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Today's Poll: Are you satisfied with the deal ending the government shutdown?

By Howard B. Owens
Dave Olsen

The Senate loaded it full of pork and solved none of the problems, then had the audacity to give themselves a round of applause. Read Tom Clancy's Debt of Honor sometime, that is the real solution. Among the bill to "re-open" government (total misnomer BTW) 2 billion dollars to Kentucky for Mitch McConnell to fund a dam project that has been stalled for 10 years. $174,000.00 ( 1 years salary) to the widow of Frank Lautenberg, NJ Senator who passed away this year. She didn't know it was coming and he left her an estate worth over $57 million. What a bunch of hypocrite toads. How bad does it have to get? http://swampland.time.com/2013/10/17/guess-who-got-2-billion-for-a-dam-…

Oct 18, 2013, 8:40am Permalink
Mark Potwora

All that was closed was 15% of government.....They tired to show you how dependent we are on that 15%.....The deal to open this small bit of government did nothing to stop or cut the size of this beast..Instead it grew bigger ..They gave all workers a 1% raise and paid them for work they didn't do..It did show me how over bearing this government is...

Oct 18, 2013, 10:01am Permalink
C. M. Barons

Regardless of how one feels about the 'size' of government... The people who were furloughed by the shutdown as well as those who were 'promised' services and temporarily deprived of those services are victims. The congressional Republicans are playing games with American citizens' lives to score points against another branch of government. Those who find this behavior amusing or valid share common ground with those who go to a motor speedway to see crashes or lurk at accident scenes awaiting a glimpse of injured or dead.

It's the work of Congress to pass a budget. They haven't performed that work since 2009. Lately they haven't done much of anything else, either. If Congress wants to shrink government, pass a budget that accomplishes that mission. Blaming any of this mess on anyone other than congressional culprits is malarkey.

Mitch McConnell is an idiot.

Oct 18, 2013, 12:19pm Permalink
Mark Potwora

CM..The way i see it, in the private sector when you are laid off you collect unemployment....You do not collect all your back pay for days you didn't work...In the private sector lay offs happen because of poor management..It is no different in this case....Harry Ried is more of an idiot for not allowing all the bills that congress sent over to keep more of the government funded to be voted on...Cmon, the government can't even get a web site up and running for health care that forces all people to buy health insurance from private insurers...Should all those government worker be paid for a job that they aren't doing.....This is all a big farce ....Government is the problem...

Oct 18, 2013, 4:37pm Permalink
Stephen Clark

Yep, the beast keeps getting bigger and bigger, the pork gets fatter and fatter, and yet they all keep getting voted in. Where or when will it all end? I see that nothing was solved, and only put off for a few months. And I agree with Matt, there I times I would like to be laid off for a couple of weeks, and collect my same paycheck for doing nothing, and not even have to use any of my benefit time. what a luxury!! Oh that's right, they are government employees

Oct 18, 2013, 8:48pm Permalink
Kyle Slocum

I am looking forward to the inevitable mockumentary of the "shutdown" and all of the administration's spending to close down open air monuments by putting up barrycades, coning off the shoulders of public roads to keep people from looking out at scenic views, etc.

The pathetic political theater pursued by the administration at additional expense to the government is just one more blatant example of the contempt and derision with which they see the proletariat. All that is required to see the truth of this is to actually look at what these despicable people believe and how they treat people they supposedly are looking out for.

Oct 18, 2013, 9:04pm Permalink
Raymond Richardson

Dave, it was $3 billion for McConnell's dam project, that is not expected to be completed until 2025, but it's still a large amount of pork, and was a last minute amendment to the bill to re-open Government.

But another thing not many people are aware of either:

During the "negotiations" to re-open Government, the House revised it's rules so that only the House Majority Leader could present motions on the floor, meaning McConnell, and no other Representative.

