Shot in the Dark

Category: Pork Patrol

  • Democrats on the take and in the dead of night pass an execrable piece of legislation that they haven’t read, the public doesn’t want and only socialists could love.

    But there they were, the United States Senate, at 1 a.m. Monday, rushing to vote in the middle of a snowstorm to close debate on the most important piece of legislation of our time — the nationalization of the U.S. health care system.

  • Not True

    Stimulus funding a Shot in the Dark We are self funded, thank you very much.

  • Superlatives!

    Obama’s approval ratings are the lowest of any president at this point in their first term, since they started keeping records: President Obama’s job approval rating has fallen to 47 percent in the latest Gallup poll, the lowest ever recorded for any president at this point in his term. Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford and even…

  • Somewhere Between Zero and One Million Jobs Were Created By The Stimulus

    OK. Closer to Zero. G. Edward DeSeve, who runs the government’s economic recovery program, says the errors are “relatively few” and “don’t change the fundamental conclusions one can draw from the data.” Correction: The fundamental conclusions The One can draw from the data.

  • Northstar-Struck

    Yesterday was the first day for the “Northstar” commuter rail service. Now, commuter rail is one of those areas where I break with some of my conservative friends – with a big, red asterisk.  Unlike Light Rail, which is a pretty universal money pit, Commuter Rail – heavy cars using existing right of way and…

  • Washington is set to spend $30,958 per household this year — taking $17,576 in taxes and borrowing the rest from our kids.

    Nobel Prize-winning economist James Buchanan recently observed that the U.S. is duplicating many of the policies implemented during the Great Depression. Why? Mainly because politicians lack “any basic understanding of what makes capitalism work.”

  • Lost in Space

    Is NASA necessary? …before you answer that, remember, Star Trek isn’t real, and clearly the government already knows where Uranus is. Is there a cure for cancer or world hunger in space? Should we risk bumping into someone out there, and pissing them off? Do we need to spend Billions on a space station that…

  • Your Tax Dollars at Work Waste

    I came upon this strikingly worthless project while biking along a trail in Purgatory Park in Minnetonka. I can just picture a couple beer-o-crats self-congratulating themselves on this idea. “You know what this crawfish creek needs?” “Uh-huh.” “Some goll-dang stairs.” “Yep!” “Yeah, plus we’ll create jobs.” “Well, not actually. We alruddy werk for the govment.”…

  • Hindenburg Flight a Success Until

    “Cash for Clunkers” programs the world over are being touted as a success. Meanwhile dealers are wondering how they can sell…just one car… now. “German Clunkers Scheme Was Surprising Success” The issue now is whether a recovery in demand will come soon enough to compensate for the end of government incentives. Recent figures from the…

  • Stimulus Simulus

    I was biking on a Three Rivers bike trail in and around my home in Hennepin County today and came upon some young workers building a little area of stairs onto the biking/walking trail from a park. They had arrived in an official Hennepin County van, so I would have to assume that they were…

  • House of Representatives: Up Yours America!

    The House’s request to the pentagon to purchase new private jets fell victim to criticisms by citizens and politicians and was dropped this week. U.S. House leaders have dropped plans to spend $550 million in the Air Force budget on passenger jets used by lawmakers and senior government officials, officials said on Monday. The House…

  • Selling It

    Obama and his ilk are selling the July economic numbers, telling us the stimulus is working, the recession is ending and the economy is on the mend. Businesses shed “just” 247,000 jobs in July, far fewer than the 330,000 most economists and Wall Street analysts were looking for. As bad as that still sounds, July’s…

  • CARS is Like Really Great Stuff

    Tim Pawlenty ripped the federal CARS “Cash for Clunkers” program this week. It makes no sense, he said on his weekly radio show, for the federal government to bail out a company such as General Motors and then give consumers as much as $4,500 to buy a car from GM. “It makes everybody feel good,”…

  • CARS runs out of Gas

    Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Congress allocated close to $1 billion for the Cash for Clunkers program. That’s billion with nine zeros. And all that money might be gone by midnight tonight. On one hand, a lot of cars, both foreign and domestic were sold. On the other, it’s already over.…

  • 2.2 Million Dollar Sign of the Times

    In 2008, 34 Million passengers traveled via Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport. Faced with complaints that an estimated 20,000 people show up at the wrong terminal each year, MAC has been considering proposals to change the terminal names on the signs and list the airlines that fly out of each terminal. In 2008, 34 Million passengers…

  • Democrats have PhD’s in OPM

    Lawmakers, failing to realize home is where the crisis is, are spending taxpayer dollars on travel around the world, and are taking their families with them. It’s always easier to spend Other People’s Money, especially when you are a politician, historically more so when you’re a Democrat. Some members of Congress have complained in recent…

  • State of Affairs

  • True, True, True and….True.

    One of the biggest challenges ahead for the GOP is to reclaim the Fiscal Conservative ribbon from…well actually nobody has it now…which is probably why we are enjoying a hiatus from the trappings of low unemployment, prosperity and economic growth right now. “Paying for what you spend is basic common sense. Perhaps that’s why, here…

  • You are right. You were wrong. But not in the wrong way you want us to think you were wrong. Right?

    Joe Biden opens his mouth and out comes humor, drivel or drool. “Everyone guessed wrong,” Vice President Joe Biden said Sunday, on the impact of stimulus legislation. Not everyone. And by the way, they weren’t guessing – they were siezing an opportunity to not unwaste a crisis and transport America quickly to the left under…

  • That’s a Backfire

    Methinks “No” isn’t the answer the Strib was looking for. Instant Poll: Is the Shubert Theater project a good use of stimulus funds?

  • Chump Change

    President Obama campaigned on the promise he would end earmarks, one of the political lead balloons that brought Republicans from the sky and confused the electorate as to who the conservative party is. Obama promised to change… Mr. Obama had campaigned against earmarks, even saying he would cut them back to levels before 1994, the…

  • When The Unions Say “Bark Like A Dog!”, Obama Says “Woof”

    Leave aside for a moment the question of whether Porkulus is actually going to help or hurt the economy; for purposes of discussion, let’s say it’ll “help”, in the long term (and, equally plausible, let’s presume I’m going to be squiring Scarlett Johannsen around down this weekend). Let’s also presume, for a moment, that the…

  • At Least They Have Their Priorities Straight

    The Nation is sort of like the Minnesota Progressive Project for people who graduated from college; higher-sounding rhetoric, same ol’ Kool-aid-sotted invincible ignorance wrapped around centrally-mandated spin masquerading-as-commentary. John Nichols  follows the Rahm Emanuel commandment and doesn’t let a crisis go to waste; he’s writing about Republican opposition to vaguely-healthcare-related pork spending proposals in reference to the…

  • $10,500,000,000,000

    Ten and a half Trillion dollars have been committed by our government for bailouts and stimulus. The USA’s GDP is around 14 Trillion dollars and according to the CIA, our current debt as a percentage of GDP is around 60%. The fact that Japan is near the top of the global rankings at 170% does…

  • “They are going to grow this government.”

    “They” being the Obamanistas running our nation. Government doesn’t grow like grass growing on a peaceful prairie; more like a brain tumor. Would-be Obama Administration Commerce Secretary Judd Gregg speaks out on why he turned around and walked back out the door, embarrassing the President yet gain with another failed or controversial cabinet appointment (I’ll…