President Obama to Sign Pork-Laden Omnibus Spending Bill

Obama said, “that is not change, come on. I mean, words mean something.”
——–
In the case of politics, yes words mean something, they mean that you just told a lie.

Wall Street sees a political economy, not a market braced economy.
They are braced for another steep drop today.
Thanks, Obama. He has now overseen a staggering loss of income.
The people who invested in America’s future have voted — they have no confidence in Obama’s ability.
The people who don’t actually pay federal income tax are greedily awaiting their handouts from Obama.

What is it going to take for Americans to wake up to the fact that Obama is a socialist? He is bankrupting the country. For Gods sake people,Shake yourselves before it is too late. Stop this madness. Please!!

Trep … do you even know what a socialist is? Quickly tell me in a few sentences.

Talking about swallowing a elephant and choking on a fly.
*****************************************************
It’s less than 1% of the Bush/Paulson bailout plan and 40% of Republican earmarks.

There is a $646 billion dollar tax plan in the new budget that will hit all our energy bills. So much for no new taxes.

In September ’08 Obama said that when he was president he would go through the budgets line by line and get rid of earmarks.
Does he mean anything he says? Ever?

An “earmark” refers to any element of a spending bill that allocates money for a very specific thing, a given project, or location, or institution.
For example, if Congress passed a budget that gave a certain amount of money to the National Park Service as a whole, no one would consider it an earmark.
But if Congress added a line to the budget specifying that some of that money must go toward the preservation of a specific single building that is in the National Park Service the designation of funds for that specific single building would be an earmark.

“The President, as a senator, did not request earmarks for the final two years he was in the Senate,” Gibbs said.

==The Republicraps got us in this mess…==
You don’t remember history, do you.
The Democraps wanted everybody to be able to afford housing in the nineties. They rejected regulation of the mortgage lending industry, and the mortgage lenders began offering subprime mortages. Stupid people took the bait.
In ’03 and ’04, Prez Bush warned of the coming crisis, and Senator McCain offered legislation regulating the mortgage lenders, and Barney Frank said that the banking industry needs no regulation, that it is in good shape.
Again, Republicans wanted regulation. Damnocrats rejected regulation from the mid nineties through, at lease, ’04.

Omentum-Alert from WH coming for u. O needs his slave to take care of him. Hurry, you don’t want to keep your master waiting. He becomes most displeased and will have his thugs come after you. Hurry! It’s the bathroom on the first floor!
Posted by: HOPE | Mar 2, 2009 9:28:05 AM
=======================
Sorry HOPE
I mistook you for someone who had a brain. Sorry

Congratulations to all for the most vacant comments posted on both sides of the spectrum I’ve seen in any forum in a while. If this is a representative sample of the collective USA IQ, then it’s time to roll up the sidewalks and call it a day.

The DOW is projected for steep drops today and many forecasters are saying ultimately the DOW will go down to 5500 this year.
They say this because the Obama administration is running a political based economy.
They see that he is bailing out irresponsible people on the backs of the responsible.

Watching the GOP try to reinvent itself as the “fiscally responsible” party is laughable.
They should lead by example…Simply refuse to accept their 40% of the pork.
Like that’s ever going to happen!
Now that we find ourselves in the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, largely due to the failed neo-liberal economic polices of the Republicans, it’s hard to believe anyone is buying the co-opted populous message their trying to selling

How long are we going to beat a dead horse ? Who is driving the buss now ? Isn’t it his job as a “mature ? ” individual to clean up a bad inheritance ? HOW LONG IS HE GOING TO CRY OVER SPILLED MILK ? Poor little baby. Let us all sit down and cry some more. Trimming pork was a simple well proven vote getting device that never fails to attract fools.
Posted by: Old Mo | Mar 2, 2009 9:37:05 AM
=====================
have you ever filled a position in which the last employee was fired.
this is what Obama has taken on. Sure bush was at his term limit but you have to look at what happened across the country.. especially in the new england states. THE REPUBLICANS WERE FIRED.
I am sure Obama knew what he was getting into but he rightfully so should deflect the hannity and the libmaugh by trying to call this his recession and his fault. this train had left the station over a year before obama took office.
so please don’t try to complain when he said he inherited this problem. ITS A VERY TRUE STATEMENT. he is saying it for a reason. REPUBLICAN try to say this is obama’s doing.
lets talk in a year or so when the policies he has put in place begin to take effect.
then we can discuss the his performance as PRESIDENT

How can he continue to say there is no pork in the stimulus bill, this is so ridiculous. People did believe his campaign words (foolishly as we have now seen) and it is really too bad he had to lose the confidence of so many, so soon.

Does anyone remember the last time an economist thought that Obama’s economic policies were actually well thought out and grounded on sound economic principle?
Posted by: Peach | Mar 2, 2009 9:53:27 AM
=================
Let’s use the Bush/Cheney logic on this one.
Soooo. Who cares what people think.

It is last year’s business not passed last year because that fiscally frivolous Bush would have vetoed it.
But not the fiscally cautious Obama. Obama just wants to get this money spent and move on.

Rahm Emmanuel makes Clintonesque denials of the earmarks and pork in the massive debt stimulus bill.
It reminds me of Clinton under oath.
“It depends what the meaning of the word is is”
This administration is setting records for pork and earmark spending that exceed the cumulative total for the entire history of this country.
It is so massive as to defy any version of common sense.
It is so destructive and without the necessary checks that would have been provided by the mainstream media, this abhorrent debt spending, US Economy destroying spending will continue unabated.
Obama resembles an insane megalomaniac, so ideal driven he will “destroy” this country in order to “save” it. He will relish the journey of destruction.

KR said: “the economy recovered and grew at record pace.”
What? Record pace? Do you actually believe the stuff you post here? Do you make this up as you go along, or are you hearing this from somebody else?

How bad do you think it would be if Obama wasn’t against earmarks and lobbyist?

Jake Tapper “”The President, as a senator, did not request earmarks for the final two years he was in the Senate,” Gibbs said.
Wait a minute. He spent the equivalent of $1,000,000/day in earmarks when he was in the senate. A record, even for this group.
HE WAS ONLY IN THE SENATE FOR TWO YEARS. WHY DIDN’T SOMEONE CALL GIBBS ON THIS OUTRAGEOUS, YET ANOTHER LIE.

HE WAS ONLY IN THE SENATE FOR TWO YEARS. WHY DIDN’T SOMEONE CALL GIBBS ON THIS OUTRAGEOUS, YET ANOTHER LIE.
Posted by: MMover | Mar 2, 2009 10:28:05 AM
********
Good memory, MNover.

I have been wiped out by the stupidity of the Democrats. Congratulations Democrats! You have succeeded in bankrupting the citizens of your country!

I have been wiped out by the stupidity of the Democrats. Congratulations Democrats! You have succeeded in bankrupting the citizens of your country!
Posted by: Party Victim | Mar 2, 2009 10:31:20 AM
*******
I truly believe this is Obama’s intent. Making us all dependent on the government which increases the power of the political class.
No one with his level of education could possibly be this ignorant.

