One can wonder about the accuracy of the effort when I find that Sens. Joe Biden and Tom Carper of Delaware are listed under House members along with our only rep Mike Castle.
Tom3
· 1 year ago
Stenysaurus Hoyer is a DINO. And I am not surprised Mississippi gets the most money, since they are the American version of a Third World country.
As Kahn Souphanousinphone would say, "You Stupid Redneck!!"
SINGING_TROLL
· 1 year ago
I thought Alabama was weird until I worked in Jackson, MS
Truly the strangest state in the union.
I always gave that title to Utah before spending 5 months in Jackson.
1billinnj2
· 1 year ago
and the only way to stop this pork is to have single bills. no more hidden agenda. this has to stop. it hurts america big time.
1billinnj2
· 1 year ago
they all need to be replaced by progressives and stop the waste. vote the old boy and girls club out of office in november.
Dave of the Jungle
· 1 year ago
REPUBLICAN PIGS
Tom3
· 1 year ago
"the only way to stop this pork is to have single bills." I concur.
Colorado voters put this into the Constitution because the legislature was always sneaking stuff onto bills like this. Now, every bill must be only about one issue and nothing else.
Of course, Congress would never pass this because they are getting too much kickbacks and campaign contributions by handing out pork.
Soundboy_jeff_meanie
· 1 year ago
okay... all this pork... how do I get me some?
I suppose they'd probably notice something small like $200k or so.... so maybe I should ask for a million??
I just want to get out of debt.
so... here's an exercise for the blog.
take the phrase 'I just want to get out of debt'... rewrite it in a confusing manner so that the real meaning is pretty much lost, and make it sound official... Maybe John can add some leagal-speak?
I bet I could propose a bill that would release me from all liability and just give me cash... then I'd just need to float it over the right desk.
hell, if they can drop $15 billion in cash in Iraq and lose most of it (the excuse being, "Its their money, what do we care?")... I should be able to get ahold of a measley $200k right??
Chris From Maine
· 1 year ago
you know some of these things are actually good..
im just sayin.
Soundboy_jeff_meanie
· 1 year ago
Dave_of_the_Jungle
REPUBLICAN PIGS ---
umm... usually agree with you Dave... but have to interject here.
not just republican pigs... MOST of them are pigs on BOTH sides of the aisle.
SINGING_TROLL
· 1 year ago
money for nuthin
dad
· 1 year ago
the big money is in corporate bailouts
free market, my ass.
EdNSted
· 1 year ago
Maybe McCain could improve his comprehension by reading McClatchy:
"President Bush last week declared the offensive, which ended Sunday, "a defining moment" in Iraq's history.
That may prove to be true, but in recent days senior U.S. officials have backed away from the operation, which ended with Shiite militias still in place in Basra, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki possibly weakened and a de facto cease-fire brokered by an Iranian general."
lynchie
· 1 year ago
Don't forget these are the same useless turds that won't vote on Universal Health Care, witheld Healtcare from Kids, haven't fixed the Healthcare for Vets, didn't vote to get body armor, haven't fixed the armor in Humvees, did nothing to make sure the poor and homeless in New Orleans had a roof over their heads, haven't increased funding for bridges and roads. Yet they can load the pork into various spending bills. Since the Dems hold a slight majority not surprising they couldn't at least include more than the GOP . $17.2 Billion. It is just an illusion of a democracy.