Watch the exchange here between Rep. Chris Can Hollen (D) from Maryland, and Rep. Jason Chaffetz, Speaker Pro Tempore:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10101022540098607

Oct 19, 2013, 9:09am Permalink
Debbie Pugliese

Regarding the Dam Project....it has been in the works since 1988, it has not been "stalled"...there are just different phases of it. It is called INFRASTRUCTURE not PORK. Congress gave the OK on the continuation months ago but because of their temper tantrums it was not funded yet....failure to do so would have basically flushed the $160 million that was already used to pay for part by NOT continuing the funding (why people who complain about spending are more than willing to throw money away under the guise of saving money is beyond me).

Just imagine for a minute this project was here in WNY, a necessary project not only for the local citizens who use this river but also for all those who now have TAXPAYING jobs and Washington's gridlock was about to put not only the whole project in danger but all those people working would find themselves unemployed, with a ripple effect to non-dam jobs in the area.

"Why do we give money to foreign countries when there are things that need be fixed here" turns into "OMG PORK!!!" when spending on our country DOES happen.

http://blogs.courier-journal.com/watchdogearth/2013/10/16/mitch-mcconne…

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Regarding Raymond's facebook link... is anyone really surprised by the tactics of those "True Patriots" anymore?

Oct 19, 2013, 10:29am Permalink
Mark Brudz

"During the "negotiations" to re-open Government, the House revised it's rules so that only the House Majority Leader could present motions on the floor, meaning McConnell, and no other Representative."

Mitch MvConnell IS NOT in the house he is in the Senate, House rules do not apply to the Senate in anyway, and had nothing to do with the senate deal.

HR368 was the actual resolution that began the entire shutdown, applied ONLY to the House and is NO Secret

Oct 19, 2013, 10:44am Permalink
Mark Brudz

Debbie is absolutely correct about the Damn project. That said it is the real problem that we have been faced with since WWII where both houses of congress are concerned.

The bills in congress transgressed from simple, pointed and limited scope to broad and complicated documents which often contain many items not germane to the bills issue and intent.

Instead of budget items standing on their own, for example, Food Stamps were added to the Farm Bills so that the debate over the issues was clouded by agricultural issues. In essence pay offs to get passage of the farm bill in the 70's was acceptance of the food stamp program as proposed back then. Then year after year a simple farm bill becomes more complex as it encompasses much more than agricultural issues with each debate. In other words, the combining of issues encourages pork or as politicians say 'Sausage Making'

Be mindful of the words of James Madison.

<strong>"It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their own choice if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood."</strong>

Oct 19, 2013, 11:00am Permalink
Dave Olsen

Debbie and Mark and Raymond are all wrong regarding the Olmstead Dam project. It has been stalled, the costs have been blown far, far out of expectations and it was supposed to finished in 2000. Approx. 2 billion was added to the already 800 million spent bringing the total to 3 billion. The locks / dam may be necessary, but the management of the project has been atrocious and McConnell is lying when he says he didn't have anything to do with putting it in the bill. His name is on it and it's 35 pages long, so I'm sure he (or one of his minions, most likely) read it and would have pointed it out if he actually didn't know it was there (which I do not believe for a second) http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/news/environment/locked-and-dammed-…
Doesn't matter much, I suppose because the money's spent. Water over the dam.

Love you some pork pie if you want, folks. I don't have any choice but to chip in for the bill, but I will never say i like it. Spend spend spend with no repercussions. Some day there won't be a dam big enough to stop what's coming.

Oct 19, 2013, 5:47pm Permalink
Jeff Allen

That's right, I seem to remember Democrats coming to the defense of Sarah Palin on her "bridge to nowhere" calling it "infrastructure" instead of pork.

Oct 19, 2013, 7:09pm Permalink
Kyle Slocum

C. M.,

Disagreeing with a woman who is a politician is ist and ic. It may also be ism. I would hate for your reputation to be damaged by allegations of your blatant ism, ic and thoughts which may be ist. You need to think about this.

Disagreeing with a member of a minority community is very dangerous and raises suspicions that you may be an enemy of progress. You really should think before you exercise your government granted rights.

Oct 19, 2013, 10:03pm Permalink

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