Pork is Now the New Patriotism

From the New York Slimes:

Mr. Obama called Ms. Collins and Mr. Specter, as well as Senator Olympia J. Snowe of Maine, another Republican expected to support the deal, to acknowledge they were acting against pressure from their party and, one official said, to thank them for their patriotism in helping advance the bill at a critical time.

Hat tip:  Michelle.

John Kerry as attributed by Mary Katherine Ham, Weekly Standard

I’ve supported many tax cuts over the years, and there are tax cuts in this proposal. But a tax cut is non-targeted.

If you put a tax cut into the hands of a business or family, there’s no guarantee that they’re going to invest that or invest it in America.

They’re free to go invest anywhere that they want if they choose to invest

I don’t know about yoiu, but I am not so inclined to let BO and Kerry redefine patriotism to fit there own partisan purposes.   Are you?

From Swamp, Micheal Steele, video:

Text:

“This is Michael Steele, Chairman of the Republican National Committee. Democrats have controlled both branches of government for less than a month. And you have to wonder if all that power has gone to their heads.”For the last two weeks, they’ve been trying to force a massive spending bill through Congress under the guise of economic relief.

“All of us – Republicans and Democrats – agree the government must act to kick-start the American economy. American families are doing their best to balance their own budgets and pay their mortgages.

“The fastest way to help those families is by letting them keep more of the money they earn. Individual empowerment: that’s how you stimulate the economy.

“But the Democrats have a different philosophy. Instead of leaving money in the family checkbook, they want to send it to Washington, run it through a slow and inefficient government, and hope that does some good.

“When families keep the money, they spend it, save it, or invest it. And the private sector economy benefits when families and businesses buy consumer goods or invest it for the future. But when Washington spends the money, some of it may flow into the economy, but all too often, much gets wasted.

“Democrats in Congress want a one-trillion dollar spending bill. You’ve heard about the pork-barrel programs they want to fund… 45 million dollars for ATV trails and removal of fish passage barriers is one that caught my eye. Exactly what is a fish passage barrier and why does it cost 45 million dollars to stimulate the economy with it?

“That’s why Republicans in the House voted against uncontrolled spending. This is not a bragging point, but rather a statement that at least Republicans would stand with the American taxpayer.

“But voting ‘no’ is not enough… and Republicans have offered innovative ideas to help struggling families and small businesses. We’ve offered plans to spark job creation and investment through lower taxes, to stop the taxation of unemployment benefits, and to help Americans keep their jobs and their homes.

“The comprehensive Republican plan would lower taxes for all working American families. If you’re married, the first 16,750 dollars you make this year will be taxed at ten percent. Why don’t we cut that rate in half to give instant buying power to every working American family?

“Good ideas… lots of them… all left out of this plan by the Democrats in Congress.

“Republicans stand ready to work with reasonable Democrats to do what is right for America.

“But it will take more than bipartisan words from the President. It will require fair-minded action from Democrats in Congress.

“Thanks for listening.”

For what is is worth, I agree with Chairman Steele, there are reasonable democrats.   Sadly none are in a leadership position.   Certainly are no reasonable democrats named either Nancy Pelosi or Harry Reid.    Micheal Steele recognizes this fact.   It is time for Barack Obama to do the same.

Bruce McQuain, this morning at Q&Q:

Well there’s an agreement on the Generational Theft Act of 2009.  The squishy middle has capitulated.

As expected, just enough Republicans have signed on to ensure its passage.  Names?

Specter for one:

Specter said Friday night that action was “very necessary,” and this bill, though not perfect, is better than inaction.

“I think no one could argue with the fact that the situation would be much worse without this bill,” Specter said at a news conference.

And of course, Susan Collins is the other (and Olympia Snowe is also reportedly going to vote for it). Voinavich and Martinez bailed. They’ll give this the veneer of bi-partisan legitimacy.

Which, doubtless, will be endlessly touted by the Democrats over the following two years.  And, forever, for that matter, each time the amount of debt incurred by this mess turns up as a discussion point on online venues, or talking head programs.

The problem is obvious; it is what Bruce describes as the “squishy middle” .  I’ve been telling you people for nearly a decade now that it is the centrists among us that are going to kill us off as a nation. If this monstrosity goes as badly as I suspect it will,  I cannot say I’ve ever been more annoyed with the prospect of being proven correct, before.

