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DURBAN, South Africa (AP) -- The president of a U.N. climate conference has announced agreement on a program mapping out a new course by all nations to fight climate change over the coming decades. The 194-party conference agreed to start negotiations on a new accord that would put all countries under the same legal regime to enforce their commitments to control greenhouse gases. It would take effect by 2020 at the latest. Currently, only industrial countries have legally binding emissions targets under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. Those commitments expire next year, but they will be extended for another five years...

A new International Climate Court will have the power to compel Western nations to pay ever-larger sums to third-world countries in the name of making reparation for supposed “climate debt”. The Court will have no power over third-world countries. Here and throughout the draft, the West is the sole target. “The process” is now irredeemably anti-Western. Ø “Rights of Mother Earth”: The draft, which seems to have been written by feeble-minded green activists and environmental extremists, talks of “The recognition and defence of the rights of Mother Earth to ensure harmony between humanity and nature”

Early this morning, history repeated itself. FOIA.org has produced an enormous zip file of 5,000 additional emails similar to those released two years ago in November 2009 and coined Climategate. There are almost 1/4 million additional emails locked behind a password, which the organization does not plan on releasing at this time. The original link was dropped off in the Hurricane Kenneth thread at about 4 AM Eastern. It is still there. Some initial snippets floating around the blogosphere: <3373> Bradley: I’m sure you agree–the Mann/Jones GRL paper was truly pathetic and should never have been published. I don’t want...

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) named Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) its April 2011 Porker of the Month for threatening to bring the Senate to a standstill over a $40,000 earmark for a federal study on deepening the port of Charleston. The study would investigate the effectiveness of deepening the port from 47 feet to 50 feet, an improvement that Sen. Graham claims will allow it to accommodate the types of ships that will “dominate shipping lanes” in the future. The earmark began as a $400,000 request that was rejected by the Senate Appropriations Committee in October, 2010. There...

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay said yesterday that Republicans have done so well in cutting spending that he declared an “ongoing victory,” and said there is simply no fat left to cut in the federal budget. Mr. DeLay was defending Republicans’ choice to borrow money and add to this year’s expected $331 billion deficit to pay for Hurricane Katrina relief. Some Republicans have said Congress should make cuts in other areas, but Mr. DeLay said that doesn’t seem possible... Asked if that meant the government was running at peak efficiency, Mr. DeLay said, “Yes, after 11 years of Republican majority...

Today, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) bestowed upon Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) the March “Porker of the Month” Award for his absurd belief that a federally-funded Cowboy Poetry Festival in Elko, Nevada (pop. 17,000) constitutes essential government spending..

Members of the Congressional Tea Party Caucus may tout their commitment to cutting government spending now, but they used the 111th Congress to request hundreds of earmarks that, taken cumulatively, added more than $1 billion to the federal budget. [ For complete coverage of politics and policy, go to Yahoo! Politics ] According to a Hotline review of records compiled by Citizens Against Government Waste, the 52 members of the caucus, which pledges to cut spending and reduce the size of government, requested a total of 764 earmarks valued at $1,049,783,150 during Fiscal Year 2010, the last year for which...

Members of the Congressional Tea Party Caucus may tout their commitment to cutting government spending now, but they used the 111th Congress to request hundreds of earmarks that, taken cumulatively, added more than $1 billion to the federal budget. According to a Hotline review of records compiled by Citizens Against Government Waste, the 52 members of the caucus, which pledges to cut spending and reduce the size of government, requested a total of 764 earmarks valued at $1,049,783,150 during Fiscal Year 2010, the last year for which records are available. "It's disturbing to see the Tea Party Caucus requested that...

This is the high-impact political ad, of 2010. Video, October 20, 2010, "Chinese Professor," by Citizens Against Government Waste Political pollster, Frank Luntz tested this ad and it drew the highest marks of all, the highest this observer has ever seen. Republicans in his focus group took the famous Luntz dial pads and scored it 95 percent favorable -- and Democrats reached the 70's -- Democrats. That is because it goes to the heart of what is disturbing American Citizens about Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid (Goerge Soros, Maurice Strong) and the mega-subterfuge of the overall 'transnational progressive" conspiracy....

Saw this video on Cavuto today. It's very powerful.

In 2010, there were some 9,129 earmarks worth $16.5 billion. Most troubling, over $6 billion of those earmarks blatantly violated Congress' own rules against anonymous earmarks, depriving the public of its right to know which members of Congress asked for earmarks.

Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) has announced the results of its online poll for the 2009 Porker of the Year. House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, (D-Mass.) won with 49 percent of the vote. In second place was Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) with 26.3 percent. Third-place honors went to Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) with 6.6 percent. Honorable mentions go out to Rep. Russ Carnahan (D-Mo.) with 5.9 percent and Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii) with 5.5 percent. President Barack Obama was the overwhelming favorite in the write-in category, coming in just behind Rep. Abercrombie and ahead of last-place Secretary...

The video from my climate lecture on November 10, 2009 is now available online. I have overlaid the slides on the video so you can see them better. If I have time, I may some day re-record the sound track over the slides in a studio setting.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is telling representatives from 16 major world economies that the United States is moving quickly to address global warming. At an international forum on energy and climate change Monday, Clinton said the U.S. is fully engaged and no longer doubts the urgency or magnitude of the climate change problem. She cited the recent finding by the EPA that six greenhouse gases pose threats to human health and welfare as a sign that the Obama administration was taking action.

At the conclusion of the week-long hearing on “cap and trade” legislation in the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Friday, the Democrats’ headline witness was none other than Mr. Global Warming himself, former Vice President Al Gore. One member of the panel, Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), took the opportunity to ask her fellow Tennessean a multi-million dollar question on behalf of “some of his former constituents.” Throughout Gore’s earlier testimony, he had questioned the integrity of scientists and studies that found the opposite conclusions of his personal view: there is no smoking gun either proving or disproving that the...

The Pig Book @ 2:15 pm by Eric Zimmermann Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) has released its annual "Pig Book"–a list of all pork barrel projects approved by Congress. CAGW says they've found 11,610 projects totaling $17.2 billion. This report covers fiscal 2008. As always, the report is sure contain a number of gems that anti-earmark activists will seize upon. Skimming the report, a few candidates stand out (note: this is not meant to stand as a judgment on each project's merits): * $1,529,220 for the Appalachian Fruit Lab, requested by Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) * $7,556,660 for grape and...

The little pink book that makes politicians squirm is back. The Congressional Pig Book is CAGW's annual compilation of the pork-barrel projects in the federal budget. The 2008 Pig Book identified 11,610 projects at a cost of $17.2 billion in the 12 Appropriations Acts for fiscal 2008. A "pork" project is a line-item in an appropriations bill that designates tax dollars for a specific purpose in circumvention of established budgetary procedures. To qualify as pork, a project must meet one of seven criteria that were developed in 1991 by CAGW and the Congressional Porkbusters Coalition. CAGW's mascot, PigFoot, will at...

http://swineline.org/

WASHINGTON, Oct 15, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste Political Action Committee (CCAGW PAC) today announced its endorsement of former Governor Jim Gilmore for election to the U.S. Senate from Virginia. "Jim Gilmore has served the citizens of Virginia with distinction and has an outstanding record of fiscal discipline and fighting on behalf of all taxpayers," CCAGW PAC Chairman Tom Schatz said. "We are confident that his strong leadership abilities and longstanding fiscal conservative values will continue to guide his agenda as he seeks to represent Virginia in the Senate." "Jim Gilmore has proved he...

It is now consensus that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are at the heart of the systemic meltdown we are seeing in the mortgage market. They are costing taxpayers billions through their own bailouts and through the role they played in fueling an artificial mortgage boom.But eight years ago, when I testified before Congress that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's "special privileges create a serious hazard to the market, to taxpayers (and) to the economy," my criticism of these sacred financial entities was met with ridicule. At the hearing on June 21, 2000, before the House Financial Services Committee, I...

For six years in a row, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) and the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Foundation (HJTF) have published the California Piglet Book to spotlight waste, fraud and abuse of taxpayers' dollars. Modeled after the Pig Book, an annual analysis of Federal spending conducted by CAGW, we have found the state Piglet an excellent method of embarrassing California officials into better performance and a higher respect for the public's money. In a target rich environment, this year we have chosen to focus our attention on the misuse of public transportation dollars. An examination of public transportation projects commonly reveals...

For those that missed it, Sarah is vindicated once again by the non-partisan group Citizens Against Goverment Waste which states she killed the Bridge to Nowhere not Congress.

We need to get prepared for four degrees of global warming, Bob Watson told the Guardian last week. At first sight this looks like wise counsel from the climate science adviser to Defra. But the idea that we could adapt to a 4C rise is absurd and dangerous. Global warming on this scale would be a catastrophe that would mean, in the immortal words that Chief Seattle probably never spoke, "the end of living and the beginning of survival" for humankind. Or perhaps the beginning of our extinction. The collapse of the polar ice caps would become inevitable, bringing long-term...

