More on the Stimulus Package

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=YjcyODIyZGM2MGU1ZDdkNDgxZDc3OTNjYjM4ZDY1ODI=
50 De-Stimulating Facts
Chapter and verse on a bad bill.

By Stephen Spruiell & Kevin Williamson

Senate Democrats acknowledged Wednesday that they do not have the votes to pass the stimulus bill in its current form. This is unexpected good news. The House passed the stimulus package with zero Republican votes (and even a few Democratic defections), but few expected Senate Republicans (of whom there are only 41) to present a unified front. A few moderate Democrats have reportedly joined them.

The idea that the government can spend the economy out of a recession is highly questionable, and even with Senate moderates pushing for changes, the current package is unlikely to see much improvement. Nevertheless, this presents an opportunity to remove some of the most egregious spending, to shrink some programs, and to add guidelines where the initial bill called for a blank check. Here are 50 of the most outrageous items in the stimulus package:


VARIOUS LEFT-WINGERY
The easiest targets in the stimulus bill are the ones that were clearly thrown in as a sop to one liberal cause or another, even though the proposed spending would have little to no stimulative effect. The National Endowment for the Arts, for example, is in line for $50 million, increasing its total budget by a third. The unemployed can fill their days attending abstract-film festivals and sitar concerts.

Then there are the usual welfare-expansion programs that sound nice but repeatedly fail cost-benefit analyses. The bill provides $380 million to set up a rainy-day fund for a nutrition program that serves low-income women and children, and $300 million for grants to combat violence against women. Laudable goals, perhaps, but where’s the economic stimulus? And the bill would double the amount spent on federal child-care subsidies. Brian Riedl, a budget expert with the Heritage Foundation, quips, “Maybe it’s to help future Obama cabinet secretaries, so that they don’t have to pay taxes on their nannies.”

Perhaps spending $6 billion on university building projects will put some unemployed construction workers to work, but how does a $15 billion expansion of the Pell Grant program meet the standard of “temporary, timely, and targeted”? Another provision would allocate an extra $1.2 billion to a “youth” summer-jobs program—and increase the age-eligibility limit from 21 to 24. Federal job-training programs—despite a long track record of failure—come in for $4 billion total in additional funding through the stimulus.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a liberal wish list if it didn’t include something for ACORN, and sure enough, there is $5.2 billion for community-development block grants and “neighborhood stabilization activities,” which ACORN is eligible to apply for. Finally, the bill allocates $650 million for activities related to the switch from analog to digital TV, including $90 million to educate “vulnerable populations” that they need to go out and get their converter boxes or lose their TV signals. Obviously, this is stimulative stuff: Any economist will tell you that you can’t get higher productivity and economic growth without access to reruns of Family Feud.

Summary:
$50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts
$380 million in the Senate bill for the Women, Infants and Children program
$300 million for grants to combat violence against women
$2 billion for federal child-care block grants
$6 billion for university building projects
$15 billion for boosting Pell Grant college scholarships
$4 billion for job-training programs, including $1.2 billion for “youths” up to the age of 24
$1 billion for community-development block grants
$4.2 billion for “neighborhood stabilization activities”
$650 million for digital-TV coupons; $90 million to educate “vulnerable populations”



POORLY DESIGNED TAX RELIEF
The stimulus package’s tax provisions are poorly designed and should be replaced with something closer to what the Republican Study Committee in the House has proposed. Obama would extend some of the business tax credits included in the stimulus bill Congress passed about a year ago, and this is good as far as it goes. The RSC plan, however, also calls for a cut in the corporate-tax rate that could be expected to boost wages, lower prices, and increase profits, stimulating economic activity across the board.

The RSC plan also calls for a 5 percent across-the-board income-tax cut, which would increase productivity by providing additional incentives to save, work, and invest. An across-the-board payroll-tax cut might make even more sense, especially for low- to middle-income workers who don’t make enough to pay income taxes. Obama’s “Making Work Pay” tax credit is aimed at helping these workers, but it uses a rebate check instead of a rate cut. Rebate checks are not effective stimulus, as we discovered last spring: They might boost consumption, a little, but that’s all they do.

