Michele Bachmann: Pork Spending Queen

Literally. Bachmann pushed for government subsidies of pork products for her home state of Minnesota.

Update: This is part of a letter Bachmann wrote to former Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.

"Your efforts to stabilize prices through direct government purchasing of pork and dairy products are very much welcomed by the producers in Minnesota, and I would encourage you to take any additional steps necessary to prevent further deterioration of these critical industries, such as making additional commodity purchases and working to expand trade outlets for these and other agricultural goods," Bachmann wrote.

This is the federal government directly getting involved in the private market. Bachmann's request actually has policy merits. My problem is that Bachmann goes around saying that the federal government should never get involved in the private. It is hypocrisy on Bachmann's part.

Here is a list of Bachmann's 2008 earmarks.

Joel Award Winner: John Kyl

It is time to give out the Joel Award. The award goes any celebrity, pundit, blogger or politician that purposely contradicts himself or herself.

It is so nice to see Sen. Jon Kyl get busted for his hypocrisy. Kyl voted earlier this year to ban earbarks from Senate legislation. Kyl also agreed to Senate Republicans recent pledge for a two year ban on earmark. Kyl's office in sent out a press release to brag about supporting the earmark ban.

Earlier this year, the Senate considered a measure that would have put a moratorium on earmarks for 2010 and 2011. I voted for the moratorium, but 68 senators opposed it.

The Senate will likely have another chance to vote on it. Senator McCain has joined Senator Coburn and two Democrats, Senators McCaskill and Mark Udall, who are pushing for a vote on a Senate-wide moratorium.

Republicans have already spoken. On November 16, the Senate Republican Conference approved a two-year moratorium on earmarks. Republicans in the House have also adopted a similar ban on earmarks.

Kyl was so disciplined that he was able to keep his vow for three days.

Only three days after GOP senators and senators-elect renounced earmarks, Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl, the No. 2 Senate Republican, got himself a whopping $200 million to settle an Arizona Indian tribe's water rights claim against the government.

Kyl slipped the measure into a larger bill sought by President Barack Obama and passed by the Senate on Friday to settle claims by black farmers and American Indians against the federal government. Kyl's office insists the measure is not an earmark, and the House didn't deem it one when it considered a version earlier this year.

But it meets the know-it-when-you-see-it test, critics say. Under Senate rules, an earmark is a spending item inserted "primarily at the request of a senator" that goes "to an entity, or (is) targeted to a specific state."

Most Republicans were never serious about earmarks. Republicans needed a talking to talk about cutting spending without actually making hard cuts. Kyl's own press release cites earmarks as totaling $16.5 billion. That is a faction of the federal budget. Republicans don't want to anger their corporate interests by making cuts to defense spending or Medicare Advantage. Entitlement programs are popular with the public. Defense contractors donate to politicians in both parties. Naming some obscure earmark and then declaring all would be well if we ended earmarks is an easier sell.

No Earmarks in Stimulus Bill

President-elect Barack Obama vowed he will not allow earmarks in the stimulus package.

"We are going to ban all earmarks, the process by which individual members insert pet projects without review," Obama told reporters after a meeting with his economic advisers.

Obama said that getting a handle on the country's skyrocketing budget deficit must begin with the economic stimulus plan, and that the plan must include changes in the way Congress does business.

"We're going to be investing an extraordinary amount of money to jump-start our economy, save or create 3 million new jobs, mostly in the private sector, and lay a solid foundation for future growth," he said. "But we're not going to be able to expect the American people to support this critical effort unless we take extraordinary steps to ensure that the investments are made wisely and managed well."

Good for Obama. Tax dollars will be spent for state infrastructure projects. Lawmakers will tack on earmarks to help campaign contributors. Obama will have to be willing to veto the stimulus bill. That will aggravate members of his own party.

Obama will most likely try to get these earmarks out before a final vote. An oversight board will review earmarks. Obama and Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel will try to settle disputes with legislators behind closed doors. It is not Obama's style to have public feuds. Keeping Joe Lieberman, in the Senate caucas, is a fitting example.

I don't expect all earmarks to disappear and some are good. Rep. Patrick Kennedy and Sen. Jack Reed earmarked $2 million for research in how to better treat combat wounds. That research can help soldiers and American citizens injured in violent crimes.

The major budget problem is entitlement programs and military spending. Neither are about to go down soon. I would like to hear an honest discourse about how we can make Medicaid cheaper and stop feeding the mititary industrial complex. Members of Congress don't want to go on the cable talk shows and attempt a rationale conversation about military or entitlement spending. Would you want to have this conversation with Sean Hannity?

State governors need $136 billion for infrastructure projects. The projects would creates jobs. New highways, schools, and water treatment plants would be created or updated. Infrastructure is lagging and will cost more later to do these projects. Republican governors and congressional members are hopping on the stimulus bandwagon. The old talking points about trickle down economics are falling on deaf ears.

Ted Stevens Spends Your Tax Dollars

Ted Stevens secured $29 million in federal funding to the Alaska Fisheries Marketing Board. $500,000 of that money went to airbrush an Alaska Airlines to look like a salmon.

The fishy paint job was done on a grand scale, company spokesmen said. A team of 30 painters and airbrush artists used more than 140 gallons of paint and took 24 days to render the lifelike chinook -- triple the time normally needed to coat an airliner.

"There's no question, at least in my mind, that this is the finest airline art ever conceived," said Bill MacKay, the company's Anchorage-based senior vice president. "People will just be amazed at the detail."

You may be wondering what exactly is the Alaska Fisheries Marketing Board. The members of the board were Stevens and his son Ben. The earmarked money went to Ben's clients. Lindsay Beyerstein blogs about the corrupt the AFMB setup.

The AFMB also gave $300,000 to Arctic Paws, a dog treat company owned by Duane Gibson, a former Stevens aide who went on to work for Jack Abramoff.

My question is how did Stevens get away with this for long?

Sarah Palin's Bridges Falling Down

Josh Marshall reports that pundits are finally realizing that Sarah Palin is lying about being against the Bridge to Nowhere.

Earmark Queen

Alaska received $506.00 per person in earmark money under Governor Sarah Palin. Governor Palin requested $451 million in earmarks. Some earmarks are needed for important services. I'm all for cutting needless pork. However, earmarks make $12 billion of a $3 trillion of the 2008 budget. Entitlements and defense spending makes the bulk of the budget. The bailouts and savings and loans and Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae did help matters.

Now that the Treasury Department has finally announced its rescue of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac—at a cost of up to $100 billion each—isn't it time to start tallying up all this largesse? A hundred billion here, a hundred billion there, maybe it doesn't seem like much at first. But before you know it, you've drained the treasury of the world's richest country. And besides, more rescues seem to be coming. Here's a tally of the bailouts so far:

The stimulus package. Maximum taxpayer cost: $150 billion
What taxpayers got: Free money, up to $1,200 from the government per household, to spend as they wish. Early research shows most recipients have used the money to pay down debts or boost their savings. Good for them, but bad for the economy, which benefits most in the short-term from spending, not saving.

The Bear Stearns bailout will require a $29 billion loan to JPMorgan. That was the only way to entice JPMorgan to buy Bears Sterns. The federal response is necessary. $5 trillion in mortgages is tied up in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Bear Stearns going under could create a disaster on the international economy.

McCain's and Palin's biggest talking point is earmarks. The hypocrisy is to be expected. How they fail to address the looming economic meltdown is frightening.