My guess...
Even the money starved members of B.T.O. would issue a cease-and-desist order because they would rather continue playing in bowling alleys and the Modesto County Fair for free food and beer than have themselves linked to Michelle Bachmann's lunacy.
Actually, Randy Bachman is stinking rich.
Yeah, BTO only had a couple of hits most people in America know but he was also the driving force behind MANY Canadian acts and yes, makes millions sill in publishing.
I don't have a question...
I know she doesn't much like being filmed/interviewed while having a private breakfast
especially after making it very clear to the press it was off limits..
She did a good job with it though, handled it with tact, thoughtfulness, and in good humor.
Quite honestly, most of the Tea people say they believe in freedom but few of them actually do.
Oh they want "freedom" as in "I don't want to be accountable for anything I do" like pollute the ocean or give children cancer with their carcinogenic breakfast cereal packaging. They want to be "free" of having to pay taxes and "free" of any moral obligations.
But those same people who harp on about "freedom" are the same ones who want to force kids to pray in school in a way they personally find acceptable, they want to force women to look at sonograms of their rapist's fetuses, they want to force their religion to be taught in school and they want to force schools to stop teaching science or anything that flies in the face of their personal religions.
Oh, they also want to take away the freedoms of people who aren't like them... people with darker skin, gays, people with other religions...
So when Michele Bachmann talks about supporting freedom, you know she's full of crap.
agreed.
The hypocrisy from the Tea people knows no bounds.
I disagree. Why lump all Tea Party people as if they are one. You do not appreciate it when the gay community is treated that way.
Personally, I am tired of being persecuted because I believe in God. Where is the tolerance from you for others?
I am not asking you to like it or even accept it, just tolerate it, without all the hate. :idea:
Thank you for this post. I wholeheartedly agree.
The same people that are clamoring for tolerance, are also persecuting others for their religion.
Fear is what drives them to persecute... The most animalistic of human behaviors is to destroy what you don't understand.
First off want to say sorry to Kat. i don't usually make treads so i am sorry but the last one. i had a discussion with another person here who i won't named in case it breaks any rules. we were talking about Michele bachmann and i had some question concerning her. if there is any people who know the answer to these questions i would like to know them.
what makes you think that bachmann/tea party will be able make government smaller?
She wants to lower corporate taxes and properly enforce them. I don't know if this would count to making government smaller though.
She wants to slash spending. Example: she was against the raising of the debt ceiling and properly predicted that credit rating agencies would downgrade us anyway, given the compromise. Her argument, whether you agree with it or not, is that spending needs to be cut severely in order to get the debt situation under control. Her proposition was that raising the debt ceiling does little to start the "cutting of government spending". You may disagree with that approach, but there's no doubt that's a shrinking government position.
give 2 examples of how she is a free thinker? ( this is due to an answer i got from said person at another tread)
This is interesting. I started to think about this question and then thought about other politicians. One part of me wants to say, I don't think there's a politician that's ever existed that's a "free thinker". Keynes was famous for saying "Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist". And although I disagree with Keynes on pretty much everything, that's one area where I agree.
That said, I think you could consider her more of a free-thinker than some other politicians due to the fact that she believes in an ideology, that up until recently was not practiced nor popular. She's very anti-Keynesian in most of what she says. I've seen a few interviews were she cites Hayek and Friedman. The reason I bring that up, is it's not mainstream to do that. To me, it showed some intelligence. For instance, I would bet 75% of the board has not read Keynes, Hayek and Friedman... yet she has.
First off want to say sorry to Kat. i don't usually make treads so i am sorry but the last one. i had a discussion with another person here who i won't named in case it breaks any rules. we were talking about Michele bachmann and i had some question concerning her. if there is any people who know the answer to these questions i would like to know them.
what makes you think that bachmann/tea party will be able make government smaller?
give 2 examples of how she is a free thinker? ( this is due to an answer i got from said person at another tread)
and to be fair you can ask me any question you may have about Canadian politics?
to answer your first question, a president can veto any bill that makes it bigger or only sign bills into law that make it smaller I suppose. Whether that gets overridden by congress is another story...but they still have the veto power. They can also use executive orders to do quite a lot.
