Instapundit: Obamacare Simply Most Recent in Failed Federal Mega-Projects
Glenn Reynolds, the Instapundit, writes in USA Today of the long list of federally funded mega-projects that go nowhere slow…. After riffing a bit on that theme, he writes:
The Olmsted Dam and Locks on the Ohio River were authorized by Congress in 1988, but a quarter-century later the project is only half-done. It has also overrun its budget by a factor of four.
Meanwhile, most of the interesting stuff being done in outer space are being done by private companies. (In fact, President Obama's space policy approach, which emphasizes private enterprise, is one of his greatest policy successes.)
As it's gotten bigger the federal government appears to have gotten less competent. Apollo was a success on its own terms, but the big government policies that followed -- the War On Poverty, the War On Drugs, the War On Cancer -- have all been pretty much failures, sometimes disastrous ones.
Note that the Olmstead Dam and Locks is the very project that Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) got funding for in the bill that ended the government shutdown. So it should be back to full waste level very soon…
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Small price to pay for averting shutdownacolypse.
"So it should be back to full waste level very soon..."
I have this image in my mind of sooty men tiredly stoking a massive boiler with shovels full of greenbacks when the loudspeaker proclaims "full waste!"
The goal of the "war on poverty" was to turn poor people into sharecroppers for votes. It was successful beyond LBJ's dreams.
-jcr
They'll turn us all into beggars 'cause they're easier to please / They're feeding our people that Government Cheese
They will try. But, a lot of those future beggars ar armed and won't like starving.
Enjoy some OCare related liberal butthurt:
Daily Kos: Via Sarah Palin: How Obama's Idiotic ACA Might Lead to Real Healthcare Reform
Instapundit is obviously another GOP hack that has cleverly forgotten failed Big Gov projects like NCLB, Medicare Welfare Part D, Iraq War, and the Ownership Welfare Downpayment Project. But he knows about TVA.
Why is that?
OK, more govt failures to prove govt can't handle big things like OCare. Thanks for making his case for him, idiot.
so Joan Walsh didn't give him the lesson of "hey, don't notice the emperor's being naked."?
Noticing Obama's fuckups is not the same as ignoring Bush's.
BUSHPIGS!!11!!CHRISTFAGS!!11!!!!
How can one say NCLB is a "failure" from the perspective of Big Government? NCLB was the first wildly successful step in the Federal Government's takeover of the public school system. NCLB paved the way for the second step, Common Core, to establish a national curriculum under the guise of "standards-based reform". Depending on how one defines "adoption" anywhere from 46 to 48 states adopted Common Core standards, some state adopting them before they were even written, due to the Federal Dept. of Ed. tying Race to the Top funding to adoption of CC.
Make no mistake, NCLB was never truly intended to improve teaching or learning in any way. It was all about the reorganization of the education bureaucracy in the service of firmly placing education in the control of the Federal government.
If Obama had done it or Medicare D, shrike would be sucking Obama's balls over how wonderful they are.
He's a piece of shit troll.
But that's the thing, NCLB is the piece-de-resistance of bipartisanship. Ed Kennedy's dick is smeared all over that legislation, as much as Bush's.
If Obama had done it or Medicare D, shrike would be sucking Obama's balls over how wonderful they are.
Of course. Policy is to be judged not on its own merit, but on the source.
He's a piece of shit troll.
He's a leftist. They honestly believe that fallacies are truth.
And, of course, cuntsnot is complaining about legislation we disagreed with in the first place.
We disagreed? But, but, but libertarians are Republicans!
This. NCLB was the DOEd's push to nationalize primary education. And those idiot compassionate conservatives along with the national greatness neocons went right along with it, even helped move it along.
One thing the Progs, SoCons, and NeoCons agree on is the fun they will have when a nationalized curriculum is the latest battlefield in the Culture War.
Almost as good as national discussions on abortion. Wedge issues still rule the fundraising circuits.
Show me a compassionate conservative, and I'll show you a big government liberal who opposes abortion.
BINGO!!! You win.
I don't understand Common Core at all. It takes something simple, like adding two three digit numbers and turns it into a four step process.
My son's school is teaching both the common core way for the tests and the right way to do the math.
If you were cynical, you might think the Common Core is designed top produce idiotic citizens who can't do math, and thus will celebrate when the Party raises the chocolate ration.
