Layer By Layer.

A sneak peak at some of the layers in the crap sandwich of the stimulus package.

• A $246 million tax break for Hollywood movie producers to buy motion picture film.
["I won."]

• $125 million for the Washington sewer system.
[Heh.]

• $1.4 billion for rural waste disposal programs.
[An awful lot for burn barrels.]

• $1.2 billion for "youth activities," including youth summer job programs.
[How is Midnight Basketball working out?]

School Improvements--With Exceptions.

Barack's spending bill, the so called stimulus, will be in the US Senate to be voted on.

Both versions of the bill, the House version (H.R. 1) that passed on Jan. 28 by a 244-188 margin, without a single Republican vote, and the Senate version (S. 336), which will probably be voted on in the next few days – include language that would “prohibit” modernization, renovation, or repair of facilities:

(i) used for sectarian instruction, religious worship, or a school or department of divinity; or
(ii) in which a substantial portion of the functions of the facilities are subsumed in a religious mission

It's worth the read even if a lot of it is in legalese.

The Crisis in Kentucky.

Michelle Malkin has this:

What stands [out] to me [is that] there [are] no news anchors from any of the Big 3 or any cable news channel including Fox News; No Sheperd Smith or Greta or any satellite trucks to document the devastation or two hour gas lines or the mad rush for generators at Home Depot.

Unfortunately they also won’t document that no one is crying for the federal government or FEMA as everyone is just taking care of business without them thank you very much…

Daschle's Out.

He withdrew himself from the nomination process. I guess when an ally like the New York Times calls for him to drop out, what's a bottom feeder to do? Besides play house hubby to his Lobbyist wife, Jill.

Dashing The Hopes.

Can't tell if this is a little bit of buyers remorse or someone woke up and found some common sense or a case of a stopped clock being right twice a day. But when the New York Times is asking for Tom Daschle to step aside because of his tax issues, I need to check if the sky is still blue.

Mr. Daschle’s tax shortfall is particularly troubling because it comes on the heels of another nominee’s failure to pay taxes due. We were not pleased when the president’s Treasury secretary, Timothy Geithner, admitted that he had failed to pay tens of thousands of dollars in federal self-employment taxes while working for the International Monetary Fund despite having signed paperwork acknowledging the obligation.

Geithner had his own issues with the IRS but sailed through the nomination because morons the US Senate thought he was the right man for the right job.

National Review has more on Daschle regarding what did he know and when did he know it.

More of This Kind of Courage.

It's a plan that makes sense. Sure it will be rough but not any rougher than drawing out a resession any longer than necessary. From over at the Politico.

“Our standard of living needs to come down to the point where it can be supported by organic output,” says Schiff. “It’s brutal, but it’s called capitalism, and it works. The alternative is called socialism, and it doesn’t work.”
. . .
They say that borrowing more money to finance a stimulus package will pass a crushing and possibly permanent debt load on to the next generation. “The question is,” says Chris Edwards, the director of tax policy studies at Cato, “is this morally proper?”
. . .
The most noticeable impact is that housing prices are coming down to a more sustainable level. For first-time buyers, this is reopening a path to homeownership that had been all but blocked by hyper-inflated prices.

Finally being able to clean out my blog fodder file.

For More Stimulating Talk, Call Now.

I linked to this the other day to see a graphical representation of how much the stimulus is going to cost. Today, there is a few helpful hint on what $1,173,000,000,000 can bring in nowadays.

A Charlie Brown Football Moment

Updated at the end of the post.

Makes one wonder how the Republicans earned the reputation of 'The Party of Stupid'.

Sen. Judd Gregg will be nominated as the new Commerce secretary Tuesday morning, giving President Obama a fresh independent voice in his Cabinet but at a huge cost to Republicans and the larger Senate.

Not to worry, the Governor of New Hampshire, John Lynch (D) has the power to appoint Gregg's replacement. One less Republican in the Senate to possibly help filibuster, giving democrats sixty seats over the republican. If he so chooses, Barack, Harry Reid, and Nancy Pelosi can pass whatever they want and the Republicans will be powerless to do anything about it.

Not to worry. Lynch gave Gregg a Pinky Promise that a republican will take the seat.

"If President Obama does nominate Senator Gregg to serve as Commerce Secretary, I will name a replacement who will put the people of New Hampshire first and represent New Hampshire effectively in the U.S. Senate."

Nothing to worry about here.

Update, via Ace.

Bonnie Newman.

She was chief of staff to Gregg when he was a congressman in the 1980s, and she was one of the first Republicans to publicly endorse Lynch in his 2004 challenge of then-Republican Governor Craig Benson, and co-chaired Republicans for Lynch.

About as much as I know about her.