I cannot give you any examples of how she is a free thinker and I don't believe she is worth defending. just wanted to answer your first question.
that’s right! Can’t we all just get together and focus on our real enemies: monogamous gays and stem cells… - Ned Flanders
It is terrifying when you are too stupid to know who is dumb
- Joe Rogan
WASHINGTON -- Few candidates in the Republican presidential primary field have decried the federal government with as much gusto as Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.). The three-term congresswoman has belittled the stimulus package, deemed the Obama administration both corrupt and "gangster," and lamented the "orgy" of spending she sees happening in Washington.
The contempt has served her well, helping her craft the type of fiscally conservative, anti-government message that has catapulted her into frontrunner status for the Iowa Caucus and, more immediately, Saturday's crucial Ames Straw Poll.
But it's simply not supported by the Minnesota Republican's actual record.
A Freedom of Information Act request filed by The Huffington Post with three separate federal agencies reveals that on at least 16 separate occasions, Bachmann petitioned the federal government for direct financial help or aid. A large chunk of those requests were for funds set aside through President Obama's stimulus program, which Bachmann once labeled "fantasy economics." Bachmann made two more of those requests to the Environmental Protection Agency, an institution that she has suggested she would eliminate if she were in the White House.
Taken as a whole, the letters underscore what Bachmann's critics describe as a glaring distance between her campaign oratory and her actual conduct as a lawmaker. Combined with previous revelations that Bachmann personally relied on a federally subsidized home loan while her husband's business benefited from Medicaid payments, it appears that one of the Tea Party's most cherished members has demonstrated that the government does, in fact, play a constructive role -- at least in her life and district.
"It had been a longstanding tradition in Congress to be fiscally conservative in every other district other than your own," said John Feehery, president of QGA Communications and a top adviser to former Speaker of the House J. Dennis Hastert. "Bachmann apparently is being a traditionalist."
A traditionalist, perhaps, but only when the cameras are off. When President Obama crafted a $787 billion stimulus package that included historic investments in state aid, infrastructure projects, health care and education reforms as well as a large swath of tax breaks, Bachmann led a chorus of conservatives in decrying the policy.
“During the last 100 days we have seen an orgy [of spending]," she said of the stimulus and auto industry bailout during a conference in Minnesota on May 4, 2009. "It would make any local smorgasbord embarrassed."
Less than three weeks later, she went looking for her piece of the pie.
On May 20, 2009, Bachmann wrote Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, asking him to look into an application for aid that the city of Big Lake, Minn., had made to "develop and finance the Big Lake Rail Park," which she described as "an ambitious commercial and industrial complex which will enhance economic development and job opportunities in this rural Minnesota community." Toward the end of the letter, she added: "We must work together to ensure job creators have access to the vital credit they need to make projects like this a success."
On May 22, 2009, she wrote Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood asking for support for the St. Cloud, Minn., Metropolitan Transit Commission's application for federal funds to "replace twenty-three 35-foot transit buses with compressed natural gas (CNG) powered buses."
On June 4, 2009, she wrote LaHood again seeking grant funding to extend the Northstar Corridor commuter service from Big Lake to St. Cloud.
On June 19, 2009, she made an "urgent" request to LaHood to reverse a decision by the Federal Highway Administration that undermined a project in Waite Park, Minn. The project, she noted, had already received $2.578 million in federal funding through the stimulus package and was "only awaiting the final determination" from the FHWA.
On July 2, 2009, she wrote LaHood again, pleading for money for road improvements in Waite Park. She added that she was "pleased to learn" that Minnesota's Department of Transportation was not going to "pull the nearly $2.8 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funding set aside for the project."
On Sept. 15, 2009, Bachmann wrote six separate letters to LaHood asking for help funding six projects (the Northstar line among them) through the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant program. The Center for Public Integrity and MinnPost has previously reported on those letters.
On Oct. 5, 2009, she wrote Vilsack again, praising him for putting money into the nation's beleaguered pork industry and encouraging him to help "stabilize prices through direct government purchasing."
