Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac - the big bailout?

[Tripamang]

Bills seem to derail faster then a fucking post where communism or god gets mentioned.

Jesus.. they should have some sort of guideline where they have to stay on topic for that shit. How the hell does rum and litigants in Alaska get tagged onto a banking bail out?

Lawl?

[Itzena]

Pet projects of senators whose vote they need.

[r3probate]

Originally Posted by Tripamang

Bills seem to derail faster then a fucking post where communism or god gets mentioned.

Jesus.. they should have some sort of guideline where they have to stay on topic for that shit. How the hell does rum and litigants in Alaska get tagged onto a banking bail out?

Lawl?

Welcome to American politics

[Snugglebear]

Originally Posted by Tripamang

Bills seem to derail faster then a fucking post where communism or god gets mentioned.

Jesus.. they should have some sort of guideline where they have to stay on topic for that shit. How the hell does rum and litigants in Alaska get tagged onto a banking bail out?

Lawl?

Are you suggesting the US Senate invented trolls?

6 page package of earmarks for litigants in the 1989 Exxon Valdez incident, Alaska (Sec. 504)

Ted Stevens can land earmarks from the courtroom. Man, what a goddamn pro.

[Lejina Bloodbath]

How the hell does that shit works anyway? Some jackass could tack Slavery Reinstated and another Picking One's Nose is Illegal, and to say yay to the bailout, you'd have to say yay to both of those too? That shit is just wacky.

[Gurgeh]

Originally Posted by Lejina Bloodbath

That shit is just wacky.

That is just politics. Not that there is a shame to make compromises, but in this case, sounds just a way to buy a dozen votes with completely unrelated stuff.

[Snugglebear]

Originally Posted by Kiroy

Just in case anyone wants to read the bailout:

Text of Wall Street Bailout « Senate Conservatives Fund

Went from 3 pages, to 100 pages, to 450ish... someone has a sore hand (it's a little known fact that pageboys have to hand write new bills then senior page boys type them out).

Oh and here are more of the special interests we're paying for:

New Tax earmarks in Bailout bill
- Film and Television Productions (Sec. 502)
- Wooden Arrows designed for use by children (Sec. 503)
- 6 page package of earmarks for litigants in the 1989 Exxon Valdez incident, Alaska (Sec. 504)
Tax earmark “extenders” in the bailout bill.
- Virgin Island and Puerto Rican Rum (Section 308)
- American Samoa (Sec. 309)
- Mine Rescue Teams (Sec. 310)
- Mine Safety Equipment (Sec. 311)
- Domestic Production Activities in Puerto Rico (Sec. 312)
- Indian Tribes (Sec. 314, 315)
- Railroads (Sec. 316)
- Auto Racing Tracks (317)
- District of Columbia (Sec. 322)
- Wool Research (Sec. 325)

Can't say I disagree with helping out the Rum industry.

The wooden arrows is LOL. But apparently the tax on arrows (in general) was changed from 11% to a flat 39 cents. Which is good for steel arrows, but not good for fake wooden arrows that don't even cost 39 cents to make. So the tax break was instituted. I guess you gotta get it in somewhere. Might as well put it on semi-must-pass legislation.

[Borzak]

Originally Posted by Lejina Bloodbath

How the hell does that shit works anyway? Some jackass could tack Slavery Reinstated and another Picking One's Nose is Illegal, and to say yay to the bailout, you'd have to say yay to both of those too? That shit is just wacky.

That's exacly why in a debate/campaign you hear one side say Soandso voted for XXX when XXX is the dumbest thing in the world...but it was deep in a spending bill or whatever.

Happens in every bill. That's why people have tried to get a line item veto power for the president but that will never pass because the day it does congress becomes a notch weaker. It would be great for bills like this for the president to go thru and knock out all the crap not related to the bill.

Scratch my back and I'll scratch yours. It's all about power. That's why Pelosi told democrats on the first vote that failed if they were up for re-election they could vote no so they could get re-elected and pass even more bad bills. Happens on both sides. It's not about governing...it's about bringing home the bacon. That's why people like Ted Kennedy could most likely get re-elected from his hospital bed after 14 more strokes because he has seniority to bring home the bacon to Mass.