Barrel o' pork

Regardless of whom you support for the presidency, it seems like most Americans can agree that our Congress has been less than impressive in terms of the bills they manage to pass. As a Democrat, I was excited when we took back control of Congress but now I am almost ashamed by how terrible a job they have done. Take, for example, the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, otherwise known as the "Bail Out Bill". It just passed in the Senate moments ago after failing in the House on Monday. This bill started at 3 pages, and is now over 400. Not only does it give out $700 billion to rescue corporations that may or may not deserve it, it also reinstates the Alternative Minimum Tax which was set to expire and a host of other things not originally intended for the bail-out. Here's a short list, from Salon.com:

Sec. 105. Energy credit for geothermal heat pump systems.
Sec. 113. Temporary increase in coal excise tax; funding of Black Lung Disability Trust Fund.
Sec. 205. Credit for new qualified plug-in electric drive motor vehicles.
Sec. 309. Extension of economic development credit for American Samoa.
Sec. 317. Seven-year cost recovery period for motorsports racing track facility.
Sec. 501. $8,500 income threshold used to calculate refundable portion of child tax credit.
Sec. 503 Exemption from excise tax for certain wooden arrows designed for use by children.

The last one really cracks me up, but in a sorry sort of way. Our government is based on a system of checks and balances, but apparently we've got a ship of fools balancing a nincompoop.