Daily Pork update

Today's Pork Update:

Handwritten into the final bill is $25,000,000.00 for the Smithsonian, slipped in under "Other Related Agencies" of The Department of Health and Human Services. There are no guidelines for how the money is to be used. (In most of the allocations, there are restrictions stating what the funds can be used for, when they need to be used, etc)


http://www.house.gov/billtext/hr1_cr_jes.pdf
Page 49 of 136.

That kind of makes me wonder... Who wrote it in? And, of course.. how is this going to help stimulate the economy?

Word of the Week

The Word of the Week is....

PORK

We all know that President Obama and Nancy Pelosi have assured the American Public that there Is No Pork in the Stimulus bill... So that begs the question... What is Pork?
According to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, at:
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pork

Pork is defined as follows:

Main Entry:

pork

Pronunciation:

\ˈpȯrk\

Function:

noun

Etymology:

Middle English, from Anglo-French porc pig, from Latin porcus — more at farrow

Date:

14th century

1 : the fresh or salted flesh of swine when dressed for food
2 : government funds, jobs, or favors distributed by politicians to gain political advantage

Hmmm.. Now let's see... what is there in the Stimulus Bill that could be defined as 'Pork'?
I'm in the process of reading the stimulus package, as painful as it is, and will bring a new pork item to this blog every day. Today's pork item is worth $90,000,000.00 of taxpayer's money.

Community education and outreach, especially to vulnerable populations... Now, I'm all for education, but what is it that all of these 'vulnerable' people need to learn about?
Do you really want to know? It's for education about Analog to Digital conversion coupons. No, I'm not kidding... 90 million dollars to tell people that they can get a coupon to convert their TV to digital.
I wonder how many people there are who actually need these boxes? The need to convert has been spread all over the media... People are panicking because their TV won't work anymore if they don't either get a converter box, or a new TV... What they don't realize is that 99% of us already have TV's that are capable of receiving a digital signal... Cable TV anyone? Satellite and any other paid TV service too- it is all digital. In other words, if you can watch MTV, you're set already. So what is all the fuss over? Why is everyone being told they have to get those boxes? Turns out there is a list of 'acceptable' manufacturers.. I have to wonder what they all have in common. Maybe a lobbyist?

The point is, all of the people who are 'educated' about this government 'benefit' (*cough* handout *cough*) are intended to be grateful. They are intended to remember their gratitude every time they look at their TV (that now shows them Jerry Springer by way of a digital converter that they probably didn't need anyway) and vote to retain the representatives who were so generous to them. That is what makes this part of the stimulus bill $90,000,000.00 worth of pork.

http://www.house.gov/billtext/hr1_legtext_cr.pdf page 36

What kind of Change? Well, now we know...

For the past two years, "Change you can believe in" was all over the news, in the paper, all over the Internet, and even plastered on Bumper Stickers and T-Shirts. Every political pundit, every blogger, and even every News Anchor had their own opinion of what "Change" meant. I have waited, and wondered, concerned about what the "Change" would look like.
Well, now I know.
It looks like this:

Apparently, the new $790,000,000,000.00 "Stimulus" bill includes a "Making Work Pay" credit for everyone who gets a paycheck. Sounds great, after all- the more money you have in your paycheck, the more money you have to spend. Maybe the brilliant politicians who cobbled this bill together were actually paying attention to fiscal policy, and figured out that the American People could bring the economy back to life if they were allowed to keep their money, rather than having the government spend it for them. Or.... Maybe not.

The average American couple can expect about an additional $13.00 per week, thanks to this bill. That works out to $2.60 a day, or approximately 32 cents per hour (assuming you work a 40 hr week). So, now we know what kind of Change this administration believes in for the American people. It's not the kind of Change that uplifts, it's the kind that jingles.



(Don't believe it? Read the bill for yourself... it's ugly.)

http://appropriations.house.gov/pdf/Recovery_Bill_Div_B.pdf

‘‘SEC. 36A. MAKING WORK PAY CREDIT. 8
‘‘(a) ALLOWANCE OF CREDIT.—In the case of an eli- 9
gible individual, there shall be allowed as a credit against 10
O:\ERN\ERN09560.LC
7
S.L.C.
the tax imposed by this subtitle for the taxable year an 1
amount equal to the lesser of— 2
‘‘(1) 6.2 percent of earned income of the tax- 3
payer, or 4
‘‘(2) $400 ($800 in the case of a joint return).