Soundboy_jeff_meanie
· 1 year ago
ugh... I'm just about done with politics/elections/graft/etc...
lyrics, one of my favorite ska/punk songs:
I'm not insane, I'm not bummed out I got no one to blame, nothing to change I got no evil to fight
One thing's for sure, I'm all outta angst Society don't bother me And there's something wrong with that
So I'm off to Pakistan, learn the laws of Islam Fundamentalism, forget that rock 'n' roll No cigarette, no drink, in fact It's difficult to think about getting laid When you don't even get to see her face I'm not insane
I'm not insane, I'm not liquored up I got nothing to do, nothing to lose I got no place to call home
One thing's for sure, I'm all outta angst Society don't bother me, There's something wrong with that
Next stop Mongolia Don't get to golf or fuck or bowl with ya Throw out that handicap No stepping out, till spring, in fact it's Difficult to sing when it's 20 below And that's during the day I'm not insane I'm not insane I'm not insane
SINGING_TROLL
· 1 year ago
Chris,
You are right of course but in weighing the damage done to the country vs. the good done by pork spending and I think we must conclude we should just give everyone a billion bucks and call it a day.
Much cheaper and some of those people would actually DO GOOD with the money. --
"I have clearly wandered tooooo far" --Declan in "The Rundown"
Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right, Because their words had forked no lightning they Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay, Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight, And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way, Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay, Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height, Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray. Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light. --Dylan Thomas
ObamaMiracle
· 1 year ago
On a hunch I looked up Hillary in the database. Can you say "OINK!" She's one of the biggest players in the pork game. Just like her husband Bill sold access to the White House and traded in corruption. Slime like the Clintons have given the Democratic Party a bad reputation. We need to reject the partisan politics of division as practiced by the Clinton Crime family.
Indigo
· 1 year ago
Alaska, Hawaii, and North Dakota are the three biggest pigs. Alaska is the largest state, North Dakota might have the smallest population, and Hawaii is known for its pig roasts, but those are not good excuses. Good journalism aside, it feels like maybe the congressional budget is cutting back where it should not cut back and locals are taking up the slack by slicing off a piece of pork. That almost makes sense.
SINGING_TROLL
· 1 year ago
"Alaska, Hawaii, and North Dakota" --Indigo
These are all States that don't matter so why all the concern?
Ryan
· 1 year ago
You know it's amazing how STUPID some people are. While it's true that there are some gross misappropriation of funds done by some members of congress, many of the things that these idiots label as a waste of time are VITAL to the growth and development of America as a modern society...which we can't really be considered anymore since we are so far behind in technology when compared to some Asian coutries and the majority of Western European countries. But hey lets lable initiatives to try and fix that as wasteful because hell....it's totally selfish to train people in medical practice like BIOTECHNOLOGY. And WHO needs to safely extend the shelf life of food or try to develope new energy resources. YUP those are totally selfish things to put money in. i know I wouldn't want to have new medical treatments in the future or cheap efficiant green fuel sources......
Tom
· 1 year ago
The fact is that earmarks are politically good for congressmen - they're "bringing home the bacon" for their districts, and makes them more-likely to be re-elected.
Not all earmarks are considered "pork-barrel" spending, and not all earmarks are wasteful, but there should be a better way to go about this.
Tom
· 1 year ago
It should be noted that Democrats racked up $5.5 billion in earmarks, Republicans racked up $4.4 billion, and bipartisan earmarks were around $3.8 billion.
And the presidential candidates have their own background with earmarks (from the article):
"Sen. (Barack) Obama had 53 earmarks worth $97 million dollars, and Sen. (Hillary) Clinton had 281 earmarks worth $296 million. Sen. Obama recently said he would not request any project for this upcoming fiscal year," said Tom Schatz, the president of Citizens Against Government Waste.
"And of course Sen. (John) McCain has never requested them and he won't be doing so in 2009. So now the question is if Sen. Clinton will join the other major candidates in saying that she will not request any earmarks for 2009."
Tom
· 1 year ago
It looks like everyone here is railing against the republicans - just wanted to note that democrats racked up $1.1 billion more earmarks than republicans... just an FYI
Aaron
· 1 year ago
Wow..17 billion?!! People, we are overspending by 300 billion!!!!! When the U.S. government is spending $1 trillion OVERSEAS annually, and crap like this comes out saying we are spending 17 billion here, at home....it makes me sick. WAKE UP PEOPLE!
Sarah B.
· 1 year ago
The Pig Book? Well, that depends on what the meaning of “Pig” is these days.
