Please Sir, May I Have Some More? John Olver (MA-1), Earmark King

As I predicted, Scott Brown’s triumphant victory as the first Republican U.S. Senator in 38 years was only the beginning. Next came the retirement of disgraced U.S. congressman, Bill Delahunt (MA-10), which this columnist helped expose at this website.

Rep. John Olver

Now here comes crowded Republican primaries for Massachusetts’s other congressional races. Many of these candidates will lose, but by running they will give their opponents the first real race many of them have seen in decades and they will give new life to an endangered species, the Massachusetts Republican.

This is all part of a transition, moving the people of Massachusetts and their politics back to the middle, back to better representation.

For the Massachusetts congressional delegation, times are tough. Demographic change has meant that their numbers have shrunk to ten members, the lowest for the Bay State since the 1860s. If Republicans retake the House, the people of the Commonwealth will be all but shut out of congressional policy. With Ted Kennedy dead and no one left to direct the delegation, the congressmen will make for easy pickings, despite their considerable warchests amassed over the years. Here’s an assessment of the perceived vulnerabilities of John Olver (MA-1) that Republicans might exploit, moving his congressional district closer to the accountable government we’ve been looking for, and saving the people of Massachusetts much embarrassment once Republicans retake the Congress.

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Tags: Earmarks, John Olver, labor unions, massachusetts delegation, scott brown
Posted Mar 10th 2010 at 5:29 am in Big Labor, Congress, Culture, Earmarks, Politics, State Politics | 8590651 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/cjohnson/2010/03/10/please-sir-may-i-have-some-more-john-olver-ma-1-earmark-king/Please+Sir%2C+May+I+Have+Some+More%3F+John+Olver+%28MA-1%29%2C+Earmark+King2010-03-10+13%3A29%3A08Charles+C.+Johnson

Pork Report, March 2, 2010: Beer Museum Edition

Spending Under the Influence: National Brewery Museum receives a $449,574 grant from the Federal Highway Administration

The Secretary of Transportation says “it’s fun playing Santa Claus to states and cities around the nation”

…as the Department of Transportation furloughs federal bridge and road inspectors

Washington politicians and bureaucrats enjoy ‘lavish’ government pensions; Federal employees can draw on their pension beginning at age 50 and can get as much as 80 percent of their final salary

National Institutes of Health spends $3.9 million to develop ‘Avatar’ sex-ed video game for kids

National Science Foundation pays to produce a “free” CD for road trips on a highway in California

Director of Louisiana housing agency charged taxpayers for personal expenses; Unallowable charges included a $150 bill at hair salon, items from a sporting goods store and Wal-Mart, and telephone and electric bills

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Tags: early retirement, Fannie Mae, Federal Highway Administration, federal spending, government waste
Posted Mar 2nd 2010 at 11:09 am in Pork Report | 8309840 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/porkreport/2010/03/02/pork-report-march-2-2010-beer-museum-edition/Pork+Report%2C+March+2%2C+2010%3A+Beer+Museum+Edition2010-03-02+19%3A09%3A31The+Pork+Report

The Tangled Web of Green: Manufacturing a Public Scare

On November 30^th, the same day the Food and Drug Administration was scheduled to issue a statement regarding the long-used plastics additive Bisphenol A (BPA), the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel editors urged the agency with the headline “Get on with it!”  They charged that “the agency blew its own self-imposed deadline for issuing a ruling on the safety of the ubiquitous chemical,” and went on to complain that “The FDA is taking more time to have its scientists analyze studies of the chemical’s effects.”

The Milwaukee newspaper, along with the Los Angeles Times health blog, called on Congress to ban the product.  Then, on December 14, the examiner.com reported that Democrat Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand had proposed a bill outlawing the use of BPA in food container linings for infant and toddler food.  Washington, with its Senate vote on Friday, is the latest among several states that are not waiting for federal bans.

But as reported here, in the fall, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) had announced the award of $30 million in research grants, $14 million of which represents Obama administration stimulus money, to study BPA further.

What might account for such odd behavior?  There are enough peculiarities and strange connections to suggest that the media, the academy, and liberal political forces are working together to pursue an ideological agenda—with the help of stimulus funds.

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Tags: Bisphenol A, BPA, Chapel Hill Consensus, Christine Flowers, Chuck Schumer
Posted Feb 5th 2010 at 5:35 am in Environment, Featured Story, Media Criticism, News | 7017024 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/mgrabar/2010/02/05/the-tangled-web-of-green-manufacturing-a-public-scare/The+Tangled+Web+of+Green%3A+Manufacturing+a+Public+Scare2010-02-05+13%3A35%3A40Mary+Grabar

Pork Report, December 10, 2009: Muskrat Love Edition

Martini bar, puppet shows, and research on the sex drive of rats among the recipients of federal stimulus funding

All aboard the stimulus gravy train! $54 million of stimulus funds for a California “wine train” and $2.2 million for a golf course being threatened with closure

Congressional Republicans trumpeting their efforts to rein in federal spending have tucked thousands of pet projects costing more than $1 billion in the $446.8 billion omnibus appropriations bill expected to be passed this week

$500,000 National Science Foundation grant studies how people use Facebook

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Tags: Earmarks, Facebook, federal stimulus spending, federal waste, Juan de Fuca Festival
Posted Dec 10th 2009 at 4:29 pm in Pork Report | 4440225 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/porkreport/2009/12/10/pork-report-december-10-2009-muskrat-love-edition/Pork+Report%2C+December+10%2C+2009%3A+Muskrat+Love+Edition2009-12-10+23%3A29%3A26The+Pork+Report

Pork Report November 20, 2009: B-I-N-G-O Edition

U.S. Department of Justice funds spent on “Bingo Nights” in Ohio

Who wants $1.5 million in stimulus funds? Apparently, no one.

