Earmarks Contest Update!
Our earmarks contest has gotten off to a great start!
We’ve collected more than 5,000 earmarks, input by people across the country who want to get a handle on how members of Congress and senators direct spending to special projects in their districts and states. (You can see how the annual spending process is going in our FY 2010 Spending Tracker, by the way.)
Of course, many people have entered the earmarks of their local representatives and wrapped it up there, but we have a good crew working to be top earmark hunters.
The person who enters the most earmarks will win an Amazon Kindle; number two gets an iPod Shuffle; and number three wins a regular deluxe fruitcake!
We want to feature all of the top ten earmark hunters, so we’ve created some fun titles for the remaining leaders. Remember, the contest continues until we have collected all congressional earmarks or October 1st, the beginning of the new fiscal year.
Enough chit-chat. Let’s get right to the current standings!
#1 – to win an Amazon Kindle: curlymanster
#2 – to win an iPod Shuffle: sdwalker
#3 – to win a deluxe regular fruitcake: ZachV
#4 – Transparency Guru: bgarst
#5 – Open Government Maven: HansP
#6 – Accountability Czar: bias
#7 – Earmark Stalker: badlydrawnjeff
#8 – Pursuer of Good Government: jwbjerk
#9 – Congressional Conscience: SAMcGregor
#10 – Fully Qualified Data Entry Clerk: banker08
(current to mid-afternoon Saturday, July 25th)
There are lots of people just outside the top ten, and the competition is tight at the top – so keep entering those earmarks! You must be logged in to receive credit for your earmarks. Only complete earmarks get credit, including address information if it is available. Read more about the contest here. And here is our earmark entry form.
As much fun as this contest is, here’s the important thing: This project will make available to millions of Americans how their money is spent in Washington, D.C. Together we are improving the way our government works. Thank you to everyone participating in the contest, and thank you to those of you taking care of just one or two local representatives and senators.
Help Control Earmarks - and Win an Amazon Kindle! - The WashingtonWatch.com Blog
[...] Earmarks Contest Update! [...]
5,000 earmark requests databased — Sunlight Foundation's Real Time Investigations - Tracking Private Influences on Public Policy
[...] friends at Washington Watch have had some success in their effort to turn messy, un-formatted member earmark requests into [...]
Maria
We are very concerned about the Obama Administration’s power grabbing Czars, new far left “Extreme” policies and Communist/Marxists associations and views that are quite frankly eroding the American people’s freedom of choice and speech under the US Constitution.
I oppose any bill currently proposed by the Obama administration. President Obama is surrounding himself with Communists, Anarchists and Terrorists. I want no part of anything he has to offer until the following questions are answered:
Obama says we cannot continue to rely only on the military, he says we need to build a “civilian force” that is just as powerful, just as strong, just as well funded as our military.
- Why do we need a civilian force?
- Who is posing a threat to us?
- Who will this “force” be made up of?
- Who is the real enemy?
- Does the president know of a coming event? If not, who builds an army against an unrecognized enemy?
- Why won’t the media get off their butts and look into the radicals who are now in and out of the White House? And into this civilian army?
Obama says we need an FCC “Diversity” Czar to regulate the airways (this sounds to me like a way of “blocking” free speech one of our rights under the Constitution) … I am all for Diversity because I am a Cuban/American but:
- Why does the FCC have a diversity “czar”?
- Mark Lloyd, chief diversity officer of the Federal Communications Commission, called for a “confrontational movement” to combat what he claimed was control of the media by international corporations and to re-establish the regulatory power of government through robust public broadcasting and a more powerful FCC. Frequently referencing one of his heroes, left-wing activist Saul Alinsky, Lloyd claims in his book that the history of American communications policy has been one of continued corporate “control” of every form of communication from the telegraph to the Internet. Are these statements in line with the current administration’s view?
What does Obama think about MARK LLOYD, FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION making statements like this?: In Venezuela, Chavez really had an incredible revolution, a democratic revolution, and to begin to put in place, saying that we’re going to have an impact on the people of Venezuela, the property owners and the folks who were then controlling the media in Venezuela rebelled. Work, frankly, with the folks here in the U.S. government, worked to oust him and came back had another revolution. And Chavez then started to take the media very seriously in this country.
- What exactly is Mr. Lloyd trying to say in this statement, is he a supporter of Hugo Chave’s communist views and is he trying to say Obama will follow suit?
- Who is Mark Lloyd and how does he plan to “balance” the airwaves?
- Will he bring back the Fairness Doctrine or worse?
- Cass Sunstein once said he wants to balance the Internet; is that next?
- Will broadcasters who leave the airwaves be allowed to go to satellite or Internet without government regulation?
- Is there any place (that has a mass audience) where the government wont regulate free speech?
- Why does it seem every member of the Obama advisory team hates capitalism, unless those companies (like G.E.) are in bed with the administration?
- If Lloyd has his way, stations who don’t comply with the governments definition of the “public interest” will have to pay a massive fine — that helps support public broadcasting:
- What will be the definition of “public interest”?
- Who defines “public interest”?
- Why should it be balanced? Because it is public airwaves? (Well, there are public roads that go by my house and I don’t count how many Republicans and Democrats are driving on them.)
