RocketEngineer's Blog

Facts about Democrats on Border Security

2010-04-29T05:23:50Z

So, I know that TPM readers will be shocked that re-pubic-ans are misrepresenting the issues on border protection. So a few facts. These are derived by researching budgets for the Department of Homeland Security found on their website at:

http://www.dhs.gov/xabout/budget/

The last budget that the re-pubic-ants controlled was fiscal year (FY) 2007. Since that time the Democrats have enacted three budgets (FY's '08, '09, and '10). Every year during that time, the budget for Customs and Border Protection -- the folks protecting the borders -- has gone up. In merely dollar terms, the difference between today and the re-pukes is (dollars in Millions):

                                    2007    2008     2009      2010
Total Budget                 9,497 10,816   11,955   11,437
Discretionary Budget 6,445 7,901     9,828   10,058

While total budget is "only" a 20% increase, the budget to put boots on the ground (the discretionary budget) has grown by 56%.

What has this bought? Let's look at the numbers of agents:

                                  2007    2008      2009      2010
Inspections               15,850 16,801   18,540   19,489
Border Patrol          14,656 18,384    21,596   22,904
Air & Marine              1,226    1,472      1,732 1,943
Fencing                         39       160        185       200
Small Airports                51         54        54       54

(Sorry, table formatting on this site isn't great.)

I've put the Border Patrol in bold, 8,248 agents have been added to patrolling the border. This is a 56% increase. Note that a 56% increase in dollars have gotten us 56% more "boots on the ground" in return.

Note also that "Inspections" -- the guys at border crossings -- have also increased by 3,639 agents.

So overall, the Democrats have added 12,768 more CBP agents (not pencil pushers) to CPB since they kicked the pukes out. Folks, in military terms, this is nearly the size of a Division in the US Army.

Please pass these numbers around, along with the links. You can find the budgets easily in the Acrobat (.pdf) files on the referenced website.

Janice Kay Brewer -- The Progressive's Ally

2010-04-26T05:13:11Z

Jan, Jan, Jan,

How can I thank you enough? You are amazing! You are the subtlest of politicians! Machiavelli would be proud; consolidating your position with your ostensible constituents while tilting the battle to your true comrades!

You have solidified Hispanic voters as a unified Democratic block for at least a generation while simultaneously ensuring your nomination as the Re-pubic-an gubernatorial candidate, an election you have also ensured you will loose. Janice you were brilliant!

Janice, who else could command march of 4,000 people on the State Capitol building just by signing her name to a piece of paper. The Tea Bag Ex-Press barely garnered 400. You've outstripped the Teabaggers by 10:1 and you didn't even break a sweat.

Now, I understand that, given your position, we won't be seeing you out on the streets signing up new Latino voters. That's OK! Keep throwing the red meat to your retards -- keep them chuckling while we register.

Again, thank you, thank you, thank you. I'm sure we'll be able to find something for an ~~elderly hag~~ Senior Stateswoman to do once you leave office.

Tea Party Express Update

2010-04-04T19:27:56Z

Just had to take a break for a day or so, those people are such a snooze. But Fux News got back into the game today with a puff-piece on the TPX. Funny thing is, they included a crowd shot from Tupelo, Mississippi. Now, ya' gotta know that there's some good ol' Tea Party supporters there! Well, the shot shows maybe 200 people, and I'm trying to be generous.

I'll try to wake up if they actually have a decent rally. zzzzz....

Run for the hills! The Surgeon General is coming!

2010-04-04T05:07:22Z

Ah, the annals of right wing lunacy. Such a rich trove of druck. Well a new mass has been added to that cesspool. It is "Obama's Private Army." It turns out that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is actually setting up an army to do Obama's bidding.

So how do we get from a health care bill to what some on the right are equating to the brownshirts? Well it's simple. This insidious section of the bill is titled:

SEC. 5210. ESTABLISHING A READY RESERVE CORPS.
[Cue the Psycho violins.]

Clearly a nefarious attempt to establish a military organization that reports solely to Obama, for the express purpose of imposing tyranny on the country! What? It's not?

Of course it's not. This section of the bill deals with the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps -- the people who work for the Surgeon General. The Commissioned Corps is one of the uniformed services of the United States: Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Coast Guard, Public Health Commissioned Corps and NOAA Commissioned Corps.

So this Section of the health care bill establishes a Ready Reserve Corps for the Public Health Commissioned Corps similar to the other services' reseves, and funds it at $17.5million per year. For comparison, the city of Topeka Kansas, with a population of around 250,000 people, had a 2009 budget for their police department of $29million. Last time I looked, the Topeka police department didn't pose a threat of tyranny over the country.

But hey, the lunatic fringe that now defines the Republican Party doesn't care about little things like facts. Section 5210 of the health care bill is really about setting up a private army for Obama. So hide the women and children, hoard your ammo, the Surgeon General is coming!

Yawn... Oh, yeah, TPX in Topeka and Tulsa

2010-04-02T23:50:48Z

Well after their "amazing" showing in Omaha, the TPX3 got 150 in Topeka (admittedly in the rain) and "several hundred" in Tulsa.

The Tulsa World actually managed to generate 5 sentences of coverage for them.

This is getting boring. I really don't know how much longer I can stay awake.

TPX draws "thousands" in Omaha?

2010-04-02T02:28:34Z

Well the TPX may have had its biggest day since Searchlight today, but it's hard to tell. The one report that Google returns is from a local TV outlet that says "thousands" showed up in Omaha.

I'll concede that "thousands" may have shown up, but then why is their piece only four short paragraphs long, and why aren't there any crowd photos.

