Getting the gold finger

Another Golf Rush is on, folks. Not in Sacramento but in Washington, D.C.
Last year the government defunded a $2 billion project it said was inefficient. But this year, the latest "stimulus" bill revives a near-zero emissions coal power plant in Illinois.
It is only one of hundreds of pork projects to be built with the federal government's platinum credit card.
My favorite is $88 million for the Coast Guard to design a new polar icebreaker (arctic ship). Didn't Al Gore say the polar ice caps are melting?
Another is a $246 million tax break for Hollywood movie producers to buy motion picture film. Film? The whole world is using digital cameras. Are they going to put the film in hand-cranked cameras without sound?
Of course, government buildings that house such highly paid people (see previous post) can't be shabby: $448 million for constructing the Department of Homeland Security headquarters is vital to save and create jobs, as is $248 million for furniture at the new Homeland Security headquarters and $88 million for renovating the headquarters of the Public Health Service.
So is $412 million for CDC buildings and property and $500 million for building and repairing National Institutes of Health facilities in Bethesda, Maryland.
We can't do without $160 million for "paid volunteers" at the Corporation for National and Community Service. Can you spell "oxymoron"?
Anytime there is a handout, Amtrak will be at the front of the line and, sure enough, there is $850 million going down that huge black hole.
Don't blame me, I voted for Sarah Palin and what's-his-name who was on the ticket with her.