From Carpe Diem, who quotes a recent Washington Times article:The Democrat-led Congress last year broke a promise to slash pork spending and doled out $17.2 billion for pet projects, a 30% increase over the previous year’s $13.2 billion expenditure, according to the Citizens Against Government Waste’s (CAGW) 2008 “Pig Book.” Congress stuffed 11,610 projects into fiscal 2008 spending bills, the second-highest total ever and more than triple the number of projects in fiscal 2007.
The top three “porkers” identified in the “Pig Book” all were Republican members of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Well, I’ll be…porky Republicans. Who would've guessed?
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Ranking member Thad Cochran of Mississippi with $892 million, Ted Stevens of Alaska with $469 million and Richard C. Shelby of Alabama with $465 million. CAGW ranked Mrs. Clinton of New York the 13th top pork spender in the Senate, far outpacing Democratic rival Sen. Barack Obama who ranked 28th and sent his home state of Illinois about $97 million in pork. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, as usual secured no pork projects.
This would be a funny story except for the figures: those criminal porkers blew over $17,000,000,000 of our hard-earned money.
Definitely, our Congress is haram meat all the way. They prove it every time they park their rear ends in a Congressional chair.
I have a suggestion: let’s pay them their usual salaries and perks on the condition that they not attend Congress or cross the line into the District of Columbia at any time during their political career. They can overstuff their staff positions, use the free mail privileges and go on their fact-finding trips to tropical spots, just as they’ve always done. They just couldn’t come into town.
We’d be solvent in no time and crime in the District would become negligible.
Of course, the lobbyists/prostitutes would be on the streets selling apples, but they all need a good dose of sunshine anyway. And have you ever seen a skinny lobbyist? Lean times would do them -- and us -- a world of good.
NOTE: If you go to the pdf link above (CAGW), there are fascinating breakdowns of this thievery.
2 comments:
let’s pay them their usual salaries and perks on the condition that they not attend Congress or cross the line into the District of Columbia at any time during their political career. They can overstuff their staff positions, use the free mail privileges and go on their fact-finding trips to tropical spots, just as they’ve always done. They just couldn’t come into town.
Better yet, pay each senator and congressional representative ONE MILLION DOLLARS per year or more. Then:
1.) Make it a crime to accept so much as a ball point pen from any public or corporate figure. No junkets, no loaned jets, no rounds of golf, no paid speaking engagements. Nada, zip, zilch, bupkus. Make hard jail time and loss of pension the penalty for the slightest criminal abuse of office.
2.) Force all non-essential elected politicians (those not in the line of succession), to fly on commercial air carriers wherever they go. They can bump as many people as they like and fly first class, but they must all experience the same risk we do in taking to the skies. No more military transports or private jets on loan from fat cats. Norm Mineta would be squealing for a repeal of profiling laws that he helped pen faster than the devil could get his shoes on.
3.) Make all elected politicians retire upon Social Security. Their current pension plan is immune to the ravages they impose upon our retirement fallback.
4.) Illegalize lobbying of any sort. If a major corporation wants certain legislation passed, it can go to their workers and ask that they urge local elected representatives to pass that bill. Special interests are KILLING America.
5.) Reform election campaign contributions. No more soft money, no PACs, none of that crap. Federally fund all campaigns if that's what it takes but stop the purchasing of our politicians before they even take office.
6.) No working for foreign interests or as corporate consultants for 5-10 years after leaving office. Your connections and inside knowledge must be more stale than theater popcorn before you can enter the private sector in any sort of consultative capacity. Again, hard jail time and pension loss should await all who assist our enemies and economic competitors after exiting government service. This should also apply to appointees as well.
I welcome any critiques or additions to the above list. Currently, we are being sold down the river by our corrupt politicians. We are rapidly becoming a one-party system of the almighty dollar. The recent Z-visa debacle showed that our politicians have united against America's citizens in the special interests of their respective parties. This crap has gotta end. It is KILLING America.
You've pretty well covered it all, Zenster.
However, I would like to see something that doesn't let them into the District. Then they can't pass any new laws to do further harm...or, ideally, they could be permitted entry only when cutting spending or simplfying the tax code.
The budget cut be set every year by the GAO. It wouldn't be perfect, but it would be a far sight better than the current mess.
Besides, then they wouldn't need to fly so much, would they? Everyone could stay home and take care of the citizens in their state/district.
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