- Is this the reason why CNN, MSNBC, ABC and NBC have stop doing their jobs and no longer report any news that is not “favorable” to the Obama Administration?
– Is the Obama Administration against our right to free speech in America?
It is now well known that Obama is surrounding himself with Anarchists, Ex-convicts, Radicals and Terrorists (Among them the most notable are Green Czar, Van Jones, ex-convict and co-founder of STORM, a group who found inspiration and guidance in the insurgent revolutionary strategies developed by third world revolutionaries like Mao Tse Tung, 1st Chairman of the Communist Party of China, in office 1943 – 1975. Mao’s policies and political purges in the first decades of the People’s Republic are widely attributed to be responsible for the deaths of between 40 to 70 million people and Amilcar Cabral, a Marxist (according to page #51 of the book “Reclaiming Revolution”) and Jeff Jones, formerly with the Weather Underground, also an ex-convict, who was on the run from the law for a decade before he got caught in a traumatic raid in front of his 4 year old child) – Jeff Jones is now NYS APOLLO ALLIANCE DIRECTOR – this is his contact information as listed on the Apollo Alliance Website: Cell: (518) 265-0719 – email: jeffjones23(at)gmail.com
Address: 24 Fourth Street, Troy, NY 12180
- Is anyone in Congress, the Senate, the FBI, the CIA, Homeland Security or the Media asking who is “surrounding” the President in the White House?
- Is the President aware that many of his close advisers and associates have criminal records and who is performing background checks for the White House this days?
- Are the President’s advisers working to better the country or their own ideals?
- Who are the anti-capitalists in Washington?
- What roles do they have in crafting bills? Apollo Alliance claims to have written the Stimulus Bill!
- What was “STORM”? What happened to the founders, where are they now?
- What qualifications must one have to be a Presidential adviser?
- What is the difference between a community organizer and a community activist?
- Do the Czars Obama is placing in charge of just about every sector in the country have power?
- Should a communist have the ear of the President of the United States?
- What role did the Apollo Alliance play in crafting bills?
- Does the President know the co-founder of the Weather Underground is a board member of the Apollo Alliance?
- How many people in the administration are connected to the Movement for a Democratic Society? – Is President Obama aware that this organization is the re-constituted version of “Students for a Democratic Society” – which was the parent organization for the “Weather Underground” (also known as a terrorist organization)?.
– What role does George Soros play CONSTITUTIONALLY?
- Our unfunded liability for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid is close to $100 trillion. Is there any way to pay for these programs without bankrupting America?
- We are in so much debt, why spend more borrowed money on Cap-and-Trade and Healthcare programs before we stop the flow of red-ink?
- The Stimulus Package funneled billions of dollars to ACORN. How does giving billions of dollars to ACORN stimulate the economy?
- If it was so important for congress to pass the stimulus bill before they even had time to read it why has only a fraction of the stimulus money been spent 6 months later?
- Bush said he had to abandon free market principles in order to save them, how exactly does that work?
- Why won’t members of Congress read the bills before they vote on them?
- Why are citizens mocked and laughed at when they ask their congressman to read the bills before they vote on them?
- Was the cash-for-clunkers program meant to save the earth or the economy? Did it accomplish either?
- How did Van Jones, a self-proclaimed communist become a special advisor to the president?
- Did President Obama know of Van Jones’ radical political beliefs when he named him special advisor?
- The Apollo Alliance claimed credit for writing the stimulus bill—why and under whos authority was this group allowed to write any portion of this bill?
- If politicians aren’t writing the bills and aren’t reading the bills, do they have any idea what these 1000 page plus bills actually impose on the American people?
- If the ‘public option’ health care plan is so good why won’t politicians agree to have that as their plan?
- If town hall meetings are intended for the politicians to learn what’s on our mind—why do they spend so much time talking instead of listening?
- Politicians are refusing to attend town hall meetings complaining, without evidence, that they are scripted. Does that mean we shouldn’t come out and vote for you since every campaign stop, baby kiss and speech you give is scripted?
- Why would you want to overwhelm the system?
- Is using the economic crises to rush legislation through Congress what Rahm Emanuel meant when he talked about “not letting a crises go to waste”?
- What are the czars paid? What is the budget for their staffs/offices?
– Why were the two Black Panther members accused of voter intimidation, given a pass and not prosecuted to the full extent of the law like anyone else would have been?
– Why is ACORN, an organization accused and currently being investigated of “voter fraud” (among other things) working so closely with the current administration?
Why is A racially charged activist group called “Color of Change” founded by Van Jones, a self-professed communist and special “advisor” to the Obama Administration, trying to silence popular radio and FOX News personality Glenn Beck by calling for a boycott of Beck’s TV advertisers?
When the Obama administration and Congress answer all of these questions with reasonable answers, and when all of our representatives in Congress and the Senate decide to lead the American people by example, by signing up to the same programs they are trying to impose on us, that is when we will be able to accept any bill being proposed!
With all due respect, you work for us. We are tired of all the non-sense. Listen to the American people or we will vote you out of office!
Thank you for listening.
Maria & George Salomon