What Senator Coburn said...

I yield the floor to the Honorable Senator Coburn. It's nice to know someone is hearing us...

Subject: Senator Coburn's remarks regarding spending cuts

Date: Thu,

17 Feb 2011 19:20:01 -0700

Sen. Tom Coburn is an MD (general practitioner) and Senator from

Oklahoma.

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"We are going in exactly the wrong direction. We ought to be standing

on the principles that made this country great. There ought to be a

review of every program in the Federal Government that is not

effective, that is not efficient, that is wasteful or fraudulent, and

we ought to get rid of it right now. We ought to say, you're gone, to

be able to pay for a real stimulus plan that might, in fact, have some

impact.

I would be remiss if I didn't remind everybody that next week we are

going to hear from the Obama administration wanting another $500

billion. Outside of this, they are going to want another $500 billion

to handle the banking system. Still not fixing the real disease - the

pneumonia - we are going to treat the fever or treat the cough, but we

are not going to treat the real disease.

Until we treat the real disease, this is pure waste. It is worse than

pure waste.. It is morally reprehensible, because it steals the

future of the next two generations.

I am going to wind up here and finish, but I wanted to spend some time

to make sure the American people know what is in this bill. I think

once they know what is in this bill, they would reject it out of hand.

Let me read for my colleagues some of the things that are in this bill...

The biggest earmark in history is in this bill. There is $2 billion

in this bill to build a coal plant with zero emissions. That would be

great, maybe, if we had the technology, but the greatest brains in the

world sitting at MIT say we don't have the technology yet to do that.

Why would we build a $2 billion power plant we don't have the

technology for that we know will come back and ask for another $2

billion and another $2 billion and another $2 billion when we could

build a demonstration project that might cost $150 million or $200

million? There is nothing wrong with having coal-fired plants that

don't produce pollution; I am not against that. Even the Washington

Post said the technology isn't there. It is a boondoggle. Why would

we do that?

Tonight, we eliminated a $246 million payback for the large movie

studios in Hollywood .

We are going to spend $88 Million to study whether we ought to buy a

new ice breaker for the Coast Guard. You know what. The Coast Guard

needs a new ice breaker. Why do we need to spend $88 million? They

have two ice breakers now that they could retrofit and fix and come up

with equivalent to what they needed to and not spend the $1 billion

they are going to come back and ask for, for another ice breaker, so

why would we spend $88 million studying that?

We are going to spend $448 million to build the Department of Homeland

Security a new building. We have $1.3 trillion worth of empty

buildings right now, and because it has been blocked in Congress we

can't sell them, we can't raze them, we can't do anything, but we are

going to spend money on a new building here in Washington .

We are going to spend another $248 million for new furniture for that

building; a quarter of a billion dollars for new furniture. What

about the furniture the Department of Homeland Security has now?

These are tough times. Should we be buying new furniture? How about

using what we have? That is what a family would do. They would use

what they have. They wouldn't go out and spend $248 million on

furniture.

How about buying $600 million worth of hybrid vehicles? Do you know

what I would say? Right now times are tough; I would rather Americans

have new cars than Federal employees have new cars. What is wrong

with the cars we have? Dumping $600 million worth of used vehicles on

the used vehicle market right now is one of the worst things we could

do. Instead, we are going to spend $600 million buying new cars for

Federal employees..

There is $400 million in here to prevent STDs .. I have a lot of

experience with that. I have delivered 4,000 babies.. We don't need

to spend $400 million on STDs. What we need to do is properly educate

about the infection rates and the effectiveness of methods of

prevention. That doesn't take a penny more. You can write that on

one piece of paper and teach every kid in this country, but we don't

need to spend $400 million on it. It is not a priority.

How about $1.4 billion for rural waste disposal programs? That might

even be somewhat stimulative. New sewers. That might create jobs.

How about $150 million for a Smithsonian museum? Tell me how that

helps get us out of a recession. Tell me how that is a priority.

Would the average American think that is a priority that we ought to

be mortgaging our kids' future to spend another $150 million at the

Smithsonian?

How about $1 billion for the 2010 census? So everybody knows, the

census is so poorly managed that the census this year is going to cost

twice what it cost 10 years ago, and we wasted $800 million on a

contract because it was no-bid that didn't perform. Nobody got fired,

no competitive bidding, and we blew $800 million.

We have $75 million for smoking cessation activities, which probably

is a great idea, but we just passed a bill-the SCHIP bill - that we

need to get 21 million more Americans smoking (and paying tobacco

taxes) to be able to pay for that bill. That doesn't make sense.

How about $200 million for public computer centers at community

colleges? Since when is a community college in my State a recipient

of Federal largesse? Is that our responsibility? I mean, did we talk

with Dell and Hewlett-Packard and say, How do we make you all do

better? Is there not a market force that could make that better?

Will we actually buy on a true competitive bid? No, because there is

nothing that requires competitive bidding in anything in this bill.

There is nothing that requires it. It is one of the things President

Obama said he was going to mandate the Federal Government, but there

is no competitive bidding in this bill at all.

