More articles of interest. I'm starting with the stimulus debacle. All Republicans in the House voted against President Barack Obama's spending plan. Of the Democrats, 11 voted against the measure. Among them: Allen Boyd, D-Fla., Bobby Bright, D-Ala., Jim Cooper, D-Tenn., Brad Ellsworth, D-Ind., Parker Griffith, D-Ala., Paul Kanjorski, D-Penn., Frank M. Kratovil, D-Md., Walt Minnick, D-Idaho, John E. Peterson, D-Penn., Heath Shuler, D-N.C., and Gene Taylor, D-Miss. Here's the actual roll call.



STIMULUS PACKAGE

• My Bipartison Stimulus - WSJ
• No Bipartison Support for House Stimulus Bills - WSJ
• Stimulus Aids Illegal Immigrants - Breitbart

GLOBAL WARMING

• The Amazing Story Behind the Global Warming Scam - KUSI

The Latest Stimulus Bill

The ridiculousness of Obama and the Democrats's now nearly $900 trillion stimulus bills continues to mount. I'm at a complete loss these days that American's are putting up with this irresponsibility on the part of our elected officials. On the one hand, the people are screaming foul because of "golden parachutes", corporate jets and the excessive spending by corporate executives. In and of itself holding executives accountable is not a bad thing, in fact, wanting fiscal responsibility is prudent. But why then are we turning a blind eye to the gross excesses in our own government? The government spends and wastes far more money than any company could ever dream of. It seems to me the American people are hypocrites if we are going to lambaste CEO's all the while waiting for the federal government to waste more and more tillions of dollars on bailouts and economic "stimulus". Take a look at some of the crap being put in this "stimulus" bill:

• pg 52 - $400 million for habitat restoration
• pg 52 - $600 million of climate modeling equipment
• pg 59 - $250 million for the Mississippi River (and its tributaries)
• pg 62 - $18.5 trillion for renewable energy
• pg 112 - $1.7 trillion for our national parks
• pg 147 - $335 million for STD prevention

I found those by looking over the bill for 5 minutes. I hate to think what I'd find if I looked harder. But please tell me, how does any of that stimulate the economy? It won't, that's the problem. Yet we lemmings blindly allow our elected officials to stuff the bills with these bloated and horribly wasteful earmarks.


UPDATE 1/29/09:

Here's the complete list of pork...

