BS: NASCAR Bailout???...

Subject: RE: BS: NASCAR Bailout???...
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 18 Dec 10 - 12:12 AM

Such antics are not allowed in Australia. Must be relevant to the Bill, or need their own - or composite bill.

Subject: RE: BS: NASCAR Bailout???...
From: mousethief
Date: 17 Dec 10 - 09:42 PM

Like the Reagan tax cuts and the last 2 unjustifiable and off-budget wars?

Subject: RE: BS: NASCAR Bailout???...
From: Bobert
Date: 17 Dec 10 - 07:38 PM

I think we all agree that "earmarks" ain't the problem here... And for the record they represent less than 1% of the federal budget...

And I don't have any problem with NASCAR gettin' $40M... Or some snail darter study in Utah getting as half a mill...

The problem I have is the hypocrisy of politicians using earmarks as their whippin' boy... Geeze, those _____________ (fill in any party) got all those earmarks and therefore plunged the country into ruin... That is bullshit...

Get a new whippin' boy, will ya'll... Like the DoD...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: NASCAR Bailout???...
From: mousethief
Date: 17 Dec 10 - 06:17 PM

There should be some kind of "relevance" rules for amendments. Harder than hell to police of course. Shy of that they should give the president line-item veto.

Subject: RE: BS: NASCAR Bailout???...
From: GUEST,999
Date: 17 Dec 10 - 03:04 PM

Well said, pdq.

Subject: RE: BS: NASCAR Bailout???...
From: pdq
Date: 17 Dec 10 - 02:59 PM

Sending money back from Washington to pay for important local projects is not really the problem.

Pork projects, or earmarks as they seem to be called now, amount to about 3% of the Federal Budget (correction welcome if that figure is wrong).

The big problem is that they are never discussed or debated for merit. They are tucked in Defense appropriation bills or other legislation that is absolutely unrelated so that we cannot shine the light of day on them. Thus many are blatant pay-offs to special interest groups or political contributors. That was once called corruption.

We sometimes hear about them later, such as the "bridge to nowhere", but there might not be such a thing if the earmark required open discussion in Congress. John Boehner has made that a priority and he will be treated rudely if he does not keep his word.

Subject: RE: BS: NASCAR Bailout???...
From: GUEST,999
Date: 17 Dec 10 - 02:47 PM

You make a good point, Q.

However, that money is not drifting down to the folks who need it most.

Subject: RE: BS: NASCAR Bailout???...
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 17 Dec 10 - 02:36 PM

Well, this may be a little off Bobert's track, but NASCAR is important to the American economy.

Look at all those people spending money at the track. All those automotive parts, autobody and special tire companies that provide the wherewithall as well as their products.
All those guys driving and servicing the cars and preparing the track and making hot dogs and stuff and charging at the parking lots.
All those out there in TV land- broadcasting and advertizing gas and engine-clean and car sales and whatever.
$$40 million is damn cheap for something that generates all those jobs and taxes. We need more NASCARS, not less.

And love those earmarks! They are the means by which the legislators fill the demands of their home state voters and supporters; the bill itself is just a vehicle.

Subject: RE: BS: NASCAR Bailout???...
From: GUEST,999
Date: 17 Dec 10 - 02:30 PM

Must be nice to be rich.

Subject: RE: BS: NASCAR Bailout???...
From: Bobert
Date: 17 Dec 10 - 02:08 PM

Gosh, Brucie, did ya' see the list of businesses that got bailout money from Bush??? I mean, it would blow yer mind... Here's one that I love... Here in the US you have all these ol' guys riding around on their Harleys and a lot of them are McCain Repubs who think the government sucks... Guess who got some dough??? Yup, Harley Davidson!!!

But this stuff is still hush, hush... The r5epubs don't wnat to be seen as the "bailout party" but, geeze louise, they gave away alot of our cash to alot of their buddies...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: NASCAR Bailout???...
From: GUEST,999
Date: 17 Dec 10 - 02:04 PM

Hey folks, it`s your tax dollars at work. First you helped the banks and through them the multi-nationals. Now, you`re helping the racing industry. Does anyone know if Walmart was assisted, too?

Just curious . . .

Subject: RE: BS: NASCAR Bailout???...
From: Bobert
Date: 17 Dec 10 - 01:43 PM

Do you understand the mechanics of getting one of these "earmarks" in the budget, pdq??? It ain't up to Harry Reid, at all...

But, no... The NASCAR bailout was not part of this bill at all...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: NASCAR Bailout???...
From: pdq
Date: 17 Dec 10 - 01:26 PM

I assumed it was part of the Omnibus Pork Bill from Hell that Hairy Ass Reid introduced.

I certainly was not going to look through all 6,700+ of those "earmarks" to find it.

Subject: RE: BS: NASCAR Bailout???...
From: mousethief
Date: 17 Dec 10 - 01:05 PM

Watch Goodyear jack the prices up now that it's passed. That's the American Way.

Subject: RE: BS: NASCAR Bailout???...
From: Bobert
Date: 17 Dec 10 - 09:33 AM

Problem is that this thread is about the tax bill, not the spending bill, pdq... Maybe you'd like to start yer own thread about Harry Reid and the "earmarks", half of which were put in the spendiong bill by, ahhhh, Repubs...

