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Congress: What Fiscal Crisis?

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They've got places to go and...well, more places to go.

WASHINGTON -- Spending by lawmakers on taxpayer-financed trips abroad has risen sharply in recent years, a Wall Street Journal analysis of travel records shows, involving everything from war-zone visits to trips to exotic spots such as the Galápagos Islands.

The spending on overseas travel is up almost tenfold since 1995, and has nearly tripled since 2001, according to the Journal analysis of 60,000 travel records. Hundreds of lawmakers traveled overseas in 2008 at a cost of about $13 million. That's a 50% jump since Democrats took control of Congress two years ago.

The cost of so-called congressional delegations, known among lawmakers as "codels," has risen nearly 70% since 2005, when an influence-peddling scandal led to a ban on travel funded by lobbyists, according to the data.

The article outlines a number of questionable trips. The most egregious to me was a trip taken by Nancy Pelosi in February. She spent one day in Afghanistan visiting the troops after spending eight days in Italy.

Cost of meals and hotels alone? $57,697

Posted by: Slublog at 10:41 AM



Comments

1 How many in congress are creationists? We need to know that first.

Posted by: Charles Johnson at July 02, 2009 10:44 AM (5V/kc)

2 Hey, they are just representing their constituents by taking their dream vacations for them.

Posted by: that guy at July 02, 2009 10:44 AM (a4lmz)

3 What changed in 2007 that would cause such a skyrocketing of expenses? I'm curious.

Posted by: DSkinner at July 02, 2009 10:44 AM (5yytL)

4 Sadly, I think foreigners are their constituents.  They are not working for America.

Posted by: gator at July 02, 2009 10:47 AM (yUiO3)

5 Cost of meals and hotels alone? $57,697

What are you complaining about?  It's still less than the Botox

Posted by: Nancy Pelosi at July 02, 2009 10:50 AM (nKA5J)

6

OT and bumped but dammit, I am not gonna let this one go away.

Krauthammer last night re Sarah Palin: You cannot sustain a campaign of platitudes and clichés over a year and a half if you're running for the presidency.

Over to you, morons.

Posted by: Bat Chain Puller at July 02, 2009 10:52 AM (SCcgT)

7

What changed in 2007 that would cause such a skyrocketing of expenses? I'm curious.

Democrats gained control of Congress.

Posted by: ParanoidGirlInSeattle at July 02, 2009 10:52 AM (AJ4xq)

8

You cannot sustain a campaign of platitudes and clichés over a year and a half if you're running for the presidency.

YES WE CAN!

Posted by: ParanoidGirlInSeattle at July 02, 2009 10:53 AM (AJ4xq)

9

"She spent one day in Afghanistan visiting the troops after spending eight days in Italy."

There have been claims made that the pasta in Italy is better that the pasta in Afganistan.  These absurd claims simply must be confirmed.

 

Posted by: Hussein the Plumber at July 02, 2009 10:55 AM (RkRxq)

10

OFF TOPIC:

Krauthammer last night re Sarah Palin: You cannot sustain a campaign of platitudes and clichés over a year and a half if you're running for the presidency.

'Tis true.  She needs a message--preferably built on three, and no more, specific points.  And it needs to be HER message...not something a professional capaign staffer comes up with from focus groups.

ON TOPIC:

The full information from the note at the bottom would cause the graph to punch through the top of the screen.  The pentagon won't share that info.  Wonder why? 

Posted by: Circa (Insert Year Here) at July 02, 2009 10:55 AM (B+qrE)

11

Looks like someone didn't get Obama's memo to make sacrifices to meet the challenges of our generation bla bla bla...

Posted by: Unicles at July 02, 2009 10:56 AM (UU3J6)

12 We are getting fucked, and I don't know about you, but no one even kissed me first.

Posted by: the real joe at July 02, 2009 10:58 AM (gue3j)

13 Didn't the auto execs from Detroit get tarred and feathered for the audacity of taking ONE round trip flight?  By the way, that's one helluva carbon footprint by our elite overlords in Washington.

Posted by: sirsurfalot at July 02, 2009 10:58 AM (yWaN3)

14 The article outlines a number of questionable trips. The most egregious to me was a trip taken by Nancy Pelosi in February. She spent one day in Afghanistan visiting the troops after spending eight days in Italy.

In all fairness, this shouldn't really be surprising at all.  This is common practice among the conference attending set.  It's not just Congresscritters that do this.  In science it typically goes like this:  Professional society organizes a conference in somewhere nice, like Florida or Antigua, but conference is scheduled to run from, say, Sunday through Thursday  Well, the attendees have nothing better to do on the Saturday prior and the weekend after, so they fly down early and leave late, claim it as a business expense, and get to spend some fun in the sun at their employer's expense.  Too often the bill is footed by the taxpayer, as the employer is often a public university, or a research grant funded through the government.

