Edward R. Cozzi
Founding Member
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Change IS Good!
- Thread starter Edward R. Cozzi
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Wrinkleface
Founding Member
We need a new diaper!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Edward R. Cozzi
Founding Member
Where is Jay? Has he been banned yet?
I love this:
And meanwhile.....................
----------------------
The Fierce Urgency of Pork
By Charles Krauthammer
Friday, February 6, 2009; A17
"A failure to act, and act now, will turn crisis into a catastrophe."
-- President Obama, Feb. 4.
Catastrophe, mind you. So much for the president who in his inaugural address two weeks earlier declared "we have chosen hope over fear." Until, that is, you need fear to pass a bill.
And so much for the promise to banish the money changers and influence peddlers from the temple. An ostentatious executive order banning lobbyists was immediately followed by the nomination of at least a dozen current or former lobbyists to high position. Followed by a Treasury secretary who allegedly couldn't understand the payroll tax provisions in his 1040. Followed by Tom Daschle, who had to fall on his sword according to the new Washington rule that no Cabinet can have more than one tax delinquent.
The Daschle affair was more serious because his offense involved more than taxes. As Michael Kinsley once observed, in Washington the real scandal isn't what's illegal, but what's legal. Not paying taxes is one thing. But what made this case intolerable was the perfectly legal dealings that amassed Daschle $5.2 million in just two years.
He'd been getting $1 million per year from a law firm. But he's not a lawyer, nor a registered lobbyist. You don't get paid this kind of money to instruct partners on the Senate markup process. You get it for picking up the phone and peddling influence.
At least Tim Geithner, the tax-challenged Treasury secretary, had been working for years as a humble international civil servant earning non-stratospheric wages. Daschle, who had made another cool million a year (plus chauffeur and Caddy) for unspecified services to a pal's private equity firm, represented everything Obama said he'd come to Washington to upend.
And yet more damaging to Obama's image than all the hypocrisies in the appointment process is his signature bill: the stimulus package. He inexplicably delegated the writing to Nancy Pelosi and the barons of the House. The product, which inevitably carries Obama's name, was not just bad, not just flawed, but a legislative abomination.
It's not just pages and pages of special-interest tax breaks, giveaways and protections, one of which would set off a ruinous Smoot-Hawley trade war. It's not just the waste, such as the $88.6 million for new construction for Milwaukee Public Schools, which, reports the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, have shrinking enrollment, 15 vacant schools and, quite logically, no plans for new construction.
It's the essential fraud of rushing through a bill in which the normal rules (committee hearings, finding revenue to pay for the programs) are suspended on the grounds that a national emergency requires an immediate job-creating stimulus -- and then throwing into it hundreds of billions that have nothing to do with stimulus, that Congress's own budget office says won't be spent until 2011 and beyond, and that are little more than the back-scratching, special-interest, lobby-driven parochialism that Obama came to Washington to abolish. He said.
Not just to abolish but to create something new -- a new politics where the moneyed pork-barreling and corrupt logrolling of the past would give way to a bottom-up, grass-roots participatory democracy. That is what made Obama so dazzling and new. Turns out the "fierce urgency of now" includes $150 million for livestock (and honeybee and farm-raised fish) insurance.
The Age of Obama begins with perhaps the greatest frenzy of old-politics influence peddling ever seen in Washington. By the time the stimulus bill reached the Senate, reports the Wall Street Journal, pharmaceutical and high-tech companies were lobbying furiously for a new plan to repatriate overseas profits that would yield major tax savings. California wine growers and Florida citrus producers were fighting to change a single phrase in one provision. Substituting "planted" for "ready to market" would mean a windfall garnered from a new "bonus depreciation" incentive.
After Obama's miraculous 2008 presidential campaign, it was clear that at some point the magical mystery tour would have to end. The nation would rub its eyes and begin to emerge from its reverie. The hallucinatory Obama would give way to the mere mortal. The great ethical transformations promised would be seen as a fairy tale that all presidents tell -- and that this president told better than anyone.
I thought the awakening would take six months. It took two and a half weeks.
And meanwhile.....................
----------------------
The Fierce Urgency of Pork
By Charles Krauthammer
Friday, February 6, 2009; A17
"A failure to act, and act now, will turn crisis into a catastrophe."