We have $10 million to inspect canals in urban areas. Well, that will

put 10 or 15 people to work. Is that a priority for us right now?

There is $6 billion to turn Federal buildings into green buildings.

That is a priority, versus somebody getting a job outside of

Washington , a job that actually produces something, that actually

increases wealth?

How about $500 million for State and local fire stations? Where do

you find in the Constitution us paying for local fire stations within

our (the federal government) realm of prerogatives? None of it is

competitively bid - not a grant program.

Next is $1.2 billion for youth activities. Who does that employ?

What does that mean?

How about $88 million for renovating the public health service

building? You know, if we could sell half of the $1.3 trillion worth

of properties we have, we could take care of every Federal building

requirement and backlog we have..

Then there's $412 million for CDC buildings and property. We spent

billions on a new center and headquarters for CDC. Is that a

priority? Building another Government building instead of - if we are

going to spend $412 million on building buildings, let's build one

that will produce something, one that will give us something.

How about $850 million for that most "efficient'' Amtrak that hasn't

made any money since 1976 and continues to receive $2 billion or $3

billion a year in subsidies?

Here is one of my favorites: $75 million to construct a new "security

training'' facility for State Department security officers. We have

four other facilities already available to train them. But it is not

theirs. They want theirs. By the way, it is going to be in West

Virginia ... I wonder how that got there? So we are going to build a

new training facility that duplicates four others that we already have

that could easily do what we need to do. But because we have a

stimulus package, we are going to add in oink pork.

How about $200 million in funding for a lease - not buying, but a

lease of alternative energy vehicles on military installations?

We are going to bail out the States on Medicaid. Total all of the

health programs in this, and we are going to transfer $150 billion out

of the private sector and we are going to move it to the Federal

Government. You talk about back dooring national health care! Henry

Waxman has to be smiling big today. He wants a single-payer

Government-run health care system. We are going to move another $150

billion to the Federal Government from the private sector.

We are going to eliminate fees on loans from the Small Business

Administration. You know what that does? That pushes productive

capital to unproductive projects. It is exactly the wrong thing to

do.

Then there is $160 million to the Job Corps Program - But not for 20

jobs and not to put more people in the Job Corps but to construct or

repair buildings.

We are going to spend $524 million for information technology upgrades

that the Appropriations Committee claims will create 388 jobs. If you

do the math on that, that is $1.5 million a job. Don't you love the

efficiency of Washington thinking?

We are going to create $79 billion in additional money for the States,

a "slush fund,'' to bail out States and provide millions of dollars

for education costs. How many of you think that will ever go away?

Once the State education programs get $79 billion over 2 years, do you

think that will ever go away? They cry and hue of taking our money

away - even though it was a stimulus and supposed to be limited, it

will never go away. So we will continue putting that forward until

our kids have grandkids of their own.

There is about $47 billion for a variety of energy programs that are

primarily focused on renewable energy. I am fine with spending that.

But we ought to get something for it. There ought to be measurable

results. There are none. It is pie in the sky, saying we will throw

some money at it.

Let me conclude by saying we are at a seminal moment in our country.

We will either start living within the confines of realism and

responsibility or we will blow it and we will create the downfall of

the greatest Nation that ever lived. This bill is the start of that

downfall. To abandon a market-oriented society and transfer it to a

Soviet-style, government-centered, bureaucratic-run and mandated

program, that is the thing that will put the stake in the heart of

freedom in this country.

I hope the American people know what is in this bill. I am doing

everything I can to make sure they know. But more important, I hope

somebody is listening who will treat the pneumonia we are faced with

today, which is the housing and mortgage markets. It doesn't matter

how much money we spend in this bill. It is doomed to failure unless

we fix that problem first. Failing that, we will go down in history

as the Congress that undermined the future and vitality of this

country. Let it not be so."

PLEASE FORWARD THIS TO EVERYBODY YOU KNOW! THANKS!!!

http://coburn.senate.gov/public/http://coburn.senate.gov/public/ >

Wars and Rumors of More War

Does anyone besides me remember Obama’s campaign promise to be out of Iraq within 7 months of becoming President? It’s now been 27 months.

Does anyone else remember Obama saying we had to have a clear cut strategy in Afghanistan and an exit strategy? And that if Pakistan did not help in subduing terrorist organizations such as Al Qaeda, we’d have to “take them out”? (That was in a Presidential debate with McCain.)

Now, Libya.

Where is the outrage among the people who condemned “Bush’s War”? Where are the accusations of Obama lied?

While President, Obama has played over 100 rounds of golf, vacationed in Montana, Hawaii, India, and now Rio.

War on 3 fronts, illegal immigrants by the thousands, drug cartels shooting American agents, an economy in crisis, a tsunami and nuclear state of emergency in Japan, crude oil over $100/barrel, national health care judged unconstitutional, Guantanamo is as open as ever, unemployment and underemployment are over 20%, 1 of 5 homes is in foreclosure, the Feds cannot agree upon an economic solution given the massive debt held and the imminent danger of hyper-inflation, and our President flies off to Rio...where ironically, he’s greeted by protestors who rightly identify the hypocrisy of the man who condemned interfering with the Middle East, and is now interfering with the Middle East.

