Do you favor smaller government?

[Jarhead]

Apparently there is one big government program the righties don't like: the water system.

That is very amusing.

You are a very shallow thinker

 

[Sallow]

Apparently there is one big government program the righties don't like: the water system.

That is very amusing.

They like it fine.

They just don't see it as an example of "big government". But no where in the United States Constitution does it guarantee citizens, "Healthy water provided by the government", specifically.

Unless..of course..you count General Welfare.

But..one could really go for small government..like say Costa Rica..or Guatemala. Where the water is impossible to drink from the tap. Even for the locals.

 

[Si modo]

Apparently there is one big government program the righties don't like: the water system.

That is very amusing.

They like it fine.

They just don't see it as an example of "big government". But no where in the United States Constitution does it guarantee citizens, "Healthy water provided by the government", specifically.

Unless..of course..you count General Welfare.

But..one could really go for small government..like say Costa Rica..or Guatemala. Where the water is impossible to drink from the tap. Even for the locals.

OK. So if those of us who favor small government also favor potable water, we have no credibility, right? Is that the point?

 

[Sallow]

It has nothing to do with smaller government. As happens frequently on this board, the topic of this thread has drifted.

Sure it does.

It's big government that keeps the water clean.

You think that's done on the cheap?

You think that there aren't thousands of people employed to do this?

Really?

 

[Sallow]

Apparently there is one big government program the righties don't like: the water system.

That is very amusing.

They like it fine.

They just don't see it as an example of "big government". But no where in the United States Constitution does it guarantee citizens, "Healthy water provided by the government", specifically.

Unless..of course..you count General Welfare.

But..one could really go for small government..like say Costa Rica..or Guatemala. Where the water is impossible to drink from the tap. Even for the locals.

OK. So if those of us who favor small government also favor potable water, we have no credibility, right? Is that the point?

Yes and no.

I don't think you really understand what you want to give up.

 

[Si modo]

They like it fine.

They just don't see it as an example of "big government". But no where in the United States Constitution does it guarantee citizens, "Healthy water provided by the government", specifically.

Unless..of course..you count General Welfare.

But..one could really go for small government..like say Costa Rica..or Guatemala. Where the water is impossible to drink from the tap. Even for the locals.

OK. So if those of us who favor small government also favor potable water, we have no credibility, right? Is that the point?

Yes and no.

I don't think you really understand what you want to give up.

Really? See post number 76; that's just the tip of the iceberg of what I want to give up:

It makes you wonder what they picture in their minds when they say Big Government?

Here, cupcake, just a tip of the iceberg:

