Outgoing Comptroller of GAO Blast Government Irresponsibility

David Walker went off today on our inefficient and increasingly backward government. While I disagree with the portion on Iraq, (yes, the Iraqi government needs to step up some more but they have produced some good legislation lately that is helping the country towards a slow reconciliation. Besides, if they are using our government as a model, it's amazing they are overcoming partisan rifts at all) he's spot on with regard to many issues:

David Walker, comptroller general of the Government Accountability
Office (GAO) has since 1998 been the objectively informed and outspoken
critic of America's balance sheet. He has criticized supporting Iraq's
dysfunctional government, pork barrel spending by Congress, unrealistic
"universal health care plans" we can ill-afford or support, the
escalating risks of huge deficits, fiscal vulnerability to hostile
foreign governments, and a lack of will to reform our government.

Pork is completely out of control in Congress, and while I salute President Bush for stepping up and putting a halt to earmarks in the short term, it is something he should have done from the first day he was sworn in as president. Universal Health Care would be devastating to our budget and our economy as private sector jobs and economic competition would be shattered. The free market and indeed advances in the health care field would be stifled, as would the economy as a whole due to an astronomical increase in taxes. Additionally, if the left truly cared about encroachments on our civil liberties, there would be no rationality in giving our government every single detail of our health records. While the FISA remains controversial in its impact on a small portion of the population who is in direct contact with suspected terrorist, the left is looking for any reason to hand over health care records in violation of our right to privacy as given to us by our Constitution.

The deficit is another issue that must be addressed immediately, and the proper way to do so is not to raise taxes and adopt anti-growth, protectionist policies that the Democratic Party is urging. This will only restrict growth and lower government revenues. Rather, the tax rates should be preserved, if not lowered further, in order to assist small businesses, investors, and indeed, every tax payer in America as the Bush Tax Cuts have lowered the rates on ALL tax payers. To really address the deficit issues, spending in the government must be slashed significantly. A Balanced Budget Amendment is desirable but must be done in a way that provides for national emergencies in terms of natural disasters and national defense, where discretionary spending must be dropped to provide for the common defense while not incurring further debt. Ideally, the best way forward would be to reduce spending to a point where, with the lower tax rates, we could run a surplus which can be used to cut the national debt. In turn, this would reduce the threat that China and other nations pose to us by threatening to flood the world market with our dollar, an economic hostage holding of sorts. This will also strengthen the dollar and benefit every American as our currency would appreciate greatly in value. It's high time the government steps up to the plate and addresses these issues, but the leftist policies of Obama and Clinton will not do it, in fact, they will only make matters much, much worse.

-Caomhin

Bush to Go On Pork Hunt

I'm not a big fan of the stimulus package, which equates to not much more than a short term stimulus that should help out right until election time which is basically just going to be something in which all incumbents will duly remind us. It gets even worse, and even more obscenely transparent when Harry "Defeatist" Reid, wants to make sure he slows down the process and go after some more votes and "add" to the stimulus...I mean deficit. It's pretty much a welfare package and not a true stimulus package as it's not going to increase savings incentives in the long run, nor will it reduce tax rates in the long run for both businesses and consumers, which actually would stimulate the economy through the power of the wage earners who actually drive the economy. However, there's a good silver lining here, and something that will be getting more and more play in the media for sure as the Left will be up in arms. Bush is going to go after earmarks via executive order. It's a great first step, and something that should have happened much earlier in his tenure, but it's still coming down the pike. Perhaps slashing the pork can fund most of the stimulus package, but I doubt it. It's a good move, and he has nothing to lose, it's within his power and there really can't be a challenge to it, and it may make for some great commercials when we see the Lefties in Congress crying about it. Still though, don't think for one second that the Dems are licking their chops at having control of the Legislative and Executive Branches, and the pork that will come as a result will make a Pig Slaughterhouse look like a vegan retreat. This election is of the utmost importance for the fiscal future of our nation. The last time the Dems were in that position was the Carter era...be afraid, be very afraid, if that were to happen.

-Caomhin

Bush on the Verge of Doing Something Spectacular?