What Would You Do?

Last night, I watched a movie entitled Defiance, produced in 2008. I had never heard of this movie, but was surfing through what was immediately available for streaming and wanted to see something with Daniel Craig (the most recent James Bond).

The story is based on the true story of the Bielski brothers who lived in Eastern Europe at the time of Nazi occupation. Jews were being rounded up and kept in the ghettoes until any usefulness had vanished, or as more availability of death camps made it possible to transport them to their maker. The Bielskis were Jewish, lived in a rural setting, and though many of their family were killed, they escaped and fled to the forest in hopes of survival. There, they encountered more Jews who had made it out, but had little hope of survival against their human adversaries, starvation, exposure and disease.

What is striking in this movie is the decision of many Jews to face their ultimate plight and remain in the ghetto. Although the rumors run thick of their ultimate fate, there is no hard proof, and thus, many choose to stick it out and hope for the best. Those who decide to escape then faced the decision of whether they were really up to the task of actually taking the life of another human. The vast majority were city people, devout in their faith, peaceful, people who avoided confrontation, and relied on God to protect them. For me, it was an excellent movie, and I’d highly recommend it.

Back in the day when I taught American History, when considering WWII, students would inevitably ask why the Jews didn’t rise us against their captors when it became obvious that terror faced them at the concentration camps. “Why didn’t they rush the guards as a group? If I had been there,” students would say, “I wouldn’t have gone along like a bunch of sheep to the slaughter!” (Or something to that effect.)

I couldn’t help think about what Conservatives in America would do today. Most Conservatives are law-abiding citizens who obey the letter and spirit of the law...even when we think it unfair. We don’t bring attention to ourselves. Getting to any type of protest rally is difficult because we are involved in the industriousness of a career, on tending to the needs of our children, or often ministering to the needs of others. We have great faith in the American system and really have a hard time believing that the growth of socialism we are witnessing right now won’t vanish as a temporary flash-in-the-pan, and matters will correct themselves. They always do, right?

If we’ve attended a protest, such as a Tea Party Rally, we note that they are peaceful, polite, and attended by people that we’d like to have as neighbors. When liberals come and attempt to agitate, we respectfully allow them to intermingle and state their opposition. If the police ask us to move off the street for the sake of traffic, we do so. If shop owners insist on not parking in their private parking lot, we move our cars. We tend to stand along the street, holding up signs which state our sentiments, smile and wave at passing cars - some of which carry occupants spitting, cursing, giving us the one-finger salute, and telling us that we’re a bunch of wackos. At the conclusion, we clean up, and no trash is left.

Have you seen any footage of the demonstrations in Wisconsin? Probably not if you don’t watch FOX. There, protestors have stormed the Capitol, threatened the lives of conservative legislators and prevented them from getting in the building - using intimidation as a means to get their way. The place is strewn with litter. The protestors verbally abuse and suggest that the Governor should be killed. One gets the sense that should anyone voice opposition, they would be summarily beaten by the mob.

Interestingly, it is the members of the Tea Party Movement who Janet Napolitano suggested needed to be on the terrorist watch list as a threat to Homeland Security.

Back to the Jews. Hitler blamed the Jews as being the root of Germany’s economic problems. He led a country trying to emerge out of their Depression into believing that Jews were prosperous due to their parasitic practices against the German people. By eradicating the Jews, Germany would be able to return to prosperity.

President Obama has openly ridiculed the Tea Party Movement. In one speech, he assumed the posture of a conniving, Scrooge-like person and talked about how the members of this movement “wave their little tea bags around.” He never once supported the right to express views based on the First Amendment, nor commended the group for their control and positive role-modeling for others - especially the youth - on how to conduct a peaceful protest. No, he belittled the movement. On the other hand, I haven’t heard him criticize the Wisconsin protests, just as he never spoke out against the thuggery of the SEIU’s actions of intimidating voters to stay away from the polls, and actually assaulting dissenters in the crowds.

So, have you ever projected what you would do, if suddenly, you were singled out as the enemy? The mainstream media is in the liberal camp. Those who are “neutral” are inundated with the message of how negative, divisive, selfish, self-righteous you are (if you are a real Conservative), and the source of the country’s problems. If there is an economic collapse in this country, and I truly believe President Obama wants to collapse capitalism, people will eagerly look to blame a group. If the Liberals get their way and a version of “Fairness in Broadcasting” becomes law, FOX news will disappear in a heartbeat, and we’ll be left with networks who do not question the President.

The Jews had to decide whether they would go down fighting, or continue to act as law-abiding citizens, trusting the government despite the signs of the times, and exercise their faith that God would not allow this to happen to His chosen people. The non-Jews had to choose between actively turning in their Jewish neighbors, pretending they didn’t know what was going on, or hiding and assisting the fugitives. In playing “what if” where would you fit in?