In Ansonia, Conn., $2.3 million in federal stimulus funds is being used for insect research, specifically the “rearing [of] large numbers of anthropoids” which includes the “Asian long-horned beetle, the nun moth and the wooly adelgid,” the New Haven Advocate reported.

Duluth, Minn., rarely known for its high temperatures, received $6 million in economic stimulus funds for a snowmaking facility, even though it is the 15^th snowiest city in America, according to City-Data.com.

As much as $30 million in federal funds will go to spring training facilities for the Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies, two Major League Baseball teams. The full cost of the training complex in Scottsdale, Ariz., is $100 million.

These were just three projects – ranked numbers five, six and 10 respectively – being funded by the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act signed into law by President Barack Obama in February. The goal of this economic stimulus bill was to revive the ailing economy.

Isn’t that special? It gets worse

But Senate Republicans Friday released a ranking of “10 Stimulus Projects to Remember.” It cites real projects funded by the stimulus while questioning (and poking fun at) their alleged effectiveness. The projects in the rankings are described with quotations from local newspapers.

In March, both President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden pledged that the stimulus funding would be closely watched to ensure it is properly spent.

“And so I’ve said before – I know Joe emphasized this point to you earlier – if we see money being misspent, we’re going to put a stop to it, and we will call it out and we will publicize it,” Obama said.

I guess it depends on your definition of “misspent.” Certainly, $300K to map radioactive rabbit poo can’t be waste, can it? Don’t worry, Sheriff Joe will get right on it.

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Today at 4:30PM eastern a blogger conference call was held by Representatives John Shadegg (R, AZ) and Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R, WA). The subject we spoke about was that of House Republican’s ideas and problems on healthcare reform issues in both the Senate and the House. The following are my notes of the call, any direct quotes are in quote marks but the rest is my summation of what was said.

The call opened with a welcome from Cathy McMorris Rodgers who introduced herself and Rep. Shadegg. Rodgers talked of the situation in the House and reminded us that 44 House Democrats said they’d vote no on the bill if it has the public option and 57 said they’ll vote no if it doesn’t have the public option so the Democrats might not have the votes to pass H.B. 3200.

Shadegg reminded us that the CBO score on the Senate bill was made on 10 years of taxes being taken by the federal government but with only 7 years of coverage afforded, so it’s no wonder the bill sounds like it is paid for. Shadegg also warned of the political monkeying that is going on with the Baucus bill in the Senate. He mentioned that Harry Reid is down in the polls back home so he tried to slip through a sleight of hand way for four favored states to get special Medicaid provisions (including Nev., Oregon, Mich.) forcing the other 46 states to pick up the tab. This was Reid’s attempt to find success in his upcoming elections in Nevada.

Shadegg told us of a bunch of special deals that powerful Senators were able to get for their states. Shadegg called the House bill “Soviet style healthcare” and said that a powerful Senator might help get more for their own state voters than anyone else gets because it’s all about politics and not fair healthcare. The Reid example was one proof and another was New York Senator Schumer’s plan to get rid of the tax on the gold-plated healthcare plans in his state deferring them for his constituents when other states will not get that special deal. For certain Democrats in states where Democrats are up for election, Shadegg said, there are all sorts of special deals being made behind the scenes.

Other examples: Unions got a $5 billion deal to help them get special healthcare provisions. $1 billion goes to R & D work for Pharmaceuticals. Udall of Colorado also says that they are getting the same break that the people of Utah got.

Shadegg said that this bad healthcare bill will variously hit you depending on if you are “lucky enough to [be] represented in Congress by the party of the president, or the party in control of Congress” or another powerful politician. It’s not about healthcare, it’s about politics.

Shadegg also warned that if they get this healthcare bill a flood of left-wing legislation (cap and trade, card check) will flood the country.

“Healthcare will cost more, not less,” Shadegg said, “only you can stop this.”

The call moved next into the questions segment of the call.

Clyde of PatriotRoom.com was first up: “Will my IRS tax information be used to determine what sort of healthcare I get?”
Shadegg: “There is language that says real-time access to personal information will be available to the government.” It’s possible that it will. Shadegg said that we should read the bill and decide for ourselves.