Finally, the RSC proposal provides direct tax relief to strapped families by expanding the child tax credit, reducing taxes on parents’ investment in the next generation of taxpayers. Obama’s expansion of the child tax credit is not nearly as ambitious. Overall, his plan adds up to a lot of forgone revenue without much stimulus to show for it. Senators should push for the tax relief to be better designed.

Summary:
$15 billion for business-loss carry-backs
$145 billion for “Making Work Pay” tax credits
$83 billion for the earned income credit


STIMULUS FOR THE GOVERNMENT
Even as their budgets were growing robustly during the Bush administration, many federal agencies couldn’t find the money to keep up with repairs—at least that’s the conclusion one is forced to draw from looking at the stimulus bill. Apparently the entire capital is a shambles. Congress has already removed $200 million to fix up the National Mall after word of that provision leaked out and attracted scorn. But one fixture of the mall—the Smithsonian—dodged the ax: It’s slated to receive $150 million for renovations.

The stimulus package is packed with approximately $7 billion worth of federal building projects, including $34 million to fix up the Commerce Department, $500 million for improvements to National Institutes of Health facilities, and $44 million for repairs at the Department of Agriculture. The Agriculture Department would also get $350 million for new computers—the better to calculate all the new farm subsidies in the bill (see “Pure pork” below).

One theme in this bill is superfluous spending items coated with green sugar to make them more palatable. Both NASA and NOAA come in for appropriations that properly belong in the regular budget, but this spending apparently qualifies for the stimulus bill because part of the money from each allocation is reserved for climate-change research. For instance, the bill grants NASA $450 million, but it states that the agency must spend at least $200 million on “climate-research missions,” which raises the question: Is there global warming in space?

The bottom line is that there is a way to fund government agencies, and that is the federal budget, not an “emergency” stimulus package. As Riedl puts it, “Amount allocated to the Census Bureau? $1 billion. Jobs created? None.”

Summary:
$150 million for the Smithsonian
$34 million to renovate the Department of Commerce headquarters
$500 million for improvement projects for National Institutes of Health facilities
$44 million for repairs to Department of Agriculture headquarters
$350 million for Agriculture Department computers
$88 million to help move the Public Health Service into a new building
$448 million for constructing a new Homeland Security Department headquarters
$600 million to convert the federal auto fleet to hybrids
$450 million for NASA (carve-out for “climate-research missions”)
$600 million for NOAA (carve-out for “climate modeling”)
$1 billion for the Census Bureau


INCOME TRANSFERS
A big chunk of the stimulus package is designed not to create wealth but to spread it around. It contains $89 billion in Medicaid extensions and $36 billion in expanded unemployment benefits—and this is in addition to the state-budget bailout (see “Rewarding state irresponsibility” below).

The Medicaid extension is structured as a temporary increase in the federal match, but make no mistake: Like many spending increases in the stimulus package, this one has a good chance of becoming permanent. As for extending unemployment benefits through the downturn, it might be a good idea for other reasons, but it wouldn’t stimulate economic growth: It would provide an incentive for job-seekers to delay reentry into the workforce.

Summary:
$89 billion for Medicaid
$30 billion for COBRA insurance extension
$36 billion for expanded unemployment benefits
$20 billion for food stamps


PURE PORK
The problem with trying to spend $1 trillion quickly is that you end up wasting a lot of it. Take, for instance, the proposed $4.5 billion addition to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers budget. Not only does this effectively double the Corps’ budget overnight, but it adds to the Corps’ $3.2 billion unobligated balance—money that has been appropriated, but that the Corps has not yet figured out how to spend. Keep in mind, this is an agency that is often criticized for wasting taxpayers’ money. “They cannot spend that money wisely,” says Steve Ellis of Taxpayers for Common Sense. “I don’t even think they can spend that much money unwisely.”