Five days later, she was chastising the concept of government spending in public, saying that the president's efforts to stem the fallout of the recession amounted to a charade. "We hear about fantasy football games. This is fantasy economics," Bachmann said.
That the Department of Transportation was the primary target of Bachmann's quest for federal funds isn't surprising. The congresswoman has a record of trying to protect infrastructure projects from her party's budget cutters, arguing that transportation projects should be exempt from the ban on earmarks that the House of Representatives instituted in November 2010. She was also far from the only conservative who attempted to get her hands on some of the $12 billion in funds that DOT received under the stimulus.
"Some members refuse to take stimulus and won't have anything to do with getting government transit money flowing into their states. Others will say that they are against the idea of the stimulus or federal money flowing into the economy but if the money is there, they are going to try and get that money flowing into their district," said Brian Darling, a senior fellow in government studies at The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.
But that doesn't necessarily absolve Bachmann from attacks from her fellow party members, Darling continued.
"Some conservatives won't like it," he said. "No two ways about it. They will look at it and not like it because they don't want members trying to funnel money back to their state."
Even more problematic, however, could be Bachmann's attempts to get money and assistance from the EPA, an agency that she once said should be "renamed the job-killing organization of America."
In February 2007, well before Obama was in office, Bachmann co-signed a letter to the EPA urging its officials to help fund technical assistance programs and rural water initiatives "in small communities across Minnesota." The authors of the letter, which included nearly the entire Minnesota congressional delegation at the time, noted that FY 2006 funding for the National Rural Water Association had been set at $11 million.
"We need to continue these efforts in 2007," they wrote.
In other communications with the EPA, Bachmann was far colder to agency policy, criticizing spring 2009 federal management standards for coal combustion byproducts and 2008 National Ambient Air Quality standards. But in other instances, Bachmann turned to the EPA for constituent-related problems. In a Feb. 2, 2010, letter to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, she asked the agency to support a $270,806 grant application (filed with the EPA's Clean Diesel Grant Program) that would help a St. Cloud bus company replace two older motor coach vehicles.
"Voigt's Bus Service, with Community Transportation, Incorporated, is committed to bringing long-term benefits to the environment and the economy and they wish to accomplish this through the Clean Diesel Grant Program," she wrote.
More than the specific funding requests, it is Bachmann's private acknowledgement that the EPA can facilitate positive outcomes for both the environment and the economy that stands out for conservative activists. On her campaign website, after all, Bachmann refers to the EPA as the "Job Killing Agency."
"There is a line between representing your district and then trying to lard up on all of this pork spending, pun intended," said Bill Wilson, President of Americans for Limited Government. "There are very few in Congress who have been able to stand strong and say, 'No I'm not going to do this.' And they are, in our view, the heroes … By not being part of that group [Rep. Bachmann] isn't unique, obviously. But I think that she would owe an explanation to the public as to why she did it. Why she asked for certain things, including things from EPA when she's been very vocal about the overreach of the EPA?"
Both Bachmann's presidential campaign and her congressional office did not return requests for comment for this article. In the past, the congresswoman has tried to draw a distinction between the national message she imparts and her professional responsibilities as a representative from Minnesota.
"It is my obligation as a member of Congress to ensure stimulus dollars are spent on the most worthy projects. I did just that when I supported applications for the TIGER grant program," she said last year.
While Bachmann clearly petitioned the federal government for help in multiple venues, she was incredibly unsuccessful in her efforts. Minnesota's sixth congressional district received more than $234 million in stimulus contracts, grants and loans, according to the Obama administration's Recovery.gov website. That may seem like a hefty bundle, but it ranks last among the state's eight congressional districts.
A Department of Transportation official, meanwhile, tells The Huffington Post that the federal government did not end up funding a single one of the projects for which Bachmann solicited help. The department did send funds to the Minnesota state government, which in turn backed transportation initiatives in the state. But the DOT official said that only a small sliver of that pool, if any, was likely to have ended up where Bachmann wanted.