The “Pig Book” is published every year by the Citizens Against Government Waste, a fake “government watchdog group” that is comprised of some of K Street’s most voracious and greedy lobbyist “Pigs” who enjoy unimpeded access to the public trough while railing against it.
Accused by genuine liberal and progressive policy groups of being a collection of K Street lobbyists who work on behalf of corporations to give them the appearance of “grassroots” support, the ultra right-wing CAGW rails against government spending --which they characterize as “waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in the federal government” – while advocating for massive tax cuts for the haves and have mores at the top of the corporate and inherited-wealth food chain as they denounce government oversight and regulation in any form.
You will know the “Pigs” who publish the “Pig Book” by the company they keep:
In 2006, the CAGW was investigated by the Senate Finance Committee for ties to Jack Abramoff, when the CAGW and other non-profits were found to have “'probably violated their tax-exempt status "by laundering payments and then disbursing funds at Mr. Abramoff's direction; taking payments in exchange for writing newspaper columns or press releases that put Mr. Abramoff's clients in a favorable light; introducing Mr. Abramoff's clients to government officials in exchange for payment; and agreeing to act as a front organization for congressional trips paid for by Mr. Abramoff's clients.”
The non-profit group with ties to Abramoff named in the Senate Finance Committee Report are Gover Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform; the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy, which was co-founded by Norquist and Gale Norton before she became secretary of the interior; Citizens Against Government Waste; the National Center for Public Policy Research, a spinoff of the Heritage Foundation; and Toward Tradition, a Seattle-based religious group founded by right-wing Rabbi Daniel Lapin.
Vin Weber (R-MN), former congressman and K Street lobbyist and CAGW Member of the Board, is the group’s most visible mouthpiece, corporate media darling, and frequent guest on cable news shows to advocate on behalf of private interests over public spending on health, education, and the public infrastructure. Weber’s mantra is to privatize the profits and socialize the risk.
Vin Weber is also a signatory to the infamous PNAC letter of January 26, 1998, which the Project for a New American Century sent to Bill Clinton.
By the mid-1990s, the CAGW had received $245,000 from Big Tobacco to lobby on its behalf, and against government regulation of its products, according to the St. Petersburg Times:
In 2007, the CAGW supported a bill that would limit damages resulting from malpractice lawsuits, thus robbing citizens of their right to seek relief and punitive damages in a court of law as the result of egregious medical malpractice.
Since its founding, the CAGW has also accepted donations from Phillip Morris, the Olin Foundation, the Bradley Foundation, Microsoft, Merrill-Lynch, and Exxon-Mobil – always advocating on behalf of huge corporate and individual tax cuts coupled with fewer government regulations and oversight.
Founded in 1984 by the late Jack Anderson, Washington columnist, and the late J. Peter Grace, a multimillionaire American industrialist, CEO of R.W. Grace and Company, and passionate self-proclaimed Reagan Democrat, the CAGW helped to spread the “tax-and-spend Democrats” label to tarnish their opponents as pawns of the special interest groups like women and minorities and older adults and people with disabilities and victims of corporate abuses. The CAGW members are vociferous deficit hawks but never saw a multi-billion dollar defense project they didn't love.
Although a Democrat, Peter Grace campaigned for Ronald Reagan and against Walter Mondale, even going so far as to take out a full-page ad in the NYT advocating the Reagan tax cuts for the rich, coupled with huge cuts in health and social services programs, including Social Security and Medicare.
Finally, it looks like the Pigs are in fact the publishers of the Pig Book – OINK!
PS -- Thank you, Wiki -- I couldn't have done so much research this quickly and easily without you. :) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
igors way
· 1 year ago
I dislike pork and Stevens as much as the next person, but let's recognize that Alaska has some special needs due to its size and lack of infrastructure. More than 75% of the rural communities have no roads connecting or land-lines connecting them to the rest of the world. The only way to reach these remote villages is by plane or boat.
