Did your paycheck go up?

According to President Obama 95% of the working population should have received the benefits of the tax cut to help stimulate the economy.

I've talked to a number of people, including some of my family members, about the increased pay / tax adjustment that should have shown up in their paycheck effective April 1st. So far the dollar amounts are ranging from 96 cents to a couple of dollars.

Just curious, did your paycheck go up? If it did, how much? I've set up a poll on the sidebar, hope you'll click your choice. Let me know if I overlooked anything when I set it up.

Stimulating Stimulus

My younger sister called me the other day all excited about the increase she's going to be getting in her check starting in April.

Lynda is getting ready to make a few major changes in her life so she thought she'd change her exemptions and check on how much to expect. Unlike me, she's a planner.

Given the promise from the Obama administration of an average increase of $8 - $13 a week she was a bit concerned about the tax implications. Word is out that tax tables are not being adjusted, so those receiving the stimulus increase may get hit up for taxes at the end of the year and end up owing Uncle Sam.

She is going to realize a whopping increase of 97 cents a week.

You should have heard her as she gushed about all she'd be able to do with her increase to help the economy. She figured that if she saved up for a couple of months she could take a run over to the local dollar store and spend her windfall in one place.

I kind of hated to put a damper on her enthusiasm, but I had to remind her that it took gas to drive to the dollar store.

Now she's going to have to put off doing her bit to help stimulate the economy another month just to accrue the money to cover the cost of gas. Sooner or later all that money the government is so generously "giving" her will add up to enough to help get us out of this hole. You know the old saying, "a dollar here, a dollar there and sooner or later you have real money".

Don't you just get a big kick out of the government taking money from us in the form of taxes, then turning around and giving a pittance back to us? They make it sound like they're doing us a favor by allowing us to keep some of the money they normally take out of our paychecks.

I have my own company. I won't see a penny of the stimulus. Doesn't sound like I'll be missing much.

Stimulus Projects by State

Thanks to Amanda for passing this along to me:

http://www.stimuluswatch.org/project/by_state

Find projects by state or territory
Alaska (46 projects)
Alabama (318 projects)
Arkansas (199 projects)
Arizona (743 projects)
California (1971 projects)
Colorado (201 projects)
Connecticut (449 projects)
Washington, D.C. (8 projects)
Delaware (7 projects)
Florida (1752 projects)
Georgia (266 projects)
Hawaii (316 projects)
Iowa (51 projects)
Idaho (348 projects)
Illinois (1031 projects)
Indiana (713 projects)
Kansas (139 projects)
Kentucky (524 projects)
Louisiana (433 projects) < /span>
Massachusetts (266 projects)
Maryland (54 projects)
Maine (72 projects)
Michigan (782 projects)
Minnesota (335 projects)
Missouri (403 projects)
Mississippi (552 projects)
Montana (57 projects)
North Carolina (319 projects)
North Dakota (61 projects)
Nebraska (154 projects)
New Jersey (261 projects)
New Mexico (215 projects)
Nevada (163 projects)
New York (289 projects)
Ohio (847 projects)
Oklahoma (223 projects)
Oregon (159 projects)
Pennsylvania (352 projects)
Puerto Rico (340 projects)
Rhode Island (116 projects)
South Carolina (271 projects)
South Dakota (30 projects)
Tennessee (103 projects)
Texas (1240 projects)
Utah (298 projects)
Virginia (400 projects)
Vermont (61 projects)
Washington (368 projects)
Wisconsin (358 projects)
West Virginia (1 projects)
Wyoming (85 projects

RedState: Democrats to Railroad Through Another Super Secret Massive Spending Bill

They put it off to get the stimulus through. Now the Democrats want to rush this through without actually releasing the text of the legislation for public inspection.

As President Obama hosts a summit Monday on "fiscal responsibility," Democratic leaders in Congress this week are preparing to ram through the House a massive spending bill that includes thousands of unscrutinized pork-barrel earmarks and the largest increase in discretionary spending since Jimmy Carter - a bill written in secret, which to date, no one in America other than the Democratic congressional leadership has read.
Connie Hair notes:

"The omnibus spending bill was originally placed on the legislative calendar over two weeks ago, yet that proved inconvenient to ramming through the obscene "stimulus" bill. Shaky Blue Dog Democrats - in what passes for their idea of fiscal responsibility this Congressional session - were not comfortable with trying to pass the bloated trillion dollar "stimulus" spending bill while porking up another half-trillion in omnibus spending."

http://www.redstate.com/

Ruin Your Health With the Obama Stimulus Plan

Republican Senators are questioning whether President Barack Obama’s stimulus bill contains the right mix of tax breaks and cash infusions to jump-start the economy.

Tragically, no one from either party is objecting to the health provisions slipped in without discussion. These provisions reflect the handiwork of Tom Daschle, until recently the nominee to head the Health and Human Services Department.

Feb. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Commentary by Betsy McCaughey
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&refer=columnist_mccaughey&sid=aLzfDxfbwhzs

Who wants the stimulus?

I'm hearing from various sources that the calls to Senators is running in the neighborhood of 10-1 against it. This despite Mr. Obama's appeals to his supporters via email and speeches.

www.nostimulus.org is down due to overwhelming traffic.

Here's how to voice your opinion: www.moveovermoveon.posterous.com

Burn up the phone lines! Fill up the voice mail. Make them go buy more paper for the fax machines! Clog up their email inbox.

Don't just call YOUR Senator, call them all. Most don't ask where you're calling from (email forms require state). At the Move Over Moveon site they have suggested talking points to make it easier for you to get your point across.

