The other night during his press conference, Obama claimed that his economic stimulus bill had "already saved or created 150,000 jobs."

For most of the dumb-masses out there, no one thought twice about this statistic. Considering the fact that our economy has lost well over a million jobs since Obama took office, one might wonder ... where in the heck did he get 150,000 jobs from?

It turns out that the president is basing this number on estimates of what his economic advisers THINK the economic stimulus bill is doing, rather than what it is actually doing.

An Obama spokesman explains, "... the estimate does not mean that employment has risen by 150,000. Rather, it means that employment is 150,000 higher than it otherwise would have been." The figure is simply an estimate of the number of people hired to work directly on stimulus-funded projects, as well as "jobs created by the tax cuts, aid to the states, and other parts of the ARRA." Question .... What tax cuts did the Obama administration provide that would allow for jobs to be created?

Doesn't really matter, though. You've seen those bumper stickers out there, haven't you? "Obama said it. I believe it. That settles it."

Congressional Democrats are currently battling it out over a budget. But there seems to be one big piece of the Obama agenda that is missing from their plans: Obama's beloved middle-class tax cut. If you'll remember, much of these tax cuts aren't even tax cuts at all, more like welfare for people who don't pay taxes. But the idea was quite effective at getting Obama elected.

OMD Director Peter Orszag says, "while 98% of the budget mark-ups in the House and Senate are on par with the administration's budget blueprint, some campaign trail promises, like middle class tax cuts, may get left on the cutting room floor."

Now don't get all grouchy just yet. His middle class tax cut does appear in his economic stimulus package. Otherwise known as the government growth bill. So once the people get used to the idea of this "tax cut" there is no way that the Democrats are going to take that away.

By the way ... really do need to remind you. These people don't pay income taxes. What Obama is calling a "tax cut" is really government checks TO the taxpayer instead of checks FROM the taxpayer. Nice way to build government dependency.

Today Barack Obama's administration is going to announce plans to aid small business owners. Great. I think we all can agree that small business owners are the driving force in this economy, considering the fact that there are 27 million small businesses in the U.S. that employ more than 40 million workers.

From Barack Obama's $787 billion stimulus package, $730 million will go towards reducing small business lending fees and increasing government guarantees on some Small Business Administration loans to 90%. Along with this, $10 billion will go toward unfreezing the secondary credit market.

First of all, just like the rest of the $787 billion in this stimulus package .. the money has to come from somewhere. And that "somewhere" would be you, the taxpayers. There's a better way to stimulate small businesses by allowing them to keep more of the money they would otherwise pay in taxes .... But we know that the FairTax isn't on Obama's radar. It would allow the people too much power, and strip the power from the imperial federal government. If the politicians don't make you more dependent on them, then they are out of a job.

Moving right along ... while Barack Obama introduces this package to aid small business owners, hasn't he already promised to raise taxes on these very people by 2011? Obama plans to raise income taxes on people earning over $250,000 a year, the very small business owners who claim their income on their personal tax returns. In fact, half of the people earning over $250,000 a year are small business owners. So, while aiding them up front, those gains will be slashed once the government demands more of their earnings in just a few years time. We'll be right back to square one.

Republican South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford has been saying for a while that he would turn down any stimulus money that comes his way via this economic stimulus bill. And as of yesterday, he made it official ... turning down about a quarter of his state's $2.8 billion share. He says, "Fundamentally, if you boil down what the stimulus means for South Carolina, it means we would go through the process of spending a bunch of money we don't have." Finally, a guy who gets it.

Then, Sanford likened the approach of the Obama administration to that of Robert Mugabe and Zimbabwe. He says, "What you're doing is buying into the notion that if we just print some more money that we don't have and send it to different states, we'll create jobs ... If that's the case, why isn't Zimbabwe a rich place? ... 'Cause they're printing money they don't have and sending it around to their different-- I don't know the towns in Zimbabwe but that same logic is being applied there with little effect."

Now enter James Clyburn, South Carolina Senator and carrier of a huge racial chip on his shoulder. Clyburn thinks that Sanford's comparison of Obama's stimulus package to Zimbabwe's economic policies is "beyond the pale." And according to The Politico, Clyburn suggested that the comment might carry a racial subtext. Clyburn says, "For him to compare the president of this country to Mugabe. ... It's just beyond the pale." For Congressional race whore Clyburn, everything is "beyond the pale." This guy has never seen an issue that didn't have some racial component. His day should be done and his type should be fading into the obscurity he so richly deserves.

That's how much the Barack Obama administration has spent thus far. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell did the math .. "In just 50 days, Congress has voted to spend about $1.2 trillion between the Stimulus and the Omnibus ... To put that in perspective, that's about $24 billion a day, or about $1 billion an hour."

Your government at work.

Try this: Google "money to Mexico." I got over 100,000 hits. Why? That would be because we have millions of illegal Mexican aliens in this country who send most of the money they earn back to their families in Mexico. Now there is something to be admired here. Consider the number of American deadbeat dads who spend money week after week on their cigarettes and beer but nothing for the children they've fathered along the way .. but I digress:

This money-to-Mexico thing is a big deal because of a little stunt our wonderful Democrat majority in congress pulled on us. We are fixin' to spend billions of dollars on various government contracts ... everything from building bridges to sniffing pig armpits. There will be billions spent on construction projects - and where you find construction projects you find illegals. Now there is a system out there whereby contractors can determine with some degree of certainty whether or not a job applicant is in this country legally. It's called "E-verify." This is an online system where you can compare information given you by the employee with various government databases. It's free. Its' also voluntary. Republicans wanted the government to require E-verify checks on people applying for jobs created with stimulus money. Democrats said "no way." Why? Because Democrats don't want to get in the way of Illegals scarfing down these jobs. After all .. these are potential voters, right? Remember - Democrats are behind movements in many states that would grant the privilege of casting a vote in local elections to non-citizens. How long before illegals are included? Democrats are also doing a bit of Hispandering to legal Hispanic citizens who like to see their voting power increased.

Now .. do you have any idea how much money illegals sent back to Mexico last year? Let's just put the number at somewhere over $20 billion. When, thanks to the Democrats, we put tens of thousands of illegals at work on taxpayer-funded stimulus construction projects you will see much of that money heading South to bolster the Mexican economy. Wonderful plan, don't you think?

Now ... having said all of this .. there are some advantages to putting illegal immigrants on the payroll for these construction jobs:

1. First and foremost.. They're not union.
2. Hispanics generally have a stronger work ethic
3. Projects will be completed faster and more efficiently
4. Increased sales for Rosetta Stone

That's just me ... always looking for the silver lining.

Barney Frank, with his mouth full of marbles, managed to mutter something very telling. In an interview, which is actually from October of last year, Barney had this to say in regards to the idea of an economic stimulus bill:

"Yes, I believe later on there should be tax increases ... Speaking personally, I think there are a lot of rich people out there whom we can tax at a point down the road and recover some of this money."

Can anybody tell me what has my boxers in a bunch? Read it again. Did you catch the phrase "recover" some of this money? What's the premise there? The premise is that this money belonged to the government, and somehow these evil rich people got their hands on it. Now it's time for Slobbering Barney and his band of super-heroes to go out there and get the people's money back. That, in fact, is exactly what these government goons think. They believe that all wealth belongs to "the people;" that means to the government .. and that they are on some holy quest to go out there and get that money back from the crooks and wealthy criminals who have stolen it from worthy Americans.

Perhaps with all of the gloom-and-doom language preceding passage of the Obama/Pelosi government enrichment bill you didn't hear about this little goodie. It seems that this so-called "stimulus" bill also has a little present in it for labor unions. Under Pelosi's bill any stimulus-funded construction project will have to either hire union labor or pay whatever workers are hired union wages.

Now there's stimulus you can believe in: Paying inflated wages to construction workers on government projects is really going to propel our economy into growth mode virtually overnight.

It seems like every day I read countless stories about government's inability to do anything with efficiency or common sense. And it is your tax dollars that pay the price. So now, for your enjoyment, I have a few examples that I have gathered just from the last day.