“2003-’07: The Federal Reserve failed to use its supervisory and regulatory authority over banks, mortgage underwriters and other lenders, who abandoned such standards as employment history, income, down payments, credit rating, assets, property loan-to-value ratio and debt-servicing ability. The borrower’s ability to repay these mortgages was replaced with the lender’s ability to securitize and repackage them.”
The Federal Reserve, along with the likes of Maxine Waters, Barney Franks, Chris Dodd said it was racist to use those standards.
They said it was racist to check credit histories since that disproportionately disqualified minorites.
This is true. In fact they filibustered these changes and called those rascally repbulicans racist for trying to stop this. They prevented changes and took bribes and special rate mortgages at the same time. The NYT wrote an article about how these heroic dems prevented those racist republicans from preventing MINORITY home ownership.
There is video of these hearings to back this up. Not just rhetoric and partisan position.
Let me repeat that:
THERE IS VIDEO OF THE HEARINGS IN WHICH THE DEMOCRATS OBSTRUCTING ATTEMPTS TO DEAL WITH FANNIE/FREDDIE MESS. ON THE TAPES THE REPUBLICANS PREDICT THAT THIS DISASTER WILL HAPPEN, WHILE MAXINE WATERS CLAIMS REPUBLICANS ARE TRYING TO “LYNCH” FANNIE HEAD FRANKLIN RAINES, AND SO ON.

No matter whose fault it is right now for the condition the USA is in…the final question is, ‘did Hussein say that he would not allow pork? That he would review bills line by line?’
If so, he has lied to the people.
No, I’m not a repub!

Good!! As a taxpayer i rather see something out of my tax dollar. be it a train ,a program… ETC , instead of it going to INVADE and rebuild iraq .or unnecessary WARS period.. like we saw under president Bush
One man pork is another benefit to its cities/communities.

Pity this principle wasn’t demonstrated prior to, rather than, during his presidential campaign.
========
It seems it wasn’t demonstrated so well then, either.
To make it true that he hadn’t requested any earmarks, his name had to be removed from the report of people who had requested earmarks.
So let it be written. So let it be done.

SO Sick Of BO BS: That’s great about Franklin Raines see as he was forced to return 50 million in bonuses because he cooked the books… Didn’t hurt too much seeing as he walked with 290 million.

dl, everyone here is well aware there are many other taxes besides federal income taxes.
But it is inconceivable to me that 42% of Americans are NOT paying any federal income taxes and yet they have the representation in Congress without the taxation.

One of the earmarks Obama requested when he was Senator was $$ to the hospital where Michelle worked. The earmark was rejected which tells us how bad it was.

Dow now hovering barely above 6900. Down 28% since election day. Investors have made up their minds about this guy.

Market Watch expects the DOW to go down to at least 5500 this year.
After 9/11, all the media said that most of the victims were among the smartest people in the country — Wall Street guys.
Of course, they aren’t mentioning now that the smartest guys in the country have zero confidence in Obama.

the dow was inflated on fake numbers gang…nice try…
we are learning from the bernie’s and phil gramms caused numbers and an economy that was FAKE.
do you get that… 8 years of fake bull.
and now you all are trying to say the fake numbers going away (that started being revealed a year ago) are because of obama…stupid is as stupid continues to be.

Let me put on my socialist hat for a moment.
Since some people now owe more on their mortgage than their house is worth, Obama deems them worthy of a bailout. Now, it’s not an issue what a house is worth until one plans to sell it, but that’s another story.
How about a bailout for people who are in their early or mid-60′s who were planning to retire this year but have seen their retirement savings disappear because of government intervention in the free market?
Are they less worthy of a bailout? Those older people have paid into the system all their lives, worked hard and played by the rules. Why are they less worthy than irresponsible homeowners?

The media should be ashamed of itself for covering for this man the last 2 years. I’d also like to know why it is perfectly ok for Obama to have his Wednesday evening cocktail parites all the while telling companies who took federal dollars they’re not allowed to. Does he not know where the money comes from to pay for these things. There are an awful lot of Wednesday evenings over the course of 4 years. That money adds up. What about Pelois and Kerry taking their “trips’?Everybody else has to tighten up but Obama and the libs. Hypocrites!

There seem to be no end to Obama’s talents. Unfortunately there’s no beginning either.

Peach people in their 60′s are getting more from Obama than they ever would have gotten from the republicans…
have you ever had to pay a healthcare bill.
oy…
you and Rush doing the republican party a lot of favors lol

Sam, apparently you didn’t realize that the DOW has dropped 28% since election night. So who is the dummy? But thanks for letting me re-state that no one on Wall Street has confidence in Obama and neither do Americans who invest in their future.

Double the size of this bill, it’s simply not big enough. We need to invest more in America instead of wasting our tax dollars on Iraq, costly republican war toys and corrupt republican contractors.

dl, the spin isn’t going to work anymore. His policies are disatrous. The market knows it; the people know it. Why he is trying to out do Carter as the worst president ever in such a short time frame is what is so strange.

Congratulations accepted! :) You’ve had 8-16 years to get it right GOP. You didn’t and you killed over 1 million foreign people to boot. My parents suffered under Reagan, suffered under Bush I and II. My entire family prospered under Clinton and started to learn good stewardship of our land from Gore. These are the right people for the office.

jennifert
the spin isn’t working anymore is right…we have been hearing it for a decade.
you have no idea whether this is going to work or not… but we know one thing is clear… the republican bologne that they are screaming is what has sent us in this direction.
and their loud self indulgent and completely self fulfilling voices are what is trying to keep us still in that direction.
america is done with the spin from them/you. truth can be as loud (and definitively more powerful ) than what we are hearing from the repubs even still now

“You’ve had 8-16 years to get it right GOP. You didn’t…”
Oh they got it right alright. They transfered as much wealth from the middle class to the richest Americans as anyone in history and now they are trying to cover their tracks.

jennifert
america is done with your spin…the republicans still trying to drag the dems from a different direction.
some stupidity never changes. even as we keep rolling down the hill they put us on with the same blow hard bologne.
wall street was inflated on billions of fake numbers…do you get that…of course wal;l street is going to shrink in it’s numbers…
do you think the fake numbers frombernie and phil gramm etc…should just hold … in their fakeness.
lies got us here…and you all are trying to say the lies were truth.
oy
stupid is as stupid doesn’t learn

It’s not working, dl. The media won’t be able to cover for him any longer. No one is getting a job and their 401k’s are in the toilet with no prospect of going up any time soon. The only truthful thing that has come out of this guy’s mouth is that things are going to get worse before they get better and it’s his policies that will make it so. Even he knows it.

jennifert
calling the guy that is trying to paste the dishes back together that were smashed by the person shouting at him for not fixing it fast enough…
is actually the thing that “is not working”

Obama …
Truly a case of the blind leading the blind.

Socialism?
President Obama plans to create czars for health reform, urban affairs policy, energy and climate change (and possibly more). Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) expressed concerns that this may threaten the checks and balances written in the Constitution. These czars will be presidential advisors therefore they do not require Senate confirmation nor are they required to report to Congress. And since their actions will be held accountable only by the president these czars may end up with more power than the respective cabinet secretaries.
In his speech before the joint session of Congress, President Obama stated: “I have told each of my Cabinet, as well as mayors and governors across the country, that they will be held accountable by me and the American people for every dollar they spend.” Where in the Constitution does it give the president the authority to hold any mayor or any governor accountable for their spending?
President Obama and the Democratic controlled Congress will require the private health insurance industry to bid competitively in order to continue offering Medicare coverage. This is nothing more than an attempt to end private health insurance and replace it with Medicare or a Medicare-like alternative.
President Obama and the Democratic controlled Congress plan to implement preventative health care as an integral component of their univeral health care system. This could effectively give the federal government control over who receives or who is denied health care based on a patient’s diet and lifestyle.
President Obama and the Democratic controlled Congress plan to implement a federal cap and trade system to reduce carbon emissions. This may effectively give the federal government some control over how corporations and small businesses conduct their daily business. Another possible effect could be the federal control over what products individuals can purchase (i.e., only “green” products).