A Nation on Welfare

Let's see, $700 billion for TARP, $410 billion scheduled in more spending this year (omnibus package that I bet most of you haven't even heard about yet), NOW we're at over a trillion in the so-called stimulus package... how much has the government tossed at and/or committed to willy-nilly throwing at trying to fix the problem?

Try this number on for size - $9.7 TRILLION dollars according to an article in Bloomberg today (see below).

Not a paltry trillion like they're talking about in the Senate today... NINE point SEVEN trillion.

The $9.7 trillion in pledges would be enough to send a $1,430 check to every man, woman and child alive in the world. It’s 13 times what the U.S. has spent so far on wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to Congressional Budget Office data, and is almost enough to pay off every home mortgage loan in the U.S., calculated at $10.5 trillion by the Federal Reserve.

You know, I think I could fix the problems real easy with less money than that. Somewhere in MY stimulus package would be a cut in government spending and government agencies.

While I might send some money out to individuals, it would be judicious. You and I might be able to manage our money carefully and wisely. However, when I think about all those who've won the lottery and ended up in worse shape after they blew it, I'm not inclined to just cut everyone a huge check. We don't need to set up another generation to think thriving means waiting for a government check.

Incentives to work? Help in creating jobs... real jobs, not fixing lawns in D.C. or buying condoms or many of the other programs in the current stimulus.

We've created a monster and rather than trying to kill it or tame it, we're feeding the darn thing.

It struck me recently that we have become a nation on welfare. The government is supporting so many agencies, groups, people, and now industries, that we're dependent. We grouse about the Welfare program and how we've created a welfare mentality, but watch what we're ALL doing. The schools are dependent on government money. How many agencies live and die with government subsidies? The Arts, national public radio, roads, transportation, the list goes on an on. Everyone is clamoring for government grants. What about research? We have government agencies, AND we have private industry research that is dependent on government grants.

Our colleges aren't self-supporting. Even with huge alumni endowments, corporate donations and tuition they are seemingly in dire need of handouts from the government.

The list of government intrusion and life-support goes on and on.

The government doesn't even KNOW where it's spent the money they've thrown at the problem thus far! And the government isn't willing to share what it does know about the spending:

Bloomberg requested details of Fed lending under the Freedom of Information Act and filed a federal lawsuit against the central bank Nov. 7 seeking to force disclosure of borrower banks and their collateral. Arguments in the suit may be heard as soon as this month, according to the court docket. Bloomberg asked the Treasury in an FOIA request Jan. 28 for a detailed list of the securities it planned to guarantee for Citigroup and Bank of America. Bloomberg hasn’t received a response to the request. The Bloomberg lawsuit is Bloomberg LP v. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 08-CV-9595, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

I know the lawsuit was filed during the last administration, however, we're now supposedly under a more "open and transparent" administration. They're going to put everything out on the Internet so we can wade through it if we'd like. Nothing is out there yet, private groups are putting the info on the stimulus package out there for us to read (www.readthestimulus.org). Even when everything is out on the Internet (assuming it ever happens), do you trust the government to put all the details out there? Can you understand government-speak?

They're good at candy-coating bad bills. Think about the Fairness Doctrine which shuts down free speech, or the Employee Free Choice Act which takes away free choice by stopping employees from voting via secret ballots.

These are two excellent articles and I hope you'll read through them. I didn't even begin to touch on the issues they raise!

Regarding the 2nd half of TARP spending (approx. $350 billion):
U.S. Delays Finance Plan as Officials Debate Debt (Update1)
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner delayed the announcement of the Obama administration’s financial-recovery plan as officials debated proposals aimed at addressing the toxic debt clogging banks’ balance sheets....
...Officials continue to consider a so-called bad bank to buy them, perhaps in cooperation with private investors, such as hedge funds and private equity. It’s unclear how big a role there’ll be for federal guarantees of securities that remain on banks’ balance sheets...
...For now, the government doesn’t intend to ask for more money, while leaving open the option of requesting more later. Most of the second half of the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program has yet to be allocated...
...Geithner will try to sell the plan as a clean break from the Bush administration, while offering many of the same programs and policy tools bequeathed by former Secretary Henry Paulson...
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a7g9LIzUPd5w&refer=home

U.S. Taxpayers Risk $9.7 Trillion on Bailouts as Senate Votes
The stimulus package the U.S. Congress is completing would raise the government’s commitment to solving the financial crisis to $9.7 trillion, enough to pay off more than 90 percent of the nation’s home mortgages.
The Federal Reserve, Treasury Department and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation have lent or spent almost $3 trillion over the past two years and pledged to provide up to $5.7 trillion more if needed. The total already tapped has decreased about 1 percent since November, mostly because foreign central banks are using fewer dollars in currency-exchange agreements called swaps.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aGq2B3XeGKok&refer=home
---
www.FayetteFrontPage.com
Fayette Front Page
Community News You Can Use
Fayetteville, Peachtree City, Tyrone
www.GeorgiaFrontPage.com
www.ArtsAcrossGeorgia.com
---

A few Sunday morning "stimulus" headlines

The Stimulus Tragedy
Obama bets that we can spend our way to prosperity.

Peggy Noonan: Bracing Ourselves
America prepares for the worst, and Republicans suddenly seem serious.

WSJ: Obama, GOP Trade Jabs on Stimulus

AP: Senators debate stimulus in rare Saturday session

Politico: Senate GOP says they were left out

The Hill: Senators exert leverage over Pelosi on stimulus

Senators Hash Out Stimulus Details With Another Nudge From Obama
ABC News - USAThough a few moderate Republicans likely will vote for the stimulus plan -- which President Barack Obama today said is necessary to avoid a "national ...