-- President Obama, Feb. 4.
Catastrophe, mind you. So much for the president who in his inaugural address two weeks earlier declared "we have chosen hope over fear." Until, that is, you need fear to pass a bill.
And so much for the promise to banish the money changers and influence peddlers from the temple. An ostentatious executive order banning lobbyists was immediately followed by the nomination of at least a dozen current or former lobbyists to high position. Followed by a Treasury secretary who allegedly couldn't understand the payroll tax provisions in his 1040. Followed by Tom Daschle, who had to fall on his sword according to the new Washington rule that no Cabinet can have more than one tax delinquent.
The Daschle affair was more serious because his offense involved more than taxes. As Michael Kinsley once observed, in Washington the real scandal isn't what's illegal, but what's legal. Not paying taxes is one thing. But what made this case intolerable was the perfectly legal dealings that amassed Daschle $5.2 million in just two years.
He'd been getting $1 million per year from a law firm. But he's not a lawyer, nor a registered lobbyist. You don't get paid this kind of money to instruct partners on the Senate markup process. You get it for picking up the phone and peddling influence.
At least Tim Geithner, the tax-challenged Treasury secretary, had been working for years as a humble international civil servant earning non-stratospheric wages. Daschle, who had made another cool million a year (plus chauffeur and Caddy) for unspecified services to a pal's private equity firm, represented everything Obama said he'd come to Washington to upend.
And yet more damaging to Obama's image than all the hypocrisies in the appointment process is his signature bill: the stimulus package. He inexplicably delegated the writing to Nancy Pelosi and the barons of the House. The product, which inevitably carries Obama's name, was not just bad, not just flawed, but a legislative abomination.
It's not just pages and pages of special-interest tax breaks, giveaways and protections, one of which would set off a ruinous Smoot-Hawley trade war. It's not just the waste, such as the $88.6 million for new construction for Milwaukee Public Schools, which, reports the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, have shrinking enrollment, 15 vacant schools and, quite logically, no plans for new construction.
It's the essential fraud of rushing through a bill in which the normal rules (committee hearings, finding revenue to pay for the programs) are suspended on the grounds that a national emergency requires an immediate job-creating stimulus -- and then throwing into it hundreds of billions that have nothing to do with stimulus, that Congress's own budget office says won't be spent until 2011 and beyond, and that are little more than the back-scratching, special-interest, lobby-driven parochialism that Obama came to Washington to abolish. He said.
Not just to abolish but to create something new -- a new politics where the moneyed pork-barreling and corrupt logrolling of the past would give way to a bottom-up, grass-roots participatory democracy. That is what made Obama so dazzling and new. Turns out the "fierce urgency of now" includes $150 million for livestock (and honeybee and farm-raised fish) insurance.
The Age of Obama begins with perhaps the greatest frenzy of old-politics influence peddling ever seen in Washington. By the time the stimulus bill reached the Senate, reports the Wall Street Journal, pharmaceutical and high-tech companies were lobbying furiously for a new plan to repatriate overseas profits that would yield major tax savings. California wine growers and Florida citrus producers were fighting to change a single phrase in one provision. Substituting "planted" for "ready to market" would mean a windfall garnered from a new "bonus depreciation" incentive.
After Obama's miraculous 2008 presidential campaign, it was clear that at some point the magical mystery tour would have to end. The nation would rub its eyes and begin to emerge from its reverie. The hallucinatory Obama would give way to the mere mortal. The great ethical transformations promised would be seen as a fairy tale that all presidents tell -- and that this president told better than anyone.
I thought the awakening would take six months. It took two and a half weeks.