-A middle school in California spends $10,000 a year to teach advanced Spanish to students who are already fluent in Spanish.

-Newspapers in Minnesota are getting a $238,000 grant to retrain their staffs on how to use the Internet.

-The federal government is going to fund a $5 million national media campaign to promote the benefits of married life to young adults.

-It took five Nebraska state employees to assemble a Sony PlayStation (bought by your tax dollars), which they then proceeded to play on state time.

-Remember the story about Clayton County bus drivers who were told to wear uniforms in order to prevent terrorists from hijacking school buses?? Clayton County decided to buck up $18,000 for the uniform shirts, but now refuses to pay $75,000 for the pants.

-And how about this $410 billion omnibus bill filled with 9,000 earmarks .. Jamie Dupree has an extensive list of earmarks, which you can read on his blog. But just to get you started, here are some other earmarks highlighted on Michelle Malkin's blog:

• $200,000 for "Tattoo Removal Violence Prevention Outreach Program," pg. 283
• Maine lobster earmark in the omnibus, pg. 173
• $5.8 million earmark for the "Ted Kennedy Institute for the Senate...for the planning and design of a building & an endowment," pg. 232
• and National Council of La Raza, $473,000 earmark from Sens. Bingaman and Menendez, pg. 212.

Aren't you glad that you have government to spend your earned wealth so wisely?

The last couple of weeks when Barack Obama and the Democrats had to have their government growth bill passed IMMEDIATELY, or the county was going to tumble into a depression or some sort of economic catastrophe from which we might never recover. This, by the way, is Obama's "hope over fear" talk. We needed to spend money on laptops for teachers, waterslides in Arkansas, butterfly gardens and other goodies from the political wish list or our country is going down the tubes.

Now they have their government-growth bill. All should be hunky-dory, right? Well ... no. Now Obama has suddenly realized the enormous economic burden he and his big-government Democrat fellow travelers have placed on our children and grandchildren. Yeah, convenient that they worry about this AFTER the bill is passed, and not before. Obama says, "If we confront this crisis without also confronting the deficits that helped cause it we risk sinking into another crisis down the road ... We cannot simply spend as we please and defer the consequences to the next budget, the next administration or the next generation."

So his solution? His immediate solution is to give the states $15 billion within the next few days to help them pay Medicaid payments to the poor. Now stop right there and explain to me how this is considered economic stimulus? Are these the same people that are going to go out there and start creating some jobs for their communities and providing paychecks? No. Didn't think so. But when Obama suddenly becomes concerned about spending a deficits, his first move is to give hand outs to poor people.

Some of these Medicaid payments will no doubt be spent on necessary medical care. Much of the payments will be wasted on Medicaid patients who bring their children to a hospital emergency room for a scratch that could be treated with a CVS visit and a Band-Aid. In Atlanta some of our more-sterling residents like to spend Medicaid money to get a free ride downtown. How? They call 911 and say the magic words ... "I'm having trouble breathing." Here comes a fire truck, paid by for the taxpayers, and an ambulance, paid for by Medicaid, to haul her downtown to the local charity hospital. They tote her into the emergency room where she gets lost in the shuffle. She walks out a door and disappears - downtown with her free ride. She'll pay for a cab home because this "I'm having trouble breathing" scam doesn't seem to work well both ways.

Now, his long term solution? Make the evil rich and the businesses pay the price now. Don't ya just love how they have managed to turn things around? After the money has been promised, now the deficit is an issue. Now we must obsess about the deficit and worry about the future of our grandchildren, therefore we must increase taxes in order to reduce the deficit by half.

Remember, in Obama speak .. "letting the Bush tax cuts expire" is just the new way of saying "tax increases."

And for all of the concern over increased government spending, the Democrats are going to unveil an appropriations bill today that adds $20.5 billion to Bush's domestic spending requests from last year.

Obama cares far more about making sure that Democrats never again lose power than he cares about the next generation. The key? Create a culture of government dependency. We're there.

Race pimp Al Sharpton had quite a day yesterday. When he woke up yesterday morning and opened up the New York Post, he knew it was going to be a great day. He got up, put the racial chip on his shoulder, and marched to the nearest news outlet to express his outrage over this editorial cartoon.

Here's what Al Sharpton had to say: "The cartoon in today's New York Post is troubling at best, given the racist attacks throughout history that have made African-Americans synonymous with monkeys. One has to question whether the cartoonist is making a less than casual inference to this form of racism when, in the cartoon, the police say after shooting a chimpanzee, 'now they will have to find someone else to write the stimulus bill.' Being that the stimulus bill has been the first legislative victory of President Barack Obama (the first African American president) and has become synonymous with him it is not a reach to wonder whether the Post cartoonist was inferring that a monkey wrote it?"

Now admittedly, Al Sharpton wasn't the only one outraged by the cartoon. The new New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand said that she found the cartoon "offensive and purposefully hurtful." And a New York City Councilman has called for a boycott of the New York Post.

Now .. what was my point again? A chimp gets shot. Someone puts that chimp into an editorial cartoon because of all of the news coverage. Race pimp Sharpton crawls out from under his log ... and the "racism" thing starts up. Par for the course.

Some people, the Investor's Business Daily, for instance, think that Obama delayed the signing of the government stimulus bill one day so that he could go to Denver and talk up the "green" provisions of the bill. So .. on the day this grand disaster is signed, our new president talked green. Oh, to be sure, he had something to say about jobs. To be specific, he had this to say: "Green energy that can create countless well-paying jobs." Countless? Wow! Now that's going to be something! If anything will solve our economic downturn "countless" jobs would sure do it. We're going to employ America building windmills and solar panels. Wow! Am I ever relieved. Everything is going to be just fine.

You do know that most of this money isn't going to hit the economy for around two years, don't you?

Barack Obama signed over your grandchildren's economic future yesterday. He signed this government growth bill into law. And as if that wasn't bad enough ...

Did you happen to hear what Obama's press secretary, Robert Gibbs, had to say about the stimulus? On Air Force One, on the way to Denver to have Obama sign the bill that just HAD to be passed by Congress over four days ago, Gibbs said, "I think the president is going to do what's necessary to grow this economy .. While there are no particular plans at this point for a second stimulus package .. I wouldn't foreclose it."

Well that didn't take long. Wasn't this stimulus package supposed to take care of it? Yet on the very day PrezBO signs it we hear talk of another one! Haven't we grown government enough for a while? How much will the next stimulus cost .. two trillion? We've already squeezed universal healthcare and the possibility of government Internet regulation into this current bill, what Democrat dreams and schemes can we come up with next?

Wall Street didn't seem to feel too confident about the stimulus bill either. The Dow Jones dropped almost 300 points, close to its lowest levels in more than a decade.

I told you about how the final stimulus bill does not include a provision that would force employers receiving stimulus money to use E-verify. In other words, they can hire illegal immigrants using your tax money as "economic stimulus" and send that money right back to Mexico, or Guatemala, or what have you.

There happens to be one man in the White House that helping their cause... Rahm Emanuel. You may remember that Obama's first legislative victory was passage of this SCHIP bill. And apparently Rahm Emanuel was the one who "cleared the path for increased benefits for legal immigrant children and pregnant women in the State Children's Health Insurance Program." The president of La Raza says that that the SCHIP bill would have never happened if it wasn't for Rahm, after he warned that the bill would not be signed without the immigration benefits. He even went as far as to say that "SCHIP can be viewed as a down payment on what will be forthcoming from the Obama administration."

And this move of the Census from the Commerce Department to the White House, it was only after Hispanic groups protested the fact that Judd Gregg was going to hurt their cause. And Rahm Emanuel was set to be the White House point person for the Census.

And then when it comes to this economic stimulus bill, the Politico reports, "Hispanics and business groups managed to delete from the final bill House language that would have forced employers receiving stimulus money to use E-Verify."

Illegals sending stimulus money out of the country. Still more change you can believe in.

General Motors is asking for billions more in bailout money ... and the news yesterday was that talks with auto worker's unions about contract concessions have failed. Which surprises you more?