I'm sure John Aravosis is fully aware of these realities since he worked for Senator Stevens for several years in the early 90s as a legislative assistant (despite knowing full well that Stevens was a homophobe).
All Comments
As Kahn Souphanousinphone would say, "You Stupid Redneck!!"
Truly the strangest state in the union.
I always gave that title to Utah before spending 5 months in Jackson.
Colorado voters put this into the Constitution because the legislature was always sneaking stuff onto bills like this. Now, every bill must be only about one issue and nothing else.
Of course, Congress would never pass this because they are getting too much kickbacks and campaign contributions by handing out pork.
I suppose they'd probably notice something small like $200k or so.... so maybe I should ask for a million??
I just want to get out of debt.
so... here's an exercise for the blog.
take the phrase 'I just want to get out of debt'... rewrite it in a confusing manner so that the real meaning is pretty much lost, and make it sound official... Maybe John can add some leagal-speak?
I bet I could propose a bill that would release me from all liability and just give me cash... then I'd just need to float it over the right desk.
hell, if they can drop $15 billion in cash in Iraq and lose most of it (the excuse being, "Its their money, what do we care?")... I should be able to get ahold of a measley $200k right??
im just sayin.
REPUBLICAN PIGS
---
umm... usually agree with you Dave... but have to interject here.
not just republican pigs... MOST of them are pigs on BOTH sides of the aisle.
free market, my ass.
Paltry result of Iraqi offensive quiets U.S. withdrawal talk
"President Bush last week declared the offensive, which ended Sunday, "a defining moment" in Iraq's history.
That may prove to be true, but in recent days senior U.S. officials have backed away from the operation, which ended with Shiite militias still in place in Basra, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki possibly weakened and a de facto cease-fire brokered by an Iranian general."
Yet they can load the pork into various spending bills. Since the Dems hold a slight majority not surprising they couldn't at least include more than the GOP . $17.2 Billion. It is just an illusion of a democracy.
lyrics, one of my favorite ska/punk songs:
I'm not insane, I'm not bummed out
I got no one to blame, nothing to change
I got no evil to fight
One thing's for sure, I'm all outta angst
Society don't bother me
And there's something wrong with that
So I'm off to Pakistan, learn the laws of Islam
Fundamentalism, forget that rock 'n' roll
No cigarette, no drink, in fact
It's difficult to think about getting laid
When you don't even get to see her face
I'm not insane
I'm not insane, I'm not liquored up
I got nothing to do, nothing to lose
I got no place to call home
One thing's for sure, I'm all outta angst
Society don't bother me,
There's something wrong with that
Next stop Mongolia
Don't get to golf or fuck or bowl with ya
Throw out that handicap
No stepping out, till spring, in fact it's
Difficult to sing when it's 20 below
And that's during the day
I'm not insane
I'm not insane
I'm not insane
You are right of course but in weighing the damage done to the country vs. the good done by pork spending and I think we must conclude we should just give everyone a billion bucks and call it a day.
Much cheaper and some of those people would actually DO GOOD with the money.
--
"I have clearly wandered tooooo far"
--Declan in "The Rundown"
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
--Dylan Thomas
--Indigo
These are all States that don't matter so why all the concern?
Not all earmarks are considered "pork-barrel" spending, and not all earmarks are wasteful, but there should be a better way to go about this.
And the presidential candidates have their own background with earmarks (from the article):
"Sen. (Barack) Obama had 53 earmarks worth $97 million dollars, and Sen. (Hillary) Clinton had 281 earmarks worth $296 million. Sen. Obama recently said he would not request any project for this upcoming fiscal year," said Tom Schatz, the president of Citizens Against Government Waste.
"And of course Sen. (John) McCain has never requested them and he won't be doing so in 2009. So now the question is if Sen. Clinton will join the other major candidates in saying that she will not request any earmarks for 2009."