The federal government made at least $72 billion in improper payments in 2008.[1]
Washington spends $92 billion on corporate welfare (excluding TARP) versus $71 billion on homeland security.[2]
Washington spends $25 billion annually maintaining unused or vacant federal properties.[3]
Government auditors spent the past five years examining all federal programs and found that 22 percent of them -- costing taxpayers a total of $123 billion annually -- fail to show any positive impact on the populations they serve.[4]
The Congressional Budget Office published a "Budget Options" series identifying more than $100 billion in potential spending cuts.[5]
Examples from multiple Government Accountability Office (GAO) reports of wasteful duplication include 342 economic development programs; 130 programs serving the disabled; 130 programs serving at-risk youth; 90 early childhood development programs; 75 programs funding international education, cultural, and training exchange activities; and 72 safe water programs.[6]
Washington will spend $2.6 million training Chinese prostitutes to drink more responsibly on the job.[7]
A GAO audit classified nearly half of all purchases on government credit cards as improper, fraudulent, or embezzled. Examples of taxpayer-funded purchases include gambling, mortgage payments, liquor, lingerie, iPods, Xboxes, jewelry, Internet dating services, and Hawaiian vacations. In one extraordinary example, the Postal Service spent $13,500 on one dinner at a Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, including "over 200 appetizers and over $3,000 of alcohol, including more than 40 bottles of wine costing more than $50 each and brand-name liquor such as Courvoisier, Belvedere and Johnny Walker Gold." The 81 guests consumed an average of $167 worth of food and drink apiece.[8]
Federal agencies are delinquent on nearly 20 percent of employee travel charge cards, costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars annually.[9]
The Securities and Exchange Commission spent $3.9 million rearranging desks and offices at its Washington, D.C., headquarters.[10]
The Pentagon recently spent $998,798 shipping two 19-cent washers from South Carolina to Texas and $293,451 sending an 89-cent washer from South Carolina to Florida.[11]
Over half of all farm subsidies go to commercial farms, which report average household incomes of $200,000.[12]
Health care fraud is estimated to cost taxpayers more than $60 billion annually.[13]
A GAO audit found that 95 Pentagon weapons systems suffered from a combined $295 billion in cost overruns.[14]
The refusal of many federal employees to fly coach costs taxpayers $146 million annually in flight upgrades.[15]
Washington will spend $126 million in 2009 to enhance the Kennedy family legacy in Massachusetts. Additionally, Senator John Kerry (D-MA) diverted $20 million from the 2010 defense budget to subsidize a new Edward M. Kennedy Institute.[16]
Federal investigators have launched more than 20 criminal fraud investigations related to the TARP financial bailout.[17]
Despite trillion-dollar deficits, last year's 10,160 earmarks included $200,000 for a tattoo removal program in Mission Hills, California; $190,000 for the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody, Wyoming; and $75,000 for the Totally Teen Zone in Albany, Georgia.[18]
The federal government owns more than 50,000 vacant homes.[19]
The Federal Communications Commission spent $350,000 to sponsor NASCAR driver David Gilliland.[20]
Members of Congress have spent hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars supplying their offices with popcorn machines, plasma televisions, DVD equipment, ionic air fresheners, camcorders, and signature machines -- plus $24,730 leasing a Lexus, $1,434 on a digital camera, and $84,000 on personalized calendars.[21]
More than $13 billion in Iraq aid has been classified as wasted or stolen. Another $7.8 billion cannot be accounted for.[22]
Fraud related to Hurricane Katrina spending is estimated to top $2 billion. In addition, debit cards provided to hurricane victims were used to pay for Caribbean vacations, NFL tickets, Dom Perignon champagne, "Girls Gone Wild" videos, and at least one sex change operation.[23]
Auditors discovered that 900,000 of the 2.5 million recipients of emergency Katrina assistance provided false names, addresses, or Social Security numbers or submitted multiple applications.[24]
Congress recently gave Alaska Airlines $500,000 to paint a Chinook salmon on a Boeing 737.[25]
The Transportation Department will subsidize up to $2,000 per flight for direct flights between Washington, D.C., and the small hometown of Congressman Hal Rogers (R-KY) -- but only on Monday mornings and Friday evenings, when lawmakers, staff, and lobbyists usually fly. Rogers is a member of the Appropriations Committee, which writes the Transportation Department's budget.[26]
Washington has spent $3 billion re-sanding beaches -- even as this new sand washes back into the ocean.[27]
A Department of Agriculture report concedes that much of the $2.5 billion in "stimulus" funding for broadband Internet will be wasted.[28]
The Defense Department wasted $100 million on unused flight tickets and never bothered to collect refunds even though the tickets were refundable.[29]
Washington spends $60,000 per hour shooting Air Force One photo-ops in front of national landmarks.[30]
Over one recent 18-month period, Air Force and Navy personnel used government-funded credit cards to charge at least $102,400 on admission to entertainment events, $48,250 on gambling, $69,300 on cruises, and $73,950 on exotic dance clubs and prostitutes.[31]
Members of Congress are set to pay themselves $90 million to increase their franked mailings for the 2010 election year.[32]
Congress has ignored efficiency recommendations from the Department of Health and Human Services that would save $9 billion annually.[33]
Taxpayers are funding paintings of high-ranking government officials at a cost of up to $50,000 apiece.[34]
The state of Washington sent $1 food stamp checks to 250,000 households in order to raise state caseload figures and trigger $43 million in additional federal funds.[35]
Suburban families are receiving large farm subsidies for the grass in their backyards -- subsidies that many of these families never requested and do not want. [36]
Congress appropriated $20 million for "commemoration of success" celebrations related to Iraq and Afghanistan.[37]
Homeland Security employee purchases include 63-inch plasma TVs, iPods, and $230 for a beer brewing kit.[38]
Two drafting errors in the 2005 Deficit Reduction Act resulted in a $2 billion taxpayer cost.[39]
North Ridgeville, Ohio, received $800,000 in "stimulus" funds for a project that its mayor described as "a long way from the top priority."[40]
The National Institutes of Health spends $1.3 million per month to rent a lab that it cannot use.[41]
Congress recently spent $2.4 billion on 10 new jets that the Pentagon insists it does not need and will not use.[42]
Lawmakers diverted $13 million from Hurricane Katrina relief spending to build a museum celebrating the Army Corps of Engineers -- the agency partially responsible for the failed levees that flooded New Orleans.[43]
Medicare officials recently mailed $50 million in erroneous refunds to 230,000 Medicare recipients.[44]
Audits showed $34 billion worth of Department of Homeland Security contracts contained significant waste, fraud, and abuse.[45]
Washington recently spent $1.8 million to help build a private golf course in Atlanta, Georgia.[46]
The Advanced Technology Program spends $150 million annually subsidizing private businesses; 40 percent of this funding goes to Fortune 500 companies.[47]
Congressional investigators were able to receive $55,000 in federal student loan funding for a fictional college they created to test the Department of Education.[48]
The Conservation Reserve program pays farmers $2 billion annually not to farm their land.[49]
The Commerce Department has lost 1,137 computers since 2001, many containing Americans' personal data.[50]
​