Another common trick is to schedule a professional conference somewhere nice, but only schedule meeting times in the mornings.  That way attendees have all afternoon and evening to have fun, all at public expense.

I'm telling you, if taxpayers really knew how the conference racket worked, they'd be more than outraged.

Posted by: chemjeff at July 02, 2009 10:59 AM (nKA5J)

15 There was a summit in the Galápagos Islands with the sea turtle and marine iguana.   

Posted by: rdbrewer at July 02, 2009 11:03 AM (8ibjj)

16 Nancy Pelosi is so clever.  No one will ever figure out she put a private trip on the public dime by spending 1/9 of her time in Afghanistan.  Heck, it looks like the people's business to me.

Posted by: rdbrewer at July 02, 2009 11:05 AM (8ibjj)

17

Krauthammer last night re Sarah Palin: You cannot sustain a campaign of platitudes and clichés over a year and a half if you're running for the presidency.

 

He's right.  Now go post that at Hotair and the Palin-mania brigade will go froth-mouthed with flaming typing fury.

Posted by: that guy at July 02, 2009 11:06 AM (a4lmz)

18

You cannot sustain a campaign of platitudes and clichés over a year and a half if you're running for the presidency.

 

What you talkin' bout Willis? Tell Kraut it worked for god me.

Posted by: Teh Pres at July 02, 2009 11:07 AM (penCf)

19

Gee, this violin sounds really nice. Good tone, very responsive.

*plays major scale in several postitions*

Hmmm, I wonder what that smell is?

Posted by: Nero, Roman Emperor at July 02, 2009 11:08 AM (ZGhSv)

20

What is really shameful about this is that NOBODY in congress has a valid reason for going ANYWHERE overseas.

Posted by: Vic at July 02, 2009 11:08 AM (5ynkO)

21 That takes a hellova lotta gall. Slopping at the public trough while flyover people go unemployed or take big salary cuts.

Posted by: maddogg at July 02, 2009 11:09 AM (OlN4e)

22 Look, by Congress spending all that travel money, they were helping save or create airline industry jobs. 

Posted by: B. Hussein Obama at July 02, 2009 11:09 AM (5BgCg)

23
That's right. And they don't need staffs, either.

Posted by: Unicles at July 02, 2009 11:10 AM (UU3J6)

24

h/t GWP

http://tinyurl.com/mfd4ny

Infant mortality rates are often cited as a reason socialized medicine and a single-payer system is supposed to be better than what we have here. But according to Dr. Linda Halderman, a policy adviser in the California State Senate, these comparisons are bogus.

As she points out, in the U.S., low birth-weight babies are still babies. In Canada, Germany and Austria, a premature baby weighing less than 500 grams is not considered a living child and is not counted in such statistics. They're considered "unsalvageable" and therefore never alive.

Posted by: Teh Pres at July 02, 2009 11:11 AM (penCf)

25 I'm sure some of the people over there voted for in the election.  ACORNholeme works in mysterious ways.

Posted by: gator at July 02, 2009 11:12 AM (yUiO3)

26 That's right. And they don't need staffs, either.

The only staffs they should be around are the ones we get to beat them with because if this type of behavior.


Posted by: wiserbud at July 02, 2009 11:13 AM (wWwJR)

27


Lets give Pelosi a little credit here. At least she stopped off in Afghanistan for a few hours to feign support for the troops, instead of stopping off in Syria to blow her boyfriend Assad instead.

Posted by: Blazer at July 02, 2009 11:15 AM (+FzLa)

28 these comparisons are bogus.

That's been common knowledge for a while now.  That's why any statistical comparison that is used to denigrate the US healthcare system immediately becomes suspect in my eyes.  Of course, those stats are usually pulled out by some fucking idiot lefty to support the complete destruction of our existing healthcare system, so that also helps to eliminate any faith I may have had in them, as well.

Posted by: wiserbud at July 02, 2009 11:16 AM (IHbof)

29 @10 Circa: 'Tis true.  She needs a message--preferably built on three, and no more, specific points.  And it needs to be HER message...not something a professional capaign staffer comes up with from focus groups.

Okay, sounds good. Here's what I got so far:

1. Energy independence- drill, drill, drill. This one is all up in her wheelhouse, a topic where she can beat down anyone, especially demented kewpie doll "journalists" anchoring failed nightly news shows. 

2. Reagan-esque message of small government, balanced budgets- sort of like what she has going on currently in Alaska...the largest state in our union.

