Tuesday, June 19, 2007

A Triple!

Three items of interest from Chuck Muth's News & Views:

This first one sounds a bit familiar...

BIKE-PATH TO NOWHERE

"The city (of Chesapeake, VA) will move forward with a plan to build a two-mile bicycle path along Dominion Boulevard at an estimated cost of $16 million. . . . City Council members recently voted 7 -1 in favor of the bike path. Mayor Dalton Edge cast the lone vote against the idea, arguing the money should be used elsewhere. 'It's a $16 million project,' Edge said Thursday. 'It reminds me of the bridge to nowhere in Alaska. You talk about government spending, and to spend that kind of money on a bike path that would be rarely utilized is stunning to me.'"

- The Virginian-Pilot, 6/14/07



WHAT HAPPENS IN THE HOUSE, STAYS IN THE HOUSE

"Despite the new Democratic congressional leadership's promise of 'openness and transparency' in the budget process, a CNN survey of the House found it nearly impossible to get information on lawmakers' pet projects.

"Staffers for only 31 of the 435 members of the House contacted by CNN between Wednesday and Friday of last week supplied a list of their earmark requests for fiscal year 2008, which begins on October 1, or pointed callers to Web sites where those earmark requests were posted. Of the remainder, 68 declined to provide CNN with a list, and 329 either didn't respond to requests or said they would get back to us, and didn't."


- CNN.com, 6/19/07

Rep. Marcy Kaptur did respond. Rep. Paul Gillmor did not.

And there was this from columnist Robert Novak:

VETO ONSLAUGHT ON THE HORIZON

"(President) Bush plans to veto the Homeland Security appropriations bill nearing final passage, followed by vetoes of eight more money bills sent him by the Democratic-controlled Congress. That constitutes a veto onslaught of historic proportions from a president who did not reject a single bill during his first term. Of the 12 appropriations bills for fiscal year 2008, only three will be signed by the president in the form shaped by the House. What's more, Bush correctly claimed he has the one-third plus one House votes needed to sustain these vetoes. The unpopular president is taking the offensive on fiscal responsibility."

I can't help but wonder if the President thinks that his sudden attention to fiscal responsibility will somehow win over those whom he's lost on the 'comprehensive immigration' (a.k.a amnesty) issue.

1 comment:

Hooda Thunkit (Dave Zawodny) said...

Maggie,

On Chesapeake Virginia’s “Bike Path to Nowhere,” Sounds like Mayor Edge is the only one thinking of the taxpayers.

$ 16 Million on a two-mile bike path???

Let’s hope hizzoner doesn’t read about this, or he’ll surely inquire about how to get the price of our little/not used bike paths either comparable to or better than Chesapeake’s; he doesn’t like to be outdone when it comes to forward (retarded) thinking and spending on the frillier things in life…


On “What Happens in the House, Stays in the House,” sounds (as expected) like the same old, same old, with the politicos stonewalling the taxpayers in favor of back room dealings and the time honored back-scratching exchanges.

No surprises here, except that maybe Ms. Kaptur and Mr. Gilmore seemed to have chosen sides on this issue that I would have never guessed that either would have taken.


As for Mr. Novak’s report of. “Veto Onslaught On the Horizon,” President Bush seems to be playing the part of half sobered up sailor, but not yet sober enough to avoid still alienating many Americans with his ill-conceived AMNESTY bill.

I wish him luck with the fiscal restraint, but hope he sobers up far enough to realize the price he is asking us to pay for what amounts to instant citizenship for the ILLEGAL aliens. IMNHO, they should be made to go back, get in line and do the existing process legally, like say, LEGAL aliens.

(The reference to President Bush as drunken is a symbolic representation to his spending our monies like a drunken sailor on shore leave. I know and believe that he is NOT a drinker, but merely plays one as President.)

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