How many of these earmarks have Obama’s name on them? None absolutely none. Of course that’s because they went through the entire bill and when found, removed his name from them. Another campaign promise thrown under the bus.

Bear:As far as earmarks, who is to say what is an earmark and what is not? Is every dollar spent locally an earmark? I think the argument must change: it is not “earmarks” that are a problem, it is earmarks that do not help the country that must be addressed.
———–
During the Bush administration the left screamed daily about things like pork and earmarks.
Now that Obama is in office we need to REDEFINE earmarks in order to prop up their messiah.
This is Clintonesque, yet again. We all recall “It depends what the meaning of the word is is”
It is amazing how the democrats will contort to make apples seem like oranges when their guy is involved.
Earmarks, Rendition, the remaining time in Iraq same as Bush plan, suddenly we are reinterpreting the same information in a positive manner.
It could be called disingenuous or stupid, I’ll stick with abysmally ignorant.

0-bama spendings billions
B-O-R-I-N-G
Nice to see him at center court on TV at the Chicago Bulls game.
Did he fly on Air Force One? So what if he did. He can do what he wants now…

TexGEOas wrote: “We KNEW he was lying when he said he’d go through the bill and weed out the porky earmarks… we knew it.”
Of course everyone–including the media– knew it. That’s because the president no longer has the line-item veto. The Line-Item Veto Act of 1996 was ruled unconstitutional by U. S. District Court Judge Thomas F. Hogan on Feb 12, 1998; and affirmed by a 6-3 decision of the U. S. Supreme Court on Jun 25, 1998.

Words don’t matter… deeds do.

Skip:Oh they got it right alright. They transfered as much wealth from the middle class to the richest Americans as anyone in history and now they are trying to cover their tracks.
========================
President Obama is not repealing the Bush *Tax Cuts* on anyone but the highest income earners.
You know why?
Because it would *raise* the taxes of lower and middle income earners.
Lower and middle income earners had higher tax rates under Clinton than under Bush.

Ah, what a fantasy world would be for the smart Americans if only we could live without the constant worry about those Chinese!
The changes have finally come!
Dear American comrades, forget what our revered President said recently, “You don’t spend what you don’t have.” Why not? We are broke already, a couple of trillions more of debts won’t make too much difference now. Stop worrying about the pork! Screw the future generations!. Let’s enjoy everyday like we have no tomorrow.
As long as the Chinese are willing to loan us more money, we’ll keep borrowing and enjoying our good lives. That has been the American way and that’s how we are going to bring back our American glory. Better yet, let’s take away all of the money saved in the banks, share them among us, and give every family a nice house for free.
And don’t forget, it is the fault of the Chinese; we are suffering with a mountain of debts. If the Chinese weren’t so evil to finance our debts, we wouldn’t be so used to borrowing. This is their sinister plot to destroy our national security. They along with the wealthy Americans created our housing collapse, the crumbling of our superb auto industry, and the global financial crisis.
Without the evil Chinese, we all would be able to make $45 bucks an hour assembling cars, without the need of going to colleges. Without them, we could raise so much our living standards. We could well afford to pay $50,000 for each car, $100 dollars for a pair of shoes and clothing, and $10 dollars for a pound of produces. We would just have funs, drinking beers, watching footballs, smoking pots, and having sex all the time, with no fear of any competition in the high schools. We Americans are too smart to spending time at school. We just need to join great labor unions to demand fantastic wages with high school diplomas, and the government would be able to save hundreds of billions of dollars from the education spending. And that would eliminate our school taxes completely, which would be the biggest tax break of all.
Ah, what a fantasy world would be for us, the smart Americans!

“In fact the so called wealthy paid a higher than ever share of the tax burden, not less….”
Are you trying to say that the massive Bush tax cuts for the richest Americans never happened?
——————-
I am saying that Bush cut everyone’s taxes. He removed millions of people from the taxrolls altogether.
In fact the so called rich received the smallest percentage cut in taxes. It only seemed like more because 1% of $100,000, is the same as 1/2% of $500,000, and so on you know what I mean.
IN the end the so called wealthy still paid more than ever of the tax burden, at much higher percentage of income.
That is no transfer of wealth.

All earmarks are not bad.
Let’s quit being reactionary and focus on figuring out ways to to IMPROVE the earmark system.
Why not just allocate a certain amount of money to each district based on the population or something?
Let’s be PRODUCTIVE not DESTUCTIVE.

SO SICK:
I do not believe it was merely the “left” that complained of earmarks and pork; I recall both sides complaining. I have not seen any administration address earmarks. I also have never seen a huge problem solved overnight.
I repeat, you can not judge whether Obama’s policies or actions will help or hurt; only time will tell. Now everyone has the right to disagree or agree with the actions, however, it is disingenuous, actually outright lies, by anyone who states that the actions WILL NOT work. What we do know, and we AN say, is that the policies of tax cuts for wealthy americans, corportations paying NO TAXES, and shifting the burden to the middle class, HAS NOT WORKED!
We needed new ideas. We got some new ideas. Give them time to work, then come back and give statements of fact.
We also can not expect, due to human nature, is complete change. Not many americans would support a radical change in ideas, as humans are comforted by consistency. The same is true of “bipartisanship”. Apparently so many politicians, on both sides, have been highly partisan for so long, they do not know how to handle bipartisanship. Replubicans apparently believe that bipartisanship means that can have their way on everything, or else it is partisan, the democrats do not want to give up their position after years of Republican bullying.
Both sides need to get over it, but it will take time. I hope Obama gives it time and keeps trying to change. I hopethe american public can see through the arguments and give Obama a chance.
Two months is not a chance. If I recall, the american public gave Bush an additional four years in ’04. Can we give Obama at least a year or two?

“Smart, hard-working people made themselves rich…”
That same old success=wealth argument. Crooks get rich too.

Nashville:
All earmarks are not bad.
Let’s quit being reactionary and focus on figuring out ways to to IMPROVE the earmark system.
Why not just allocate a certain amount of money to each district based on the population or something?
Let’s be PRODUCTIVE not DESTUCTIVE.
————-
I just love all those who now want to be so productive. I am trying to remember any of this when Bush was in office. Then there was an unprecedented assault on any and everything he did. The dems even managed to attribute bad weather to Bush.
NOW THEY WANT TO BE PRODUCTIVE.
REPUBLICANS ARE NOT SLOW LEARNERS. IF WE HAD ANY INCLINATION TO GET ALONG THE DEMS BEAT IT OUT OF US IN THE LAST EIGHT YEARS. WE WILL RETURN THE FAVOR. ONLY WE WILL USE FACTS AND DATA, NOT DEMOCRAT SPIN AND FANTASY.