In one instance, moreover, Bachmann wrote LaHood in support of the "Cold Spring Police Department's application for funding through the COPS hiring Recovery Program." That program, the DOT official confirmed, is operated by the Department of Justice. Bachmann was petitioning the wrong agency.
In the end, Bachmann's ineffectiveness in securing federal help for constituents doesn't mitigate the fact that she sought federal help in the first place. And for Republican primary voters, who have been fed a healthy diet of anti-government rhetoric during this election cycle, that may prove to be a blot on her record.
"This will come up in the context of the battle for the Republican nomination and it will be up to Mrs. Bachmann to explain these things adequately," said Craig Shirley, a longtime Republican operative. "The task for any good candidate is to explain why they did such and such which might not conform with party orthodoxy, and then pivot very quickly to convince enough primary voters why it is they who should be the nominee and not the other contenders."
Rock me Jesus, roll me Lord...
Wash me in the blood of Rock & Roll
The same people that are clamoring for tolerance, are also persecuting others for their religion.
Fear is what drives them to persecute... The most animalistic of human behaviors is to destroy what you don't understand.
Um... what?
How are Christians in America "persecuted" for anything?
I don't see a movement to take away their rights... jobs... children... deport their spouses...
The whole "sometimes people say mean things so I'm just as downtrodden as the gheys" thing is just absurd. Christians are not persecuted in America. Don't give me this "Gays are taking away my right to take away their rights" bullshit.
Quite honestly, most of the Tea people say they believe in freedom but few of them actually do.
Oh they want "freedom" as in "I don't want to be accountable for anything I do" like pollute the ocean or give children cancer with their carcinogenic breakfast cereal packaging. They want to be "free" of having to pay taxes and "free" of any moral obligations.
But those same people who harp on about "freedom" are the same ones who want to force kids to pray in school in a way they personally find acceptable, they want to force women to look at sonograms of their rapist's fetuses, they want to force their religion to be taught in school and they want to force schools to stop teaching science or anything that flies in the face of their personal religions.
Oh, they also want to take away the freedoms of people who aren't like them... people with darker skin, gays, people with other religions...
So when Michele Bachmann talks about supporting freedom, you know she's full of crap.
agreed.
The hypocrisy from the Tea people knows no bounds.
I disagree. Why lump all Tea Party people as if they are one. You do not appreciate it when the gay community is treated that way.
Personally, I am tired of being persecuted because I believe in God. Where is the tolerance from you for others?
I am not asking you to like it or even accept it, just tolerate it, without all the hate. :idea:
I don't see anyone in this thread saying anything besides keep your God out of my schools and government. How is that offensive? Live and let live in my opinion. I don't think PoD cares if you love God and Jesus as long as you don't tell him that its mandatory for him to love God and Jesus.
How do some (not all) conservatives justify being for small government when they're telling people how to live? You must pray to the one and only God, you can't have an abortion, you can't marry someone of the same sex even though you're truly in love with them, how is that not big government?
The hypocrisy from the Tea people knows no bounds.
I disagree. Why lump all Tea Party people as if they are one. You do not appreciate it when the gay community is treated that way.
Personally, I am tired of being persecuted because I believe in God. Where is the tolerance from you for others?
I am not asking you to like it or even accept it, just tolerate it, without all the hate. :idea:
I don't see anyone in this thread saying anything besides keep your God out of my schools and government. How is that offensive? Live and let live in my opinion. I don't think PoD cares if you love God and Jesus as long as you don't tell him that its mandatory for him to love God and Jesus.
How do some (not all) conservatives justify being for small government when they're telling people how to live? You must pray to the one and only God, you can't have an abortion, you can't marry someone of the same sex even though you're truly in love with them, how is that not big government?
Thats not Big government, maybe big EGO goverment, reality its narrow government, narrow minded that is.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
tpp are collectively hypocritical, they denounce big gvt, the stimulus package, entitlement programs then their 'members' come crawling back to the fed looking for handouts in their respective states/districts.
'dont tread on me' is their common refrain, guess that don't apply to teachers, cops, firemen or other demographic groups that are not 'welcome'.
i will say that a couple of their 'people' (dude from memphis), has started to tone it down a bit and making some sense on issues that will require compromise.