Speaking of spending money unwisely, the stimulus bill adds another $850 million for Amtrak, the railroad that can’t turn a profit. There’s also $1.7 billion for “critical deferred maintenance needs” in the National Park System, and $55 million for the preservation of historic landmarks. Also, the U.S. Coast Guard needs $87 million for a polar icebreaking ship—maybe global warming isn’t working fast enough.

It should come as no surprise that rural communities—those parts of the nation that were hardest hit by rampant real-estate speculation and the collapse of the investment-banking industry—are in dire need of an additional $7.6 billion for “advancement programs.” Congress passed a $300 billion farm bill last year, but apparently that wasn’t enough. This bill provides additional subsidies for farmers, including $150 million for producers of livestock, honeybees, and farm-raised fish.

Summary:
$4.5 billion for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
$850 million for Amtrak
$87 million for a polar icebreaking ship
$1.7 billion for the National Park System
$55 million for Historic Preservation Fund
$7.6 billion for “rural community advancement programs”
$150 million for agricultural-commodity purchases
$150 million for “producers of livestock, honeybees, and farm-raised fish”


RENEWABLE WASTE
Open up the section of the stimulus devoted to renewable energy and what you find is anti-stimulus: billions of dollars allocated to money-losing technologies that have not proven cost-efficient despite decades of government support. “Green energy” is not a new idea, Riedl points out. The government has poured billions into loan-guarantees and subsidies and has even mandated the use of ethanol in gasoline, to no avail. “It is the triumph of hope over experience,” he says, “to think that the next $20 billion will magically transform the economy.”

Many of the renewable-energy projects in the stimulus bill are duplicative. It sets aside $3.5 billion for energy efficiency and conservation block grants, and $3.4 billion for the State Energy Program. What’s the difference? Well, energy efficiency and conservation block grants “assist eligible entities in implementing energy efficiency and conservation strategies,” while the State Energy Program “provides funding to states to design and carry out their own energy efficiency and renewable energy programs.”

While some programs would spend lavishly on technologies that are proven failures, others would spend too little to make a difference. The stimulus would spend $4.5 billion to modernize the nation’s electricity grid. But as Robert Samuelson has pointed out, “An industry study in 2004—surely outdated—put the price tag of modernizing the grid at $165 billion.” Most important, the stimulus bill is not the place to make these changes. There is a regular authorization process for energy spending; Obama is just trying to take a shortcut around it.

Summary:
$2 billion for renewable-energy research ($400 million for global-warming research)
$2 billion for a “clean coal” power plant in Illinois
$6.2 billion for the Weatherization Assistance Program
$3.5 billion for energy-efficiency and conservation block grants
$3.4 billion for the State Energy Program
$200 million for state and local electric-transport projects
$300 million for energy-efficient-appliance rebate programs
$400 million for hybrid cars for state and local governments
$1 billion for the manufacturing of advanced batteries
$1.5 billion for green-technology loan guarantees
$8 billion for innovative-technology loan-guarantee program
$2.4 billion for carbon-capture demonstration projects
$4.5 billion for electricity grid


REWARDING STATE IRRESPONSIBILITY
One of the ugliest aspects of the stimulus package is a bailout for spendthrift state legislatures. Remember the old fable about the ant and the grasshopper? In Aesop’s version, the happy-go-lucky grasshopper realizes the error of his ways when winter comes and he goes hungry while the industrious ant lives on his stores. In Obama’s version, the federal government levies a tax on the ant and redistributes his wealth to the party-hearty grasshopper, who just happens to belong to a government-employees’ union. This happens through something called the “State Fiscal Stabilization Fund,” by which taxpayers in the states that have exercised financial discipline are raided to subsidize Democratic-leaning Electoral College powerhouses—e.g., California—that have spent their way into big trouble.

The state-bailout fund has a built-in provision to channel the money to the Democrats’ most reliable group of campaign donors: the teachers’ unions. The current bill requires that a fixed percentage of the bailout money go toward ensuring that school budgets are not reduced below 2006 levels. Given that the fastest-growing segment of public-school expense is administrators’ salaries—not teachers’ pay, not direct spending on classroom learning—this is a requirement that has almost nothing to do with ensuring high-quality education and everything to do with ensuring that the school bureaucracy continues to be a cash cow for Democrats.