Stop playing the blame game folks. Whats the real solution and you will find our differences.
Obama’s policy is spend and then spend more, as both the stimulus and this bill illustrate. In conjunction, use some of that money to buy up private markets.
You can go back and look at history to study these actions. This isn’t anything new or revolutionary, its been tried. Generally speaking, they haven’t seen stellar results.
Republicans, probably leaning on their Reagan era history, remember how Reagan cut the marginal tax rate on the rich from 70% down to 29%, and cut spending in the middle of a much harsher economic situation than we have today. You can go judge the results for yourself. The problem is that Republicans lost much of their credibility by spending quite a bit over their last 6 years in the house. Bush is equally to blame for not vetoing any of those bills.
So, is Obama going down the right path for the economic challenges ahead? I see no historical evidence that would support his approach. Actually, governments have traditionally used hard economic times to expand their power over the population by buying up more of the private sector. Europe has been doing it for decades and it’s easily researched. Englands bank is nationalized and they too fell into the same trappings that private banks did. So does government ownership actually work? Apparently not.

Stop looking at the Dow. With the news from AIG about how it’s value has disappeared due to worthless derivatives it’s holding, plus CITI and other banks destined to fail, the dow will not come out of its Bear Mode until way down the road. You money should be in cash. Both sides have issues, both sides played a part, but the lion’s share goes to the greedy obstructionist party whose tacit approval of trickle down economics has led us to where are today. No job creation, just have us spend, spend, spend, and if no job, then borrow, borrow, borrow. That’s The legacy left by the previous admin. Borrow and spend ( and use creative accounting so it doesn’t look as bad).

This administration thinks you are all stupid, folks! Remember during the campaign when Obama said people (the right) were going to try to “scare” you into thinking his policies were nothing but socialism? Remember how he shrugged that off, mocked it? So, with the help of the media some independents and naive college students decided to believe him and voted for him. Well, it’s happening. Faster and far more reaching than anyone imagined. Wake up, people!

That same old success=wealth argument. Crooks get rich too.
—————-
Geither, Daschel, Charlie Rangel, Bill Richardson, Solis, Feinstein, Dodd, Barney Frank, Al Franken,Franklin Raines, Clintons, and so on.
You are absolutely right. Crooks can get rich too. The difference is some of them get to avoid paying any taxes. Even better , the democrats think it is ok when rich dems don’t pay their taxes.
Republicans would be jailed for this.

The hypocracy of the American people staggers me…..worse yet….most don’t put enought thought into it to even realize they are being hypocritical.
Ok….Madoff stole billions….The banks and the mortgage co. partied on, while they stole from us….
So we want their heads on a plate….we want them to go to jail….understandable…….
But….Obama is outdoing all of those theifs…..hes got to the point now where he doesnt even bother to blow smoke up our skirts…he just lamely says its last years business…nothing he can do…..WHAT!!!!!
Obama has a total disrespect for your intelligence…..And i’m wondering if he’s right….
But here’s the really big difference….
People “CHOSE” to put their money in jeopardy with Madoff and the banks and housing….
With Obama….we ‘ALL’ will be fleeced…’no choice’
But instead of asking for his head on a plate…some of you are applauding him.
Thanks Compadres……..

“During the years when Republicans controlled Congress, earmarks grew from $7.8 billion in 1994 to $29 billion in 2006. The Democratic Congress cut earmarks nearly in half, to $17.2 billion in 2008. Barack Obama is committed to returning earmarks to less than $7.8 billion a year, the level they were at before 1994, when the Republicans took control of Congress and the level of earmarks began increasing dramatically.”
That’s from Obama’s own campaign press release last year. He never said he would eliminate all earmarks. He said he would try to return them to a lower level.
This omnibus bill was put together last year. It provides funding for the govt. through September. If he doesn’t sign it by this Friday, funding will be cut off for federal agencies. Congress is an equal branch of govt. and I don’t see them rolling over by Friday and agreeing to remove all their earmarks (and this is a bipartisan situation. Roughly half of the earmarks are from Republican congressman).
What Obama can do is impress upon Congress the importance of cutting down on earmarks in future legislation. (And I don’t think all earmarks should be seen as some evil entity. They are spending projects identified by Congressman for their home states. I’m sure some are worthwhile. It’s the unhealthy proliferation of too many earmarks that is troublesome.)
By the way, Obama was also a sponsor of the bill that made earmarks transparent which is the whole reason you can now see who requested them (they used to be anonymous).

I think that if the American people wanted our government to do nothing KR they would have picked McCain and fewer Democrats.

By the way, Obama was also a sponsor of the bill that made earmarks transparent which is the whole reason you can now see who requested them (they used to be anonymous).
————
You quote so much evidence of the Obama hypocrisy. During his 2 years in the senate he spent more than a millions dollars a day in pork alone. His two year total exceeded the cumulative amount spent by fellow congressmen who had spent 2 decades in congress. Let me be clear, he spent more in two years in waste, than was spent in 20 years by others.
Yet there are cheers when he rails against pork and earmarks. Cheers when he makes sure we know who added the earmark, now that he is no longer able to do so.
His accolytes drool in approval of this hypocrisy because they believe him. There is no historical precedent to believe him, but they believe him none the less.
In fact, when Obama was first elected to state senate University of Chicago invented a job for his wife Michelle. It paid less than 200,000.yr. Obama immediately sent a million plus in earmarks to U of C. When Obama was elected to US Senate Michelles salary tripled to well over 300,000/yr/ Obama immediately began sending earmarks back to U of C.
When Michelle quit the job to move to the whitehouse U of C deleted the position altogether.
Payoffs/ kickbacks and so on. Just like Blagojevich, but in the Messiah it is Ok.
And oh, by the way, we should now reinterpret earmarks for him too.
What fools.

“Reagan started the down hill slide of middle america. Trickle down economics, huge deficit spending, attacks on workers.”
Not true, real median income increased dramatically between 1982-1989 (36k to 40k), then dipped down in 1993, then curved back up again. Funny it followed most indicators of the economy at that time.

Yep, the great communicator talked to us, put us to sleep and gutted the middle class. Republicans. Keep ‘em.
———
Spare me. Standards of living went up for everyone during that time, and he brought 21% home mortgageinterest rates down to single digits for everyone. That meant regular people could buy homes again. Home ownership plummeted under Carter.Reagan also had the job of repairing the Carter depression, of gas lines, rationing and so on.
Everyone did better under Reagan. If you look at dollars vs percentages than you can contort this to mean otherwise.
Reagan lowered everyones taxes.
Reagan took us through a period of massive economic growth in which everyone benefitted. Reagan also took a few minutes to end the cold war, knock down the berlin wall and so on.
You bet some people got rich. If they hadn’t who would have paid the taxes to get us out of the whole that Carter mess. Certainly not the underachievers or that 42%, almost half the country that don’t pay taxes. You can’t tell me with almost half the country NOT PAYING TAXES they were somehow cheated.
Oh , and by the way, the largest percentage in tax cuts, again were aimed at those making the least.

George:I think Obama dont know how to do things the right way. The cost for a 2 days in the hospitle is 23 000 dollars, and if they give you one aspirin it is 500 dollars extra charge. I think something is wrong with this, and Obama should kick out all these insurance companies, and drug companies and the governmet should do all the drug making and researches ,and should have the government manage all the health care and drug reserch, and production.
————-
I don’t know what hospital you go to but those numbers do not reflect reality.
You clearly want National Health Care. You will be stunned to find out how much that is going to cost you. Did you think it would be free?
In Great Britain there is a 40% cure rate for prostate cancer, the cure rate is 90+ percent in the US because there are no months long waits to begin therapy and treatment is not rationed.
Great Britain admits it did not treat patients with cancer of the kidney, using the documented effective drugs, because they cost too much.
Canada has equally problematic issues with waits and rationing.
The German system is in a shambles and taxpayers now have a large co-pay along with their insurance payment. Yes you will still be making insurance payments, they will simply be to the government.
The US spends twice as much as any other nation on health care costs.
The US also provides the highest quality, non-rationed, health care in the world.
What do you think you will feel when someone you know has breast cancer and gets to wait 6 months to start treatment, waiting while the cancer grows, maybe beyond ability to cure.
If you think our system will be different you are mistaken.
You can also expect the same shortage of doctors when this happens. It happened in every other country that has done this. No one wants to be a part of a system that won’t let you treat your patients.
The media better offer an honest education on this and let the chips fall where they may , or we are all going to regret it.