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I disagree. Why lump all Tea Party people as if they are one. You do not appreciate it when the gay community is treated that way.
Personally, I am tired of being persecuted because I believe in God. Where is the tolerance from you for others?
I am not asking you to like it or even accept it, just tolerate it, without all the hate. :idea:
Thank you for this post. I wholeheartedly agree.
The same people that are clamoring for tolerance, are also persecuting others for their religion.
Fear is what drives them to persecute... The most animalistic of human behaviors is to destroy what you don't understand.
I think everyone here has a pretty good understanding of things...I don't persecute people for their religion, but i do have a problem when we live in a country where church and state are separate so I have a huuuuuge problem with a lady who thinks that intelligent design should be taught in schools. Her stance on gays is really extreme which is guided by her religion so I don't think it's non-religious people that have the problem. Policy should not be guided by religious views and if you can't do that then you shouldn't be a politician.
The same people that are clamoring for tolerance, are also persecuting others for their religion.
Fear is what drives them to persecute... The most animalistic of human behaviors is to destroy what you don't understand.
Um... what?
How are Christians in America "persecuted" for anything?
I don't see a movement to take away their rights... jobs... children... deport their spouses...
The whole "sometimes people say mean things so I'm just as downtrodden as the gheys" thing is just absurd. Christians are not persecuted in America. Don't give me this "Gays are taking away my right to take away their rights" bullshit.
This is true. In the real world Christians do not have much to worry. However, with the way some people talk, even here, about Christians and their beliefs, they are indeed being extremely condescending and intolerant. There is no question about that. It is certainly accept more here than comments about most other groups. I'm not sure why.
So they don't have any tangible persecution, but they are certainly verbally mocked to a greater degree.
The same people that are clamoring for tolerance, are also persecuting others for their religion.
Fear is what drives them to persecute... The most animalistic of human behaviors is to destroy what you don't understand.
Um... what?
How are Christians in America "persecuted" for anything?
I don't see a movement to take away their rights... jobs... children... deport their spouses...
The whole "sometimes people say mean things so I'm just as downtrodden as the gheys" thing is just absurd. Christians are not persecuted in America. Don't give me this "Gays are taking away my right to take away their rights" bullshit.
This is true. In the real world Christians do not have much to worry. However, with the way some people talk, even here, about Christians and their beliefs, they are indeed being extremely condescending and intolerant. There is no question about that. It is certainly accept more here than comments about most other groups. I'm not sure why.
So they don't have any tangible persecution, but they are certainly verbally mocked to a greater degree.
i think the reason that Christians do get mocked more is due to the fact of the power they have and power is always mocked. the other reason i think they get mocked is because of some of the dumb things they say like why can't people say marry Christmas instead of happy holidays.
Comments
Actually, Randy Bachman is stinking rich.
Yeah, BTO only had a couple of hits most people in America know but he was also the driving force behind MANY Canadian acts and yes, makes millions sill in publishing.
Trust me... He doesn't need the money.
I know she doesn't much like being filmed/interviewed while having a private breakfast
especially after making it very clear to the press it was off limits..
She did a good job with it though, handled it with tact, thoughtfulness, and in good humor.
It's those little things that I admire.
Thank you for this post. I wholeheartedly agree.
The same people that are clamoring for tolerance, are also persecuting others for their religion.
Fear is what drives them to persecute... The most animalistic of human behaviors is to destroy what you don't understand.
She wants to lower corporate taxes and properly enforce them. I don't know if this would count to making government smaller though.
She wants to slash spending. Example: she was against the raising of the debt ceiling and properly predicted that credit rating agencies would downgrade us anyway, given the compromise. Her argument, whether you agree with it or not, is that spending needs to be cut severely in order to get the debt situation under control. Her proposition was that raising the debt ceiling does little to start the "cutting of government spending". You may disagree with that approach, but there's no doubt that's a shrinking government position.
