I GOT MY EARMARK

National Telecommunications and Information Administration
salaries and expenses

For an additional amount for `Salaries and Expenses', $350,000,000, to remain available until September 30, 2011: Provided, That funds shall be available to establish the State Broadband Data and Development Grant Program, as authorized by Public Law 110-385, for the development and implementation of statewide initiatives to identify and track the availability and adoption of broadband services within each State, and to develop and maintain a nationwide broadband inventory map, as authorized by section 6001 of division B of this Act.

wireless and broadband deployment grant programs including transfer of funds to Michael Hankamer for the Michael Hankamer Personal Economic Stimulus Program)

For necessary and unnecessary expenses related to the Wireless and Broadband Deployment Grant Programs established by section 6002 of division B of this Act, $2,825,000,000, of which $1,000,000,000 shall be for Wireless Deployment Grants and $1,825,000,000 shall be for Broadband Deployment Grants:

Provided, That an additional $500,000 shall be paid directly to Michael Hankamer in the form of subsidized loans that do not require repayment.

Provided Further, That the funds be used by Michael Hankamer to purchase guns and ammunition ... and a bass boat or for whatever.

Provided Even Further, That Michael Hankamer will receive free DC United soccer team tickets for life.

Provided Even Further Still, That Michael Hankamer shall be treated as a cabinet-level appointment for the purpose of income tax reporting, and therefore no taxes shall be paid on any of the aformentioned benefits.

And one more thing: "Dirty Harry" Reid is hereby expelled from Congress, effective immediately upon enactment.

Courtesy of Reason Online.

HEARD ON THE RADIO

On the radio while driving in to work, Dolly Parton was asked if she ever thought about running for President. Her response: "I think we have enough boobs in the White House."

INSANITY AT THE WASHINGTON POST

Good Lord, what is in the drinking water at the Washington Post?

Eugene Robinson isn’t the sharpest knife in the Post’s columnist drawer, but this has to be his most ridiculous column yet. Coming out in favor of the Democrats’ “Porkulus” spending bill, Robinson writes:

The most respected economic wise men and women of both parties believe a huge stimulus is needed quickly to keep a dire economic situation from sinking into catastrophe.

Two hundred economists (3 Nobel Laureates) disagree.

Normally, it would be insane to spend upward of $800 billion so fast. Given the hole we're in, however, it's insane not to.

Why?

The House of Representatives loaded up the bill like a Christmas tree as powerful Democrats found room for their pet projects. This was a good thing, not an outrage. Hundreds of millions of dollars for contraceptives? To the extent that those condoms or birth-control pills are made in the United States and sold in U.S. drugstores, that spending would be stimulative in more ways than one.

You have to be kidding! (Ed: unfortunately, no.)

One of the most effective items in the House bill was $79 billion to be transferred to state governments, which are hurting; in California, our most populous state, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is ordering furloughs of state workers. Any dollar given to the states will fly out the door by sundown. That $79 billion would have instant impact.

So you’re going to spend my savings, my childrens’ earnings, and my grandchildrens’ inheritance bailing out California for its prolifigate spending?

Republicans are using this debate as a branding opportunity, positioning themselves as careful stewards of the public purse.

And for the first time in a long time, they’re right.

With this dreck, why do I bother subscribing to the Post?

IRAQ SCENERY

Even a war zone isn't all ugly. This photo was taken along one of the many man-made "lakes" within the base complex. The wall separating "us" from "them" is in the background.

One of the villas that dot the lakes. This one is now a task force office.

Here's a sunrise photo taken from my quarters.

HOME SWEET HOME

As a break from the political, here are a few more photos from my recent deployment to Iraq. These are "office" photos from the jobsite.

My office, my car on an atypical rainy day. The wall separating our camp from the rest of Iraq is in the background.



Sentry post along the wall about 100 yards from the office. The sentries have air conditioning now, quite an improvement from my last deployment in 2006.

OBAMA PREPARES FOR TAKEOFF

Via Michael Ramirez and Investors Business Daily.

LAST CHANCE

There is one last chance to defeat this monstrosity of a “stimulus” bill - when it comes out of the House-Senate conference. Contact your congresscritter and urge him/her to vote it down. Here’s my two cents:

The size and variety of all the spending programs in this bill would make a drunken sailor look like a fiscal conservative. But the message is simple: Sign on the dotted line, and now, or All Is Lost. It brings to mind the used car salesman who warns that, if we dare step off the lot, if we don't ACT NOW to grab this souped-up Super Eight with all the trimmings, catastrophe will strike.

Good judgments are seldom hasty judgments, we’re being told to accept this vast, pork-layered "stimulus" bill now. There may be times when action -- and action now -- is needed, whatever the cost, as in war. Yet the voice of experience warns: spend in haste, repent at leisure.

This "stimulus" package is larded with so many bridges to nowhere or the equivalent as to make the old, secretive system of earmarking look open and deliberate. Most of this gargantuan spending package seems devoted to make-work projects, politically correct causes, and even programs that may be worthwhile in themselves but have no discernible connection with economic stimulus.

Please, when this behemoth comes out of conference, vote NO! Then, perhaps we can take a deep breath, step back, and get to work on a meaningful stimulus package - not a grab-bag of Democrat social programs to be passed in the dark of night.