3. This one is up in the air for me... maybe an "up with Women/shatter the glass ceiling" message? (or is that Hillary redux) Strong family values message? (which could backfire, hahd) Maybe a "are you better off now than four years ago?" Or a clear foreign policy statement about not sponsoring tyranny. I dunno - this has got me stumped. Anyone?

As for this:

You cannot sustain a campaign of platitudes and clichés over a year and a half if you're running for the presidency.

Maybe if you're a Republican. Otherwise:

Si, se puede!

Posted by: buster mcDissenter at July 02, 2009 11:17 AM (k8MRc)

Posted by: Alexis de Toqueville at July 02, 2009 11:17 AM (D+sEh)

31 Yesterday I tried masturbating with steel wool. Today it's sandpaper. I like the friction.

Posted by: poon at July 02, 2009 11:18 AM (i31Zq)

32

Listen up, teabaggers:

If this country had a public health care system, I wouldn't have to travel to Italy to get my plastic surgery/botox two-fer.  I could get it done right here, and you losers would foot the bill.  BWAHAHAHAHAHA

Posted by: Nancy Pelosi at July 02, 2009 11:18 AM (fDWFP)

33 Anyone listening to Rush?   He must read AoS cuz he just changed our National Anthem.

Posted by: Teh Pres at July 02, 2009 11:18 AM (penCf)

34


Most ethical  sun-tanned Congress evah !

Posted by: Nancy Pelosi at July 02, 2009 11:18 AM (+FzLa)

35 This piece is another piece of evidence showing why the GOP is fucking dead as a party.
The left hand side of the graph 1995, what is the spending per delegation? Let's ballpark-it at $1.25M. Scroll on over to 2006 when the fucking RINOs were resoundingly booted out... cost per delegation just over $7.5M. A 6 fold increase in travel spending under the governance of the GOP. Is this correct?

Sure its up alot since '06 and will no doubt continue to rise. But this is due to the fact that it doesn't matter one bit who is in control in Washington. The parties are the same.

Posted by: turtle at July 02, 2009 11:19 AM (PasZ5)

36 This is a good thing people. Government spending is stimulus didn't you get the memo? This is a huge bonus for the airline industry and the italian pasta industry.

Posted by: Obama at July 02, 2009 11:20 AM (NM1Nu)

37

And ALL of those activites took about 45 minutes, poon.  Now, for the other seven days, 23 hours and 15 minutes, you've got some explaining to do.

And we're all touched that you have decided to care for the armed forces. 

By the way, the Dow is down 167, so I guess the President fucked something up overnight.

 

Posted by: Circa (Insert Year Here) at July 02, 2009 11:21 AM (B+qrE)

38 It's crap like this that pisses me off the most.  Free vacations for rich bastards in congress that the rest of the country pays for.  They got money, make them pay for their own trips.  I bet you would see a sudden drop in number and duration of trips.  Also make them pay for the shuttle service they are using to fly around the country.

Posted by: Deathknyte at July 02, 2009 11:21 AM (73dub)

39 Of all the things they should be tarred and feathered over, $15 million of junkets is pretty low on the list.

Yes, they're whores.

But they waste trillions when they stay at work.

$15 million probably doesn't cover Teddy's liquor bill.

Posted by: nickless at July 02, 2009 11:22 AM (MMC8r)

40

I like Palin as much as anybody and I agree with Krauthammer.  She probably does too.

So... ummm...is she running a campaign?  Now?

 

Posted by: Eleven at July 02, 2009 11:22 AM (7DB+a)

41 That's a 50% jump since Democrats took control of Congress two years ago.

Weird. It's like there's a relationship between those two facts.

Posted by: Rob Crawford at July 02, 2009 11:23 AM (ZJ/un)

42

Pelosi spent one day in Afghanistan visiting the troops after spending eight days in Italy? That woman has more money than God. Why in the world would she shake down the American people like that?

So she gets to treat her staff to a vacation on our dime. We’re broke damn it! Where’s the shared sacrifice? If the Moral Conservative Party can get beat over the head for their moral shenanigans, then the Liberal Peoples Party should be held accountable for their nonprogressive bullshit as well.

One out of six children in this country doesn’t get enough to eat they say. If they believe that, then they should stay home and feed them, but no. They don’t because every liberal in this country knows that crap like that is just rhetoric. The two-faced dastards!

Posted by: ding at July 02, 2009 11:23 AM (Xomyd)

43 #6 and 29

Krautie is a bit dicey these days. On some things he's great. Then again, he lapped up the dog food at George Will's coming out party for Obastard. Hey Charlie, perhaps you could elaborate how someone who ran a"campaign of platitudes and clichés over a year and a half" managed to become the Smartest Pezzydent Evar?