I do have to say, that I am looking with a somewhat jaundiced eye at the polling data which suggests that the bill which has just been agreed to, has approximately a 37% approval rating amongst the electorate.  I can’t help but wonder, what will happen when the entire nation looks at the democrats in the midterm elections, and four years from now as well, and says “See, I told you so”.

I’m telling you, the Democrats are going to be feeling the backlash on this one big time.

And what of that ‘squishy middle ‘?   Frankly, I think they deserve the same fate, and if the Republican base  is smart, they will give that squishy middle exactly what is deserved… the same fate as  the Democrats will face.    The question outstanding in my mind is if the Republican base has quite so long a memory.   One can only hope.

Mrs. Pelosi on the Pelosi-Reid-Obama Debt bill:

“Washington seems consumed in the process argument of bipartisanship, when the rest of the country says they need this “

Whereas back in the real world, support for Pelosi detb plan craters:

But support for the bill has fallen 12 points since January, and nearly half of those surveyed do not believe it will shorten the recession

Hat tip:  Warner Todd Husten, Red State.

The day Barack Obama signs the Pelosi-Reid-Obama Dept plan into law, is the day Obama owns the recesssion.  Obama has said that it was urgent to pass Porkulus.   So when  Obama gets  his urgent trillion dollar package of crap, he had better get down on his knees and pray that Porkulus produces immediate, positive and dramatic results.     Good luck BO trying to steer the country ouf of the recession when you have Mrs. Pelosi driving your bus.

Ellen Goodman, Boston Globe  asks:

Does anyone have a right to tell anyone else how many kids to have? Can only people who can afford them bear children? Do you need a husband to have a baby? These are questions that make us feel queasy when we are talking about old-fashioned families. But they take on a new flavor in the unregulated wild west of fertility technology

Does anybody have a right to tell a woman how many children she can have?   I do,  when I am the one expected to pay for her children.  Nadya Suleman’s right to have children stops when her hand reachs for the taxpayer’s wallet.

Old-fashioned ideas came about and stayed about for good reasons.    They worked.  

Hat tip:  Kathryn Jean Lopez, National Review.

Welcome, one and all to the most intense nightly read anywhere on the ‘sphere.  Bitsblog’s Nightly Ramble.

• It is jolly well amazing to me that Obama should be resorting to the politics of fear so quickly.  There’s a simple reason that he is resorting to this tactic at this time; He’s losing.  He’s about ready to lose the first big legislative push of his administration.  Not a very impressive start. His approval ratings have been dropping markedly since his coronation inauguration, and not surprisingly, he;’s looking like he’s  starting to feel the whole thing slip away from him.  Less than three weeks into is administration, and already the stench of desperation is overpowering.  Oh, hopey changitude.
• Charles Krauthammer adds his own comments, here.
• Interestingly, even the congressional budget office is saying that TARP is a load of crap. remember my friends that the congressional budget office is the group of people that always lean left, and yet whom the left will invariably tell us is “bipartisan”.  Jerry Pournelle agrees:
  

  The tax cut provisions of the ‘stimulus bill’ seem aimed at solidifying party control: most of it is transfer payments to people who don’t now pay taxes. In the US 40% don’t pay federal taxes. If any large number of those are given money as transfer payments they will learn to rely on them. At which point they will be motivated to vote. And community organizers will see that they do vote.

  And that is exactly what all this is about.  Political payoffs, and reinforcing the long as position with the voters by using the voters own money.  The tactics not unlike what we saw it with a recent Illinois governor, what?

• If you think the democrats are worried about the amount of waste piled on to this stimulus bill, think again.
• The Mayor of Chicago is not interested at all in releasing the stimulus project list. Almost like the was afraid there was going to be a reaction to what was on that list.
• With all this going on you can certainly understand why the Democrats would want to keep control over the news that makes it to the ears of the electorate.  Glenn Reynolds makes note today of Democrat Senator Debbie Stebenow. She’s spending an awful lot of time lately talking about radio “accountability” and leaning toward the fairness doctrine again. As it turns out she’s married to somebody who was an executive in Air America.  Gee, I can’t imagine how that one got by the mainstream media, can you?
• If you think the Democrats are worried about the amount of waste piled on to this stimulus bill, think again.
• Oil, as it turns out is below $40.00 a barrel today.  That said, you’re going to notice some increases that the pump.  Reasons are simple enough; refineries are starting to retool for things other than gasoline, and for summer formulations.  That reduces the amount of gasoline that can be produced, thus raising prices.  Now, prices haven’t gone up  all that much.  Around here we’re a pinch under $2.00 a gallon.  Still, after week upon week of downward trend, the slight uptick was interesting and certainly not in keeping with the price of crude continuing to drop.
• And what do you know?  They’ve managed to find additional ballots in Minnesota. Somehow, and we don’t know how yet, these ballots were missed before.  Almost like someone hid them. I can’t imagine why.
• Martha Zoller at Pajamas Media has a great article up today about Obama. she points out that the coverage and Obama as been getting his been overwhelmingly positive, and yet he still complains.  I’ve said it before, I will say it again; what this shows me very clearly is someone who he is mostly motivated by his own ego.  Someone who was so directly manipulates his own spectacle can hardly be otherwise.