Thanks to Townhall.com columnist Paul Greenberg for much of the wording.

STIMULATED

Nice going, guys. Thanks.

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW

Hat tip: Washington Times

I'M FROM THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT ...

... and I'm here to help you. Treasury Department Secretary Timothy Geithner announces overhauled plan for TARP funds.

BREAKING NEWS

Fox News: Octuplets' Mom on Welfare.

Was there ever any doubt?

I DON'T TRUST YOU

Heh. A liberal talk show host gets his comeuppance.



Hat tip Instapundit

OUR BRAVE NEW WORLD

A new Victor Davis Hanson essay at Pajamas Media.

An excerpt on hyperbole:

So it is unwise to use such hyperbole. Compare the Obama administration’s much ballyhooed “most stringent ethics standards”—ever!—that only leads to 10 (“exempt”) lobbyists appointed to the administration, and at least four tax cheats (an accurate rather than hyped description) nominated to Treasury, government oversight, HHS, and Labor, as well as someone like Richardson imploding, and complete silence about Rangel, Dodd, and Frank.

Likewise it is unwise to keep evoking “patriotic” to describe those who vote for the stimulus package, and cry ‘catastrophic” if opponents disagree and the $1 trillion dollar debt program is delayed. If supporters in congress of Bush and Cheney were criticized for suggesting that to cut off funds for soldiers in the field or to declare a war “lost” was unpatriotic, then surely it is wrong to do the same for an opponent of a stimulus or tax plan.

Read the whole essay.

SHOW US THE BILL

An online petition for Harry Reid and Barack Obama.

Please sign it. I did.

PUBLIC REVIEW?

During his campaign, President Obama pledged that legislation passed by Congress will be placed online for public review for five days before his signature. Will he post the “stimulus” bill online according to his pledge?

Don’t hold your breath. From the White House blog:

Since a few questions have come in, we want to update you on the President's campaign commitment to introducing more sunlight into the lawmaking process by posting non-emergency legislation online for five days before signing it. This policy will be implemented in full soon; currently we are working through implementation procedures and some initial issues with the congressional calendar.

I’m sure the “stimulus” legislation will be far too important for us “little people” to read, understand, and comment on before implementation.

ANOTHER REASON TO SAY “NO”

Senator John Kerry explains the Democrats’ view:

I've supported many tax cuts over the years, and there are tax cuts in this proposal. But a tax cut is non-targeted.

If you put a tax cut into the hands of a business or family, there's no guarantee that they're going to invest that or invest it in America.

They're free to go invest anywhere that they want if they choose to invest.

Mary Katherine Ham: “Kerry betrays the fear that haunts every good liberal— that the American people won't spend their money on exactly what good liberals would spend it on. Good liberals must, therefore, advocate for forcibly relieving the American people of the better part of a trillion dollars of their own money to fund things like STD education, welfare programs, and water parks.”

Note the irony here. This recession was caused by the American people spending more than we could afford for the last many years, so the solution is for the Government to spend trillions of dollars beyond its means for the next many years to get us out of this recession

FINDING HIS INNER EASTWOOD

David Ignatius has an amusing column in the Washington Post arguing that President Obama needs to find his inner Dirty Harry:

Obama needs to make Washington politicians fear that if they cross him, they’ll pay a penalty .... Obama needs to tell GOP leaders what he expects, and make clear the political consequences of obstruction.

Well, yes, except that Ignatius got the parties wrong - substitute Democrat for GOP and he'd have it right.

Jules Crittenden comments:

[His inner Eastwood] That’s what Ignatius wants Obama to dig deep for as he stumbles through his economic stimulus standoff.

A man has got to know his limitations. But it starts with not caring if you’re liked, not living to be admired. Which is where this script falls apart.

RebeccaH, commenting on Crittenden’s website, nails it:

Frankly, so far the Obama Administration is coming off less like Dirty Harry and more like the Pink Panther.

SALARY CAPS

Hmm. If salary caps on are good for corporate CEOs, then why not extend the idea?

Hollywood stars, anyone? Let’s say $100K/movie, with a strict restriction against expressing political opinions. Wouldn’t a salary cap on Hollywood salaries make movies more affordable for the “middle class?”

And while we’re at it, how about one for politicians? Say expenses only while in office, with Government “stock options” tied to the Gross Domestic Product that can only be exercised after the politician leaves office? Seems like it would align the politician’s self-interest to that of the country as a whole ... and it might even encourage them to leave office sooner.

The idea extends itself: Professional sports? Media?

This sounds better and better.

IT'S A SPENDING BILL

So says President Obama:

So then you get the argument, well, this is not a stimulus bill, this is a spending bill. What do you think a stimulus is? (Laughter and applause.) That's the whole point. No, seriously. (Laughter.) That's the point.

At least the fiction that this is a "stimulus" bill is over.

God help us; the Democrats sure won't.

GREENHOUSE GAS

President Obama just flew Air Force One to Williamsburg for a 30-minute address to the Democrats' Congressional Retreat -- a trip that takes me an hour and a half on the freeway.

I wonder how many tons of CO2 were expended for his excellent adventure?