when is a bill not a bill

When is a Bill not a Bill?


Answer me this.

As the world’s population continues to climb, more and more of us are getting on more and more of everyone else’s nerves, right?

Consequently, the necessity for more and more guidelines to prevent such problems is obvious.

Today, people are nailed to the wall and skinned alive for doing something that forty years ago would have been laughed at or at most, resulted in a slap on the wrist.

Examples abound everywhere.

Gone are the old days when local law found a citizen sleeping off too much booze in his car and transported him home. Today, the guy is hauled in and booked, and chances are, will find himself a couple thousand bucks poorer.

Gone are the old days when kids were kids, and a mischievous boy could sneak up on that special girl and give her a sloppy kiss on the cheek. Perhaps the only reprisal he would get was a sharp slap to his cheek, or even more of a punishment, she might even have chased him down and returned his sloppy kiss.

Today, the kid is arrested, charged with sexual assault; outraged parents sue for five million bucks, and the national media interviews child psychologists to determine whether or not global warming has affected the sexual impulses of eight-year-old boys or not.

Growing up, I never paid much attention to the political spectrum. This was America. We were a free people to do as we wished, when we wished, and with no one to tell us otherwise as long as we didn’t infringe upon the rights of anyone else.

Along the lengthy and tortuous journey from the Framers of the Constitution up to the present, there were those who believed they knew what was best for everyone. While most of the time, their zeal did not come to fruition, it did bear fruit enough to begin placing constraints upon American citizens.

With our growth, many of the constraints were necessary, constraints with which I have no argument. With the number of vehicles on the road today and the easy availability of alcohol, tough laws are essential. The same holds true in many other situations.

But, one aspect we seem to have forgotten is that every law that goes into effect takes away a piece of our freedom. And often those who frame these bills, despite their protests otherwise, have their own agendas.

Probably by the time you read this, the president has signed the stimulus bill into law. I wish he hadn’t. I wish the bill hadn’t been jammed through like it was.

Why?

Let me name some of the whys I considered major.

First, National Health for EVERYONE. Your doctor will conduct his practice according to federal guidelines.
Second, 300 million for endangered mouse in Pelosi’s district.
Third, 200 million-clean burning power plants
Fourth, 750 million for national computer center
Fifth, 500 million for National Institute of Health.
Sixth, 275 million for flood prevention
Seventh, 200 million for public computer centers at colleges and libraries.
Eighth, 650 million for digital TV converter box coupons. (haven’t we already done this?)
Ninth, 1 billion for administrative costs and construction of national oceanic and atmospheric office buildings.
Tenth, 100 million to construct U.S. Marshals’ office.
Eleventh, 1.3 billion to NASA
Twelfth, 450 million to science
Thirteenth, 300 million - (what a jewel) hybrid and electric cars and golf carts for government employees.

By no stretch of the imagination is this all, but I dare anyone supporting the bill to explain how these are either tax cuts or will stimulate the economy.

One other caveat here. Not counting health care, the items I mentioned only add up to about six or seven billion.

Does anyone have any idea where the other 780 billion is going?