From Bush, Foe of Earmarks, Similar Items

[unhappycamper]

Source: NY Times

By ROBERT PEAR
Published: February 10, 2008

WASHINGTON — President Bush often denounces the propensity of Congress to earmark money for pet projects. But in his new budget, Mr. Bush has requested money for thousands of similar projects.

He asked for money to build fish hatcheries, eradicate agricultural pests, conduct research, pave highways, dredge harbors and perform many other specific local tasks.

The details are buried deep in the president’s budget, just as most Congressional earmarks are buried in obscure committee reports that accompany spending bills.

~snip~

The White House contends that when the president requests money for a project, it has gone through a rigorous review — by the agency, the White House or both — using objective criteria.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/10/washington/10earmark.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

[salin]

1. let me guess (before I read the whole article)

most of these "they're not earmarks!" expenditures, that have "gone through a rigorous review by the federal (politicized by Rove) agency" - disproportionately fall into republican congressional districts. Magically the "earmark crusading" President can make sure the GOP congressfolks still get their pork - while leaving mostly projects in Dem districts unfunded - and subject to political vilification if get "earmarked" funding.

Hopefully the NYT reporter/coverage will have considered this angle and will answer my prediction when I read it (if I had that cynical reaction - certainly wouldn't the reporter - and then dig to either disprove or prove it?)

[bulloney]

6. Don't forget Bush's biggest earmark--the Iraq/Afghanistan rathole!

Think of all of the domestic projects we could fund if we didn't funnel all of that money there.

[iamjoy]

2. Objective Criteria?

:rofl:

Is that the same kind of objective criteria they used to fire those state attorneys?

[UpInArms]

3. or maybe they used this criteria:

Simone Ledeen is serving her country. She is the daughter of Michael Ledeen, the Iran-Contra luminary, AEI scholar, and all-around capo in the neocon mafia. She's 29, a freshly-minted M.B.A., with little to no experience in war-torn countries. But as an advisor for northern Iraq at the Ministry of Finance in Baghdad, she is, in essence, helping shape one quarter of that nation's economy.

<snip>

In their place, the architects of the war chose card-carrying Republicans--operatives, flacks, policy-wonks and lobbyists--for almost every key assignment in the country. Some marquee examples include U.S. civil administrator Paul Bremer's senior advisor and liaison to Capitol Hill, Tom Korologos, one of the most powerful GOP lobbyists on Capitol Hill. Then there's the man in charge of privatizing Iraq's 200-odd state owned companies, Tom Foley, a venture capitalist and high-flying GOP fundraiser. Foley was one of the Bob Dole's top-ten career donors, Connecticut finance chair for Bush 2000 and a classmate of the president's from Harvard Business School.

The chief advisor to the Agriculture Ministry is Dan Amstutz, a Reagan administration veteran who until recently served as the president of the North American Export Grain Association. Oxfam's Director of Policy Kevin Watkins recently quipped that with his record of opening up developing economies to cheap American agricultural exports, "putting Dan Amstutz in charge of agricultural reconstruction in Iraq is like putting Saddam Hussein in the chair of a human rights commission." The presence of so many GOP lobbyists and fat-cats on the CPA roster has led many to suspect that the staffing was driven by the desire to award prized contracts to friendly companies and campaign donors. There is more than a little truth in those impressions. But a closer look paints a more complex picture.

...more...

[Supersedeas]

8. media willing to do homework to expose a Repig hypocrite -- no, not in Bush's 'Merica

[ryanmuegge]

4. Maybe he wants money for a Texas Air National Guard memorial.

[Deny and Shred]

5. It's not torture, its waterboarding. They're not earmarks, they're...

...uh, what are they? Pet projects? Oh, I see. Actually, I don't. This Jedi mind-trick stuff has to stop.

[quakerboy]

7. was anyone expecting different?