AP: Competing stimulus bills divide Congress

Roll Call: Drafters Meet Stimulus Amendment Deadline

WaPo: Economists Agree Time Is of the Essence for Stimulus

Battle over stimulus plan tests Obama's mettle
San Francisco Chronicle - CA, USABarack Obama will have to grind it out." "The moral of the story is that it's a lot more fun to campaign than it is to govern," says Jack Citrin, ...

Krauthammer on the Stimulus, Pork and "Hope"

Great read. Charles Krauthammer has a way of cutting through the fluff and laying out a solid case. He always seems to have the uncanny ability to see the kernel of truth that many of us miss while listening to the hyperbole.

The Fierce Urgency of Pork
By Charles Krauthammer
Friday, February 6, 2009; A17
"A failure to act, and act now, will turn crisis into a catastrophe." -- President Obama, Feb. 4.

Catastrophe, mind you. So much for the president who in his inaugural address two weeks earlier declared "we have chosen hope over fear."

Until, that is, you need fear to pass a bill.

And so much for the promise to banish the money changers and influence peddlers from the temple. An ostentatious executive order banning lobbyists was immediately followed by the nomination of at least a dozen current or former lobbyists to high position. Followed by a Treasury secretary who allegedly couldn't understand the payroll tax provisions in his 1040. Followed by Tom Daschle, who had to fall on his sword according to the new Washington rule that no Cabinet can have more than one tax delinquent
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/05/AR2009020502766_pf.html

Tx @drudge_report (Twitter)

How much is a billion? a trillion?

How much is a billion? A billion minutes ago Jesus Christ walked on the earth.
(Thanks to Brian Wilson on FOX)

How much is a trillion dollars? If a people had accumulated a million dollars a day since the birth of Jesus, they still would not have reached a trillion dollars.
(Thanks to Senator Jim Demint of SC)

Steve Maloney
DraftPalin2012
SteveMaloneyGOP

73% of us now do NOT want the stimulus (scamulus, porkulus... it has many new names ;-)
Go here: http://moveovermoveon.posterous.com for easy ways to contact senators and to vote on the inclusions you think are the most ridiculous.

Heritage: Americans Did Not Vote for This Plan

President Barack Obama is losing the debate over his Trillion Dollar Debt Plan.

According to Rasmussen Reports, only 37% of the American people favor his legislation. And according to Gallup nearly 80% of Americans believe the current plan will not stimulate the economy.

Faced with criticism of his plan, Obama has tersely responded to conservative lawmakers: "I won." Well you know what? So did every other person in Congress. They all won their elections and their constituents deserve to have their views represented too.

Defending his plan with an op-ed in the Washington Post today Obama repeats his "I won" mantra: "I reject these theories, and so did the American people when they went to the polls in November and voted resoundingly for change." But did Americans vote for THIS bill? A bill that is larger than the Iraq and Afghanistan combined. A bill that it is larger than the entire GDP of India. A bill that, once interest payments are included, will put Americans a full trillion dollars deeper in debt.

Remember, this is a President who, while still a candidate, promised a "net spending cut." And that promise was made October 7th, well after Lehman Brothers collapsed and it was already evident how deep an economic crisis we were in. Obama prided himself on the conservative and independent voters he won this November. They deserve to have Obama's fiscal responsibility promises kept.

Continuing to defend his Trillion Dollar Debt Plan Obama writes: "This plan is more than a prescription for short-term spending -- it's a strategy for America's long-term growth and opportunity in areas such as renewable energy, health care and education." But as the Washington Post editorializes: "This is precisely the problem. As credible experts, including some Democrats, have pointed out, much of this "long-term" spending either won't stimulate the economy now, is of questionable merit, or both."

Yesterday Obama was claiming that the controversial parts of his plan "amount to less than 1% of the overall package." But as he admits today, and as the Washington Post points out, the controversial spending makes up the core of his plan.

Obama concludes his op-ed writing: "These are the actions Americans expect us to take without delay. ... they have no patience for the same old partisan gridlock that stands in the way of action while our economy continues to slide." Obama is asking Congress to approve the largest deficit spending plan in the history of the known universe and he wants it done in ten days. There may well be some worthy government project buried in this bill, but as the Washington Post points out, they "do not belong in legislation whose reason for being is to give U.S. economic growth a "jolt" ... All other policy priorities should pass through the normal budget process, which involves hearings, debate and -- crucially -- competition with other programs."

Through those hearings and normal budget processes, the other elected leaders of our democracy can better assess which spending is needed and which spending is not. Barack Obama did not campaign on this spending plan. Therefore, it is simply not credible to believe that Americans voters meant to give him a blank check this past November, and current polls reflect exactly that.

(Love the Heritage Foundation... go sign up for their Morning Bell! www.heritage.org)

Senate Unanimously Approves Isakson Amendment to Stimulate Housing Market

Note: The most important statement in this release is the very last one (in bold, my emphasis). We need to burn up the phone lines, keep the fax machines in full gear and keep those emails zipping into his inbox. Please join in the effort to kill this bill. - jmd

The U.S. Senate today unanimously approved an amendment by U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., to stimulate the nation’s declining housing market by offering a $15,000 tax credit to individuals who purchase a home in the next year.

“It is time to fix America’s problem, not throw money at the symptoms. It is time to fix housing first. It is rare that we have a road map to success in times of difficulty, but this country has once before realized a housing crisis every bit as bad as the one we have today and economic troubles every bit as dangerous,” Isakson said. “We have a pervasive housing problem, and we have a historical precedent that works. I am proud this Senate has joined together, learned from history and repeated a method that worked by adopting this amendment.”

Specifically, Isakson’s amendment to the pending economic stimulus bill would provide a direct tax credit to any homebuyer who purchases any home. The amount of the tax credit would be $15,000 or 10 percent of the purchase price, whichever is less. Purchases must be made within one year of the legislation’s enactment, and the tax credit would not have to be repaid.