(CNSNews.com) - The House of Representatives tucked $277.9 million worth of earmarks - items in a spending bill usually designated for a congressman's district or state - into the appropriations bill it passed before the July 4 break. That number is a 122 percent increase over the amount spent on earmarks in last year's bill, according to the watchdog group Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW). The appropriations bill in question is the Fiscal 2009 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Act, or simply Labor/HHS. "In typical Congressional fashion, the Labor/HHS bill is loaded with pork projects and wasteful...

WASHINGTON — A taxpayer watchdog group released its annual report on congressional pork-barrel spending Wednesday, listing 11,610 projects totaling $17.2 billion — including the San Antonio River Improvements Project. "It's business as usual, unfortunately," Tom Schatz, president of Citizens Against Government Waste, said at a news conference in releasing the 2008 Congressional Pig Book. More information The taxpayer watchdog group Citizens Against Government Waste singled out these Texas projects in its Pig Book of pork-barrel spending: • $5.8 million for a fitness center at Goodfellow AFB in San Angelo, requested by Rep. Mike Conaway, R-Midland. • $5.2 million for a...

For Immediate Release Contact: Leslie K. Paige 202-467-5334 Alexa Moutevelis 202-467-5318 March 11, 2008 ** Media Alert ** CAGW Launches PigFoot Video Podcast (Washington, D.C.) - Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today launched the first in its new series of occasional video podcasts called Where’s PigFoot? The video podcasts, which will be posted on YouTube and viewable on CAGW’s website and blog, will feature CAGW’s mascot uncovering and exposing government waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement wherever it can be found. The inaugural installment of the podcast features PigFoot attempting to crash Rep. John Murtha’s (D-Pa.) recent fundraising bash in Arlington,...

For Immediate Release Contact: Leslie K.Paige 202-467-5334 Alexa Moutevelis 202-467-5318 February 20, 2008 CAGW Names Rep. John Murtha Porker of the Year Taxpayers Are Not in His “Corner” Washington, D.C. - Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today announced the final results of its online poll for the 2007 Porker of the Year. Rep. John “Jack” Murtha (D-Pa.) won in a landslide victory, receiving 63.4 percent of the vote. A distant second, Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) received 10.6 percent, while Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) came in with 9.9 percent, Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) had 6.7 percent, and Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.)...

For Immediate Release Contact: Leslie K. Paige 202-467-5334, Alexa Moutevelis 202-467-5318 January 22, 2008 CAGW Announces 2007 Porker of the Year Nominees Washington, D.C. - With presidential primary season in full swing Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) jumped into the fray today with the announcement of its nominees for 2007 Porker of the Year. Citizens may cast their ballots for the politician they think was the most reprehensible porker of 2007 in an online poll. The six finalists were chosen by CAGW staff from among 12 worthy Porkers of the Month for 2007. The candidates are: Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.)...

The ploy had been hatched behind closed doors by Democratic leaders of both houses. A pork-laden appropriations bill filled with $1 billion in earmarks would combine with veto-proof spending for veterans. Instead, the two measures were decoupled in a Senate party-line vote last Tuesday. The Democratic scheme to present President George W. Bush with a bill that he could not veto seemed a clever strategy, but it was based on presumption of Republican ignorance and cowardice. As late as last Monday, savvy GOP Senate staffers predicted Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's decoupling motion would fail. In fact, she did not lose...

PORTSTEWART, NORTHERN IRELAND - Britain's New Labour, despite criticism from Prime Minister Gordon Brown of a government that has grown too fast and costs too much, has been quietly planning a vast expansion of government. The Sunday Telegraph recently reported that the Economic Research Council, Britain's oldest think tank, has concluded that if the growth is allowed to happen, a huge superstate will be created that will cost overburdened taxpayers 170 billion pounds, which is equivalent to about $340 billion U.S. That is more than five times the amount of Britain's defense budget. If any of the leading Democratic presidential...

Washington, D.C. - The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) today charged Senate and House conferees on ethics and lobbying reform with fleecing American taxpayers by gutting earmark reform. Following the conclusion of secret negotiations intended to bypass the normal legislative process, the compromise bill that was announced today will gut the earmark reform provisions that had already passed as part of S. 1, the Senate ethics and lobbying reform bill, and which already exist in the rules of the House. The conference deal makes a mockery of the promise of “the most ethical Congress in history,” which House...

Washington, D.C. Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today applauded a decision by incoming House and Senate Appropriations Committee Chairmen David Obey (D-Wis.) and Robert Byrd (D-W. Va.) to pass a continuing resolution (CR) for the remainder of fiscal 2007. The CR will keep most agencies running at fiscal 2006 funding levels and will stave off the estimated 10,000 earmarks costing approximately $17 billion in the nine unfinished appropriations bills. The duo also announced a “moratorium” on earmarks until budget reforms are passed. “Today’s announcement is a huge victory for taxpayers,” CAGW President Tom Schatz said. “A CR pre-empts funding increases...

Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today named Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) and Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) Co-Porkers of the Month for their editorial “Earnest Earmarks,” which portrays earmarking as a proper exercise of Congress’s constitutional spending power and a check on the growth of government. Sen. Craig and Rep. Simpson argue that earmarks do not increase spending because Appropriations Committees must stay within the overall limits set by the budget resolution. But the budget resolution is nonbinding and Congress routinely exceeds its spending caps. Furthermore, lawmakers often vote for expensive bills in exchange for pork projects in their home districts....

Watchdog Group Issues Annual 'Pork' Report By ANDREW TAYLOR, Associated Press Writer 11 minutes ago For all the hand-wringing on Capitol Hill about larding bills with homestate projects, the latest report from a taxpayer group says lawmakers hit a record last year. Citizens Against Government Waste, in its annual "Pig Book" released Wednesday, details $29 billion of what it calls pork barrel spending. For the uninitiated, "pork" means homestate and home district projects specially set aside in congressional spending measures, chiefly the 11 annual appropriations bills. Money for roads and bridges, grants to law enforcement agencies and charity groups, and...

According to Joan Claybrook, president of Public Citizen, victim compensation depends directly on how much the companies contribute, and the fact that stock prices of asbestos firms have risen with each step in the legislative process of the bill is a clear indicator that the companies are the winners under the legislation. Seven asbestos firms will collectively benefit from an estimated 73.6 percent reduction in their liabilities – down from $18 billion to $4.7 billion – according to the group. W.R. Grace & Co., for example, would see an estimated 86.9 percent fall in liability from $3.2 billion to $418...

(CNSNews.com) - A government watchdog group Friday named Alaska Republican Gov. Frank Murkowski "Porker of the Month" for supporting construction of the infamous "Bridges to Nowhere" and for a proposed taxpayer-funded PR campaign "to repair the damage that the bridges helped inflict on" the state's "national reputation." According to Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW), Congress set aside $452 million in the transportation bill for two bridges - $229 million for the Gravine Island Bridge, which connects the island with a population of 50 people to the town of Ketchikan, and $223 million for the Knik Arm Bridge. "For favoring wasteful...

To: National Desk Contact: Jessica Shoemaker, 202-467-5318, or after hours: Tom Finnigan, 202-253-3852 both of Citizens Against Government Waste WASHINGTON, Dec. 21 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today delivered more than 5,200 petitions to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Michael Chertoff urging DHS not to require a computer chip in drivers’ licenses to comply with the Real ID Act. "Congress’s intent was to build on existing technology, not to add to the states’ burden of compliance by requiring a chip," CAGW President Tom Schatz said. "Installing radio frequency identification (RFID) chips or similar technology into every...

Reps. Tom DeLay and Don Young Are Co-Porkers of the Month (Washington, D.C.) - Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today named House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) and Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Don Young (R-Alaska) Co-Porkers of the Month for their response to requests to offset the costs of Hurricane Katrina relief. According to a September 14 Washington Times article, Rep. DeLay declared an “ongoing victory” in the effort to cut spending, and that the Republicans had “pared [the government] down pretty good.” While claiming to be receptive to proposed offsets, Mr. DeLay said that “nobody has been able...

Urges Cost Offset by Eliminating Highway Bill Pork Washington, D.C. Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today challenged members of Congress to block funding for unrelated pork projects in its aid package for hurricane recovery, and to help offset the bill’s cost by returning the $24 billion worth of earmarks in the recently enacted highway bill. Congressional leaders expect to negotiate an emergency supplemental spending bill when Congress reconvenes next week. Hurricane Katrina has been called the most expensive disaster in the country’s history. One expert said that federal aid could top $30 billion, which will add to the $331 billion...

At $286.4 billion, the highway bill just passed by Congress is the most expensive public works legislation in US history. In addition to funding the interstate highway system and other federal transportation programs, it sets a new record for pork-barrel spending, earmarking $24 billion for a staggering 6,376 pet projects, spread among virtually every congressional district in the land. The enormous bill -- 1,752 pages long -- wasn't made available for public inspection until just before it was brought to a vote, and so, as The New York Times noted, ''it is safe to bet that none of the lawmakers,...

