Anycrooks, Bobby Jindal, Republican Governor of Louisiana, announced that he is refusing the unemployment benefits from the $1 trillion stimulus porkulus plan because, SHOCK, he is representing the citizens of Louisiana and doesn’t want his citizens to get stuck with unnecessary bills down the road WHEN the federal ship of money is high and dry (via HotAir).

“The federal money in this bill will run out in less than three years for this benefit and our businesses would then be stuck paying the bill,” Jindal said. “We must be careful and thoughtful as we examine all the strings attached to the funding in this package. We cannot grow government in an unsustainable way.”

Other spotlight hogs in the media *cough*Arnold*cough* are trying to frame Jindal’s refusal as if he is being treacherous, but in fact neglect the fact that he plans to take money that will help infrastructure and roads. Jindal is only being selective in which funds to accept from the porkulus because he doesn’t want to trap his citizens into higher taxes down the road. He is also doing this because he realizes that businesses do not need the added hardship of paying the government more when they are serving the community better by having that freed up capital to create jobs.

NOLA says he’ll accept cash for transportation infrastructure and a modest increase in unemployment benefits but drew the line at unemployment insurance lest it mean a $12 million tax hike for Louisiana businesses three years from now.

See this is what happens when you have fiscally-responsible governors in place. The state runs itself more smooth in terms of budget and spending, and thus doesn’t go crying to the federal legislature to invoke billions upon billions of spending programs – California, are you listening??? Spending programs at the federal level should be reserved for interstate projects and national/international-level projects (military would be an example of this).  Private corporations and citizens on their own won’t fund infrastructure and military – that’s why it makes sense to accept the federal funding as a collective for these types of programs because who’s going to fund them if we don’t do it in this fashion. BUT to blindly accept other spending programs without looking at the fine print in the requirements of said accepting funds is not being a good legislature by the citizens who voted you into office. This is why Jindal is one of my favorite political leaders.

I wish more legislatures were like Jindal – a politician who actually reads the bills and then makes conscious, calculated decisions that weigh both the risks and benefits to the citizens they represent.

UPDATE: Here’s the video of Jinal on Meet The Press this past Sunday talking further about why he’s not accepting part of the porkulus.

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Oh, no worries, Obama – I’ll be sure to give you AaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaLL the credit you so right;y deserve for sending us into a debt blackhole we may not see our way out of except through massive tax hikes. Cheerio! (I figured I should start talking British since we’re all socialists now. Maybe I can get linguistic lessons from Madonna).

Obama’s stance prior to the stimulus porkulus vote  (Also, try to just bypass the fact that in his quote he’s getting an F- in economic history when he makes the argument with the 90s Japan debate point – and, uh, I thought this guy went to Harvard):

Obama defended the role of government in the recovery process, saying that “with the private sector so weakened by this recession, the federal government is the only entity left with the resources to jolt our economy back to life.”  “I think that what I’ve said is what other economists have said across the political spectrum, which is that if you delay acting on an economy of this severity, then you potentially create a negative spiral that becomes much more difficult for us to get out of.” He compared the situation to that of Japan in the 1990s, saying the Japanese, failing to act quickly enough, suffered a “lost decade.”  “This is not your ordinary, run-of-the-mill recession.”

Now Obama change in tune this week after signing away our future earnings:

Things are not as bad now as they were in the 1930s or even the early ’80s when, Obama reminded us, he was still in college. Young people — by which he did not seem to mean the columnists aboard — are simply unfamiliar with hardship, he said.  “So for a huge number of people out there, they’re just not accustomed to seeing a bad economy with really high unemployment and very bearish markets. . . . What we’re going through now is nothing compared to what our grandparents went through during the Great Depression.”

There, there, there…now everything is okay.

Oh, but wait a minute, Barry – I thought on the campaign trail it was that this was “the worst time in the U.S.’ economic history since the Great Depression.” Pleeeeeeeease – that was just “campaign rhetoric.” No shit sherlock.

Most conservatives out there already knew this was a recession but that it was not on the verge of needing $1 trillion shot of govt. pork straight to the heart. My husband would constantly comment “If we’re in such a depression, how come I still have to wait an hour to get seated at any restaurant on a Thursday night?”  Ain’t that the truuuuuuuuuuf! 