Here's what your stimulus package is buying:
Doorbells Laurel MS 2 $99,600 Housing -1874
Forks of the Road Heritage Trail. This project would greatly enhance one of the primary gateways to our city by creating an African American/Ethnic Heritage Trail along a stretch of St. Catherine Street between the Forks of the Road Slave Market Site Natchez MS 65 $600,000,000 CDBG -1483
New Energy Efficiency Industrial Zones 100 Acres Cidra PR 1628 $17,500,000,000 Energy -1225
Sunset View Park - dog park construction Chula Vista CA 7 $500,000 CDBG -745
Construct 25 houses for first time buyers including land acqusition Friars Point MS 25 $1,000,000 Housing -707
Construction of Convention Center Hotel Dallas TX 3800 $386,000,000 CDBG -541
Solar LA Program Los Angeles CA 31243 $2,160,000,000 Energy -538
Solar water Heaters for rural area families Cidra PR 14 $500,000,000 Energy -467
Initiative to Reduce Prostitution-Off the Streets Program. This initiative would connect individuals involved in prostitution with resources to leave a life of prostitution. Beginning with emergency shelter and continuing with an array of educational Dayton OH 0 $1,500,000 Public Safety -453
Establishment of Two (2) Dog Parks Lewiston ME 2 $50,000 CDBG -382
Las Vegas Performing Arts Center Construct a new Performing Arts Center within the Citys Union Park Development. Las Vegas NV 1875 $375,000,000 CDBG -365
Miami-Dade Transit - Orange Line Phase 3, 10.5 mile East-West segment connecting Miami Intermodal Center to west Miami-Dade urban centers Miami-Dade FL 400 $2,463,000,000 Streets/Roads -348
Software licensing for these 4,110 new computers (Microsoft Office Suite) @ $50.00 Evansville IN 0 $205,500 Schools -329
New Mexico Events Center, Hotel and Events Center and realted infrastructure located in Downtown Albuquerque Albuquerque NM 14000 $418,300,000 CDBG -325
SHRA Sacramento CA 100 $500,000,000 Housing -315
Raul Alvarez Disc Golf Course: This project will develop a 36-hole disc golf course that will be environmentally and financially sustainable. Austin TX 4 $886,000 Water -264
CW Ditto Golf Course Renovations Arlington TX 30 $6,000,000 CDBG -250
Latino Cultural Center - Phase II design and construction Dallas TX 180 $18,000,000 Energy -246
Boardwalk along Lady Bird Lake: The project will close a 1.3-mile gap in a heavily used pedestrian and bicycle trail system. The trail extension will improve safety and provide additional access to a major bike and pedestrian corridor for the expanding m Austin TX 60 $18,000,000 Water -218
Improve track and land for little league parking Cidra PR 43 $150,000,000 CDBG -170
Purchase of Tasers Winnsboro TX 0 $20,000 Public Safety -151
Patrol Rifles Pembroke Pines FL 0 $393,000 Public Safety -151
Cincinnati Streetcar Network Cincinnati OH 150 $132,000,000 Transit -147
Maynard Jackson International Terminal Atlanta GA 5000 $500,000,000 Airport -140
Miami-Dade Transit - Orange Line Phase 2, 9.5 mile North Corridor Segment to Broward County line Miami-Dade FL 400 $1,409,000,000 Streets/Roads -130
White Pond Drive Akron OH 50 $7,000,000 Streets/Roads -124
Purchase and install vehicle detection stations using toll-tag registration tags Austin TX 25 $6,000,000 Streets/Roads -118
Portland Streetcar: the extension of the Portland streetcar loop across the river to OMSI Portland OR 600 $75,000,000 Transit -113
Intercom/PA Upgrades Anchorage AK 50 $621,000 Schools -111
Traffic Monitoring Camera Program: Install 10 key intersections to improve traffic flow Lincoln NE 1 $100,000 Streets/Roads -110
Portland Parks and Trails Construction: Construction of a community center, the development of several parks, and 10 miles of multi-modal trails Portland OR 1118 $86,000,000 CDBG -104
Cultural trail bike paths and pedestrian ways. Indianapolis IN 150 $50,500,000 CDBG -103
North Corridor Light Rail System Columbus OH 11000 $200,000,000 Transit -96
ICON: A 335,737 square feet office tower which includes a 260-unit high rise residential tower and 250 room hotel in Urban Center Irving TX 2000 $350,000,000 CDBG -95