• $44 million for construction, repair and improvements at US Department of Agriculture facilties
• $209 million for work on deferred maintenance at Agricultural Research Service facilities
• $245 million for maintaining and modernizing the IT system of the Farm Service Agency
• $175 million to buy and restore floodplain easements for flood prevention
• $50 million for "Watershed Rehabilitation"
• $1.1 billion for rural community facilities direct loans
• $2 billion for rural business and industry guaranteed loans
• $2.7 billion for rural water and waste dispoal direct loans
• $22.1 billion for rural housing insurance fund loans
• $2.8 billion for loans to spur rural broadband
• $150 million for emergency food assistance
• $50 million for regional economic development commissions
• $1 billion for "Periodic Censuses and Programs"
• $350 million for State Broadband Data and Development Grants
• $1.8 billion for Rural Broadband Deployment Grants
• $1 billion for Rural Wireless Deployment Grants
• $650 million for Digital-to-Analog Converter Box Program
• $100 million for "Scientific and Technical Research and Services" at the National Institute of Standards And Technology
• $30 million for necessary expenses of the "Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership"
• $300 million for a competitive construction grant program for research science buildings
• $400 million for "habitat restoration and mitigation activities" at the National Oceanic and atmospheric Administration
• $600 million for "accelerating satellite development and acquisition"
• $140 million for "climate data modeling"
• $3 billion for state and local law enforcement grants
• $1 billion for "Community Oriented Policing Services"
• $250 million for "accelerating the development of the tier 1 set of Earth science climate research missions recommended by the National Academies Decadal Survey."
• $50 million for repairs to NASA facilities from storm damage
• $300 million for "Major Research Insrumentation program" (science)
• $200 million for "academic research facilities modernization"
• $100 million for "Education and Human Resources"
• $400 million for "Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction"
• $4.5 billion to make military facilities more energy efficient
• $1.5 billion for Army Operation and Maintenance fund
• $624 million for Navy Operation and Maintenance
• $128 million for Marine Corps Operation and Maintenance
• $1.23 billion for Air Force Operation and Maintenance
• $454 million to "Defense Health Program"
• $110 million for Army Reserve Operation and Maintenance
• $62 million for Navy Reserve Operation and Maintenance
• $45 million for Marine Corps Reserve Operation and Maintenance
• $14 million for Air Force Reserve Operation and Maintenance
• $302 million for National Guard Operation and Maintenance
• $29 million for Air National Guard Operation and Maintenance
• $350 million for military energy research and development programs
• $2 billion for Army Corps of Engineers "Construction"
• $250 million for "Mississippi River and Tributaries"
• $2.2 billion for Army Corps "Operation and Maintenance"
• $25 million for an Army Corps "Regulatory Program"
• $126 million for Interior Department "water reclamation and reuse projects"
• $80 million for "rural water projects"
• $18.5 billion for "Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy" research in the Department of energy. That money includes:
  - $2 billion for development of advanced batteries
  - $800 million of that is for biomass research and $400 million for geothermal technologies - $1 billion in grants to "institutional entities for energy sustainability and efficiency"
  - $6.2 billion for the Weatherization Assistance Program
  - $3.5 billion for Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grants
  - $3.4 billion for state energy programs
  - $200 million for expenses to implement energy independence programs
  - $300 million for expenses to implement Energy efficient appliance rebate programs including the Energy Star program
  - $400 million for expenses to implement Alternative Fuel Vehicle and Infrastructure Grants to States and Local Governments
  - $1 billion for expenses necessary for advanced battery manufacturing
  - $4.5 billion to modernize the nation's electricity grid
  - $1 billion for the Advanced Battery Loan Guarantee Program
  - $2.4 billion to demonstrate "carbon capture and sequestration technologies"
  - $400 million for the Advanced Research Projects Agency (Science)
  - $500 million for "Defense Environmental Cleanup"
  - $1 billion for construction and repair of border facilities and land ports of entry
  - $6 billion for energy efficiency projects on government buildings
  - $600 million to buy and lease government plug-in and alternative fuel vehicles
  - $426 million in small business loans
  - $100 million for "non-intrusive detection technology to be deployed at sea ports of entry
• $150 million for repair and construction at land border ports of entry
• $500 million for explosive detection systems for aviation security
• $150 million for alteration or removal of obstructive bridges
• $200 million for FEMA Emergency Food and Shelter program
• $325 million for Interior Department road, bridge and trail repair projects
• $300 million for road and bridge work in Wildlife Refuges and Fish Hatcheries
• $1.7 billion for "critical deferred maintenance" in the National Park System
• $200 million to revitalize the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
• $100 million for National Park Service Centennial Challenge programs
• $200 million for repair of U.S. Geological Survey facilities
• $500 million for repair and replacement of schools, jails, roads, bridges, housing and more for Bureau of Indian Affairs
• $800 million for Superfund programs
• $200 million for leaking underground storage tank cleanup
• $8.4 billion in "State and Tribal Assistance Grants"
• $650 million in "Capital Improvement and Maintenance" at the Agriculture Dept.
• $850 million for "Wildland Fire Management"
• $550 million for Indian Health facilties
• $150 million for deferred maintenance at the Smithsonian museums
• $50 million in grants to fund "arts projects and activities which preserve jobs in the non-profit arts sector threatened by declines in philanthropic and other support during the current economic downturn" through the National Endowment for the Arts
• $1.2 billion in grants to states for youth summer jobs programs and other activities
• $1 billion for states in dislocated worker employment and training activities
• $500 million for the dislocated workers assistance national reserve
• $80 million for the enforcement of worker protection laws and regulations related to infrastructure and unemployment insurance investments
• $300 million for "construction, rehabilitation and acquisition of Job Corps Centers"
• $250 million for public health centers
• $1 billion for renovation and repair of health centers
• $600 million for nurse, physician and dentist training
• $462 million for renovation work at the Centers for Disease Control
• $1.5 billion for "National Center for Research Resources"
• $500 million for "Buildlings and Facilties" at the National Institutes of Health in suburban Washington, D.C.
• $700 million for "comparative effectiveness research" on prescription drugs
• $1 billion for Low-Income Home Energy Assistance
• $2 billion in Child Care and Development Block Grants for states
• $1 billion for Head Start programs
• $1.1 billion for Early Head Start programs
• $100 million for Social Security research programs
• $200 million for "Aging Services Programs"
• $2 billion for "Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology"
• $430 million for public health/social services emergency funds
• $2.3 billion for the Centers for Disease Control for a variety of programs
• $5.5 billion in targeted education grants
• $5.5 billion in "education finance incentive grants"
• $2 billion in "school improvement grants"
• $13.6 billion for Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
• $250 million for statewide education data systems
• $14 billion for school modernization, renovation and repair
• $160 million for AmeriCorps grants
• $400 million for the construction and costs to establish a new "National Computer Center" for the Social Security Administration
• $500 million to improve processing of disability and retirement claims
• $920 million for Army housing and child development centers
• $350 million for Navy and Marine Corps housing and child development centers
• $280 million in Air Force housing and child development centers
• $3.75 billion in military hospital and surgery center construction
• $140 million in Army National Guard construction projects
• $70 million in Air National Guard construction projects
• $100 million in Army Reserve construction projects
• $30 million in Navy Reserve construction projects
• $60 million in Air Force Reserve construction projects
• $950 million for VA Medical Facilities
• $50 million for repairs for military cemeteries
• $120 million for a backup information management facility for the State Department
• $98 million for National Cybersecurity Initiative
• $3 billion for "Grants-in-Aid for Airports"
• $300 million for Indian Reservation roads
• $300 million for Amtrak capital needs
• $800 million for national railroad assets or infrastructure repairs, upgrades
• $5.4 billion in federal transit grants
• $2 billion in infrastructure development for subways and commuter railways
• $5 billion for public housing capital
• $1 billion in competitive housing grants
• $2.5 billion for energy efficiency upgrades in public housing
• $500 million in Native American Housing Block Grants
• $4.1 billion to help communities deal with foreclosed homes
• $1.5 billion in homeless prevention activities
• $79 billion in education funds for states
  