50 Examples of Government Waste

 

[driveby]

I'm for the death penalty and clean water.

I'm against the head of the DOE having his/her own SWAT Team and the First Lady having a staff of over 20 people. So i suppose that because of my first sentence the moonbats will label me as being for big government.

 

[Uncensored2008]

They like it fine.

They just don't see it as an example of "big government". But no where in the United States Constitution does it guarantee citizens, "Healthy water provided by the government", specifically.

That's why the United States doesn't supply water. It is supplied by cities, municipalities and often private concerns. My water comes from a cooperative that I had to buy into.

I amazes me just how little you know of the way government works - of course that explains why you're a leftist.

 

[Sallow]

OK. So if those of us who favor small government also favor potable water, we have no credibility, right? Is that the point?

Yes and no.

I don't think you really understand what you want to give up.

Really? See post number 76; that's just the tip of the iceberg of what I want to give up:

It makes you wonder what they picture in their minds when they say Big Government?

Here, cupcake, just a tip of the iceberg:

The federal government made at least $72 billion in improper payments in 2008.[1]
Washington spends $92 billion on corporate welfare (excluding TARP) versus $71 billion on homeland security.[2]
Washington spends $25 billion annually maintaining unused or vacant federal properties.[3]
Government auditors spent the past five years examining all federal programs and found that 22 percent of them -- costing taxpayers a total of $123 billion annually -- fail to show any positive impact on the populations they serve.[4]
The Congressional Budget Office published a "Budget Options" series identifying more than $100 billion in potential spending cuts.[5]
Examples from multiple Government Accountability Office (GAO) reports of wasteful duplication include 342 economic development programs; 130 programs serving the disabled; 130 programs serving at-risk youth; 90 early childhood development programs; 75 programs funding international education, cultural, and training exchange activities; and 72 safe water programs.[6]
Washington will spend $2.6 million training Chinese prostitutes to drink more responsibly on the job.[7]
A GAO audit classified nearly half of all purchases on government credit cards as improper, fraudulent, or embezzled. Examples of taxpayer-funded purchases include gambling, mortgage payments, liquor, lingerie, iPods, Xboxes, jewelry, Internet dating services, and Hawaiian vacations. In one extraordinary example, the Postal Service spent $13,500 on one dinner at a Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, including "over 200 appetizers and over $3,000 of alcohol, including more than 40 bottles of wine costing more than $50 each and brand-name liquor such as Courvoisier, Belvedere and Johnny Walker Gold." The 81 guests consumed an average of $167 worth of food and drink apiece.[8]
Federal agencies are delinquent on nearly 20 percent of employee travel charge cards, costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars annually.[9]
The Securities and Exchange Commission spent $3.9 million rearranging desks and offices at its Washington, D.C., headquarters.[10]
The Pentagon recently spent $998,798 shipping two 19-cent washers from South Carolina to Texas and $293,451 sending an 89-cent washer from South Carolina to Florida.[11]
Over half of all farm subsidies go to commercial farms, which report average household incomes of $200,000.[12]
Health care fraud is estimated to cost taxpayers more than $60 billion annually.[13]
A GAO audit found that 95 Pentagon weapons systems suffered from a combined $295 billion in cost overruns.[14]
The refusal of many federal employees to fly coach costs taxpayers $146 million annually in flight upgrades.[15]
Washington will spend $126 million in 2009 to enhance the Kennedy family legacy in Massachusetts. Additionally, Senator John Kerry (D-MA) diverted $20 million from the 2010 defense budget to subsidize a new Edward M. Kennedy Institute.[16]
Federal investigators have launched more than 20 criminal fraud investigations related to the TARP financial bailout.[17]
Despite trillion-dollar deficits, last year's 10,160 earmarks included $200,000 for a tattoo removal program in Mission Hills, California; $190,000 for the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody, Wyoming; and $75,000 for the Totally Teen Zone in Albany, Georgia.[18]
The federal government owns more than 50,000 vacant homes.[19]
The Federal Communications Commission spent $350,000 to sponsor NASCAR driver David Gilliland.[20]
