Porkapalooza

OK, I just have to get this off my chest so to speak. We all know that I like politics. I am not sure how it happened but it is what it is. I just have one question for the loonies in Washington who are going to ram this "stimulus" package down our throats. How do you think some of these nutty provision are going to possibly stimulate anything that will help the average person. Look at this list and then you tell me what you think. These examples are straight from the package that, as I write this screed, has just passed in the Senate. Thank you to OK Senator Tom Coburn's website for doing all the work so I didn't have to wade through the whole thing. I have not listed all of the "wasteful and non-stimulus spending provisions" because I just ate lunch and it might make me nauseous. I love Tom Coburn and really wish that he was my Senator. Go to the website and look at all of them.

• $246 million tax break for Hollywood movie producers to buy motion picture film. Do they think that somehow this is going to stimulate anything other that more bloated movie productions of "Scary Movie 23: the Geritol Years"?
• $448 million for constructing the Dept. of Homeland Security headquarters. I have great doubt that any massive gov't building project can come in at or under budget. And by the way, any company that doesn't employ all union workers need not apply because another little measure in the stimulus would make it so that companies employing non-union labor will not be awarded any gov't building contracts.
• $248 million for furniture at the above mentioned Dept. of Homeland Security headquarters. Listen, I have someone who can get all that furniture for a much better price. If anyone in the gov't would like I will be glad to give them Sal's number. Now THAT would stimulate someone's bottom line.
  
• $400 million for the CDC to screen and prevent STD's. Um, what does this stiumlate?
• $1.4 BILLION for rural waste disposal programs. I guess that they need this because we are having to wade through so much "waste" in this thing.
• $75 million for "smoking cessation activities". How come Nancy Pelosi thinks that providing funding for abortion and "reproductive services" will help the economy by making sure that there are less children born but she wants to get those who are smoking to stop smoking there by making them live longer and be a drain on the economy. Hmmmm.
• $6 BILLION to turn Federal Buildings into "green" buildings. Listen, if they would let me get the green paint for them I bet that I can get a better price. Oh, you mean that is "green" as in global warming green. Well, I haven't drunk the global warming kool aide so this is just ridiculous.
• $10 million to inspect canals in urban areas. HELLO! what does this have to do with stimulus. Am I missing something?
• $600 million to buy hybrid vehicles for federal employees. Oh for the love of PETE! give these people some kind of incentive to buy these vehicles themselves. A tax cut, a tax incentive, something other than just buying the vehicles. Then when these people leave the gov't they take the car with them and the people replacing them will then be urged to use the incentives to buy their own hybrid cars.
• $850 million for Amtrak. Make this thing PRIVATE. Stop throwing money at it, it is bleeding and isn't going to get any better. And besides, again HOW does this stimulate anything, other than frustration because Amtrak trains only run in certain portions of the country, to ride isn't cheap and most of the Amtrak stations are in less than desirable places in cities. Trust me, I wouldn't want to hang around the Amtrak station in Cleveland. I have been there and it is scary when it is dark.
• Requiring a gov't study on the impact of minimum wage laws on the Northern Mariana islands and American Samoa. My head may explode at this one. Notice they didn't even put a dollar amount on this one. It will probably cost $1 billion and will actually be two people asking questions.

There are a ton of other provisions. Check them out. President Obama wants us to know that "ONLY gov't is the only entity left to jolt our economy back to life". I would counter with a quote from my favorite President, Ronald Reagan. This comes from his first inaugural address.

You and I, as individuals, can, by borrowing, live beyond our means, but for only a limited period of time. Why, then, should we think that collectively, as a nation, we're not bound by that same limitation? We must act today in order to preserve tomorrow. And let there be no misunderstanding: We are going to begin to act, beginning today.

In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.