Charles Krauthammer, Washington Post:

After Obama’s miraculous 2008 presidential campaign, it was clear that at some point the magical mystery tour would have to end. The nation would rub its eyes and begin to emerge from its reverie. The hallucinatory Obama would give way to the mere mortal. The great ethical transformations promised would be seen as a fairy tale that all presidents tell — and that this president told better than anyone.

I thought the awakening would take six months. It took two and a half weeks.

Is Barack Obama even capable of an awakeing?

Explain why this is a good bill. I double dog dare you. And if you can’t or won’t, explain why I shouldn’t be siding with the GOP in opposition, despite how crazy they are

John Cole, Balloon Juice, via James Joyner, Outside the Beltway.

Welcome, one and all to the most intense nightly read on the sphere; The Bitsblog Nightly Ramble.

Coming to you today, direct from the frozen tundra of western NY, the very heart of the chruch of Global warming.

• This Global Warming nonsense continues to get more comical.  The Buffalo News, just down the road, here, reports a global warming conference gathered inthe Queen City, today, in -6 degree temps. How much denial can the global warming scammers deal out? Stay tuned; I have a feeling we’ve not seen it’s zenith, yet.
• So AP thinks their image of Obama was infringed on to make all those Hopey Changitude Posters?  I tell ya… it’s hard to know who to cheer against, here. Surber tosses in a stink bombs.  I’ve about run out of patience with AP, but this business at least has a quality of entertainment about it.
• Salon’s staff seems to be having some questions about The Chosen One.
• So do the voters, apparently. Support for Obama’s ‘Porkulus’ bill is down to 37%. He’s supposedly taking to the air Monday to try and sell us on the wonderful things that political payoffs to his buddies will do for the country.  If Salon is right, he may have a hard sell. He’s already lost much of the Dinosaur media support he had a scant two weeks ago.  The reaction to this bill tells me that all is not lost even with a hard leftist like Obama in the White House.   We can survive the two years until Mid-terms, I think.
• The Saudis are telling us that 11 of the folks released from Gitmo? They’re now on the Saudi ‘most wanted’ list. For crimes commited AFTER their release. Just let that one roll around for a while.
• Glenn, today:
  

  Rangel Flunks Math. “The financial-disclosure forms filed over the past three decades by Rep. Charles Rangel are full of fuzzy math, according to an exhaustive review released yesterday. The nonpartisan Sunlight Foundation identified 28 separate instances within Rangel’s 30 years of congressionally mandated filings where, it says, he failed to report acquiring, owning or disposing of assets.” JWF comments: “One wonders how Charlie Rangel avoided an Obama cabinet appointment.”.

  Ouch…. Good question, though. The best answer would seem to be that Obama knows the guy’s dirty, and wanted no part of him. So why no serious move to get rid of the guy, then?

• Turns out Obama’s CIA appointment, Leon Panetta, was getting speech money… lots of it… from troubled banks that were eventually bailed out by the federal government.
  

  No pay limits for HIM...

  OK, so it’s not illegal. But listen, when Obama is so busy making noise about how bank bigwigs shouldn’t be making all that money on the taxpayer dime, what position does that put Panetta in, do you suppose?  And does anyone recall Obama said something about his being a lobbiest free administration?  You don’t really think they’re paying him $28,000 a pop because he’s a good speaker, do you? Joyner has more.

•  Jennifer Rubin opines on Tom Daschle, and what his withdrawal means.
• I hear Justice Ginsburg is dealing with cancer. We’ll see if they caught it in time, but it strikes me as an object lesson of why even McCain would have been a better choice than Obama.
• I see Facebook isn’t making a profit. Big shock; neither is anyone else in the world of the web, as we mentioned the day the adnet at Pajamas Media got pulled. I wonder, if all the people doing their grave dancing number will make the same nosies when Facebook goes down? Somehow, I doubt it.

