Posted on 12/23/2007 10:57:43 PM PST by Norman Bates
Every single dollar you paid in federal income taxes this year was spent on pork projects.
Outraged yet?
About $20 billion of the just-passed $555 billion federal budget was earmarked for pork. That might sound like a small percentage, but Heritage Foundation analyst Brian Riedl calculated that it equals the entire federal income tax payments for everyone in Iowa, New Hampshire, New Mexico, West Virginia, and Delaware.
So congratulations, every dollar you paid in federal taxes went to help some member of Congress get elected.
What wonderful projects did you pay for?
-The Andre Agassi prep school in Las Vegas -- $200,000.
-Olive fruit fly research in France -- $213,000.
-The Stark County, Ohio YMCA -- $500,000.
-A bike trail in Minnesota -- $700,000.
The police department in Bastrop, La., got $1.6 million, supposedly for bullet-proof vests. Even if you think Washington ought to fund local police, consider this comment from a Bastrop cop:
"There's no way we'd need that kind of money just to put all our people in vests," said Det. Curtis Stephenson.
Outraged yet?
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi pledged in March to cut the number of earmarks by half. Didn't happen. This budget contains more than 11,000 earmarks, the second-highest number in history.
Outraged yet?
Congress cannot be trusted to end earmarks. If left to the legislators who use earmarks to get re-elected, there's no way this robbery will end. It will take a President to stop it. And there is only one candidate running for President who can be trusted to do that: John McCain.
Sen. McCain was first elected to Congress in 1982. In the 25 years since, he has sponsored not a single earmark. Not one.
His yearly haranguing of Congress for its pork-barrel spending has helped bring national attention to this outrageous pilfering of taxpayer money. Sen. McCain has pledged that if elected President he will veto every bill that contains an earmark. And those who know him know he means it.
Let's put the veto pen in the hands of the one man who will use it to X out all pork-barrel spending and get Washington's fiscal house in order. Let's end once and for all this outrageous use of taxpayer money for the private benefit of elected officials. Let's elect John McCain President.
Greetings Lancey:
Interesting spin on the situation. I strongly disagree that RINO DeWine fell on the sword for the GOP. IMHO the “Gang of 14” is responsible for the ‘Rat majority in the 2006 elections.
Ohio voters are very fickle. A wolf in sheep’s clothing is more dangerous than a wolf. After the “Gang of 14,” blew the wool off of the GOP victory, there was no way Ohio Conservatives would canvas neighborhoods for RINO wolves like DeWine; even over the prospect of Clown ‘Rat Brown.
And BTW, McInsane will never get me, nor the hundreds of other volunteers who canvassed Michigan for him in 2000 this time around. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
Cheers,
OLA
Just a couple of reasons to not vote for McCain.
McCain has had an ax to grind with President Bush since he lost in the primaries in 2000. He refused to support the administration for 6 years and screwed the president whenever he could.
I will not be voting for McCain nor Feingold.
Manchurian McCain! IMO McCain has shown his true colors by the way he abused the POW/MIA activist and efforts, he is not to be trusted and was very likely turned by the Soviets in Vietnam:
KGB Maj. Gen. Oleg Kalugin, who testified, under oath, that the KGB interrogated U.S. POWs in Vietnam. Kalugin stated that one of the POWs worked on by the KGB was a “high-ranking naval officer,” who, according to Kalugin, agreed to work with the Soviets upon his repatriation to the United States and has frequently appeared on U.S. television.
He was more then willing to play the heavy to ram thru CFR, Amnesty, the phony “Torture Amendment” and head up the sell out on Judges by the “Gang of 14” but strangely has never bothered to offer up any legilsation on spending.
Actions speak louder then words and as a Fiscal Conservative McCain is AWOL.
Unless he's got yet another gem up his sleeve.
Sounds like you don't read the papers much. This guy has been sabotoging Bush and the Republicans since 2000. CFR, taxes, anything to do with Process in the Senate, and so on. Unlike Guliani and Romney he has NO respect for any portion of the Base... I'll take either of those two over that total fraud. Why flipflop when you dont mean anything you say, ever?
