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it has nothing to do with hatred of obama and it has everything to do with fear for our economic future as a country. get over yourselves obama lovers. this problem is bigger than obama....
That would be a more credible statement coming from people who actually had some understanding of the problem to begin with. The seeds of this problem were planted in 2001. They were watered frequently in 2002-2006. They began sprouting in 2007. They flowered in 2008. Too many come along in 2009 and say it's something new....that everything was somehow fine until January 20, and now look. That's a load of crap.
Quote:
Originally Posted by floridasandy
earmarks are symbolic of the waste in government and the fact that other countries warned us not to do this, and even the european countries are refusing to go along with this large of a stimulus package.
What? Earmarks are a symbol to you of whatever you've let your pliant mind be talked into. But you've been playing Simon Says with the likes of Ann Coulter in the role of Simon. Bad move on your part.
Other countries are all but universally unhappy with what recent US failures have dumped on their plates. Sure, some also played a part, but it was the US that led the charge toward this calamity and then failed to take adequate steps to contain it. They rightly expect us to shoulder a prominent burden in seeking to repair the damage done, and they rightly oppose any plan of ours to somehow extract a part of our share of the costs from them. Otherwise, you'd be hard-pressed to find a signficant eonomy whose government has not also put some sort of stimulus package into place. You'd also be hard-pressed in finding one that says our stimulus plans have somehow gone too far.
Which is a part of their jobs. They are supposed to represent the interests of their districts. They are supposed to find ways to bring federal money in to address local problems. This is why they have local offices. This is why they come back to their districts and drive all over the place to hold all those local town meetings all the time. They aren't looking for input on the plusses or minuses of a particular troop drawdown proposal for Iraq, they want to know what's going on back home and how they can help get or keep important work moving forward. There are 435 districts in the country. There is no way that Congress can sit and debate the situations in every single one of them. The Congressperson from Maine does not know anything about the problems of the 3rd District in Arizona. Every Congressperson would have to educate every other Congressperson about every project he wanted money for. There were 9,000 of them in 2008. They would still not be done with them if they had all gone through hearings and markup. Earmarks are the answer. Each Congressperson gets to put a few of the small-potatoes ideas he thinks are the best of the best for his District into the pertinent appropriations bills. The total comes typically to 1-2 cents on the dollar in any given bill. Lots of good gets done at very low cost.
Problems arise with the potential for abuse of the process, a potential that folks like Jack Abramof recently capitalized upon. That's why it is the process, not the practice, that needs to be reformed. The reform that is needed is sunshine. Earmarks need to be in the open where people can see and challenge them before they slip into law. That is the process reform that Obama is trying to work toward.
Thank you for all the posts! Good Sunday morning read.
If only the repubs would take the time to read them ...they are totally factual and total common sense.....why do they hate that so much? Why can't they understand ? Can they really just hate Obama so much that it's like a buzz in their brain and nothing else can enter?
Got proven wrong about Obama saying he would end earmarks which he never said so squeaks out the crack with this bs.... Bet you haven't even tried to find the website...rather whine and moan....
HA! And YOU might not care about bush any longer but this economic mess did start on his watch...HE USED EARMARKS!!!!!!
HE made YOU pay for the huge tax breaks he gave his base...the "haves and have mores" and you ain't it.
No, I was not proven wrong. I guess it's all in the eyes of the beholder so that's that. I haven't tried to find what website? What are you talking about?
And believe me, I'm not whining and moaning at all. So far, sadly, all my worst concerns about Obama have been proven true. I keep hoping, every single day, that I'll be proven wrong the next. Unlike many Republicans, I really want to be wrong and I so want Obama to succeed. That's the part you're not getting here. But so far, it's just a mess.
Yes ... and how many times do you want to see me say I criticize Bush for the stupid spending under his watch. How many more ways and times can I say it??? Just because I don't like Obama doesn't mean I was happy with Bush's spending spree.
Your last paragraph leaves me confused. What are you saying exactly? That I "have" or I don't "have". Let me explain one thing to you. I will enjoy tax breaks under Obama. I also paid very little tax under Bush. Either way, we don't pay a lot of taxes.
But none of this is about that. It's not about me and I never suggested it was.