The amendment would allow taxpayers to claim the credit on their 2008 income tax return. It also seeks to prevent misuse by only allowing purchases of a principle residence and by recapturing the credit if the home is sold within two years of purchase. The amendment would sunset the current $7,500 housing tax credit on the date of enactment.

Isakson has pushed hard for a non-repayable tax credit for homebuyers because he knows that it will work. In the mid-1970s, America faced a similar housing crisis when a period of easy credit and loose underwriting flooded the market with new construction. Interest rates rose, the economy slowed and America was left with a three-year supply of vacant homes. Congress responded by passing a $2,000 tax credit for anyone purchasing a new home for their principal residence. Isakson believes the results were clear and swift as home values stabilized, housing inventory dropped and the market recovered.

Last year, Isakson introduced legislation to specifically target those homes that were causing the unprecedented increase in housing inventory by offering tax credits to individuals purchasing a foreclosed home or a home where foreclosure is pending. In April 2008, the Senate passed legislation to stimulate the nation’s declining housing market that included Isakson’s proposal. However, the final version of the legislation that was signed into law included only a $7,500 tax credit for first-time homebuyers that must be repaid over a 15-year period. Isakson’s amendment that passed today would sunset that $7,500 tax credit.

Isakson spent more than three decades in the real estate business, beginning his business career in 1967 when he opened the first Cobb County, Ga., office of a small, family-owned real estate business, Northside Realty. Isakson later served as president of Northside for 20 years, presiding over the company’s growth into the largest independent residential real estate brokerage company in the Southeast and one of the largest in America.

Isakson has not made a decision regarding his vote on the overall economic stimulus legislation.

Latest Porkulus List in S.1 from Heritage (via #TCOT)

* $2 billion earmark to re-start FutureGen, a near-zero emissions coal power plant in Illinois that the Dept. of Energy defunded last year because the project was inefficient

* $650 million for the digital television (DTV) converter box coupon program

* $88 million for the Coast Guard to design a new polar icebreaker (arctic ship)

* $448 million for constructing the Dept. of Homeland Security headquarters

* $248 million for furniture at the new Dept. of Homeland Security headquarters

* $600 million to buy hybrid vehicles for federal employees

* $400 million for the CDC to screen and prevent STD's

* $1.4 billion for a rural waste disposal programs

* $125 million for the Washington, D.C. sewer system

* $150 million for Smithsonian museum facilities

* $1 billion for the 2010 Census, which has a projected cost overrun of $3 billion

* $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

* $150 million for Smithsonian museum facilities

* $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 NIH facilities in Bethesda, MD

* $160 million for "paid volunteers" at the Corporation for National and Community Service

* $5.5 million for "energy efficiency initiatives" at the VA "National Cemetery Administration"

* $60 million for Arlington National Cemetery

* $850 million for Amtrak

* $100 million for reducing the hazard of lead-based paint

* $75M to construct a new "security training" facility for State

Dept 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.

* $275 million for "watershed and flood prevention operations"

* Unspecified assistance for "nonambulatory cattle"

#TCOT to Republican Senators: NO to Porkulus, NO to Compromise, No to Turncoats

Michael Patrick Leahy, co-founder of Top Conservatives on Twitter, the conservative grassroots organization that dominates the conversation on Twitter, today announced that the organization is focusing it's OPERATION MOVE OVER MoveON.org on all Republicans in the Senate.

"Led by #TCOT Project Servant-Leader Wendy Hermann, a work-at-home mom from Corpus Christi, Texas, #TCOT's MOVE OVER MoveOn.org project is focused on defeating the "Porkulus" Bill in the Senate (S.1), in any form." Leahy said today.

"We intend to communicate that message to all 41 Republican Senators in the most direct way today and through the rest of the week. We know that Senate Majority Leader Democrat Harry Reid is trying to ram this bad bill through the Senate without a sufficient discussion of all the truly wasteful mini bail-outs to the Democrat Party's political allies it contains."

"Our message to every Republican Senator is clear and simple: Stand firm, and don't fall for false promises of 'bi-partisanship' that are being used to merely provide political cover to the Democrats. This is a clear example of the Democrats' wasteful economic policies, and we need to let the Democrats own their foolhardiness."

"The history of compromise in the US Congress is easy to understand. When Democrats coerce Republicans to abandon their principles, they call it 'bi-partisan' compromise. We conservatives call that fundamentally wrong."

"Anyone who wants to help us in this higher calling in the defense of American free markets can take an advantage of an innovative interactive tool that allows the average person to view the most recent spending elements of the "Porkulus" Bill, and register your approval or disapproval of each item. We will be periodically be sending out press releases highlighting your opinion of the most wasteful and extravagant elements of the bill."

"This great tool has been developed by Aaron Day, of Daylight Networks. To use the tool right now, simply go to: www.daylightnetwork.com/senate-stimulus.

"Once there, you can register and vote on whether or not a specific line item included in the bill will help improve the economy or will hurt it.”

MoveOn.org, the liberal activist group funded by George Soros, is focusing an ad campaign to turn around 5 Republican Senators. They are using radio and television ads to encourage people to contact these Senators and tell them to vote for S.1. The targeted Senators are:

(1) Collins - Maine
(2) Snow - Maine
(3) Newmann (yesterday appointed to replace Judd Gregg) - NH *
(4) Murkowski - ALASKA
(5) Grassley - Iowa

Leahy continued by adding that now all Republican Senators will be contacted.

"We've seen reports that various Republican Senators are offering a few ideas to make the bill seem more palatable. This simply won't work. Adding a few elements to placate moderate Republicans while keeping 90% of the $825 billion of pork included in the House version of the bill does nothing to help the economy. If Republican legislators want a historical model to guide them, they need look back only a few months to the disastrous vote in the fall in which many of them supported the ill advised and ineffective $700 billion Wall Street Bailout."

