Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minnesota, has come up with an easy way to say $100 million: end military sponsorships of NASCAR. Most people might be a bit surprised to learn that we are spending $100 million for NASCAR endorsements, but that cost is quite modest when you consider that the military is willing to spend almost $500,000 for a flyover of a closed football stadium.
McCollum wants to bar the endorsement in the 2011 House budget bill.
While most people would find it shocking that our schools are cutting teachers and resources while the military is willing to pay $100 million for race car endorsement. I am not one of those people. As previously noted, I have filled out the form requesting a flyover at this year’s Turley Turkey Bowl. I would now like to add a request for an endorsement of the Turley McLean Bears football team. I am only asking for $1 million a year over the next 10 years — one tenth of the expense of NASCAR.
The National Guard sponsors Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s team, the Army sponsors Ryan Newman, and the Air Force sponsors AJ Allmendinger. That leaves the Navy and the Marines open for the Turkey Bowl endorsement.
If my request is refused, I would hope that we could simply end all product or sports endorsements from the military. This appears to be an example of a budget that should be trimmed if it is being wasted in this way.
Source: CNN
James M.,
“If the military is simply prevented from spending money in this way, they’ll end up having to spend the money on other advertisements.”
Or hiring more mercenaries like Xe/Blackwater.
SwM,
re your post from TPM … that’s what I meant about political posturing … this proposal was guaranteed to bring out the crazies and certain to gain no ground at the legislative level.
SwM,
It is often suggested around election times (sometimes humorously) that Milwaukee and/or Madison should form their own state based on their generally liberal politics and cultural differences compared to the rest of Wisconsin. … In 1967, the village of Winneconne seceded from Wisconsin for one day to protest its omission from the new state highway map. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._state_partition_proposals)
The following is that humorous map which I did not find humorous and you probably wouldn’t either as the proposed divisions left us in “Jesusland”. However I found out that in 2005, James B. McCarthy, the county executive of Summit County, which contains Akron, publicly advocated that his county (and the rest of Northeast Ohio) secede as a new state. Northeastern Ohio has a history of being distinct from the remainder of the state, once known as “New Connecticut” and claimed as the Connecticut Western Reserve. This is the area I inhabit and it would, more than likely, get out of Jesusland as fast as it could. I hate to leave you behind ….
http://www.buzzflash.com/contributors/04/11/con04485.html
There’s talk in Madison about seceding from Wisconsin.
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/02/after-taking-on-nascar-dem-rep-is-threatened-document.php?ref=fpb
This is inspiring: “I have never been prouder of our movement than I am at this moment,” shouted Wisconsin AFL-CIO President Phil Neuenfeldt, as he surveyed the crowds of union members and their supporters that surged around the state Capitol and into the streets of Madison Wednesday, literally closing the downtown as tens of thousands of Wisconsinites protested their Republican governor’s attempt to strip public employee unions of their collective bargaining rights.
Where Tuesday’s mid-day protests drew crowds estimated at 12,000 to 15,000, Wednesday’s mid-day rally drew 30,000, according to estimates by organizers. Madison Police Chief Noble Wray, a veteran of 27 years on the city’s force, said he had has never see a protest of this size at the Capitol – and he noted that, while crowd estimates usually just measure those outside, this time the inside of the sprawling state Capitol was “packed.”
On Wednesday night, an estimated 20,000 teachers and their supporters rallied outside the Capitol and then marched into the building, filling the rotunda, stairways and hallways. Chants of “What’s disgusting? Union busting!” shook the building as legislators met in committee rooms late into the night.
The country was starting to take notice, as broadcast and cable-news satellite trucks rolled into town. The images they captured were stunning, as peaceful crowds filled vast stretches of the square that surrounds the seat of state government.” (find at common dreams)
Figures don’t lie. Liars figure. The actual amount spent is about 7 million a year. The federal subsidy for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting — amounts to about $531 million in fiscal 2011. How much of that is for Big Bird? The bulk of public broadcasting monies go to political programs. Aren’t there enough of those already?
There are a finite number of young people contemplating entering the military. The advertising is not so much to get young people to join, as James M posits, but rather, in my opinion, a competition between the different branches for who can attract the most from that finite number.
Although I like Rep. Betty McCollum very much and support many of her actions for she works hard for education, the environment, expanding health care access and fiscal responsibility … this particular idea is, in my opinion, silly and smacks of political posturing.
Well?
First of all….You all do not have a clue how much one of the engines cost…. They in some cases cost more than the trivial amount spent on pure hillbilly entertainment…. Then you have to have the back up engine….I think its a good allocation of resources…. The people Stills were destroyed by this same government that is compensating them today…albeit in an indirect means….
A volunteer military that doesn’t have enough new bodies every year needs to advertise. This is part of that advertising budget. So long as the military has shown the advertising to be cost effective, I don’t see the problem with it. The alternative is either less effective (i.e. more expensive) forms of advertising or reducing the required size of the military. As much as most people on this blog would like to take the later option, that decision has to come from politicians who show no sign of being prepared to do so. If the military is simply prevented from spending money in this way, they’ll end up having to spend the money on other advertisements.
A repost:
NASCAR could teach the Senate a thing or two
Published: Sunday, January 30, 2011, 6:04 AM
John Farmer/The Star-Ledger By John Farmer/The Star-Ledger
http://blog.nj.com/njv_john_farmer/2011/01/nascar_could_teach_the_senate.html
Yes, and all the ads the govt. puts out for the armed forces during movie previews. More propaganda.
Here’s an interesting article on the black budget: Pentagon’s Secret Budget Alone Would Be World’s Sixth Largest Military
Submitted by davidswanson on Thu, 2011-02-17 04:24 Military Industrial Complex (this article at WarisaCrime.org and Aviation Weekly)
While we’re at it, end the military’s development of video games like the one found here:
http://www.americasarmy.com/
Considering the average cost to develop a video game is about $10,000,000 per platform according to GamePro, this is expensive propaganda.
Swarthmore mom:
“Hear good things about Betty although Michele Bachmann gets all the publicity.”
As we well know, it’s the oodles of entertainment value Bachmann provides. Good for ratings.
$500M isn’t pocket change but, I suspect that the GOP will have huge issues with this.
I hear that NASA does that too. True?
Looks like a good start. There a lot to cut in our 3.7 trillion grab bag budget.
Good on you Rep. McCollum.
There’s something very wrong with an army having it’s a propaganda wing running in it’s own country.
The govt. sponsors all kinds of events in hopes of getting bodies for its wars of empire. These types of things also serve as propaganda by linking “patriotism” with sports.
While we have no money for schools, the military does sponsor climbing walls for children as young as eight. They will lend hummers to the school prom and as always, sports, the national anthem and military armament are linked as a sentimental way to ignore what actually happens in warfare. Let’s just say they don’t do fly-overs dropping out minature coffins showing the number of service people killed in the service of the oligarchy. They don’t hand out information about the wounded either–that wouldn’t be very sentimental now would it?
If i still lived in St Paul, she would be my representative. Instead I am in tea bagger Pete Session’s district. Hear good things about Betty although Michele Bachmann gets all the publicity.