The bill was finally posted in its “final” form late last night at about 11pm Eastern.  This is the $48 hours that we have to look at this thing?  They’re voting today…less than 18 hours after the final version of the bill was posted.  The NTU emailed me this morning with a summary of some of the non-stimulating stimulus:

• $24 million for USDA buildings and rent
• $176 million for renovating Agricultural Research Service buildings
• $290 million for flood prevention activities
• $50 million for watershed rehabilitation
• $1.4 billion for wastewater disposal programs
• $295 million for administrative expenses associated with food stamp program
• $1 billion for the 2010 Census
• $200 million for public computer centers at community colleges and libraries
• $650 million for the DTV converter box coupon program
• $360 million for construction of NIST buildings
• $830 million for NOAA research and facilities
• $2 billion for Byrne JAG program
• $10 million to combat Mexican gunrunners
• $125 million for rural communities to combat drug crimes
• $1 billion for the COPS program
• $1 billion for NASA
• $300 million to purchase scientific instruments for colleges and museums
• $400 million for equipment and facilities at the NSF
• $3.7 billion to conduct “green” renovations on military bases
• $375 million for Mississippi River projects
• $10 million for urban canals
• $5 billion for weatherizing buildings
• $2 billion to develop advanced batteries for hybrid cars
• $3.4 billion for fossil energy research (possibly including an earmark for FutureGen)
• $5.1 billion for environmental cleanup around military bases
• $5.5 billion for “green” federal buildings
• $300 million for “green” cars for federal employees
• $20 million for IT upgrades at the Small Business Administration
• $200 million to design and furnish DHS headquarters
• $98 million earmark for a polar icebreaker
• $210 million for State and local fire stations
• $125 million to restore trails and abandoned mines
• $146 million for trail maintenance at National Park Service sites
• $140 million for volcano monitoring systems
• $600 million for the EPA Superfund environmental cleanup program
• $200 million to clean up leaking underground storage tanks
• $500 million for forest health and wildfire prevention
• $25 million for the Smithsonian Institution
• $50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts
• $1.2 billion for “youth activities” (for “youth” up to 24 years old)
• $500 million earmark for NIH facilities in Bethesda, MD
• $1 billion for Head Start
• $32 million for home-delivered nutrition services
• $160 million for volunteer programs at the Corporation for National and Community Service
• $500 million earmark for the SSA National Computer Center in MD
• $220 million for the International Boundary and Water Commission, U.S. and Mexico
• $8 billion for high-speed railway (including an earmark for Harry Reid’s LA to Las Vegas MagLev)
• $1.3 billion for Amtrak

Name one of these items (totaling over 50 billion dollars) that actually do anything to stimulate the economy? If these spending items are not worthy of making it on their own weight, then they certainly don’t need to be a part of a stimulus package. And this list is just a tip of the iceberg. A real stimulus package would be a tax break to the top 1%, but don’t get me started on that.

(If you don’t think a tax break to the top 1% would have a more drastic effect on our economy as a whole than ANYTHING in this $800 billion crap sandwich, then go study economics. Even John Meynard Keynes would have trouble disagreeing with this statement, and he’s the so-called “father” of this twisted sort of  “demand-side” philosophy that’s dominating the progressive mindset these days.)

But the real problem is that Congress wants to get this to President’s desk on Monday…before giving us a chance to realize how laden with nonsense it really is.

This is, almost to the tee, EXACTLY how I felt last night after this vote.

Oh, where to begin?

How does one construct an essay when one sees the national government rapidly turning this country into a nation with which one is just not familiar? I mean, this isn’t America anymore…. Is it? Could it possibly be? Is this the nation with a limited government designed by James Madison and his brilliant cohorts?

And this is one of a plethora of reasons I felt that way:

The Senate is supposed to serve, in James Madison’s analogy, as the “cooling saucer” for the hot tea served up by the House–but in this case, it is the House that has remained cool and refused to panic. That’s because the hysterical demand for a bailout didn’t come up from the people; it came down from the elites in Washington and Manhattan. The House is reflecting the sensible skepticism coming up from the folks on Main Street who don’t want to pay the bills for bailing out Hank Paulson’s former colleagues on Wall Street.

