The New Civility: Tom Coburn Draws Short Straw in 'SOTU Kumbaya' Raffle - Seems Kinda Happy About it

Chuckie Schumer, on the other hand, is just glad he doesn't have to sit next to that "tea-bagger" Scott Brown.

Click here to watch

Via RealClearPolitics. Cross-posted.

Durbin Suffering Memory Loss

This is precious. Dick "The Turban" Durbin is criticizing Republican lawmakers for the coarsening language in the debate. Durbin of course is a victim of some sort of memory loss. Let's jut refresh the senators memory by replaying the speech he made on the floor of the Senate in 2007 comparing our troops to Nazi storm troopers and enforcers from the Pol Pot regime.



Maybe Mr Durbin's real issue is with somebody praying.

One last question for Mr Durbin. Under the Democrat healthcare bill, IF senators had to abide by the same rules it contains for the rest of America, would Mr Byrd be allowed access to the current level of medical care he is receiving now, or would his doctor be giving him end of life counseling and appraising of him of his options?

Your Stimulus Dollars at Work

If you thought the "stimulus" plan was a colossal waste of money, you haven't seen anything yet.

In their haste to push stimulus funds out the door, the feds earmarked more than a half-million dollars for the upstate New York town of Union to combat a homelessness problem it doesn't have -- one of 100 projects coming under new scrutiny.

The boondoggle projects are the subject of a scathing report by Republican Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, listing rural bridges, parking lots and even a turtle crossing that got stimulus cash.

"The American people have a right to know how their stimulus dollars are being spent. In too many cases stimulus projects are wasting money we don't have on things we don't need," Coburn said.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development told officials in Union -- 70 miles from Binghamton -- in March that the funds were "directly available . . . in your community" as part of a homelessness-prevention fund, according to documents provided to The Post.

But Union didn't have a pressing homelessness problem, town Supervisor John Bernardo said.

"Union did not request the money and does not currently have homeless programs in place in the town to administer such funds," Bernardo told the Binghamton Press & Sun Bulletin.

After learning the feds had earmarked the cash, Union came up with a proposal to prevent homelessness -- by helping senior citizens repair or replace furnaces.

Even residents of the town were taken aback by their windfall.

"Its kind of ridiculous," said Desiree Depersiis,18. "Maybe if we had a problem with homeless people, but I've lived here all my life and never seen a homeless person here."

John Tomasky, 72, said "there's no apparent homeless problem here. Absolutely no problem. "It shows how the stimulus package is flawed."

Just remember, the Democrats didn't read this bill before they rushed it through.

Oh, and also don't forget when the midterm elections come around in 2010: No Republicans voted for this mess.

A Really Bad Idea: The Hollywood Bailout

If Barack Obama wants to continue down his already rocky path, then he should just go ahead and give a $246 million bailout to his pals in Hollywood. Let's see how well that goes over.

Senate Republicans yesterday stripped a special $246 million tax break for Hollywood producers from President Obama's stimulus package.

"This isn't stimulus. This is a gift," said Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), who wrote the amendment to strike out the giveaway for some of the Democrats' most generous political supporters.

"It's not going to stimulate the economy at all," he said. "What it's going to do is line the pockets of very wealthy individuals already not experiencing the downside of the economy."

The 52-45 vote was largely along party lines, with nearly every Republican voting to remove the Hollywood tax break, joined by 13 Democrats and independent Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman.

Under the measure, Hollywood moguls would have been allowed to write off half the production and filming costs of big-budget films and TV shows.

Backed by Walt Disney and the Motion Picture Association of America, the provision amounted to an estimated $246 million tax break over 11 years.

The entertainment industry gave nearly $20 million in campaign contributions to Democrats during the 2008 election cycle, according to OpenSecrets.org.

So a bailout of $246 million over 11 years works out to a tidy $22.36 million annually, a tidy profit on their $20 million investment in Democrats for 2008, and I suspect this does not count individual contributions to Obama.

If the Democrats don't realize the contempt the average American has for the Hollywood elite, by all means go ahead and give them millions of our tax dollars and wait for the reaction.

Which brings to mind Obama's plan to cap the salaries of executives whose companies get government bailout money.

The Obama administration is expected to impose a cap of $500,000 for top executives at companies that receive large amounts of bailout money, according to people familiar with the plan.

Executives would also be prohibited from receiving any bonuses above their base pay, except for normal stock dividends.

President Obama and Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner plan to announce the executive compensation plan on Wednesday morning at the White House.

Is there anyone alive who believes Obama would impose a cap on salaries for Hollywood executives who so generously lavished money upon him?