All in all, after reading the list of boondoggle, pork-laden goodies in that so-called stimulus bill, I must conclude that there aren’t two people up there who have ever balanced a checkbook or paid off a credit card. Why, to be perfectly honest, that bill reads like payback to a heap of lobbyists and special interest groups for the most costly presidential campaign in American history. It’s unseemly and starting to take on the appearance of corruption with a capital “C.”

Can you say, “Blagojevich”? Be careful, honey, it’s starting to smell fishy in the White House.

 Kyle-Anne Shriver, American Thinker.

For what it  is worth, it might help to read Kyle-Anne in a southern accent.

Jay Newton-Small, Time, on the coming  Beltway cage fight, Obama-Pelosi:

For all his high-minded talk of bipartisanship and common purpose, Barack Obama was always aware that Republicans in Congress weren’t going to simply set aside their philosophical differences and embrace the new President’s ambitious agenda. But he had reason to hope that Democrats on Capitol Hill, while not going along with everything, would at least give him a honeymoon period. So it must be a bit of a jolt these days for Obama to frequently find himself so out of step with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, whose tacit support of Obama’s campaign was felt long before her endorsement was made official.

Newton-Small asks the wrong question.   It is not a question of if BO can work with Mrs. Pelosi.  Nobody can.  The question is when will BO nuter Mrs. Pelosi.   There can only be one agenda setter in Wasihington and as long as Mrs. Pelosi wields her gavel, it will not be BO.

Victor Davis Hanson, National Review, warns of the coming meltdown of Barack Obama:

If [Barack Obama] doesn’t quit the messianic style and perpetual campaign mode, and begin humbly governing, then he will devolve into Carterism-angry that the once-fawning press betrayed him while we the people, due to our American malaise, are to blame.

The campaign is over.   It is time, past time, to start governing.

Making the rounds on email just now:

After I retired, my wife insisted that I accompany her on her trips to
Target. Unfortunately, like most men, I found shopping boring and preferred to get in and get out. Equally unfortunate, my wife is like most women-she loved to browse. Yesterday my dear wife received the following letter from the local Target.

Dear Mrs. Samsel,

Over the past six months, your husband has caused quite a commotion in our store. We cannot tolerate this behavior and have been forced to ban both of you from the store. Our complaints against your husband, Mr.Samsel, are listed below and are documented by our video surveillance cameras.

1. June 15: Took 24 boxes of condoms and randomly put them in other people’s carts when they weren’t looking.

2. July 2 : Set all the alarm clocks in housewares to go off at 5-minute intervals.

3. July 7: He made a trail of tomato juice on the floor leading to the women’s restroom.

4. July 19: Walked up to an employee and told her in an official voice, ‘Code 3 in Housewares. Get on it right away. This caused the employee to leave her assigned station and receive a reprimand from her Supervisor that in turn resulted with a union grievance, causing management to lose time and costing the company money.

5. August 4: Went to the Service Desk and tried to put a bag of M&Ms on layaway.

6. August 14: Moved a ‘CAUTION – WET FLOOR’ sign to a carpeted area.

7. August 15: Set up a tent in the camping department and told the children shoppers he’d invite them in if they would bring pillows and blankets from the bedding department to which twenty children obliged.

8. August 23: When a clerk asked if they could help him he began crying and screamed, ‘Why can’t you people just leave me alone?’ EMTs were called.

9. September 4: Looked right into the security camera and used it as a mirror while he picked his nose.

10. September 10: While handling guns in the hunting department, he asked the clerk where the antidepressants were.

11. October 3: Darted around the store suspiciously while loudly humming the ‘Mission Impossible’ theme.

12. October 6: In the auto department, he practiced his ‘Madonna look’ by using different sizes of funnels.

13. October 18: Hid in a clothing rack and when people browsed through, yelled ‘PICK ME! PICK ME!’

14. October 21: When an announcement came over the loud speaker, he assumed a fetal position and screamed ‘OH NO! IT’S THOSE VOICES AGAIN!’

And last, but not least:

15. October 23: Went into a fitting room, shut the door, waited awhile, then yelled very loudly, ‘Hey! There’s no toilet paper in here.’ One of the clerks passed out.
__________________

Welcome, one and all to the most intense nightly read on the ‘sphere… The Bitsblog Nightly Ramble

This is the “Under The Bus” edition.