(A) The fact that GM is back at the taxpayer teat

(B) The fact that the United Auto Workers don't want to be a part of the solution?

Get back to me when you figure that one out, would you?

First .. remember this. This whole so-called "stimulus" bill is the largest government spending bill in the history of the U.S. Government. Would you have expected anything less from a Democrat-controlled Washington DC?

The Democrats just had to have this stimulus bill passed by Friday. I still think it is because Nancy Pelosi had to make sure it was passed before she jetted off to Italy .. but the Democrat House broke a promise by voting on the bill without giving the public and the media 48 hour to review the darn thing. We were told that they just couldn't wait another minute. Had to do it NOW! They had to have it NOW, my friends, so that it could be signed into law before the people really started to figure out what this was all about - the growing of government - and that our economy may well be improving without this hideous bill.

Now another broken campaign promise. During the "Change You Can Believe In" campaign Obama told us that he would never sign a critical piece of legislation until the American people have had five days to read it, ask questions about it and understand it. That promise is no longer operative. He said that to get elected --- but he certainly never met it. Obama will sign this disaster tomorrow in Denver.

Denver? Yeah ... Denver. He sure is enjoying that Air Force One bit, isn't he?

Included in this government growth package is a provision calling for the creation of a national health database. This is a campaign promise from Barack Obama, and he is going to pay off in the name of "economic stimulus."

But let's jump across the pond for a moment to see how Great Britain is handling its computerized medical records database. Oh wait, what's this? The boss of a National Health Service hospital has condemned the government database, saying that it has led to fewer patients and has cost over $14 million in unnecessary expenses.

This doesn't matter to Democrats. They aren't gunning for government healthcare because of your health. They are doing it to make sure that you are dependent on the government and therefore dependent on them. Wake up, folks. This is not going to work out well for any of us.

So we are on to nominee #3 for Obama's secretary of commerce, and the seventh (don't trust me on this number) Obama cabinet appointment to go belly up. Yesterday, a lot of people .. including the White House .. were surprised to learn that Judd Gregg withdrew his nomination as Obama's commerce secretary. For those of you who just put down your People magazine, Gregg is a Republican from New Hampshire. His nomination to the cabinet position came after beardless Bill Richardson had to withdraw because of a federal investigation.

Why the withdrawal? Well Gregg really isn't saying. It is clear that he is trying hard to maintain a civil relationship with the White House since he'll still be serving the people of New Hampshire in the Senate.  But once Obama nominated Judd Gregg, the White House made a curious move - it essentially moved control of the Census from the commerce secretary to the White House.

This move hasn't really gotten a lot of coverage; certainly not as much as it deserves. That could be because we're drowning in information about the government expansion bill. But the move upset a lot of people, particularly Republicans, who saw it as nothing more than a partisan bid to reshape districts to favor Democrats in future elections. Let's see how simple I can make this for you. Democrats want to stay in power. They never want to be in a congressional minority again. To stay in power they have to create new Democrat voters .. as many as possible. Democrat voters can be found under rocks and various types of forest debris. They can also be found in urban areas populated by various minorities. The more Democrat voters you have in one area, the greater the chance of creating a solidly Democrat Congressional district. Democrats have long known that they can "count" more minorities in urban areas if they use computers to "model" the numbers than if they actually go out there and count noses. There's a little problem with the Constitution .. .it says "enumerate," not "estimate." So to accomplish the goal of inflating Democrat voters for redistricting purposes you take control of the census to somewhere where the Constitution doesn't count for all that much. And where would that be? Why, the White House, of course!

There's also money. The more tax money you can send to urban areas the more you can rely on votes from urban voters. The more people you can claim live in these areas - through estimating instead of counting, for instance - the more money you get to send.

Is this becoming clear to you?

Judd cited the Census, as well as the economic stimulus, as reasons why he withdrew his nomination. Looks like a possible new Republican hero in the making.

If you aren't reading Jamie Dupree's coverage of the stimulus bill, then you need to be! Actually, keep an eye on his blog for information on all things Washington DC. 

First of all ... could there possibly be a better name for a company that makes earth moving equipment?

Anyway ... Caterpillar is saying that if the stimulus bill passes they'll start hiring more people. This so impressed Our Savior that he immediately flew to Caterpillar headquarters to do a little TV schmoozing. Obama wants to show the world that his government expansion plan is the best plan out there because Caterpillar is going to hire more people.

Well .. duhhhh. Obama is sending massive amounts of money to local politicians to spend on everything from tennis courts to water slides to some roads and bridges. Earth will have to be moved. Whether the money is being well spent or not makes no difference to Caterpillar ...they're going to come out of this just fine. No surprise.

Well we finally got the official text of this government growth agreement between the House and Senate. And yes, it still includes a provision that would create a federal database for personal medical records. It also creates an "Office of the National Coordinator for Health and Information Technology."

And yes, one of the roles listed for this National Coordinator remains, to provide "appropriate information to help guide medical decisions at the time and place of care." It is listed on page 905 of this 1434-page beast of a bill. 

My real approach to the government growth bill this morning is "What the hell, they're going to do what they want to do, and we have no power to stop them." Yeah ... a big shout-out and thank you to our ignoranus voters who thought it would be a good idea to put the big-government, Social-Democrat Party in complete control in Washington DC. Way to go. Thanks a pant-load.

Somehow Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and the Democrats in Congress have managed to make this government growth package go from bad to worse. It seems as though their main goal was not in the details, but in making sure that they got the total number under $800 billion ... they assume that $789 billion is an easier number for the public to stomach. Yeah, right. It sure feels a lot better to me. Trouble is, with debt service this is still well over one trillion dollars. That's alottazeros.

What we got in the end was a bill that is two-thirds spending and the rest are "tax cuts". The "tax cuts," of course, are government handout checks. Welfare. For the most part, these spending projects are funding the Democrat platform: green energy, universal healthcare, "tax cuts" for the middle class and poor. Obama's signature "Making Work Pay" tax credit is going to provide an extra $13 a week in take-home pay. $13 whole dollars! What are you going to buy with that?? That's $1.86 a day! Now you get out there and spend that extra two bucks (almost) a day to get our economy moving again, you hear?

Meanwhile, tax credits for new home purchases and cars has been wiped off the map. But don't worry, those people who aren't paying income taxes are going to have an extra $13 in their pockets!

We'll have to check with Jamie Dupree to see if this made it into the government growth agreement between the House and Senate. But in the version passed by the Senate, financial institutions that have received bailout money and paid executive bonuses would be required to compensate the taxpayers.

The amendment included in the bill would penalize companies that paid bonuses of more than $100,000 to executives after the company received bailout funds last year. The companies would be required to repay any portion of that bonus over $100,000 within four months or be hit with an excise tax of 35% on the portion above $100,000.

This amendment, by the way, was co-sponsored by Republican Sen. Olympia Snow of Maine. It is estimated that it could raise as much as $3.2 billion.

Let me say this again ... and I'll try to write more slowly so the government-educated among you can understand this.

We'll form this wonderful lecture on the economics of bonuses as a question:

The Dynamic Investment Bank is having a rough time. Projections are that DIB will lose about $5 billion dollars this year and will have to lay off as many as 2000 employees. You have a well-earned reputation as a financial turn-around artist. Many companies are trying to hire you. You tell DIB that there is no way you can avoid any losses this year, and some layoffs are inevitable. But you do think that you can save the company a lot of money and a lot of good employees. Here's the deal you want. In addition to a good salary, at the end of the year you want one-quarter of one percent of the amount by which you reduce that projected $5 billion loss. DIB agrees. At the end of the year the company has lost not $5 billion, but $2 billion and is on its way to profitability next year. What's more, you only had to lay off about 400 employees.

Now ... you have earned a bonus of $7,500,000. Should you get it? Should that revolting Barney Frank have the option of penalizing DIB if the bonus is paid?

