Then something grabbed my attention as I was searching the Internet for religious nuts, I had an awaking while watching a video about people that protest fallen soldiers funerals. People call them nut jobs and all kind of filthy names, even I had the same reaction. Until, I thought a little deeper. I wasn’t about to excuse their behavior based on the fact that these people seem to have a lower I.Q. than Forrest Gump or by the fact that they may have experienced Stigmata. I understood that there is a need for religion. It gives these type of people something to do, something to focus on. It really scared me to think what they would be doing if they had no point of focus. What kind of carnage they could or would inflict upon mankind if not for some kind of guiding light to distract them from the realization that they have no purpose to exist. Then it all became clear to me, why and how they became who they are. I even started to understand why some dumb-asses blow themselves up in the name of Jihad, just as all the Jerry Falwell’s, Jim Baker’s and Profit Muhammad’s have figured out. I will tell you.

A long time ago, before education, cable television and the Internet, people were ignorant because they didn’t know any better. Witchcraft was against the law and during the Crusades, so was not being a Cristian. People were basically stupid and apparently still are. But we can change that and here is how.

What if I were to tell you that if I had created a colony in the middle of nowhere and convinced people to get away from the Right Wing “Call of Socialism” or the Left Wing’s “Spread the Wealth” programs? Do you think people would follow? But what if, just for a moment, you think about this. A new nation. One that is founded on morality, principle, goodness and everyone can get into heaven easily. I will give you an example.

If I were to take 400 young children along with their parents and cut them off from all the distractions of today’s society, put them in a self sufficient atmosphere. Teach them about goodness and morality. Do you think it would work? What if I told them that they were created by a being that contained itself with The Great Soda Can and did so that all would be able to share of it’s greatness? I would give them rules to live by so that we would have a just and righteous life, have them donate monetary goods to me in-order that I, their leader, would distribute them as the great one saw fit. That I was chosen to led them away from all the horrors of the world, into everlasting redistribution. That every time someone drank a soda, they would be rewarded. Do you think it would work? For those of you that say it couldn’t, just look around at all the different religions, with all the beginnings and tell me different. Children are brainwashed and indoctrinated everyday by different religions and they all say the same thing, “This is the only way and all others are false prophets.” They grow up believing in fairy tales that scientifically make no sense. I could even make them believe that if they sacrificed themselves in the name of the Great Soda Can, they would live forever; moreover, that if they destroyed the enemies of the Great Soda Can; they would rewarded beyond comprehension.

Mankind has been turned into sheep by religion and evil men. But I do not blame the evil men, there will always be those willing to take advantage of others. I blame the sheep for being too lazy to think for themselves or too scared to venture out of their years of repetitive rhetoric.

This is only the beginning of a series of articles that are aimed at waking people up from the prison that they have put themselves in. To free them from the bondage of evil men, books written by evil men in the name of a creator and to free their mind and heart.

The outrage of millions of taxpayers following the $700 billion bank bailout and the $787 billion stimulus bill did not stop Congress from passing and President Obama from signing a bloated $410 billion Omnibus Appropriations Act in March.  With the subsequent approval of the President’s budget, the national debt will triple over the next 10 years.

In fiscal year 2009, Congress stuffed 10,160 projects into the 12 appropriations bills worth $19.6 billion.  The projects represent a  12.5 percent decrease from the 11,610 projects in fiscal year 2008.  The $19.6 billion is a 14 percent increase over the fiscal year 2008 total of $17.2 billion, belying claims of reduced spending.  Total pork identified by Citizens Against Government Waste since 1991 adds up to $290 billion.

Although this is the second year of so-called transparency, which requires every earmark to be identified with the requesting member of Congress,  $6,430,414,000 was spent for 142 anonymous projects.  This accounted for 6.6 percent of the earmarks and 57 percent of the cost in the bill.  There were several big-ticket items, including:  $88,000,000 for one C-40 aircraft; and $70,230,000 for one C-37B aircraft.

In total, out of the 10,160 projects in the 2009 Congressional Pig Book there were 9,939 requested projects worth $11.8 billion and 221 anonymous projects worth $7.8 billion.

I.  AGRICULTURE

Appropriators loaded up on less agriculture pork this year. The number of projects decreased by 23.9 percent, from 614 in fiscal year 2008 to 467 in fiscal year 2009, while the cost decreased by 9.6 percent, from $388 million in fiscal year 2008 to $351.1 million in fiscal year 2009.