But here’s what is going to happen to our economy now that we’re full of pork and having to PAY for it the rest of our lives (and our children, and probably grandchildren). I’ve illustrated it with as a heart getting clogged with more and more cholesterol.  Hmmmm – PORK it’s what for dinner for the next 25 years!

 I’m not saying there were not huge issues of credit and capital malpractice that needed to be fixed. But coercing, with fear tactics, support for the passage of a bill which will double our national debt only to provide a miniscule percentage of job growth makes you a manipulative politician praying onto people’s fears of the unknown, not a leader of the new bipartisan era. On the flipside, buying blindly into this politician’s facade makes you equally as guilty and possibly insane.

Then clips to the realists from today will be plastered on the front pages of the dailies, debating why the administration and Congress just didn’t listen to the public’s voice. If you’ve got the stomach for it, here’s video of the worst spending plan in history going into law. OINK! OINK! OINK!

Uhhh….shudders.  Quick question: It is ironic at all that I had planned on fixing PORK chops for dinner tonight???   Perhaps I am psychic after all…hmmmm.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Wish some of our representatives would get some instead of just relying on “the best economists around” according to Obama. Check the vid – love it that she interviews Obama supporters yet their ideal is different than the kool-aid man they voted into office.  Can anybody say – Told.You.So.??? 

But you know those Congressmen and women are too busy not reading the actual stimulus plan and showing real leadership by rushing votes so they can get back to planning trips to Italy.  Oh wait, at least one read the bill. Name that party – Republican. Heh, no big freakin’ surprise.  [Side rant: I'd be willing to be $1,000,000 (if I had it) that I read more of the stimulus bill than half of the people in Congress. And it's not even my job to do so - ridiculous.]

As some of you may not know, I’m a native of Peoria, IL.  Yesterday our Prophet President (saaaaave me, Obama, saaaaaaaaaave me!) made a stop at the Caterpillar plant to help close the deal on the U.S.Stinker knows as the porkulus. Now growing up in Peoria, you soon realize that literally everyone and their dad AND uncle works for Caterpillar. So the company’s dealings are a pretty big deal in P-town and people take it seriously.  Outside of my grandfather, I think my family is like one of 20 that doesn’t have a direction connection to the company. 

So here’s the scoop (via Black & Right). Obama gets up and gives his speech to the factory works…no worries, the preacher voice was in tow. Here’s what he says -

President Obama today repeated the claim we asked about yesterday at the press briefing that Jim Owens, the CEO of Caterpillar, Inc., “said that if Congress passes our plan, this company will be able to rehire some of the folks who were just laid off.” Caterpillar announced 22,000 layoffs last month.

And theeeeeeeeen, cue the CEO of Caterpillar.

Well, apparently, Obama IS the only one who thinks so. Oooops – that’s a fucking understatement.  What an embarrassment – but during the circus start of this administration I’m not really surprised.

Oh, where are you going, folks? Where aaaaaaare you going? I didn’t say the fun stopped. Oh no.

Turns out Obama also tried to invoke some bipartisanship play some bully politics with the freshman Congressman Aaron Schock  (who represents the Peoria district). I guess things didn’t go according to plan (via HotAir).  During Obama’s grandstanding in Peoria, the President said the following:

“Aaron’s still trying to make up his mind about our recover package,” Obama said to the employees in the crowd. “And so we know that all of you are going to talk to him after our event, because he’s a very talented young man.  I’ve got great confidence in him to do the right thing for the people of Peoria.”

Congressman Schock showed his “appreciation” today on the House floor.

Today Rep. Schock said on the House floor that “I found it very interesting that after the president finished his speech and I stayed around, not one employee at that facility approached me and asked me to vote for this bill.”  In fact, said Schock, “I have received over 1,400 phone calls, e-mails and letters from employees alone asking me to oppose this legislation.”  Why!? Because, Schock said, “They know that this bill is not stimulus. They know that this bill will not do anything to create long-term, sustained economic growth. This bill is too big to get it wrong.”

There’s more in the video. Classic. P-town is calling out the President! Represent! (Okay, I’m officially a dork.)

(Side rant: If you question this, please tell me who the heck is going to pay this bill??? It gets paid through taxes. Who pays takes – only citizens. Businesses or the rich do NOT pay taxes. Look. it. up.) 

