Rand Paul’s 2024 Festivus Report is here

Rand Paul’s 2024 Festivus Report is here: Rand Paul’s 2024 Festivus Report is officially here, a compilation of Washington’s most offensive and indiscretionary spending, and it’ll make you madder than a wet hen. First, all the empty buildings that were leased, maintained...

ABC News exposes 'Airport to Nowhere'

Murtha International Airport

Obama signs spending bill in private

Barack Obama announced today he will sign the $410 billion stop-gap budget bill approved by the Democratic Congress even though the bill contains billions in pork-barrel projects.

The ceremony took place behind closed doors, something anathema to the Obama administration, which loves to stage media events for every White House ceremony. Why the secrecy?

Obama acknowledge the earmarks, saying it was an "imperfect" bill, but he was forced to sign it to keep the government going.

He also confessed that he was breaking his own campaign promise to eliminate earmarks. Apparently, he had his fingers crossed when he made that promise.

Obama said "99 percent" of the bill is legitimate spending, so that's good enough for him as he lowers the standard for reform and ethical government even further.

In his defense, Obama said earmarks have been part of the Washington culture for decades, including the years Republicans controlled Congress. In other words, two wrongs do make a right, according to Obama.

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele had this to say about the Democratic spending package, loaded with more than 8,500 pork projects:

"President Obama will break his pledge to go through every line of the budget if he signs this omnibus spending bill. Like the stimulus bill and budget, this spending bill contains too much taxing, spending, and borrowing. Left unchecked, the Democrats' spending spree will grow our national debt and ultimately result in more taxes. Hard-working Americans deserve better from its leaders than the Democrats' tax-and-spend agenda."

Obama did promise not to sign the next pork-laden budget bill Congress sends his way ... unless he changes his mind again. Welcome to the liberal world ... where principles don't matter, where 99 percent is good enough.

Originally posted at TONY PHYRILLAS

'What is Obama ashamed of?'

The Libertarian Party is blasting Barack Obama for breaking more promises by holding a secret signing ceremony of the $400+ billion pork-spending bill approved by Congressional Democrats.

From a press released issued today by the Libertarian National Committee:

America's third largest party asked Wednesday why President Obama enacted the $490 billion FY09 omnibus spending and its over 8,500 earmarks behind closed doors, and despite campaign promises to end earmark abuse.

"President Obama's decision to hide from the media while signing this bill isn't just a violation of his promise of transparency, it's an attempt to avoid questions about breaking another promise to end earmark abuse," said Libertarian National Committee Communications Director Donny Ferguson.

"He promised to end earmarks. He promised transparency. He promised fiscal responsibility. He didn't mean a word of it. More and more Americans realize his crippling taxes and crushing debt are prescriptions for prolonged economic suffering. Now he has to hide behind closed doors to sign his pork-stuffed plan to explode wasteful spending," said Ferguson.

Libertarians support an economic renewal plan centered on tax and regulatory relief for employers, preserving the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts that blunted previous recessions and greatly simplifying the tax code for employers and taxpayers. Polls such as Rasmussen show voters prefer the Libertarian approach over the Republican and Democrat plans to increase government spending.

You can find more information on the Libertarian Party by visiting www.LP.org

Originally posted at TONY PHYRILLAS

Found Him! The One Sane Democrat

Moderate Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana is among a growing number of Congressional Democrats who are voicing opposition to the massive spending plans proposed by President Obama and fellow Democrats.

Writing in The Wall Street Journal, Bayh says the $410 billion Omnibus Appropriations Act of 2009 is full of wasteful spending.

"The Senate should reject this bill," Bayh writes. "If we do not, President Barack Obama should veto it."

From Bayh's column:

"The bloated omnibus requires sacrifice from no one, least of all the government. It only exacerbates the problem and hastens the day of reckoning. Voters rightly demanded change in November's election, but this approach to spending represents business as usual in Washington, not the voters' mandate.

Now is the time to win back the confidence and trust of the American people. Congress should vote "no" on this omnibus and show working families across the country that we are as committed to living within our means as they are.

Bayh says Congress has to stop contributing to the nation's economic woes by continuing to overspend.

"The economic downturn requires new policies, not more of the same," Bayh writes. "Our nation's current fiscal imbalance is unprecedented, unsustainable and, if unaddressed, a major threat to our currency and our economic vitality. The national debt now exceeds $10 trillion. This is almost double what it was just eight years ago, and the debt is growing at a rate of about $1 million a minute."

Read the full column at the newspaper's Web site.

Originally posted at TONY PHYRILLAS

Will Obama break another promise?

America's third largest political party wants President Obama to live up to his pledge to "end politics as usual in Washington" and veto a $410 billion spending bill that includes more than 8,500 pork projects.

The Libertarian Party says the earmarks in the bill total $7.7 billion and fly in the face of Obama's campaign promises.

From a release issued by the Libertarian Party:

"Republicans already broke their weeks-old promise to stand for fiscal responsibility by fighting to have their own wasteful earmarks included in the bill," said Libertarian National Committee Communications Director Donny Ferguson. "Will Obama keep his promise to end earmarks by vetoing this bill, or will this be the latest in a long strong of broken Obama promises?"

The White House has indicated Obama will sign the bill, despite his earlier promises to oppose earmarking.

"Republicans are banding together to grab taxpayer cash and Obama is ignoring his own pledge to stop the practice. With Republicans and Democrats working together to continue wasteful spending it's abundantly clear the Libertarian Party is the only party agreeing with the American people that earmarks must be abolished," said Ferguson.

Good luck with that. I'm afraid Libertarians were had by Obama just like a lot of Democrats and Republicans. And why the Libertarian Party so harsh on Congressional Republicans? Most of the pork spending was included by the Democrats.

Originally posted at TONY PHYRILLAS