A fellow from RedCounty.com (I didn’t catch his name): Harry Reid’s amending the healthcare bill to another bill?
Rodgers: There is a rumor, but this place would grind to a halt with outrage by Republicans. “We could make the majority’s life difficult” if they try this in the House.
Shadegg: The technical question is if this is a tax bill or not. If it is, the Senate can slip in the healthcare as an amendment and send it back to the House. But Pelosi has shut down, “in ways that are shocking,” our ability to affect the debate. They might not even allow a motion to recommit by Republicans because supposedly, if it’s a tax bill, there is never a recommit motion allowed.

This question was from another whose name I didn’t catch: Is there any way to stop Republican deserters in the House like Senator Snowe?
Rodgers: I don’t know of any Republicans in the House that are supporting this bill. We’ve stood unified so far. “You can be proud in the unified Republican opposition.”

Andrew Dodge of andrewiandodge.com: Are any House members going to fall into the trap of voting yes on healthcare to get noticed by Obama and the press as an ego stroking device? Again, any way to prevent deserters?
Rodgers: Some of the House Repubs that voted for the Stimulus went back home and got hammered and came back to warn Senate Repubs to be wary. They regretted their votes, though they won’t likely say so publicly. This should keep them from voting for this if the public keeps the pressure up.
Shadegg: There isn’t much that the leadership can do to punish any Republicans that vote their conscience. “If they understand it is a very dangerous vote, and if they understand that the public” is against it they will not do it. “This bill will destroy our healthcare system” in America. Many provisions will be written by a controlling government board that hasn’t even been created yet. “The US Senate looks at the House like the Canary in the mine, any bill that dies in the House won’t be taken up in the Senate…. Kill a bill in the House first” and it won’t reach the Senate. This is what we need to do and why we are having this call.

Gary Gross: I have several points: 1- This is a bill full of taxes, everyone will get hit, 2- no way healthcare spending will decrease, 3- unfunded Medicaid mandates will cause the states to raise taxes.
Both agreed on these points and Rodgers mentioned all the cuts made to Medicare.
Shadegg: “To the extent that this will result in a long-term reduction, the taxes go up and up and up. Those who are looking for a good summary on the taxes and costs of the Baucus bill see Sally Pipes piece in the New York Post for Oct.9.” “For the average American this isn’t about money it’s about their family’s healthcare.” They are going to lose much of what they have, doctors and plans, once this gets passed.

And at that the call was closed.

So, to sum it all up, Shadegg is 100% right. If we don’t keep the pressure on, this socialist nightmare will make an even worse mess of our economy and even worse than that it will destroy the healthcare of most Americans. If you like your current plans, if you like your doctors and hospital service, YOU WILL LOSE IT if Obamacare is passed.
-By Warner Todd Huston

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Both President Obama and the Democratic Congress have ignored the mess that three states have made of their economy and tax burden by attempting to create a public option and/or universal healthcare. Tennessee has its TennCare program, Maine has tried a “public option” program, and Massachusetts has its RomenyCare system that promises healthcare for all. Each of them has been a boondoggle for the taxpayers and has failed to deliver promised savings and enhanced coverage.

In fact, each of these states have begun to cut services to people because the costs have skyrocketed despite claims that “savings” would occur and that everyone would get more coverage.

Last week, the Wall Street Journal had a piece by Wendy Williams saying that the “fines” Massachusetts imposed on people who ostensibly didn’t have insurance coverage — an idea that Obama wants included in his Obamacare policies — now falls even on people with insurance in the Bay State.

Initially this fine imposed by the Mass. legislature was supposed to force people to get healthcare insurance. But “without informing anyone” the legislature decided just getting insurance wasn’t good enough. To avoid the fine now Mass. residents have to get the kind of insurance of which the government approves.

Why? Because Massachusetts requires every resident to have health insurance, and this year, without informing us directly, the state had changed the rules in a way that made our bare-bones policy no longer acceptable. Unless we ponied up for a pricier policy we neither need nor want—or enrolled in a government-sponsored insurance plan—we would have to pay $1,000 each year to the state.