Thanks for posting the info about the “Gang of Fourteen”. I hope Freepers will come to understand what a victory for Republicans it really was. We’re lucky those guys intervened which prevented the fillibuster by democrats & thus Republicans having to use the “Nuclear Option”. It was sort of like us negotiating w/ the Russians (or whomever) to prevent them deploying their forces which would prompt us to deploy a nuke (ala “Nuclear Option”). Diplomacy is better than force when both can accomplish the same goal. (Don’t read into that that I support negotiating w/ terrorists or anything like that!).
Okay, so we have McCain who is certainly the more Social Conservative than Romney or Giuliani; and he’s certainly the most Fiscally Conservative candidate in the race, period. Hunter & Thompson just aren’t showing the numbers to be viable candidates - So who you gonna vote for??
And when was that poll posted above taken? Wonder if the numbers have changed at all since then...
Gang of 14 was actually a great political accomplishment; McCain-Feingold was probably initialted w/ good intentions but turned out to have unforseen negatives, and the Immigration Bill was probably a rush to take action (tried to accomplish something too quickly). I don’t think his inclusion in the “Keating 5” is really a reflection of his actions - he was a newbie that got incriminated by association - and remember, he was found NOT to have done anything wrong. That incident is what has shaped McCain into the conscientious senator he has become. He’s more careful than the average legislator NOT to do anything questionable!
NEVER voted for earmarks, loves the line-item veto, NEVER voted for a tax increase, targets over-spending & misuse of power by Congress - Put this guy in charge! (He knows the system and will fix it!).
Good on Domestic Issues, Good on Foreign Policy...
A vote for anyone else is one up for the democrats!
That is his only positive point for which to vote for him.
I might feel alot differently if he was 52 instead of 72.
Although less of an embarrassment to the GOP than Giuliani and Romney, I still remember McCain-Feingold, the gang of 14 deal and McCains support for the amnesty bill earlier this year....”
How about McVain’s involvement with the Savings and Loan scandal??
S&L - (aka “Keating Five”) - read my above post - He was new to congress & incriminated by association only. Found NOT GUILTY of any wrongdoing. That “close call” has made him even more conscious of NOT doing anything that would be construed as corrupt!
Gang of 14 - a POSITIVE for the Republicans. Yes, it prevented them from utilizing their power of initiating the “Nuclear Option”, but also allwed the confirmations to proceed to a vote - that’s exactly what needed to happen.
Amnesty - I think (as stated above) that that was a “rush” to try to actually DO something about the problem. And who knows how he might have gotten snookered by Kennedy & that lot to try to make McCain look bad - he would certainly have learned more than one lesson in that case - the first being that the people want Border Security first, as he has stated.
In any case - who else is a Reupublican to vote for? He is the best we have & the best chance to beat any of the Democrats!
“Kill the pork! Elect the guy with the knife (McCain)”
Problem with McCain is that knife is usually buried between the shoulder blades of HIS OWN PARTY!
McCain is by no means a perfect candidate, but you’re going way too far in the deep end by claiming that he was/is a Soviet double agent. That’s utterly uncalled for, and needlessly disrespects those brave souls who endured years of terrible torture.
Kansas: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1935133/posts
Arizona: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1934696/posts
Kentucky: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1942576/posts
Ohio: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1934677/posts
Massachusetts: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1932892/posts
New Mexico: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1941964/posts
Oregon: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1941979/posts
Florida: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1928497/posts
Virginia: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1928219/posts
Washington: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1941972/posts
Wisconsin: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1941499/posts
Iowa: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1927619/posts
Bravo!
Clearly he meant a portion of every dollar.
Never. Ever.
Wow. Did John beat you constantly at cards or something in the Navy?
Nevertheless, Merry Christmas NavyVet!
I’ve always scratched my head at hard core opposition to McCain from those in the Thompson camp considering how closely McCain and Fred were linked ideologically. Nevertheless, Merry Christmas!
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.