Republican Senators Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe are two of the three GOP senators abandoning their party, and principles, to buy into the pork sandwich being proffered by President Oblah Oblah and his Democratic Party cohorts. (The third, Arlen Specter, is one of those good, very old boys, senate clique buddy buddies white man types, like Kennedy and Leahy, all of whom are fine examples of why we need term limits for Senators).

Three little piggies go to market: oink oink oink
I mean this is disturbing. These two women represent a state that used to be comprised of hardworking, honest citizens, who didn’t expect a handout every time they had to blow their noses. Now we see their representatives, most notably Collins, willing to sacrifice the well-being of the entire country so that her state can rake in a few million dollars, most of which has nothing to do with creating jobs.
Collins actually expects us to be exhilarated that she was able to cut 110 billion dollars from what looks like a trillion dollar stimulus bill; like, according to her, that was the only pork? Hey, what about the billions going to Acorn? Could it be any clearer that this is political payback for stealing the election for Oblah Oblah?
Here’s a sample of what kind of pork Maine stands to gain per the local newspaper, The Portland Press Herald:
· The bill contains $4.2 billion for upgrading electrical transmission capacity, an issue that is important to Maine , and $7 billion in rural broadband infrastructure funding.
· Because of the efforts of U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, the bill includes an $87 billion increase in federal matching funds for Medicaid. That would be a huge help for a poor state like Maine and bring $490 million in additional Medicaid relief to the state.
· The bill also includes $13.9 billion for Pell Grants, to help low-income students pay for college. It also contains $13 billion in additional funding for special education. The special education funding would make it much easier for local school districts to deal with cutbacks in state education aid.
I mean, folks, I can see where the pork is, but where’s the jobs? I guess upgrading electrical transmission capacity and funding rural broadband infrastructure funding might create a few jobs, but then again, maybe it won’t. And increasing Medicaid federal matching funds and Pell Grants might be worthwhile projects, but where’s the jobs?
It is very clear when you look at what Maine stands to gain why these women are supporting this disaster in the making. They sold out. Pure and simple. One thing for sure; Oblah Oblah knows how to buy a vote and he got a two-fer on this one. Throw in a little Medicaid here, and a little education funding there, and lo and behold, he gets the twoGOP votes he needs. (I do not even want to look at what Specter got as a payback…don’t want to go there at all).
Is this the change we hoped for? Hell know! This is exactly what got us into this situation in the first place. The Dems and GOP keep playing the same game; funding the same programs (weatherization? You’ve got to be kidding. This goes back to the 1970’s); trading off a bit of this and a bit of that; and well, I mean, this is insanity. Remember, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
It seems to me Gov. Sarah Palin is one of the few responsible people in government today; clearly the two senators from Maine do not fit this description. Palin is very aware of the dangers of accepting federal dollars for programs that eventually the state has to pick-up, once the federal dollars are gone. This is how states like California end up going bankrupt every other year. Palin is actually getting grief because she is not asking for enough money from the feds; excuse me, she’s trying to keep Alaska honest and secure financially for future generations. And that’s a problem?
In the meantime, Collins, Snowe, and Specter play politics-as-usual and go oink oink oink all the way home.
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