Is that some kind of trick? Real wages for the middle class DECLINED under Reagan and has continued to decline.
He started the biggest deficits this country has ever seen. Clinton reduced the deficit.
Go through history. Republicans give as much as possible to the wealthy with their reasoning being that they create jobs and benefits us all. After years of republicans doing this, the country goes through recessions, democrats take office, fix the problems, get blamed by republicans with a ton of money, uninformed public buys the crap, votes in republicans, who spend tons of money to sell their potions. Here we go again. Research this, the facts are out there. Now, SO SICK, gas lines- 1973, republican president, not Carter.
Carter proved to be not a great president, so no defense of him. Reagan, two recessions during his eight years. Where is your knowledge of history? Failure to remeber the past dooms us to repeat it.

“The problem is the Republicans have no vision for the current situation. They pull policies from the past; offer them as current solutions on an unprecedented crisis they seemingly fail to understand in a changing American demographic they can’t or are unwilling to adapt to.”
Actually Reagan had a much more problematic economy than Obama currently has. The current banking crisis is very similar to the Savings and Loan crisis, unemployment was far higher, inflation and interest rates were in the double digits. We aren’t anywhere near there… yet.

“If not shutting down government is a goal of Congress’s, they could remove all their earmarks by Friday.”
Well, unfortunately nearly half of the earmarks in the bill are from Republicans and #1 I don’t see them doing anything to help this President and #2 we know from 1995 that they have no reservations about shutting down the government.
So this is a little bit of brinkmanship that simply would not work.

$410 billion spending bill!!! I can see “CHANG” is coming. The rich will not be Mr. A, B, C again, but will change to Mr. X, Y, Z. Those in between stay the same.

“Republicans give as much as possible to the wealthy…”
Really? How, exactly, do they “give” it to them. Following the Bush tax cuts, here is how federal income taxes were borne, by income group (2007).
Top 5% 60.1%
Top 10% 71%
Top 50% 97.01%
Bottom 50% 2.99%
Some gift.

So Obama lied about some earmarks.
Or this, or that.
He says is SO WELL
OBAMA IS AWESOME!!!
I like my $ 13 !
I like welfare and extended unemployment benefits, too.
What’s so bad about Obama’s Marxist Socialist Program anyway?
Chicago is doing GREAT thanks to ACORN!

The Republicans say, Everything President Obama Lays a Hidden Agenda….
Yet, Everything Bush Jr. did was Transparent and on the Up and Up…
The Straight and Narrow….
Just like Bush’s “This Economy is about to Crater…
The Economy is about to Tank”
Ha !!
They Bailed Out the Banks and Wall Street and Let the Bankers and Wall Street Executives to Run Wild with the Billions given.
Republican Talking Points:
“Big Government, needs to get out of the Way and Let the Market Grow….
Corporate Welfare: Go Bankrupt, that is and get Bailed out by the [[Tax Payers]] you Notice that the Republican Party, Never Complain about this Dump on the Tax Payers Next Generation…
But You Hear the Republican Pundits Trash Obama, for…
Dumping this DEBT on the Nation’s Next Generation, because Bush is a Republican and [[Corporate Welfare]] is Acceptable and Dumping such DEBT on the Next Generation is [[Acceptable]] and is “Free Enterprise” Justified.
Free Enterprise and De-Regulation, of Banks, Wall Street and Mortgage Companies, lead to this… MESS
RNC Talk Points: “Big Government, Get out of the Way and Let Free Enterprise Work”
If that were the case, the 3 Entities Bailed Out and mentioned Above, would be Self Sufficient, Self Sustaining and Self Contained, not Needing Assistance or any Billion Dollar Bailouts from….
[[Big Government]]
Yet it is these 3 Entities Wall Street, U.S. Banks, AIG and The American Auto Corporations with their Hands Out for BIG CASH from …
[[Big Government]]
The Hypocrisy of the [[RNC]]
“Get out of the WAY and Allow Businesses to Grow”
OK…
Let them All FAIL and Allow Massive Firings and Lay Offs and send this Country, into a [[DEPRESSION]]
Borderline Bull-Spit

ALL YOU REAGAN HATERS america voted him in by a landslide he must have done something right and he would be a better president than obumma even from his casket

A spokesman for the Senate Appropriations Committee Thursday said the president’s name would be excised from the congressional report identifying earmarks and their sponsors let me seeeeeeeeeeee tranperancy in my white house

It is barely one month; the halo behind the head of our revered President is already fading.
Promised changes have come, but they are hardly our liking.
Trillions of national debts will soon be piling up, yet the victory is already declared, just like that for the infamous “Mission Accomplished”.
No pork in our spending, no lobbyist in my administration, and no corruption in this government, he said.
Sausages in multi-flavors are on the way; liars and cheaters were chosen to lead our government.
Beloved President,
No, they did not make innocent mistakes. Those were deceit, typical greedy and shameful behaviors that had been percolating Washington, D.C.
They are no better than the disgraceful bankers that you have harshly denounced recently. Only Your Excellency is willing to turn a blind eye to them.
When will the phony promises end?
Liars and cheaters that created this turmoil justify your help. On the contrary, those elderly who have lived an honest life and tried to make a conscious earning through diligent saving are being screwed over and over again.
Bush’s despicable image is still dreadfully vivid in our memory, and the torment he brought us has become too devastating. Sadly, the torments will only exacerbate and persist for years to come with this kind of changes.
Heaven help us, the honest and the helpless, for we have suffered enough through these incompetent and corrupt rulers.

JKS:NBC’s”Meet the Press” Republican political consultant, Mike Murphy made the point yesterday that based on today’s voting demographics, Ronald Reagan could not have been elected in 2008. In 1980, Anglos accounted for 89% of the electorate.
——————
The demographic issue has more to do with those who want handouts vs those willing to work for what they want. The we want welfare crowd has indeed increased. Those who are here illegallly and think that they have a right to be here and collect benefits has certainly increased. It is always those who do pay the taxes who feel they or others should get it all at someone elses expense. Of course they would not want Reagan.
That does not mean Reagan would not still be better than Obama, which is such an understatement I can’t expand on it.

So, a little more than one month into the job, how much spending has Obama signed off on? I’m quickly losing track.

>>>No pork in our spending, no lobbyist in my administration, and no corruption in this government, he said.
ha!
Obama LIED – shocking! but only shocking to Obots – most of whom won’t admit they were duped.

Sick of BO BS
Illegals can’t vote so I”m not sure what that has to do with what Mike Murphy said.
“It is always those who do NOT pay the taxes who feel they or others should get it all at someone elses expense. Of course they would not want Reagan.”
hmmm….It was Reagan who championed and signed into law the Earned Income Tax Credit law. He hailed it as “the best anti-poverty, the best pro-family, the job creation measure to come out of Congress”…
Oh my…. does this mean he was really a “Socialist’?

