PORKER OF THE MONTH

I haven't published these in a while, so here is April's Porker of the Month from the CITIZENS AGAINST GOVERNMENT WASTE.  The award went to Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina).  Here's the article:

CAGW Names Senator Lindsey Graham Porker of the Month 

Today, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) named Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) its April 2011 Porker of the Month for threatening to bring the Senate to a standstill over a $40,000 earmark for a federal study on deepening the port of Charleston.  The study would investigate the effectiveness of deepening the port from 47 feet to 50 feet, an improvement that Sen. Graham claims will allow it to accommodate the types of ships that will “dominate shipping lanes” in the future.  The earmark began as a $400,000 request that was rejected by the Senate Appropriations Committee in October, 2010.  There was also no money for the project in the President’s fiscal year (FY) 2012 budget.  Sen. Graham reduced his request to $40,000, but even that amount was not included in Congress’s FY 2011Continuing Resolution. 
On April 11, 2011, Sen. Graham threw a fit over the failure to fund the project, telling reporters that he would “tie the Senate in knots” until the port study money was approved.  On April 12, he tweeted, “No nominations go forward in Senate until we address CHS port.”  Unfortunately, the tantrum paid off.  Despite Congress’s ongoing earmark moratorium, on April 15 Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) pledged on the Senate floor that he would find funding for the study before the end of FY 2011.  Sen. Reid stated that the money would “not be limited to South Carolina,” since Charleston is just one of 12 eligible recipient cities, but Sen. Graham was satisfied enough to stop his protest, indicating that he knows full well where the cash will land. The deepening of Charleston’s port is expected to cost $350 million. 

The senator from South Carolina is no stranger to pork-barrel spending.  His earmark requests totaled $78.9 million in FY 2010 and $126 million in FY 2009.  Sen. Graham has claimed through his website that “260,800 jobs, $11.8 billion in wages, and $1.5 billion in state and local taxes” hinge on the Port of Charleston’s improvements.     

“This project and the study it requires both reek of pork,” said CAGW President Tom Schatz.  “If the benefits to South Carolina even approach the numbers cited by Sen. Graham, private backers and the state government should be chomping at the bit to fund it themselves.  Instead, taxpayers everywhere will pay for a study, the results of which are a foregone conclusion – it will prove the importance of upgrading the port and cost taxpayers much more money. 

“If each of the 260,800 people whose jobs supposedly depend on the port deepening were to contribute just 19 cents apiece, the study would be funded in full.  There is absolutely no reason that taxpayers in places like Omaha or Denver should be forced to finance Charleston’s port,” concluded Schatz.

For insisting that federal taxpayers deep-six their dollars into a project that should be funded by the state and the private sector, CAGW names Sen. Lindsey Graham its April 2011 Porker of the Month.

Citizens Against Government Waste is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.  Porker of the Month is a dubious honor given to lawmakers, government officials, and political candidates who have shown a blatant disregard for the interests of taxpayers.  


Deepening a port by three feet for $350,000,000.00. $40,000 of taxpayer dollars just for the study.  That's a total of $130,000,000 per foot. What a bargain.  And these people are constantly telling us the Federal government is broke (which it is beyond broke), threaten to shut down the government, and all of the other political hoopla we hear everyday.  This is just a prime example that none of them in Washington really truly represent anyone's interests other than their own.

THE ECONOMIC STIMULUS PLAN - A SQUEAL OF A DEAL . . . NOT!

More Cool New Pig Animations Graphics at NewGraphicMyspace.Com

There have been many others here that have given their take on the so-called Economic Stimulus package. I say so-called because literally 93% has absolutely nothing to do with the economy. This legislation is loaded with pork-barrel spending, also known as earmarks. Remember earmarks during the President Obama's campaign? Here's a video of one of the debates between Senator McCain and President Obama, where Obama is highly critical of out-of-control spending.



Now, President Obama has done a complete turnaround. Kevin, who writes THE BLACK SPHERE, has done several posts on the economic stimulus plan. Please visit Kevin. His journal is an excellent read. The first I would like to reference is a post entitled OBAMA'S BAILOUT PLAN: PORK A PALOOZA. Kevin shows only a partial list of the pork barrel spending that comprises the majority of this bill. There's much, much, more. The small part that is actually going to infrastructure, which again IS ONLY ABOUT 7% OF THE TOTAL PACKAGE, will be doled out on a highly discriminatory basis if President Obama's Economic Advisor, Robert Reich, has his way. Here is another video clip, where Mr. Reich says it himself:



For those who need a transcript of this video, Tom, who writes TOMS JOURNAL, posted what Mr. Reich said. Click HERE. Be sure and visit Tom's journal, too. He's a Christian and war veteran and writes on a variety of subjects.

Every economist I've seen or heard so far has said they do not think Obama's plan will do anything to improve the economy. What's more, even CNN is questioning it. I saw a newscast this week that pointed out some of the pork in this plan. The news anchor raised some eyebrows. It's apparent that many Americans are doing more than raising their eyebrows. On January 8, 2009, a Gallup Poll showed that 53% of Americans favored the $775 billion plan with 36% opposing it. (MAJORITY OF AMERICANS FAVOR $775 BILLION ECONOMIC STIMULUS). As of January 28, 2009, the approval of the now $800 billion plan has slipped to 52% of Americans favoring it with 37% now opposing it (IN U.S., SLIM MAJORITY SUPPORTS ECONOMIC STIMULUS PLAN). Not a huge percentage, but one percent is a significant number of people. Another way of looking at it is that just barely over half of us favor it. Not exactly overwhelming support. I think the approval numbers will slip even more as the news gets out that so little of this massive spending plan has almost nothing to do with jump starting the economy.

There's another thing to remember here. Remember those promised middle class tax cuts? Hard to remember, isn't it? Wonder where THAT promise went? I think here's a good place to start:

Even though we've seen time and again that reducing taxes pumps more money into the economy and recovery is much faster, it won't happen with the Democrats in power. If you check out my series last year, IT'S NOT NECESSARILY WHO YOU VOTE FOR, BUT WHAT, the Democratic Party platform does not support tax cuts. Obama's campaign promise to cut taxes for the middle class was merely to gain votes. Just a reminder: any candidate, Democrat or Republican, can say anything they want to in order to get elected, but once elected, they must follow their party's platform. President Obama is following his party's platform.

Now, how do Americans feel about tax cuts? Going again to the Gallup poll posted January 8, 2009, SPECIFICS OF STIMULUS APPEAL TO AMERICANS, 72% favored income tax cuts, and 75% favored tax cuts for businesses. Obviously, the mis-named economic stimulus package as it has gone through the House and is now in the Senate is another result of the Washington politicians NOT listening to us. With an exception. FINALLY, the Republicans in the House found some backbone that's been missing for a long time, and all voted against this disaster. Now, even some Democrats in the Senate are having misgivings about it. Could it be that they're afraid of being voted out if they go for it? I don't know, but it could be. Any of them that vote to put us $800 billion more in debt need to be voted out. E-mail your Senators and let them know we won't tolerate flushing billions more in the middle of a recession on pet projects. Instead, let's have a real economic recovery plan starting with tax cuts, and keeping the pork with the slop where it belongs.