RSSCongressional Hypocrisy …Do as we Say, Not as We Do … Dems in Congress Head to Kingsmill Resort & Spa in Williamsburg, Va.,
The pot calling the kettle black … and Fear Mongering to Pass Democratic 
Pork Barrel Agenda
If Barack Obama can dictate corporate CEO’s their salaries because of tax payer TARP money, then “We the People” should be able to dictate the salaries of the President, House and Senate. After all, it is out tax dollars that are paying their salaries. Why can government get away with wasteful spending? Americans can smell pork a mile a way.
Barack Obama and the Democrats in the House and Senate are so quick to tell us about the wasteful spending of corporate America and their greed, yet might they want to look in the mirror? Congress has railed on corporations who have taken TARP money for their continued wasteful spending, yet was it not Congress who passed these bills without any provisions to restrict such actions?
Is it also not Congress and the US Government who wastes more tax payer dollars than anyone? Maybe the Dems in Congress can mull over their wasteful spending ways while they are living La Vita Loca at Kingsmill Resort & Spa in Williamsburg, VA on the tax payers dime. Could these people be more out of touch? Who exactly do they think pays their salaries?
Members of Congress were quick to shame corporate executives for over-the-top extravagance during the economic crisis, flying private jets and taking luxury junkets. But some lawmakers are strolling fancy resorts spending tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars and mingling with lobbyists.
“We’re very mindful” of perceptions, House Democratic Caucus Chairman John Larson told reporters Thursday camped outside of the sprawling Kingsmill Resort & Spa in Williamsburg, Va., where House Democrats spent about $100,000 on their three-day annual retreat. “It’s serious and it’s from morning till night. We’ve been dwelling, rightfully, on the economy,” said Larson, D-Conn.
Dems Spend Half Million* Taxpayer $ on Resort Trips
Obama asks Democrats to quickly pass stimulus plan
Isn’t this the same thing that Democrats accused GWB of in applying fear tactics in order to go to war? Oh, that’s right, it is different and a change because it is coming from the Obamamessiah. Let’s get the facts straight folks, there is a reason why this STIMULUS PORK BARREL BOONDOGGLE has little support among the American people. It is also a fact that the only politicians who are preaching bi-partisanship are the Republicans. It was 11 Democrats in the House that voted against the Democratic stimulus bill and voted with Republicans. Who is being bi-partisan?
Pushing Congress to pass his economic plan by next week, President Barack Obama implored House Democrats on Thursday to reject delaying tactics and political gamesmanship that often stymies legislation and keep a promise to voters who booted Republicans from power.
Posted February 6, 2009 by Scared Monkeys Barack Obama, Government, House of Representatives, Politics, WTF | 28 comments |
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28 Responses to “Congressional Hypocrisy …Do as we Say, Not as We Do … Dems in Congress Head to Kingsmill Resort & Spa in Williamsburg, Va.,”
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Spend, Spend, Spend
House Democratic Caucus Chairman John Larson D-Conn needs to got to jail for using taxpayer’s money for his vacations. “We’re very mindful” He gets the CrackBerry award for being idiot of the day.
These people are so important they are beyond any kind of accountability, and they don’t have to pay their taxes either!
Americans can smell pork a mile a way especially, if it hits them in the pocketbook and it don’t belong to any one political group, that is why the United States of American citizens needs stay on top of actions of their elected officials for so long now, no less than 30 years large industries and corporate America has been writing policies and procedures which our elected officials have rubber stamped as legislation and guess who they benefit? It will be the citizens of the United States of America to come together and get our government back on track again. Elected officials have become too comfortable in their roles and positions. It looks to me that these small groups of people just keep changing seats in Washington, D.C. like musical chairs. It will be up to the citizens of the United States of America to put a stop to this by getting involved with their Government or you have no right to voice your complaint if you will not take a difficult stand. God Bless America!!!
Janice,
Keep in mind that those big corporations make most of the things we love to consume, and they are owned by hundreds of thousands of stockholders. If you have a retirement package you probably are a part owner.