• What about the rest? With all the activity on Obama’s appointees and taxes, it shouldn’t shock anyone that some news agencies are actually looking more closely at things, which in turn results in more calls for resignation of the other dirty players. Geithner, for one. Natiional Review:
  

  Daschle’s negligence was gross, particularly for a party and an administration that have celebrated prostration before the taxman as a “patriotic duty.” But Daschle’s offenses, galling as they may be, are exceeded by those of Geithner. Indeed, of all the tax transgressions touching Obama’s circle, Geithner’s are the worst.

  Not only did Geithner neglect to pay his taxes, he turned a buck by doing so—accepting payments from his employer for the very purpose of offsetting those taxes. When he took the money, he signed a statement promising to pay the taxes and then ignored his obligations—for years. Protected by a statute of limitations, he did not pay his 2001-02 taxes until his nomination made them a public issue.

  If Daschle’s tax problems should bar him from managing the federal health-services bureaucracy and Killefer’s preclude her from scrutinizing the budget, how is it that Geithner’s transgressions—the worst of the lot—are insufficient to disqualify him from managing the same Internal Revenue Service whose attentions he evaded?

  Bang on, though frankly I doubt we’re going to see anything resembling a shamefaced reaction from this White House, or from Democrats in general. They’ve demonstrated repeatedly since the Clinton years that they’re beyond anything resembling shame. Just remember this, however, the next time they try taking what they will call the moral high ground.

• Megan Mauls: Nice to see someone finally challange that moral moron Krugman. You go, girl.
• It’s for you: Cell phones that go ‘boom’ Something tells me that wasn’t in the sales brochure.
• The document dump that wasn’t: As I predicted yesterday, Dodd’s attempt at a shell game went over badly with his own district. I’ll tell you this, folks; I’ve never seen someone who wasn’t guilty so very intent on trying to cover things up, rather than pony up with the evidence he’s NOT guilty. the numbers I see coming back from there suggest he’s in serious re-election trouble. The question outstdning on this is if the people there will remember this come two years from now.
• The road to oblivion: The New York Times is thinking of trying a pay structure on it’s website.  Again.  Apparently, the lesson wasn’t learned last time. That’s fine. I think the world will benefit greatly when the Times goes under. Note I said “When” not “if”.
• Obama backs off on trade war: Obama’s slurping of Union backsides with “Buy American” didn’t work. He’s starting to understand he’s not going to get away with implementing what his rethoric promised. Funny how the place I find this is in a UK paper.
• Is it because they’re not black? Speaking of not findng things in the domestic papers, you do know there’s a quarter million homes in Kentucky without power yet, right?  And they’re pissed FEMA hasn’t really gotten going, yet? I guess because there’s few black people involved and it’s not a Democrat stronghold, the news coverage isn’t as important as Katrina was.  Or perhaps it’s because there’s a democrat in the White House?
• Firebombing churches? I wonder a bit on this one.
• 38KKK? I’ll bet she doesn’t have much trouble finding a date. Still; a full gallon of Silicone? Yeah, they’re fake. What, you thought that was natural?

This is one stupid b*tch, video:

Hat tip:   Jeff Emanuel:  Red State.

House Democrats, you elected this twit Speaker.   Shame on you!

Addendum I: (Bit)

Does anyone remember during Reagan and Bush41, how we were told in no uncertain terms (Insert number here) of homeless people were dying on a weekly basis? Turned out the numbers being floated were larger than the number of homeless in that area, meaning the problem of homlessness would be gone in less than a week.

This is simply more of the same. Gotta inflate the numbers and push the idea of crisis, or their pork bill doesn’t get passed.

Addendum II:  (David L)

A major differene between the late Mitch Snyder and Mrs. Pelosi is that Synder was not down right stupid.   Sure Snyder, like Mrs. Pelosi, simply pulled invented his statistics on the spot.   Yet Snyder at least cited satistics that were not impaussible:

Snyder was known to exaggerate the problem of homelessness in order to call attention to the problem. During the 1980s Snyder also claimed that there were 3 million homeless Americans, but when questioned about the source of this figure, he admitted that he had made it up to please journalists. He is also alleged to have said that 45 homeless people die every second (which would mean that 1.4 billion die every year).

I think the MSM was more willing to accept Snyder’s numbers than Mrs. Pelosi.   It took a while to refute Snyder claims to the number of homeless.     Support for Porkulus is tanking.

Addendum III:  (David L)

Michelle chimes in with her answer to how smart Mrs. Pelosi is:Just say it:

She’s a moron. “Know Your Power?” Know Your Numbers, Nan

Such condescension.   Nice!