This is the rollcall vote:

Just so everyone knows the score.  Our Virginia delegation voted against the bailout plan 6 to 5:

Virginia’s congressional delegation was sharply divided, with six voting against the package and five in favor. Bobby Scott was the only Virginia Democrat voting against the bill. He joined Republicans Robert Wittman, Thelma Drake, Randy Forbes, Virginia Goode and Robert Goodlatte.

Voting for the legislation were Republicans Eric Cantor, Frank Wolf and Tom Davis, and Democrats Jim Moran and Rick Boucher.

If I recall correctly, Eric Cantor was one of the Republicans front and center really pushing this thing.

But since my Representative is Frank Wolf, that’s who has some explaining to do to me (OK, not me in particular, but his constituents in general).  And check THIS out.  His former primary opponent, Vern McKinley (whom Mr. Wolf trounced 9 to 1), reportedly warned about Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae more than 10 years ago:

“Although Freddie and Fannie are privately owned, they are what is known as government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs). GSEs don’t have to follow all the rules that true privately owned companies do: they don’t have to register their securities with the government, their securities receive special treatment for investment purposes, they don’t have to pay state and local income taxes and–most important–their government sponsorship gives them the aura of a fully guaranteed government entity. That final benefit means they save billions in borrowing costs, just as lenders are willing to offer low-interest student loans that are guaranteed by the government. That savings alone allows the GSEs to pocket about $2 billion per year, according to estimates by the Congressional Budget Office and the Treasury Department.”

“Allowing Congress to grant such special privileges is a bad idea. Those privileges, which are granted solely to Freddie and Fannie, crowd out other potential competitors in their market. Privately owned companies should not receive such preferred borrowing status, because it redirects investor funds into the middle- and upper-income housing market at the expense of other potential investments. Finally, the failure of either Freddie or Fannie could saddle taxpayers with a huge liability.”

“Congress should immediately revoke all the benefits of government sponsorship: clearly, Freddie and Fannie can be profitable without them. Eliminating special privileges will force mortgage markets to be truly competitive and will eliminate the possibility that the current system of government sponsorship will someday lead to yet another taxpayer-funded bailout.”

Just think what difference it would make if we had a few more Republicans in the House (and Senate) actually acting like Republicans.  Well I’ll say one thing, there were many today who did, and I thank God for them.

From Rep. Boustany’s website:

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Representative Charles W. Boustany, Jr., (R-Southwest Louisiana), today voted against a $700 billion bailout for overextended financial institutions both in America and abroad.

“My first responsibility as a member of Congress is to the American taxpayer, and today, I am proud to defend the hard-earned dollars they send to Washington,” Boustany said. “Our financial markets are critical to economic growth. This bill is not the prudent way to protect responsible mortgages and pension plans. Congress can still act in a smart way to allow the market to correct itself, but taxpayers will not be put on the hook, if I have a say about it.”

Boustany voted against the Financial Markets Stabilization Bill, a Wall Street bailout including $700 billion for the Treasury Department without significant direction by Congress.

A bi-partisan group blocked the bill, which was defeated 205-228.

Thank God.

Stock Market plunges 600 points.  This thing is obviously far from over.

To save Johnny the trouble of navigating the perilous waters (no pun intended) of embedding a YouTube Video.

This is very disturbing, but illustrates volumes. Watch it to the very end and see President Clinton admit the obvious:

Hopefully, as Johnny put it, this will mean the beginning of the end of Barack Obama, given that Frank Raines is one of his top financial advisors.

…is:

“encouraging every member whose conscience will allow them to support this.”

Well what else does anyone need to say?

Did I miss something, or were there hearings on Capitol Hill where the CEOs and Chairmen of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac answered to Congress about the blatant corruption existing in their organiziations since their inception?