Yesterday we were supposed to get the grand financial plan from Obama's tax-cheating whiz-kid Tim Geithner. And what we got was a bunch of grandstanding, but not a lot of details. Here's one good line: "We're will have to try things we've never tried before." Wait! Isn't that what brung us to this hideous dance with all these ugly partners in the first place?

Let's see ... we'll start out by making millions of home loans to people who have no credit, no steady job history, and certainly not enough income to pay the loan back. We'll make these loans to people who should be renters. We've never tried that before on such a large scale .. let's see how that works out for us.

Here's something else we haven't tried before. Let's pass a law - we'll call it the
Community Reinvestment Act. This will be a really nifty way for the government to interfere in the free marketplace. We'll set up some urban gangs who can make sure local banks make bad loans to favored minority groups .. or they'll get spanked by the federal government. Let's see how THAT one works out for us.

Once we have those two programs we haven't tried before in place, we'll keep interest rates artificially and illogically low for far too long. Yeah, let's follow this monetary policy that virtually every sane economist not working for the government thinks is a grave mistake because voters like low interest rates. That ought to work out really well.

So now our tax-cheat Treasury secretary wants to try some more things we haven't tried before? Well, you may think that this message brings great hope, but it would seem that the stock market didn't like that one bit.

If you want to see just how this gang of leftist statists want to change this country some new details can be found here.

The reason we don't have more details has to be because they really don't know how the hell they're going to pull this off. It's just going to be stuff we haven't tried before. No chance for letting people work, thrive and then spend their own money.

Yesterday Obama came down to my neck of the woods .. my second home, that is .. to Southwest Florida. Our savior descended from the clouds yesterday to make his sales pitch on this government growth package. Here a few moments I want to make sure you heard about.

The first one is Henrietta who asked Obama for her own kitchen and her own bathroom. That's right ... she came to a presidential rally and asked the president for a home. I'm sure that Henrietta's situation is less than ideal. She's homeless. She's homeless with her 37-year-old son living with her. What's that all about? But it just goes to show that there are people out there who really believe that Barack Obama is the one that is going to put a roof over their head and gas in their cars and food on the table. You just have to ask him for it and he will give it to you. This is why they voted for him. OK .. this woman is having a rough time. We really don't know how she got there ... though it's a good bet that she is a victim of little more than her own decisions. What she, and most of the other people at that rally, don't understand is that Obama cannot give her one thing that he doesn't first take away from someone else. In reality this woman was asking PrezBO to take a home away from some who had worked for and earned it, and give it to her. Scream all you want my backwards leftist friends ... but you know this to be true.

Henrietta's story does have a happy ending, thanks to a citizen that offered her a home. Chene Thompson is the wife of Florida State Representative Nick Thompson. After hearing about Henrietta's situation at the townhall, Chene offered Henrietta a house that she had bought after law school. By the way, Florida State Representative Nick Thompson is a Republican. The story fails to mention that. Fox News failed to mention that this morning as well. Just guessing, but if Henrietta's benefactor was a Democrat you would see that in virtually every story about her.

And then there was Julio, the college student who was upset that his job at McDonald's doesn't provide him with adequate benefits. By the way, if this kid is the future of America then help then you need to start checking up on airfare to Singapore. But back to Julio's plight. Julio has been working for the same McDonald's for over four years ... and says he can't find a better job. Now four years ago our economy was cooking, and Julio couldn't do better than McDonalds? Well, Obama said that his economic stimulus plan is going to help Julio in three ways. First, Julio will benefit from the tax breaks by offsetting his payroll taxes and letting him keep more of his McDonald's salary. That means that Julio is going to get a free ride for Social Security and Medicare ... making those two programs welfare ... for Julio. Then, Julio is going to get better health benefits from his employer because the government is going to "reform the healthcare system so that you will have access to healthcare in your job." Obama's final point is that we, the taxpayers, are going to give Julio a refundable tax credit for his tuition. Just remember that according to Barack Obama, a "refundable tax credit" is the new label for a government handout. More welfare for Julio.

Oh and Florida Governor Charlie Crist was there to introduce Obama. He also happens to be a supporter of this government growth bill. I know a lot of conservative Floridians who are upset by this one.

Oh yeah, and here's that guy about to wet himself over the opportunity to ask Obama a question:

Yesterday on the floor of the Senate, Chuckie Schumer said something that I'm afraid may be true. In debating the economic stimulus bill (which passed the Senate yesterday) he said, "To all the chattering class, that so much focuses on those little tiny, yes, porky amendments .. the American people really don't care." At first when I heard him say this windbag say that Americans really don't care about these "porky" amendments, I was irate. And for anyone who is reading this right now, or a regular talk radio listener, you are probably irate as well.

Then I stop to think for a bit. After all, Schumer is talking about the masses of government-educated people? Haven't I been saying some of the same things about these dumb masses for years? If you think that government is your savior, why worry about pork? Maybe the biggest thing the American people are worried about is that the pork will be spent somewhere else. Nobody seems to oppose a government spending program that puts someone else's money into their pocket.

So, I'm afraid that Chuckie is right .. the average American doesn't care about the billions and billions of dollars are government is getting ready to spend, thanks to the future taxpayers of this country. They are either waiting for Obama to give them a house or find them a better job ... or they're fretting over last night's episode of American Idol and checking the mailbox for their latest issue of People Magazine .. or stealing their neighbor's. Some are also worried about whether or not Angelina is pregnant again .. and we know it's not my child, so I could really care less.

Schumer's quite a piece of work, isn't he? Oh and don't you just love the fact that he refers to the billions of dollars in pork barrel projects .. that won't stimulate the economy .. as "little tiny porky amendments"? Just again, here's a reminder of the little tiny tax dollars that will be spent on lead paint hazard reduction and watershed rehabilitation.

We now know that the purpose behind Obama's grand plan to computerize all medical records is ... ta da! .... CONTROL! The so-called "stimulus" bill actually has provisions in it that will establish a couple of new federal bureaucracies that will monitor and eventually interfere in your relationship with your doctor in some rather profound ways.

While there may be value in having all of your medical records computerized, I do have this question. Couldn't Americans do this on their own if they wanted to? Just how hard would it be to set up some sort of website that would offer you the chance to put all of your medical records on an encrypted Internet file that could be accessed everywhere?

The problem here is that the government has an ulterior motive. It's not about cost savings. It's about control and coercion.

You want to have the pants scared off of you? Read this piece by Betsy McCaughey on health care in the stimulus plan. Oh, and Tom decided to call and tangle with the Talkmaster about health care. If you missed it, listen here.

Listening to clips from PrezBO's Presser last night I could swear I heard President Obama say that "only government is big enough to solve this problem." Only government, huh?

What did I tell you? What was I saying throughout the entire presidential campaign? Barack Obama is absolutely in love with government. He eats, sleeps and breathes government. When he dreams, he dreams of government. When he fantasizes, he fantasizes of a relationship with government. He has blown-up copies of the Federal Register glued to the ceiling over his bed so that he can go to sleep with visions of government in his mind. To Obama there is no problem that can't be solved by more government. In fact, there is no problem that shouldn't be solved by more government. Health care? Government. The heartbreak of Psoriasis? Government. Acne? Government. America is great because of government. More government will make America greater. Anyone who thinks that America accomplished greatness through the dynamic of a free people working together under the rule of law in a system of economic liberty is pure nuts. It was government. Always government.

And now we have an economic crisis ... caused by government ... and only government is big enough to solve the problem.

It looks like the press conference last night was just exactly what we expected it to be. If we don't turn to government for a solution ...if we don't massively expand the reach of government ... if we don't double the cost of government ... if we don't bow down at the altar of government ... we're doomed. 

Well .. yesterday we got what we expected. The Senate cleared its last procedural hurdle yesterday thanks to Republican Senators Susan Collins, Olympia Snowe, and Arlen Specter. These people are the definition of RINOs - Republicans in Name Only. The only chance that you now have of setting them straight would be not to re-elect them when the time comes. By then, this pork-barrel Democrat dream bill will be so far out of your minds. Many seasons of American Idol will have passed.