Having said that, a part of their profits does go to lobbyists who buy (too much) influence in Washington. And it does seem that though the public continually cries out about how things are in politics, it never changes. There are a lot of talented people in our country, but few of them want to run for office.
This isn’t an American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, it isn’t intended to promote jobs or build the economy.
It’s a spending bill to promote and stimulate everything but the American economy. Just import everything needed, the workers (IT), steel, etc.
Americans will borrow the money, import everything, and pay the money back for generations.
How many jobs will created in areas that help unemployed women? How many that benefit from the jobs created will be single moms? Older Americans? Americans with disabilities? Americans that used to work in small factories on Main Street?
When will everyone in America be included in the economy? When will government and politicians stop limiting their compassion and monetary help to only special interest groups?
When will America drop the labels and categories that continue to divide us as a nation? (hint – probably not with this administration – they seem to have taken labels and categories to new levels of glory).
imho
“How many jobs will created in areas that help unemployed women?”
What job is specific to women only as opposed to men?
What job is specific to older Americans as opposed to younger ones?
What job is specific to Americans with disabilities as opposed to ones without?
This isn’t 1940 is it?
Drudge reporting Democrats got 3 cross over RINOs and are flying Kennedy in for the vote. Stick a fork in America. It’s done. Over. Finished.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the constitutionality of imposing any pay cap on private enterprise is up for dispute.
It might be apposite to point out that Tom Daschle was reportedly making over $1 million a year in his part-time lobbying activities … his wife also is a lobbyist ….
I guess this is all part of the “higher ethical standards” we were promised, as well as “change you can believe in.”
Maybe that refers to the spare change that is likely to be all that the American voter has left.
Earned money (the kind that represents value) is ONLY earned
in the Private Sector. If Barry and his cohorts are creating jobs,
you may assume all of the ‘created new ones’ are government
jobs. Government jobs cost money, they do not create value
at all. Government can print money to pay it’s employees, but
that printed money simply waters-down the existing earned
money. Ladies and Gentleman, seriously, it’s a Fools Game!
Hit the snooze button while our Freedom melts away, thanks.
rightknight:
You’re always right.
But, I’d rather melt another kinda way…
Make Freedom Ring!
There are many jobs/fields that while not specific to only one sex or age group do not seem to emloy men and women in numbers that represent the general population.
Do women compromist just over 50% of all construction workers? Is it likely that just over 50% of the jobs created will go to women?
Will women be excluded from sharing the success and prosperity of the Obama road to recovery and reinvestment?
Are these ‘backbone of the economy’ truly open to everyone? Or, just those special interests of the Obama administration?
Why aren’t they creating jobs for day care workers? For the same money, they could put more people back to work. Same with restaurant workers, more people could be employed and feed the hungry.
Cities and rural areas used to be filled with lots of jobs. Jobs that supported a family and schools and roads and bridges. What is left in those same cities? What vision does Obama see in America – crumbling schools and infrastructure.
What happens when a community loses it’s manufacturing base? Is there a magic printing press that continues to supply money for roads and bridges? Maybe all those places that get the good jobs pitch in and help out those jobless left behind?
When will government focus on fair trade? Creating and supporting a sustainable economy?
“Free trade” is a fine idea, but I don’t think the rest of the world is free and the playing field isn’t level. Free trade doesn’t mean there is any kind of fairness.
I don’t presume to know the answers to the financial crisis, or even most of the questions.
That said, I’ve been thinking: if the issue is to help the unemployed, whose numbers are swelling … then instead of looking at the “toxic assets” held by the mega-banks and companies such as AIG, why not target payments directly to the unemployed?
And if banks are the problem … then how about founding new banks, with federal bailout money used as initial capital, and strengthen the regional and second-tier banks?
Those mega-banks that offered a cozy home to ex-officials (Robert Rubin at Citigroup comes to mind), and which accumulated a lot of “toxic assets,” could do what they are supposed to do under our system … take a hit to earnings, set up special reserves, or whatever … and see their business curtailed until their bad loans were worked out of the system.
