Congress Overrides Bush on Pork-Filled Bill
Chuckles over at BSB is gloating that the Senate voted to override President Bush’s veto of the water bill.
I don’t know what there is to gloat about… That bill had so much pork that the paper it’s printed on probably smells like bacon:
The Senate passed a $14 billion version of this spending bill in May, which funds federal water projects, and sent it to conference with the House. The same bill emerged from conference last week, and passed the Senate overwhelmingly yesterday, as a $23 billion spending bill. That’s a 64-percent increase in just four months — sounds like a wildly successful hedge fund’s return, not the growth of a bill that authorizes spending for the federal government.
Where did all the extra money come from? Much of it is earmarks. But some of it — between $1 billion and $2 billion — comes from new “earmarks” that were not voted on in the original House or Senate versions of the bill. These were added quietly in conference committee, when the two houses negotiated the final bill they would both pass. There were at least 20 such earmarks added in conference to WRDA, which authorizes spending on projects for the Army Corps of Engineers. Because they were added in conference, neither the House nor the Senate has any chance to debate or amend them.
It is a shame that the votes of Democrats and Republicans in Congress can be so easily purchased with pork projects. And I give credit to President Bush for finding his veto pen again.
Matt,
Why don’t you ever call me the full nickname you gave me way back when. I remember it. You said I was a “chucklehead faggot.”
Do you suddenly have a problem using homosexuality…especially such a slur…as a putdown? You didn’t have problems before.
Let’s just things straight, right?
Jerid, you make yourself look bad. Regardless of whatever Matt does. But, what do you expect of Matt? or me?
In Matt’s case you go out of your freakin’ mind about his constitutional right to stand-up for his ideology and the politicians/candidates that embody his ideals. You are obsessed to make Matt out to be some sort of demon just because he holds different ideals than you and yours.
You and yours are so blinder-ridden convinced that your manufactured hollywoodesque physical appearance, trendy costume-like apparel and yuppie puppy cultural lifestyle is so superior to all others that you forget that our American system of government and constitution were designed to allow for wide-ranging diversity.
You seemingly always apply your Photoshop frat boy narcissism as a litmus test to determine whether or not someone is “legit” or not. You constantly try to set narrow-minded, artificial, and inhumane standards for someone’s physical appearance, language and beliefs before you’ll approve of them publicly.
Thus, in my case, you reject my vastly diverse group of progressive activists because we are independent thinkers and refuse to blindly mold ourselves into clones of your klan. You are so obsessed with the image and expectations you have for people you hang-out with that you intentionally and maliciously alienate and marginalize a lot of people who might otherwise be supportive of a lot of your political ideology.
You and yours are just as responsible for splitting the Democratic Party and me and mine. We’d rather get along with Democrats like you, but we’d also like to be as open as possible to inclusively accept people with other views, including people like Matt.
Matt is just as human and just as valid as you and I Jerid. Sure, we’re all a bit different from the other. I personally wouldn’t want to always live-out every lifestyle and political believe of Matt’s. But, for that matter, I wouldn’t want to share all of yours either Jerid.
Jerid, a major problem with your character is that you seem almost devoid of any ability to accept individual differences. You may or may not be able to accuse Matt and I of being equally single-minded. However, Matt has never gone after me individually like you have Jerid.
No one is perfect Jerid, despite your false image that you and yours embody some sort of perfection. You and yours will change certain aspects of your lives with every latest trend that hits the scene. On the contrary, Matt and I stay more consistent about the way we live our independent lives and the things we believe in. We just do it in different zones.
However, Jerid, you and yours are self-serving, young-punk, rude-ass and inconsiderate cameleons who lack any signs of ability to respect human dignity and individual expression.
You’ll pick apart the words of far too many people on a picky-ass semantics level and/or petty grammar scrutinizing level. You refuse to recognize the people you bad-mouth, belittle, bash and/or banish on a deeper human level. You don’t acknowledge that your political foes have genuine feelings and intellect. You falsely try to make your foes out to be two-dimensional characters.
But, in a reality based world, all people are three dimensional and worthy of consideration far beyond your ability to broadly provide it. This is why I rebuke you and yours Jerid, not because I can’t recognize and/or accept your political positions.
Matt, as you know it is not often we agree. But - Bush did the right thing by vetoing this bloated bacon fat dripping bill!
Some of the projects were warranted, but most were bullshit pork promises in attempts to shore up votes.