Top Conservatives on Twitter was started on November 29, 2008. It consists of a list of over 2,400 conservatives who use Twitter. The list can be found at http://www.topconservativesontwitter.org. The list serves as a rallying point for conservatives on the Internet, and has led to the formation of many action projects, of which Operation MOVE OVER MoveOn.org is one.

The organization is referred to as #TCOT because those five characters are used so that anyone on Twitter can follow the “tweet stream” of conversation on Twitter that is aimed at the #TCOT community. To follow this “tweet stream”, go to http://search.twitter.com and enter #TCOT.

In January, www.hashtags.org data showed that #TCOT dominated the Twitter conversation. #TCOT was the number one most used hashtag, with over 18,000 tweets. The second most used hashtag had less than 6,000 tweets.

#TCOT dominated the conversation on Twitter so dramatically that it had more than three times the conversation tweets as the number two hashtag.

#TCOT has released the following details of their plan of attack:

1. Phones. As we did in Operation Melt the Phones in DC, we are going to keep up a steady stream of phone calls to these Senators offices and report back on the TCOT Action Project site what the senators are saying. This time, however, we want to also call their local state offices. Each Senator has several in their state and they should be pressured as well. The numbers are listed by state at the bottom of the page as well as a sample script. We recommend calling each of the Senators offices every day. We will be issuing daily talking points for you to question the senate aid about. Be polite, but assertive.

2. Faxes. This time we will add faxes to our blitz. Many out of state people wishing to send a letter to a senator were stymied by the Senate e-mail system not allowing them. We have posted fax numbers next to phone numbers for those wishing to use that method. A sample text is listed at the bottom of the page for use in drafting e-mails and faxes. Again, we would like each person to fax each office daily emphasizing that days talking points.

3. E-mail. If you live in the senators state, we encourage you to send daily e-mails to the senators giving them reasons to vote against this piece of legislation. Links to each Senator’s webpage are on the Phone/Fax list at the bottom of the page. Use the Fax/E-mail text suggestions to know what to say.

4. Blogging and local media. We do not have George Soros’ money. We will have to be more grassroots than that. We are wanting all conservative bloggers to post this Action Project on your blog and give your opinion or perspective on the talking point of the day.

5. We are also asking "TCOT members to call their local talk radio programs, send letters to the editor and notify local media of what you are doing. Our hope is that some will be picked up as human interest stories and we can rebroadcast them over the Internet. We have made an outline/talking points list available to you for your reference. Please use that list as a starting point. We are working to build this media list, so please report back whomever you talk to and how they reacted.

6. We are looking for people with video experience that will write and produce short videos that can be posted on youtube that counter the ads being run by MoveON.org. Please contact us if you are interested in this project.

7. We are looking to target moderate or blue dog Democrats in the Senate that could be swayed to our side. Please let us know if you find any Democrats on the fence about S. 1.

Above all else, be polite. Passion is encouraged, foul language is not. Be aggressive, but not abusive.

Resources:
Senate Phone/Fax numbers (with links to e-mail) can be found at: http://moveovermoveon.posterous.com
To volunteer directly, and receive more detailed instructions, go to http://tcotprojects.ning.com

Johnny Isakson's response to my email to vote NO on porkulus

I sent an email with thoughts on the "stimulus". Strip it of every bit of pork that can be negotiated out of it, then when it's as thin as possible, vote no anyway. I phrased it better than that... It's definitely a form letter, didn't expect anything more. I didn't suggest any projects as the form letter indicates.

Since I sent me email a lot has happened and things are changing minute-by-minute in Washington. I've read conflicting stories about what's going on behind the scenes so I'm in a wait-and-see mode (although I'm still sending emails and calling Senators).

One good thing that's happening is that more and more people are becoming aware of how little there is in this pork package that will do anything to help us.

I think Nancy Pelosi is going to ultimately be the fall 'guy' on this one. She was SO gleeful when she rammed it through. I was watching as she took the count and they zeroed in on her face. She was gloating, smiling so big I thought her face would crack from the tension. Now she's dealing with dissension in the ranks, possibly an Obama White House that isn't happy with her and a Senate that is busily stripping her Christmas list of wants out of the bill. (see my last post)

OK, I'll quit typing and let you read Isakson's letter (emphasis is mine):

Thank you for contacting me regarding President Obama's Economic Stimulus plan. I appreciate your thoughts and the opportunity to respond.

Recently President Obama has been meeting with Majority Leader Harry Reid and Speaker Nancy Pelosi regarding his ideas for a second economic stimulus. At this time I am unsure as to whether I will or will not support this legislation due to the fact that there is no bill text to evaluate at this point, only constantly changing news reports. My staff and I, however, are glad to hear your thoughts on suggested projects that you believe should be included in this proposed plan. Rest assured I will strongly advocate on the behalf of Georgia projects for maximum investment.

As our nation continues to struggle through the current economic crisis it is important to stay focused on the recovery aspects. I believe the key to returning stability to the economy lies within the housing market. We must find a way to keep people in their homes, stabilize foreclosures and return consumer confidence to the marketplace. Once stability comes back to the housing market, you will see investors and small business begin to reinvesting in job creating activities, which will put hard working Americans back to work. I am committed to taking the necessary steps to work with my Senate colleagues to make this come to pass. Our nation has always demonstrated a strong resiliency and I am confident we will once again bounce back stronger than ever, where hard working Americans are at the front lines of economic prosperity.

