180 replies to this topic

[lab94]

This is funny. No more waisting money. Lets have change. No more earmarks?? OK I guess this is OK.



http://www.nytimes.c.../04dowd.html?em

Here are a few of them. Almost 9,000 of them !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Before the Senate resoundingly defeated a McCain amendment on Tuesday that would have shorn 9,000 earmarks worth $7.7 billion from the $410 billion spending bill, the Arizona senator twittered lists of offensive bipartisan pork, including:

• $2.1 million for the Center for Grape Genetics in New York. “quick peel me a grape,” McCain twittered.

• $1.7 million for a honey bee factory in Weslaco, Tex.

• $1.7 million for pig odor research in Iowa.

• $1 million for Mormon cricket control in Utah. “Is that the species of cricket or a game played by the brits?” McCain tweeted.

• $819,000 for catfish genetics research in Alabama.

• $650,000 for beaver management in North Carolina and Mississippi. OK I wont say anything

• $951,500 for Sustainable Las Vegas. (McCain, a devotee of Vegas and gambling, must really be against earmarks if he doesn’t want to “sustain” Vegas.)

• $2 million “for the promotion of astronomy” in Hawaii, as McCain twittered, “because nothing says new jobs for average Americans like investing in astronomy.”


• $167,000 for the Autry National Center for the American West in Los Angeles. “Hopefully for a Back in the Saddle Again exhibit,” McCain tweeted sarcastically.

• $238,000 for the Polynesian Voyaging Society in Hawaii. “During these tough economic times with Americans out of work,” McCain twittered.


• $200,000 for a tattoo removal violence outreach program to help gang members or others shed visible signs of their past. “REALLY?” McCain twittered.

• $209,000 to improve blueberry production and efficiency in Georgia.

[devilsfan0405]

If it weren't so pathetic, I would be laughing.

[lab94]

devilsfan0405, on Mar 4 2009, 10:32 AM, said:

If it weren't so pathetic, I would be laughing.

All of this while millions of people are out of work and loseing their homes. What does this lead on to believe about our goverment???

[vascudave]

well they have to pay back the lobiest that paid to get them voted in. if this isn't a reason to start shedding the dead wood from the congress then i don't know what is. change didn't win....just the same old song.

[devilsfan0405]

lab94, on Mar 4 2009, 10:35 AM, said:

All of this while millions of people are out of work and loseing their homes. What does this lead on to believe about our goverment???

That they couldn't give two !@#$% about the average citizen struggling to make it. I mean really...$13 per week in tax relief for the average middle class person? You can't fill your gas tank once a week with that extra money. It's such a joke.

[vascudave]

many obama supporters are second guessing...little late.

[Mike_The_Golfer]

vascudave, on Mar 4 2009, 12:15 PM, said:

many obama supporters are second guessing...little late.

you have to wonder about all those people who were drinking the "Obama Kool-Aid", thinking this guy was the savior of the earth. I'll never know what it is people see in this guy.

every time his Democrat buddies in Congress send him a spending bill loaded with these earmarks, he will not pause for a momemt before signing it.

people forget that as much as Bush was disliked as shown by his approval rankings - Congress' approval ranings were worse. And it's because of stuff like the items on that list.

nothing will ever change either until a legitimate, viable 3rd party (and possibly a fourth) starts gaining seats in Congress. until that day - which probably never comes - it will always be more of the same.

[devilsfan0405]

Obama's comments about the stock market yesterday were shocking. People are seeing their life savings evaporate before their eyes and he treats it as nothing more than a tracking poll and isn't concerned about the market's "fits and starts"? Is he serious? Barring a serious attitude adjustment on his part, I think we're going to rue the day that we ever voted for this guy.

[GameOfLove]

Here comes the GOP bashing the democrats, since they have nothing else to do and know the whole party is in trouble. I still have confidence Obama will do a somewhat change of this country even if it's a tiny tiny tiny drop. I really wish politicians acted like mature people all they do (both gop and democrats) are bash each other.

I also wish some people see actress party lines instead of being hard core republicans or democrats. eg Rush Limbaugh.

[vascudave]

GameOfLove, on Mar 4 2009, 02:42 PM, said:

Here comes the GOP bashing the democrats, since they have nothing else to do and know the whole party is in trouble. I still have confidence Obama will do a somewhat change of this country even if it's a tiny tiny tiny drop. I really wish politicians acted like mature people all they do (both gop and democrats) are bash each other.

I also wish some people see actress party lines instead of being hard core republicans or democrats. eg Rush Limbaugh.

he didn't run on a tiny drop, but i do agree with your sentiment on a whole...
fyi
mccains proposed earmark cut failed to pass, they obviously like to spend money we don't have.

[devilsfan0405]

GameOfLove, on Mar 4 2009, 01:42 PM, said:

Here comes the GOP bashing the democrats, since they have nothing else to do and know the whole party is in trouble. I still have confidence Obama will do a somewhat change of this country even if it's a tiny tiny tiny drop. I really wish politicians acted like mature people all they do (both gop and democrats) are bash each other.

I also wish some people see actress party lines instead of being hard core republicans or democrats. eg Rush Limbaugh.