Setting aside this obvious sop to Democratic constituencies, the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund is problematic in that it creates a moral hazard by punishing the thrifty to subsidize the extravagant. California, which has suffered the fiscal one-two punch of a liberal, populist Republican governor and a spendthrift Democratic legislature, is in the worst shape, but even this fiduciary felon would have only to scale back spending to Gray Davis–era levels to eliminate its looming deficit. (The Davis years are not remembered as being especially austere.) Pennsylvania is looking to offload much of its bloated corrections-system budget onto Uncle Sam in order to shunt funds to Gov. Ed Rendell’s allies at the county-government level, who will use that largesse to put off making hard budgetary calls and necessary reforms. Alaska is looking for a billion bucks, including $630 million for transportation projects—not a great sign for the state that brought us the “Bridge to Nowhere” fiasco.

Other features leap out: Of the $4 billion set aside for the Community Oriented Policing Services—COPS—program, half is allocated for communities of fewer than 150,000 people. That’s $2 billion to fight nonexistent crime waves in places like Frog Suck, Wyo., and Hoople, N.D.

The great French economist Frédéric Bastiat called politics “the great fiction through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else.” But who pays for the state bailout? Savers will pay to bail out spenders, and future generations will pay to bail out the undisciplined present.

In sum, this is an $80 billion boondoggle that is going to reward the irresponsible and help state governments evade a needed reordering of their financial priorities. And the money has to come from somewhere: At best, we’re just shifting money around from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, robbing a relatively prudent Cheyenne to pay an incontinent Albany. If we want more ants and fewer grasshoppers, let the prodigal governors get a little hungry.

Summary:
$79 billion for State Fiscal Stabilization Fund

— Stephen Spruiell is a staff reporter for National Review Online. Kevin Williamson is a deputy managing editor of National Review.

Closing Getmo

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/ClosureOfGuantanamoDetentionFacilities/

I just read the Guantanamo executive order- Since I totally disagree with closing it I wanted to get the wording right.
One big question is why would we give terrorists or suspected terrorists American freedoms and rights?
Why should international entities being upset about it cause us to close it? It is like playing an international popularity contest.
Third.. I really do not want Hilary Clinton deciding who stays and who goes, and since she is secretary of state, that means I have to again put my faith and livelihood in the hands of a Clinton, someone I do not trust.
Another big issue for me is putting these suspected terrorists in with the general prison population.. Talk about a training ground.
I was and am still a big supporter of Getmo. I do not think any of these people if found guilty deserve to have the rights and privileges of Americans. They are not American.

As far as the Geneva Convention.. what a joke. Seriously? Did these detainees play by that code? Not all countries have signed the code, and it is only those that have that we need to "play nice" with.

I think closing them and relesing them is a very bad idea, whether found innocent and returned to their country of origin or found guilty and put into the prison system.

Obama's New New Deal

Thoughts on the current Stim package vs the new deal ...
Here are some thoughts-
http://www.cato.org/research/articles/powell-031106.html
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25008973-7583,00.html
http://conservativeforchange.blogspot.com/2008/12/new-new-deal-as-bad-as-old-new-deal.html

I do think that Obama saw, sees the New deal as a good idea still, and wants to take our country the same direction. Having the government step in and undermine the market economy.

New office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partenerships

What do you think about Obama's new office of Faith-Baised and Neighborhood Partnerships?
I do not know what to think about it yet. Seems a bit scary and overreaching, and more money to the government which should be going in tithe to my local church.
Here is a link to the Washington Times article about it.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...e-used-divide/

Obama and Unions

Obama Meets with Union Leaders, Dumps Bush Rules

Friday, January 30, 2009 8:11 AM

Article Font Size

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama is playing to one of the Democratic Party's most reliable constituencies — organized labor — reversing a number of his predecessor's executive orders that critics regard as anti-union.