A little less Beltway snobbery and a little more invective and acknowledgement of you Beltway types as enablers who boosted a sociopath into the White House.

Posted by: George Orwell at July 02, 2009 11:24 AM (AZGON)

44 I can't get my knickers too twisted about 13 million bucks.  The more they're out of the country, the less capping, trading and stimulating they can do.  Send them all to the Galapagos Islands for the next 3.5 years.

Posted by: jd at July 02, 2009 11:24 AM (2ajJo)

45

de Touqueville's writings were amazingly prescient.

Posted by: Eleven at July 02, 2009 11:24 AM (7DB+a)

46 Why do The Wall Street Journal and "conservatives" hate our fallen troops?




Better question:

How do you think the troops felt having to pay respect to that woman and shake her hand during her brief stopoff ?


I'll bet they would have rather ate a hot steaming pile of camel shit.

Posted by: Nancy Pelosi at July 02, 2009 11:24 AM (+FzLa)

47 Hmmm, I wonder what that smell is? -  Posted by: Nero

Nothing...just our looo~ve for you. Play us another one, Nero!

Posted by: MSM Julius LXIV at July 02, 2009 11:24 AM (kIjlp)

48 Can they just go somewhere....and then stay there?

Please?

Posted by: I R A Darth Aggie at July 02, 2009 11:25 AM (1hM1d)

49 The most egregious to me was a trip taken by Nancy Pelosi in February. She spent one day in Afghanistan visiting the troops after spending eight days in Italy.

Cost of meals and hotels alone? $57,697

I think we can all agree that she earned that little vacation and it is our duty as taxpayers to fund it.  So please, let's not rain on her parade.

Posted by: Gravity Dick at July 02, 2009 11:25 AM (ewXBY)

50 @46




Crap, damn sock.

Posted by: Blazer at July 02, 2009 11:25 AM (+FzLa)

51

Nickless,

The 15 mill doesn't include the aircraft or the administrative costs to the embassies, consulates or military bases that have to herd the cats.

The real cost is significantly north of the graph numbers.  By probably a hundredfold.

Posted by: Circa (Insert Year Here) at July 02, 2009 11:25 AM (B+qrE)

52 Posted by: poon at July 02, 2009 11:18 AM (i31Zq)

Ah, our nazi rat-fucker has arrived.  The Culture of Corruption˜ posts draw her every time.

Posted by: toby928 at July 02, 2009 11:25 AM (PD1tk)

53

Poon:

The only "fallen" that Pelosi cares about are her tits and the bags under her eyes.

She doesn't give a rat's ass about our fallen soldiers.

Posted by: Blogluddite at July 02, 2009 11:26 AM (fDWFP)

54 Sorry morons, I even made myself barf after I read what I just posted.

Posted by: Gravity Dick at July 02, 2009 11:26 AM (ewXBY)

55 "And ALL of those activites took about 45 minutes, poon.  Now, for the other seven days, 23 hours and 15 minutes, you've got some explaining to do."

Please not to forget- the daily "spackle on, spackle off" prep time whereby a team of makeup artists, plasterers, and demolition experts gather to construct then demolish the hateful visage of speaker pelosi. That would probably be 2.5 hrs a day (including rubble takeaway), over 8 days you're talking 20 hours.

So that gets us down to 7 days, 3 hrs, 15 min.

Add in about 5 hours to do joint oiling and bearing maintenance for the doddering old bitch, you're just under 7 days.

Posted by: buster mcDissenter at July 02, 2009 11:26 AM (k8MRc)

56 The cost of so-called congressional delegations, known among lawmakers as "codels," has risen nearly 70% since 2005, when an influence-peddling scandal led to a ban on travel funded by lobbyists, according to the data.

What else happened since 2005?  Oh, yeah - the Dems became the majority in Congress.  Correlation or coincidence?  You be the judge....

Posted by: Jazz at July 02, 2009 11:27 AM (hnq5i)

57 Ah, our nazi rat-fucker has arrived.  The Culture of Corruption˜ posts draw her every time.



And only posts on threads where his Communist DNC heroes are getting attacked


It's almost like he works for Axelrod or something.

Posted by: Blazer at July 02, 2009 11:29 AM (+FzLa)

58 I have got to stop eating my own poop. Makes me stupid.

Posted by: poon at July 02, 2009 11:29 AM (i31Zq)

59

Quit complaining Barry is 'deeply concerned' about unemployment. He was 'deeply concerned' about the slaughter in the streets of Iran look how much he did for that.

 

WASHINGTON – With joblessness rising, President Barack Obama said Thursday he was "deeply concerned" about unemployment and conceded that too many families are worried about "whether they will be next" to suffer economically.