This has nothing to do with party affiliation; it has to do with common sense. How could Obama say that he wasn't concerned about the stock market's decline when it's affecting peoples' lives in such a negative way? It's absurd. It's just as bad as when Bush said that he wasn't aware that gas was rising to $4/gallon last summer. It doesn't matter whether they're Democrats or Republicans, liberals or conservatives, out-of-touch politicians are bad news for all of us.

[satellite_eyes]

Didn't Obama say something like he wasn't concerned with "day to day" fluctuations in the market? IMO he's right there. The president should have more important things to worry about. People are relying too much on the stock market to fund their retirments and that's part of what created this mess in the first place.

[devilsfan0405]

satellite_eyes, on Mar 4 2009, 02:58 PM, said:

Didn't Obama say something like he wasn't concerned with "day to day" fluctuations in the market? IMO he's right there. The president should have more important things to worry about. People are relying too much on the stock market to fund their retirments and that's part of what created this mess in the first place.

Maybe so, but this isn't a "day-to-day" flucuation. We've seen a full-blown collapse in the past several months.

If people don't invest in the stock market, where else can they go? Your money isn't going to grow much getting 2 percent interest with your bank's savings account. You can't rely on Social Security exclusively. Over the past 100 years, the stock market has historically been the best-performing asset class, based on average annual returns. But it isn't a place to be if you need the money in a short period of time, say five years or less down the road.

[Mike_The_Golfer]

satellite_eyes, on Mar 4 2009, 02:58 PM, said:

Didn't Obama say something like he wasn't concerned with "day to day" fluctuations in the market? IMO he's right there. The president should have more important things to worry about. People are relying too much on the stock market to fund their retirments and that's part of what created this mess in the first place.

Very few jobs these days (outside of union and municipal workers) have pensions. So how else are people supposed to fund their retirements? Through IRAs and 401k plans invested in the market.

[NittanyLion]

devilsfan0405, on Mar 4 2009, 03:07 PM, said:

Maybe so, but this isn't a "day-to-day" flucuation. We've seen a full-blown collapse in the past several months.

If people don't invest in the stock market, where else can they go? Your money isn't going to grow much getting 2 percent interest with your bank's savings account. You can't rely on Social Security exclusively. Over the past 100 years, the stock market has historically been the best-performing asset class, based on average annual returns. But it isn't a place to be if you need the money in a short period of time, say five years or less down the road.

I know bonds were a good long-term investment in the past and that's how some of my college tuition is being paid for. Not many people buy any of these anymore.

[devilsfan0405]

NittanyLion, on Mar 4 2009, 04:26 PM, said:

I know bonds were a good long-term investment in the past and that's how some of my college tuition is being paid for. Not many people buy any of these anymore.

Not a bad idea. Bondholders are more protected than common stock holders in situations where a company goes belly-up. They're first in line to get paid when the assets are liquidated. Common shareholders get shafted more often than not.

[vascudave]

devilsfan0405, on Mar 4 2009, 06:21 PM, said:

Not a bad idea. Bondholders are more protected than common stock holders in situations where a company goes belly-up. They're first in line to get paid when the assets are liquidated. Common shareholders get shafted more often than not.

can you even count on them at this point....time to hunker down and keep your money for a little bit imo.

[vascudave]

doesn't help when this is part of you sec of treasury history..... how many tax dodgers will obama keep.

At the Senate confirmation hearings, it was revealed that Geithner had not paid $35,000 in self-employment taxes for several years,[25] even though he had acknowledged his obligation to do so, and had filed a request for, and received, a payment for half the taxes owed. The failure to pay self-employment taxes was noted during a 2006 audit by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), in which Geithner was assessed additional taxes of $14,847 for the 2003 and 2004 tax years. Geithner also failed to pay the self-employment taxes for the 2001 and 2002 tax years until after Obama expressed his intent to nominate Geithner to be Secretary of Treasury.[26] He also deducted the cost of his children's sleep-away camp as a dependent care expense, when only expenses for day care are eligible for the deduction.[27] Geithner subsequently paid the IRS the additional taxes owed,[28] and was charged $15,000 interest, but was not fined for late payment.[29]As President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Geithner, as all FRB employees, annually completed an ethics statement noting any taxes due or unpaid, along with any other obligations. Geithner's completed statement did not surface during confirmation hearings.

In a statement to the Senate panel considering his nomination, Geithner called the tax issues "careless," "avoidable" and "unintentional" errors, and he said he wanted to "apologize to the committee for putting you in the position of having to spend so much time on these issues."[28] Geithner testified that he used TurboTax to prepare his own return and that the tax errors are his own responsibility.[30] This statement is in conflict with statements by the Obama campaign that Geithner was advised by his accountant that he did not owe the taxes [31]. The Washington Post quoted a tax expert who said that TurboTax has not been programmed to handle self-employment taxes when the user identifies himself as being employed.[32] Geithner said at the hearing that he was always under the impression that he was an employee, not a self-employed contractor,[32] while he served as director of the Policy Development and Review Department of the IMF.[8] Geithner comments are contradicted by the Senate report that showed he was not only informed of his status, but that he actively applied for the allowance

[NittanyLion]

http://www.msnbc.msn...8287/?Gt1=45002

[vascudave]

NittanyLion, on Mar 6 2009, 03:18 PM, said:

http://www.msnbc.msn...8287/?Gt1=45002

sounds like a load of horse poop....wait pig poop

these people have been living with this smell for years, now we have to spend this $$$ for their nose?...now's not the time.