This is interesting. I started to think about this question and then thought about other politicians. One part of me wants to say, I don't think there's a politician that's ever existed that's a "free thinker". Keynes was famous for saying "Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist". And although I disagree with Keynes on pretty much everything, that's one area where I agree.
That said, I think you could consider her more of a free-thinker than some other politicians due to the fact that she believes in an ideology, that up until recently was not practiced nor popular. She's very anti-Keynesian in most of what she says. I've seen a few interviews were she cites Hayek and Friedman. The reason I bring that up, is it's not mainstream to do that. To me, it showed some intelligence. For instance, I would bet 75% of the board has not read Keynes, Hayek and Friedman... yet she has.
No thanks.
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to answer your first question, a president can veto any bill that makes it bigger or only sign bills into law that make it smaller I suppose. Whether that gets overridden by congress is another story...but they still have the veto power. They can also use executive orders to do quite a lot.
I cannot give you any examples of how she is a free thinker and I don't believe she is worth defending. just wanted to answer your first question.
It is terrifying when you are too stupid to know who is dumb
- Joe Rogan
Michele Bachmann Repeatedly Sought Stimulus, EPA, Other Government Funds
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/1 ... 1312984542
WASHINGTON -- Few candidates in the Republican presidential primary field have decried the federal government with as much gusto as Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.). The three-term congresswoman has belittled the stimulus package, deemed the Obama administration both corrupt and "gangster," and lamented the "orgy" of spending she sees happening in Washington.
The contempt has served her well, helping her craft the type of fiscally conservative, anti-government message that has catapulted her into frontrunner status for the Iowa Caucus and, more immediately, Saturday's crucial Ames Straw Poll.
But it's simply not supported by the Minnesota Republican's actual record.
A Freedom of Information Act request filed by The Huffington Post with three separate federal agencies reveals that on at least 16 separate occasions, Bachmann petitioned the federal government for direct financial help or aid. A large chunk of those requests were for funds set aside through President Obama's stimulus program, which Bachmann once labeled "fantasy economics." Bachmann made two more of those requests to the Environmental Protection Agency, an institution that she has suggested she would eliminate if she were in the White House.
Taken as a whole, the letters underscore what Bachmann's critics describe as a glaring distance between her campaign oratory and her actual conduct as a lawmaker. Combined with previous revelations that Bachmann personally relied on a federally subsidized home loan while her husband's business benefited from Medicaid payments, it appears that one of the Tea Party's most cherished members has demonstrated that the government does, in fact, play a constructive role -- at least in her life and district.
"It had been a longstanding tradition in Congress to be fiscally conservative in every other district other than your own," said John Feehery, president of QGA Communications and a top adviser to former Speaker of the House J. Dennis Hastert. "Bachmann apparently is being a traditionalist."
A traditionalist, perhaps, but only when the cameras are off. When President Obama crafted a $787 billion stimulus package that included historic investments in state aid, infrastructure projects, health care and education reforms as well as a large swath of tax breaks, Bachmann led a chorus of conservatives in decrying the policy.
“During the last 100 days we have seen an orgy [of spending]," she said of the stimulus and auto industry bailout during a conference in Minnesota on May 4, 2009. "It would make any local smorgasbord embarrassed."
Less than three weeks later, she went looking for her piece of the pie.
On May 20, 2009, Bachmann wrote Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, asking him to look into an application for aid that the city of Big Lake, Minn., had made to "develop and finance the Big Lake Rail Park," which she described as "an ambitious commercial and industrial complex which will enhance economic development and job opportunities in this rural Minnesota community." Toward the end of the letter, she added: "We must work together to ensure job creators have access to the vital credit they need to make projects like this a success."
On May 22, 2009, she wrote Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood asking for support for the St. Cloud, Minn., Metropolitan Transit Commission's application for federal funds to "replace twenty-three 35-foot transit buses with compressed natural gas (CNG) powered buses."
On June 4, 2009, she wrote LaHood again seeking grant funding to extend the Northstar Corridor commuter service from Big Lake to St. Cloud.