Members of Congress have spent hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars supplying their offices with popcorn machines, plasma televisions, DVD equipment, ionic air fresheners, camcorders, and signature machines -- plus $24,730 leasing a Lexus, $1,434 on a digital camera, and $84,000 on personalized calendars.[21]
More than $13 billion in Iraq aid has been classified as wasted or stolen. Another $7.8 billion cannot be accounted for.[22]
Fraud related to Hurricane Katrina spending is estimated to top $2 billion. In addition, debit cards provided to hurricane victims were used to pay for Caribbean vacations, NFL tickets, Dom Perignon champagne, "Girls Gone Wild" videos, and at least one sex change operation.[23]
Auditors discovered that 900,000 of the 2.5 million recipients of emergency Katrina assistance provided false names, addresses, or Social Security numbers or submitted multiple applications.[24]
Congress recently gave Alaska Airlines $500,000 to paint a Chinook salmon on a Boeing 737.[25]
The Transportation Department will subsidize up to $2,000 per flight for direct flights between Washington, D.C., and the small hometown of Congressman Hal Rogers (R-KY) -- but only on Monday mornings and Friday evenings, when lawmakers, staff, and lobbyists usually fly. Rogers is a member of the Appropriations Committee, which writes the Transportation Department's budget.[26]
Washington has spent $3 billion re-sanding beaches -- even as this new sand washes back into the ocean.[27]
A Department of Agriculture report concedes that much of the $2.5 billion in "stimulus" funding for broadband Internet will be wasted.[28]
The Defense Department wasted $100 million on unused flight tickets and never bothered to collect refunds even though the tickets were refundable.[29]
Washington spends $60,000 per hour shooting Air Force One photo-ops in front of national landmarks.[30]
Over one recent 18-month period, Air Force and Navy personnel used government-funded credit cards to charge at least $102,400 on admission to entertainment events, $48,250 on gambling, $69,300 on cruises, and $73,950 on exotic dance clubs and prostitutes.[31]
Members of Congress are set to pay themselves $90 million to increase their franked mailings for the 2010 election year.[32]
Congress has ignored efficiency recommendations from the Department of Health and Human Services that would save $9 billion annually.[33]
Taxpayers are funding paintings of high-ranking government officials at a cost of up to $50,000 apiece.[34]
The state of Washington sent $1 food stamp checks to 250,000 households in order to raise state caseload figures and trigger $43 million in additional federal funds.[35]
Suburban families are receiving large farm subsidies for the grass in their backyards -- subsidies that many of these families never requested and do not want. [36]
Congress appropriated $20 million for "commemoration of success" celebrations related to Iraq and Afghanistan.[37]
Homeland Security employee purchases include 63-inch plasma TVs, iPods, and $230 for a beer brewing kit.[38]
Two drafting errors in the 2005 Deficit Reduction Act resulted in a $2 billion taxpayer cost.[39]
North Ridgeville, Ohio, received $800,000 in "stimulus" funds for a project that its mayor described as "a long way from the top priority."[40]
The National Institutes of Health spends $1.3 million per month to rent a lab that it cannot use.[41]
Congress recently spent $2.4 billion on 10 new jets that the Pentagon insists it does not need and will not use.[42]
Lawmakers diverted $13 million from Hurricane Katrina relief spending to build a museum celebrating the Army Corps of Engineers -- the agency partially responsible for the failed levees that flooded New Orleans.[43]
Medicare officials recently mailed $50 million in erroneous refunds to 230,000 Medicare recipients.[44]
Audits showed $34 billion worth of Department of Homeland Security contracts contained significant waste, fraud, and abuse.[45]
Washington recently spent $1.8 million to help build a private golf course in Atlanta, Georgia.[46]
The Advanced Technology Program spends $150 million annually subsidizing private businesses; 40 percent of this funding goes to Fortune 500 companies.[47]
Congressional investigators were able to receive $55,000 in federal student loan funding for a fictional college they created to test the Department of Education.[48]
The Conservation Reserve program pays farmers $2 billion annually not to farm their land.[49]
The Commerce Department has lost 1,137 computers since 2001, many containing Americans' personal data.[50]
​

50 Examples of Government Waste

Which is a good laugh.

