Krauthammer on the Stimulus, Pork and "Hope"

Great read. Charles Krauthammer has a way of cutting through the fluff and laying out a solid case. He always seems to have the uncanny ability to see the kernel of truth that many of us miss while listening to the hyperbole.

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
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/05/AR2009020502766_pf.html

Tx @drudge_report (Twitter)

Heritage: Americans Did Not Vote for This Plan

President Barack Obama is losing the debate over his Trillion Dollar Debt Plan.

According to Rasmussen Reports, only 37% of the American people favor his legislation. And according to Gallup nearly 80% of Americans believe the current plan will not stimulate the economy.

Faced with criticism of his plan, Obama has tersely responded to conservative lawmakers: "I won." Well you know what? So did every other person in Congress. They all won their elections and their constituents deserve to have their views represented too.

Defending his plan with an op-ed in the Washington Post today Obama repeats his "I won" mantra: "I reject these theories, and so did the American people when they went to the polls in November and voted resoundingly for change." But did Americans vote for THIS bill? A bill that is larger than the Iraq and Afghanistan combined. A bill that it is larger than the entire GDP of India. A bill that, once interest payments are included, will put Americans a full trillion dollars deeper in debt.

Remember, this is a President who, while still a candidate, promised a "net spending cut." And that promise was made October 7th, well after Lehman Brothers collapsed and it was already evident how deep an economic crisis we were in. Obama prided himself on the conservative and independent voters he won this November. They deserve to have Obama's fiscal responsibility promises kept.

Continuing to defend his Trillion Dollar Debt Plan Obama writes: "This plan is more than a prescription for short-term spending -- it's a strategy for America's long-term growth and opportunity in areas such as renewable energy, health care and education." But as the Washington Post editorializes: "This is precisely the problem. As credible experts, including some Democrats, have pointed out, much of this "long-term" spending either won't stimulate the economy now, is of questionable merit, or both."

Yesterday Obama was claiming that the controversial parts of his plan "amount to less than 1% of the overall package." But as he admits today, and as the Washington Post points out, the controversial spending makes up the core of his plan.

Obama concludes his op-ed writing: "These are the actions Americans expect us to take without delay. ... they have no patience for the same old partisan gridlock that stands in the way of action while our economy continues to slide." Obama is asking Congress to approve the largest deficit spending plan in the history of the known universe and he wants it done in ten days. There may well be some worthy government project buried in this bill, but as the Washington Post points out, they "do not belong in legislation whose reason for being is to give U.S. economic growth a "jolt" ... All other policy priorities should pass through the normal budget process, which involves hearings, debate and -- crucially -- competition with other programs."

Through those hearings and normal budget processes, the other elected leaders of our democracy can better assess which spending is needed and which spending is not. Barack Obama did not campaign on this spending plan. Therefore, it is simply not credible to believe that Americans voters meant to give him a blank check this past November, and current polls reflect exactly that.

(Love the Heritage Foundation... go sign up for their Morning Bell! www.heritage.org)

#TCOT to Republican Senators: NO to Porkulus, NO to Compromise, No to Turncoats

Michael Patrick Leahy, co-founder of Top Conservatives on Twitter, the conservative grassroots organization that dominates the conversation on Twitter, today announced that the organization is focusing it's OPERATION MOVE OVER MoveON.org on all Republicans in the Senate.

"Led by #TCOT Project Servant-Leader Wendy Hermann, a work-at-home mom from Corpus Christi, Texas, #TCOT's MOVE OVER MoveOn.org project is focused on defeating the "Porkulus" Bill in the Senate (S.1), in any form." Leahy said today.

"We intend to communicate that message to all 41 Republican Senators in the most direct way today and through the rest of the week. We know that Senate Majority Leader Democrat Harry Reid is trying to ram this bad bill through the Senate without a sufficient discussion of all the truly wasteful mini bail-outs to the Democrat Party's political allies it contains."

"Our message to every Republican Senator is clear and simple: Stand firm, and don't fall for false promises of 'bi-partisanship' that are being used to merely provide political cover to the Democrats. This is a clear example of the Democrats' wasteful economic policies, and we need to let the Democrats own their foolhardiness."