And again, where is Fux News? What are they ashamed of? This is their child, you'd think they'd be proud.

Why is the MSM Being Correct with the Tea Party Express?

2010-04-01T03:30:39Z

Well the TPex "rolled into" Grand Junction and Denver Colorado drawing "hundreds" to each event. Here's a crowd photo from Denver.

Now why isn't the media calling this what it is: "A moving funeral for a dying idea?" If this was some big deal, they'd be getting thousands at every city. But they are getting hundreds in the most conservative cities in the west. Phoenix, Salt Lake City, Grand Junction, Denver. I mean if you can't turn out a conservative base in these places, you are toast as a movement.

Where is the scorn? (Ok, it's here, but where else?)

The Tea Party has got nothing.

2010-03-31T03:02:58Z

Well the tea baggers "rolled in and rolled out" of Northern Utah today. Again they were yawners. Four hundred in Provo, a couple hundred in Salt Lake City (SLC).

Folks, the SLC metro area is 1.1 million. And all they got is a few hundred. Heck, the local Star Trek conventions are probably bigger than this. Again, Fux News isn't even bothering to cover it; it's too embarassing. It's not even on their web site. Go look, if you have the stomach! You just know if there were any folks there, they'd be trumpeting it to the heavens.
These clowns are toast. This is nothing but a rolling fund raiser, and no one is even coming out for sister Sarah.

I said it about Searchlight, Phoenix and St. George: pathetic!

This is the time to seize the moment. This wave has broken on the rock of health care reform and is retreating. It's time for Democrats to go on the offensive. Barack Obama should go to these districts and stump for the incumbants. Talk about health care. Get the kind of crowds these yokels only dream of having.

The time is now, these turkeys are on the ropes. Don't let 'em up.

Tea Party? Still asking, "Is that all you got?"

2010-03-30T04:52:18Z

So the Tea Party Express rolled into Phoenix on Sunday. Phoenix Arizona. Maricopa County, State Capital, Barry Goldwater country.

Yes sir let's get this party started! Woohoo!!! Uh, wait, where is everyone? I mean it's a Sunday afternoon, beautiful weather, and:

"The 'Tea Party Express' was greeted by about 1,200 to 1,500 supporters as it rolled into Phoenix on Sunday... " Parker Leavitt - Mar. 28, 2010 06:18 PM The Arizona Republic).

1,200 to 1,500in Phoenix? Ok, all they had was Joe the dumber, and not Sarah, but still...
Hey no problem, Fux News has got this covered and will blow it out of all proportion: Oh wait, their ledes are:

"Hayworth Slams McCain on Immigration at Tea Party Rally... "
"As hundreds (my emphasis) of Tea Party activists protested in Arizona late Sunday, the Republican candidate vying to unseat Sen. John McCain used the rally as a stump to blast the fourth-term senator on immigration and border security."
And:
"Joe the Plumber Will Not Stump for McCain"
"Wurzelbacher, who appeared at a tea party rally of 400 conservative activists in Phoenix on Sunday," (Aww, say it ain't so, Joe!)

I mean only 400 conservatives in Phoenix? That's like not being able to find any Muslims in Mecca during Hajj!

But hey, Monday is a brand new day and we're up in Utah and we've got Sarah with us (oh, wait, we don't?) Well, anyone notice that Fux News has got the TP event in St. George covered today? Yeah, neither did I...

It looks like the only reporter there is CNN's Ed Lavandera (who?). Crowd video is non-existent, but the one still photograph seems to show less than 100 people.
St. George's local news cut to Lavandera who had rolled in with the busses "about an hour and a half ago," and was standing there with almost no one behind him -- every one had left.

Maybe they can get a better crowd in Salt Lake. I mean, it is a big city and Mormon to boot. We'll see. If they can't fill a stadium there, then their movement is toast. Or maybe their movement was toast in Nevada. Sarah's apparently bailed out. Joe the dumber -- who wouldn't be anywhere without McCain -- is bailing on him. (And don't get me started on RNC bunnies.) If I'm not careful I'll start talking about it being Morning in America.

Republicans cut and run on minimum wage

2006-06-21T17:44:07Z

They'll spend all your tax dollars to build a better Iraq--but give a working American half a break? No way. The Republicans voted to kill the minimum wage today. Endless dollars for Iraqis, not a cent for working Americans. They run which country?

A conservative in Rick's Cafe

2006-05-21T18:14:44Z

Richard Viguerie is shocked, shocked I tell you, to discover that the Republican party is being run by and for big business. If Mr. Viguerie was just some run-of-the-mill conservative bumpkin, I could possibly sympathize with his sudden awakening. But though I fundamentally disagree with him, Viguerie is an enormously shrewd and skillful political operator. That he is now espousing horror that the Bush administration has somehow betrayed the conservative movement needs to be seen as a cynical attempt to rescue conservatism.

As Bush's popularity continues to sink, conservatives are left with trying to distance themselves from the train-wreck of this administration. The failure of Bush's conservative policies must somehow be prevented from indicting conservatism in general. Hence the attack on Bush. But as I noted before, Viguerie is shrewd. The business interests in the Republican party are infinitely cynical toward the social conservative base, and if they need to appear to temporarily retreat in the face of anger, they will, knowing that it is really they and not the bumpkins that run things. Keeping the bumpkins pacified and voting will get them everything they want. So Viguerie goes on a campaign denouncing the incompetence of Bush and the graft of the Republican congress, and with his confederates, rallies the troops and wrings confessions and appologies from the wayward politicians just in time for the socials to support them again for congress.