 

Posted by: TheQuietMan at July 02, 2009 11:29 AM (1Jaio)

60

'There have been claims made that the pasta in Italy is better that the pasta in Afganistan.  These absurd claims simply must be confirmed.'

Ummm, lived there for 5+ years, consider it comfirmed

Also, I don't agree with this report because they add in the trips to war zones, our 'leaders' do need to travel there.

Posted by: navycopihateallofyou at July 02, 2009 11:31 AM (EC7MN)

61 I don't really care how you try to spin it.

And yet your fascist spunk-guzzling ass is here.  Odd that.

Posted by: toby928 at July 02, 2009 11:31 AM (PD1tk)

62

I don't really care how you try to spin it.

Repeating for the temporally challenged:  Eight days.

I like it when liberals say that math is spin.

Posted by: Circa (Insert Year Here) at July 02, 2009 11:31 AM (B+qrE)

63 No, what's a few million between thieving government officials? I'll gladly spit in their faces over this stuff. How many of us will never get to visit Italy for seven days, and Granny Rictus goes on your dime? Make no mistake, it's your dime. Granny is married to a fuckling billionaire, she can pay her own freakin' way and return that $57,000 to me, personally. I am personally certain I've paid far more than that in taxes over just the last few years on things that actually hurt my neighbors and me.

The point of stories like this is that you can identify, personalize, and freeze your target, because anyone can relate to taking a long trip in luxury... and imagine the wonderful benefit of getting it for free. Let's use this to do an Alinsky on these cocksuckers in Congress. It symbolizes, in smaller millions, the literal trillions they are wasting. And it's OUR trillions, not theirs.

Posted by: George Orwell at July 02, 2009 11:32 AM (AZGON)

64 You guys are the ones implying a trip to visit our military personnel, both living and dead, in Italy is a waste of money, lud.

I don't really care how you try to spin it.




Where was all that support before 2006 when the Democrats were playing games with our soldiers lives and carrying water for our enemies for political gain ?

Posted by: Blazer at July 02, 2009 11:32 AM (+FzLa)

65

I didn't quote Dr. K to disagree with him. I just put it up there for a "what's wrong with this picture" moment.

As in, what the fuck is wrong with this picture!?

Posted by: Bat Chain Puller at July 02, 2009 11:33 AM (SCcgT)

66 Hey, forget about congressional travel for a moment, today Dear Leader announced that he's "deeply concerned" about the unemployment rate. Isn't that really great?

Posted by: Sparky at July 02, 2009 11:33 AM (J1f2W)

67 Is deeply concerned higher, or lower, than troubled on the Obama scale?

Posted by: toby928 at July 02, 2009 11:35 AM (PD1tk)

68

C'mon poon  --  even you're not that stupid.  It was a vacation in Italy and we all know it. 

What is the point of all your vapid naysaying?  Are you trying to convince yourself?  Because that's what it seems like.

Go pick your scabs somewhere else.

Posted by: Eleven at July 02, 2009 11:35 AM (7DB+a)

69 66 thats because he's terrified his jugearred ass will be unemployed in 2012

Posted by: navycopihateallofyou at July 02, 2009 11:36 AM (EC7MN)

70
Hey, forget about congressional travel for a moment, today Dear Leader announced that he's "deeply concerned" about the unemployment rate. Isn't that really great?




And by deeply concerned, he means he hasn't a clue how to fix it.


Stay tuned for Stimulus II. A Chicago politician has'nt met a problem yet they can't throw money at to make it go away.

Posted by: Blazer at July 02, 2009 11:36 AM (+FzLa)

71 OK, I don't get the 9.5 unemployment number.  Not at all.

Based on the job losses and the individual state unemployment rates, the unemployment number should have shot up at approximately the same rate as previous months.

I know the Bureau of Labor Statistics revises these numbers, usually a year later, but I am very suspicious of 9.5.  It makes no sense based on other data, but I'm not an econometrician.

Posted by: AmishDude at July 02, 2009 11:36 AM (T0NGe)

72 You guys are the ones implying a trip to visit our military personnel, both living and dead, in Italy is a waste of money, lud.

I don't really care how you try to spin it.

Oh, there's no implying or spinning going on here- a visit to our military personnel by Nancy Pelosi is kabuki theatre of the damned- she could not give a shit less about our troops. She's much more interested in the well being of Syrian leaders and illegal aliens in her district than some dumb hilljack soldiers.

This sudden "concern" for the military was a pretext for her to go shove pasta into her grotesque misshapen foul smelling piehole, nothing more. To try to "imply" anything else is disingenuous at best, and outright retarded most likely.