$25,000 stimulus grant will provide a week of “free” concerts in Sacramento

Less than one percent of Columbus commuters ride bikes, but more than a half-a-million dollars of federal stimulus funds to add downtown bike facilities

Hollywood’s Elegance International makeup school getting a $80,000 stimulus grant and Wild Boar Media, which “writes and dreams up new animation, stories, comics and toys” receives $50,000 in stimulus assistance

Congress long ago earmarked $87 million for a commuter rail line in Georgia, but the state has spent little of the money

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Tags: bingo nights, earmark, federal spending, fraud and waste, spending fraud
Posted Nov 20th 2009 at 3:49 pm in Pork Report | 3451017 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/porkreport/2009/11/20/pork-report-november-20-2009-b-i-n-g-o-edition/Pork+Report+November+20%2C+2009%3A+B-I-N-G-O+Edition2009-11-20+22%3A49%3A53The+Pork+Report

Pork Report November 19, 2009: Party Cruise Edition

“Are caged chickens miserable?,” asks three-year study funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture

Party cruise ship receives $123,000 stimulus grant to protect it from terrorist attacks; “We feel that we’re really a low threat for a terrorist incident,” says owner, “but the stimulus was a nice perk.”

U.S. government made more than $98 billion in erroneous payments this year alone

Federal grant intended to prevent tobacco use spent on junkets, tribal elections, and publishing a newspaper

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Tags: Department of Agriculture, federal grant, federal waste, party cruise, skate park
Posted Nov 19th 2009 at 12:21 pm in Pork Report | 3374218 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/porkreport/2009/11/19/pork-report-november-19-2009-party-cruise-edition/Pork+Report+November+19%2C+2009%3A+Party+Cruise+Edition2009-11-19+19%3A21%3A39The+Pork+Report

Pork Report: October 1, 2009

Keep on Truckin’:

Grateful Dead archive receives $615,175 federal grant; “The ultimate goal… is that everyone will have a Grateful Dead experience”

Renovation project at the Bill Clinton presidential center will receive $2.5 million of federal stimulus funds

North Carolina Department of Transportation spending $1.2 million of federal stimulus funds to renovate a lighthouse and another $3 million to paint a bridge

Congress approves $250 million increase in its own budget

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Tags: Alabama governor, Bill Clinton, Clinton Presidential Center, Cogress, Grateful Dead
Posted Oct 1st 2009 at 1:00 pm in Congress, News, Politics | 1108629 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/porkreport/2009/10/01/pork-report-october-1-2009/Pork+Report%3A+October+1%2C+20092009-10-01+20%3A00%3A53The+Pork+Report

Pork Report: September 30, 2009

Today’s Pork Report from Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) identies at least $315 million in wasteful Washington spending:

Congress boosts its own budget by $250 million; Increase will pay to hire consultants, hold receptions, and send postcards to voters

Only 16% of Americans believe Congress is doing a good job

Medicaid spends $65 million on prescription drug abuse, including paying for thousands of prescriptions for dead patients

Puppet theater in Philadelphia receives federal stimulus funds

80% of Boston’s music festival being paid for with federal stimulus funds; The six-concert, three-day event plans to “jump-start the classical music season and the national economy”

Nevada spending federal stimulus funds to underwrite “crucial festival director position”

Despite being in good financial shape, Idaho festival receives stimulus funds to pay for next year’s festival

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Tags: Boston, classical music, Congress, drug abuse, festival
Posted Sep 30th 2009 at 1:00 pm in Congress, Earmarks, News, Politics | 1055822 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/porkreport/2009/09/30/pork-report-september-30-2009/Pork+Report%3A+September+30%2C+20092009-09-30+20%3A00%3A57The+Pork+Report

Pork Report: September 29,2009

Today’s edition of Sen. Coburn’s Pork Report identifies at least $108.4 million in wasteful Washington Spending.

Despite being in good condition, Hollywood’s Sunset Strip will get a $7 million face lift with federal stimulus funds

Employee misconduct investigations, often involving workers accessing pornography from government computers, grew sixfold last year at the National Science Foundation; The problems were so pervasive, the agency’s inspector general had to cut back on its primary mission of investigating grant fraud and recovering misspent tax dollars

Senior government executives earned higher raises and bonuses last year

Defense appropriations bill steers over $100 million to campaign donors for pork projects not wanted by the Pentagon

Pork Rx; Federal government would pay 100% of the cost of Medicaid expansion in the Senate Majority Leader’s state under new health care bill

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Tags: cash for appliances, Harry Reid, Hollywood, Medicaid, National Science Foundation
Posted Sep 29th 2009 at 3:10 pm in Congress, Earmarks, Politics | 1037422 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/porkreport/2009/09/29/pork-report-september-292009/Pork+Report%3A+September+29%2C20092009-09-29+22%3A10%3A55The+Pork+Report