  

What Americans Are Concerned About

Americans are a fickle lot. I found this poll rather interesting. I remember 6 months ago when gas was $4/gallon and everyone wanted "Big Oil" hung from the gallows and energy independence was the mantra being sung from the rooftops. Not to mention how illegal immigration was huge a year. Now, not so much. The one bright spot is that people are actually starting to see global warming for what it is, a load of crap.

• Pew Research Poll

And as a side note, it appears that Barack's message of hope and change and bringing the people of America together is not starting out so swimmingly:

• Barack Obama Picks a Fight - UK Telegraph

Other articles:

• $4 Billion Stimulus to ACORN - FoxNews
• Pelosi Loses Stimulus for Contraceptives - MyNews

So This is Hope and Change?

I'm starting to realize that it would take me all day every day to document all the ways in which I'm 180 degrees out of phase with Barack Hussein Obama. I don't have that kind of time. But occassionally I run across something that is just too good to pass-up. This video is one of them. Its a perfect example of the hypocrisy of liberals who are doing everything in their power to go "green" and save Mother Earth. Apparently that didn't apply to the Savior's inauguration.





This article points out a few other ways in which Obama's pre-election promises don't really jive with what he is doing now. Let's see, what else? How about Obama's new transparency he promised (other articles: #1, #2). And in related transparency news, the Clinton's everyone.

One of Obama's first executive orders this week was to shut down Guantanamo within one year. Look, I understand that people are getting tired of the War on Terrorism. We are a country full of weak kneed individuals who think we should all be able to "just get along." That sounds great and all, but unfortunately that's not reality. The terrorists currently sitting in Guantanamo aren't innocent, let's not forget that. We didn't just randomly go and take people out of their homes and put them in jail. These guys were plucked off the battlefield trying to kill American soldiers. And now people want these terrorists tried in an American court. Again, that sounds nice, but need I remind you of the OJ Simpson trial? Our court systems are no longer about "justice", they are about who has the best set of lawyers. And if you think letting these terrorists loose is a good idea you should rethink your strategy since they'll most likely go right back to killing Americans.

And speaking of the executive order, it appears he doesn't even know what's in the order. Here's a transcript from Rush:

RUSH:Here, folks, if you haven't it heard I'm sorry to belabor this, grab sound bite 31. This sound bite is what has prevented me from getting to any other sound bites today. I think I'm the only one here who has caught this. I'm sure there will be others as the day goes on. This is Barack Obama, this is the president of the United States announcing his -- capital H, capital I, capital S -- his executive order this morning.

OBAMA: In order to effect the appropriate disposition of individuals currently detained by the Department of Defense at Guantanamo, uh, and promptly to close the detention facility at Guantanamo consistent with the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States and interests of justice, I hereby order. And we then we will then provide, uh, the process whereby Guantanamo will be closed no later than, uh, one year from now. We will be... Uhhh.... Ummm.... Is there a separate executive order, Greg, with respect to how we're going to dispose of the detainees? Is that it, eh, uh, what we're doing?