Mrs. Williams and her husband saved their whole lives, paid their mortgage, paid down their bills, all in order to live as self-sufficient citizens. And now, because they don’t have the sort of insurance that the State of Massachusetts approves of, they have become criminals in the eyes of the state and must be fined accordingly.

But, here is the most salient part of this story. Initially, Mr. And Mrs. Williams were not affected by the RomneyCare fine. The original law allowed that all a citizen had to do to avoid the fine was to get some sort of insurance. But now the rules have changed. Now Massachusetts has decided to force people to buy a particular sort of healthcare insurance. And that is precisely the thing here.

Once government decides that it has the power to intervene and regulate a thing, the capriciousness of government is forever visited upon that thing. All it takes is some idiot Senator, or some bought off Representative to decide to slip in a change to the law to suit his patrons or serve his wild ideas. The people can never count on government to make a rule and stick with it. Changes will happen every year and people will be left negatively affected.

So, even if you think only “the rich” are going to be hurt by Obamacare, think again. Sooner, rather than later, YOU will be hit hard by some fool official in the government that changes the rules. And those rules will change so much that neither you nor your doctor will be able to keep up with them.

The best healthcare reform is to get government OUT of it. The more government gets its greedy hands on a thing, the more ineffective that thing becomes. It’s just that simple.

(Cross posted at HealthcareHorseRace.com.)

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On September 25, we reported on the Walden Discharge Petition that Representative Joe Wilson informed us about in a conference telephone call. Wilson told us of a resolution that would force all bills that come before the House for a vote to be posted on the Internet for 72 hours before the members can vote on it.

Now it is becoming clear that the Democratic leadership is trying desperately to stop this effort at transparency.

From Wilson we found out that the rules change for procedures in the House of Representatives was about to be sent to committee but that the Walden Discharge Petition would send the resolution straight to the floor for a vote through the discharge petition process.

Today, Susan Ferrechio of the Washington Examiner details the effort to quash transparency by Democrats in the House.

Nearly every Republican has signed on, but the Democratic leadership is unwilling to cede control over when bills are brought to the floor for votes and are discouraging their rank and file from signing the petition. Senate Democrats voted down a similar measure last week for the health care bill.

Of course, Democrats want this transparency measure stopped so that they can slide their efforts to lard bills with their favorite provisions without the public getting any opportunity to have a say about their underhanded efforts.

Democrat supporters point to the past where Republicans also pushed bills through with little transparency and scant time ahead of time before a vote is forced.

But, here is the thing, because something wrong was done in the past does not excuse continuing to do it. If Republicans used the lack of transparency in the past to force their favored bills through without much chance of people finding out what they are pushing, then shame on them. But now is the time to stop it once and for all.

NOW is the time to stop this culture of corruption. Sadly, Democrats are not interested in stopping this culture of corruption, but are shamefully looking forward to exploiting it for their own gain.

Of course, there is one thought that immediately comes to mind when thinking this whole situation over and that is, does Pelosi feel at all bad that she is making a mockery of her president’s desire for transparency?

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We can look at four of the amendments offered as additions to the healthcare bill that Democrats defeated and what we see gives us a glimpse into the Democratic Party’s true soul. And it is a dark look, indeed. At least it’s dark if you are one of those lowly citizens that thinks government transparency and accountability is a good idea.

Here are the amendments that the Democrats defeated:

• Bunning Open Records Amendment: would have required the full language and full price tag to be available on the Internet for three days before Congress votes. (Offered by Jim Bunning- R, KY)
• Hatch Medicare Advantage (MA) Amendment: would have suspended MA provisions if the CBO finds that (contrary to the President’s promise) seniors are going to lose coverage or benefits. (Offered by Orrin Hatch- R, Utah)
• Kyl Anti-Gag Order Amendment: would have allowed MA insurers to inform seniors of their likely loss of benefits. (Offered by John Kyl- R, AZ)
• Ensign/Cornyn/Kyl Malpractice Lawsuit Amendments: would have provided relief from lawsuits. (Offered by John Ensign- R, Nevada/John Cornyn- R, Texas/John Kyl- R, AZ)

So the Democrats don’t want you to know how much this boondoggle will cost, the Democrats don’t want you to be able to read the bill before they pass it (likely in the dead of night as per usual), the Democrats don’t want you to be alerted if you are losing benefits, and the Democrats don’t want all of us to have relief from the sort of lawsuit abuse their favorite campaign donors in the realm of tort law are so prone to perpetrate.