II.  Commerce, Justice, Science

In fiscal year 2008 the number of projects in the Commerce, Justice, Science (CJS) Appropriations Act decreased by 13 percent while the cost dropped 47 percent.  This year, the number and total cost of projects fell again.  The number of projects decreased by 10.6 percent, from 1,731 in fiscal year 2008 to 1,548 in fiscal year 2009.  The cost was down by 7.1 percent, from $1 billion to $936.8 million.

The Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program, administered by the Department of Justice, accounted for 37.8 percent of the total number of projects (585) and 23.5 percent of the cost ($220.1 million).  In fiscal year 2008, the Office of Management and Budget’s Program Assessment Rating Tool gave the COPS program a “results not demonstrated” rating, which “indicates that a program has not been able to develop acceptable performance goals or collect data to determine whether it is performing.”

III.  Defense

On the strength of an extremely expensive collection of “anonymous” projects, which do not contain the name of any representative or senator, dollar amounts in the 2009 Department of Defense (DOD) Appropriations Act skyrocketed by 53.5 percent, from $7.3 billion in fiscal year 2008 to $11.2 billion in fiscal year 2009.  The absence of such information violates congressional rules and contradicts repeated claims of more transparency in the appropriations process.  Since the number of projects increased by only 1.1 percent, from 2,108 in fiscal year 2008 to 2,131 in fiscal year 2009, it would not have been too much work to fill in the blanks.  The DOD Appropriations Act proved yet again that given the opportunity members of Congress would rather fund parochial projects instead of the Pentagon’s defense priorities.

IV.  Energy and Water

There is some relatively good news in the fiscal year Energy and Water Appropriations Act: earmarks in the bill are back down to their fiscal year 2006 levels after climbing sharply in fiscal year 2008.  The number of projects decreased by 46.3 percent, from 1,782 in fiscal year 2008 to 957 in fiscal year 2009.  The total cost of the projects was 42.5 percent less than in fiscal year 2008, falling from $3.8 billion to $2.2 billion.

V.  Financial Services

While totals are down in most appropriations bills, there was a substantial increase in pork in the fiscal year 2009 Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act.  The number of projects increased by 22.8 percent, from 215 in fiscal year 2008 to 264 in fiscal year 2009, while dollar amounts increased by 47.9 percent, from $98.7 million in fiscal year 2008 to $145.9 million in fiscal year 2009.  The Small Business Administration (SBA) has long been a bastion for pork, and this trend continued in fiscal year 2009.

VI.  Homeland Security

The amount of taxpayers’ money wasted on Homeland Security pork has continued its decline over the past two years from its peak in fiscal year 2007 at $2.4 billion.  The number of projects in this year’s Homeland Security Appropriations Act decreased 8.9 percent, from 124 in fiscal year 2008 to 113 in fiscal year 2009, while the dollar amount decreased 22.1 percent, from $294.8 million in fiscal year 2008 to $229.6 million in fiscal year 2009.

VII.  Interior

After falling by 40 percent in fiscal year 2008, the cost of Interior appropriations is on the rise.  Fiscal year 2009 Interior Appropriations Act earmarks will set taxpayers back $433.7 million, up 7.4 percent from $403.8 million in fiscal year 2008.  The number of projects in the bill decreased by 2.3 percent, from 556 in fiscal year 2008 to 543 in fiscal year 2009.

IX.  Legislative Branch

There is a common saying in theater that “there are no small parts, just small actors.”  Earmarks in the Legislative Branch Appropriations Act confirm that there is no appropriations bill too small to earmark.  While the scant number of earmarks in this bill  do not usually grab much media attention, any earmark is one too many.  The number of projects decreased by 25 percent, from 4 in fiscal year 2008 to 3 in fiscal year 2009.  The amount of pork dropped by 5 percent, from $400,000 in fiscal year 2008 to $380,000 in fiscal year 2009.

X.  Military Construction

While there were big changes in other appropriations bills, the fiscal year 2009 Military Construction, Department of Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act was fairly similar to the fiscal year 2008 version.  Fiscal year 2009 saw a decrease of 7.9 percent in projects, from 191 in fiscal year 2008 to 176, while the dollar amount increased by 6.7 percent, from $1.2 billion in fiscal year 2008 to $1.3 billion in fiscal year 2009.

XI.  State and Foreign Operations

Once again the House and Senate certified this appropriations bill as “earmark free.”  Unfortunately for taxpayers, there were 16 earmarks and they weren’t free they cost $256 million.  This is a 60 percent increase in projects from fiscal year 2008, when there were 10 projects, and a 235.6 percent increase in dollars from the $76.3 million in fiscal year 2008.