CRAIG: We'll set up a process!

OBAMA: We will be setting up a process, uh, whereby this is going to be taking place.

RUSH: What am I supposed to do here? Am I supposed to pretend this isn't happening, "Gee, I hope he figures this out and succeeds"? He's reading his own executive order, and in the middle of it he stops to ask his lawyer, Greg Craig, who represented Castro and the father of Elian Gonzalez in Cuba, (doing Obama impression) "Greg, uh, how we gonna handle the detainees here, what are we going to do?" "Oh, a process is going to be worked out," and then Obama repeats it as though nobody heard what Craig said. "We'll have a process, process going to be worked out." The second executive order was basically the process, which was a "we don't have a clue" executive order. Well, you know, I think they probably think Greg Craig is so smart he could probably be Treasury secretary, and he's paid his taxes. Look, play 32. It happened again. It happened again in the next sound bite with the next executive order. What am I supposed to do here?

OBAMA: What we're doing here is to set up a special interagency task force on detainee disposition. They are going to provide me with information in terms of how we are able to deal in the disposition of some of the detainees that may be currently in Guantanamo that we cannot transfer to other countries, who could pose a serious danger to the United States, uh, but we cannot try because of various problems related to evidence, uh, in a Article 3 court. So this task force is going to provide us with, uh, a series of recommendations on that. Is that correct, Greg?

CRAIG: That's right. And detainee policy going forward.

OBAMA: And detainee policy going forward so that we don't find ourselves in these kinds of situations, uh, in the future.

CRAIG: And there is clear guidance for the military as well.

OBAMA: And that we are providing clear guidance to our military in terms of how to deal with it.

RUSH: I'm speechless. I'm just dumbfounded. Two executive orders in a row, he doesn't know what's in them, gotta turn to Craig Greg. Craig tells him and Obama repeats it as though nobody can hear it. See, I thought Obama was the editor of the Harvard Law Review. He's supposed to be smarter than Greg Craig. He taught constitutional law up there at the University of Chicago, right next door to Bill Ayers. Yeah, you would think he'd be pretty good at this legal stuff. He's an author. He wrote his own books. Ahem. He didn't know what was in at least two of his executive orders today. What am I supposed to do? Am I not supposed to mention this? "Give him a chance, Rush. Wait 'til he really screws up. Give him a chance. We all want the country to succeed." Well, Obama's policies succeeding do not mean success for the country, and that's the bottom line. I want Obama's policies to fail. That will equal success for the country. So, see, the process here, the process was always the issue, so they say they're going to shut Guantanamo in a year, and they don't tell us the process, cause they don't have a plan!

MN Recount Unconstitutional?

• The Minnesota Recount Was Unconstitutional - WSJ

Hypocrisy, A Washington Must

As the inauguration of Barack Obama looms I ran across this article today. So many people are expected in DC that President Bush has actually declared a state of emergency. Not only that, but if my rudimentary currency conversion skills are still intact, the Obama inauguration is going to cost roughly $160 million dollars. Obviously that seems like a ridiculously high amount of money, but we really need to compare it to the costs of previous inaugurations to make a fair comparison.

1809 - James Madison ($4)
1965 - Lyndon B Johnson ($1.6 million)
1981 - Ronald Reagan ($20 million)
1985 - Ronald Reagan ($20 million)
1989 - George H.W. Bush ($30 million)
1993 - Bill Clinton ($33 million)
1997 - Bill Clinton ($42 million)
2001 - George Bush ($40 million)
2005 - George Bush ($40 -$70 million)


So, it appears that the cost of this inauguration is going to be anywhere from 2 to 4 times more expensive than George Bush's last inaugurations. But if you remember, 4 years ago there was a serious outcry from the Left that President Bush was spending way too much money. Let us not forget this article from Salon.com, or this one from the BBC, or this one from the NYTimes, or any of other hundred or so articles like it. Here's a link to the results of my Google search on the matter, there is no dearth of articles to choose from.

Just for fun, I ran a Google search on "Obama inauguration costs". Wouldn't you know, no blistering attacks from the Left about how much this inauguration will end up costing.

Weather Related Stuff

First, let me state that I have very little simpathy for the people in the 2nd article below. If you choose to live anywhere where the temperature can hit -60 degrees below zero then its your own fault. It even makes me look brilliant for living in MN, which is hard to do.

• Worst Climate Predictions of 2008
• Extreme Alaska Cold Grounds Planes - Yahoo News
• Minnesota Dogsled Race Canceled - Bemidji Pioneer

UPDATE 1/14/09

Oh the weather outside is frightful, but global warming is so delightful....