Anylazyass, here’s turncoat of the day Arlen Spector (R-PA). Megyn Kelly calls Specter out on his contradiction of supporting the bill because it has provisions he has opposed in th past.  Specter says they aren’t going to allow the problematic provisions to be included in the bill but funny thing – the porkulus passed (Specter voting for it), provisions still in tact. Super.

Specter complains about not having meetings called to give Senators a chance to properly review the bill.  Call me crazy but doesn’t he have the power to request this as a Senator????  Couldn’t he have not voted for cloture to get more time to review the bill???? Do people in Washington think we are stupid, inept citizens who don’t know any better beyond what politicians just tell us???  Answer - yes, yes, and YES! 

Watching him in this video it’s pretty apparent this is the first he’s hearing about this because he probably didn’t read the fucking bill. Thanks for selling your principles down the river, Arlen! Continue proving why Congress has that low approval rating.

In this pop-cultured, short-attention spanned society that is America the majority of people won’t care about the wasteful spending. Yeah, they may bitch about it, but two weeks after the bill gets passed they won’t give it a second thought (because then they’ll be focused on some dumb celebutwat doing something stupid and scandalous)….

Oh, until 2011 when their taxes skyrocket to pay for this porkulus then they’ll give that deer-in-the-headlights look and scream “WTF!” to the additional income withheld from their paycheck.  I mean do people honestly think the federal govt. has a separate revenue stream other than withholding money (taxes) from our paychecks??? Oh, apparently they do.  According to a poll, 49% of people believe the government gets funding from a separate revenue other that citizens paying taxes. Seriously? These people believe this? Now I’m like WTF!  This is probably the same 49% that voted for President Bambipants – super.

And I like how Schumer calls those pork earmarks “little, tiny amendments.” Umm, call me crazy, Chuckles, but don’t those tiny things add up to one big sum and its the one big sum with no explanation that has people pissed off.   Some village is honestly missing their idiot.

Here’s a brief list from Hotair.com that they just randomly pulled out. It’s not even getting close to all the pork items. Added it up – over $63,000,000,000. Yeah, that’s just chump change, Chuckles.

• $2 billion earmark for FutureGen near zero emissions powerplant in Mattoon, IL
• $39 billion slush fund for “state fiscal stabilization” bailout
• $5.5 billion for making federal buildings “green” (including $448 million for DHS HQ)
• $200 million for workplace safety in USDA facilities
• $275 million for flood prevention
• $65 million for watershed rehabilitation
• $200 million for public computer centers at community colleges and libraries
• $650 million for the DTV transition coupon program
• $307 million for constructing NIST office buildings
• $1 billion for administrative costs and construction of NOAA office buildings
• $100 million for constructing U.S. Marshalls office buildings
• $300 million for constructing FBI office buildings
• $800 million for constructing Federal Prison System buildings and facilities
• $10 million to fight Mexican gunrunners
• $1.3 billion for NASA (including $450 million for “science” at NASA)
• $100 million to clean up sites used in early U.S. atomic energy program
• $10 million for urban canals
• $2 billion for manufacturing advanced batteries for hybrid cars
• $1.5 billion for carbon capture projects under sec. 703 of P.L. 110-140 (though section only authorizes $1 billion for five years)
• $300 million for hybrid and electric cars for federal employees
• $198 million to design and furnish the DHS headquarters
• $255 million for “priority procurements” at Coast Guard (polar ice breaker)
• $500 million for State and local fire stations
• $180 million for construction of Bureau of Land Management facilities
• $500 million for wildland fire management
• $110 million for construction for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
• $522 million for construction for the Bureau of Indian Affairs
• $650 million for abandoned mine sites
• $75 million for the Smithsonian Institution
• $1.2 billion for summer jobs for youth
• $412 million for CDC headquarters
• $500 million earmark for NIH facilities in Bethesda, MD
• $160 million for “volunteers” at the Corp. for National and Community Service
• $750 earmark for the National Computer Center in MD
• $224 million for International Boundary and Water Commission – U.S. and Mexico
• $850 million for Amtrak
• $100 million for lead paint hazard reduction

It’s like I work in marketing so if I sense that people are catching on to the fact I cannot do my job effectively, as I promised when they hired me, then I’m going to stop trying to work harder getting the job done. I’m now going to spend more time in my boss’ office kissing ass and throwing up smoke and mirrors to convince her I’m doing a good job or what is “necessary” for our dept. to be successful in the company. Ed at HotAir.com has the scoop.