Provide funding to convert 60 hybrid electric vehicles to Plug-in Hyrbrid Vehicles with Vehicle to Grid technology. The cars are part of the City of Boulder, Boulder County and the University of Colorado fleets. A mix of onboard V2G technology and smart Boulder CO 0 $6,000,000 Energy -94
Railyards Tunnel / Connection to Old Sac Sacramento CA 15 $750,000,000 Amtrak -93
Baseball diamond viewing stands and concession both upgrades Salt Lake City UT 20 $700,000 CDBG -91
I -74 Bridge replacement Moline IL 400 $950,000,000 Streets/Roads -90
Rennovate - refinish worn wood flooring at Lincoln School, paint interiors, and repair parking at OES all schools Ottawa IL 26 $1,425,000 Schools -89
Construction of a sport arena, and sport complex to provide space for professional sports presentations, business exhibits, and sport activities for the general public. Camuy PR 50 $10,000,000 CDBG -86
New Police Administration Building, to replace seismically vulnerable and obsolete Admin Building Oakland CA 300 $450,000,000 Public Safety -85
Port of LA Green Jobs/CAAP (CTP, AMP, Clean Tech) Los Angeles CA 12993 $500,000,000 Energy -83
New ambulance to replace 1993 ambulance which is continuosly breaking down Lake Station IN 20 $160,000 Public Safety -81
Double Eagle Concentrated Solar Plant - 100 MW Albuquerque NM 200 $532,000,000 Energy -80
Build an indoor soccer field Hempstead NY 20 $1,000,000 CDBG -77
Abengoa Solar designed 100MW solar parabolic trough electric generation plant Anniston AL 3200 $600,000,000 Energy -76
North/South MetroLink Extensions St. Louis MO 20000 $900,000,000 Transit -74
Waterstreet: A mixed use project with 300,000 square feet of retail, 600 residential units and 250,000 square feet of office space in Urban Center. Irving TX 2000 $350,000,000 CDBG -74
Rehabilitate or replace sidewalks for seven blocks on King Street (from the Waterfront Unit block to Washington Street) in historic Old Town Alexandria. Alexandria VA 46 $3,450,000 CDBG -71
Airport Runway Rehabillitation - Phase 2 Schaumburg IL 40 $1,800,000 Airport -70
Doorbells Laurel MS 2 $99,600 Housing -1874
Forks of the Road Heritage Trail. This project would greatly enhance one of the primary gateways to our city by creating an African American/Ethnic Heritage Trail along a stretch of St. Catherine Street between the Forks of the Road Slave Market Site Natchez MS 65 $600,000,000 CDBG -1483
New Energy Efficiency Industrial Zones 100 Acres Cidra PR 1628 $17,500,000,000 Energy -1225
Sunset View Park - dog park construction Chula Vista CA 7 $500,000 CDBG -745
Construct 25 houses for first time buyers including land acqusition Friars Point MS 25 $1,000,000 Housing -707
Construction of Convention Center Hotel Dallas TX 3800 $386,000,000 CDBG -541
Solar LA Program Los Angeles CA 31243 $2,160,000,000 Energy -538
Solar water Heaters for rural area families Cidra PR 14 $500,000,000 Energy -467
Initiative to Reduce Prostitution-Off the Streets Program. This initiative would connect individuals involved in prostitution with resources to leave a life of prostitution. Beginning with emergency shelter and continuing with an array of educational Dayton OH 0 $1,500,000 Public Safety -453
Establishment of Two (2) Dog Parks Lewiston ME 2 $50,000 CDBG -382
Las Vegas Performing Arts Center Construct a new Performing Arts Center within the Citys Union Park Development. Las Vegas NV 1875 $375,000,000 CDBG -365
Miami-Dade Transit - Orange Line Phase 3, 10.5 mile East-West segment connecting Miami Intermodal Center to west Miami-Dade urban centers Miami-Dade FL 400 $2,463,000,000 Streets/Roads -348
Software licensing for these 4,110 new computers (Microsoft Office Suite) @ $50.00 Evansville IN 0 $205,500 Schools -329
New Mexico Events Center, Hotel and Events Center and realted infrastructure located in Downtown Albuquerque Albuquerque NM 14000 $418,300,000 CDBG -325
SHRA Sacramento CA 100 $500,000,000 Housing -315
Raul Alvarez Disc Golf Course: This project will develop a 36-hole disc golf course that will be environmentally and financially sustainable. Austin TX 4 $886,000 Water -264