A spokesman for the Senate Appropriations Committee Thursday said the president’s name would be excised from the congressional report identifying earmarks and their sponsors let me seeeeeeeeeeee tranperancy in my white house
Posted by: david reyes | Mar 2, 2009 1:28:29 PM
*********
Has one person questioned the administration about this matter? Just one would do.

The admin. was going to ensure that bridges that lead to the small businesses were safe.
~~~~~
There are no bridges on the way to my small business. Can I sue for discrimination?

Another Obama spending spree, another 200+ point loss in the stock market. After they have caused the bankruptcy of America, will the Obamites finally quit wasting money??

This is my first real disappointment in Obama, no earmarks means no earmarks….
He promised this would not be the same ole politics and here we go again.. Of course, it’s still better than McCain….

At least this time we are not putting folks lives on the line with the stimulus package.
~~~~~
Just the free market, our way of life and everything that keeps us free.
It really is a travesty that President Bush kept us safe for 7 years. Perhaps we deserve this.

This is my first real disappointment in Obama, no earmarks means no earmarks….
He promised this would not be the same ole politics and here we go again.. Of course, it’s still better than McCain….
~~~~~~~
And that would be because he has NEVER earmarked a bill, right?

It seems logical that given the current economy we should not be allowing earmarks. I’m a little concerned that Obama doesn’t concerned about this.

There are no bridges on the way to my small business. Can I sue for discrimination?
Posted by: Plumber | Mar 2, 2009 2:01:04 PM
*******
LOL. We should be able to sue Biden and Obama for criminal stupidity.

Updated: 2:10 pm ET, March 02
Dow 6,839.20 -223.73 (-3.17%)
=============
Isn’t this enough to impeach this self-claimed Constitution Law Professor, the Smartest Clueless Leader, for tanking our economy?

Earmarks are used to by the votes of congressmen by the party in power, which in turn the congressman tout it in their campaigns that they brought that earmark to their district, not packaged as an earmark but as a great benefit he brought to his/her district.
If you want to stop earmarks, stop popularizing government money flowing into your voting district. These politicians are doing exactly what they think we want, which gets them votes. Until we start saying no earmarks at our congressional districts through votes, it will continue.

At least this time we are not putting folks lives on the line with the stimulus package.
~~~~~
Just the free market, our way of life and everything that keeps us free.
It really is a travesty that President Bush kept us safe for 7 years. Perhaps we deserve this.
Posted by: Plumber | Mar 2, 2009 2:14:47 PM
===========================
I wish he would have kept us safe for 8 years. And for the seven, I think you give him too much credit.
So how is that free market working for us right now. Maybe our way of life was the wrong way. What did you enjoy most? The trickle down tax cuts or the deregulations.
And what do you have to offer? More-of-the-same…..BRILLIANT.

To: confidential416 | Mar 2, 2009 2:12:34 PM
At least this time we are not putting folks lives on the line with the stimulus package.
Are you kidding me?
Posted by: Logan42 | Mar 2, 2009 2:25:56 PM
========================
No … not at all.
I was comparing the Bush’s bold initiative – WAR to Obama’s bold initiative – Economic recovery
How about asking the nearly 5000 families is that empty spot at the dinner table worth the war. And the tens of thousands who are missing limbs and have scars…. ask them was it worth fighting for a country and then have the president ducking shoes to show their appreciation.
What I am really trying to say is this hogwash the rightwing is spewing is more about political posturing.
The rightwing fell from grace not because of political posturing by the leftwingers but by the mandate of the people.

“How about asking the nearly 5000 families is that empty spot at the dinner table worth the war. And the tens of thousands who are missing limbs and have scars…. ask them was it worth fighting for a country and then have the president ducking shoes to show their appreciation.”
Did you serve Omentum? Or you just talking for us?

Yes. And Obama promised to go line by line through all legislation and budgets to get rid of them.
Posted by: Peach | Mar 2, 2009 2:25:14 PM
=========
Oh, yeah. Only after the then-not-so-honorable former freshman Senator from Illinois earmarked one cool mil immediately up on his arrival at the Capital Hill for the employer who immediately raised his wife’s salary by more than 150% up on hearing his election to the US senate.

I love Obama ! but – I’m pretty disappointed in this bill! I believed Obama would do what he promised during the election.., no earmarks means just that – send congress back, tell them to fix it, keep sending them back until the bill reads the way the american people were promised it would NO EARMARKS !! bills of this size can’t be rushed.

No system is perfect. How did Russia’s or eastern Europe’s command economy work out? Oh I guess it didn’t. But I’ll take our free based system over theirs any day of the week. Oddly enough, all of those former soviet nations, including Russia have adopted a flat tax.
Posted by: KR | Mar 2, 2009 2:36:07 PM
==========================
Please allow me to pass out the next time someone uses illogical comparisons (apples and donuts)
The soviet union was a dictatorship
America is not.
The way of life is drastically different than the US.
Two different eras
Industrial – Information
Different value system
the list goes on.
What I can say is that even in American history this is an unprecedented turnover to a new administration
-TWO WARS
-Century old businesses going belly-up by the dozens
-Worsened International relations
-Crititcal healthcare and education system woes
-No trust in the stock market.
Mind you … this train left the station a year before Obama took the oath of office.
This is not a scratch. It is a shotgun blast at close range. You cant fix that with a bandaid and tylenol tablets. Obama has put forth a bold initiative and although I know you won’t take my advice on this – stop complaining and let’s see how it works. If it don’t … by all means vote him out in four years. Do you actually think we can got to (as you say)a socialist country in 3-4 years. Get real. Political posturing in play.

