GM Makes Good Use of Your Tax Dollars

GM announced that they are going to be selling a new police vehicle in America soon. It's good to see our bailout dollars going to some good use, right?

Well, not exactly. See, these cars are being made in Australia. You know, the land of koalas, crocodiles and kangaroos.

The police Caprice is to be based on a car sold by General Motors' Australian arm known as the Holden Statesman, and will be built along side that vehicle in the Down Under city of Elizabeth.

What I did find surprising is that they used to make a Pontiac version of a police vehicle at the same plant to import to this country. Of course, Pontiac is no more.

As a taxpayer you are getting hit twice. It is your local taxes which go into the coffers of city, county, and state that are used to buy these vehicles, which are being funded in part by the money GM received from the bailout they got with your tax dollars. All the while they are not adding one single job to the American payrolls.

Sucks to be you, Michigan.

Personally, my vote goes to this police vehicle made by Carbon Motors. In America.

'In America, 'Socialism' is a Dirty Word'

Would be nice if it were true.

Sadly, it's not the word of the year.

REFLECTING what's on the minds of Americans, "bailout" and "socialism" beat "maverick" in a US dictionary's word of the year contest.

Bailout - "a rescue from financial distress'' - was declared the winner of Merriam-Webster's word of the year competition on Monday after it was judged the most looked-up word on the dictionary's website, Merriam-Webster editor-at-large Peter Sokolowski said.

'''Bail out' as a phrasal verb refers to parachuting from an aircraft or, in our second sense, to abandoning a harmful or difficult situation, both of which point to distress,'' said Mr Sokolowski.

Second on the list was "vet'', as in to evaluate a candidate's suitability and qualifications for a position.

And in third place, just in front of "maverick'' - a word used during the long presidential campaign to describe Republican candidate John McCain - was the word "socialism''.

"In America, 'socialism' is a dirty word,'' said Mr Sokolowski.

Lookups - itself an accepted word dating back to 1936, according to Merriam-Webster - of "socialism'' began to climb in September, as the economic woes of US companies began to mount and the race for the presidency between McCain and his Democratic rival Barack Obama neared its close.

Not only was there heated discussion of bailouts - economic socialism and the US Government taking control of ailing companies - but the word was also used in a disparaging sense by the Republicans to try to turn voters against Mr Obama.

"It's a funny word to have on the list but it's clear to me that Americans don't know what socialism is,'' said Mr Sokolowski.

No kidding.

Nancy and The House Spend $630B

While you weren't watching and while most of congress was busy with other things Nancy and her cronies in the Democrat party threw together a budget bill for $630B, which contains $19.1B in earmarks into a budget bill that had to be approved or else government would have ground to a halt. At this point what is the downside of our government grinding to a halt?

The 2008 budget year ended yesterday, but Congress hasn't approved a single one of a dozen annual appropriations bills needed to keep the federal government functioning on a day-to-day basis. Hence the $630 billion stop-gap measure, nearly the size of the failed Wall Street bailout. It passed the House on a 370-68 vote even though, as Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., candidly admitted, "very few people have any idea what's in it." Cornered House members had less than 24 hours to review the 357-page bill and 752 pages of accompanying material before being forced to either pass it - or shut down most of the federal government today.

One thing the continuing resolution is full of is earmarks, none of which were debated or voted on in public. The House Budget Committee's final tally is 2,760 earmarks totaling $19.1 billion (including presidential requests). None were publicly vetted through the regular legislative process or even posted on the committee's web site prior to the vote. And, since this temporary spending bill expires in five months, the whole dysfunctional process will begin anew in March – unless there’s a major shakeup of Congress in November.

When does it end? Do all of these lawmakers suffer from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and simply can't resist putting earmarks into everything?
For even more earmark craziness go here and look at the growing list of earmarks being put into the Senate version of the finance bailout package.