The Democrat "revolution" of 2006 was based largely in part due to the constant message from Nancy Pelosi that she would give us a much more open and honest government. This apparently didn’t apply AFTER the elections. Her first emergency war appropriations bill has more pork spending in it than any emergency appropriation the Republicans ever dreamed of. According to Citizens Against Government Waste, $21.8 BILLION to be precise.
Among some of the very important issues addressed in the "US Readiness, Veterans health, and Iraq Accountability Act, 2007":
- $74,000,000 for peanut storage
- $25,000,000 for spinach growers
- $5,270,000 for research into hunter taken birds for avian flu symptoms
- $283,000,000 for milk income loss
- Crop loss
- Livestock assistance
- Drug enforcement
- Famine assistance
- Funds to rebuild schools in Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, and Texas damaged by Katrina.
- $60,400,000 to research the commercial fishery failure ( huh? )
- $5,000,000 for Aphis emergency order losses
It also addresses some tax issues as well.
Now, dontcha feel better now that Congress is SOOOO much more transparent? For what it’s worth, according to CAGW, that’s about a 30% INCREASE in hidden pork. Seems to me, that means Congress is that much LESS TRANSPARENT than it was a year ago. I’m also waiting for that fiscally responsible Nancy Pelosi to show up as well.
Nancy Pelosi ( yeah, I know, AGAIN! ), lambasted the Republicans for being nothing but crooks. Her silence on the Democrat Culture of Corruption has been deafening. This weeks’s scandal? Dianne Feinstein.
Dianne Feinstein had been on the Military Construction Appropriations committee for six years. During four of those years, Perini Corporation and URS Corp were MAJOR recipients of the largess that is the Military Construction Appropriations committee. The good folks of California were often critical, and surprised, at Feinstein’s support of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. They never bothered to ask why very much tho. Feinstein’s husband’s company, Perini, received $500 million in Iraq and Afghanistan contracts. Now, we can assume Nancy Pelosi knows Dianne Feinstein pretty well. We can also assume Pelosi knew what Feinstein’s husband did as well. What we can also assume is Nancy said NOTHING during the entire time Feinstein was lining her pockets with BILLIONS in federal money. Feinstein was profiting off the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts very overtly while Nancy Pelosi and the DNC constantly harassed Dick Cheney for once being an employee of Haliburton. And why do you suppose Nancy kept her mouth shut during all this corruption?
| Date | Amount | Recipient |
| 09/20/2002 | $350,000 | DSCC/Non-Federal Unicorp Assoc |
| 03/31/2003 | $25,000 | Democratic Senatorial Campaign Cmte |
| 04/30/2002 | $20,000 | Democratic Senatorial Campaign Cmte |
| 10/28/2004 | $10,000 | Democratic Party of South Dakota |
| 10/23/1995 | $10,000 | Democratic Senatorial Campaign Cmte |
| 12/05/1999 | $7,500 | DSCC/Non-Federal Mixed |
| 09/15/1998 | $5,000 | Democratic Senatorial Campaign Cmte |
| 05/01/2000 | $5,000 | DSCC/Non-Federal Unicorp Assoc |
| 12/05/1999 | $3,750 | DSCC/Non-Federal Mixed |
| 06/14/1999 | $2,000 | Lieberman, Joe |
| 05/10/2004 | $2,000 | Farmer, Nancy |
| 08/06/2004 | $2,000 | Salazar, Ken |
| 03/18/2005 | $2,000 | Byrd, Robert C |
| 09/26/2006 | $2,000 | Whitehouse, Sheldon |
| 06/01/2004 | $1,000 | Daschle, Tom |
| 06/01/2004 | $1,000 | Daschle, Tom |
| 06/21/2002 | $1,000 | Bradbury, Bill |
| 06/20/2002 | $1,000 | Daschle, Tom |
| 06/20/2002 | $1,000 | Daschle, Tom |
| 06/01/1998 | $1,000 | Kerrey, Bob |
| 06/01/1998 | $1,000 | Kerrey, Bob |
| 06/15/1998 | $1,000 | Nixon, Jay |
| 06/15/1998 | $1,000 | Nixon, Jay |
| 02/13/2000 | $1,000 | Northern Californians for Good Govt |
| 01/23/1999 | $1,000 | Northern Californians for Good Govt |
| 10/15/1997 | $1,000 | Northern Californians for Good Govt |
| 08/22/1997 | $1,000 | Daschle, Tom |
| 08/22/1997 | $1,000 | Daschle, Tom |
| 07/10/1996 | $1,000 | Northern Californians for Good Govt |
| 03/20/1996 | $1,000 | Minnick, Walt |
| 10/25/1996 | $1,000 | Strickland, Tom |
| 10/20/1995 | $1,000 | Dodd, Christopher J |
| 08/15/2001 | $1,000 | Strickland, Tom |
| 08/15/2001 | $1,000 | Strickland, Tom |
| 07/26/1994 | $1,000 | Hyatt, Joel |
| 04/09/1993 | $1,000 | Willie Brown for Assembly |
| 02/23/1994 | $1,000 | Democratic Senatorial Campaign Cmte |
| 02/23/1994 | $1,000 | Democratic Senatorial Campaign Cmte |
| 03/31/1999 | $1,000 | Gore, Al |
| 06/30/1999 | $1,000 | Lieberman, Joe |
| 03/23/2000 | $1,000 | Nelson, Ben |
| 07/06/2004 | $520 | America Coming Together |
| 03/01/2000 | ($1,000) | Kerrey, Bob |
| 06/30/1999 | ($1,000) | Lieberman, Joe |
| 04/19/2005 | $26,700 | Democratic Senatorial Campaign Cmte |
| 03/31/2004 | $25,000 | Democratic Senatorial Campaign Cmte |
| 10/22/1999 | $6,605 | DNC Services Corp |
Because Howard Dean, who was screaming the loudest about Republican corruption, was taking money from the Feinsteins as fast as he could stick his hands out.