It's not over. It'll pass today and then the House and the Senate will get to sit down and noodle this thing out. Watch for the cost to go up. Oh ... and don't believe that the figures you get from Washington on how much this monster is going to cost. There's a little thing called "debt service." You see, when this bill is passed we don't have the money to fund it. That money will have to be printed by the U.S. Treasury. Then it has to be put into circulation. To get the money into circulation the Treasury will sell Treasury securities. The people who buy those securities expect to make money on them. The money they expect to earn is the debt service. That debt service will take the cost of an $800 billion government expansion bill and push it well above one trillion dollars. Do you want to see the zeros? Here you go. $1,000,000,000,000. Looks good, doesn't it? Your children are going to be paying this back ... if we're still here to pay it back.

It's really pretty easy. Let's go through the process step-by-step:

1. Obama, the first YouTube, People Magazine, American Idol, Entertainment Tonight president is elected by a celebrity-worshiping mob.
2. Rahm Emanuel tells the PEBO that there's an economic crisis and reminds him that it is a political crime to let a good crisis go to waste. Let's get busy and take advantage of this mess.
3. Obama wants to get off on the right foot with Congress, so he makes a call to Nancy Pelosi and tells her to come up with an economic stimulus bill and to let it all out because this is the era of anything goes. There's a crisis to be taken advantage of here.
4. Pelosi spreads the word to the House Democrat Caucus: "The new president has given us a green light. Get me a list of all of the spending dreams and schemes you've had over the last decade by noon Thursday. You snooze, you lose.
5. A Texas Congressman comes up with a true economic stimulus plan; a tax holiday. Just suspend the collection of all personal federal income taxes and payroll taxes for five months. Let the people who earned the money spend it. Democrats aren't interested in this plan because it does not enhance their power, and they don't particularly like the idea of people knowing how much they actually make.
6. Pelosi and her flying monkeys assemble the Democrat spending dreams into one 700+ page $800 billion monstrosity that not one member of the congress will ever read and presents it to the nation as an "economic stimulus bill."
7. Obama tells the nation that we face economic catastrophe and the possible destruction of our country if Pelosi's government-expansion bill isn't passed. The sky is falling. We're doomed!
8. People show up at Obama rallies in Elkhart, Indiana and Ft. Myers, Florida thinking that Obama is going to be handing out checks and jobs.
9. Three Republican Senators, Susan Collins, Olympia Snowe and Arlen Specter surprise not one single person in the free world by climbing all over each other to sign on with the Democrats ... again ... in support of the bill.
10. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office issues a report which essentially says that the so-called "stimulus plan" is a fraud and will not work. Nobody listens.
11. The mainstream media generally ignores the CBO report because their investment in Obama is so overwhelming that they simply cannot allow him to fail. Their credibility is at stake.
12. Our children and grandchildren are saddled with a debt and future inflation that will insure a standard of living for them that will never match the standard their parents enjoyed.
13. So many people are removed from the federal tax roles by Obama's phony "tax cuts," (which are really government handouts) that Democrats are confident that they'll remain in power for ever more.
14. The enemies of America throw a party.
15. Those who love America hold a wake.

On Friday night we got a "compromise" stimulus plan in the Senate. For those of you who are brave, Jamie Dupree has the entirety of this Senate stimulus bill for you to peruse. I read somewhere that the bill is something like 778 pages long .. which means that it is costing us over $1 billion per page. That's just a bit more than Congressman John Linder and I earned with The FairTax Book. As expected, the two Maine RINOS, Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe are saying yes to this monstrosity. Arlen Specter is joining in .. not to anyone's real surprise.

Part of this Senate compromise bill (thanks to Sen. Ben Nelson and Sen. Susan Collins) includes the elimination of pork-barrel projects that are not considered "stimulative." Now, we will leave it up to you to decide whether or not they accomplished that goal. After all, this Senate compromise bill is still $7 billion more than the House version.

If things go according to plan today, the Senate could end debate on the bill and pass the thing tomorrow. Then the Senate and House would have to caucus to come up with a compromise bill .. remember that the Senate and House versions of this bill are very different. The Democrats are insistent on this bill being on Obama's desk and ready to sign by President's Day. That's in one week, folks. One week to rush this thing through the Senate, noodle it out between the House and Senate, and have it ready for Obama to sign.

Do any of you find this just a bit disconcerting? Our economy is in trouble. Arguably some sort of government action might be necessary to speed up recovery .. and we have these people we would hope would take this thing seriously rushing to pass an $800 billion bill that will profoundly affect generations to come .. and to pass it in time for it to be signed by some holiday. Do these people want to be taken seriously or not?

I just want you to stop for a second and think back to the November election. There was a point in time when the Democrats had a serious shot at getting 60 senators for their party. Imagine if we had given the Democrats an absolute free pass on the largest spending bill in history. No need for all this "bipartisanship" and "compromise" .. although I think we can hardly call all of this "bipartisanship."

This bill is going to harm our country. It is going to harm your children and grandchildren. Barack Obama clearly does not know what he is doing - no surprise considering his lack of experience - and has turned our economy over to people like Nancy Pelosi who want nothing more than to grow their own power. The "change we can believe in" turns out to be a transition from a market economy to a government controlled economy. You're not going to like how this turns out.

One of the items that got the boot in this "compromise" Senate bill was $50 billion from new federal grants for state education aid. And the teachers unions are furious. The National Education Association is threatening to lower the scores of Collins and Nelson because of their amendment.

From the way things are sounding in the White House, it is doubtful that these cuts will actually stick. Top White House economic aide Larry Summers says that support for education and local government is key in this bill. He says, "There's no question that what we've got to do is go after support for education and there are huge problems facing state and local governments and that could lead to a vicious cycle of layoffs, falling home values, lower property values, more layoffs, and we've got to prevent that."

This money wasn't there to support education, Mr. Summers. It was there to support teacher's unions and you know that to be true. Besides ... can somebody please explain to me how spending billions of dollars on government education is going to stimulate our economy within the next 2 years? You're right ... it wouldn't.

Even with the Senate cuts, colleges and students are going to clean up big time. I should say government colleges and government students.

And can somebody please tell me what is wrong with this .. this quote comes from an Associated Press report:

"If the infrastructure spending survives, it would likely prioritize colleges with high minority enrollments, schools rebuilding from disasters like Hurricane Katrina, and energy-saving projects. It may also take steps to make sure community colleges get their fair share, and private colleges--such as Roosevelt--are hoping the final version will allocate some to their sector, too."

Clearly this is not about growing our economy .. it's about pandering to favorite Democrat special interests. Big surprise there.

According to the New York Times, Obama called the three Republicans senators who agreed to compromise on this economic stimulus bill. We learn that PrezBO called them to "thank them for their patriotism in helping advance the bill at a critical time."

Patriotism, huh? The majority of the people in this country don't like the Democrat's plans to spend away their grandchildren's' futures. But according to Barack Obama, getting his bill passed quickly makes you a patriot. Not, questioning how the money is spent or making sure that it is actually going to stimulate the economy ...

Not that the average American has a clue .. but Congress, are you listening? According to the latest Rasmussen polls, only 37% of Americans now support the economic stimulus bill.

That means that 43% are opposed and the rest can't tell their head from a hole in the ground.

But consider this ... a stimulus plan that includes only tax cuts is now more popular that then economic stimulus plan being offered by Democrats in Congress. Compared to the 37% who support this Democrat spending bill, 45% of Americans favor a tax-cut only plan. Why is this? Because Americans know that they would spend the money better than any politician in Washington. But, of course, this is something that is never going to happen. And the reason is simple: power. These Democrats in Washington are not really interested in stimulation the economy. They are interested in making sure that they get to spend the money to fund their pork barrel projects and future campaign commercials. Money in the hands of the American who earned it simply does not translate into power for politicians in Washington. It's just that simple. Maybe I need to say that again ... louder this time:

Tax cuts ... letting people keep the money they earn and spend it how they like ... does not translate into more power for politicians in Washington. They grow their power by spending your money .. not the other way around.