During the campaign, critics and opponents noted that the only real track record Obama had built in thirteen years of politics was campaigning for something else.  Three weeks into his new administration, he’s found governing to be difficult, especially when trying to shove a partisan porkfest down the throats of an increasingly skeptical public.  Time to go back to campaign mode!  It apparently beats pulling the bill back for a chance to offer Republicans some input to get a bill that would generate easy support and passage.

I can’t get over this. Scratch that – YES We Can! We can believe that our president would do this because he is an inexperienced political leader who’s main experience has been campaigning and not standing up to make decisions in the name of bipartisanship. I’m growing tired of these speeches. It seems more like a pathetic attempt to try and convince people you’re doing the right thing instead going back to work with Congress to actually DO the right thing.

And since we’re talking about campaigning, let’s take a minute to remember what our president promised:

SCHIEFFER: But you’re going to have to cut some of these programs, certainly.

OBAMA: Absolutely. So let me get to that. What I want to emphasize, though, is that I have been a strong proponent of pay-as- you-go. Every dollar that I’ve proposed, I’ve proposed an additional cut so that it matches…We need to eliminate a whole host of programs that don’t work. And I want to go through the federal budget line by line, page by page, programs that don’t work, we should cut. Programs that we need, we should make them work better.

You read that right – “pay as you go” “programs that don’t work, we should cut.” Umm – can someone explain to me how the proposed porkulus is “pay as you go” or how $160 million for “volunteers” at the Corp. for National and Community Service is “a program we need” OR why are we giving $850 million for Amtrak, a failing program???  I thought if programs don’t work under President Obama we would cut them, not reward bad management with $850 million of taxpayer’s money during a time when they may need it. But why am I getting caught up in facts and stuff – we’ve got mortgages and gas bills to pay, right:

UPDATE: Press conference just got done – big surprise no real questions were answered, just the same old talking points. Like why can no top ranking Democrat or the President answer how do can you justify spending $600,000 per job created with this bill? Or what measures will be put in place to make sure the stimulus is actually creating jobs? Will there be incremental measurements that will make Congress retreat on the bill’s spending if jobs are not being created at the rate originally projected?

Honestly, if you’re going to spend so much time supposedly answering the questions of the American people, then get around to actually answering the questions folks have. Otherwise, you’re just putting on a charade, insulting everyone’s intelligence and wasting people’s time. Hope ‘n Change!

But at least McCain (R-AZ) and Pence (R-IN) are starting to be more vocal in their opposition (via HotAir.com) with logical debate points. On a side note, where was THIS McCain on the campaign trail? I would have liked to seen more of this, but I think he was fighting such a huge uphill battle as is. McCain did warn us in the debates about Obama’s spending habits with example after example of Obama’s history with proposed pork projects. Obama retorted back that he’s a “pay as you go” legislature. Heh.

In the first clip I love how Pence shuts down the commentary on the economist “supporting” the porkulus. Turns out economists are able to change their mind or that some liberal-biased media were trying to skew context to illustrate support where there is none. Is it me or I thought the campaigning/advocacy ended months ago. Honestly, when are the media going to get back to objective, investigative journalism? Or should we start calling Medill School of Journalism at Northwesterm Medill School of PR???

And McCain brings up a good point about what are we going to do when the bill comes due. Passing this down the line to the next generation doesn’t make us a very responsible nation. It’s like how the older generation of politicians put funding of the failed Social Security system on my generation and I don’t know one person my age who speaks favorably about that topic.

So what will our children and grandchildren think of our generation down the line knowing we purposely put them in a corner forcing them to pay off $1 trillion debt we didn’t need???  If it’s to create jobs, I don’t see justifying paying $600,000 – $200,000 per job created, the estimate on the ROI of job creation through this porkulus. That doesn’t make sense even from a business standpoint.  I guess we’ll just have to wait and see if this boondoggle extravaganza actually passes.