has shown a disturbing predilection for elevating every personal pet peeve, from steroids in baseball to airplane service quality, to a federal issue. And, he has embraced heavily regulatory environmental policies and compulsory national service. Like George W. Bush, he tends to support federal power over federalism, executive authority over legislative, and generally leans toward the imperial presidency. For believers in individual liberty and limited government, it's a decidedly mixed bag. But, then again, aren't they all?"
1
POPSA third of all US aid goes to Israel more than to any other nation. Our tax dollars in action, being shipped over seas to help a foreign country that needs less aid than countries like Africa. 10-15 million dollars a day to Israel! And don't you dare question it citizen or we'll brandish you anti-Semitic. Which begs the question, what other countries/races get their own term for begrudging them? If you talk disparagingly about Jews you are anti-Semitic. What are you if you talk bad about the Danes, or the Australians, or Asians? Ponder how odd it is to cherry-pick which races get terms like this and what power that carries and to whose benefit.
3
POPSTell Congress: No More Pain At The Pump Congress IS THE Problem, not the oil companies Where's the accountability and when is Congress going to stop blaming everyone else. They are the culprits. Drill here, drill now because your red buddies, the Cubans and Chinese are already doing it in our front yard off the Florida Keys!
3
POPSEMAIL: Tell Congress: Sign The Earmark Reform Pledge! Current signatories as of 3/13/08: Senators Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) and Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) Reps. Paul Broun (R-Ga.), John Campbell (R-Calif.), Tom Feeney (R-Fla.), Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), Tom Price (R-Ga.), Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.), and John Shadegg (R-Ariz.). Thanks to the more than 25,000 e-mails CCAGW members like you sent to Capitol Hill, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid last Friday pulled the Climate Security Act after falling a dozen votes short of the 60 needed to end debate and bring the bill up for a vote!
3
POPS Make Gas Cheaper NOW Petition To the U.S. Congress: Make Gas Cheaper NOW by: * Cutting gas taxes and banning earmarks Learn more * Increasing American oil production * Building and expanding U.S. refineries
2
POPSThe Budget According to McCain
* McCain seems to say that he can save $100 billion by cutting out earmarks. But budget experts say that cutting earmarks would actually save very little. And questioned more closely, McCain's campaign now says that his planned savings have nothing to do with eliminating earmarks. * With earmarks out as a potential source of savings, McCain hasn't said what he'd cut out of the discretionary budget to get to $100 billion. He's even indicated that defense spending might increase. If defense spending is off the table, saving $100 billion would require 18.5 percent across-the-board cuts in every other discretionary program, including things like elementary and secondary education, veterans' health benefits and highway construction. The alternative would be severe cuts in a few programs, as yet unnamed. * McCain says that "just in the last few years" the government has puffed up "by 40 percent, by trillions." Actually, it has taken federal spending a decade to grow 40 pe
5
POPSCongress Is Full Of Bold-Faced Liars What’s the only thing worse than Republicans on a spending spree? Democrats on a spending spree. Or maybe Republicans on a spending spree when they know the Democrats are going to take the heat. Either way, your representatives in Washington D.C. are a bunch of dirty filthy liars. Take the time today, right now, to write to your representatives and let them know how you feel about what they are doing. They still need our votes to get elected, so what you say really does matter to them. How can the people who are supposed to be running the country on our behalf do such a crappy job and lie about it when the facts are so obvious. In 2004 the Democrats took control of congress promising to fix the earmark problem. Instead of fixing it, they are doing their best to outdo the spending of the Republican controlled congress before them. This isn’t a partisan problem, it’s a problem all Americans need to be aware of, and take action to fix.
3
POPSBig Taxing, Big Earmarking, Big Congress Grills Big Oil (continued) will Rep. Walden agitate for lower tax rates? What about Walden’s earmarks of over $46 million? Will he think about lowering his earmarks, in light of the federal government’s record profits? * * * * * As Ronald Bailey of Reason writes: “Finally, if Congress wants to blame someone for high oil prices, blame the benighted oil producing countries that have underinvested in oil production for at least a decade. But Congressional grandstanders can’t haul the likes of Venezuela’s Chavez, Russia’s Putin, and Iran’s Ahmadinejad to their hearing rooms.” The spectacle of the House blaming the oil companies in a free market for high prices would be bizarre, if it didn’t happen so often.
0
POPSCould Earmark Moratorium Really Be On The Way? The GOP may be falling behind the Democrats, with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi moving toward a moratorium. In the Senate, courageous freshman Democrat Claire McCaskill of Missouri supports the DeMint amendment. She could be joined by her choice for president, Barack Obama. These developments encouraged Flake to say: "If Democrats actually move ahead with an earmark moratorium before Republicans, the Democrats will get the credit for eliminating earmarks, and, frankly, they'll deserve it."
1
POPSSen Jim DeMint (R-SC) Introduces His Stop The Raid Amendment
Every year, Congress votes to raid the Social Security Fund. Some in Congress have made a living redistributing tax dollars from working families to special interests. They believe that your money is best spent on a rain forest project in Iowa or the Charlie Rangel Center for Public Service in Harlem. Instead of allowing private donations or investments to pay for such projects, some members of Congress have decided that you, the taxpayer, should foot the bill. The Senate will have its chance to do just that when Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) introduces his Stop the Raid amendment. Each Senator will have to take a stand on an important issue. By looking at how each Senator votes we will know who is serious about stopping the raid of the Social Security Trust Fund. Senator Barack Obama, for example, has floated the idea of increasing taxes to make up future shortfalls in the Social Security system. Meanwhile, he is only too happy to take earmarks that benefit him politically.
1
POPSWill McCain Oppose $845 Billion Earmark? Obama/Smith Bill Obama has been busy on the campaign trail but Rep. Adam Smith, the sponsor of the Global Poverty Act in the other body, has been busy complaining about my coverage of this matter! In addition to seeking to eradicate poverty, that Millennium Declaration commits nations to banning "small arms and light weapons" and ratifying a series of treaties, including the International Criminal Court Treaty, the Kyoto Protocol (global warming treaty), the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Millennium Declaration also affirms the U.N. as "the indispensable common house of the entire human family, through which we will seek to realize our universal aspirations for peace, cooperation and development." Does anybody seriously believe that? Does Rep. Adam Smith? Does Senator Barack Obama? Does Senator McCain? It is now on the verge of passage by the full S
5
POPSChange from what? The World hasn't tried Statism before? We haven't tried big government before? McCain: " I will not sign a bill with earmarks in it, any earmarks." Obama: I support an "integrity in earmarks" reform bill. Which one is change?
2
POPSObama, McCain on Earmarks Somehow I just do not buy "transparency and integrity" in the context of Congress. McCain's comment leaves little doubt.
0
POPSEasyASPHosting by Webhost EasyASPHosting has been instrumental in offering professional and reliable services related to web hosting, domain registration as well as SSL needs for their highly customer base since 1997.
1
POPSThe War on Corruption--Still Code Red Note: A link to a description of the methodology and software used to create the diagrams above from the original newspaper article can be found here. The file will be a zipped MS Word document appearing there with the highlighted phrase "DL_NETVIEW\HOWTONETWORKS.ZIP"
1
Pops
Newest Clips
Latest Comments
Most Pops
Print
Save
Turn on live update