CW Ditto Golf Course Renovations Arlington TX 30 $6,000,000 CDBG -250
Latino Cultural Center - Phase II design and construction Dallas TX 180 $18,000,000 Energy -246
Boardwalk along Lady Bird Lake: The project will close a 1.3-mile gap in a heavily used pedestrian and bicycle trail system. The trail extension will improve safety and provide additional access to a major bike and pedestrian corridor for the expanding m Austin TX 60 $18,000,000 Water -218
Improve track and land for little league parking Cidra PR 43 $150,000,000 CDBG -170
Purchase of Tasers Winnsboro TX 0 $20,000 Public Safety -151
Patrol Rifles Pembroke Pines FL 0 $393,000 Public Safety -151
Cincinnati Streetcar Network Cincinnati OH 150 $132,000,000 Transit -147
Maynard Jackson International Terminal Atlanta GA 5000 $500,000,000 Airport -140
Miami-Dade Transit - Orange Line Phase 2, 9.5 mile North Corridor Segment to Broward County line Miami-Dade FL 400 $1,409,000,000 Streets/Roads -130
White Pond Drive Akron OH 50 $7,000,000 Streets/Roads -124
Purchase and install vehicle detection stations using toll-tag registration tags Austin TX 25 $6,000,000 Streets/Roads -118
Portland Streetcar: the extension of the Portland streetcar loop across the river to OMSI Portland OR 600 $75,000,000 Transit -113
Intercom/PA Upgrades Anchorage AK 50 $621,000 Schools -111
Traffic Monitoring Camera Program: Install 10 key intersections to improve traffic flow Lincoln NE 1 $100,000 Streets/Roads -110
Portland Parks and Trails Construction: Construction of a community center, the development of several parks, and 10 miles of multi-modal trails Portland OR 1118 $86,000,000 CDBG -104
Cultural trail bike paths and pedestrian ways. Indianapolis IN 150 $50,500,000 CDBG -103
North Corridor Light Rail System Columbus OH 11000 $200,000,000 Transit -96
ICON: A 335,737 square feet office tower which includes a 260-unit high rise residential tower and 250 room hotel in Urban Center Irving TX 2000 $350,000,000 CDBG -95
Provide funding to convert 60 hybrid electric vehicles to Plug-in Hyrbrid Vehicles with Vehicle to Grid technology. The cars are part of the City of Boulder, Boulder County and the University of Colorado fleets. A mix of onboard V2G technology and smart Boulder CO 0 $6,000,000 Energy -94
Railyards Tunnel / Connection to Old Sac Sacramento CA 15 $750,000,000 Amtrak -93
Baseball diamond viewing stands and concession both upgrades Salt Lake City UT 20 $700,000 CDBG -91
I -74 Bridge replacement Moline IL 400 $950,000,000 Streets/Roads -90
Rennovate - refinish worn wood flooring at Lincoln School, paint interiors, and repair parking at OES all schools Ottawa IL 26 $1,425,000 Schools -89
Construction of a sport arena, and sport complex to provide space for professional sports presentations, business exhibits, and sport activities for the general public. Camuy PR 50 $10,000,000 CDBG -86
New Police Administration Building, to replace seismically vulnerable and obsolete Admin Building Oakland CA 300 $450,000,000 Public Safety -85
Port of LA Green Jobs/CAAP (CTP, AMP, Clean Tech) Los Angeles CA 12993 $500,000,000 Energy -83
New ambulance to replace 1993 ambulance which is continuosly breaking down Lake Station IN 20 $160,000 Public Safety -81
Double Eagle Concentrated Solar Plant - 100 MW Albuquerque NM 200 $532,000,000 Energy -80
Build an indoor soccer field Hempstead NY 20 $1,000,000 CDBG -77
Abengoa Solar designed 100MW solar parabolic trough electric generation plant Anniston AL 3200 $600,000,000 Energy -76
North/South MetroLink Extensions St. Louis MO 20000 $900,000,000 Transit -74
Waterstreet: A mixed use project with 300,000 square feet of retail, 600 residential units and 250,000 square feet of office space in Urban Center. Irving TX 2000 $350,000,000 CDBG -74
Rehabilitate or replace sidewalks for seven blocks on King Street (from the Waterfront Unit block to Washington Street) in historic Old Town Alexandria. Alexandria VA 46 $3,450,000 CDBG -71
Airport Runway Rehabillitation - Phase 2 Schaumburg IL 40 $1,800,000 Airport -70
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