Yes folks, the entire Democrat Party was profiting from the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars while Koz and all the other sheep harped on the Republicans profiting in ways they could never prove. There it is folks, in black and white. It’s overt. It’s obvious. It’s undeniable. What it also is, is cmpletely ignored by CBS, The New York Times, LA Times, etc. etc. etc.. You name a major media outlet, they’ll be on the ignoring this issue list as well. So, people like me have to rely on Rush Limbaugh and Michele Malkin. Some blogs are taking a little credit because Feinstein resigned from MILCON this week. She really didn’t have any reason to stay on MILCON any longer tho, her husband sold out of Perini and URS two years ago. Now, a lot of people will dismiss the credibility of this story because I cite Rush and Michele. I’m sure that couldn’t make Nancy, Howard, and Dianne any happier.
It just amazes me how people like Dan Rather could look the country in the face and blame it all on Dick Cheney, knowing the entire damn time it was Feinstein and the Dems making all the money off the deaths of our soldiers. And ya wanna know something else? It was that same MILCON committee shelling out billions to Feinstein at Feinstein’s direction that failed to provide adequate body armor to our troops in Iraq. And, it was that same MILCON committee handing out billions to Feinstein at the direction of Feinstein that failed to provide adequate health services to our troops that the media is whining about now.
Can we assume my "investigative" abilities are that much superior to CBS, ABC, NBC, CNN, Fox, the LA Times, the NY Times, or even the BBC? Or, can we assume that because Dianne Feinstein is an uber-liberal Democrat woman from California they all chose to look the other way while she profited off the deaths of our soldiers?
Regardless, there’s a LOT of explaining that needs to be done by Dianne Feinstein, Nancy Pelosi, and Howard Dean. However, I doubt CBS, ABC, NBC, or CNN will time to squeeze this topic in while they continue to dedicate every waking second to Gonzales firing a bunch of lawyers.
29
Mar
The guys over at Volokh have had repeated guffaws over the Lego incident in Seattle. During their most recent guffaw, they referred to it as a bizarro Ayn Rand School for Tots. Now, that was a parody of an incredibly complex mind dealing with small children on a cartoon. The problem here is this is real life. They offer a defense and explanation of their choice of action on their website. It reads just like the Volokh peeps describe, it is surreal:
"I’m making an airport and landing strip for my guy’s house. He has his own airplane," said Oliver.
"That’s not fair!" said Carl. "That takes too many cool pieces and leaves not enough for me."
"Well, I can let other people use the landing strip, if they have airplanes," said Oliver. "Then it’s fair for me to use more cool pieces, because it’s for public use."
Discussions like the one above led to children collaborating on a massive series of Lego structures we named Legotown. Children dug through hefty-sized bins of Legos, sought "cool pieces," and bartered and exchanged until they established a collection of homes, shops, public facilities, and community meeting places. We carefully protected Legotown from errant balls and jump ropes, and watched it grow day by day…..
Carl: "We didn’t €˜give’ the pieces, we found and shared them."
Lukas: "It’s like giving to charity."
Carl: "I don’t agree with using words like €˜gave.’ Because when someone wants to move in, we find them a platform and bricks and we build them a house and find them windows and a door."
Now, before I get too carried away with this, how many FIVE year olds talk like that? I mean, really? If those children are worried about using the proper words at age FIVE, those teachers need to let the children play individually with the Legos and worry a lot less about political correctness. Secondly, the lesson learned here in my opinion is not one of unity, it’s one of unless you fake it, you lose it. If they had simply pandered to the teachers’ wishes, they would have gotten all the Legos they wanted. Instead, by making logical discussion and arguments on why they should have particular Legos, they lost them all. And, the ones not getting the Legos in the "game" learned that all they have to do if someone is doing better than you is complain a lot and they’ll end up with exactly what you have, nothing. So, in this example, all the children are losers. If they don’t learn to fight for what they want, they always will be. And, if the only examples they get are that there is no such thing as winning, they always will be losers.
Which is exactly what those teachers are.
Volokh was wrong to a certain degree, this isn’t something LIKE bizarro Ayn Rand School for Tots, this IS the Ayn Rand School for Tots. The thing about The Simpsons is most all of their content is based on something real. They just don’t go out of their way to explain what it was. In this case, now we know.
