Government Watch Dog - Will everyone who wants a former GITMO prisoner as a neighbor raise their hand?

March 19
When President Obama followed through on his promise to order the terrorist detention facility at Guantanamo Bay shut down, many wondered exactly what the president intended to do with the thugs still there. Now we are getting some clues. Attorney General Eric Holder admitted to reporters yesterday that the Obama Administration may release inside the United States some terror suspects currently being held at GITMO.

Holder said they would look at the prisoners on a case-by-case basis and determine which ones should be put on trial and which ones should be released. Among the possible outcomes, he added, “Among them is the possibility that we could release them into this country.”

Will everyone who wants a former GITMO prisoner as a neighbor raise their hand?

Feb. 24
GOP Governors Say “No Thanks!”
Hats off to the Republican Governors – Haley Barbour (MS), Bobby Jindal (LA), Rick Perry (TX) and Mark Sanford (SC) – who are indicating that they may refuse to accept some of the federal money from Obama’s Big Government “stimulus” bill. The primary reason they are citing is that there are lots of onerous strings attached, as the banks have learned, in taking this money. In addition, the money they are getting now is supposed to disappear in two years.

If Obama and congressional Democrats get their way, the “temporary” spending in the so-called “stimulus” bill will probably become permanent. But let’s assume for the sake of argument that Obama and congress do what they said they would do and make the money temporary. In South Carolina, if he takes the federal money, Gov. Sanford is obligated to increase the number of children in the Head Start program by 100,000.

Remember, Obama has told us that this money is temporary. What happens in two years time? Gov. Sanford will either have to raise taxes to replace that federal money or he will get slammed by the lmedia and politicians for dropping 100,000 children from the program in two years.

On Meet the Press this weekend, Governor Bobby Jindal said he is refusing $100 million in unemployment assistance because it would force Louisiana to raise business taxes when the federal money runs out. “It requires us to make a permanent change in our law. It’s like spending a dollar to get a dime.” Either way, the stimulus money guarantees the growth of Big Government at the state and/or federal level.

I think these fiscally conservative governors are doing the right thing. But don’t assume that there will be a big political benefit for these governors in their states. The media are portraying them as modern-day equivalents of Ebenezer Scrooge, and spinning their courageous decisions as if their ideology is preventing the people of their states from getting “help” from Uncle Sam. In fact, four Republican governors have even been accused of racism by one congressman. Gary L. Bauer  - Campaign For working Families

Jan. 30,
Congress is going to give itself a $4,700 pay raise this year AND that’s in addition to a whopping $90,000 increase in the budgets for each congressional office! According to the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call.

President Obama and Congress are in the process of putting together a “stimulus” package in order to spur the economy and create or save 3 million jobs.  The House of Representative’s proposal contained $275 billion in tax cuts and $526 billion in “carefully targeted priority investments” for a total cost of $820 billion.  It would be better to call it a de-stimulus package because each of the 3 to 4 million jobs that the President and his allies claim to be saving and creating will cost taxpayers about $275,000 per job. CAGS WasteWatchers