Really, what is in the Spending Package (often labeled the "Stimulus Package"?)

I am trying not to let my head explode at the moment. Instead, a moment of zen.....

I will merely list the bulk of the projects in the spending bill and you can decide for yourself...which are PORK and which are actual economic stimulating items. IN order to quantify what group the spending falls into, please use Barney Frank's words as a litmus test: It should be, "Temporary, Timely, and Targeted." Please note I could only find info on $585 Billion of it....the rest is still a secret! It hasn't leaked out yet!

Good luck! ........aaaaaannnnd GO!

$50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts
$380 million in the Senate bill for the Women, Infants and Children program
$300 million for grants to combat violence against women
$2 billion for federal child-care block grants
$6 billion for university building projects
$15 billion for boosting Pell Grant college scholarships
$4 billion for job-training programs, including $1.2 billion for “youths” up to the age of 24
$1 billion for community-development block grants
$4.2 billion for “neighborhood stabilization activities”
$650 million for digital-TV coupons; $90 million to educate “vulnerable populations”
$15 billion for business-loss carry-backs
$145 billion for “Making Work Pay” tax credits
$83 billion for the earned income credit
$150 million for the Smithsonian
$34 million to renovate the Department of Commerce headquarters
$500 million for improvement projects for National Institutes of Health facilities
$44 million for repairs to Department of Agriculture headquarters
$350 million for Agriculture Department computers
$88 million to help move the Public Health Service into a new building
$448 million for constructing a new Homeland Security Department headquarters
$600 million to convert the federal auto fleet to hybrids
$450 million for NASA (carve-out for “climate-research missions”)
$600 million for NOAA (carve-out for “climate modeling”)
$1 billion for the Census Bureau
$89 billion for Medicaid
$30 billion for COBRA insurance extension
$36 billion for expanded unemployment benefits
$20 billion for food stamps
$4.5 billion for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
$850 million for Amtrak
$87 million for a polar icebreaking ship
$1.7 billion for the National Park System
$55 million for Historic Preservation Fund
$7.6 billion for “rural community advancement programs”
$150 million for agricultural-commodity purchases
$150 million for “producers of livestock, honeybees, and farm-raised fish”
$2 billion for renewable-energy research ($400 million for global-warming research)
$2 billion for a “clean coal” power plant in Illinois
$6.2 billion for the Weatherization Assistance Program
$3.5 billion for energy-efficiency and conservation block grants
$3.4 billion for the State Energy Program
$200 million for state and local electric-transport projects
$300 million for energy-efficient-appliance rebate programs
$400 million for hybrid cars for state and local governments
$1 billion for the manufacturing of advanced batteries
$1.5 billion for green-technology loan guarantees
$8 billion for innovative-technology loan-guarantee program
$2.4 billion for carbon-capture demonstration projects
$4.5 billion for electricity grid
$79 billion for State Fiscal Stabilization Fund

I could spend hours writing about each item I think is a farce and cannot ever be thought of as "stimulus". But, I am nearly out of breath at the moment. I will tell you something, though. $79 BILLION FOR STATE FISCAL STABILIZATION FUND?!?!?!!? Are you kidding me! Let me guess, the states that are going under because they are WAY over spending and have no means to even pay their income tax returns to their constituents will get the bulk of this money, yet the states like mine, who are required by LAW to have a balanced budget, we get the middle finger. Reward the challenged....punish the prudent.

Representatives and Senators......make me sick....

by Das Goob! Now listen!

-"Life is hard. It's harder if you are stupid" John Wayne