Labor leaders were to visit the White House for a second consecutive day Friday, where, a union official said, Obama was to abolish four Bush-era directives that unions opposed and then reintroduce Vice President Joe Biden's task force focused on the middle class.

Both were meant as a way for the new administration to connect with workers at the end of a week that has seen U.S. companies announce thousands more jobs cuts.

"Over the last 100 years the middle class was built on the back of organized labor. Without their weight, heft and their insistence starting in the early 1900s we wouldn't have the middle class we have now, in my view," Biden told CNBC on Thursday. "So I think labor getting a fair share of the pie is part of it."

Officials planned to re-announce a Middle Class Task Force aimed at finding ways to help an economic group that has been hammered by the recession. Biden will lead the task force, comprising a panel of advisers and four Cabinet members.

Among the George W. Bush-era executive orders that Obama was to reverse was one that allowed unionized companies to post signs informing workers that they are allowed to decertify their union. Critics claimed it was unfair because nonunion businesses are not required to post signs letting workers know they are legally allowed to vote for a union.

Two Democratic sources also said Obama would prevent federal contractors from being reimbursed for expenses that were intended to influence workers' decisions to form unions or engage in collective bargaining. A third Obama order would require federal vendors with more than $100,000 in contracts to post workers' rights under the National Labor Relations Act.

The final order would require service contractors at federal buildings to offer jobs to qualified current employees when contracts changed. For instance, rank-and-file workers could continue working on the same federal project even if the administrative contract expired.

The officials disclosed the plans on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to pre-empt the White House's announcements.

Labor leaders also visited the White House on Thursday, where Obama welcomed them to the East Room as he signed his first major piece of legislation, an equal-pay act that organized labor and women's groups championed.

Unions have been lobbying the Obama administration to repeal scores of executive orders they view as hostile to their cause. Officials gave administration officials their top 10 executive orders they wanted to see dismantled quickly.

Many executive orders are enacted and repealed based on which party controls the White House. One of the rules Obama planned to repeal Friday was approved by President George. H.W. Bush, removed by President Bill Clinton and reinstated by the second President Bush.

© 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved

http://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/oba...30/176716.html

Not sure what this all means.

January Homeschooling Weaver Unit 5 Chapter 6, Weaver Unit Chapter 7

In January I worked with two Weaver Vol 2 Chapters. Chapter 6 and 7. Weaver unit study curriculum is published by Alpha Omega Publishers. And also continuing to use Beautiful Feet's American History for Primary Grades by Rea C. Berg.

January 1-4 no school, went to movie with parents on the first with kids.
January 5th (Monday) - Chapter 7 Day 6, BF lesson 41 - Pledge of allegiance coloring pages, learning to recite the pledge, Fcds, Scaredy Cat Reading system I - R&S, Dot to Dot, J- Math Maze
Jan 6th - Ch7 Day 8, BF Lesson 42 - WE can Eat Plants, my first Garden book, J - Saxon, Fcds, R7S, HW, read Hot Dog, I- Scaredy Cat, R&S
Jan 7th - Ch 7 Day 10, BF lesson 43, FCds - J- Saxon, HW, MUS, R&S, Read Sam and the Bag, I-Scaredy Cat, Saxon, R&S