Good thing I'm not cynical at all. I'm very happy when my "chocolate" ration is raised.
I swear PB has been telling us what a success Part D has been - under budget, etc.
So, is this still a "non-troversy"?
Hillary and Obama Lied about Benghazi
Funny how the lamestream media just totally forgot the 30th anniversary Oct 23 of the 1983 Lebanon attack that killed 241 US Marines.
Why is that?
Holy shit you're an idiot. King of the no sequitur strikes again. Moron.
Non sequitur, even.
Does it even count as a non sequitur? What it is doing is basically saying, "Oh yeah? Well look over there!" because it is incapable of admitting TEAM RED! is capable of base human tendencies.
But it is still, completely and totally, a classical liberal...
Excuse me, TEAM BLUE! though TEAM RED! is equally capable of exhibiting base human tendencies.
Personally, I don't care if the dude with the jackboots on is wearing red socks or blue socks.
Yeah, it scored 96% on the libertarian purity test.
I wonder if that purity test is like one of those art tests where you draw a turtle and mail it in for evaluation...
He took the Fascism Purity Test and didn't realize it.
It is a non sequitur in that it truly doesn't follow as an argument. Coverage of a 30 year old bombing versus coverage of a scandal from a year ago, one still winding its way through having to prove itself to the Obamabots? One has nothing to do with the other. If anything, shitballs is trying to dredge up the conspiracy theory that Reagan somehow allowed the bombing to happen for some political gain. Even as conspiracy theory, it's not comparable. Benghazi is about an after-the-fact campaign of lying and the smears against people who recognized they were lying.
I guess I didn't realize that the "I know you are but what am I?" retort counted as a non sequitur but yes I see it now.
And let's not forget that an innocent person was imprisoned over this.
agreed.
Though, the timescale has less to do with relevance than the players. If Reagan were planning on a 2016 run, then by all means cover Beirut. Benghazi is an active scandal because the players are still active in their ambitions.
You know damn good and well Reagan earned the title 'Teflon' president because scandals did not stick to him. And his were actual law-breaking scandals.
Four killed in Benghazi? SCANDAL!
241 US Marines killed in embassy attack under Reagan? Ahh, so what. Fuck them.
So it is a question of degree? The bald face lying and obvious cover-up are not worthy of investigation and prosecution?
Is TEAM BLUE! responsible for any of its actions?
The bald face lying and obvious cover-up are not worthy of investigation and prosecution?
No, because only 4 people were murdered, so what difference at this point does it make?
/shreek
Hillary took the blame/responsibility for Benghazi. Blame her for the lack of security.
Granted, her stepping up is pretty worthless after the fact.
But you reek of desperation - GOTTA FIND A SCANDAL TO STICK ON OBAMA! MAKE ONE UP!
So in the same sentence you admit it is a real scandal and actual controversy but also claim it isn't?
I don't think "classical liberal" means what you think it means.
You're not on redstate.com, you idiot. Go find your Reagan fellaters over there. Most of us recognize that Reagan only paid lip service to small government.
Please tell us how this excuses Obama. Alternatively, learn what Tu Quoque is.
Hey.
Respect our resident classical liberal.
No.
I am curious...what does that have to do with the blatant lies and agressive attempt to cover up what happened at Benghazi?
And, actually, no, the MSM did not igonore it...
FOX News
CNN
See, according Sista Sarah of the Self-Righteous the lamestream media is ABC, CBS, and NBC.
No one watches CNN.
F. F-, even.
CNN and FOX still count as MSM.
Be generous. That bit of trolling earned a G+ grade.
Because our Leftist media have carried water for all the bat-shit insane Islamist movements since the end of the Cold War, at least.
If not for that, they would be happy to piss on Reagan's grave.
And I bet will completely ignore the 210th anniversary of the Oct 31st capture of the USS Philadelphia which enslaved US sailors.
It won't when Obama issues an executive order to force the Marine's to change the lyrics of their hymn. You know, in the name of sensitivity and anti-Islamophobia.
*Marines.
Need coffee
I thought it was a RIF down to a single Jarhead.
They also seem to be ignoring the 84th anniversary of Black Monday, when the stock market crashed in 1929.
One of the best raids in history came of this. Americans really should stick to what we do best, surprise attacks of stunning audacity.