Thank you again for contacting me. Please visit my webpage at http://isakson.senate.gov/ for more information on the issues important to you and to sign up for my e-newsletter

Kudlow on the stimulus

This video lays out the problem with the "stimulus" succinctly. I encourage you to listen and then go to www.nostimulus.com and sign the petition. Then pop over to www.topconservativesontwitter.com and look at their action list. Look for Move Over MoveOn --- get involved. Don't just call your senator, call, email or fax those in every state, Democrat, Independent and Republican. Another group that is fighting the stimulus is www.wam08.org. I could list more, but those should keep you busy!

Congress doesn't need to enact this entire package all at once. Tell them to cut all the handouts, the wish lists and the things that have nothing to do with creating jobs or stopping the drain.

They are rushing this through hoping you won't catch on until it's too late.

Like to see where they're going to spend your future dollars? Visit www.readthestimulus.org.

"Stimulus" Stats...

Contact every Senator, the Governor (stories are out saying Republican Governors are pressuring Congress to vote yes so they'll get their share of the money). If you think the so-called "stimulus package" is good for America, read the following excerpts from an article in the Canadian Free Press (http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/8006):

Alan Reynolds at the Wall Street Journal also tells us the stimulus package doesn’t even target the groups hardest hit by unemployment.

The December unemployment rate was only 2.3% for government workers and 3.8% in education and health. Unemployment rates in manufacturing and construction, by contrast, were 8.3% and 15.2% respectively. Yet 39% of the $550 billion in the bill would go to state and local governments. Another 17.3% would go to health and education—sectors where relatively secure government jobs are also prevalent. If the intent of the plan is to alleviate unemployment, why spend over half of the money on sectors where unemployment is lowest?

Here's a list of some of the things included in the "stimulus" package:

Global Warming

$2.4 billion for carbon-capture demonstration projects Link
$400 million for global-warming research Link

Government Upgrades

$2.5 billion for the National Science Foundation Link
$2.0 billion for the National Park Service Link
$800 million for AMTRAK Link
$650 million for the U.S. Forest Service Link
$600 million for NASA Link
$276 million to the State Department to upgrade and modernize its information technology Link
$150 million for maintenance work at the Smithsonian Institution Link
$209 million for maintenance work for the Federal Agricultural Research Service Link
$44 million for repairs and improvements at the Washington, D.C. headquarters of the Department of Agriculture Link
$245 million to upgrade the information technology of the Farm Service Agency Link
The Coast Guard wants more than $572 million for “Acquisition, Construction, & Improvements” They claim these funds will create 1,235 new jobs. Crunch the numbers and this brings the cost of “creating” each job to a staggering $460,000+ Link
$200 million for Dep. of Defense to acquire alternative energy vehicles. Link
$600 million for new cars for the federal government Link
$200 million to re-sod the National Mall Link
$400 million for a new Social Security Administration computer system Link
$1.9 billion for the Energy Department for “basic research into the physical sciences Link

Schools

$66B on education, but they specifically exclude private K-12 schools from getting one dime of it. Link
$17 billion for Pell Grants Link
$13 billion in IDEA, Part B State grants to help pay for “the excess costs of providing special education and related services to children with disabilities. Link
$13 billion in Title I grants “to provide extra academic support to help raise the achievement of students at risk of educational failure or to help all students in high-poverty schools meet challenging State academic standards Link
$6 billion goes to college and universities Link
$3.5 billion for higher education facilities. Link
$2.1 billion is for Head Start Link
$1 billion for Technology Education Link
$250-million for an after-school snack program. Link

Social Programs

$87 billion is to be spent on Medicaid, a welfare program already costing roughly $400 billion per year Link
$83 billion for the earned income credit for people who don’t pay income tax Link
$36 billion for expanded unemployment benefits Link
$20 billion for increased food stamps, including lifting restrictions on how long welfare dependents can receive food stamp benefits. Link
$6 billion program to “weatherize modest-income homes Link
$5 billion is devoted to public housing Link
$3 billion for health care prevention and wellness programs, such as childhood immunizations and other state and local public health programs Link
$2 billion is to be spent on Child Care Development Block Grants, which provide day care. Link
$1.7 billion is to be spent to help the homeless Link
$1.1 billion for so-called federal comparative effectiveness research in regard to health-care services Link
$1 billion goes for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance program, to help low income families pay their heating bills Link
$500 million to speed the processing of applications for Social Security disability claims. Link
$200 million goes for senior nutrition programs, such as Meals on Wheels Link
$200 million for AmeriCorps, to help satisfy “increased demand for services for vulnerable populations to meet critical needs in communities across the U.S. Link
$120 million to finance part-time work for seniors in community service agencies. Link
$100 million to reduce lead-based paint hazards for children in low income housing Link

MISC

New Programs $136 billion of the bill is for unproven ideas—to start 32 new federal programs. Link
$79 billion is to go the states to maintain their runaway government spending, particularly for such spendthrift jurisdictions as California, New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts Link
$5.2 billion for ACORN, the left-leaning nonprofit group under federal investigation for massive voter fraud. Link “Community organizers,” such as the left-wing lobbying group ACORN, would get their own new slush fund of up to $750-million. Link
$4.2 billion provided to the Neighborhood Stabilization Fund, which provides the funds to local governments to purchase and rehab vacant housing due to foreclosure Link
$2 billion for Superfund cleanup Link
$1.2 billion for summer jobs for youth Link
$650 million for digital TV coupons to help Americans upgrade to digital cable television Link
$335 million for sexually transmitted disease education and prevention programs at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Link
$50 million for the National Endowment of the Arts to help “the arts community throughout the United States.
$400 million for “habitat restoration projects” of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Link
$75 million for smoking cessation Link

Few articles on the porkulus package

We HAVE to do everything we can to stop this thing. I'm sending messages saying fight with everything you have in your power to cut as much pork from the bill, then when it's pared down as much as possible, vote against it anyway.