Quote:
Originally Posted by highdesertmutz
I can point you to the information, which I have but, I can't make you read, which just goes to show everyone, you can lead a horse to water, but, you can't make him drink..............but you have taken my words out of context a put your own meaning to it. don't you READ the thread at all?
I am seriously thinking that I'm arguing with people who are maroons with only 1/2 a brain cell functioning.
.............
This is absolutely true. So we finally agree. I took none of your words out of context. I have read all your posts. I don't quote them in their entirety to save space and because I only respond to some of them. Never mistake that for not having read the entire post.
What is a "maroon"? I'm just curious because it's unusual to misspell a word at the same time you accuse people of only using 1/2 a brain cell.
We are never going to agree. So it's a waste of time for you to bash me and certainly a waste of time for me to attempt to enlighten you. But understand this: I don't accuse you of being a moron for not agreeing with me. You may be misinformed, you may not have thought it through, or possibly I'm wrong ... at least I recognize that possibility.
But I respect your right to feel strongly about what you believe in. I just wish you could do the same.
No, I was not proven wrong. I guess it's all in the eyes of the beholder so that's that. I haven't tried to find what website? What are you talking about?
And believe me, I'm not whining and moaning at all. So far, sadly, all my worst concerns about Obama have been proven true. I keep hoping, every single day, that I'll be proven wrong the next. Unlike many Republicans, I really want to be wrong and I so want Obama to succeed. That's the part you're not getting here. But so far, it's just a mess.
Yes ... and how many times do you want to see me say I criticize Bush for the stupid spending under his watch. How many more ways and times can I say it??? Just because I don't like Obama doesn't mean I was happy with Bush's spending spree.
Your last paragraph leaves me confused. What are you saying exactly? That I "have" or I don't "have". Let me explain one thing to you. I will enjoy tax breaks under Obama. I also paid very little tax under Bush. Either way, we don't pay a lot of taxes.
But none of this is about that. It's not about me and I never suggested it was.
This is absolutely true. So we finally agree. I took none of your words out of context. I have read all your posts. I don't quote them in their entirety to save space and because I only respond to some of them. Never mistake that for not having read the entire post.
What is a "maroon"? I'm just curious because it's unusual to misspell a word at the same time you accuse people of only using 1/2 a brain cell.
We are never going to agree. So it's a waste of time for you to bash me and certainly a waste of time for me to attempt to enlighten you. But understand this: I don't accuse you of being a moron for not agreeing with me. You may be misinformed, you may not have thought it through, or possibly I'm wrong ... at least I recognize that possibility.
But I respect your right to feel strongly about what you believe in. I just wish you could do the same.
here, I'll give you a closer link to read. if you would just read some of the stuff at whitehouse.gov, we both might end up not arguing any points at all, and maybe you WILL UNDERSTAND President Obama's position, and what he has said. take your time to read it over and over if you must, because some people who disagree with others sometimes are slow to catch up on things. The White House - Press Office - Remarks by the President on Earmark Reform
Search (http://www.whitehouse.gov/search/?keywords=earmark%20reform - broken link)
it is becoming quite tiresome pointing these out to you. I have fish to fry. have a nice sunday.
from some of what the President has said, it doesn't look like we taxpayers will be paying $700.00 for toilet seats and $900.00 for a common carpenter's hammer any longer.
here, I'll give you a closer link to read. if you would just read some of the stuff at whitehouse.gov, we both might end up not arguing any points at all, and maybe you WILL UNDERSTAND President Obama's position, and what he has said. take your time to read it over and over if you must, because some people who disagree with others sometimes are slow to catch up on things. The White House - Press Office - Remarks by the President on Earmark Reform
Search (http://www.whitehouse.gov/search/?keywords=earmark%20reform - broken link)
it is becoming quite tiresome pointing these out to you. I have fish to fry. have a nice sunday.
from some of what the President has said, it doesn't look like we taxpayers will be paying $700.00 for toilet seats and $900.00 for a common carpenter's hammer any longer.
Contrary to what the Ditto Heads have been told by their GOD Limbaugh - there are far, far, far fewer earmarks in the spending bills of today, than when Dubya was President...
There were about 4,000 earmarks (not the often quoted 9,000 mentioned by Limbaugh and Hannity - ad nauseum)... in the Stimulus Bill... and less than 2% of the total $787 Billion.
