Call to Action

Here I go again with the political blogging. But, this time I'm including a challenge. Unless you've been living under a rock, you know that President Obama is trying to push a "stimulus" bill through congress. This bill is the supposed help America needs to recover from the economic slump, or recession, or depression, whatever you want to call the current status of the economy.

However, this bill is far from stimulus. In a time of financial crisis, this bill contains more pork than any bill ever passed through the U.S. Congress. Take a look at this list of proposed excessive spending:

• $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.
• A $246 million tax break for Hollywood movie producers to buy motion picture film.
• $650 million for the digital television converter box coupon program.
• $88 million for the Coast Guard to design a new polar icebreaker (arctic ship).
• $448 million for constructing the Department of Homeland Security headquarters.
• $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.
• $125 million for the Washington sewer system.
• $150 million for Smithsonian museum facilities.
• $1 billion for the 2010 Census, which has a projected cost overrun of $3 billion.
• $75 million for "smoking cessation activities."
• $200 million for public computer centers at community colleges.
• $75 million for salaries of employees at the FBI.
• $25 million for tribal alcohol and substance abuse reduction.
• $500 million for flood reduction projects on the Mississippi River.
• $10 million to inspect canals in urban areas.
• $6 billion to turn federal buildings into "green" buildings.
• $500 million for state and local fire stations.
• $650 million for wildland fire management on forest service lands.
• $1.2 billion for "youth activities," including youth summer job programs.
• $88 million for renovating the headquarters of the Public Health Service.
• $412 million for CDC buildings and property.
• $500 million for building and repairing National Institutes of Health facilities in Bethesda, Maryland.
• $160 million for "paid volunteers" at the Corporation for National and Community Service.
• $5.5 million for "energy efficiency initiatives" at the Department of Veterans Affairs National Cemetery Administration.
• $850 million for Amtrak.
• $100 million for reducing the hazard of lead-based paint.
• $75 million to construct a "security training" facility for State Department Security officers when they can be trained at existing facilities of other agencies.
• $110 million to the Farm Service Agency to upgrade computer systems.
• $200 million in funding for the lease of alternative energy vehicles for use on military installations.

Yeah. That's a lot of pork, especially for a president who said there would never be special interests in his administration. 

Please take a lot at this bill and what it means for our nation's debt. Is it worth it to you? Is it worth the abundance of taxes we will eventually have to pay forth? That's not to mention the payment future generations will pay for this excessive gluttony. 

After you take a look at this bill, please take action and write your congressional representatives. You can go to congress.org and easily find the contact information for your senators and representatives. They need to know how we feel about this "stimulus package." There is also a petition on nostimulus.com that you can sign if you are not in favor of the current spending package being proposed.