Oil companies have to testify before Congress because of “obscene” profits, tobacco companies because of the health risk of their product (that everyone is already well aware of), and baseball players have to testify about steroid use.  But the organization at the very center of one of the most catastrophic financial collapses of the modern age doesn’t have to answer any questions on Capitol Hill?

I must have simply missed it.

Here’s a pretty good article from the Canadian “Globe and Mail” on the implications of the testimony yesterday.

What amazed me about the whole thing was the fact that it was…what…8 hours in before Petraeus or Crocker even got a chance to say a word. The net of it is, though, as this article points out, that it’s overall a good day for the White House, and for Republicans in General. The Democrats have three choices:

The first is to accept the Petraeus/Crocker scenario, extend funding for the war, and vow to stay the course. This would enrage the anti-war faction within the party and remove Iraq as a presidential election issue. Politically, this is simply intolerable.

The second is to dismiss yesterday’s report and push for a more rapid troop withdrawal through Congressional funding cuts. This would consolidate anti-war support, but if the broader public finds the general and the ambassador convincing, then the party risks looking pacifist, defeatist and untrustworthy.

The third choice is to push for accelerated troop withdrawals without abandoning core commitments to combat terrorist elements in Iraq, which offers the best chance of gaining popular support. But like all middle-of-the-road positions, it can be the hardest to navigate.

Two other reasons why I think yesterday was a good day for Republicans:

1) The ad put out by Moveon.org was absolutely the worst move in the history of bad moves. Petraeus simply has more credibility than Moveon.org. I’m all for activism, and Moveon has a right to speak it’s mind, but all it did was force almost every Democrat who was set to demagogue a four-star general to distance itself from the “anti-war” movement.

2) The press today is too focused on 9/11 memorials to be bashing Petraeus and talking about how much of a lost cause Iraq is. If anyone thinks THAT timing is an accident, raise your hand.

Anyway, I haven’t read the entire transcript, yet, just the “Summary for Policy Makers” provided by various MSM outlets. Undoubtedly more comments will follow once I’ve had the chance to read it.

In the meantime: Never Forget.

Update: Here’s an exceedingly upbeat article from the Boston Globe, cleverly titled “Team Bush’s false optimism.” Read for yourself, but it’s pretty easy to see the logical flaws and convenient dismissing of key facts. It’s worth saying I think that instinctive pessimism is as pervasive and as dangerous as false optimism.

Globe and Mail

Obviously a conservative think tank might not be the most unbiased resource for studying a piece of legislation, but it is hard to deny their damning conclusions to why this “comprehensive” legislation should be more accurately called “incomprehensible”, or perhaps “reprehensible.”

Key points:

Supporters of the bill call the Z visa a “temporary” visa. However, they neglect to mention that it can be renewed every four years until the visa holder dies, according to Section 601(k)(2) of the legislation. This would be the country’s first permanent temporary visa. On top of that, it is a “super-visa,” allowing the holder to work, attend college, or travel abroad and reenter. These permissible uses are found in Section 602(m).

…The bill would make it extremely difficult for the federal government to prevent criminals and terrorists from obtaining legal status. Under Section 601(h)(1), the bill would allow the government only one business day to conduct a background check to determine whether an applicant is a criminal or terrorist.

…The bill would transform Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from a law enforcement agency into an amnesty distribution center. Under Sections 601(h)(1, 5) if an ICE agent apprehends aliens who appear to be eligible for the Z visa (in other words, just about any illegal alien), the agent cannot detain them. Instead, ICE must provide them a reasonable opportunity to apply for the Z visa. Instead of initiating removal proceedings, ICE will be initiating amnesty applications. This is the equivalent of turning the Drug Enforcement Agency into a needle-distribution network.

…The Senate’s bill would force taxpayers to foot the bill for many illegal aliens’ lawyers. Under current law, illegal aliens are not eligible for federally funded legal services. Section 622(m) of the bill would allow millions of illegal aliens who work in agriculture to receive free legal services.

Here’s hoping that Congress catches hell from their constituency when they go home for Memorial Day. One could only hope they come back to Washington with the fear of God in them.

Rewarding Illegal Aliens