Just get used to an era of outrageous lies and half truths from the far right for the next 8 years of Obama's administration...
"Here is a list of the Senate's 10 biggest earmark hogs, based on dollar amounts in the spending bill:
1. Thad Cochran, R-Miss.: $474 million
2. Roger Wicker, R-Miss.: $391 million
3. Mary Landrieu, D-La.: $332 million
4. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa: $292 million 5. David Vitter, R-La.: $249 million
6. Christopher Bond, R-Mo.: $248 million
7. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.: $235 million
8. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii: $225 million 9. Richard Shelby, R-Ala.: $219 million
10. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa: $199 million"
Contrary to what the Ditto Heads have been told by their GOD Limbaugh - there are far, far, far fewer earmarks in the spending bills of today, than when Dubya was President...
There were about 4,000 earmarks (not the often quoted 9,000 mentioned by Limbaugh and Hannity - ad nauseum)... in the Stimulus Bill... and less than 2% of the total $787 Billion.
Just get used to an era of outrageous lies and half truths from the far right for the next 8 years of Obama's administration...
Hang in there!!! Stand up for Obama!!!
I am trying to point to differences between past administrations and our present one, but it seems all of these fox news watchers are believing what they see and hear on fox, without checking it out for themselves. How in the world can anyone convince another person to just check it out, without relying on poor information sources is beyond me. If people want to remain brainwashed, that's their option. I became a free thinker during the nixon years, because I couldn't believe what was happening before my eyes. that man circumvented the laws of the nation much like the recent past admin. did, excepting, this past one was much, much worse. I can't help it that people don't want to think for themselves. It's about enough to make a person stop posting in the P&OC forum, even when you do post the truth, the ones who want to believe unreliable souces keep going back to the same poisoned well for more. I just can't understand why. maybe this is part of the reason many Americans voted the democratic party into office this last time, and maybe why the republican party is so fragmented, because they keep bringing up and believing the same old junk. if the republican party ever, ever intends to become a leadership party in America again, they are definitely going to have to give up alot of bad baggage and old ideas. Americans have become truly sick of the republican party and what it stands for, which in the recent past has been a pack of lies and deception. one would think that with at least more openess in government, that would be an appreciable quality from any administration. this administration is trying to be transparent about it's operations, but it seems some people aren't having any of it, they're still, well, brainwashed. there's no other word for it. how do you convince the un-convinceable?
it has nothing to do with hatred of obama and it has everything to do with fear for our economic future as a country. get over yourselves obama lovers. this problem is bigger than obama....
earmarks are symbolic of the waste in government and the fact that other countries warned us not to do this, and even the european countries are refusing to go along with this large of a stimulus package.
Huh??? did i miss something? Name the country. Where is the link
Earmarks are nothing more than a way of "spreading the wealth" by slipping funding into a bill for these pet projects back home so that the politican can court favor with consitutents and ensure his/her re-election. Why shouldn't the people of that state decide for themselves whether they want a project badly enough to pay for it themselves. That may be the best overhaul of earmarks that Obama could make.
That would be a more credible statement coming from people who actually had some understanding of the problem to begin with. The seeds of this problem were planted in 2001. They were watered frequently in 2002-2006. They began sprouting in 2007. They flowered in 2008. Too many come along in 2009 and say it's something new....that everything was somehow fine until January 20, and now look. That's a load of crap.
What? Earmarks are a symbol to you of whatever you've let your pliant mind be talked into. But you've been playing Simon Says with the likes of Ann Coulter in the role of Simon. Bad move on your part.
Other countries are all but universally unhappy with what recent US failures have dumped on their plates. Sure, some also played a part, but it was the US that led the charge toward this calamity and then failed to take adequate steps to contain it. They rightly expect us to shoulder a prominent burden in seeking to repair the damage done, and they rightly oppose any plan of ours to somehow extract a part of our share of the costs from them. Otherwise, you'd be hard-pressed to find a signficant eonomy whose government has not also put some sort of stimulus package into place. You'd also be hard-pressed in finding one that says our stimulus plans have somehow gone too far.
i guess you didn't see the G20 summit then. .....
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Bet you haven't even tried to find the website...rather whine and moan....