John Fund has an excellent article entitled "Hold the Pork" published in the Opinion Journal section of the Wall Street Journal. The synopsis of the article, if you don't feel like reading the entire piece (a mistake, by the way, if you don't), is that the Democrats, in order to fulfill their undying hunger for all things pork, stuffed a ton of earmarks into the omnibus spending bill that President Bush can simply ignore the earmarks and direct the funds towards more useful areas, such as, oh, I don't know, funding the war. Here's an excerpt:

What Mr. Bush knows, and Congress doesn't want the taxpayers to know, is that the vast majority of the offending earmarks--the ones that aren't part of the actual budget law and were instead "air-dropped" into the committee report--aren't legally binding. A Dec. 18 legal analysis by the Congressional Research Service found that most of the committee reports have not been formally passed by both houses and "presented" to the President for signing, and thus have not become law. "President Bush could ignore the 90% of earmarks that never make it to the floor of the House or Senate for a vote," says Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina, who has read the CRS report. "He doesn't need a line-item veto."

Federal agencies would still be obligated to spend the dollars appropriated by Congress. But they could use the money higher priorities that would benefit all taxpayers, rather than on favors for special interests or political donors. For example, the $700,000 for a bike trail in Minneapolis could be used to rebuild the collapsed bridge in that city and to strengthen others. In addition, under such an executive order, future earmarks would likely have to go through committee hearings and would receive much greater scrutiny and publicity than they do now.

Sure, this move would undoubtedly inflame the Libtards even more than ever, but President Bush needs to make this move for a few reasons. First, they will fight even harder during the next spending bill to stop funding the war that they have been trying to undermine for political reasons. Second, it would set an excellent precedent for Congress to stop earmarking everything imaginable. Third, it would help to undo some of the damage that was done by the increases in government under his watch. Of course, doing out of principal is reason all on its own. What will the Liberals do? How much crying could they possible do over this move? Even they wouldn't be stupid enough to go on TV to attack President Bush for putting a stop to a series of irresponsible and ethically questionable (at best) series of expenditures. Even assuming the Moonbats take full control of the party and try to use this as reason to pursue a failed impeachment proceeding, the effects would blow up in their face because the public wouldn't be so stupid as to not see the real underlying reason that they would only be pursuing this action because they were denied from gouging the taxpayers in outrageous spending provisions that serve as kickbacks to their donors. It should be a slam dunk and rank up there as one of the best moves that President Bush has done during his tenure.

-Caomhin

Oh How the Left Loves Them Some Pork

Not that it's shocking, of course. However, you really owe it to yourself to go check out the Leftist Congress's achievements in the peddling of pork products and inflated, egregious government spending and kickbacks to their buddies. Note too, that the "Republicans" doing this, are RINOs at best, after all, Ted Stevens is a pork lover, and he too needs to go. Hell, Sen. Tom Coburn almost got him to go after Sen. Coburn attacked him over the outlandish Bridge to Nowhere before the public had even heard of the shameful project. However, after pledging to stop the earmarks, the left made them more secret, and increased them dramatically. Here's a sampling:

The pork vacation tour stops include the following:

• Fish for the catfish genome at Auburn (Ala.) University (cost of project: $878,000)
  
• Envy the 'Green' Natural History Museum in Minneapolis ($800,000)
  
• Walk across the Heart of America bridge in Kansas City ($750,000)
  
• Cheer on the human robot teams at Texas A&M ($750,000)
  
• Explore grape genetics in Geneva, N.Y. ($628,000)
  
• Lift weights at the YMCA in Stark County, Ohio ($500,000)
  
• Cruise on longer streets in Champaign, Ill. ($500,000)
  
• Shoot hoops with the locals in Richmond, Calif. ($450,000)
  
• Pedal on bike trails in Highland, Ind. ($400,000)
  
• Play golf at Buhl Farm in Sharon, Pa. ($300,000)
  
• Take the pulse of renovations at Transylvania Hospital, Brevard, N.C. ($275,000)
  
• Dine at a wine and culinary center in Prosser, Wash. ($250,000)
  
• Lob tennis balls at the Andre Agassi prep school in Las Vegas ($200,000)

That's not all folks. There's much, much more. In fact, my favorite Senator, Tom Coburn, helped get this website up and running:

USA Spending

Where you can research and view all earmarks and who has assigned them. It's great stuff, and something to utilize during the upcoming election season. I have added a direct link on the right hand site permanently. Have fun.

-Caomhin