This is an agenda that argues against the good of the public, or the “public weal” as the Founders used to say. This is a dark attitude, one that intends to hide what public officials are doing from the voters. Democrats just don’t want you to know what they are doing. It’s really just that simple.

So are you voting for members of a party that wants to hide what it does from you?

(Cross psoted at HealthcareHorseRace.com)

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After a two-week binge to meet President Obama’s 200-day goal, stimulus spending has plummeted once again – and the roller-coaster pace of spending has critics worried about how the money is being spent.

Throughout the summer, the administration had averaged about $4 billion in new spending obligations per week, but went on a two-week $25 billion spree just in time to meet the president’s $225 billion goal for the first 200 days. Spending plummeted to less than $4 billion in the week of Sept. 5 through Sept. 11.

One problem, the only person crowing about Obama’s first 200 days was Obama. The media mostly ignored it, as did the ObamaZombies.

“As a longtime government-spending watchdog, our experience says that when you expend such large sums so thoughtlessly, you can all but guarantee that significant portions of this money will be lost and never accounted for,” said Leslie Paige, media director at Citizens Against Government Waste. “It is an unconscionable, damaging way to manhandle the taxpayers’ dollars. We wish stimulus Inspector General Earl Devaney good luck and Godspeed in trying to track this money.”

Well, since the vast majority of the Stimulus was an unconscionable, damaging way to manhandle the taxpayers’ dollars, a few billion missing and never accounted for is actually a sidebar.

Asked whether the $25 billion bump was timed to the 200-day target, Elizabeth Oxhorn, a White House spokeswoman, said spending levels will vary.

“We’re pleased to provide week-by-week transparency on the recovery act, which inevitably will reflect some weeks seeing more activity, and some weeks less,” she said. “The important point is that, when viewed over the long haul, our progress is steady, the program is ahead of schedule, and the results are clear.”

And what, pray tell, are the actual results? Some road fixes and temporary, labor intensive jobs? A 9.6% unemployment rate, which doesn’t even count those who have given up and others who have dropped off the unemployment rolls? Can anyone point to something positive and specific?

Crossed at Pirate’s Cove

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Much to his dismay, Congressman Mike Turner of Ohio’s 3rd District has just discovered a new attitude from his voters. Unfortunately, it’s a lesson that congress isn’t likely to learn too quickly. But let’s see if Congressman Turner will.

Until now there has been an averting of the eyes at the overspending of “my” congressman. The individual voters have for decades been willing to excuse their own congressman for bringing home the pork even as they complain at the wild over spending by congress as a whole.

For a very long time the voters have been upset at spending by congress, but they’ve completely ignored the excesses of their own congressman because, after all, his wild spending came home to them. Voters have been willing to overlook their own pork if it’s their pork.

But if a recent tea party rally in Ohio is any indication, this permissive attitude so long exhibited by voters might finally be about to change.

Congressman Turner likely thought he was being a hero as he appeared in front of the home crowd. His rude awakening came over his vote to bring 1.5 million dollars to Ohio State University (which is not even in his district as the woman on the video not so gently reminds him). This earmark was set to help OSU fund the study of the effects of black raspberries on cancer.

The home crowd didn’t seem to agree with his vote, however.

Yet when questioned over it, Turner was not apologetic. In fact, he was quite proud of the money wasting vote. Not only was he proud of it but he warned the crowd that if he didn’t bring the pork home it would go to some other state, like California. He began yelling over the catcalls of the crowd that he was “working for them.”

And catcalls there were. Cincinnati talk show host Bill Cunningham asked the crowd if the congressman was doing a good job for them? It sure didn’t seem as if they approved.