Again .. it's so simple. Maybe the American people are figuring this out.

Barack Obama says that we should not let "very modest differences" get in the way of the Democrats massive spending bill, otherwise known as the economic stimulus bill. It's funny that Obama would consider the differences between government spending a tax cuts "very modest." Do I really need to explain the fundamental differences between the plans the Democrats have proposed and those supported by Republicans? I didn't think so.

Jamie Dupree has done a top notch job of combing through this Senate economic stimulus bill .. I'll give you a little taste of what he found, and you can check out his blog for a lot more details. But this, according to Democrats, constitutes economic stimulus:

• $350 million to develop and maintain a "broadband inventory map" at the Department of Commerce (that's Jamie's favorite)
• $1.375 billion for "Rural Water and Waste Disposal"
• $1 billion for the 2010 Census
• $150 million for the Office of the Federal Detention Trustee
• $50 million in aid to combat Internet Crimes Against Children
• $1.4 billion for water projects for Indian tribes
• $10 million to inspect canals in urban areas
• $2.1 billion on energy efficiency in government buildings
• $600 million to buy high fuel economy vehicles for the federal government
• $240 million for "Alteration of Bridges"
• $55 million for Historic Preservation in Park System
• $150 million for facilities at the Smithsonian
• $100 million in Aging nutrition services
• $400 million for screening and prevention of STD's, including HIV
• $1.5 billion for "Homelessness Prevention Fund"

Keeping all of these pork barrel projects in mind .. and by the way, that doesn't even scratch the surface of what is actually in this bill .. Obama says that he would be willing to scale back some of his spending plans in order to win Republican support. He said that he would remove any proposals which were not directly aimed at job creation.

OK ... let's parse that a second. Job creation? Most of Obama's stimulus plan is "work" creation, not job creation. These temporary construction and infrastructure projects don't create jobs, they create work. When you're finished sprucing up those government offices at the Department of Agriculture that work disappears. Ditto for landscaping around the National Mall. Also - where Obama's spending plan does create jobs they're generally government jobs, not private sector jobs.

Just a few weeks ago I told you about a hearing with the chairman of the joint committee on taxation. He was there to testify on behalf of the economic stimulus package. And when he is asked how many jobs this plan is expected to create, the guy didn't have an answer. Amazing.

How do you modify the stimulus plan? Start with each of the projects above. Then move on to every project that focuses on government work instead of private sector jobs. How do you do that? Pretty easy, actually. You put more money into the hands of the private sector - businesses large to small - to create jobs. The way to do that is through tax cuts. Not phony welfare checks you call tax cuts, but actual tax cuts. Right now the corporate tax rate in the U.S. is the second highest in the industrialized world. Do you think that is how to work toward business and job growth? If you do, you're a Democrat.

This week the Senate will be debating this $900 billion economic stimulus package. At least, that is what they call it. It reads more like a Christmas list for Democrat supporters, constituents and donors. Last week, not one Republican in the House voted to support the bill. And the way things are shaping up, we could possibly see the same happen in the Senate. Over the weekend, senior Republican senators warned that Republicans would be unlikely to support the bill without major changes. Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona says that Republican support for the stimulus is eroding and that "major structural changes" are needed in order to win support. He says, "You have to start from scratch and reconstruct this." Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell doubts that the bill would be able to pass the Senate in its current form.

Still -- Democrats want this thing passed and waiting for Obama to sign no later than mid-February. It's already February 2nd, folks. Are you going to get in the game and start putting some pressure on your Senators? Jamie Dupree says that Congress isn't getting the type of groundswell opposition that they have seen in the past. This is no time for apathy. This is your children's and grandchildren's future we are talking about. This trillion-dollar-plus Democrat dream fulfillment bill will hamstring what's left of our free market economy for decades to come. Do you think this incredible level of spending is going to end after just one or two years? Well sit forward on your rent-to-own furniture and try to think about this. How in the world do these free-spending Democrats tell their voters two years from now that the handouts are going to stop? How do they tell all the workers on their temporary "raking leaves in National Forests" jobs have ended and now they have to actually go get a real job in the private sector? Hint: They won't. They will want to keep power .. and power comes from votes ... and votes come from government largesse. There will be more spending bills like this one to follow. More debt. Larger government and a economy limping along on low-grade corrosive government fuel.

This is so rich. I mean the cajones on President Obama .. a day after the House passes his $825 billion spending package, Barack Obama actually stood there in the White House and complained about Wall Street bonuses and the need for responsibility.

He said that Wall Street employees getting paid more than $18 billion in bonuses last year is "the height of irresponsibility." He called it "shameful." Did you get that, folks? Shameful. "And part of what we're going to need is for the folks on Wall Street who are asking for help to show some restraint, and show some discipline, and show some sense of responsibility."

Restraint? Discipline? Responsibility?

And then we get this. This is the Barack Obama I have been afraid of. Obama went on to say, "There will be time for them to make profits, and there will be time for them to get bonuses ... Now is not that time." Yup ... there you go. The new President of the United States - the president who wrote of his affinity for Marxist professors and student groups while he was in college - the president who thinks that America's greatness comes from its government - this president is now telling the captains of industry when they can and cannot make a profit; when they can and cannot earn bonuses.

OK .. it is easy to gin up some anger toward an executive who takes a bonus while his company is getting bailout money from future generations of taxpayers. But I would like for you to consider just a few things.

First: Please remember that some of these Wall Street companies, specifically banks, made it clear that they didn't want any government bailout money. The Bush Administration told them that what they did and did not want didn't really matter all that much, they were going to take the bonuses, and they were going to sign over part ownership of their companies to the government whether they liked it or not.

Second: What are the details of these bonuses? Almost certainly they are being paid according to a contract. What are the terms of that contract? Let me suggest a scenario. Let's say that the AAA Investment Bank is in trouble. It looks like they're going to lose about $5 billion dollars because of past mismanagement. They go on a search for a new CEO who can turn things around. One of the candidates tells the search committee that there is no way he can prevent a loss .. but he might be able to limit that loss to $1 billion instead of the projected $5 billion. An agreement is reached that the new CEO will get a new bonus at the end of the year equal to ¾% of the difference between the projected loss and the actual loss. The CEO makes changes and takes actions that save the company, and the shareholders, $4 billion dollars. He gets his ¾% .. about $30 million. Tell me .. has he earned it?

But then comes the anti-capitalist president telling the nation how "shameful" it is that you've taken that bonus. Can we really judge whether or not those bonuses were shameful until we know the parameters upon which those bonuses were paid? Only if you're an anti-capitalist leftist with a love of government that surpasses any appreciation for the wonders of the free market.

Another question: Has anyone out there heard Obama say one thing about any of the many shameful shenanigans going on in government .. unless his comment was in the context of slamming George Bush? How about passing those tens of millions of dollars to buy condoms to the people as "stimulus?" That wasn't shameful? How about $50 million in welfare for artists who don't have the artistic skill to produce something that will sell in the private marketplace? That isn't shameful?

A window has opened. We have now seen Barack Obama's animosity toward capitalism out there in the open. More is certain to come.

I talked about this on the air yesterday, but let's be honest, a lot of you were probably too busy planning your Super Bowl parties or wondering what happened to your latest issue of "People Magazine." It's OK, you've come to Nealz Nuze, so let's get on with it.

The Washington Times is reporting that the economic stimulus bill includes $2.25 billion for the National Parks Service. That's a lot of money. But hold on .. it gets worse. The chief lobbyist for the National Parks Conservation Association just happens to be the son of the House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey, obviously a Democrat.

So here we have a man, Craig Obey, who is one of the top people in charge of making sure that our national parks get funding from Congress. That's his job. And when this economic stimulus bill came to the Senate Appropriations Committee, Craig and his association managed to get $802 million in stimulus funding. Not bad, considering the obvious question - how in the world is money for our national parks going to stimulate the economy? But apparently, that wasn't the issue. The issue is that when the House Appropriations Committee passed its version of the bill .. that $802 million for national parks suddenly became $2.25 billion. Yes, that's billion with a "B." That amounts to the total yearly budget of the National Park Service. And guess who happens to be the chairman of the committee that bumped up the spending from $802 million to $2.25 billion? David Obey. The father of the chief lobbyist for National Parks Conservation.