Here are a few article links to give you an overview of the variety of views on this thing. On the last story re: Democrat poll finds voters like the stimulus... that flies in the face of every poll I've seen or heard about. I haven't read the article, but I have a feeling they asked a question that led to the answer they wanted.

Wash. Times: Obama: Nation can't afford bickering over stimulus

NYT: Stimulus Plan Encounters Stiff Resistance in Senate

Politico: Schumer: We'll get to 60

LAT: Obama turns to e-mail network to push stimulus plan

The Hill: Democratic poll finds voters like stimulus

A glimmer of hope on the "stimulus" horizon?

Democrat Paul Kanjorski is saying that Congress needs to slow down on the so-called stimulus bill. In fact, he struck out hard against it. I hope he's just one of many Democrats having second thoughts after reading all that is included in the bill.

I had set today aside to catch up on the Fayette Front Page. Trying to do whatever I can to stop the stimulus has taken up the majority of my day thus far. I feel so strongly that this is the absolute worst thing that could happen to our country that I can't help but try to stop it. Even if that means sitting up half the night to update the Fayette Front Page and the Georgia Front Page.

If we can't stop the stupid thing, at least let us slow down the process long enough to understand the ramifications off our actions. Have you seen what's included? Go to www.readthestimulus.org or check out the links at the end of this blog.

The initial bailout was acted upon in panic mode and look where that got us! The current bill is every liberal dream wrapped in money that doesn't exist until we take it out of our wallets or it's printed. They want to rush it through before we can see what's being voted on and become alarmed.

Already our actions are having some effect. Minimal, but we're getting there.

Contraceptive funding thrown under Obama’s bus
By Michelle Malkin • January 26, 2009 11:27 PMGoody. Panicky President Obama wants the Dems to eliminate Pelosi’s pet contraceptive funding from the Generational Theft Act of 2009. Only $800 billion more in needless, unstimulating stimulus spending to kill.
http://michellemalkin.com/2009/01/26/contraceptive-funding-thrown-under-obamas-bus/

I just received a House floor update that said they'll be debating the bill sometime around 3:30 this afternoon. I'm hoping Cspan picks it up so we can watch.

Here are a few of the comments Kanjorski made regarding the bill:

"I think we've lost our way in a way ... We shouldn't be pressed by these silly deadlines like, you know, what makes [the] Presidents Day holiday so important for us to get out of town?"

"In order to get it right, we have to spend time and analyze how much is going to hit the street as fast as it can hit the street and I don't think we've done that. I think, to a large extent, many of the parts of the stimulus are programs that are going to take years and years and years to accomplish ..."

"Quite frankly, we're doing this in small stages and small bites. We need to take our time. I guarantee we're going to come back and we are going to have another stimulus, we're going to have another bailout for Wall Street because we are not doing these things properly."

Key Democrat rips stimulus, predicts more bailouts
By Bob Cusack
Posted: 01/27/09 01:22 PM [ET]
A key Democrat on Tuesday lambasted the economic stimulus bill that is headed to the House floor, claiming it was put together too quickly and won’t help the economy in the short term. Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D-Pa.), who chairs the Financial Services subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance and Government Sponsored Enterprises, said on C-SPAN that Democrats have "lost our way" and "shouldn't be pressed by silly deadlines" of getting the bill into law by the Presidents Day recess...
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/key-democrat-rips-stimulus-predicts-more-bailouts-2009-01-27.html

Uncovered: Democrats Seek to Use Stimulus to Kick Start Government-Run Health Care
Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) issued the following statement regarding the inclusion of $1.1 billion for Comparative Effectiveness Research in the Democrats’ misnamed “stimulus” package. The provision provides the cornerstone for a national government-run health care system.
http://tom.house.gov/html/release.cfm?id=446

Top 20 Fast Facts About the House Democrats' Trillion Dollar Spending Plan
http://republicanleader.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=109402
Washington, Jan 26 - Earlier this month, when then-President-elect Obama met with Democratic and Republican congressional leaders, he laid out a vision of crafting a bipartisan economic recovery package focused on creating jobs and fast-acting tax relief. However, in the weeks since that meeting, Democratic leaders in Congress have taken that vision and turned it upside down, crafting a plan loaded with hundreds of billions in spending on programs and projects – most of which will not impact our ailing economy for many years, if ever, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

Stimulus Round Up

If you think your voice doesn't count think again. If enough of us call, write, fax, email it's possible we might, just might be able to impact this so-called stimulus package. Go to www.readthestimulus.org and click on the spread sheet they've provided and / or read the text of the actual bill if you can handle government double-speak in print!

Here are some interesting articles and commentary re: stimulus package.

States to win big in stimulus sweepstakes
The House bill allots almost one-quarter of the $825 billion recovery package to states and localities.
http://www.elabs5.com/ct.html?rtr=on&s=o1l,44m9,er,a7nj,g6m3,mbr4,k497

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Fed May Gain More Financial Oversight
(By Neil Irwin and Binyamin Appelbaum)

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Republican Leaders Don’t Like Stimulus Plan, but No Filibuster Expected
(CNSNews.com) – Three top Republicans agree that they cannot support the Democrats’ economic stimulus package as written. But aside from expressing the hope that Republicans’ suggestions will be incorporated, none of them said they would work to block the plan beyond voting “no.”

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Nationalization of banks around the corner?
Yesterday Nancy Pelosi publicly indicated nationalization was on the table (Nancy Pelosi - Nationalization of Banks a Good Idea? Yep.).