On June 19, 2009, she made an "urgent" request to LaHood to reverse a decision by the Federal Highway Administration that undermined a project in Waite Park, Minn. The project, she noted, had already received $2.578 million in federal funding through the stimulus package and was "only awaiting the final determination" from the FHWA.
On July 2, 2009, she wrote LaHood again, pleading for money for road improvements in Waite Park. She added that she was "pleased to learn" that Minnesota's Department of Transportation was not going to "pull the nearly $2.8 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funding set aside for the project."
On Sept. 15, 2009, Bachmann wrote six separate letters to LaHood asking for help funding six projects (the Northstar line among them) through the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant program. The Center for Public Integrity and MinnPost has previously reported on those letters.
On Oct. 5, 2009, she wrote Vilsack again, praising him for putting money into the nation's beleaguered pork industry and encouraging him to help "stabilize prices through direct government purchasing."
Five days later, she was chastising the concept of government spending in public, saying that the president's efforts to stem the fallout of the recession amounted to a charade. "We hear about fantasy football games. This is fantasy economics," Bachmann said.
That the Department of Transportation was the primary target of Bachmann's quest for federal funds isn't surprising. The congresswoman has a record of trying to protect infrastructure projects from her party's budget cutters, arguing that transportation projects should be exempt from the ban on earmarks that the House of Representatives instituted in November 2010. She was also far from the only conservative who attempted to get her hands on some of the $12 billion in funds that DOT received under the stimulus.
"Some members refuse to take stimulus and won't have anything to do with getting government transit money flowing into their states. Others will say that they are against the idea of the stimulus or federal money flowing into the economy but if the money is there, they are going to try and get that money flowing into their district," said Brian Darling, a senior fellow in government studies at The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.
But that doesn't necessarily absolve Bachmann from attacks from her fellow party members, Darling continued.
"Some conservatives won't like it," he said. "No two ways about it. They will look at it and not like it because they don't want members trying to funnel money back to their state."
Even more problematic, however, could be Bachmann's attempts to get money and assistance from the EPA, an agency that she once said should be "renamed the job-killing organization of America."
In February 2007, well before Obama was in office, Bachmann co-signed a letter to the EPA urging its officials to help fund technical assistance programs and rural water initiatives "in small communities across Minnesota." The authors of the letter, which included nearly the entire Minnesota congressional delegation at the time, noted that FY 2006 funding for the National Rural Water Association had been set at $11 million.
"We need to continue these efforts in 2007," they wrote.
In other communications with the EPA, Bachmann was far colder to agency policy, criticizing spring 2009 federal management standards for coal combustion byproducts and 2008 National Ambient Air Quality standards. But in other instances, Bachmann turned to the EPA for constituent-related problems. In a Feb. 2, 2010, letter to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, she asked the agency to support a $270,806 grant application (filed with the EPA's Clean Diesel Grant Program) that would help a St. Cloud bus company replace two older motor coach vehicles.
"Voigt's Bus Service, with Community Transportation, Incorporated, is committed to bringing long-term benefits to the environment and the economy and they wish to accomplish this through the Clean Diesel Grant Program," she wrote.
More than the specific funding requests, it is Bachmann's private acknowledgement that the EPA can facilitate positive outcomes for both the environment and the economy that stands out for conservative activists. On her campaign website, after all, Bachmann refers to the EPA as the "Job Killing Agency."
"There is a line between representing your district and then trying to lard up on all of this pork spending, pun intended," said Bill Wilson, President of Americans for Limited Government. "There are very few in Congress who have been able to stand strong and say, 'No I'm not going to do this.' And they are, in our view, the heroes … By not being part of that group [Rep. Bachmann] isn't unique, obviously. But I think that she would owe an explanation to the public as to why she did it. Why she asked for certain things, including things from EPA when she's been very vocal about the overreach of the EPA?"
Both Bachmann's presidential campaign and her congressional office did not return requests for comment for this article. In the past, the congresswoman has tried to draw a distinction between the national message she imparts and her professional responsibilities as a representative from Minnesota.
"It is my obligation as a member of Congress to ensure stimulus dollars are spent on the most worthy projects. I did just that when I supported applications for the TIGER grant program," she said last year.
