Posted on 01/04/2013 7:14:45 AM PST by SeekAndFind
On Wednesday I joined a Facebook conversation among my New Jersey relatives and friends voicing their outrage over the delay in the $60 billion Sandy relief package.
Hoping to make people think, I wrote, "I want our roller coaster up and running by this summer, and I don't care if we have to borrow from the Chinese to do it." I was referring here to the Seaside Heights roller coaster that somehow managed to slide off its crumbling pier and land standing upright in the ocean. In the process, it became something of a symbol of Sandy's wrath.
My irony, alas, passed unnoticed. Several respondents "liked" my comment. None took me to task. Yes, of course, let us borrow from the Chinese if we have to. Why not? Everyone else is.
The criticism of the Sandy Bill to date has been about the pork the Senate larded into it: the $150 million for fisheries as far away as Alaska; the $2 million for unrelated repairs at the Smithsonian; the $50 million in subsidies for tree planting on private properties; the $336 million for AMTRAK without any real plan for how the money will be spent.
What we should be questioning, however, is the money spent on direct Sandy relief, especially since we don't actually have the money to spend. I have the uneasy feeling that taxpayers -- more accurately, their descendants -- will be paying for my rollercoaster, and no one in New Jersey or in the media anywhere seems remotely troubled by it.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
Most people are like Rep. Peter King...against hurricane aid for others, but chomping at the bit to get it for his district.
I wouldn’t be a very popular president.
I’d take the Coolidge stance and say that acts of God are not the responsibility of government.
And if Bob Smith out in Denver wants to send in as check to help out, that's nice too.
Congress?? What have they got to do with any of this?
The Chinese quit lending us money several years ago.
Nearly 100% of the current Federal deficit is financed by the Benbernank’s printed money.
Think “Weimar Germany” and “Zimbabwe”.
Eventually we’ll all be millionaires.
Poor Bush had to do that, but now Baraq just has Turbo Timmy and The Bernank create it electronically. Problem solved!
From what I’ve been hearing is that that bill had so much pork in it not even a Muslim would touch it.
Why doesn't someone ask Crispy Creme why NJ cannot foot the bill?
All these people have to do is come to the MS gulf coast to find out who gets the “Rebuilding” money.
Hint: It ain’t the little people.
This is a lie that the Left tells, and the American public believes, time after time after time. “Hurricane Relief” is portrayed as helping people who are literally homeless and without food and clean water. Yet it turns out that a big chunk of the money is to pay for non-essential services to get everything up and running exactly as it was before. Like a rollercoaster. And then the politicians get their grubby hands on the money and channel it to other causes too under the shield of “hurricane relief.” Its all a boondoggle.
Thank you!
Just days after the storm I saw the NJ Mayor saying that he knows that FEMA doesn’t normally pay for dune restoration but he was hoping that they would in this case.
Too bad for B Wacky the Chinese laughed at him.
Joe gets mugged on the street, at knife point the thug takes Joe's wallet containing his grocery and rent money.
Joe cries out for help and a cop arrives. The cop places Joe against a wall and takes his watch and ring and says he would take Joe's gold tooth if he had pliers before departing.
Joe goes to court and there in the courtroom are the mugger and cop giving each other high fives and laughing at Joe.
Joe points out the pair to the judge but is over ruled as the judge asks if Joe wears size 10 wide shoes.
Joe leaves the court room shoeless and as he passes the bailiff asks if Joe's suit is a 44 long.
Joe got away with his shirt and boxer shorts but don't feel too bad for Joe, he's just a taxpayer.
For a moment there, I thought the story was about Joe the Hurricane Victim...
The fiscal cliff deal contains some 12 billion in tax credits for the wind energy. How bout a deal?
They get their $9 billion if wind loses the $12 billion. It ain’t perfect but its a small gain.
Some choice, work or die but quit being a budget buster, Grampa!
Meanwhile a few billion every month to make the poppy fields safe in Afghanistan and a few hundred million to Mideast terrorists and a billion or so for the bankers summer homes in Connecticut.
So the hurricane victims can take heart knowing their representatives are hard at work.
Federal funding for NYC for the effects of September 11, 2001 was $20billion.
I want someone to explain how a hurricane can cause three times as much damage; and the damage is not the responsibility of the people who live in the state and enjoy the ocean front - built on sand - homes.
When we want to fight wars, such as the "war on terrorism" that President Bush waged, we're supposed to raise taxes in order to pay for it.
However, when we have hurricanes, natural disasters, or some other pitfall--it becomes, "Hey Uncle Sam, pay up!"
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.