Meanwhile, the new banks would be in a position to start lending anew.
Obviously, there are lots of drawbacks to this approach. I don’t even know what they all are.
But the present approach, to the limited extent that I understand it at all, seems to be directed at the past (the “toxic assets” piled up) and to be aimed at helping those with political connections.
Here’s some interesting commentary on the crisis:
Ben Stein: Scariest pork-barrel bill of all time
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
I LOVE THIS. The new kind of politics of hope. Eight hours of debate in the House to pass a bill spending $820 billion, or roughly $102 billion per hour of debate.
Only 10 percent of the “stimulus” to be spent on 2009.
Close to half goes to entities that sponsor or employ or both members of the Service Employees International Union, federal, state and municipal employee unions or other Democrat-controlled unions.
This bill is sent to Congress after President Obama has been in office for seven days. It is 680 pages long. According to my calculations, not one member of Congress read the entire bill before this vote.
Obviously, it would have been impossible, given his extremely hectic schedule, for Mr. Obama to have read the entire bill.
For the amount spent we could have given every unemployed person in the United States roughly $75,000.
We could give every person who had lost a job and is now passing through long-term unemployment of six months or longer roughly $300,000.
There has been pork-barrel politics since there has been politics. The scale of this pork is beyond what had ever been imagined before, and no one can be sure it will actually do much stimulation.
Further, no one can be sure that we are not already at the trough/inflection point of the recession such that this money will be spent mostly after the recovery is well under way.
How long until the debt incurred under this program is so immense that it causes a downgrade in the sovereign debt of the USA?
What happens to us then?
This has been a punch in the solar plexus to the kind of responsible, far-seeing, mature government processes that are needed to protect America. This is more than the pork barrel. This is a coup for the constituencies of the party in power and against the idea of a responsible government itself.
A bleak day.
Unfortunately, it is only the latest in a long series of such days stretching across decades of rule by both parties, to the point where truly responsible government is only a distant echo of our forgotten ancestors.
Congress is bought and paid for. There are over 46,000 lobbyist in Washington that put money in the Congress pockets and then they vote for whats good for them and not USA. We are pretty much screwed because Congress cares very little for what we think or want done.
Congress knows that most Americans have know idea what is going on and now The Democrats are going to spend us into a hole so deep that we will never get out of.
This is a dog and pony show and there buddies at Wall Street are laughing in our faces and Congress is going to give them more. No recovery is going to happen , just more take over of Wealth for them and we go broke!
VIVA REVOLUTION!
Now look, we’ve gone ahead twenty years and taken
trillions of your dollars away from you the public sector.
Not only that, but, we’ve brought those dollars all the
way back to NOW and are dolling them out to you in
the form of larger government. Stealing and Spending
on this scale takes a lot out of us Bureaucrats, man.
We need to chill a bit at a resort to regain our strength.
Please pass the steamy towel, aah, thanks.
Americans would prefer the democrats to try and fix this problem, Americans are aware of which party was incharge when the problem developed
Yo John: Did you take a poll? Can you prove Americans would prefer the democrats to fix this? Are you basing this on the election that ACORN assisted with?
And yes, we are aware that Carter was in power when the Community Reinvestment act was passed. And yes, we remember it was expanded by Clinton. We also remember that Bush tried to put the kabash on it and Barney Frank, Chris Dodd and friends stood up and said what a wonder job Freddie and Fannie were doing.
#15 Richard: good article and you are exactly right – this sell out has been going on for years and years by both sides. They see the taxpayers as their blank check for every whim and wish that might help them along in their political agenda. No one give a wit about the American public anymore other than to know what will make us vote one way or another. I’m sure sooner or later they will also do away with that messing function called “elections”.
John Ryan, you are correct in one way….who was in charge to create the credit crisis that now has destroyed our economy.
It was Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid with the help of Barney Frank and others covering up for the corrupt and mismanaged Fannie and Freddie Mac government entities. These two organizations not only bankrupted America, but bankrupted the world and these politicians participated in the ponzi scheme via accepting campaign contributions from these organizations and then voting to not fully account for what was going on.
