Sunday, December 13, 2009

Going-Through-the-Motion's Eleven

Your LakeCountyEye's popular Top 10 Lists have taken the Interwebs by storm. Soon to be ex-10th District Congressman Mark Kirk must have caught the virus, because his Senate Campaign has issued one of their own:


Top 11 Worst Spending Projects
of the 111th Congress


LakeCountyEye operatives far & wide, a friendly word of advice: when compiling an Internet Top 10 List, stop at 10. A Top 11 List will have some people thinking outloud just how gay is that supposed to be? Just sayin!

Here is Congressman Kirk's list, itemized and with cross tabs:

1. $1.9 million for a water taxi to Pleasure Beach, Conn.
2. $3.8 million for an urban art trail in Rochester, N.Y.
3. $3.1 million for upgrades to an 88-year-old canal boat museum in New York
4. $3 million for bicycle racks in Washington, D.C.'s Georgetown area
5. $1.5 million for a streetscape project around a Detroit casino
6. $578,000 to fight homelessness in Union, N.Y., a town that reportedly has no homeless people
7. $550,000 for a skateboard park in Pawtucket, R.I.
8. $500,000 for fish food for Missouri fish farmers
9. $400,000 to renovate a vacant building in Jal, N.M.
10. $380,350 to encourage West Virginia landowners to grow ginseng and shiitake mushrooms
11. $90,000 for a shared kitchen for food service entrepreneurs

Another LakeCountyEye rule-of-thumb: when embarking upon an Internet Top 10 List, do your due diligence. If the best thing you got going on your list are some DC Bike Racks, you're going to leave the impression that you've given up trying. If you decide to honor the Internet Top 10 List with your efforts, please do not phone it in.

Fret not, 10th Congressional District foes of government largess. One doesn't need to be a NASA cost-overrun specialist to assemble a decent Top 10 List of Gummint Pork Projects. When the gauntlet is thrown, your LakeCountyEye, like a dog with an old rag, doesn't know how let go. A deep-web search through www.thomas.gov is all it takes, and -- waa laa -- here are your LakeCountyEye's Top 10 Worst Government Spending Projects:

1) Universal Wealth Insurance for Wall Street Banks

2) Agriculture Subsidies for Chia Pet Farms

3) Guantanamo-Disney

4) Emergency Federal Seed Money for ACORN

5) 30,000 New Troops for the War on Christmas

6) South Miami Beach Holocaust Denier Museum

7) High Speed Illegal Immigrant Bullet Train

8) Condoms for Al-Qaeda

9) Offshore Nuclear Power

10) The Iraq War

LakeCountyEye operatives far & wide, feel free to use these in your next video!

8 comments:

Team America said...

BB - I would assume that the top "11" was a nod to the fact that it's the 111th Congress.

For future releases, I'll ask the Congressman to make his points using words of one syllable (or less) so he doesn't tax your brain.

Barney Baxter said...

Hi TA,
I noticed the similarity with the 111th Congress. If that is the premise to the bit, it sort of gets buried in Congressman Kirk's deadpan delivery. Your advice regarding monosyllabic sentences is spot on. Anything more ambitious, and you risk confusing the voter. Not to mention the candidate.
-BB-

Crazy4glf said...

Check out the AP story about the 'Two faces of Kirk.' In the years through 2007 (about 7-8 years for those scoring at home) Kirk had oodles of earmarks, including for organizations outside his District, like the Adler Planetarium (where these Districts have capable Members of Congress) and a Christian out-reach program (separation of church and state?!).

NOW he is against unnecessary ear-marks and happens to be running for higher office. Keep in mind that this and the contributions he received when he was in favor of earmarks are purely coincidental. Like thunder is coincidental to lightening.

Tax cuts that aren't part of a pay as you go approach (where the cuts in revenue must correspond with a cut in spending) were fine with him and the umpteen supplementals were ok with him as well.
Also, did he speak out against the no-bid, incomplete contracts or was he taking a Twitter tutorial?

He states that the 'Bridge to nowhere' was a wake-up call for him. Apparently, there were no unnecessary ear-marks (including some of his own) prior to then.
Now, he wants the endorsement of one of the Republican Alaska public officials who was in favor of the funds stemming from the Bridge to Nowhere (that Kirk was uncertain or doubtful about)?

Now, we know what Repubs do all day: find ways to lie, confuse, and mis-construe.


Also, great article on the actions of Jim Thompson and Judy Topinka regarding the Lincoln Hotel that weren't necessarily in the State's best interest and were to the benefit of politically connected individuals. What's Topinka doing now? Running for public office again? What's Thompson's firm doing now? Providing pro bono legal services to a convicted felon (George Ryan - R).

You can have all the tea parties you want but man cannot live on tea (parties) alone.
At some point Congress must come together and work for the citizenry while using their PUBLIC OPTION health insurance (no Repub recused themselves from this, by the way).

Team America said...

Hey Crazy - dredging up acts by Thompson? Sounds pretty desperate to me.

Get used to hearing these words on the news in 2010:

"Today at the corruption trial of former Governor Rod Blagojevich..."

2010 is going to be a year to look forward to.

Crazy4glf said...

After hearing what George Ryan did, I'm unfortunately used to having unsavory politicians on the news. In fact, if Judy Topinka's actions were more publicized she wouldn't even have a decent chance of running for office in this state ever again! I don't believe that Sanford , Foley, or Craig were truly punished where there would definitely be action taken if these were Dem's. Sara Palin and Ted Stevens aren't far down on the list of less than scrupulous politicians (not always an oxymoron).

I was mentioning Thompson because the GOP seems to have the impression that they have superior, objective, and prudent leadership and governance skills. Given Joe Wilson's antics, the fear mongering we see in our state this week, and the lack of vision and purpose (i.e. tell me what your for in addition to what you are against), this is simply not true.
Also, Thompson is not necessarily out of the public eye nor is Edgar.


You still didn't address Kirk's duplicity and I'm not surprised.

Call me what you want, when the AP considers a person duplicitous, it should register to some degree. This is not like Fox 'News' calling a dem such a name, the AP deserves a bit more respect than Tea Party 24/7.


Please tell me how tort reform will solve the problems many people - TA excluded apparently - have with health insurance.
Please tell me how conservatives - many of whom are pro-lifers - can sleep at night knowing that Americans are not taking medication as ordered, not accessing healthcare services, and setting themselves up for more chronic conditions, a less productive workforce, and a costlier future? When you say pro-life, who's life are you in favor of and are you in favor of supporting that life in any way? (See Daily Herald Story on the subject today).

Please tell me how saying no, can't do it, and let's read entire amendments is value added (six sigma ring any bells?), and demonstrative of a Party of efficiency, ideas and compassion?

Or you could go after me yet again which is the low-road, that based on the Tea-Partiers, Coburn, and the like you may be used to and prefer.

Its only a game if you are a Republican Member of Congress who is set for life (including a public option) and fail to recuse yourself from the entitlements you claim to detest.

For everyone else, its reality.

Anonymous said...

Who knows, TA, but this summer we may be hearing, "At Rep. JoAnne Osmond's trial....," or, "At Commissioner Linda Pedersen's trial...."

Team America said...

Anon 3:27- oh, please, is that the best you can do?

Tell me yes.

redtail said...

"Is that the best you can do?" Sorry I'm late to the party, Team America, but do you imply with your comment that there are more political corruption skeletons rattling around in the Lake County Republican closet? Oh please say yes!