Nancy Pelosi - Nationalization of Banks a Good Idea? Yep.
Nancy Pelosi was on ABC this morning with George Stephanopoulos. The entire interview was a dance and dodge performance, but even with all the flowery non-answers there were some whoppers that should have fiscally conservative, anti-socialistic, freedom loving Americans up in arms.

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Nationalization Gets a New, Serious Look
Only five days into the Obama presidency, members of the new administration and Democratic leaders in Congress are already dancing around one of the most politically delicate questions about the financial bailout: Is the president prepared to nationalize a huge swath of the nation’s banking system? Privately, most members of the Obama economic team concede that the rapid deterioration of the country’s biggest banks, notably Bank of America and Citigroup, is bound to require far larger investments of taxpayer money, atop the more than $300 billion of taxpayer money already poured into those two financial institutions and hundreds of others, The New York Times’s David E. Sanger reports.
http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/26/nationalization-gets-a-new-serious-look/

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Treasury's demands on banks seen as nationalization
WASHINGTON — The U.S. government's decision to pledge billions of additional dollars with strings attached to Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp. may be nationalization by another name, according to former bankers and regulators. Faced with pressure from lawmakers, banks have shaken up management, eliminated executive bonuses and staff and canceled conventions. They'll be forced to do monthly reports on how they've boosted lending while slashing quarterly dividends to 1 cent a share for three years.

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Pelosi Advocates Greater Government Investment in Banks: ‘Some People Call That Nationalization’
(CNSNews.com) - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, describing the U.S. economy as “dark, darker, darkest,” indicated that further nationalization of American banks may be necessary, although she shied away from using the word “nationalization.” Pelosi also told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that investing in food stamps and unemployment insurance would be more effective in stimulating the economy than any tax cut would be.

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Editorial: Congress Must Stop the Stimulus
The $825 billion economic “stimulus” plan now being proposed by President Barack Obama and Congressional Democrats could well result in a federal deficit in excess of $2 trillion for 2009. Which means that it is now up to Senate and House Republicans to make certain that the American people are not consigned to a future of permanent serfdom to foreign creditors.
That is, if those creditors will continue to even service the national debt, now totaling nearly $10.7 trillion. http://alg31blog.timberlakepublishing.com/default.asp?Display=905

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The Heritage Foundation's Morning Bell:
A Conservative Alternative to Obama's Permanent Spending Plan

Last Friday we told you that even by the left's own ideological criteria, President Barack Obama's trillion dollar spending plan would fail to stimulate the economy because nothing about the massive spending increases in the bill was temporary. This Sunday, the Washington Post wrote an editorial essentially agreeing with us:

[S]ome in Congress and the new administration apparently see the country's
present recession as an opportunity to change the federal government's spending
priorities more generally or simply to reward loyal political constituencies.
... [I]t's risky to make new, multiyear commitments in the middle of a crisis
without debate over competing priorities -- and without paying for them through
some means other than borrowing.

Helping hire, equip and pay police, a $4 billion item under the bill, might
be a good idea, but writing checks to individual households for the same amount
would do more to stimulate the economy. Ditto for $16 billion in Pell Grants for
college students, $2.1 billion for Head Start and $50 million for the National
Endowment for the Arts. All of those ideas may have merit, but why do they
belong in an emergency measure aimed to kick-start the economy?...Fiscal
stimulus can be a part of the solution, but only if it is "targeted, timely and
temporary." The efforts so far don't quite match that description.

Our only quibble with the Post's assessment of Obama's trillion dollar spending plan is that it is not quite stern enough. There is nothing "targeted, timely and temporary" about the massive and permanent spending increases in this bill. And the Post left out some of the most flagrant examples. Among the hundreds of billions of dollars in new spending is hundreds of millions of dollars for contraceptives. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) unrepentantly defended this money as stimulus on ABC's This Week:

Well, the family planning services reduce cost. They reduce cost. ... One of
those - one of the initiatives you mentioned, the contraception, will reduce
costs to the states and to the federal government.

Got that? If you want to help stimulate the economy, then Nancy Pelosi believes you should not have any more children. Apparently having less children "will reduce costs to the states and to the federal government."

National Economic Council director Lawrence Summers turned in a similar performance on Meet the Press, defending the above mentioned Pell Grants and police hiring as "good investments."

Neither of these stimulus defenders even bothered to claim that these spending increases would be temporary in any way. The deficit for 2009 is already projected to exceed $1 trillion. If deficit-fueled government spending was effective, then our economy ought to be in recovery already. Obviously that is not the case. An alternative is needed.

The American economy does not rise and fall with the level of aggregate demand or deficit spending. There are normal processes that launch a recovery and drive an economy. These processes involve individuals and businesses responding to opportunities and incentives. Lower marginal tax rates stimulate the economy because they improve the incentives facing individuals and businesses to work, invest, take risks, and seize opportunities. The centerpiece of an effective stimulus policy should involve two elements

- Make the 2001 and 2003 Tax Cuts Permanent: The American public faces a massive tax hike in 2011 when all of the tax relief enacted in 2001 and 2003 expires. It is difficult for the economy to gain its footing when facing the threat of a punitive tax hike.

- Reduce Marginal Tax Rates for Individuals and Businesses: Cutting tax rates by 10% for individuals, small businesses and corporations will reduce the cost of doing business in America and make it easier for Americans to create new private sector jobs.

According to an analysis performed at the Center for Data Analysis at The Heritage Foundation, using the widely respected Global Insight U.S. Macroeconomic Model, these policy changes would strengthen the economy significantly this year. Adopting the Heritage tax proposal would mean that 500,000 more Americans have jobs by the end of 2009, and, by the end of 2010, employment would increase by a million jobs. This two-step tax policy would reduce tax receipts relative to current policy by about $670 billion over five years, a number significantly smaller than Obama's $850 billion and growing spending plan.