Porker-in-chief Don Young lost his bid to be named chairman of the Homeland Security Committee:
Good fortune smiled on New York last week as Rep. Peter King (R-Nassau) was named the new chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee.
King fought off a tough challenge from Rep. Don Young of Alaska. Had Young won, he could have teamed up with his senior senator, Ted Stevens — the longest-serving Republican in the upper body and a notorious pork baron — to direct hundreds of millions of dollars up to the 49th state.
King, a member of the committee from its inception, is smart and solid, and a longtimestudent of terrorism and homeland-security matters. He can be counted on to emphasize need-based criteria in determining how security funds should be allocated.
Good.
Steven D
The only thing I would note is that the NY Post’s headline is “New York’s Good Fortune”, meaning that Mr. King will now be able to direct funds to New York rather than Mr. Young directing them to Alaska. Somehow I’m not so sure I care.
Richard Bennett
Peter King is a long-time supporter of the terrorist IRA. This is not a good outcome.
TallDave
They still need to cancel that $250 million Bridge to Nowhere. Should be a Katrina offset. So should a lot of things.
Where’s the Balanced Budget Amendment now that the GOP has the votes to pass it? Where’s Phil Gramm when we really need him?
You know, I’m starting to think it would be worth it to have a Democrat President just to get the GOP back in fiscal conservative mode. They hate seeing Dems spend money. That’s how we got those surpluses.
Steve
New York supports a “threat-based” method of allocating homeland security funding, which does favor New York over some other locations, but has the compensation advantage of actually being, you know, grounded in some kind of rational basis. Some other states prefer a more “pork-based” allocation.
Even knowing how our government works, it’s a shame homeland security funds have been treated as some kind of “uber-pork” – you know, it’s like pork, except no one can object because it’s for homeland security! Hopefully Rep. King, batshit insane though he may be, can introduce a more grownup method of doing things.
Steve S
They’ve got two $250 million bridges to nowhere in Alaska that need protecting. If Young isn’t on the committee, how are they ever going to convince people of the importance those bridges serve in the grand scheme of things?
It’s a sad sad day for the security of the average Alaskan troll dwelling under the bridge.
Steve S
Oh yeah. So how about the bush lackie who was arrested today in connection to Abramhoff?
How’s your cronyism President doing now?
Zifnab
Well, assuming you don’t live in New York and regularly communte to, from, or near any centers of worldly trade, I suppose you wouldn’t care. I mean, not that Alaska isn’t a hot spot for terrorism and all.
Far North
This is why is despise the 21st century conservative:
Stunning hypocrisy: The conservative yaps and jabbers about how evil government is and how government wastes “taxpayers’hard-earned money. The conservative rails against social programs, the NEA, national public radio, govt’ sponsored healtcare, and on and on and on…….
But, now, when the conservative is first in line at the federal trough (hello Don Young, hello Ted Stevens) to fund their favorite projects, it’s “get out of the way”‘ “we’re entitled to this”, “I’m the chairman”, “How dare you question me”.
The conservative, almost in a trance, goes into a mindless recital of how wasteful government is, all the while unable to comperehend his or her own culpability in government waste. And what does the conservative finally say when all the lines of bullshit have been expended? Why, they say, “if I don’t use it for my state, then someone else will”. In other words, they just can’t help themselves and they are powerless to stop this trend.
Look, the only people that can stop Don Young and Ted Stevens are the conservatives. I mean the conservatives in the Senate, the conservatives in Congress and the conservatives in the White House. You conservatives have all three branches of government and a good chunk of the media. Only you can stop this.
Oh, and forget about the Alaska voter. Most are self-proclaimed conservatives that want someone else to pay for the services they enjoy. The Alaska “conservative” is greedy and selfish and won’t hessitate to vote for a politician that has been proven to be corrupt or ethically challenged. As long as there is “Republican” next to their name on the ballot, that’s where their vote goes.
So, furgettaboutit. The Alaskan will never hold Young accountable. Only their congressional colleauges can to that. That just meanns that they will never be held accountable.
Mike
“TallDave Says:
You know, I’m starting to think it would be worth it to have a Democrat President just to get the GOP back in fiscal conservative mode. They hate seeing Dems spend money. That’s how we got those surpluses.”
It does seem that the government works best fiscally when you’ve got a fairly moderate Democrat in the White House and a Republican Congress doesn’t it?
jobiuspublius
NY and NJ are both in terrorist crosshairs and in economic competition. Both are “blue” states that generate lots of fed taxes. This could prove interesting. Watch King twist arms for Worst-POTUS-Ever
Tim F
I’m in agreement with pretty much everything TallDave said. The universe hasn’t collapsed, I checked.
That’s only if you use an extremely generous definition of the word ‘works’ ;^)
Krista
Far North: so what would you prescribe for our government then, seeing as they’re all a bunch of corrupt, theiving bastards?
Zifnab
How about, “Works better”?
I mean, to be fair, the Johnson and Carter administrations saw some fun times under all Democrat control. 70% income taxes and welfare up the posterure wasn’t my idea of a perfect world either.
I just miss Clinton and his so-fucking-close-to-balanced-budget-you-can-almost-taste-it era of fiscal policy.
Defense Guy
Only one problem with this statement as far as I can see. Change the word conservative to the more inclusive federal politician, and you have a winner.
Tim F
You won’t hear me saying that one-party rule works best. All I meant is that I remember those years and if that’s the best-functioning government that we can hope for then lord help us.
Far North
Well, Krista, I beleive that those who are in charge of the government should have enough respect for its functions to appoint competent people, not simply those who are in good standing with the party. The conservative hands out government jobs based on party loyalty. Competency has no relevance to the conservative.
The conservative cancer that has infected all three branches of government can only be eradicated by those members of congress that put country before party and country before greed. Every fiber of the ruling conservative is seemingly corrupt beyond comprehension. The name of the conservative leader of the house, Tom Delay, is synonomous with corruption. Of course, the only concern house republican collegues express over Delay’s corruption is that it distracts them from pursuing their agenda.
The conservatives swept into congress in 94 to “clean up government”. But they’ve taken corruption and greed to the next level (I thought it was time for a sports metaphor).
There is no hope in my state. Alaska is the poster child for the corrupt conservative. Just recently, Senator Ted Stevens was questioned by an Anchorage newspaper reporter on the subject of congressional legislation that potentially benefited his son, Alaska State Senator Ben Stevens (actually, no maybe about it). You would not believe Ted Stevens words. He wagged his finger at the reporter and thundered that he brings home a lot of money to Alaska and if he has to deal with these types of questions, why that just distracts him from helping Alaska secure a lot of federal money. He also threatened to bring the full investigative arm of the government down on this reporters newspaper if they dare continue to question him.
It was un-fucking-believable.
But the conservative in Alaska has no problem with Ted or Ben. You could show indisputable proof of corruption to the greedy, conservative Alaskan and it won’t matter. I’m afraid my beloved Alaska is like so many other red states when it comes to politics.
Damn, how could government have gotten so fucked up in just a few years? I think the answer is “the conservative”.