Going to do a quickie update as The Onion attacked a similar story making today’s headlines:
One comment particularly caught my eye:
"What a relief that it’s the day care and not my violent alcoholic rages that’s causing my child to misbehave."
This is purely emotional blackmail. It serves no legal or medical purpose whatsoever. This is the most horrendous piece of legislation I’ve ever heard of. I also think this will result in two very obvious consequences:
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I expect "rape" cases to explode in South Carolina ( and any other state that enforces this horrid legislation ). Legislators will then ponder why "rape" is suddenly occurring all the time in South Carolina ( and other states that pass this garbage ). They will be saddened and confused by the number of "victims" that can’t even identify who the potential father was. And, none will read this blog to find out what is truly going on.
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This will be fought in the Supreme Court when one girl who decides she can’t properly raise a child and is forced to view the fetus she doesn’t want to keep for the sole intent of causing her emotional duress. And, I think it will lose there regardless of how conservative people think the Supremes are. On a "Supreme" level, being conservative is a legal philosophy, not a social one.
And lastly, although not as obvious as the others, overbearing and cruel legislations like this will be the nail in neo-conservatism’s coffin. And, that’s a good thing. Neo’s truly don’t have a clue what being conservative is all about and I’m more concerned about them any more than I am liberals.
In 2003, the US destroyed many leftover flu shots. In 2004 thru 2006, near hysteria was experienced due to a shortage of flu shots. This year, the Feds may destroy 10,000,000 excess flu shots at the end of the flu season. The logic to doing that is fairly simple, they want to be sure they have the most up-to-date vaccine there is. Otherwise, they’d be wasting money on 110,000,000 vaccines instead of just 10,000,000. However, SOME people are complaining that the risk might be worth it. Vaccines don’t degrade terrribly quick and could offer SOME relief in years of shortages. Now, that’s all fine and good, but don’t ask ME to be the one to get an out-of-date flu shot when someone else gets the most up-to-date. So, I don’t really like how the Associated Press stating their headline to this topic as:
Government Wastes Millions of Flu Shots
The very last thing I think people want is the government to scrimp on getting vaccines and coming up short.
Bad Associated Press, bad.
A funny thing happened on the way to the polls for Nancy Pelosi. When she ran the races, set the agenda, and got the Democrats the majority in Congress, it was on a wave of negative publicity against President Bush. After she took over, with her kinder, gentler, less corrupt rule, we get this:
As compared to this:
Which means in less than three months, Nancy Pelosi has returned Congress to the point where the only person less UNpopular in politics right now is President Bush.
I really didn’t think she could pull that off this quick. I gave her until the next presidential election. I gotta hand it to her, she thumped me good on this one.
The judge was not arrested. He was given a misdemeanor citation to appear in court.
OK, anyoine wanna guess how serious Judge Korda’s going to take ENFORCING the war on drugs?
To which, Dr. Steven Taylor over at Poliblog notes:
I always take the opposite view, it means we’re not trying hard enough. The price for giving up and just admitting defeat is way too costly for our society. How many crack babies, violent crimes, deaths, and ruined families does it take to convince people that this is a serious problem all over the country? The reason these shipments are so huge and get caught so infrequently is because too many people look the other way. Our family and friends’ problems with drugs is "their" problem, not ours. Secondly, it’s "someone else’s" fault, not Dr. Taylor’s, not yours, when you blame it on "duh government’s" failed policies. Where the policies fail is the common people don’t support it. And, as long as people keep displacing the responsibility for the war on drugs, it will never succeed. And, in order to do that with a clear conscience, they displace the blame. It’s this avoidance of responsibility that allows the war ond drugs to struggle. It’s not the government’s job to be cruising Panama looking for huge shipments of crack. It’s YOUR job to make sure there’s no demand for it here. So, in my view, the war on drugs hasn’t failed, we have. Until more people accept personal responsibility and quit expecting the government to protect us from our own personal failings and weaknesses, the government will continue to lose the war on drugs. And, there is no policy that will ever make it work.
So, I’d really appreciate it if people would quit citing how we’ve lost the war on drugs.
19
Mar
Here’s the "scandal":
So far, the Obama camp disclaims any knowledge of where this came from. Now, given that all you’ve got to go on is whoever uploaded it, and that it boasts Obama’s web page. I’m willing to take this for what it is. Ambiguous at best. Deceptive on someone’s part for sure.
However, it is pretty cleverly done.
I still prefer the original tho:
Now, mashups are like rappers. You have to steal something someone else did in order to have anything to work with. What everyone seems to be doing in this case is reminiscing about how brilliant the original ad was in 1984 and basically ignoring the content of this mashup.
Which is exactly how it should be.
19
Mar
That’s a pun on The Onion.
I think they know how many people like that idea.
I’m sure Abuminajad ( however you spell that ), probably has that on his mind as well.
That’s why he’s keeping us in Iraq.
Gotta watch that Onion. Those guys are crazy smart.
