It happened last night. There was debate on the floor of the House over some amendments to a spending bill. The amendments were offered by Republicans and concerned funding for ACORN and an investigation into Nancy Pelosi's problems with the CIA.

As I understand the story, the Democrats announced that there would be no more votes that evening, and Republicans started heading home. When enough Republicans were gone the Democrats headed back to the House floor and called for a vote to end debate on all amendments to the spending bill. Republicans scrambled to get back into the House, but it was too late. Democrats saved Pelosi and ACORN with their little chicanery. For now.

I am honestly not sure if Kent Conrad is referring to God or Barack Obama. Seriously, folks. Here's the scenario: the House and Senate passed Obama's $3.5 trillion spending blueprint. This included language to pass national healthcare through the process of reconciliation, which would allow the Democrats to bypass any Republican filibuster. However, the Democrats in the Senate told Americans that they were against using this process to achieve healthcare reform. So when Kent Conrad was asked about this change, he said that he was pushed into reconciliation by a "higher power."

Now does my question make a little more sense?

Well ... at least the Republicans stood fast yesterday in the House. They were joined by several Democrats in opposing this $825 billion government growth bill. Now it's off to the Senate. Will the people of this country wake up in time to let the Senate know they aren't particularly fond of this boondoggle? Probably not .. but there's always hope. It really is too bad the GOP couldn't generate this much outrage over excessive government spending when they had control. How easy is it to posture over excessive spending when the other side is doing the funding?

I love what House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said yesterday in response to criticism of the government growth plan. "Americans voted for change." There you go. The Democrat's answer for every objection to a Democrat atrocity? Does Obama's focus group created slogan give Democrats a clear field to destroy our free market economy and burden your children and grandchildren with a bill they may never be able to repay? Oh yeah .. we did all of this because Americans voted for change. What a jerk. What an asinine and arrogant response to the valid concerns of many Americans.

In the meantime the leaders of both Communist China and Once-and-perhaps-to-be-again Russia are in the news today condemning capitalism. I guess they feel free to do this now that they have a fellow traveler in the White House. It's gang on capitalism time. BOHICA

Barack Obama has chosen former Republican congressman from Illinois Ray LaHood to be in charge of directing billions in federal highway spending through the stimulus package. The only problem is .. LaHood is known for his love of earmarks and has notoriously used his influence to get funding for projects that would benefit his campaign contributors.

Last year alone, LaHood sponsored $60 million in federal earmarks .. $9 million of which was directed to his campaign donors. He ranked in the top 10% of earmark sponsors in the House last year.

You can read all of the specifics as to where LaHood directed these federal funds, but it doesn't seem like a smart appointment for Obama considering his apparent dedication to transparency and earmark reform.

Yes ... I know that earmark pork only accounts for one percent of less of federal spending. It's not the amount. It's the fact that these politicians see the working taxpayers of this country - those few that are left - as not much more than funding machines for vote-buying projects in their districts. Enough.

Unions in this country just can't wait for Barack Obama to move into the White House and Nancy and Harry to assume their thrones in Congress. If the unions get this card check bill, you can kiss Wal-Mart goodbye. Here's the latest report:

"Mike Asensio, a attorney who heads the labor relations practice team at the law firm of Baker Hostetler, said there probably will be enough votes in the Senate to withstand a filibuster and get some form of the legislation passed. 'Labor has been fighting for 14 years through political contributions to have a voice ...They now have a Democrat in the White House who will sign labor reform,' he said. House Labor Committee Chairman George Miller, a California Democrat, said on Wednesday that Democrats in the next Congress 'will fight to restore workers' rights.'"

Here we go, folks. The real danger may not lie in a Barack Obama presidency. It lies in a filibuster-proof Democrat Senate and a Democrat House majority.

How long will it be before the union organizers show up at your workplace? Answer: Days after the "card check" bill is passed. I wonder how many people voted themselves out of a job this week?

It is still hard to tell for sure the full extent of the damage in the Congress. But it basically went as expected. The Democrats won't get their magical 60 seats in the Senate, but they will have enough. Already with a majority in the Senate, Republican Sens. Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina and John Sununu of New Hampshire lost their seats to Democrats. Also, Virginia and New Mexico picked up seats from retiring GOP Senators. Some races (like in Minnesota) are still too close to call.

In the House, the Democrats were able to knock out at least 12 Republicans so far and gain 9 open GOP seats. There were a few Republicans who were able to win over Democrat incumbents (four, to be exact). But a lot of these races are still going. The last we heard, Democrats had over 250 seats in the House and at this rate, they are expected to gain 20 seats in total. That would put their somewhere around 255 seats.

Oh and let's not even get started on Governor's races.

The Democrats are now saying that they don't need the 60 seats in the Senate ... they only need to get 57 because there are certain Republican Senators that they can count on to vote with them a majority of the time (those are called RINOs folks).