There's An Expensive Mouse In The House

While Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi denies her favorite mouse is a direct beneficiary of the stimulus, the place the mouse lives in will benefit $30 million on the deal.
President Obama claims there are no "earmarks" in the package because Congress technically did not use the earmark process for lawmakers to request and drop in specific spending items. Well maybe there are not "earmarks" in the traditional manner, but there is pork none-the-less.
Back to the mouse - Pelosi is a U.S. Representative from San Francisco and the endangered salt marsh harvest mouse is a native of the place which will receive our $30 million.
I wonder how much tax money the government is receiving from mice these days?
How many people will this part of the package help?
Of course the public - who is paying for it - has not been told exactly what is in the bill. There are leaks however...
Here some more pork, or BS, or whatever you want to call it:
• $200 million for a clean-burning power plant in Mattoon, Ill.
• $750 million for the National Computer Center in Maryland.
• $500 million for the National Institutes of Health offices in Maryland.
• $200 million for public computer centers at community colleges.
• $650 million for the digital TV converter-box coupons.
• $1 billion for administrative costs and construction of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration office building.
Get the picture? Who knows how much junk is in this thing? It's about as transparent as a piece of wood.
I know this, it's not popular. The markets hate it and the public has less and less confidence in Congress' ability to stimulate anything short of a depression.
A stimulus package should be geared to immediately stimulate the economy. This thing is far from it. How do the items listed create the number of jobs needed to truly stimulate anything?
Tell you what Madam Pelosi - give me and my pals $30 million and we'll relocate those mice to the nearest cat farm and use the remaining to make a difference.
I hope the final version of this bill has a positive effect on the economy. If not, the honeymoon is over.

Copyright Christopher Blackburn 2009