The New Sheriff in TownThursday, July 21, 2005 By: Josh Johnson Wastewatcher, July 2005     Picture Washington D.C. as the setting for an old western film.  A familiar hero that has been out of town for a time rides back in on his horse with the intention of running out all the, no-good varmints; that have taken over.  This man is well known by all the no-goods in the town, so they set out to take him down before he can interfere.  As our hero walks into the local saloon, we flash forward to the present day and find a junior...

It would seem that we space entrepreneurs are finally making significant strides with what is perhaps Washington D.C.'s most influential fiscal watchdog, the nonprofit Citizens Against Government Waste (which has its own lobbying arm, unlike the Cato Institute). As the following link shows, they have dedicated at least the first half of this month's online radio show to NASA reform, of the PRO-ENTREPRENEURIAL kind: http://www.cagw.org/site/PageServer?pagename=Washington_Waste_Wire Please feel free to visit that page anytime (to indirectly get your interest in the topic registered) and feel even more free to tune in and (if you like) call in and offer your point...

Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today criticized plans to move forward with missions to the moon and Mars with an impending record deficit, chronic management problems at NASA, and unresolved questions about the missions’ cost and feasibility. NASA’s new administrator Michael Griffin has said that the space agency will have the money to implement President Bush’s “Vision for Space Exploration,” aimed at returning humans to the moon by 2020 and eventually sending them to Mars. “A manned mission to Mars is of questionable scientific value and could cost up to $1 trillion,” CAGW President Tom Schatz said. “The immense technological...

Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) Monday named New York Sens. Hillary Clinton (D) and Charles Schumer (D) the Co-Porkers of the Month for February for pledging to fight the President's reforms of the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program. Sens. Clinton and Schumer lashed out at the President, with Sen. Clinton describing the federal grants as "a lifeline" for New Yorkers. President Bush's fiscal 2006 budget includes 154 program cuts or terminations, saving a total of $20 billion. The CDBG program, which is providing $4.7 billion to cities and towns nationally in fiscal 2005, is on that list. The budget...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 31 (UPI) -- On Capitol Hill, reaction to the announcement that a Lockheed Martin-led international consortium had won the contract for the design and construction of the next generation of U.S. presidential helicopters was mixed. Some folks cared; others didn't. Welcome to life in 21st-century Washington, where diplomatic concerns, the demands of the global marketplace and plain, old-fashioned political pressure and pork barrel regularly collide. "The $6.1 billion contract -- $3.6 billion for the fleet of 23 helicopters and the rest for research and development -- is far from the Pentagon's largest," the New York Times reported Monday,...

Listen While You Freep! All programs are replayed for 24 hours and again on weekends so tune in when it’s convenient for YOU! Call In Number – 866-884-TALK (8255) 1pm EST – Howard's Special guest today is MICHAEL REAGAN! 2pm EST – Today we review the governments biggest waste and corruption of 2004! 3pm EST – Best of "Jeff Gannon's Washington"! 4pm EST – TBA

Pennsylvania's number-one four-legged weather prognosticator -- Punxsutawney Phil -- will make a Capitol Hill appearance on December 7, to "defend" a $100,000 grant for the Punxsutawney Weather Discovery Center. The furry weatherman will also "explain the difference between 'pork' and legitimate federal earmarks," according to one congressman's office. The famous groundhog is coming to Washington, D.C., at the request of Rep. John Peterson (R.-Pa.) in order to rebut charges by the Citizens Against Government Waste, Taxpayers for Common Sense, Rep. Jeff Flake (R.-Ariz.), and others that the grant is one of the top "pork" projects in the 2005 Omnibus Appropriations...

Citizens Against Government Waste can be heard on their "Government Waste Wire" WebRadio Program every month on

If you desire, go to CAGW and sign the form! Whereas, the United States supplies 22 percent of the regular UN budget; Whereas, powerful evidence now suggests a number of UN officials, along with leading political figures and businessmen from France and Russia, received illegal kickbacks from Saddam Hussein through the UN Oil-for-Food program; Whereas, Russian firms received $7.3 billion in business from the Oil-for-Food program; French firms received $3.7 billion; and the UN raked in more than $1 billion in commissions on the oil sales; Whereas, the U.S. Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations estimates that the former Iraqi regime...

Congress Increases Pay While Promoting Government Inefficiency (Washington, D.C.) The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) today chided the House of Representatives for passing the fiscal 2005 Transportation/Treasury Appropriations Act, H.R. 5025, that includes rule permitting a pay raise for members of Congress and would prevent regulations allowing thousands of federal jobs to be transferred to the private sector from taking effect. “It is ironic, but not surprising, that members of Congress are rewarding themselves with a pay increase in the same piece of legislation in which they are placing a greater burden on taxpayers,” CCAGW President Tom Schatz...