"They can kiss my ear"

By Aussiegirl

"Asked to respond to critics who have urged him to reallocate this notorious bridge's budget to Katrina's victims, GOP Congressman Don Young, chairman of the 75-member House Transportation Committee, said: "They can kiss my ear!"~~

Deroy Murdock lays it out down and dirty in today's National Review. Unfortunately, it's becoming painfully obvious that the Republican party has become a victim of its own success, and it may be true that the seeds of the destruction of the Republican party were sown when it finally achieved majority status. They are drunk with power and seem to believe that they will be in the majority forever. Nothing seems to sway these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds of spending, spending, spending -- in all sorts of weathers, for all sorts of reasons -- but it all boils down to one thing -- they are out of control and need a reality check. Unfortunately, given the fact that the leadership of the party has decided that, rather than return to sane conservative fiscal policies of restrained spending and free market economics, they will shoot the messenger and purge from the party ranks or intimidate anyone who dares to voice opposition to their out of control spending, there is little hope of stopping this madness short of turning the lot of them out of office.

The party arrogantly thinks that the base has nowhere to go. Conservatives now occupy the same place in the Republican party as blacks do in the Democrat party -- they only look to us at election time -- then after the election it's hasta la vista baby until the next election. See you at the polls, sucker! Maybe they need a big shock come election time. Sure, conservatives are not going to vote for any democrat who is likely to be nominated by the party as it is now under the sway of the extreme left -- but sure as heck conservatives can find something else to do on election day -- or there might even be an alternative candidate. One thing's for sure -- the corrupt and out of touch bunch that are in there now are not worth even getting out of bed for on a fine day in June, much less a rainy day in November.

Turn them all out!! Support alternative candidates in local primaries. These guys have to be taught a lesson. And for those who say it's better than the alternative -- that's what I used to say -- but really -- at this point what's the difference between the parties? Virtually nil. If we are going to have a corrupt and out of control federal government -- at least let the Democrats take the blame, and maybe conservatives will come to their senses as the minority party and start to exert some fiscal control as they did during the Clinton years.

Deroy Murdock on Katrina & Congress on National Review Online

In Crash, Hollywood's finest movie so far this year, Terrence Howard plays a prosperous black filmmaker who tells a black gangbanger (Chris "Ludacris" Bridges): "You embarrass me. You embarrass yourself."

As a Republican, I say to the even more rapacious GOP Congressional leadership: "You embarrass me. You embarrass yourselves."

Not long ago, the Republican Congress at least pretended to be serious about keeping federal spending plausibly sane. While they hurled massive expenditures in every direction, at least their rhetoric honored the grassroots-Republican expectation that they would respect taxpayers' money.

But, save for a band of fiscally responsible backbenchers (about whom more soon), profligate congressional Republicans have surrendered on this front. Their leaders no longer try to restrain spending, nor do they even say the right things about stewarding tax dollars.

As the House of Representatives approved $62.3 billion in universally applauded assistance to Hurricane Katrina's survivors, fiscal conservatives attempted to reduce other spending. House leaders rebuffed their amendment.

"My answer to those who want to offset the spending is sure, bring the offsets," House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R., Tex.) told reporters September 13. "But nobody has been able to come up with any yet." Asked if Washington operated at top efficiency, DeLay made free-market jaws drop when he said: "Yes, after 11 years of Republican majority, we've pared it down pretty good."

That's right. And Elvis died of anorexia.

Since the "Republican Revolution" of 1994, domestic discretionary spending has grown from $259 billion to $466 billion, an annual average of 5.5 percent, Cato Institute scholar Stephen Slivinski calculates. Under President Bush, this figure has accelerated 8 percent per annum, on average, far ahead of inflation.

On President Clinton's watch, the 1998 highway bill groaned under some 1,850 pork-barrel items. The 2005 highway bill, written and signed by Republicans, virtually suffocated beneath 6,371 fishy projects (including $2.5 million for the Blue Ridge Music Center), a 244-percent increase in fiduciary recklessness. This year's federal budget, Citizens Against Government Waste reports, featured 13,997 pork-barrel items, 31 percent more than in last year's spending plan!

Consider the disgraceful $223 million bridge between Ketchikan, Alaska, and Gravina Island — Population: 50. This equals $4.46 million per capita. Obscene? This is fiscal pornography. $223 million very generously could grant 892 storm-swept families $250,000 to rebuild or relocate.

Asked to respond to critics who have urged him to reallocate this notorious bridge's budget to Katrina's victims, GOP Congressman Don Young, chairman of the 75-member House Transportation Committee, said: "They can kiss my ear!"