XII.  Transportation/Housing and Urban Development (THUD)

With all the talk about the supposed lack of spending on infrastructure and economic development during the 2009 stimulus debate, taxpayers might think the federal government hasn’t spent a dime on roads, bridges, bikeways, or economic development.  But Pig Book readers know that in the last two fiscal years for which individual appropriations bills were passed (2006 and 2008), CAGW identified 4,738 THUD earmarks costing more than $5.2 billion.  While the bill is larded up this year with 1,789 earmarks totaling $1.5 billion, that is a 11.9 percent decrease in the number of earmarks from fiscal year 2008 and a 3.1 percent decrease in cost.

Alaska once again led the nation with $322 per capita ($221 million).  The runners up were Hawaii with $235 per capita ($302 million) and North Dakota with $222 per capita ($142 million).

Access to the information above can be found at http://www.cagw.org.  The Citizens Against Government Waste 2009 Congressional Pig Book Summary was written by David E. Williams, vice president, policy, Sean Kennedy, research associate, and Kerrie Rushton, visiting fellow.

US Senators’ average annual stock performance beat the market average by approximately 12.3%, while stock purchases made by corporate insiders on average outperform the market by 7.4% and stock portfolios of the average US household under-perform the market by 1.5%.

In 2007, the 10 wealthiest US Senators traded stocks in a total of 45 different companies spanning finance, insurance, oil, pharmaceutical, telecom, and other industries. Those 45 businesses also received $18 billion in federal appropriations that same year.

“Financial disclosure records show that some of these Financial Services Committee members, including Ohio Rep. Charlie Wilson, made bank stock trades on the same day the banks were getting a government bailout from a program Congress approved. The transactions may not have been illegal or against congressional rules, but securities attorneys and congressional watchdog groups say they raise flags about the appearance of conflicts of interest…

For example, Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite, a Florida Republican, bought Citigroup stock valued between $1,001 and $15,000 on Oct. 2, the day before the House passed the financial rescue bill and President George W. Bush signed it into law, records show. She opposed the bill.

Eleven days later, she bought $1,001 to $15,000 worth of Bank of America stock. It was on the same day that then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson told leading banks that he expected them to accept billions in bailout money to prevent a financial meltdown…

Wilson, a Democrat from the eastern Ohio town of Bridgeport, sold between $15,001 and $50,000 worth of Huntington Bancshares stock on Nov. 14, the same day Huntington got $1.4 billion in bailout money from the federal Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, records show. Wilson’s transactions over the course of last autumn also included Bank of America and BB&T, both beneficiaries of the bank rescue program that Treasury implemented after congressional passage.

Wilson’s spokeswoman said the congressman did not personally pick these trades because he leaves day-to-day investment decisions to a money manager who uses a proprietary model in selecting securities to buy or sell…

A spokesman for Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, a New York Democrat also on the Financial Services Committee, said she similarly leaves transactions solely to the discretion of account managers. McCarthy’s trades included a $2,275 purchase of bailout recipient J.P. Morgan Chase while Congress was still hammering out its rescue bill.

Another member of the Financial Services Committee, Democratic Rep. Jackie Speier of California, said on a recent financial disclosure report that she bought up to $15,000 in Citigroup stock on Nov. 7. That was 10 days after the bank got a $25 billion bailout.

Her office now says the report was filed in error, the transaction should have been listed as her husband’s — and she wishes he had not made it… Her husband wasn’t the only committee spouse trading on bank stocks.

The stockbroker husband of West Virginia’s Shelley Moore Capito, a Republican, sold more than $100,000 in Citigroup stock in several transactions late last year. His brokerage firm was owned by Citigroup and his compensation included Citigroup stock. A Capito spokesman said the House Ethics Committee gave her verbal approval to join the committee despite her husband’s job.

Another committee member, Illinois Republican Judith Biggert, whose husband sold Wells Fargo stock while Congress was helping to shape the rescue bill, said she does not discuss stock transactions with her spouse.”