The “Pig Book” is published every year by the Citizens Against Government Waste, a fake “government watchdog group” that is comprised of some of K Street’s most voracious and greedy lobbyist “Pigs” who enjoy unimpeded access to the public trough while railing against it.
Accused by genuine liberal and progressive policy groups of being a collection of K Street lobbyists who work on behalf of corporations to give them the appearance of “grassroots” support, the ultra right-wing CAGW rails against government spending --which they characterize as “waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in the federal government” – while advocating for massive tax cuts for the haves and have mores at the top of the corporate and inherited-wealth food chain as they denounce government oversight and regulation in any form.
You will know the “Pigs” who publish the “Pig Book” by the company they keep:
Report Says Nonprofits Sold Influence to Abramoff
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/ar...
In 2006, the CAGW was investigated by the Senate Finance Committee for ties to Jack Abramoff, when the CAGW and other non-profits were found to have “'probably violated their tax-exempt status "by laundering payments and then disbursing funds at Mr. Abramoff's direction; taking payments in exchange for writing newspaper columns or press releases that put Mr. Abramoff's clients in a favorable light; introducing Mr. Abramoff's clients to government officials in exchange for payment; and agreeing to act as a front organization for congressional trips paid for by Mr. Abramoff's clients.”
The non-profit group with ties to Abramoff named in the Senate Finance Committee Report are Gover Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform; the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy, which was co-founded by Norquist and Gale Norton before she became secretary of the interior; Citizens Against Government Waste; the National Center for Public Policy Research, a spinoff of the Heritage Foundation; and Toward Tradition, a Seattle-based religious group founded by right-wing Rabbi Daniel Lapin.
Vin Weber (R-MN), former congressman and K Street lobbyist and CAGW Member of the Board, is the group’s most visible mouthpiece, corporate media darling, and frequent guest on cable news shows to advocate on behalf of private interests over public spending on health, education, and the public infrastructure. Weber’s mantra is to privatize the profits and socialize the risk.
Vin Weber is also a signatory to the infamous PNAC letter of January 26, 1998, which the Project for a New American Century sent to Bill Clinton.
By the mid-1990s, the CAGW had received $245,000 from Big Tobacco to lobby on its behalf, and against government regulation of its products, according to the St. Petersburg Times:
When tobacco needed a voice, CAGW spoke up and profited
http://www.sptimes.com/2006/04/02/Worldandnatio...
In 2007, the CAGW supported a bill that would limit damages resulting from malpractice lawsuits, thus robbing citizens of their right to seek relief and punitive damages in a court of law as the result of egregious medical malpractice.
Since its founding, the CAGW has also accepted donations from Phillip Morris, the Olin Foundation, the Bradley Foundation, Microsoft, Merrill-Lynch, and Exxon-Mobil – always advocating on behalf of huge corporate and individual tax cuts coupled with fewer government regulations and oversight.
Founded in 1984 by the late Jack Anderson, Washington columnist, and the late J. Peter Grace, a multimillionaire American industrialist, CEO of R.W. Grace and Company, and passionate self-proclaimed Reagan Democrat, the CAGW helped to spread the “tax-and-spend Democrats” label to tarnish their opponents as pawns of the special interest groups like women and minorities and older adults and people with disabilities and victims of corporate abuses. The CAGW members are vociferous deficit hawks but never saw a multi-billion dollar defense project they didn't love.
Although a Democrat, Peter Grace campaigned for Ronald Reagan and against Walter Mondale, even going so far as to take out a full-page ad in the NYT advocating the Reagan tax cuts for the rich, coupled with huge cuts in health and social services programs, including Social Security and Medicare.
Finally, it looks like the Pigs are in fact the publishers of the Pig Book – OINK!
PS -- Thank you, Wiki -- I couldn't have done so much research this quickly and easily without you.
:)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'm sure John Aravosis is fully aware of these realities since he worked for Senator Stevens for several years in the early 90s as a legislative assistant (despite knowing full well that Stevens was a homophobe).