Vote For The CAGW Porker Of The Year !
Posted January 25th, 2008 by Da King
It's time again to vote for the Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) Porker of the Year.
The public outcry over the tens of billions of taxpayer dollars thrown at special-interest, pork-barrel projects reached a fever pitch in 2007. But who truly stood out as the worst custodian of your hard-earned money last year? Cast your vote for CAGW’s 2007 Porker of the Year!
Chosen by CAGW staff from among the 2007 Porkers of the Month, the nominees are:
Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.), for "airdropping" a $3 million earmark for the First Tee golf program into the fiscal 2008 Department of Defense Appropriations Act conference report.
Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.), for thwarting three amendments to the Farm Bill that would have provided modest reform.
Rep. John "Jack" Murtha (D-Pa.), for throwing a temper tantrum and threatening his colleagues over a challenge to a $23 million pet project he inserted into the Fiscal 2008 Intelligence Authorization Act and for purposefully putting up roadblocks and barriers to hinder earmark accountability and reform.
Rep. James Oberstar (D-Minn.), for proposing a "temporary" 5-cent increase in the gas tax in the wake of the Minnesota bridge collapse to raise $25 billion within three years for a new bridge trust fund.
Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), for an $11 million Health Resources and Services Administration earmark for his alma mater, the University of Alabama.
Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska), for defending earmarks and pledging to continue his state's disproportionate harvest of federal tax dollars and for earmarking $10 million for an unnecessary county road project in Florida which was rejected by local politicians.
Cast your vote today and help CAGW decide who will receive the “dishonor” of being named 2007 Porker of the Year!
January 25th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
The Porker of the Year has to be "we the people" because we elected those in the Congress.
Americans are hooked on the ideas that 1) you can get something for nothing and 2) some lunches are free. for their part, the politicians are only too willing to accommodate these illusions.
And darn it all, it seems to work. You say, "But how is that possible, Ghost?" Simple, just crank up the old printing press.
Of course, it's even easier than that today. The Fed doesn't even have to spend money for ink & paper; it just makes a computer entry in the right place and Presto, money appears. And the monetary reserves so created then multiple — ah, the magic of fractional reserves.
So if the public wants something but can't afford it, no problem. Just create more out of thin air, and everyone's happy. Right? Where do you think the stimulus checks will be coming from, someone's savings? Ha! It's all fiat.
But of course there are drawbacks to this scheme. Inflation and the falling dollar being the most profound. But these are incrimential changes that John Q. Public doesn't realize immediately or react to, and so the game goes on and on, until one day ……
January 26th, 2008 at 10:19 am
Good comment Ghost.
I'm not sure Americans are as you say…..free lunch and all that. I actually think Americans are, overall, an industrious lot who generally avoid dependency and, instead, cherish independence.
January 26th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
Yes, excellent comment Vince. I agree right down the line. The part about printing the green paper is especially significant right now.
But Rev,
"I'm not sure Americans are as you say…..free lunch and all that".
Correct. They are not. Only the liberals are "free lunch and all that". The libs would abdicate liberty for the security blanket of the nanny state, and think they are entitled to the fruits of another man's labor. They are whiny children, undeserving of this country (and hellbound to destroy it).
"I actually think Americans are, overall, an industrious lot who generally avoid dependency and, instead, cherish independence".
This would be everybody else in america, the majority, the non-liberals. We thank you for your kind words. You are welcome to join us when you put away childish things.
January 28th, 2008 at 10:15 am
Well…I can see how I'm going to be treated when I commend sound reasoning.
But I'm used to it.
One question…
If what you say is true….why is it that the feds dole out more money to red states than they take in, while just the reverse is true of blue states?
No progressive I've ever known believes they are "entitled to the fruits of another man's labor".
It just sounds like you don't care for the progressive nature of the tax code. I always have a difficult time, myself, advocating for the already rich. Just something about it that goes against my grain.
January 29th, 2008 at 9:35 am
The red states get more federal funds than the blue states because in general they are poorer than the blue states, though that red/blue dynamic changes from election to election, so it doesn't mean very much.
And EVERY progressive I've ever known believes they are entitled to the fruits of another man's labor. It's their raison d'etre. It's called the tax and spend mentality (some Republicans have it as well). Where do you think all that money for all those programs comes from ? It comes from another man's pocket.
And you are wrong. I do believe in a progressive tax rate. Every time I argue for low taxes and limited government, some liberal comes along and tries to recharacterize it as NO taxes and NO government. It never was and never will be true. I'd just prefer it if our government doesn't destroy free market capitalism and replace it with big government socialism, which NEVER has and never will work. My goal isn't to make all of us economically equal (equally destitute), my goal is to make the majority of us as wealthy as possible, for the betterment of our entire society. Handing all of our hard earned money over to the feds is NOT the way to accomplish that. It's simply stupid.
January 29th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
One of the reasons the Dims what higher taxes even though higher taxes retard the economy and results in less revenue to the government is …. ENVY.
The Dims are the party of the Left. And just as they stroke the flames of racism & victimhood to keep the blacks chained to the plantation of Dependency, they also work at feeding the Green Monster that dwells in the human heart — that's envy for those of you aren't schooled in the classics — with their bitter class warfare.
Regarding envy, the Breck Girl, Johnny Edwards, is the foremost class warrior the Dims have, but Clinton and Obama are not far behind in him.