A LIttle Tuesday Politics: Daschle Out - Got Pork?

I have to say good riddens to Daschle. If you or I forgot to pay taxes for "errors that included failing to report $15,000 in charitable donations, unreported car service and more than $80,000 in unreported income from consulting" we would probably be listed on a state website for delinquencies - no mercy. I guess he got things straightened out, "Daschle recently filed amended tax returns and paid more than $140,000 in back taxes and interest for 2005-2007." - CNN Online. I still find it precarious and I'd rather not see government being run by folks that don't follow the rules.

On to something more stimulating, today the GOP divulged what it described as "wasteful" in the stimulus bill. In case you are not up on the bill, here are a few of my personal favorites!


• $75 million for "smoking cessation activities."
• $150 million for Smithsonian museum facilities.
• A $246 million tax break for Hollywood movie producers to buy motion picture film.
• $650 million for the digital television converter box coupon program.
• $248 million for furniture at the new Homeland Security headquarters.
• $600 million to buy hybrid vehicles for federal employees.
• $400 million for the Centers for Disease Control to screen and prevent STD's.
• $1.4 billion for rural waste disposal programs.
• $2 billion earmark to re-start FutureGen, a near-zero emissions coal power plant in Illinois that the Department of Energy defunded last year because it said the project was inefficient.
• $6 billion to turn federal buildings into "green" buildings.
$160 million for "paid volunteers" at the Corporation for National and Community Service.

There actually more but I think I made my point. This stimulus is full of questionable, slow spending, non-job creating crap.