"The history of compromise in the US Congress is easy to understand. When Democrats coerce Republicans to abandon their principles, they call it 'bi-partisan' compromise. We conservatives call that fundamentally wrong."

"Anyone who wants to help us in this higher calling in the defense of American free markets can take an advantage of an innovative interactive tool that allows the average person to view the most recent spending elements of the "Porkulus" Bill, and register your approval or disapproval of each item. We will be periodically be sending out press releases highlighting your opinion of the most wasteful and extravagant elements of the bill."

"This great tool has been developed by Aaron Day, of Daylight Networks. To use the tool right now, simply go to: www.daylightnetwork.com/senate-stimulus.

"Once there, you can register and vote on whether or not a specific line item included in the bill will help improve the economy or will hurt it.”

MoveOn.org, the liberal activist group funded by George Soros, is focusing an ad campaign to turn around 5 Republican Senators. They are using radio and television ads to encourage people to contact these Senators and tell them to vote for S.1. The targeted Senators are:

(1) Collins - Maine
(2) Snow - Maine
(3) Newmann (yesterday appointed to replace Judd Gregg) - NH *
(4) Murkowski - ALASKA
(5) Grassley - Iowa

Leahy continued by adding that now all Republican Senators will be contacted.

"We've seen reports that various Republican Senators are offering a few ideas to make the bill seem more palatable. This simply won't work. Adding a few elements to placate moderate Republicans while keeping 90% of the $825 billion of pork included in the House version of the bill does nothing to help the economy. If Republican legislators want a historical model to guide them, they need look back only a few months to the disastrous vote in the fall in which many of them supported the ill advised and ineffective $700 billion Wall Street Bailout."

Top Conservatives on Twitter was started on November 29, 2008. It consists of a list of over 2,400 conservatives who use Twitter. The list can be found at http://www.topconservativesontwitter.org. The list serves as a rallying point for conservatives on the Internet, and has led to the formation of many action projects, of which Operation MOVE OVER MoveOn.org is one.

The organization is referred to as #TCOT because those five characters are used so that anyone on Twitter can follow the “tweet stream” of conversation on Twitter that is aimed at the #TCOT community. To follow this “tweet stream”, go to http://search.twitter.com and enter #TCOT.

In January, www.hashtags.org data showed that #TCOT dominated the Twitter conversation. #TCOT was the number one most used hashtag, with over 18,000 tweets. The second most used hashtag had less than 6,000 tweets.

#TCOT dominated the conversation on Twitter so dramatically that it had more than three times the conversation tweets as the number two hashtag.

#TCOT has released the following details of their plan of attack:

1. Phones. As we did in Operation Melt the Phones in DC, we are going to keep up a steady stream of phone calls to these Senators offices and report back on the TCOT Action Project site what the senators are saying. This time, however, we want to also call their local state offices. Each Senator has several in their state and they should be pressured as well. The numbers are listed by state at the bottom of the page as well as a sample script. We recommend calling each of the Senators offices every day. We will be issuing daily talking points for you to question the senate aid about. Be polite, but assertive.

2. Faxes. This time we will add faxes to our blitz. Many out of state people wishing to send a letter to a senator were stymied by the Senate e-mail system not allowing them. We have posted fax numbers next to phone numbers for those wishing to use that method. A sample text is listed at the bottom of the page for use in drafting e-mails and faxes. Again, we would like each person to fax each office daily emphasizing that days talking points.

3. E-mail. If you live in the senators state, we encourage you to send daily e-mails to the senators giving them reasons to vote against this piece of legislation. Links to each Senator’s webpage are on the Phone/Fax list at the bottom of the page. Use the Fax/E-mail text suggestions to know what to say.

4. Blogging and local media. We do not have George Soros’ money. We will have to be more grassroots than that. We are wanting all conservative bloggers to post this Action Project on your blog and give your opinion or perspective on the talking point of the day.

5. We are also asking "TCOT members to call their local talk radio programs, send letters to the editor and notify local media of what you are doing. Our hope is that some will be picked up as human interest stories and we can rebroadcast them over the Internet. We have made an outline/talking points list available to you for your reference. Please use that list as a starting point. We are working to build this media list, so please report back whomever you talk to and how they reacted.