Because I am sure you poured through each and every one of these expenditures and carefully weighed arguments for and against them.

You do know during the early part of this country..conservatives were dead set against building ships to combat the pirates that plagued our travel routes? They said it would be far less expensive to pay them "tribute".

 

[manifold]

You do know during the early part of this country..conservatives were dead set against building ships to combat the pirates that plagued our travel routes? They said it would be far less expensive to pay them "tribute".

If they'd listened to those same conservatives a few years earlier it wouldn't have even been an issue since we would've had the British fleet ready to go to battle the pirates.

 

[Sallow]

They like it fine.

They just don't see it as an example of "big government". But no where in the United States Constitution does it guarantee citizens, "Healthy water provided by the government", specifically.

That's why the United States doesn't supply water. It is supplied by cities, municipalities and often private concerns. My water comes from a cooperative that I had to buy into.

I amazes me just how little you know of the way government works - of course that explains why you're a leftist.

And all of that is held to a Federal Standard.

Current Drinking Water Regulations | Safe Drinking Water Act | US EPA

It amazes me how little you know of the way government works - of course that explains why you're a rightist.

 

[manifold]

They like it fine.

They just don't see it as an example of "big government". But no where in the United States Constitution does it guarantee citizens, "Healthy water provided by the government", specifically.

That's why the United States doesn't supply water. It is supplied by cities, municipalities and often private concerns. My water comes from a cooperative that I had to buy into.

I amazes me just how little you know of the way government works - of course that explains why you're a leftist.

And all of that is held to a Federal Standard.

Current Drinking Water Regulations | Safe Drinking Water Act | US EPA

It amazes me how little you know of the way government works - of course that explains why you're a rightist.

Nice burn.


Unfortunately, uneducated2008 is likely too stupid to even realize he just got served.

 

[Sallow]

You do know during the early part of this country..conservatives were dead set against building ships to combat the pirates that plagued our travel routes? They said it would be far less expensive to pay them "tribute".

If they'd listened to those same conservatives a few years earlier it wouldn't have even been an issue since we would've had the British fleet ready to go to battle the pirates.

So true.

 

[Sallow]

That's why the United States doesn't supply water. It is supplied by cities, municipalities and often private concerns. My water comes from a cooperative that I had to buy into.

I amazes me just how little you know of the way government works - of course that explains why you're a leftist.

And all of that is held to a Federal Standard.

Current Drinking Water Regulations | Safe Drinking Water Act | US EPA

It amazes me how little you know of the way government works - of course that explains why you're a rightist.

Nice burn.


Unfortunately, uneducated2008 is likely too stupid to even realize he just got served.

The old boy rather reminds me of Wile E. Coyote.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoKA2OLJ8hs]‪Operation: Rabbit (1952) - Bugs Bunny‬‏ - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Uncensored2008]

And all of that is held to a Federal Standard.

So you're saying that prior to 1986, water wasn't safe to drink?

 

[Uncensored2008]

Nice burn.

Mani, you're stupid as a fucking brick - seriously.

Here is what Shallow claimed;

{Sure it does.

It's big government that keeps the water clean.

You think that's done on the cheap?}

Do you deny that this is his claim, shit fer brains?

Do you deny that he claims "big government" ie the fed, "keeps the water clean?"

Is that true? Does the federal government do ANYTHING to treat or clean water?

NO stupid fuck, they passed a law dictating the levels that the municipalities must meet - they do nothing to "keep the water clean."

Good lord are you fascists ever dumb...

 

[manifold]

Nice burn.


Unfortunately, uneducated2008 is likely too stupid to even realize he just got served.

 

[Rozman]

So..

Who's in favor of cutting population down to 1776 levels and going back to 13 colonies?

Eh?

Wow,Do I get to choose? Like who get to stay and who,well those who......

 

[Uncensored2008]

Wow, replying to yourself and praising yourself on your cleverness.....


Well, no one else is going to do it, so I guess you have no choice.

 

[Uncensored2008]

Wow,Do I get to choose? Like who get to stay and who,well those who......

I think Shallow might be looking to the camps to manage that part of the program....