Riding The Rails

Rich asked earlier today if everyone had their hobo outfit picked out yet. That post was in response to the insane provisions in the “stimulus” bill that would throw protectionist “buy American” legislation on all government projects. Europe is vowing retaliation for that. Well, there’s even more – and bigger – nuggets in the bill. This one will stun you. The Democrats are reversing welfare reform.

Buried deep inside the massive spending orgy that Democrats jammed through the House this week lie five words that could drastically undo two decades of welfare reforms.

The very heart of the widely applauded Welfare Reform Act of 1996 is a cap on the amount of federal cash that can be sent to states each year for welfare payments.

But, thanks to the simple phrase slipped into the legislation, the new “stimulus” bill abolishes the limits on the amount of federal money for the so-called Emergency Fund, which ships welfare cash to states.

“Out of any money in the Treasury of the United States not otherwise appropriated, there are appropriated such sums as are necessary for payment to the Emergency Fund,” Democrats wrote in Section 2101 on Page 354 of the $819 billion bill. In other words, the only limit on welfare payments would be the Treasury itself.

“This re-establishes the welfare state and creates dependency all over the place,” said one startled budget analyst after reading the line.

In addition to reopening the floodgates of dependency on federal welfare programs, the change once again deepens the dependency of state governments on the federal government.

There’s some change we can all believe in. We’re going forward into the past led by a spendaholic Congress controlled by Democrats. Between the new Smoot-Hawley tariff provisions and the return to the welfare state, the Democrats seem intent on destroying American prosperity.

This ill-considered stimulus plan will devaste this country. Far from helping, there is a lot of genuine harm here. At this rate, we’ll all be begging for change soon.

With a tin cup.

Via Memeorandum

Yet Again More Further Additional Proof Of Global “Warming”

From Watts Up With That? Mature Arctic Ivory Gull Seen in Massachusetts – first time in over a century

One of the claims about “global climate change” is that it will affect the normal ranges of flora and fauna of our planet. Well, with a very cold northern hemisphere this winter, that seems to happening. A bird not seen (as a mature adult) in Massachusetts since the 1800’s , an Ivory Gull, normally an inhabitant of arctic areas, has been spotted.

How weird could that be, really? Maybe the normal range for the bird includes Maine?

Boy, you sure can’t get more “consistent with global warming” then that, right?

Do You Have Your Hobo Outfit Picked Out Yet?

Over at my home blog the other day I made a comment about the “economic stimulus” package to the effect that it will be remembered as the 21st Century version of the Smoot-Hawley tariff. I meant it figuratively.

Unfortunately, there is good reason to believe my statement can be taken literally. From the Telegraph UK:

The EU trade commissioner vowed to fight back after the bill passed in the House of Representatives late on Wednesday included a ban on most purchases of foreign steel and iron used in infrastructure projects.

The Senate’s version of the legislation, which will be debated early next week, goes even further, requiring that any projects related to the stimulus use only American-made equipment and goods.

The inclusion of protectionist measures has quickly raised hackles in Europe.

Catherine Ashton, the EU trade commissioner, said: “We are looking at the situation. The one thing we can be absolutely certain about, is if a bill is passed which prohibits the sale or purchase of European goods on American territory, that is something we will not stand idly by and ignore.”

Despite the parlous state of the US economy, some major American firms, including General Electric, are also opposed to the Buy American stipulations, fearing reprisals from overseas and further damage to the global economy.

Bill Lane, government affairs director for Caterpillar, which has just laid off nearly a fifth of its 112,000 work force and is the tenth largest US investor in Britain, warned it was a dangerous step.

He said: “We are the first to recognise that if the US embraces Buy American then the whole notion of buying national will mestastasize and limit our ability to take part in overseas projects.

“We are students of history. A major reason a very deep recession turned into the Great Depression was the fact that countries turned inward.”

Its true. The Democrats seem to either be that stupid, if they are harming the country accidently, or that evil, if they are doing it on purpose.

It is hard not to lean towards evil here. After all, who could be so stupid that they do not see the parallels with the Smoot-Hawley tariff and the Great Depression?

From Wikipedia:

A petition was signed by 1028 economists in the United States asking President Hoover to veto the legislation, organized by Paul Douglas, Irving Fisher, James TFG Wood, Frank Graham, Ernest Patterson, Henry Seager, Frank Taussig, and Clair Wilcox. Automobile executive Henry Ford spent an evening at the White House trying to convince Hoover to veto the bill, calling it “an economic stupidity”. J. P. Morgan’s chief executive Thomas W. Lamont said he “almost went down on my knees to beg Herbert Hoover to veto the asinine Hawley-Smoot tariff.”

President Hoover didn’t get it. Obama obviously doesn’t get it.

We, the people, are going it get it…and hard.

(H/T to PowerLine)