6. We are looking for people with video experience that will write and produce short videos that can be posted on youtube that counter the ads being run by MoveON.org. Please contact us if you are interested in this project.

7. We are looking to target moderate or blue dog Democrats in the Senate that could be swayed to our side. Please let us know if you find any Democrats on the fence about S. 1.

Above all else, be polite. Passion is encouraged, foul language is not. Be aggressive, but not abusive.

Resources:
Senate Phone/Fax numbers (with links to e-mail) can be found at: http://moveovermoveon.posterous.com
To volunteer directly, and receive more detailed instructions, go to http://tcotprojects.ning.com

Johnny Isakson's response to my email to vote NO on porkulus

I sent an email with thoughts on the "stimulus". Strip it of every bit of pork that can be negotiated out of it, then when it's as thin as possible, vote no anyway. I phrased it better than that... It's definitely a form letter, didn't expect anything more. I didn't suggest any projects as the form letter indicates.

Since I sent me email a lot has happened and things are changing minute-by-minute in Washington. I've read conflicting stories about what's going on behind the scenes so I'm in a wait-and-see mode (although I'm still sending emails and calling Senators).

One good thing that's happening is that more and more people are becoming aware of how little there is in this pork package that will do anything to help us.

I think Nancy Pelosi is going to ultimately be the fall 'guy' on this one. She was SO gleeful when she rammed it through. I was watching as she took the count and they zeroed in on her face. She was gloating, smiling so big I thought her face would crack from the tension. Now she's dealing with dissension in the ranks, possibly an Obama White House that isn't happy with her and a Senate that is busily stripping her Christmas list of wants out of the bill. (see my last post)

OK, I'll quit typing and let you read Isakson's letter (emphasis is mine):

Thank you for contacting me regarding President Obama's Economic Stimulus plan. I appreciate your thoughts and the opportunity to respond.

Recently President Obama has been meeting with Majority Leader Harry Reid and Speaker Nancy Pelosi regarding his ideas for a second economic stimulus. At this time I am unsure as to whether I will or will not support this legislation due to the fact that there is no bill text to evaluate at this point, only constantly changing news reports. My staff and I, however, are glad to hear your thoughts on suggested projects that you believe should be included in this proposed plan. Rest assured I will strongly advocate on the behalf of Georgia projects for maximum investment.

As our nation continues to struggle through the current economic crisis it is important to stay focused on the recovery aspects. I believe the key to returning stability to the economy lies within the housing market. We must find a way to keep people in their homes, stabilize foreclosures and return consumer confidence to the marketplace. Once stability comes back to the housing market, you will see investors and small business begin to reinvesting in job creating activities, which will put hard working Americans back to work. I am committed to taking the necessary steps to work with my Senate colleagues to make this come to pass. Our nation has always demonstrated a strong resiliency and I am confident we will once again bounce back stronger than ever, where hard working Americans are at the front lines of economic prosperity.

Thank you again for contacting me. Please visit my webpage at http://isakson.senate.gov/ for more information on the issues important to you and to sign up for my e-newsletter

House Schedule for Tuesday

Now that I'm getting daily updates on the House schedule, I can't help but wonder what happens after they enact some of this stuff. I can't imagine that once some of these bills are passed and become law that many, if any, who voted on them ever know what happens afterward.

The volume of stuff going through is amazing. Can you imagine what would happen if all of a sudden everyone from the top down started doing half the things that are enacted way up on the lofty D.C. grounds? We hear it all the time in regards to things like illegal immigrants --- if we followed the letter of the law we wouldn't need new laws or bills or acts. It seems to me that a lot of the bills aren't worth the paper they're printed on (assuming anything is printed these days ;-).

There are a couple on this list I'm going to look up - Reducing Over-Classification Act? Fair, Accurate, Secure, and Timely Redress Act? Not sure what the National Bombing Prevention Act is either...

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2009:
On Tuesday, the House will meet at 12:30 p.m. for Morning Hour and 2:00 p.m. for legislative business. Unlimited One Minutes per side. Votes will be postponed until 6:30 p.m.