You know that. We know that. We know you know that.

Now run back to axeldick and get a fresh piece of nonsense to spew.

Posted by: buster mcDissenter at July 02, 2009 11:37 AM (k8MRc)

73 "Deeply", as described in the White House dictionary of adjectives, is one step above "troubled".  I think, but I could be wrong, that when Dear Leader says "we're fucked"...it's really really really bad.

Posted by: Sparky at July 02, 2009 11:38 AM (J1f2W)

74 [ Insert disingenuous crap here. ]

Posted by: poon at July 02, 2009 11:38 AM (i31Zq)

75 If Lord of the Flyswatters hadn't been elected, that $13 million would surely have been $130 billion. Isn't he amazing? Because of the gleaming example of His Pectorals, Nancy stayed in a four-star instead of a five-star hotel. She's so ashamed of her profligacy.

She also kept the Afghanistan part of the visit down to one day instead of six. Besides, topping up the Botox in a place like Kabul is hard to do.

In unrelated news, His Pectorals has miraculously saved or cured 100 million cancer patients who would have died had he not ascended unto his Throne.

Posted by: George Orwell at July 02, 2009 11:39 AM (AZGON)

76

Is deeply concerned higher, or lower, than troubled on the Obama scale?

If it were a color scale, it's roughly the difference between "bone" and "eggshell."

Posted by: Circa (Insert Year Here) at July 02, 2009 11:40 AM (B+qrE)

77 Posted by: poon at July 02, 2009 11:38 AM (i31Zq)

Good lord, the poon is one seriously brain damaged fuck nut.

Posted by: toby928 at July 02, 2009 11:40 AM (PD1tk)

78

poon, the dow is down 171 now. can't obama fix this today? or is this just another coincidence in a long line of coincidences? or better yet, how about getting him to utter the magic words that would put 15 million back to work. so far, "hocus pocus, stimulus fuckus" hasn't worked.

As for Palin, the Krautster is right. Although when running as a VP candidate, she had to stay mostly on line with Mac, running as a candidate for POTUS she will have to be specific. I have some problems with her in that capacity. I wish I didn't.

Posted by: mikeyslaw at July 02, 2009 11:40 AM (QMGr1)

79

Are our troops stationed in Italy "on vacation," too, eleven?

Eh eh eh.  Nice attempted shift.  We aren't talking about the troops.

Posted by: Circa (Insert Year Here) at July 02, 2009 11:41 AM (B+qrE)

80 This Obama cockring is tight.

Posted by: poon at July 02, 2009 11:41 AM (i31Zq)

81 No poon, our troops aren't on vacation.  What's your point?

Posted by: Eleven at July 02, 2009 11:41 AM (7DB+a)

82 Congrats again, poon. You're doing a bang up job. I see you've managed to hijack another thread. Too easy to get attention here. Maybe you should stretch your wings and find a site with a less excitable crowd.

Posted by: David Axlerod at July 02, 2009 11:42 AM (kIjlp)

83 "Are our troops stationed in Italy "on vacation," too, eleven?"

Did nancy stay in military barracks and eat at the mess hall in Italy, poon? For four years?

Please, this is getting embarrassing.

Bring some better troll or get back in your box down in mommy's basement, poon.

Posted by: buster mcDissenter at July 02, 2009 11:42 AM (k8MRc)

84 Holy Moses. Poon just reset the boundaries of stoopid! Someone call Guiness!

Posted by: maddogg at July 02, 2009 11:42 AM (OlN4e)

85 Hey poonbitch,

At least the Troops are doing their jobs that we pay them to do, skankface pelosi wasn't!

Posted by: 'Nam Grunt at July 02, 2009 11:43 AM (Nj9Dm)

86 Peaceful (if possible) secession now , comrades !

Posted by: aubrey at July 02, 2009 11:43 AM (vJZ+j)

87 #71
When the funemployment number hits 10.5%, the usual suspects will prove, with geometric logic, that this actually make the Lord of the Flyswatters look even better than before. Of course, His Presence is the only thing that prevents the rate from hitting 25%, and keeps the meteors away.

We're already at 11.4% in Dummycrat controlled, überblue Clownifornia. It's the Great Freepression!

Posted by: George Orwell at July 02, 2009 11:44 AM (AZGON)

88 I'm bitter indeed.  Bitter that your goebbels worshipping ass isn't within my reach. 

Why your fascist fucking retard presence is tolerated in these parts is a mystery.  You're lima without his ability to construct an argument, palin steele without the killer humor, RKG without the grammar.

We've shit better trolls that you, fuckface.