Unit 5 Chapter 6 Weaver
Jan 8th - Ch 6 Day 1, BF lesson 44, R&S workbooks.
Jan 9th - Ch 6 Day 2, each picked a favorite snake to learn about, colored snakes, BF Lesson 45, J- R&S, I-Scaredy Cat, R&S (watched snake video on youtube)
Jan 10th - 11th off
Jan 12 - Ch 6 Day 3, water and man, BF lesson 46, J- HW, Fcds, R&S, I-Fcds, Pace, R&S
Jan 13 - Ch 6 Day 4, Snake Reports, copy work, BF Lesson 47, J- Saxon, Scaredy Cat, I- Fcds, Scaredy cat, saxon
Jan 14 - Ch 6 Day 5, Colored frogs for bulletin board of plagues, BF Lesson 48, J- Saxon, R&S, I - Scaredy Cat, FCds
Jan 15th - Ch 6 Day 6, water cycle review, drew fish in the river for notebooks, BF lesson 49, Fcds, Saxon, Scaredy Cat, J- R&S, I- R&S, Pace
Jan 16th - Ch 6 Day 7, Corn/grateful, lice colorpage, BF lesson 50. Fcds, Saxon, J- Finished R&S workbook, I - Scaredy Cat, Pace, began number posters 7,8,9.
Jan 17th-18th off
Jan 19th - went to Martinots
Jan 20th - Ch 6 day 8, BF Lesson 51-53 cape cod maps of pilgrims, J- HW, Pace, read Lolly Pops, I - Pace, number posters. Watched Veggie Tales Little Joe.
Jan 21st - Ch 6 Day 9, Drew Bugs, J- pace, Bob, color by numbers, number sheets, I- Number poster, Bob, Pace
Jan 22nd - Ch 6 Day 10, Lice continued, BF Lesson 55, J- Bob, HW, Saxon, I-number posters
Jan 23rd - Ch 6 Day 11, Cattle BF 55/56 Pilgrims, copied rules, J- HW, I- Fcds.
Jan 24th-26th off, no school Monday went to Seaside, had just got done going to Salem to visit grandparents.
Jan 27th - Ch 6 Day 12 Insects and bugs, BF lesson 56
Jan 28th - Ch 6 Day 13 color pages, plagues, skipped beautiful feet lesson this day.. J- HW, math worksheets, I-R&S
Jan 29th - Ch6 Day 14 drew cows, BF lesson 57, J- Saxon, HW, Mathpages, I- R&S, Saxon.
Jan 30th - Ch6 Day 15/16 BF Lesson 57 continued, J-HW, read Bob books to daddy, I- finished R&S workbook.

Jan 31st off.


Found cool bug at Dons, it was a ... and the kids were excited to find out the name of it.

Videos -
Netflix-
The Magic Schoolbus Bugs Bugs Bugs Bugs
http://www.netflix.com/Movie/The_Magic_School_Bus_Bugs_Bugs_Bugs/70002966?trkid=188469

Prince of the Nile (do not rent this it is not accurate)
http://www.netflix.com/Movie/Prince_of_the_Nile_The_Story_of_Moses/26270608?trkid=188469

Youtube videos-
YouTube - Florida's Venomous Snakes (Part 1 of 10)


YouTube - Amazing arctic snakes mating and fighting - Deadly Vipers - BBC animals
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TF7d4jvays

YouTube - Freezing North American Wood FrogsYouTube - Freaks of Nature: Water Holding Frogs


Plant Eating Frog Video, Films, Movies, Free, Online, Download, Documentary Videos - dekhona.com
http://www.dekhona.com/documentary-videos/hcgjgtwuro/Plant-Eating-Frog-video

Goal met- both kids can recite the pledge of allegiance.

Book List (We own)
The curious cow
Froggy goes to school
the butterfly express
Sea turtles
Reptiles and Amphibians - color book
Verdi
Croccodile Snaps
The Alligator's toothache
Franklin's Neighborhood
Old MacDonald had a farm
Down by the Cool of the Pool
Frog and Toad
What is that Alligator Saying
Froggy gets dressed
Only one ant
One hundred Hungry Ants
Diary of a Worm
Ant Cities

J= Josiah
I=Isaac
MUS= Math U See
HW= Handwriting workbook
Saxon= Saxon Math
R&S= Rod and Staff, workbook or reading book & workbook
Fcds= Flashcard reading words.