Suspensions (7 Bills)
1) H.R. 748 - Campus Safety Act of 2009 (Rep. Scott (VA) – Judiciary)
2) H.R. 738 - Death in Custody Reporting Act of 2009 (Rep. Scott (VA) – Judiciary)
3) H.Res. 82 - Raising Awareness and Encouraging Prevention of Stalking by Establishing January 2009 as National Stalking Awareness Month (Rep. Poe – Judiciary)
4) H.Res. __ - Supporting the goals and ideals of National Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention Week’ (Rep. Lewis (GA) – Judiciary)
5) H.R. 553 - Reducing Over-Classification Act (Rep. Harman – Homeland Security)
6) H.R. 559 - Fair, Accurate, Secure, and Timely Redress Act (Rep. Clarke – Homeland Security)
7) H.R. 549 - National Bombing Prevention Act (Rep. King (NY) – Homeland Security)

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 4; THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 5; FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2009:
On Wednesday, the House will meet at 10:00 a.m. for legislative business.
On Thursday, no votes are expected in the House.
On Friday, no votes are expected in the House.

S. 352 – The DTV Delay Act (Sen. Rockefeller – Energy and Commerce) (Subject to a Rule)

Senate Amendment to H.R. 2 – The Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (Rep. Pallone – Energy and Commerce) (Subject to a Rule)

* Conference Reports may be brought up at any time.
* Motions to go to Conference should they become available.
* Possible Motions to Instruct Conferees.

A glimmer of hope on the "stimulus" horizon?

Democrat Paul Kanjorski is saying that Congress needs to slow down on the so-called stimulus bill. In fact, he struck out hard against it. I hope he's just one of many Democrats having second thoughts after reading all that is included in the bill.

I had set today aside to catch up on the Fayette Front Page. Trying to do whatever I can to stop the stimulus has taken up the majority of my day thus far. I feel so strongly that this is the absolute worst thing that could happen to our country that I can't help but try to stop it. Even if that means sitting up half the night to update the Fayette Front Page and the Georgia Front Page.

If we can't stop the stupid thing, at least let us slow down the process long enough to understand the ramifications off our actions. Have you seen what's included? Go to www.readthestimulus.org or check out the links at the end of this blog.

The initial bailout was acted upon in panic mode and look where that got us! The current bill is every liberal dream wrapped in money that doesn't exist until we take it out of our wallets or it's printed. They want to rush it through before we can see what's being voted on and become alarmed.

Already our actions are having some effect. Minimal, but we're getting there.

Contraceptive funding thrown under Obama’s bus
By Michelle Malkin • January 26, 2009 11:27 PMGoody. Panicky President Obama wants the Dems to eliminate Pelosi’s pet contraceptive funding from the Generational Theft Act of 2009. Only $800 billion more in needless, unstimulating stimulus spending to kill.
http://michellemalkin.com/2009/01/26/contraceptive-funding-thrown-under-obamas-bus/

I just received a House floor update that said they'll be debating the bill sometime around 3:30 this afternoon. I'm hoping Cspan picks it up so we can watch.

Here are a few of the comments Kanjorski made regarding the bill:

"I think we've lost our way in a way ... We shouldn't be pressed by these silly deadlines like, you know, what makes [the] Presidents Day holiday so important for us to get out of town?"

"In order to get it right, we have to spend time and analyze how much is going to hit the street as fast as it can hit the street and I don't think we've done that. I think, to a large extent, many of the parts of the stimulus are programs that are going to take years and years and years to accomplish ..."

"Quite frankly, we're doing this in small stages and small bites. We need to take our time. I guarantee we're going to come back and we are going to have another stimulus, we're going to have another bailout for Wall Street because we are not doing these things properly."

