Unbelievable Waste!

April 24, 2009

Unbelievable Waste!

Filed under: General — mary @ 9:02 am

You do not want to miss this brand new, 2 minute video expose of government waste from ABC News. It’s shocking.

John Murtha\’s Porkbarrel Airport

Comments (79)

79 Comments

Mary,

I didn’t serve any administrations. I was an employee of the federal government and served the people of the United States.

I started in 1973 when Nixon was President and retired in 1996 when Clinton was President.

Comment by Bill — April 27, 2009 @ 11:39 am
Thanks, Bill. I should have worded my question more carefully. You have seen a lot and are much more aware than most of us. I appreciate your experience.

Comment by mary — April 27, 2009 @ 11:47 am
Chavez is a pig.–bill

bill, what does that even mean? it sounds like nothing more than childish name calling. why is he a pig? what has he done to threaten the united states? thankfully, your belief that “Chavez intentionally embarrassed and humiliated the President of the United States and by extension, the United States and its citizens” is not the widely held view of most american citizens, nor is it the view of the rest of the world. it is about time the united states lost the arrogant, sabre-rattling bravado of the prior administration and replaced it with, thoughtful, respectful and competent leadership.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/obama-drives-chavez-out-of-limelight-1670627.html

Comment by raygun — April 27, 2009 @ 12:22 pm
raygun,

“Pig” is a term of derision meaning a very repulsive person.

You said, “thankfully, your belief that “Chavez intentionally embarrassed and humiliated the President of the United States and by extension, the United States and its citizens” is not the widely held view of most american citizens, nor is it the view of the rest of the world.” I don’t presume to know the views held and expressed by most American citizens or the rest of the world.

You said, “it is about time the united states lost the arrogant, sabre-rattling bravado of the prior administration and replaced it with, thoughtful, respectful and competent leadership.” Well, we can only hope that the next administration elected in 2012 will be the thoughtful, respectful, and competent leadership we didn’t get in the 2008 election. Sometimes those who have lived sheltered lives confuse arrogant, sabre-rattling bravado with quiet, resolute courage and leadership. Foreign leaders know the difference and respect it, even if they disagree with it.

Comment by Bill — April 27, 2009 @ 12:37 pm
i didn’t ask what, i asked why?

Comment by raygun — April 27, 2009 @ 2:05 pm
Obama won the presidency with a much smaller margin than his supporters seem to believe. Despite his wide margin in the Electoral College, more than 47 percent of voters cast ballots against him.

This is something the cackling left should remember.

Comment by Pariah — April 27, 2009 @ 2:21 pm
47 percent of voters cast ballots against him. –pariah

that’s still a minority. 😉

Comment by raygun — April 27, 2009 @ 2:23 pm
Allow me to imitate your style for a second here, raygun:

that’s still a minority

So raygun is against minority rights?

Comment by Dan — April 27, 2009 @ 2:48 pm
Poor poor Nancy – http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0409/21724.html

Comment by Pariah — April 27, 2009 @ 2:53 pm
dan, if people here weren’t adverse to engaging in dialog, those terse little sound bites wouldn’t arise. but bill uses juvenile insults and can’t or won’t explain why he calls a head of state a ‘pig’ and pariah long a supporter of the previous administration and there ‘our way or the highway’ form of governance now suddlent wants the minority party’s voice to be heard. too funny. but i guess ‘when did you stop beating your spouse’ questions and circular logic counts as rational discussion in this place.

Comment by raygun — April 27, 2009 @ 2:53 pm
Chavez is a thug. Is that better? The man’s a brutal dictator and there’s plenty of proof of it. Now American Presidents have routinely wined and dined and danced with dictator-thugs: Marcos comes to mind. Based on the way he treats his citizens, and just freshly having read Orwell’s Animal Farm, I can assert that Bill is correct: Chavez is a pig.

Comment by Dan — April 27, 2009 @ 2:59 pm
On the ridiculous and trumoped up issue of ‘torture’ as defined by Nancy Pelosi and the screaming left wing:

Morality and Enhanced Interrogation Techniques

There is, first of all, the matter of morality. Critics of enhanced interrogation techniques have taken to saying that Americans don’t torture, period – meaning in this instance that we do not engage in coercive interrogation techniques ranging from sleep deprivation to prolonged loud noise and/or bright lights to waterboarding. Anyone who holds the opposite view is a moral cretin and guilty of “arrant inhumanity.” Or so the argument goes.

But this posture begins to come apart under examination. For one thing, the issue of “torture” itself needs to be put in a moral context and on a moral continuum.

More at this link, much more and well worth reading.

Comment by Pariah — April 27, 2009 @ 3:15 pm
“Bill uses juvenile insults”??????? In your dreams ray-gun. Let me see…Bills knowledge and expertise vs. ray-guns snotty little remarks, ignorant justifications, and sandbox behavior in lieu of rational commentary. To say nothing of his total lack of a sense of humor.

Now I’m rather fond of our porcine friends. And to call Chavez a “pig” probably insults the animal kingdom. But it hardly rises to a juvenile insult. I would liken him unto, say, a Nazi type boorish thug. In the short time Obama has been in office, protocol has disappeared. One gaffe after another, all most embarrassing to the office and to the American people. Given the frequency of these occurrances, one must think that it is at the direction of Obama. Nothing like dumbing down the office of President.

Comment by Faringdon — April 27, 2009 @ 3:28 pm
“moral context?”

“Morality also involves balancing ends and means”–

I didn’t realize that you were a moral relativist. Interesting. Do you apply relativism to all situations or only ones that serve your purpose? In other words, could one oppose abortion in certain instances, yet support it in other instances?

