Theft/Pork Wrap-Up

I have to post at least a little bit of follow-up on the Generational Theft Act/Porkapalooza bill. If you're a regular visitor, you know a lot of the crap that was in it, and a lot of the plain ol' wrong-ness about how the whole crap sandwich was thrust down our throats. But, there are a few details to clean up...

First, I just have to mention one last specific earmark that was approved (probably unknowingly, since none of our illustrious Congressmen or Senators actually read the damn bill before voting on it). You and I will now be paying $1.6 billion for 'science'. That's right...just science. No definitions, no names, no details...just science. Also, there are completely undefined categories with hundreds of millions of dollars allocated to them. For more details:

This will be law as soon as President Obama signs it. You and I will be paying for all of this, which is simply political payback for getting the Dems elected, and corruption waiting to happen.

Gateway Pundit highlights at least 7 campaign promises with this single act of legislation:

1. Make government open and transparent.
2. Make it "impossible" for Congressmen to slip in pork barrel projects.
3. Meetings where laws are written will be more open to the public. (Even Congressional Republicans shut out.)
4. No more secrecy.
5. Public will have 5 days to look at a bill.
6. You’ll know what’s in it.
7. We will put every pork barrel project online.

Here's his promise (as if it matters, but I'll post it just for fun, anyway):

The truth?

1. The Democrats put this together behind closed doors, and not even Republicans were allowed in, much less the public.
2. This bill is roughly 85-90% pork barrel projects.
3. See #1.
4. See #1.
5. Congress had a whopping 12 hours to look at the bill before being forced to vote on it. The public will have a whole 4 days before Obama signs it into law.
6. No one knows what's in it.
7. See #1 and #5.

I suspect we'll have to get used to broken promises.

John Boehner drives the main point home:

Despite all this, one of the most disturbing trends of Obama's fledgling presidency is his indecisiveness. Here's just the latest example:

Indecision, backtracking, waffling. After 26 days in office, these are the words that best describe the Obama Administration. Actually, given the serial flip-flops during the campaign and then again during the transition, I am certain that Obama's inability to make a decision, communicate it clearly, and then stick to it will be the hallmark of this presidency.

His latest victim is the Car Czar idea, which he told us was necessary to shepherd the ailing Big Two automakers along the rough road ahead.

The unexpected shift comes as G.M. and Chrysler race to complete broad restructuring plans they must file with the Treasury by Tuesday. The companies’ plans are required to show progress in cutting long-term costs as a condition for keeping their loans.

The administration official said the president was reserving for himself any decision on the viability of G.M. and Chrysler, both of which came close to bankruptcy before receiving federal aid two months ago.

The automakers had been expecting the appointment of a car czar to break the logjam of negotiations with the United Auto Workers over the finances of a retiree health care trust, and with bondholders about reducing the companies’ debt.

Their mistake was believing him. This president does not make promises he intends to keep. Instead of a car czar, which I admit was a dumb idea anyway, the Administration has hired the steel workers’ union's "in-house banker", Ron Bloom, as the senior adviser on the auto crisis.

The sole job of the President is to make decisions. His minions run around and gather information, then present it to the President so that the President can make a decision. That's what the President does. Having an indecisive President forecasts weakness to all enemies, both foreign and domestic, and is simply begging for test after test after test. Don't be surprised when those tests come, and Obama can't handle them. He couldn't handle anything during the campaign (the media sheltered him from almost all of it), and he has no real accomplishments in his history, so there's nothing there for him to fall back on. He's going to fail, and it will be America that gets hurt because of it.

The whole bailout thing is a non-issue, anyway, because bailouts never work. They simply reward bad behavior (either bad decisions or outright corruption), thus encouraging more of the same. Case in point: GM is already back and asking for another bailout. Here's the compounding effect, too - as more and more companies and industries are nationalized by the government (for taking bailout money), they will be even more dependent upon the President's daily performance. For Obama to make one wrong statement on one bad day, we could see massive fluctuations in industries that were previously focused on actual markets. When no one knows what's going on, and when Obama can't be counted upon, it's a recipe for disaster.

One positive note is that Republicans seem to have finally found their conservative voice. It was assumed that, after they unanimously (in the House) held the line against the bailout the first time around, there would be a few in hotly contested districts who would defect the second time around to gain political cover. None did. In fact, there were only three Reps who voted for the bill, and they did it twice. No other supported it, and that's good news for the future of the party. It also speaks to the incompetence of the Democrats, who were unable to gain even a single vote in the House, and more than three RINOs in the Senate through four separate votes. Of course, it also signals just how highly the Dems prize their oft-chanted mantra of bipartisanship. Like I've always said, bipartisanship is overrated, so let's get over that concept, shall we? The Democrats have, and they just proved it.

I'll leave you with this last thought. Remember how Obama gave speech after speech invoking the specter of the Great Depression, and suggesting that if his 'stimulus' bill didn't pass we'd soon be back in the soup lines? Remember how he pushed Congress to vote before they even read the bill because it was such a dire, urgent need? Well, apparently that dire, urgent need that prompted a vote before reading the bill was so great that Obama...took an extra long weekend of vacation time. Yep, seriously:

After pushing Congress for weeks to hurry up and pass the massive $787 billion stimulus bill, President Obama promptly took off for a three-day holiday getaway.

Obama arrived at his home in Chicago on Friday, and treated wife Michelle to a Valentine's Day dinner downtown last night. The couple was spotted leaving upscale Table Fifty-Two, which specializes in Southern cuisine, with the first lady toting what appeared to be a doggie bag.

The president plans to spend the Presidents' Day weekend in the Windy City, and is not expected to sign the bill until Tuesday, when he travels to Denver to discuss his economic plan.

[Side note: my wife and I ate at Table 52 last year, and it is excellent. If you get the chance, I highly recommend going there. But, call early to make your reservation...]

So, apparently, it wasn't quite the emergency he led the country to believe. Now, if you've been reading this blog, you know as well as I do that the 'urgency' was completely manufactured in order to scare people into pushing this thing through. But, it was nice of the President to confirm that for us with his own actions.

Get used to it. Think 2010.

There's my two cents.


Related Reading:
Government Overreach Isn't Stimulating
"We cast our votes with one hand, and crossed our fingers with the other..."