Friday, December 14, 2012

Comprehensive Hurricane Sandy Relief

"You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. And what I mean by that it’s an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before."—Rahm Emanuel, former President Soetoro chief of staff
Democrats love to do things comprehensively. This means they make a relatively uncomplicated problem, such as addressing the country’s healthcare needs, intricately complex. They create a monstrous and Orwellian 906-page Law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act plus it’s 55-page companion the, “Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010”, into a law that does not protect patients nor is it affordable.

What this combined 961-page behemoth does is complicate Health Care in the United States so much, that you and me will never know everything that is in it. It allows Democrats to hide tremendous amounts of greed, corruption and malfeasance among its many pages. Nobody actually reads the law and nobody is the wiser.

Another thing that Democrats love to do is create crisis. This is done so they can do things that are not normally permitted. You remember former President Barry Hussein Soetoro’s chief of staff and now mayor of Chicago Rahm Emanuel’s remarks on the subject of Democrat governance by crisis. (see 08sec video)



Crisis governance is standard operational procedure for Democrats. So in a perfect storm of combining comprehension and crisis the Soetoro administration has submitted a $60-billion emergency aid package for victims of superstorm Sandy. (see story)

No one is against giving aid to the victims of hurricane Sandy but why must Democrats use this opportunity to spend money that the American people do not have on things that are unrelated to servicing the immediate needs of the hurricane victims?

Contained within the Comprehensive $60 billion dollar request for emergency aid are non emergency funding such as millions for the Smithsonian, millions for the space center and millions for forest that have nothing to do with emergency aid to Sandy victims (see spending request below)

• $23 million for tree plantings to “help reduce flood effects, protect water sources, decrease soil erosion and improve wildlife habitat” in forested areas touched by Sandy

• $2 million to repair roof damage at Smithsonian buildings in Washington that pre-dates the storm

• $4 million to repair sand berms and dunes at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida

• $41 million for clean-up and repairs at eight military bases along the storm’s path including Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

• $4 million to the FBI to replace “vehicles, laboratory and office equipment and furniture

• $2.4 million to Customs and Border Protection to replace “destroyed or damaged vehicles, including mobile X-Ray machines.”

• $50 million for the Small Business Administration for its post-storm response efforts, including “Small Business Development Centers and Women’s Business Development Centers

• $13 billion for “mitigation projects” to prepare for future storms

Democrats and president Soetoro often blamed president Bush for out of control spending, spending by the way that has been dwarfed by Bush’s successor, yet Democrats always warred against president Bush loading his request to fund the wars, which Democrats approved with extraneous spending sometimes call pork spending. They did this to president Bush each time he attempted to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and then they, especially now president Soetoro, accused Bush of spending recklessly when he pass bills laden with Democrat pork to fund the wars.

In one such instance the government spending watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense combed over a comprehensive 1,500-page war funding bill that was made public late night. Taxpayers for Common Sense said it identified almost 9,000 earmarks worth $7.4 billion. Those earmarks tacked on to requested to fund the wars, $40 billion for the war in Iraq and $30 billion for troops in Afghanistan.

In another separate Bush request for funding the wars the Democrat controlled Senate tacked on the following:

• $96 billion for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and anti-terrorism programs, including $600 million for explosives-detection systems at airports

• $6.7 billion for disaster relief along the Gulf Coast, including $1.3 billion for rebuilding levees

• $4.2 billion for agricultural aid, including $1.6 billion for livestock producers and 74 million for peanut storage

• $1.8 billion for veterans programs, including $454 million for medical services

• $820 million for low-income heating assistance

• $500 million for fighting wildfires

• $425 million for security at rural schools

Source: Senate Appropriations Committee

Though pork barrel spending is nothing new in Washington the practice is so well hidden Democrats never receive the blame that they so rightly deserve for practices that put America on the road to fiscal insolvency.

Democrats are in control of the White house and the Senate and they continue to use crisis and comprehensive measures to hide the fact that they are over spending even in the shadow of the fiscal cliff.

Democrats should stop this abuse of spending. Yes, help the victims of hurricane Sandy but no more. We don’t have the money. Moreover, Democrat Comprehensive spending has put the entire country at risk.