Comment by raygun — April 27, 2009 @ 3:29 pm
dan, this nation deals with ‘thug’ on an ongoing basis; Putin’s a thug, yet Bush ‘looked into his soul’ and determined it was OK (even though Russia regularly assassinates journalist and others who question the government). Yet it has been argued that talking to these leaders doesn’t mean we endorse their actions or policies. Why do folks from the right want to demonize their own President for shaking hands with this man?

Comment by raygun — April 27, 2009 @ 3:32 pm
Ray: Let’s not play the abortion card with Pariah, m-kay? Another example: Wars? Taxes? Privatization? Public health care? Anything but abortion!

Comment by Dan — April 27, 2009 @ 3:33 pm
No sweat. Abortion is appropos when the unborn infant directly threatens the life of the mother. An example is a tubal or ectopic pregnancy. Under any other circumstances save self defense, abortion is a moral evil.

Comment by Pariah — April 27, 2009 @ 3:39 pm
Ah! The question I’ve been waiting for!

Why do folks from the right want to demonize their own President for shaking hands with this man?

Because partisan politics is about beating up the other guy, not about doing what’s right for the country.

Comment by Dan — April 27, 2009 @ 3:40 pm
Nothing like dumbing down the office of President.=faringdon

ROTFLMAO! Now I know you have a sense of humor, or else you’ve been asleep for the previous 8 years. After the last occupant of the Oval Office it would be impossible to dumb down the office anymore. Thanks for the chuckle.

Comment by raygun — April 27, 2009 @ 3:41 pm
The irony is that at the headwaters of todays extremist Muslims sits Israel. Israel’s decades long human rights abuse record with the Palestinians makes the Bush administration interrogation tactics look like a Cub Scout camp out. Israel has received dozens of UN human rights abuse resolutions over these decades. If the Democrats are so ‘outraged’ now about our policies where has their outrage been for the last 50 plus years about Israel? Perhaps if Israel had conducted itself differently nobody might be subject to the Islamic scourge we have today. And still, even though Obama is aghast with Bushes interrogation policies we will send billions in foreign aid to Israel who just recently had a 55% failure rate at killing Militants inside their squalid Gaza internment camp. Our closest Middle East ally blowing up innocent babies. Where’s the outrage about any of that? It seems that the outrage is only merited if it will spill some Republican blood.

Comment by Wallypog — April 27, 2009 @ 3:45 pm
dan, agreed.

The one’s who shrieked about the “un-American” left for the past 8 years, demanding that respect be shown if not to the man (Bush), then to the office(Presidency), are now doing the very thing they indignantly wailed about.

Comment by raygun — April 27, 2009 @ 3:47 pm
dan, if pariah wants to play the “moral relativism” card shouldn’t he be able to rationally discuss it as it relates to ALL subjects? Or are only some things, like torture, subject to the convenience of relativism?

Comment by raygun — April 27, 2009 @ 3:49 pm
Well, left or right, there is going to be wailing and gnashing of teeth. It’s why I predict that the middle will grow larger in the coming years.

Good luck with getting into a pissing match with Pariah. While I’m sure that you both would enjoy yourselves, nothing much would truly be accomplished. I’d suggest sticking to smaller skirmishes to rack up brownie points. Otherwise the dreaded Moderator may close this thread! 😉

Comment by Dan — April 27, 2009 @ 3:54 pm
Oh, and Faringdon: it took me a while, but I excised an outing attempt from your message. Behave!

Comment by Dan — April 27, 2009 @ 3:55 pm
wallypog, i agree with you about israel; they have locked the palestinian people into a virtual concentration camp. israel is no friend to human rights. democrats and republicans alike are guilty of bending under the pressure of the pro-israeli lobbies and voting-blocs in this country.

Comment by raygun — April 27, 2009 @ 3:57 pm
dan, agreed. dueling with pariah about the big A would only lead to large, copy and paste tracts and hysterical, sobbing tirades. and i’m not sure how he would respond. 😉

Comment by raygun — April 27, 2009 @ 3:59 pm
A few more facts about waterboarding:

John McCain. On November 29, 2007, Sen. McCain, while campaigning in St. Petersburg, Florida, said, “Following World War II war crime trials were convened. The Japanese were tried and convicted and hung for war crimes committed against American POWs. Among those charges for which they were convicted was waterboarding.”

Sen. McCain was right and the National Review Online is wrong. Politifact, the St. Petersburg Times’ truth-testing project (which this week was awarded a Pulitzer Prize), scrutinized Sen. McCain’s statement and found it to be true. Here’s the money quote from Politifact:

“McCain is referencing the Tokyo Trials, officially known as the International Military Tribunal for the Far East. After World War II, an international coalition convened to prosecute Japanese soldiers charged with torture. At the top of the list of techniques was water-based interrogation, known variously then as ‘water cure,’ ‘water torture’ and ‘waterboarding,’ according to the charging documents. It simulates drowning.” Politifact went on to report, “A number of the Japanese soldiers convicted by American judges were hanged, while others received lengthy prison sentences or time in labor camps.”

The folks at Politifact interviewed R. John Pritchard, the author of The Tokyo War Crimes Trial: The Complete Transcripts of the Proceedings of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East. They also interviewed Yuma Totani, history professor at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, and consulted the Columbia Journal of Transnational Law, which published a law review article entitled, “Drop by Drop: Forgetting the History of Water Torture in U.S. Courts.”

Comment by raygun — April 27, 2009 @ 7:12 pm
my bad, the link to the above material:

http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/correction-we-actually-did-execute-j

Comment by raygun — April 27, 2009 @ 7:12 pm
All right Dan…ruin my fun, I’ll be good. Ugh! But that sign was hilarious, you will have to admit.

Comment by Faringdon — April 28, 2009 @ 8:48 am

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