Sorry, but this was created by poor management and oversight by the Congress that was Democrat controlled.
Our country’s name will change to Kingdom Of Jackass )All you fools that supported HUSSAIN OSAMA are getting the poop you deserve, Wealth Distribution ??? Nada ? BOHIC Only the corrupt flunkys will get millions , Unions ACORN Income Tax evaders etc. Sone you will all be eating out of their garbage cans, BUT you won’t be able to vote them out cause their WON’T be any elections . HAVE A NICE DAY ..
Corruption breeds corruption !! A product of Chicago !!! NOY corrupt ?? June 8 2008 Libya, Col Gaddafi speech to his world .. Do not be conserned brothers HE ( Osama ) is one of us !!He will LIE to get elected thats how it works in democracy, Then do as he please’s The Col was right. The day will come that Osama will throw the white flunky’s under the buss, so long fool ! For beliving I was you friend !! He is opening the border to all criminals to come and help control the peasents . First gos the 2nd Amendment . Next the 1st Amendement there gos the Great LIBERAL MEDIA crying like mashed cats .Be careful what you wish for !! You just got it . Have a nice Day .
Only idiotic UN-INFORMED Americans think they know who caused this problem. This problem goes back to Clinton twisting Republican arms in order to get his “everybody should be able to afford a home” program passed that opened the doors for bank bullying by groups like ACORN into giving people that couldn’t afford a loan, loans! This is the real CRUX of the economic problem. Then Barney Frank and his lover at Fannie Mae and then Chris Dodd and his “Friends of Angelo” sweetheart deal from Countrywide started the corruptness that led to the housing bubble burst.
Of course these same UN-EDUCATED and UN-INFORMED people are force-fed liberal leftists views and lies about the Republican party; from ALL the major media outlets except FoxNews.
I wish liberals would get their facts straight about WHO caused the housing crisis.
It’s too bad Nancy Pelosi does not have to pick up trash in San Francisco, in hopes that she would stick herself from some needle lying in the streets….
scott,
who caused the housing crash:
finance institutions
borrowers who were blinded by greed or ill-adviced
I guess everyone is just supposed to forget the Republican 106th Congress created this deregulated environment in which bundled mortgages could be sold as guaranteed commodities?
You know, that lovely Commodity Futures Modernization Act? The GOP’s CFMA was designed to keep regulators from controlling new financial tools described as credit “swaps”. Sub-prime mortgages bundled up and sold as securities. Under the law, neither the SEC nor the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) were able to examine financial institutions – like hedge funds or investment banks – to guarantee they had the assets necessary to cover losses they were guaranteeing.
As usual some are ideologically incapable of taking responsibility for Phil Gramm and Co writing the actual law that enabled FM & FM.
Dolf – people make their own beds. If they were too stupid enough to JUST listen to a loan officer and not research themselves and took a loan THEY KNEW they couldn’t afford, it IS ON THEM. Typical liberals placing the blame not on the individual… free handouts as usual.
ah hedge fund managers..you mean the same ones Obama campaigned against but NOW says they will help the economy recover?
And then the Democrats (Clinton) took Fannie and Freddie and ran with them as far as they could take them to expand
BTW Sub-prime mortgages were not even in the conversation during the time of the 106th Congress; which was long long ago. Back then there was a very small minute percentage of loans that were bundled up with bad ones….
It was Fannie and Freddie who PROMOTED sub-prime mortgages under Clinton’s guise. When this law was created the Republicans had no idea the Democrats would EXPAND the sub-prime mortgages programs to the point where those bundlged mortgages now had and increased number of bad mortgages bundled up with them, in turn bursting the housing bubble.
My, how the liberals like doo-doo, like to deflect.
Remember it was Bush and McCain who asked for more regulation on Freddie and Fannie only to be rebuffed at by fag Frank and retard Reid..so say what you will about who created the program, it was the other party that ABUSED it…
ofcourse scott, its always the other side in your view.
btw. if you read my post above perhaps you will notice that I lay the blame on the right ppl.