Now back to the tax bill:

Well, folks, just got a call from Stroker Ace and he and the boys were up late but they got their $40 million!!! That oughtta buy a few Goodyear racin' tires, that much is fir sure...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: NASCAR Bailout???...
From: pdq
Date: 17 Dec 10 - 08:58 AM

This was one of over 6000 "earmarks" that Harry Reid stuck in the Democrat's Omnibus Spending Bill...people used to call this vote-buying technique "pork"...

The Washington Times
3:45 p.m., Thursday, December 16, 2010
        
Stephen Dinan

Preparing for a final showdown on the massive $1.1 trillion spending bill, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid defended the thousands of earmarks in the measure as the basic function of Congress.

"That's our job. That's what we're supposed to do," Mr. Reid, Nevada Democrat, said as he chastised fellow senators who, while having requested pork-barrel spending earlier this year, are now decrying their inclusion in the spending bill.

Mr. Reid challenged those senators to voluntarily agree to strip their own earmarks out of the bill, and said so far, nobody has taken him up on that.

Earmarks are just one of the fights that have broken out over the 1,924-page spending bill, which Democrats unveiled this week and have said they'll soon push to have lawmakers vote on.

As of noon, official copies of the bill were still not available in the Senate's document room, though versions were available online and in the Congressional Record.

The earmarks and other unrequested spending items have put President Obama on the spot, too. He had earlier vowed to veto any bill that contained money for an alternate engine program for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, but on Thursday Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said the bloated funding bill was better than simply extending last year's spending measure.

"A year-long continuing resolution, as far as I'm concerned, for the Department of Defense is the worst of all possible worlds," Mr. Gates said, referring to the stopgap measure likely to result if Congress fails to pass the massive spending bill. "The omnibus is not great, but it beats a year-long continuing resolution."    

Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican, has vowed to work against the bill — in which he had nearly 50 earmarks — and instead introduced a short-term stop-gap bill to keep the government funded through next year.

On the Senate floor on Thursday he repeatedly hefted an unofficial, printed-out version of the spending bill, and compared the scene to last year about this time, when the Capitol was also enveloped in a snowstorm and a massive bill — in that case the health care legislation — was dropped on senators' desks.

"This bill is so enormous, it took the government printing office two days to print it. It spends more than half a billion dollars a page," he said.

Democrats are determined to pass the measure as a last stamp on government before the GOP takes control of the House next year, likely dooming many top Democratic priorities.

One option for House Republicans could be to refuse to accept any of the Senate's earmarks, which, combined with Mr. Obama's stated opposition, would mean this year's crop could be the last ones for some time.

Faced with that, Mr. Reid made a full-throated defense of the practice, arguing that the Constitution's conferral of the power of the purse on Congress means that lawmakers should direct money home to specific projects.

"I do not want to give up more power to the White House," he said.

Mr. Reid appealed for an end to "mean-spirited talk" in the discussion over earmarks, just moments after he accused Republicans of being hypocrites.

When a reporter asked if that couldn't be construed as mean-spirited in itself, he smiled and said, "could be."

Subject: RE: BS: NASCAR Bailout???...
From: Bobert
Date: 16 Dec 10 - 10:18 PM

Yer right, Jack, but them stock cars just won't go 200 mph... Maybe 85 on the back stretch... That ain't gonna fill up Charlotte International... No sir, Jack, won't do it so...

...when you hear that the Obama tax ****compromise (???)*** bill has passed just remember the two finest words known to mankind: 200 mph!!!

Got it, Jack???

(spit)

Ya' ever go 200, Jack???

I didn't think so... Heck, son, it's like diein' and going to Heaven... Ain't diein' an' goin to Heaven worth somethin', Jack??? Well, sho it is... I mean, if you take the population of what??? 300 million??? And we give NASCAR $40 mill then the Wes Ginny Slide Rule has it at less then a measly quarter fir every American that has a pass to Heaven!!!

Do the math, Jack...

Stroker Ace (using Bobert's pudder...)

Subject: RE: BS: NASCAR Bailout???...
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 16 Dec 10 - 09:27 PM

You know it would be a lot cheaper, and more honest if they raced STOCK cars. That would probably save them 40 million right there.

Subject: BS: NASCAR Bailout???...
From: Bobert
Date: 16 Dec 10 - 08:54 PM

Well, sheet fire...

Just got off the phone with my ol' racing buddy, Stroker Ace, and he is pumped... Yeah, he's got CNN on got all his racin' buddies over and they are doin' a count-down on tonight's House vote on the tax cuts 'cause....

...they're in fir $40M big ones!!! Yup, that's right... $40 Million to NASCAR... And NASCAR ain't been exactly fillin' the stands since Billy Bob done got laid off at the factory so they need taxpayer ***cash***, and need it quick...

I mean, these cars ain't cheap, gol danged it!!!

So Stroker asked me to say somethin' to ya'll and if you could make a phone call 'er write an email to yer Congressman, Stroker would sho nuff be appreciative...

Yer tax dollars at work at 200 mph...

Now that's what makes America great...

(spit)

B~