Last Year's Business

Associated Press (01.06.09) :: "President-elect Barack Obama vowed Tuesday to bar lawmakers' pet projects from his massive economic stimulus plan and to bring unprecedented accountability to federal spending." Source

TIME/CNN (02.26.09) :: "On Tuesday evening, when President Barack Obama declared before a joint session of Congress that "we passed the recovery plan free of earmarks," House Democrats, led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, popped out of their seats like jackrabbits for a standing ovation. On Wednesday, those same House Democrats, led by Pelosi, passed a budget with, by some counts, nearly 9,000 earmarks, worth an estimated $7.7 billion." Source

Associated Press (03.02.09) reported today ::

President Barack Obama will break a campaign pledge and sign a budget bill laden with millions in lawmakers' pet projects, administration officials said.

Administration budget chief Peter Orszag and White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel both downplayed the $410 billion spending bill and signaled Obama would hold his nose and sign it. Orszag said: "We want to just move on. Let's get this bill done, get it into law and move forward.

Said Emanuel: "That's last year's business."

Source

Translation: We lied. We know we lied; you know we lied. Now that that's out...let's move on. YOU need to get over it."

Really?!

Honestly...is there ANYBODY out there that voted for BO that REALLY thinks this "spendulus package" is a good idea?! If so--WHY?!

On a related note, the Drudge Report just posted this:

Rep. John Culberson, TX claims the "stimulus" bill must be urgently voted on today -- because Speaker Nancy Pelosi is leaving at 6:00 PM for an 8 day trip to Europe!

Read more...

In the words of Captain Sulley: "Prepare for impact."

SCHIP and My Responsibility **UPDATED**

Yesterday, Prez BO signed into law, legislation that would expand the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, also known as SCHIP, to cover an additional 4 million children. SCHIP is a program that was created by the federal government to cover individuals that have incomes too high to qualify for state medical assistance but cannot obtain private insurance.

The additional cost of this legislation will be approx $34 billion over the next five years. To pay for this program, the law will impose an ADDITIONAL 62 cent federal tax on cigarette sales, bringing the total tax to just over $1.

As Americans, we must do our part to help fund this new legislation. It would be unfair for current smokers to bear the entire cost of this program. Therefore, I proprose that non-smokers such as myself, pick up the habit immediately. If I can manage to acquire a pack-a-day habit, this will mean a contribution--toward the new legislation--of $226.30 per year. In five years, that's $1131.50. At that rate, we only need 30 million new smokers to make this thing work.

That's not a lot to pay or ask for the health of our children, is it? Come on, America! Let's get PUFFIN'!!!

(NOTE: Be sure to file this one under "sarcasm.")

PS : Does anyone else find it ronic that they want to fund SCHIP with a cigarette tax...and the "spendulus" package contains $$$$$ for smoking cessation programs?