Key Democrat rips stimulus, predicts more bailouts
By Bob Cusack
Posted: 01/27/09 01:22 PM [ET]
A key Democrat on Tuesday lambasted the economic stimulus bill that is headed to the House floor, claiming it was put together too quickly and won’t help the economy in the short term. Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D-Pa.), who chairs the Financial Services subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance and Government Sponsored Enterprises, said on C-SPAN that Democrats have "lost our way" and "shouldn't be pressed by silly deadlines" of getting the bill into law by the Presidents Day recess...
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/key-democrat-rips-stimulus-predicts-more-bailouts-2009-01-27.html

Uncovered: Democrats Seek to Use Stimulus to Kick Start Government-Run Health Care
Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) issued the following statement regarding the inclusion of $1.1 billion for Comparative Effectiveness Research in the Democrats’ misnamed “stimulus” package. The provision provides the cornerstone for a national government-run health care system.
http://tom.house.gov/html/release.cfm?id=446

Top 20 Fast Facts About the House Democrats' Trillion Dollar Spending Plan
http://republicanleader.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=109402
Washington, Jan 26 - Earlier this month, when then-President-elect Obama met with Democratic and Republican congressional leaders, he laid out a vision of crafting a bipartisan economic recovery package focused on creating jobs and fast-acting tax relief. However, in the weeks since that meeting, Democratic leaders in Congress have taken that vision and turned it upside down, crafting a plan loaded with hundreds of billions in spending on programs and projects – most of which will not impact our ailing economy for many years, if ever, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

Want to know what's in the stimulus package?

Check out "Read the Stimulus" (www.readthestimulus.org).

The site is sponsored by The Heritage Foundation, Red State, Citizens Against Government Waste, #TCOT, and a number of other groups.

$850 Billion, 334 pages, and counting... somebody needs to read it!
The American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009

You can search the Bill if you're interested in a particular item and can link directly to the page from your blog, email or website.

Our government is getting ready to spend a LOT of OUR money. This so-called stimulus package is not just about our future, it's about our children and grandchildren's future and the long-term future of our country. It's probably too long for most of us to wade through, but it's worth a scan at a minimum.

Hat tip to @Rancov, Twitter

How Cheap the Price of a Vote

The $700 billion bailout is now up to around $850 billion depending on how you calculate the various additions that were tacked on to buy votes.

These so-called principled politicians were dead set against the bill... until... they added provisions for wooden arrows... gave a tax credit to businesses for employees who bought a bike to ride to work... The list of seemingly mundane and frivolous additions is ridiculous. Yet that is all it took to get some to switch their no vote to a yes vote.

How cheap the price of a vote.

How cheap the price of principles.

We are supposedly in crisis mode yet these silly things (with a high price tag) were needed to get the bill passed to save us from the end of the world???

I listened as the very people who caused the problem stood there and patted themselves on the back for getting the bill through. Apple pie, love and harmony, and everyone is beautiful. We played nice, threw in some icing on top of the icing and we deserve your vote and praise.

Bull.

The three page bill is now something like 650 pages? We'll be sorting through the fine print for decades to come and I believe we are going to regret the passage of this bill. I've been listening as economists and other "experts" discuss what this bill will do and I'm convinced at this point that at best it'll stop things were they are now.

What's next? Once we set the precedent how do we say no to another sector? What happens once we've partially nationalized this segment of our free market? How many agencies are we going to need to create to oversee the enactment and subsequent oversight of / from the bill?

Here's a few things included in the bill:

--- “The Secretary of the Treasury shall enter into an agreement with the National Academy of Sciences to undertake a comprehensive review of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to identify the types of and specific tax provisions that have the largest effects on carbon and other greenhouse gas emissions and to estimate the magnitude of those effects.”

--- The subsidy for biodiesel production doubles, going from 50 cents per gallon to $1.00 per gallon.

--- The “Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008,” (Bill number S.558) for companies with more than 50 employees, requires group insurance plans to have deductibles, copayments, coinsurance, and annual and lifetime limits for mental health and drug addition/abuse coverage which are no more restrictive or expensive for the policy holder than those same items for other medical and surgical coverage.

--- Tax breaks for rum producers in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands ($192 million)

--- Tax breaks for motorsports racing track facilities ($128 million)

--- Tax breaks for Alaskan fishermen ($223 million)

--- The extension of the “exemption of undercover operations (by the IRS) from certain laws”

Sources:
'Sweetened' bailout plan stuffed with pork
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Politics/Default.aspx?id=273634

Tax Earmarks, Pork and Other Bailout Bill Horrors
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=28851

Florida's Sen. Nelson Votes Against Bailout Plan
http://cbs4.com/local/senator.bill.nelson.2.831240.html

Plus a whole host of other articles, discussions and a very tiny, tiny bit of talk radio.