• Shocking cold wave drops temps to 40 below zero - MyWay
• Snow Disrupts Midwest, Again - AccuWeather
• Blowing snow and frigid temperatures pound nation - MyWay

UPDATE 1/15/09

• Bone Chilling Temps Settle Over the East - Breitbart
• Bitter Cold Plains to East Coast - weather.com
• Coldest Air of the Winter - AccuWeather

UPDATE 1/16/09

• Georgia and Florida See Wind Chill in the Teens - weather.com
• New State Record Lows - weather.com
• -50 Windchill in Chicago - cbs2chicago
• Power Out in New Hampshire - AccuWeather
• Big Chill Clamps Down on Upper Midwest - MyWay

TV's Taxed

Nothing is safe any longer in the battle to stop man-made global warming (sidenote: its currently -18 degrees Fahrenheit here). So far we've sacrificed trucks, SUVs, lawnmowers, and light bulbs on the "climate change" alter. It appears the next victim is the Plasma television.

• Banned in Brussels - UK DailyMail
• California Taxes Flat Screens - LATimes
• Banned in England - UK Independant
  

In the on deck circle, your freedom to drive where you want.

Franken Wins, Franken Wins

I went back and read my post from Nov. 11th of last year. That was the article where I discussed the shady business going on in the election recount between Norm and Big Al. I won't get into that here again, but if you read what I wrote you can see there were a great many things that were questionable at best. Well, the hits just keep on coming as it appears the Canvassing Board will be certifying Al Franken as the winner of the MN Senate election.

The only problem with that is the process just keeps getting shadier and shadier as the days roll along. (See the Ballot Madness link below). The latest shenanigans involve duplicate votes. Under MN law whenever a ballot is damaged on election night, election officials are required to create a duplicate. The duplicates are to be clearly labeled as such and set aside. Easy enough, right? Wrong. After the recent recount, there are now 25 precincts that have higher vote totals than marked voters who showed up to vote on election day. But it gets worse. Hennepin County actually came in after the recount with 133 fewer votes than what was tallied on election night. Franken protested to the Canvassing Board and set the precedent that the election night totals would be used. This benefited Franken with 46 additional votes. However, a Ramsey County (yes, that Ramsey County I previously blogged about) precinct ended up with 177 more ballots after the recount. The Canvassing Board decided that precidence be damned and decided to go with the hand recount total. Franken gained an additional 37 votes in that ordeal.

But we aren't done yet. Next comes the dispute over absentee ballots. Our Secretary of State decided he was going to count, and certify, absentee ballot totals before all the precints had reported their totals. Why? Probably because the Franken-leaning counties had all submitted their absentee totals before the Coleman-leaning precints had. As far as I have been able to tell, every single issue dealing with challenged or contested ballots that has gone before the Canvassing Board has ruled in favor of Franken. I'm in no way saying that they should all have been in favor of Coleman, or even 50/50. But to be so utterly lopsided in favor of one candidate defies not only probability, but logic.


Here are just a few articles detailing this insanity:

• Funny Business in Minnesota - WSJ
• Ballot Madness - FoxNews
• Coleman's Request For Absentee Ballots Rejected - FoxNews
• About Those Same Ballots - MSNBC
• 1500 Ballots Reinstated for Franken - KARE11
• Franken's Coup - NewsMax

And lest we forget what happened in Washington state 4 years ago.

One last thing. I've had some friends tell me that complaining about how Franken has "won" this election is no different than what the Democrats were saying about the Florida debacle. You remember the liberal mantra "Bush was selected, not elected." The liberals back then are making the same claims that I'm making now with this race, that the courts are in essensce selecting Franken despite what the voters wanted. The two situations are not the same though. Here's the difference. In 2000, Al Gore went to court in an effort to recount a bunch of absentee ballots that were not counted on election day. The reason they were not counted is because they were not delivered to the precincts in time. I touched on this in one of my previous posts, but absentee ballots must all be turned into the precincts by election night. The only possible reason to put an extension in place is if the state was lax in sending out the absentee ballots on time. In Florida's defense, all the ballots were sent out on time. So while the Florida Supreme Court agreed to recount these absentee ballots, the challenge to the US Supreme Court overruled the states decision. In no way did the US Supreme Court rule in favor of Bush, they simply upheld the law. So the claims that Bush was "selected" and not "elected" is just plain false. The situation in Minnesota is completely different.