Stephen Koff and Sabrina Eaton, “Members of U.S. House Financial Services Committee Snapped Up or Dumped Bank Stocks as Bottom Fell Out of Market,”

Plain Dealer, June 25, 2009

“[W]e find that members of the U.S. Senate outperformed the market by almost 100 basis points per month….….When we equally weight the returns of each Senator, the buy portfolio earns a compound annual rate of 28.6% on an equal-weighted basis and 31.1% on a trade-weighted basis compared to 21.3% for the market…….Cumulative abnormal returns for the portfolio of stocks bought by Senators are near zero for the calendar year prior to the date of purchase. After acquisition, the cumulative abnormal return rises over 25% within one calendar year after the purchase date. The cumulative abnormal returns for the portfolio of stocks sold by the Senators are near zero for the calendar year after the date of sale. However, these same stocks saw a cumulative abnormal positive return of 25% during the year immediately preceding the event date. These results suggest that Senators knew the appropriate times to both buy and sell their common stocks…

After being sold by Senators, stocks under-perform the market by 12 basis points per month on a trade-weighted basis….Combining the buy transactions with the sell transactions in a hedged portfolio we find that Senators outperform the market by 97 basis points (nearly 1%) per month on a trade-weighted basis……We find no reliable differences between the returns earned by Democrats and Republicans but seniority appears to be important. Senators with the least seniority (in their first Senatorial term) earn statistically higher returns than those Senators with the longest seniority (over 16 years in the Senate).”

Dec. 2004 – Alan J. Ziobrowski, PhD
“Abnormal Returns from the Common Stock Investments of the U.S. Senate,”

Senator John Kerry (D-MA) – Avg. Net Worth of Household in 2006:  $267,789,805

Kerry sits on the following committees Commerce, Science, and Transportation, Foreign Relations, Finance Chair, Small Business and Entrepreneurship

Top 5 Stocks Owned as of Dec. 31, 2007

COMPANY Exxon Mobil Corp.
AMOUNT $65,002 – $150,000

Additional Information Exxon Mobile Corp. received $1,024,498,594 in government contracts for fiscal year 2007, including over $1 billion from the Defense Logistics Agency.

Senator Kerry sits on the following committees that may present a conflict of interest with this investment: Commerce, Science, and Transportation//Foreign Relations//Finance//Small Business and Entrepreneurship (Chair)

COMPANY Procter & Gamble Co. (P&G)
AMOUNT $30,002 – $100,000

Additional Information Procter & Gamble Co. received $312,449,362 from government contracts for fiscal year 2007, including approx. $312.2 million from the Defense Commissary Agency.

Senator Kerry sits on the following committee that may pose a conflict of interest with this investment: Commerce, Science, and Transportation

COMPANY General Electric Co. (GE)
AMOUNT $17,003 – $80,000

Additional Information General Electric Co. received $3,176,850,382 in government contracts for fiscal year 2007, including a total of approx. $2.6 billion from the Navy, Air Force, and Army.

Senator Kerry sits on the following committees that may present a conflict of interest with this investment:  Commerce, Science, and Transportation//Foreign Relations//Finance//Small Business and Entrepreneurship (Chair)

COMPANY American International Group, Inc. (AIG)
AMOUNT $16,002 – $65,000

Additional Information American International Group, Inc. received $1,783,492 in government contracts for fiscal year 2007.

Senator Kerry sits on the following committees that may present a conflict of interest with this investment:  Commerce, Science, and Transportation//Finance//Small Business and Entrepreneurship (Chair)

COMPANY Intel Corp.
AMOUNT $16,002 – $65,000

Senator Kerry sits on the following committee that may present a conflict of interest with this investment:  Commerce, Science, and Transportation

Top 10 Richest US Senators’ Top Stock Trades in 2007 and Potential Conflicts of Interest  http://insidertrading.procon.org/viewresource.asp?resourceID=001580

Stuart P. Green, JD, Professor of Law and Justice Nathan L. Jacobs Scholar at Rutgers School of Law, wrote in his May 13, 2008 email to ProCon.org:

“People in many fields of endeavor are privy to valuable confidential information before it is made public: For example, business executives, investment bankers, and lawyers have access to information about impending corporate mergers and acquisitions; Judges, juries, and court personnel have access to information about the probable outcome of court decisions; and officials at the FDA [Food and Drug Administration], EPA [Environmental Protection Agency], and other administrative agencies have access to information about the likely outcome of regulatory proceedings. All of these individuals are prohibited by law from using such confidential information in the purchase and sale of publicly traded stocks. Likewise, members of Congress and their staffs are also privy to valuable confidential information not yet made public. They have information about the likely outcome of various votes, committee proceedings, and investigations. Such information can be extremely valuable to investors. Those who buy and sell stock on the basis of such non-public information will have an obvious advantage over those who lack such information. This is not the sort of information that even the most savvy and sophisticated investor would be able to obtain legally. From a moral perspective, such informational advantages are indistinguishable from those enjoyed in more familiar forms of insider trading.”

May 13, 2008 – Stuart P. Green, JD