So, are voters finally waking up to the fact that wasteful spending starts at home? Are voters at last realizing that if they don’t hold their own congressman accountable, none of them will stop the wild over spending? Can we expect that the voters are at last waking up?

Let’s hope so.

(H/T T. Shoemake)

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A forward-looking measure of hiring intentions dipped slightly in the United States even as it improved in many other countries, according to a quarterly survey by Manpower Inc.

The global employment services company said its seasonally adjusted U.S. net employment outlook slipped to minus-3 for the fourth quarter, from minus-2 in the prior quarter. A year ago, the index stood at plus-9, according to the survey released on Tuesday.

Of 13 U.S. industry sectors, employers in only one — education and health services — were more positive about jobs prospects than they were in the third quarter. Other sectors — like construction, leisure and hospitality, and professional and business services — showed a deteriorating outlook.

So, if the Generationl Theft Act, er, Stimulus, was supposed to have all these shovel ready blue collar jobs, where are they? Granted, a -3 is much better than a -9, but, might we not have gotten there the same way without the Stimulus? Perhaps if considerably more than $62 billion of the $787 billion had been spent at this point, of which only 37% was for actual work projects.

Anyhow, if only $62 billion has been spent, I think Sheriff Joe could call the Generational Theft Act a complete failure. These same yahoos are estimating that the Porkulus will save/create 3,423,000 jobs in the next two years. Wasn’t Stimulus supposed to have an immediate impact? Wasn’t that why it was ramrodded through Congress before anyone could read it? How do things such as buying hybrid buses ($8.4 million) and cleaning street cars ($1 million) help? A goodly chunk of the money seems to be spent on government property, including military bases. These folks already have jobs. Why not fund them normally?

Anyhow, the Porkulus works out to $229,915 per job created/saved. To use a fun liberal talking point about Iraq, imagine if we had used that money for healthcare!

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The Obama administration will raise its 10-year budget deficit projection to roughly $9 trillion from $7.108 trillion in a report next week, a senior administration official told Reuters on Friday.
“The new forecasts are based on new data that reflect how severe the economic downturn was in the late fall of last year and the winter of this year,” said the official, who is familiar with the plans.
“Our budget projections are now in line with the spring and summer projections that the Congressional Budget Office put out.”
The CBO said in June that deficits between 2010 and 2019 would total $9.1 trillion.

Ameripundit:

Amazing how this stuff breaks on a late Friday afternoon in the midst of summer. It’s almost as if the Obama Administration is attempting to sweep this under the rug.

Allahpundit:

It’s a good thing our massive new health-care bureaucracy’s going to be deficit-neutral. Imagine how much higher this number would be if it wasn’t.

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It isn’t just out of the goodness of their hearts that Big Labor is gearing up to spend millions to help President Obama to jam Obamacare down the throats of the American people. The unions stand to get a big payoff of $10 billion to supplement their failing pension plans.

The President of the AFL-CIO recently announced that the union would jump into the healthcare fight to help out “working people.” John Sweeney also said that the healthcare fight is “the next big step in our march to turn around America.”

But unions already have their own healthcare plans and Obama promised — for whatever an Obama promise is worth — that union plans would be untouched by Obamacare. So, what are the unions in the fight for if it doesn’t really touch them?

The answer to that question appears in the House bill on page 65, section 164 where unions are to receive a $10 billion dollar infusion of taxpayer’s money to supplement their failing plans through a program called the “reinsurance plan.”

In his open letter, Sweeney said that one of the union’s goals was to seek “relief for company/union funds providing pre-Medicare retiree coverage.” This would be people that retired from the unions before they are eligible for Medicare. In other words, the union is looking for federal funds to relieve expenditures from his over extended pension plans.

Well, low and behold the House healthcare bill has included in it a “Reinsurance Program for Retirees” (section 164). This section stipulates that $10 billion will be set aside for this program of “reinsurance” for those older than 55 and not yet eligible for Medicare.

This program will reimburse eligible “retirees” for 80% of the costs of their medical care. This would go a long way to help unions defer costs to their own plans.

So, no wonder the unions are so hot to help Obamacare pass. It will be a boon to their overextended pension plans.

(H/T Jeanne)

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