Earmarks

Hundreds of pages of earmarks plague the revised Federal bailout bill. But trying to take them out would be risky.

Sarah Palin Rally Noblesville, IN 10/17/08 TRANSCRIPT: SARAH PALIN: A little bit about my track record, as a mayor I eliminated personal property taxes for my city, and I eliminated small business inventory taxes, there to wanting to be able to hang that shingle outside our city door that says, we want business to be there, we want businesses to grow and to thrive and to prosper, so that they can hire more people for the families in the communities. Then, as governor, I eliminated our state fuel tax, we had a surplus there so I took a chunk of that surplus and returned it around right back to the people of Alaska. Its their money, and they can spend it better than government can spend it for them. And I put the veto pen to nearly half a billion dollars in wasteful spending, and you ruffle feathers when you do that. You dont get elected Ms. Congeniality when youre saying no to the earmarks. [Crowd yells out] Yeah, thats good. I got that a long time ago, twenty years ago anyways, the Ms. Congeniality. Thats out of my system. LABEL: SP IN 10-17 (LS#14) clipB If youd like to download this clip, VISIT: https://issuealliance.box.net/shared/2hhvk978kk To download this entire event, VISIT: https://issuealliance.box.net/shared/7qr8npb001

Sarah Palin 'attacked' an earmark by Mike Thompson (D-CA) for $215K towards fruit fly (olive) research.

Our web and branding work for Taxpayers for Common Sense was seen as part of a segment about earmarks on Headline News.

Another Alaskan Politician in trouble using earmarks and surrounded in scandal.

What a busy day for Sarah Palin. Besides giving a deposition on her role in troopergate (see: ethics, abuse of power), and dropping a hockey puck in St. Louis, she also managed to screw up her first policy speech. Via Think Progress: For many parents of children with disabilities, the most valuable thing of all is information. Early identification of a cognitive or other disorder, especially autism, can make a life-changing difference. Palin claimed that the amount that Congress spends on earmarks "is more than the shortfall to fully fund IDEA." She then ridiculed some of the projects — such as "fruit fly research" — saying they have little or no value: Where does a lot of that earmark money end up anyway? [...] Youve heard about some of these pet projects they really dont make a whole lot of sense and sometimes these dollars go to projects that have little or nothing to do with the public good. Things like fruit fly research in Paris, France. I kid you not. Damn those earmarks! Wasting good money on fruit fly research: [S]cientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine have shown that a protein called neurexin is required for..nerve cell connections to form and function correctly. The discovery, made in Drosophila fruit flies may lead to advances in understanding autism spectrum disorders, as recently, human neurexins have been identified as a genetic risk factor for autism. ...

Cleaver voted No the first time on the economic Stimulus bill. I called his office and was told that he was voting no because it wasn't good for his constituents. When I called back to ask him to vote no again on the second one they took my name and number and gave me no answer. I found out later her voted yes. So why did he think it was bad for us with less earmarks and tax credits? But better for us after? I think he knew if he held out he'd get more. The stimulus package was a bad idea and not good for America. Until the laws that govern who qualifies for a loan are changed-we will find ourselves right back in this position in a year from now. You cannot continue to give loans to people who should not qualify and are high risk and expect them to pay so unless you change the laws the problems will continue. But Cleaver would never admit that or vote for it because Kansas City is a hub for low-income families. If he really supports Barrack Obama's theory that we must give up some things for the greater good, then why not change the laws back to before the "Community Reinvestment Act" and why would he approve a bill that had earmarks and tax credits added to it? His title is Reverend Emmanuel Cleaver, but he supports abortion. i also find that ironic because one of every two aborted babies is black. If he really cared about the black community and his convictions as a pastor-why would he be for killing innocent black babies?

Chris Carney defends indefensible $174m earmark for salmon farmers in San Francisco in debate

Remember the 18 million dollar earmark in the first bailout package for Acorn? Our Tax dollars at work for Obama. :(

John McCain "CNN Live" 10:30am Speech TOPIC: I'll veto all earmark containing bills TRANSCRIPT: JOHN MCCAIN: Im going to make government live on a budget, just like you do. Ill freeze government spending on all but the most important programs . . . until we scrub every single government program . . . and, my friends, I will veto every single pork barrel earmark bill that comes across my desk. I will make them famous. You will know their names. [cheers] LABEL: JM JM CNN 10-30-08 10.30 (EW#492) HRS