It is done

It looks like both houses of Congress have agreed to the 1,000+ page, $787,000,000,000 "stimulus" package that is going to save our country from the abyss.

Before you accuse our elected officials of vigorously scratching the itch to spend our children's money, remember, it could have been worse:

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said the stimulus package will cost $787 billion, rather than $789 billion lawmakers estimated earlier this week.

That is what passes as fiscal responsibility on Capitol Hill.

And this, from San Francisco's favorite carpetbagging daughter:

“The jobs the American people care about most -- their own -- will be dramatically safer the day that President Obama signs this plan into law,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat.

I know I feel much safer about my job after reading that. Please, somebody find me one sound-byte that falls out of her yapper that isn't plum-crazy talk.

This is interesting:

Lawmakers dropped provisions barring funds from going to museums, arts centers and theaters. A ban on money to casinos, golf courses, zoos and swimming pools was retained.

I like museums, arts centers and theaters as much as the next guy, which is why when I use them, I pay the price of admission which I assume is structured to cover the costs of doing business. Why they should get free money from the government; while casinos, golf courses, zoos and swimming pools(??) are all forced to survive in the capitalist--sorry--socialist wilderness on their own is beyond me. Well if this results in a reduction of the $25 price of admission to the shiny new California Academy of Sciences I suppose I will be forced to reconsider my stance on the entire "stimulus" bill.

Lawmakers deleted provisions requiring businesses receiving stimulus funding to use E-Verify, a government program used to ensure workers are in the country legally.

By all means, we must not upset the largest potential block of new democratic voters, at least not until after the 2010 census. If Obama successfully wrestles control of the census count away from the Dept. of Commerce and into the White House--which is illegal if the US Constitution is your guiding principle anyhow--illegal aliens will be a permanent fixture of the democratic machine.

Most senators had left the chamber’s floor hours before the final tally was announced. The vote was held open for five hours until Senator Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat, returned from his home state to cast the deciding vote for the bill. Brown had been in Ohio following the death of his mother earlier this week.

Rest In Peace Mrs. Brown; government has yet to invent a way to tax you in the afterlife. And if you thought curious, inquiring congressional minds may want to stick around and read what they just signed , you'd be wrong:

“It is over a thousand pages,” said Representative Tom Price, a Georgia Republican. “It is physically impossible for any member to have read this bill.”

I've been reading the abridged version of the History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire for almost 3 years now. It comes in a little under 1,000 pages. It is taking me a long time to read because it is a lot to digest, and nobody is paying me to read it. Maybe I should just thumb through it and tell people I read it instead. At least I wouldn't let contemplating any of the details hold me back from taking a first-class trip to Europe.

On a more positive note, what we need are more economists like Michelle talking no-nonsense economics with Obama supporters, capturing it on video and broadcasting it on YouTube.


(h/t texas rainmaker via instapundit for the image at the top of the page. Probably photoshopped or a prank, but it does capture the spirit of the Obama rapture rather well.)