Does anyone find this vaguely outrageous? Apparently PrezBO doesn't. He's too busy slamming evil CEOs. The Democrats have been preaching transparency .. but those words only get as far as a teleprompter. You can say one thing, but clearly the Congress is still practicing another.

Chris Edwards of the Cato Institute will be on the show today at 11am ET. He'll be talking about an ad campaign the Cato Institute is rolling out today that features the signatures of over 200 economists urging the President to avoid excessive government spending to try and overcome the recession. You'll see the ad in the New York Times, Roll Call, the Washington Post and more. View it here. [pdf] Politico also has the story.

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

By now I am sure you are tired of me ranting about celebrity worship and celebrity culture. The fact that the average American has no concept of how we are being robbed at this very moment .. there are thieves in your living room, stealing the future of your children and grandchildren. Obviously I am referring to this economic stimulus bill. And I would say the average American has absolutely no idea what we are getting ourselves into. The average American doesn't know that this bill is going to double the amount of federal spending on education. This bill claims it is going to "create jobs" by building Frisbee golf courses and dog parks and preventing STDs.

But Barack Obama and the Democrats say that we must pass this bill and we must pass it now. Obama said, "We don't have a moment to spare." And the reason why they are so anxious to pass it so quickly is for two reasons .. the longer it lingers out there, the longer people have to comb through it and realize that this is nothing but a giant pork spending bill. And the politicians want to do it before the Super Bowl when most Americans are worried about what type of dip to serve on Super Bowl Sunday than the future of their families.

Here is a viewer comment from CNN's website that illustrates the average intelligence level of an American .. maybe I am even being too generous.

This is from Coherent1:

Has anyone really read the stimulus plan? How could anyone say what's in it and what's not. This plan will need a healthy combination of spending and job creation. That tax thingy will on work for a few, however, how are you going to reduce in taxes for the now over 81,000 people laid off over the last couple of days? I'll bet cutting those taxes will help them get jobs! NOT! It has to be well rounded, maybe even include some of the Republicans tax cuts (for those with jobs).

So .. this ignoranus doesn't understand how cutting business taxes can allow businesses to invest more capital in business expansion and thus job creation? Here is yet another fool educated by government ... and going through life without one ounce of understand for the free market economy.

At the end of the road this all comes down to government education. There's a reason why Americans are so ignorant ... and you must wonder if this was all intentional.

 

The vote in the House is today. Get that? Today! Why? Because these people are thieves. They're stealing your children's future. There rummaging around your living room in the middle of the night stealing much of that stuff you've worked for .. and stealing the future you've been trying to make for your children .. and they're scared to death that you'll wake up before they get away. They're pushing for a vote on their Democrat spending plan before the American people actually figure out what they're up to.

How many times over the past year did I explain this to you? Democrats - and this goes double for President Obama - think that America is great. Some of us have a different idea. We might think that America is great because of the dynamic of free, self-sufficient people working together in an economic system based on liberty and the rule of law.

Now I want you to think about something for a moment. Think about all that you've heard about what the Democrats are calling an "economic stimulus plan." How easy is it for you to remember the parts of this plan that grow government? Now .. .try to remember a part of the plan that grows the private sector. For the most part this is about government jobs and the growth of the government's power and share of our economy. There are some dollars thrown at private sector elements -- but for some reason these are private sector elements and non-profit groups friendly to Democrats. Millions for Hollywood. Millions for the Arts. Millions for ACORN. Yes .. I said millions for ACORN. We even had millions of dollars in there for condoms and AstroGlide before talk radio got a hold of that one. (OK, I'm not sure about the AstroGlide .. but you don't want people to hurt themselves, do you?) Yeah .. these things are going to grow our economy big time. Take a look at this story from today's USA Today. "Some of President Obama's favorite proposals won't make a difference for years." Well, if it won't make a difference for years, then it's not stimulus, now is it? It's just the Democrat agenda being forced through in an atmosphere of panic by calling it an economic recovery plan.

This grandiose Democrat spending plan is not going to stimulate our economy. It is, however, going to fulfill decades of Democrat dreams and schemes. It will make government more powerful. It will weaken the private sector. It will insure the reelection of Democrat officeholders for years to come. It will inevitably lead to massive tax cuts which will harm, if not destroy, American private sector productivity. It will absolutely change the way your children and grand children live their lives. It will rob them of opportunity and lock them into a life of mediocrity in service to the all-powerful Imperial Federal Government of the United States.

Quick ... get that vote done today before someone actually wakes up!

This giant excuse for a Democrat spending bill is shaping up to be conglomerate of earmarks. The problem is that they aren't being called "earmarks." Remember when Obama ran on a platform of transparency and earmark reform? Well he is dedicated to living up to that promise. So here's what happens ... the earmarks are still there, they are just called something different - "ready to go" or "shovel-ready" projects. All in the name of economic stimulus.

Changing the name of earmarks to "ready to go" projects. More Change We Can Believe In.

The AP reports that that Obama's ban on earmarks doesn't mean that interest groups, lobbyists and lawmakers won't figure out a way to get their constituents their ration of pork. They will just figure out another way to do it. And by doing THAT, we have inadvertently made the process even more secretive.

Projects like a "disk-golf" course in Austin, Texas or a water park in Arkansas or dog parks in California ... as earmarks, these projects would have gotten money up front. But now what we are doing is giving money to these projects in the back end by just lumping them into one pile of "ready to go" projects. The money will be divided up based on arcane formulas outlined in the bill, and then the politicians, on the back end, will decide who gets what.

Lawmakers, lobbyists and local officials say that this stimulus plan actually makes it more difficult to pick out how exactly the hundreds of billions of dollars will be spent. Former mayor of Costa Mesa, California Peter Buffa says, "'No earmarks' isn't a game-ender ... It just means there's a different way of going about making sure the funding is there."

Did we really think that our politicians were going to give up the power of pork barrel projects so easily? Yeah, I didn't think so. Remember that they have a history of re-labeling this type of spending. First it was earmarks, then pork, then Congressional directed spending, then stimulus, now they are "ready to go" projects.

• Looks like the millions of dollars for contraception in the "stimulus" plan will be removed. That's too bad. Tax-paying Americans .. a thinning minority ... are getting screwed here. A little contraception would only be right.
   
• The American people voted for Barack Obama and made him president. So, he grants his first interview as president to Al-Arabiya, an Arabic cable TV network based in Dubai. He'll get around to American TV when he can.
   
• Biden is warning of more US casualties in Afghanistan. That's OK, though. A Democrat is in the White House. To the media American battlefield causalities are no big deal when a Democrat is running the show.
   
• Do you know why Clinton, Bush 41 and 43, and Obama stood apart from Carter at that pre-inauguration White House lunch? They're afraid senility is contagious.

Lordy, all this talk about the economic stimulus bill is dull. Sorry about that. Discussions about prostate or breast cancer can be dull as well, but sometimes you just need to listen a bit in hopes that you'll learn something that just might save your life.

It's taking a long time for this thing to sink in to a lot of Americans, but this Obama spending bill is not a stimulus bill. It's nothing more than good old-fashioned Democrat big-government spending on steroids.

If Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid had delivered their instructions to the Democrat members of Congress I suspect the memo would have read something like this:

You're not going to read the bill. They know this. None of them will read the entire bill either. They'll read long enough to see that their own spending proposals are included ... but no further. This monstrosity is over 400 pages long, and just stuffed with pork spending.

• Swimming Pools
• Arts funding
• Contraception programs
• Sports stadiums
• Parking garages

If any special interest group favored by Democrat supporters has a spending wish, that wish is probably included in this so-called "stimulus" plan. Jamie Dupree has a more complete list of spending in his blog.

It's a fraud, folks. You need to understand that.

The quickest way to stimulate our economy right now would be to allow the people who earn the money to keep it and spend it on what they want, not what politicians want. That means tax cuts.