I see shreek has ignored this too. One treasonous sonofabitch I guess.
This might be because Reagan's administration never lied about what happened and didn't have forewarning which they ignored.
Reagan also appointed a fact finding commission after the bombing. That fact finding commissions report was used so that future barracks would be better protected.
So Reagan, unlike Obama, had no forewarning, didn't lie, appointed a fact finding commission on his own volition, learned lessons from that fact finding commission and applied them. This is slightly different than Obama's reaction.
Like him or not that is what a Chief Executive is supposed to do. Very unlike the current occupant and holder of the title.
No forewarning?
The April 18, 1983 United States embassy bombing was a suicide bombing in Beirut, Lebanon, that killed 63 people, mostly embassy and CIA staff members, several soldiers and one Marine. 17 of the dead were Americans. It was the deadliest attack on a U.S. diplomatic mission up to that time, and is thought of as marking the beginning of anti-U.S. attacks by Islamist groups.
The attack came in the wake of the intervention of a Multinational Force, made up of Western countries, including the U.S., in the Lebanese Civil War, to try to restore order and central government authority.
Wikipedia
Wow you really are desperately this morning.
This isn't even worthy of a grade.
I - Incomplete.
I missed where even Wikipedia says there was forewarning.
Don't waste your time trying to reason with a dishonest, screaming, shit-flinging, moron.
There's a guy on my teevee right now whining about lost revenue during the "govt shutdown". Some hotel company with locations in and around national parks. Fuck you, pal.
You tied yourself to that mast.
So; basically we get to look forward to more failure, on a greater level.
Wonderful.
I'm feeling fairly pessimistic this morning. Would it be too much to hope that useless shits like McConnell get booted in the primaries?
It will be tough. He has a lot of money and some entrenched cronies that are energized by their hate of Rand Paul.
Apparently, the Venture-Capitalist-in-Chief has recently become aware of the precipitous drop in foreign direct investment in the country.
It's inexplicable. Investigative committees are being assembled as we speak.
Need to see some data on that.
Some asshole on CNBC saying it does not make it true. Rick Santelli is still there so I know the lies are.
ERMAGERD!! TEA PARTY!!!1!ELEVNTY
Today on SPOT THE FALLACY we have -
"Rick Santelli is still there so I know the lies are."
ready contestants?....Go!
BUSHPIGS!!111!CHRISTFAGS!!111!!!
In fact, President Obama's space policy approach, which emphasizes private enterprise, is one of his greatest policy successes.
Forcing the transfer of wealth to space wouldn't make any sense.
Alternate joke: He's privatized Muslim outreach?
"Forcing the transfer of wealth to space wouldn't make any sense."
Guess there aren't enough TEAM BLUE cronies in the satellite/payload moving business to shovel cash to at the moment.
I heard they were going to designate the dark side of the moon as a historically disadvantaged enterprise zone.
RACIST!!1`1!1!
There is no dark side of the moon. Matter of fact, it's all dark.
Think green energy, union labor and government workers. Dems get da dem cash transfers.
All I know is that Egypt and Libya are foreign policy success stories.
/thumbs up. Nervous smirk.
What possible reason would foreigners have to cut their investments in a country with a President whose economic understanding is as sophisticated and subtle as Hugo Chavez?
Racism. Straight up.
Was the Big Dig federal of local? That one had Medicare-level cost overruns and Tamany Hall-level corruption. A real winner.
That is Massholariffic corruption. I am sure Uncle Sucker had a few bucks in, but I think it was mostly local/state, IIRC.
Looks like it was both. As per Wiki:
And:
Wow....
Public infrastructure projects may be ridiculously wasteful, but when they're completed, a lot of times at least you end up with something useful.
Giving ObamaCare the same status as a bridge or a canal or something like that, it isn't really comparable...
Once ObamaCare is up and running, it isn't going to facilitate traffic or make our lives easier. It's going to hurt a lot of people.
I've driven through the Big Dig and it's actually pretty cool. I don't think it was worth twenty billion dollars, but it is pretty cool.
"It's going to hurt a lot of people."
It is already there...
Government spending counts toward GDP either way. Not sure why.
My grand father every time used to watch YouTube funny video lessons, hehehehehe, as he needs to be happy forever.
http://farrdesign.com/jerseys/?id=2294