Posted by: toby928 at July 02, 2009 11:45 AM (PD1tk)

89 Poonbitch,

If you hurry you can join palin steele on his corner for the lunch time bj rush maybe y'all could tag team the customers!

Posted by: 'Nam Grunt at July 02, 2009 11:45 AM (Nj9Dm)

90

Look, by Congress spending all that travel money, they were helping save or create airline industry jobs. 

As long as those banking fuckers don't take their clients to Vegas, I'm for it.

Posted by: Barry O at July 02, 2009 11:46 AM (knHvu)

91 Based on the job losses and the individual state unemployment rates, the unemployment number should have shot up at approximately the same rate as previous months.

I know the Bureau of Labor Statistics revises these numbers, usually a year later, but I am very suspicious of 9.5.  It makes no sense based on other data, but I'm not an econometrician.

Posted by: AmishDude at July 02, 2009 11:36 AM (T0NGe)

Amish, I think it may have something to do with the number of people who drop off because their benefits run out, and they just give up, then they aren't counted anymore. i'm not one of those econometrician things either.

 

Posted by: mikeyslaw at July 02, 2009 11:47 AM (QMGr1)

92

Poonbitch,

Dow is down 175. How's Wall Street lovin' Barry today?

Posted by: TheQuietMan at July 02, 2009 11:47 AM (1Jaio)

93 BTW, I'm sure our troops were tripping all over themselves to see the meat topnot. Standing in line right behind those lying CIA types.

Posted by: maddogg at July 02, 2009 11:48 AM (OlN4e)

94 Hey sorry Americans.  We've been updating the fashion wing of the Vatican at the request of your Speaker.  Loaves, fish, and a manger is is pricey to keep this baby out of foreclosure.

Posted by: Pope Dolce & Gabanna the VI at July 02, 2009 11:49 AM (GtYrq)

95 Bat chain,,,, You don't mean platitudes like Hope and Change , Close Gitmo , We are the change we've been waiting for , share the wealth , eat the rich ,etc,etc.

Nope , no way such pandering bullshit would sustain a campaign for months and months. No sirreee.

Posted by: aubrey at July 02, 2009 11:49 AM (vJZ+j)

96

86 Peaceful (if possible) secession now , comrades !

Secession? Sure. But, do NOT call me comrade.

Posted by: teej at July 02, 2009 11:49 AM (QdUKm)

97 I'm getting an IOU in the mail from California...God this is so exciting...watching California's economic engine blow up.  When we file for Chapter 11, those   who laugh, will soon begin to cry.  When this state goes under, the rest of you are right behind...you can bank money on it.  A big THANKS goes out to all the California State Dems who worked hard for over 20 years to make this happen.

Posted by: Sparky at July 02, 2009 11:50 AM (J1f2W)

98

sparky

And a big ole howyafukkindoin to the lame brained Californians who kept sending them back to continue until the job was done.

Posted by: maddogg at July 02, 2009 11:52 AM (OlN4e)

99 Guys, never try daggering a rock. Just sayin'.

Posted by: poon at July 02, 2009 11:53 AM (i31Zq)

100

He did this? Really?

In a White House interview with The Associated Press, Obama said that since he took office, "we have successfully stabilized the financial markets," and "started to see some stabilization on housing."

Sounds like he didn't know anything about the subject he was teaching.

Obama, a former teacher of constitutional law, said, "I've always believed that affirmative action was less of an issue or should be less of an issue than it has been made out to be in news reports. It hasn't been as potent a force for racial progress as advocates will claim and it hasn't been as bad on white students seeking admissions or seeking a job as its critics say."

 

Asked about his plans for detainees currently held at the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the president said the idea of indefinite detention being part of his legacy as president "gives me huge pause."

 

"Huge pause?" That's an answer?

Posted by: TheQuietMan at July 02, 2009 11:53 AM (1Jaio)

101

Nancy Lugosi also used as an excuse for her sight-seeing trip to Italy that she visited with the Pope!  She met with the Pope, not as a US Representative, but as a US citizen.  And she got her botox reamed by the Pope, to boot.  But her seeing the Pope was worth the cost to us taxpayers.

As if she listened to one damn thing.  I want to see the transcripts of all these 'meetings' she supposedly was a party to.  But like Scare Force One's passenger manifest, the most ethical Congress in the world will not ask for such trivialities, they being such distractions.

Posted by: RickZ at July 02, 2009 11:54 AM (Bpyo9)

102 97, Sparky,

The only thing Texas is going under is a new flag with a huge white star on it when we become Th Republic of Texas again!!

Posted by: 'Nam Grunt at July 02, 2009 11:54 AM (Nj9Dm)

103 Yep, just like the rest of the country who keep sending all the fucknut dems back to the House and Senate.  Calif doesn't hold a monopoly on stupid dumbass libtard voters.