I wish he would have kept us safe for 8 years. And for the seven, I think you give him too much credit.
~~~~~
Me too – sadly it took more than 9 months to dismantle the Gorelik wall. WOnder how long it will take for President O to erect it again.
Posted by: Plumber | Mar 2, 2009 2:47:18 PM
=======================
GIVE ME A BREAK!!!!! Blaming this on Gore. Did you say that with a straight face.
How about bush out on the ranch sawing wood and ignoring intelligence reports a third grader could understand.
BIN LADEN DETERMINED TO STRIKE AMERICA IN US.
folks in flight schools wanting to learn how to fly but not concerned with learning how to land. DUHHHHHH!!!!!!
You argument has crossed that bridge to nowhere.
thanks but no thanks

The DOW is really tanking today.
When Obama promised change what he really meant is that we’ll only have change left in our pockets by the time he’s done.

Wally,
Good insight to the world scene. When we are unable to pay maybe China will settle for north slope oil or Hawaii! LOL

“President Obama to Sign Pork-Laden Omnibus Spending Bill”
I know you think very highly of yourself, but this headline constitutes your opinion. We don’t care about it. Report stop trying to kiss up to right wingers, you aren’t supposed to be the news.

==Just search on “who caused the banking crisis”. You’ll find lots of answers, none of them matching the swill you just posted.==
Sooo, YOU’re saying that you can find nothing where Barney “Mealy-Mouth” Frank says that the mortgage lending industry is doing well andneeds no regulation?
You can find nothing that reports that John McCain offered mortgage lender regulation in ’03 and that the Damnocrats rejected Republicans’ suggestion of regulation, and that they also rejected regulation in the nineties, that they — incuding Dodd and Clinton — said that we don’t need regulation of that industry and that EVERYBODY should be able to afford to have a house? YOu can’t find ANY of that???

KR:
Looking at the numbers is deceiving. While your paycheck might have risen 4000 dollars, when adjusted for inflation and other cost of living adjustments, it actually decreased. When wages do not keep up with the cost of inflation, the value of your money declines. Raises did not keep pace with inflation, significantly related to Reagan’s assault on workers.
Based on the accepted baseline of 1969 wages, earnings declined during the Reagan and Bush I years.

Pretty soon we will all be equaly poor, just let me know where the soup line. The change Pres. Obama promised is that he will change his mind over and over again.
Posted by: Lizzie | Mar 2, 2009 2:30:35 PM
********************************
I agree! His promises are like water, without a container to hold the water it will just waste away.
In other words, his promises have “NO” substance or truth to back them up.

Mr. Obama says he wants to usher in a new era of personal responsibility. If that were true than he would curtail the laws that allow innocent infants to be killed through abortion and infanticide. Yet, he is doing the opposite. In his own words, “I don’t want my daughters punished with a baby”. His idea of personal responsibility is not only to destroy life (is infanticide anything other than that?), but to make others do it against their will. Some other historic figures come to mind when I think of that.
Mr. Obama’s idea is to control everything, because his arrogance tells him, he knows best. In his own words from the State of the Union address: “The U.S. budget released today isn’t just a budget. I see it as a vision for America — as a blueprint for our future.” With it, Mr. Obama becomes the economy’s Architect-in-Chief. (Quote from WSJ).
His vision is not a path towards light. Our country is the greatest country on earth. Yes, we have some fixing to do. However, Mr. Obama’s blueprint, I suspect will render the same results of his idea of personal responsibility.

Punish the productive and watch Rome fall. That’s the Obama/Rahm plan.

I voted for McCain. Yes, he lost, but, at least, I got principles and the satisfaction that Obammy supporters put in the wrong guy, and, now, we all suffer.
Remember all this in ’10 and ’12!

The time has come to pay off all those who supported Pres. Obama in the campaign. Princess Botox Pelosi and Prince Harry Reid are now in full control of the country.
God help us all.

Thank you to Jake Tapper for telling the whole story – I was very afraid that no upstanding news network would do so. Thanks ABC News.

According to ABCNEW Breaking News this morning the “Dow Falls Below 7,000; It’s the First Time Since 0ct. 28, 1997 That the Index Has Traded This Low [9:38 a.m. ET]
I am not sure it this has already been posted on this blog today.

Our financial crisis is foreclosure driven: Imagine: Our government offers to loan 50% for any current mortgage at an interest rate of 3%, subject to the existing lender allowing the re-setting of the payment to 50% of the amount of the original payment. I.e. with a $200,000 mortgage, the Government pays off $100,000. Then the homeowner records a 2nd lien against the property, in favor of the Treasury, for that $100,000 at 3%. The existing 1st loan, rewritten to reduce that monthly payment by 50% together with the Governments 2nd reduces the monthly payment by about $200/month. Both payments are paid in one check as a ‘Wrap Around Mortgage’ payment to a Collection Escrow service for proper dispersion. (The Collection Escrow will separate the payments, forward the separate payments, and keep all records of dates paid, etc..)
Benefits: 1. The lenders’ positions are hugely strengthened by receiving back 1/2 of their loaned funds. 2. The homeowner will save about $200/month in his mortgage payment, easing his position AND stimulating the economy. 3. The payment will bring that payment to rent levels or below, and will encourage homeowners to take those now affordable properties off the market. 4. This process will quickly mediate the foreclosure slide and begin to heal our financial disaster. 5. The government gets its money back with interest.
As the problem resolves, the program can be phased out. It may continue in especially troubled regions as necessary.

Kyl’s Earmark Hypocrisy:
Requested $118 Million For Earmarks In Budget, But Railed Against Them In Stimulus
According to Taxpayers for Common Sense, Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) requested $118 million in earmarks in fiscal year 2008.
On Fox News Sunday yesterday, host Chris Wallace pressed Kyl about his earmarks, saying it is an example of how Republicans have “lost credibility on the issue of spending restraint.” “Who are you to lecture the Democrats on spending?” asked Wallace.
Kyl deflected the question, saying that they weren’t earmarks because earmarks “have a specific definition“:
WALLACE: And we’re putting up on the screen, Senator, your earmarks, a long list of them, according to the Taxpayers for Common Sense, totaling $118 million.
Question — I think it’s a fair one — who are you to lecture the Democrats on spending?
KYL: Well, first of all, I don’t see on the screen what you’re talking about. I can defend everything that I have recommended in the budget, and I would suggest that they’re not earmarks under the definition, because we have a specific definition.
Kyl’s “specific definition” defense is ironic given his attacks on President Obama’s economic recovery plan.
Though Taxpayers for Common Sense has said that “congressional leaders had generally resisted the urge to fill the bill with earmarks, according to the strict definitions of the word,” Kyl claimed it had “billions of dollars of earmarks and pork“:
Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) said that the wasteful spending that Schumer talked about matters to Americans far more than he thinks.
Republican Talking Points 101:
In the past, Kyl has admitted that his earmark criticism is “symbolic” and that he complains about “wasteful Washington spending” for political reasons because “the consultants who look at the polls tell us that if there’s anything that drives American taxpayers crazy it’s that phrase ‘wasteful Washington spending.’”

According to Taxpayers for Common Sense, six of the top ten Senators with earmark spending designations are Republicans Shelby (R-AL), Cochran (R-MS), Bond (R_MO), Murkowski (R_AK),McConnell (R-KY), Inhofe (R-OK).

Hey ‘O’ – and your choice has ramped up the deficit even further. His proposed budget will nearly double the deficit in only 2 months. Gee, ya think he really is any better? I know you are a victim of the hate Bush propaganda campaign, but when are you going to wake up to the fact that Obama plans to expand the size of government massively. How does government get money? Taxes!? To pay off just Obams increase in spending, it would take nearly 100% of the money made by all people making over $70,000. The current cost of Obamas proposed budget will cost each family in America nearly $50,000. Do you really want to give the gov. $50,000 to tell you how to run your life?

Wasn’t the Omnibus bill from last year more than twice large than this year’s 7.7 billion?

No earmarks at all was a McCain campaign promise, not an Obama one.
Earmarks have a legitimate function – so get off your high horse. ‘Conservatives’ – or more accurately: Republicans – have always been the highest consumers of earmarks.