Obama's cabinet

This will be an ongoing post
2nd Republican member - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7868036.stm

Current-
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/11/07/politics/main4583057.shtml

About the Stimulus Package

http://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/stimulus_pork_spending/2009/01/29/176503.html

The Stimulus Shopping List: $1.17 Trillion in Pork Goodies

Thursday, January 29, 2009 4:00 PM

By: David A. Patten Article Font Size


Having trouble putting down that cigarette? The stimulus bill has $75 million for programs to help people quit smoking. Only 42 percent of Americans now think the bill is a good idea, according to Rasmussen Reports, which had found 45 percent approval last week. (AP Photo)

The $1.17 trillion stimulus bill passed by House Democrats on Wednesday bears little resemblance to the bill originally proposed by President Obama, with less than 5 percent of the funds now going to repair America’s deteriorating infrastructure.

GOP critics point out the bill is loaded with tens of billions for items ranging from Amtrak subsidies to sexually transmitted diseases to the National Endowment for the Arts -- much of which won’t actually flow into the economy until long after economists expect the current economic crisis to subside.

In late November, Obama promised: “It will be a two-year, nationwide effort to jumpstart job creation in America, and lay the foundation for a strong and growing economy. We’ll put people back to work rebuilding our crumbling roads and bridges,” modernizing schools and stimulating development of alternative forms of energy.

Even some Democrats are now objecting that the measure contains too few highway and mass transit projects. Moreover Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody’s Economy.com, says most of the infrastructure spending in the plan won’t occur until 2010 or later.

Provisions of the bill that many legislators are questioning:

# $1 billion for Amtrak, which hasn’t earned a profit in four decades.

# $2 billion to help subsidize child care.

# $400 million for research into global warming.

# $2.4 billion for projects to demonstrate how carbon greenhouse gas can be safely removed from the atmosphere.

# $650 million for coupons to help consumers convert their TV sets from analog to digital, part of the digital TV conversion.

# $600 million to buy a new fleet of cars for federal employees and government departments.

# $75 million to fund programs to help people quit smoking.

# $21 million to re-sod the National Mall, which suffered heavy use during the Inauguration.

# $2.25 billion for national parks. This item has sparked calls for an investigation, because the chief lobbyist of the National Parks Association is the son of Rep. David R. Obey, D-Wisc. The $2,25 billion is about equal to the National Park Service’s entire annual budget. The Washington Times reports it is a threefold increase over what was originally proposed for parks in the stimulus bill. Obey is chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.

# $335 million for treatment and prevention of sexually transmitted diseases.

# $50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts. $4.19 billion to stave off foreclosures via the Neighborhood Stabilization Program. The bill allows nonprofits to compete with cities and states for $3.44 billion of the money, which means a substantial amount of it will be captured by ACORN, the controversial activist group currently under federal investigation for vote fraud. Another $750 million would be exclusively reserved for nonprofits such as ACORN – meaning cities and states are barred from receiving that money. Sen. David Vitter, R-La., charges the money could appear to be a “payoff” for the partisan political activities community groups in the last election cycle.

# $44 million to renovate the headquarters building of the Agriculture Department.

# $32 billion for a “smart electricity grid to minimize waste.

# $87 billion of Medicaid funds, to aid states.

# $53.4 billion for science facilities, high speed Internet, and miscellaneous energy and environmental programs.

# $13 billion to repair and weatherize public housing, help the homeless, repair foreclosed homes.

# $20 billion for quicker depreciation and write-offs for equipment.

# $10.3 billion for tax credits to help families defray the cost of college tuition.

# $20 billion over five years for an expanded food stamp program.

Republican leaders say the stimulus package will add 32 new government programs at a cost of $136 billion. They object that many of the programs, once established, are likely to continue indefinitely.

Most media outlets are reporting the cost of the package at $819 billion. As Newsmax revealed yesterday, however, the Congressional Budget Office calculates that the interest on the debt generated by the bill’s spending will cost another $347.1 billion, making the total cost approximately $1.17 trillion.

Of course, the measure contains hundreds of billions in tax cuts and infrastructure projects that conservatives will find palatable. But as House Minority whip Eric Cantor, R-Va., told the media Wednesday, “This was not a stimulus bill. It was a spending bill.”

© 2009 Newsmax. All rights reserved.

Nancy Pelosi.. here she goes again on her own..

Umm what! They actually said that is per month too! We don't even have that many people in the US!