While Bachmann clearly petitioned the federal government for help in multiple venues, she was incredibly unsuccessful in her efforts. Minnesota's sixth congressional district received more than $234 million in stimulus contracts, grants and loans, according to the Obama administration's Recovery.gov website. That may seem like a hefty bundle, but it ranks last among the state's eight congressional districts.
A Department of Transportation official, meanwhile, tells The Huffington Post that the federal government did not end up funding a single one of the projects for which Bachmann solicited help. The department did send funds to the Minnesota state government, which in turn backed transportation initiatives in the state. But the DOT official said that only a small sliver of that pool, if any, was likely to have ended up where Bachmann wanted.
In one instance, moreover, Bachmann wrote LaHood in support of the "Cold Spring Police Department's application for funding through the COPS hiring Recovery Program." That program, the DOT official confirmed, is operated by the Department of Justice. Bachmann was petitioning the wrong agency.
In the end, Bachmann's ineffectiveness in securing federal help for constituents doesn't mitigate the fact that she sought federal help in the first place. And for Republican primary voters, who have been fed a healthy diet of anti-government rhetoric during this election cycle, that may prove to be a blot on her record.
"This will come up in the context of the battle for the Republican nomination and it will be up to Mrs. Bachmann to explain these things adequately," said Craig Shirley, a longtime Republican operative. "The task for any good candidate is to explain why they did such and such which might not conform with party orthodoxy, and then pivot very quickly to convince enough primary voters why it is they who should be the nominee and not the other contenders."
Wash me in the blood of Rock & Roll
Um... what?
How are Christians in America "persecuted" for anything?
I don't see a movement to take away their rights... jobs... children... deport their spouses...
The whole "sometimes people say mean things so I'm just as downtrodden as the gheys" thing is just absurd. Christians are not persecuted in America. Don't give me this "Gays are taking away my right to take away their rights" bullshit.
I don't see anyone in this thread saying anything besides keep your God out of my schools and government. How is that offensive? Live and let live in my opinion. I don't think PoD cares if you love God and Jesus as long as you don't tell him that its mandatory for him to love God and Jesus.
How do some (not all) conservatives justify being for small government when they're telling people how to live? You must pray to the one and only God, you can't have an abortion, you can't marry someone of the same sex even though you're truly in love with them, how is that not big government?
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
'dont tread on me' is their common refrain, guess that don't apply to teachers, cops, firemen or other demographic groups that are not 'welcome'.
i will say that a couple of their 'people' (dude from memphis), has started to tone it down a bit and making some sense on issues that will require compromise.
MGM Grand - Jul 6, 2006
Cox Arena - Jul 7, 2006
New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival - May 1, 2010
Alpine Valley Music Theater - Sep 3-4 2011
Made In America, Philly - Sep 2, 2012
EV, Houston - Nov 12-13, 2012
Dallas-November 2013
OKC-November 2013
ACL 2-October 2014
Fenway Night 1, August 2016
Wrigley, Night 1 August 2018
Fort Worth, Night 1 September 2023
Fort Worth, Night 2 September 2023
Austin, Night 1 September 2023
Austin, Night 2 September 2023
I think everyone here has a pretty good understanding of things...I don't persecute people for their religion, but i do have a problem when we live in a country where church and state are separate so I have a huuuuuge problem with a lady who thinks that intelligent design should be taught in schools. Her stance on gays is really extreme which is guided by her religion so I don't think it's non-religious people that have the problem. Policy should not be guided by religious views and if you can't do that then you shouldn't be a politician.
This is true. In the real world Christians do not have much to worry. However, with the way some people talk, even here, about Christians and their beliefs, they are indeed being extremely condescending and intolerant. There is no question about that. It is certainly accept more here than comments about most other groups. I'm not sure why.
So they don't have any tangible persecution, but they are certainly verbally mocked to a greater degree.
i think the reason that Christians do get mocked more is due to the fact of the power they have and power is always mocked. the other reason i think they get mocked is because of some of the dumb things they say like why can't people say marry Christmas instead of happy holidays.