O, I will agree with you on one thing– it may be the last time that happens. *G* Earmarks by Republicans are no different than earmarks by Democrats. But while you seem to think that earmarks are no problem at all because they were also around in the Bush era and because they are a small percentage (by your reckoning) of the total bill, I find them extremely troubling and have objected to them for years, including when they were included in spending bills in the Bush era.
THE DIFFERANCE BEING BUSH DIDNT PROMISE NO EARMARKS BUT THE MESSIAHHHHHH DID WHEN YOU RUN AND SAY ONE THING THEN DO ANOTHER HE AINT CHANGE HES DOUBLE MORE OF THE SAME A LIARRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

Obama has proven himself far far worse than Bush already…..he must go.

The Man has been in Office,
What…
3 Months, and the President is suppose to CHANGE this Practice without a Vote from the Senate and Congress…
That’s not the Democratic System…
Implicating or Implying that this New President is not doing his Job, is Pitiful, Pathetic and Presumptuous, to say the Least.
Note: The Pork Projects, don’t even constitute 5% of the Omnibus.
Jake you should Rest this …
[[Sad Gotcha Moment]]
Posted by: O. | Mar 2, 2009 6:09:14 PM
Billions in Earmarks contained in the $410 Billion Omnibus spending bill — and campaign pledges to “Slash Earmarks by more than Half” — the President would sign the bill.
———-
Taxpayers for Common Sense says the Bill contains [[8,570]] Earmarks at a Cost of [[$7.7 Billion]].
An estimated 60% of the Earmarks are from [[Democrats]], while [[Republicans]] requested the remaining 40%.
———————-
Note: Wow Such Wasteful Earmark Spending…
Out of 410 Billion Dollars…
Only 7.7 Billion Dollars of Wasteful Earmarks…
Oh The Shame!!
Please…
You People act as if, Earmarks are 70% of the Omnibus Package…
I’m Not Impressed at all or Shocked at all.
From the Reaction
—————–
I was Expecting the Omnibus to be at Least 25-30% Packed and Laden with Earmarks !!
7.7 Billion from a 410 Billion Dollar Package..Please
That’s Not Pork that’s…
[[Chicken Nuggets]]

I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don’t know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Sarah

Bere is a song for GOP operative Jake Tapper. Why doesn’t he just admit that this is his attitude toward Obama and the Democrats. ABC News is psthetic to put this guy out as some sort of objective reporter. Here you go Jake: After you sing this song, why don’t you go ‘tap’ with Larry Craig in one of your GOP Log Cabin Republican restroom stalls: Here’s your theme song, buddy. Taken from Marx Brothers film, 1932, “Horsefeathers”: Here you go. Your theme song that sums up your attitude toward Obama and the Democrats. So much for your being a fair news reporter….”Liberal media” my eye. Here you go, hack, your song:
**********************************
I don’t know what they have to say, ___
It makes no difference anyway — ___
Whatever it is, I’m against it! ___
No matter what it is or who commenced it, ___
I’m against it.___
Your proposition may be good ___
But let’s have one thing understood — ___
Whatever it is, I’m against it! ___
And even when you’ve changed it or condensed it, ___
I’m against it. ___
I’m opposed to it — ___
On general principles I’m opposed to it!___
Chorus: He’s opposed to it! ___
In fact, in word, in deed, ___
He’s opposed to it! ___
For months before my son was born, ___
I used to yell from night till morn, ___
Whatever it is, I’m against it! ___
And I’ve kept yelling since I commenced it,___
I’m against it! ___

This isn’t last year’s business…it is our money…money that we are going to have to come up with sooner or later. Obama promised to end earmarks…now is the time to put up or shut up. Between earmarks and his tax cheating cabinet…this is change…but not change we can believe in.

Come on Mr. Obama! Millions of Americans put all their hope and faith in you. Don’t screw it up! Don’t sign that pork-laden bill into law. Sland up for what you believe to be right. Make a change. Even Cajuns won’t eat pork-bellies. No more pork. Trim the fat from government. Trim the fat from those bills. I can’t believe that even our congressmen and women won’t recognize the crisis and come together to save our country. Shame on them. Shame on us. We deserve to fail if we can’t come together, put aside our differences and own petty desires, cinch up our belts and roll up our sleeves and do what needs to be done…not politics as usual, but real substantive answers to our great country’s problems. NO MORE PORK!!! GET DOWN TO BUSINESS!!!

Obama has his name removed from the bill although him and biden have over 200 billion in porkish earmarks ( You know the things that he promised to stop Why try to hide your lies Mr President Because you are a lier..
U VOTED 4 THIS AMERICA

Thank you Jake:
At least someone is fair and balanced.
I will tune in to ABC just to see Jake
Tapper. I will also spread the word to my friends that are looking for a MSM journalist/reporter that reports the facts and ask some good questions.

We as Americans, Repub. or Dem’s should be mad as hell at both sides. This isn’t the time to grab and go for all these “goodies”. Is there any honesty left in D.C.? For either side?

liberals are trying to destroy the country! We know what works. Individual responsibility works.

Democrats are crooks!! They operate under a different set of rules. We know them by their actions.

Host Bob Schieffer asked “why didn’t he(Obama) just tell the Senate, ‘Look, take these things out of here; I’ve told people we were not going to have these earmarks; then send it back to me’?” which prompted Emanuel to repeat the exact same talking points he’d just given, in more bullet-pointy form. ……control can be restored to this reckless spending in 2010.

scott jeffries | Mar 3, 2009 2:22:28 PM
….this is only 1 of many broken promises. We can only HOPE he CHANGEs his ways.

Regarding the current spending bill; IT SHOULD NOT BE SIGNED WITH EARMARKS (PORK) included. The fact that it is last years’ bill does NOT make it right to include all the pork. This is tax payers money…..not the governments.

Please do not support any of the Pork projects.
They are of no value to us. By us I mean guys like me who had a business for 30 years and had to close it’s doors on Dec 20 2008.
I was proud of my business but pork bellies did not help me nor did DE Regulation in various industries.

No, President Obama should VETO the spending bill until the “pork” is taken out of it. Our children and grandchildren cannot afford more needless spending.

No. No! No! the current spending bill should not be passed. I think you should let some of us who keep our bills paid and don’t spend what we don’t have be in charge of some of the government spending. I am SURE we could do a better job!

If President Obama was able to change Bush’s ruling to close Guantanamo Bay, then why can’t he keep his campaign promise to eliminate unecessary earmarks and NOT sign the bill?

NO! Not until after he returns it to Congress to have ALL of the earmarks removed.

VETO IT!! This had nothing to do with Congress’ right to request funds for their own pet projects. If Congress had the country’s interest at heart, they wouldn’t even consider this kind of spending right now. It’s not appropriate when people are losing their homes, jobs, and don’t know where their next meal is coming from.

HE needs to veto this spending bill…
The president campaigned on elimminating earmarks and now he is going back on his word which is demonstrating a LACK of CREDIBILITY. This is money that will be spent under his administration and they are trying to say it is last years business.. Baloney…

How does one spell Veto?
With a big V and a big E and a big T and a great big O. Oh my.

==I don’t think that congress should be allowed to handle the nations [sic] money.==
Then, change the Constitution.
==It’s like giving money to a child. They have no idea how to spend it properly or it’s [sic] value to begin with.==
All you gotta do, then, is change the Constitution.

==We can only change/control what the future willbring (or not bring).==
That’s what the voters thought last November, too. It didn’t turn out exactly the way they thought it would.

==I don’t think that congress should be allowed to handle the nations [sic] money.==
Then, change the Constitution so that it gives YOU the purse strings and everybody should be happy then, huh?

==Enough already! It is politics as usual in Washington. Obama promised us no more pork or pet projects. So much for HOPE. He is no better than the other politicos in Washington.==
We try to tell you this last November. You people wouldn’t listen. You people thought you know it all. Now you people can suffer with the rest of us who knew better.
==That tea party is looking more appealing every day.==
You mean to tell us that, now, this is change you CANNOT believe in??? The Dear Leader says that it is change that you CAN believe in. So, which is it? Shouldn’t you have thought about this last November?

==the problem is coming from both sides==
Not this time, Ed.
== obama is not god==
He is a god to Obammybots. He’s not God, not our Savior.
== we need to get on our knees and pray==
Obammybots are doing just that…to him.
== remember this country once had morals values==
I remember. Things have changed, not cuz God wants this change but cuz men think they have more power than God does. So, under those conditions, it is only a remnant God will save cuz only a few will find the gate.