Democrats want nothing but spending ... no tax cuts. Pelosi says she'll judge ideas by ability to create jobs. Horsesqueeze. She'll judge the ideas base on their ability to grow government

Let's take the birth control bit. There's about hundreds of millions in the "stimulus bill" for birth control funding. The aging hollow-eyed hippie has an explanation. We are supposed to stop having children in order to reduce costs. Stopping women from having children will "help states meet their financial needs." Yeah .. they have all those expenses from health care and education. New human beings are bad for the economy.

Wake up, my friends.

House minority leader John Boehner distributed an email this week containing some details about the Democrat's "stimulus" plan. Now you read this stuff and tell me that the Democrats haven't just taken every grandiose spending plan they've been dreaming of for the last decade, bundled those schemes together, and are now trying to sell it to ignorant Americans as economic stimulus:

 

You might enjoy this moment from Capitol Hill yesterday. Ranking member on House Ways and Means committee Dave Camp (a Republican from Michigan) asks the chair of the joint committee on taxation about job creation in the Democrats' proposed stimulus bill.

The response from the chair of the joint committee cannot tell us how many jobs will be created by this economic stimulus package. Not private. Not government. The guy shows up to testify about the economic stimulus package, and can't bring any data to show how many jobs it is expected to create?

We have a lot to be wary of with Obama in the White House and the Democrats in control of the congress ... a lot to watch. There's the unionization-by-intimidation bill is a horror waiting in the wings. We're well on the way toward the era of government rationing of health care.

The biggest threat right now is this $850 billion "stimulus" bill. We have a mainstream media now that is determined to make sure that Barack Obama is not allowed to fail. This means that you won't be told that this so-called "stimulus" bill is merely a compilation of years of Democrat spending schemes. Now that they're in complete control the Dems are going to take all of their spending dreams, lump them into one bill, and call it economic stimulus.

Two points:

First ... the spending projects incorporated in this bill simply will not work to stimulate our economy. FDR tried this spend your way out of a recession thing .. and it failed. Tell me how research into more efficient windmills and buying laptops for school teachers is going to bring our economy around. If you want to stimulate the economy you cut taxes. You let people and businesses keep more of the money they earn. You let the people chose the economic winners and losers. You let the competitive forces of the free market get out there and battle with each other for the dollars. You don't let politicians channel freshly printed money to favored political interests and big-time campaign donors.

Second point: We don't have the money, folks. The cash is going to have to be printed by the Federal Reserve. By definition we are going to inflate the money supply. There are going to be additional dollars chasing pretty much the same amount of goods and services. With all of those extra dollars in circulation the prices of those goods and services will be bid up. There's your classic definition of inflation. Sooner or later our economy is going to come out of this, in spite of what the government does. When that happens stand back for rising prices. Looks like a good time to be invested in real estate is just around the corner. I've decided to hold on to what I have to wait for the big price surge.

... 2008, I mean. Democrat and (to some extent) Republican schemes to make every American, no matter how qualified, a homeowner leads to financial disaster, everybody with a business license is lining up for government (taxpayer) largess, the YouTube and Entertainment Tonight generation - people who have no clue in the world how our government actually works or who the key players are - turn a presidential election into a glorified version of American Idol, and now our wonderful elected officials in Washington are getting ready to vote on and pass a ONE TRILLION dollar stimulus bill without even so much as reading it.

We - and by "we," I means those of us who actually work and pay the taxes that keeps this government behemoth well fed - have completely lost control.

Have you heard about some of the people lined up at the stimulus trough? The latest? Newspapers! You got it .. newspapers want some of the bailout money. This isn't new, actually. I remember an article a few weeks ago where someone was suggesting that the government set up a fund - taxpayer money of course - to pay journalists and writers who lost their jobs. An excuse? Yup - this joker had an excuse. These people and their precious journalistic abilities were just too important to our culture to let them actually go out and have to find a job out of their field if they find themselves laid off. So ... to save them the pain of having to find a job they don't particularly like, the government needs to step forward and pay them ... I guess pay them to write stuff. Of course, if the government is paying them you can bet they're going to write stuff that will make the government happy. Just like those government-funded global warming "scientists."

Right now Ford Motor Company is offering cars with 0% car loans. Do you want to know how they pulled this off? With GMAC, that's how. It seems that General Motors only has a minority stake in GMAC, and GMAC is now using bailout money to make these car loans available to Ford buyers. So, what's wrong with this? Well, if you will remember, Ford said it didn't need any bailout money. They were going to do this on their own. So now we have Ford competing against the other two-thirds of the Big Three with 0% car loans made possible by government bailout money. In short, the politicians picked a winner here, and the winner was Ford. You didn't get to pick .. the government picked for you. The one company that didn't need bailout help now has a government-funded advantage over the two companies that did.

Also in line .. in case you aren't keeping a scorecard here ... the U.S. steel industry. Orders of steel from domestic manufacturers are down. What to do? Why, get the government to spend more taxpayer money on steel orders, that's what? These companies can't sell their products on the free market, so they ask the government to make a consumer choice the consumers clearly don't want to make.

Back to my theme: Clearly we have lost control of this process. Government is in the ascendancy, individual liberty, self-reliance and economic freedom are the losers. The politicians in Washington have no real fear of the voters. They know that in all probability they are going to be reelected no matter what they do. The true allegiance of these people in the congress is to the big donors and business interests that provide the bulk of the campaign cash. They just spend year after year building a power base and adding on the privileges and perks. It truly has become an imperial congress. If you want a definition of "imperial," try this one: "characterizing the rule or authority of a sovereign state over its dependencies; domineering; imperious."

Several weeks ago I made a suggestion as to how we might put the fear of God into our rulers in Washington. I got the idea from Georgia's Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine and just expanded on it a bit. Since we all have rather short attention spans (go ahead, name your two Senators and your Congressman) I thought I would remind you of the idea here today.

We need a Constitutional Convention. More specifically, we need a Constitutional Convention called for the sole purpose of adding three specific amendments to the United States Constitution. The convention would consider these three amendments ... and nothing further. Two-thirds of the States need to pass a resolution calling for such a convention, and those resolutions need to be specifically worded so as to limit the purpose of the convention to these three amendments. Without that limitation we're going to have left-wing fools trying to add amendments guarantying such things as a right to a job, a place to live and health care. Not good.

So .. what are the three amendments? (You don't listen to me all that much, do you?) Very simple ...

1. An amendment to the Constitution repealing the 16th Amendment. What is the 16th Amendment? That would be the income tax. By repealing the 16th Amendment the Congress would be forced to come up with a new way of generating the revenue needed for the legitimate functions of our government.
   
2. An amendment repealing the 17th Amendment. The 17th Amendment calls for the popular election of U.S. Senators. Before the 17th Amendment each state legislature would appoint that state's two Senators. The congressmen were in Washington to represent the people, and the Senators were there to represent the states. Right now the government of Mexico has an official representative in Washington; the government of New Mexico does not. This enables the federal government to run roughshod over the states with unfounded mandates and other federal demands. Give the state governments a voice in Washington .. repeal the 17th Amendment.
   
3. An amendment setting term limits for members of the House of Representatives. Give them three terms, then send them home. Yes, I know, there are some people we would truly like to keep up there to pursue some worthy objectives, but in the balance we're hurt by those who spend taxpayer money to solidify their power than we are would be by sending the few good representatives home at the end of six years.

Now .. here's the reality here. The Congress would probably never permit this Constitutional Convention to be called. As soon as they saw state legislatures passing the resolutions to bring these things to pass we would see the members of congress trying to beat the citizens to the punch. No ... they're not going to send the choice of Senators back to the states, and they're unlikely to set term limits for themselves. But we might actually see some movement on the repeal of the 16th Amendment and serious consideration given to the FairTax.

Dreaming? Maybe so, but maybe not. Get the right grassroots organization formed to push this idea for a Constitutional Convention and you just might rattle some cages in Washington. Who knows? Maybe the people might start counting again.