Posted on 12/15/2010 6:56:53 PM PST by Starman417
Lowest approval of Congress in Gallop polling history.
13% approval for the 111th Congress....and the parting present they give us?
Senate leaders and top appropriators from both parties racked up more than $2.2 billion in earmarks in the massive omnibus spending bill that Democrats are pushing to enact in the final days of the 111th Congress.According to a POLITICO analysis of an earmark database compiled by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) racked up $252 million, Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) snagged another $145 million, Democratic Conference Vice Chairman Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) scored another $217 million while Conference Secretary Patty Murray (D-Wash.) got $248 million.
McConnell has 113 million in earmarks, Alexander 92 mil, Thune 65 million, and look at this....the largest goes to Republican Sen. Cochran with 560 million and Democrat Sen. Inouye with 421 million.
That's not it by a longshot:
In the midst of a colossal global concern for the economic stability of our great nation, Emanuel Cleaver, Missouri’s 5th Congressional District representative, has one small earmark on his wish list that deserves some attention.Cleaver has listed a new earmark — one of several — and he promises to “fight for every one.” But this is a whopping $48 billion package that must go down as the grandaddy of all earmarks.
(Excerpt) Read more at floppingaces.net...
Why the excerpt?
Is there something in the article unsuitable for the readers here at FR?
If you're expecting a reply - forget it. He's a news rehashing blog pimp who rarely replies...
Oh c’mon. Flopping Aces is a good blog, and it’s not being pimped here. Just cause they wouldn’t go after Jim Robinson and FR for taking their original material for free doesn’t mean we should.
Tired of this entitlement attitude. Does it really hurt that much to give a good conservative blog a hit or two if/when the fairly large teaser is good? Sheesh.
I am, and I have an idea how to do it.
I work until midnight Friday, and then don’t need to be back until about noon Monday (though I might call in for Monday if we do this).
I’m willing to drive my minivan from Grand Rapids, Michigan to Washington DC and back, starting from an agreed rally point at 12:30 AM Saturday, with at least three but no more than five GR FReepers (the van will hold seven, but six will be more comfy). Each person should have cash for gas and tolls for the group, and meals for themselves. There would be a fifteen to thirty minute break every three to four hours (that is, at the three hour mark the driver would start looking for a roadside stop with fuel and amenities). Driver relief would be voluntary, but expected.
On arrival, the van would make one complete circuit of the Beltway, and then proceed into the city across the Arlington Memorial Bridge, east along Independence Ave., past the Capitol to First St., north to Constitution Ave, west across the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Bridge, back onto the Beltway.
But wait, there’s more.
We would proceed along the Beltway to the River Road Exit, take River Road until it crosses Nebraska Ave NW and becomes Wisconsin Ave NW, follow Wisconsin to Massachusetts Ave NW, left on Massachusetts, past the Observatory, around DuPont Circle to Connecticut Ave NW, south on 17th St past the White House, to Constitution Ave, left (east) on Constitution to 14th St, left (north) on 14th to Massachusetts, to Wisconsin, to River Road, and out of the city.
And then home.
No marches, no speakers, no bands, few if any signs. No parking. No porta-potties. Just a quick driving tour of the city.
“So what?”
So this. How many others in the Grand Rapids area have cars and can get away from early Saturday morning until sometime Sunday?
How many in Kalamazoo?
How many in Battle Creek? Lansing? Ann Arbor? The Detroit burbs?
How many in Cadillac, Kalkaska, Traverse City?
How many in St Ignace, Sault Ste Marie, even Marquette?
And this. How many in Illinois could do it? Indiana? Ohio? Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia? How about it, Tennessee? Georgia?
Could we get a thousand FReepmobiles to show up in Washington, on the same day, driving the same predetermined route? Imagine the sight, on that part of Constitution Ave between the Washington Monument and the Ellipse, with a line of Freepers completing the first circuit going west, and another line of them halfway through the second going east? And what if they had their horns a-blowing?
Could we get 10,000 cars? A quarter million? Can you imagine a caravan that long, horns blowing, not stopping (except for traffic signals), just looping around the Seat of Government? Just a few minutes per vehicle, but hours on the ground.
No muss, no fuss, and we all go home. Some of us even make it to church next morning.
No schedules, apart from meeting people with whom you would be riding. We don’t want to arrive all at once; just a steady stream throughout the day. I would expect that if my group could leave by 12:30 AM, we’d arrive around 2:00 or 3:00 PM and be back home by 6:00 or 7:00 Sunday morning (that’s a mental SWAG, and I could be way off).
Well, it seems like a good idea to me, and I’m willing to do it.
Not alone.
I’m going to do something I haven’t done on purpose before; I’m going to post this in three or four promising threads, and then I’m going to close my browser, and go do other things, and leave FR alone for 36 hours. When I come back Friday morning, I’ll be looking to see if this idea has taken root and flourished. I’ll be looking for FReepmails from GR FReepers wanting to ride along with me; from other FReepers who will bring their own cars and carloads; a couple thousand posts from several states, each indicating a desire to participate.
See ya!
Really? Looked to me like he integrated some interesting materials to make a cogent point. But if he is just blog pimping, then I retract and apologize for my prior comment.
Gee, look at how rich they are getting off of us.
If you want to determine whether he’s a blogpimp, all you have to do is look at his posting history.
Out of the last 100 posts (all made from the same blog, and all excerpted) he has made exactly one reply to a posted comment on his threads.
That comment was (verbatim):
“you’re welcome” (sic)
Isn’t there at least one GOP senator who wants to make a name for himself & run for president in 2012? Filibuster would do it.
Out of the last 100 posts (all made from the same blog, and all excerpted) he has made exactly one reply to a posted comment on his threads.
I don't usually give a darn whether someone links an interesting article back to their blog, but that is abuse of Jim Robinson's hospitality. No question about it.
It is like the housing crisis. In that situation the government required the banks to bankrupt themselves with mandated bad loans and the bankers, being natural pirates anyway, adopted an attitude of, well they are ending our businesses so lets make hay while the sun shines. The Congressional reign of the Democrats and the RINOs is about to be cut off so they are making that hay as hard as they can and damn the voters, they don’t matter any more.
Agreed. Upon further review, I was wrong...
You weren’t wrong. You just didn’t have all the facts.
“I command ye therefore, upon the peril of your lives, to depart immediately out of this place; go, get you out! Make haste! Ye venal slaves, be gone! So! Take away that shining bauble there, and lock up the doors. In the name of God, go!”
Oliver Cromwell address to the Long Parliament 1653.
Just silence.
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