Posted by: Sparky at July 02, 2009 11:55 AM (J1f2W)

104

Palin isn't running for president right now, so the point is moot.  If and when she runs, THEN I'll worry about her platform and ability to put it forth.  She's a straight shooter, and I hope she runs.  But right now, it's fine with me if she focuses on her current executive job.

Posted by: April at July 02, 2009 11:56 AM (2B3NC)

105

 "Are our troops stationed in Italy "on vacation," too, eleven?"
Who posted this so I can whoop their ass?  Both my sister and I were stationed there twice!

Is it a great place to be stationed? Oh hell yeah!

If someone wants to live there, just enlist, easy enough.

Posted by: navycopihateallofyou at July 02, 2009 11:57 AM (EC7MN)

106

The difference is because people not actively searching for work are not included within the meaning of "unemployment"--including people who would like to work, but gave up.

Holy shit, I was right about something. At least, according to Gabe. I feel, well, so econmetricianistic.

Posted by: mikeyslaw at July 02, 2009 11:58 AM (QMGr1)

107

103 Yep, just like the rest of the country who keep sending all the fucknut dems back to the House and Senate.  Calif doesn't hold a monopoly on stupid dumbass libtard voters.

 

True! They do have so many that they can afford to export the shit out of them to other states to the point that states like Colorado go from red to blue in 4 years. Thats a hellova lotta moonbats.

Posted by: maddogg at July 02, 2009 12:00 PM (OlN4e)

108

104 April, I would vote for Sarah right now if she released more running photos.

What, I know all you guys would too and know damn well you women would too if Todd the Bod did his own photo shoot.

Posted by: navycopihateallofyou at July 02, 2009 12:04 PM (EC7MN)

109

You guys want to know why the Dems keep getting into power?  Because the American public don't give a shit.  Until their wallet gets hit that is or a national attack.

There are alot of folks on welfare who want to keep the Dems in power, they will vote and they will cheat.  The Dems know this.  Its about money and laziness. The republicans are watching American Idol.

Republicans won't do shit until they get hit in the wallet and the one that gets them out in droves is gas.  Then with Palin in the wings who could actually give us our own cheap gas, well, the dems are scared.

Posted by: navycopihateallofyou at July 02, 2009 12:11 PM (EC7MN)

110 Ooops, and unions, all socialists, they want Dems so congress with stay away.  Lots and lots of votes.

Posted by: navycopihateallofyou at July 02, 2009 12:13 PM (EC7MN)

111 In Pelocchio's defense, much of her time in Italy was spent "re-educating" The Pope on when life actually begins.  Armed with copious scientific papers and church writings plus all the translating that had to take place, Nancy had her work cut out.  You can rest assured that any couture clothes from Milan and Italian leather shoes or handbags were purchased so she could look presentable during her many meetings with The Holy Father.

Posted by: runningrn at July 02, 2009 12:15 PM (p9lFf)

112

Ahhhhhhh, he's not the Holy FATHER, he's the Holy SEE!

Sorry, pet peeve of mine, like MoH winners.

The pope should have discommunicated her ass.

Posted by: navycopihateallofyou at July 02, 2009 12:19 PM (EC7MN)

113 Not any different from the (former) Soviet Union:  They (also) claimed to be a 'classless society' - with the Communist apparatchik, of course,  being more equal than others.

So too with our politicians, who have arrived at the point they genuinely believe they are entitled to continue in office. Congressional districts have been so gerrymandered practically every seat is "safe"; every waking moment from the time these bastards wake up in the morning to the moment they go to bed at night is spent (a) grubbing for $$$ for their next (continuous) campaign, and (b) figuring out new ways to raise taxes/fees (from which they exempt themselves)  so they will have huge amounts of taxpayers' $$$ available to spend (give away) to buy the votes which perpetuate them in power.....Nice work, if you can get it!

Posted by: alwyr at July 02, 2009 12:20 PM (hUJ76)

114 The only thing I'm going under is my new Barry O real doll.

Posted by: poon at July 02, 2009 12:33 PM (i31Zq)

115 But, all liberals care about is hard work and people paying their fair share of taxes.

Posted by: Walter at July 02, 2009 01:03 PM (YmPwQ)

116 They're looting the Treasury while there's still something in it.

Posted by: Ken at July 02, 2009 01:05 PM (arEOF)

117 http://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/NPGateway

Check out just how much debt we incurred between June 28th and July 1 of this year.  Nearly $200,000,000,000.00 (yes, two hundred billion) on Tuesday alone. 

Having a hard time believing Bush would get a pass on that. 

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