This came in my email today.. my opinion is that they should scrap this whole mess and start all over with a REAL stimulus package.. this looks like just a bunch of pork spending to me.. how about you? I honestly and truly think we could survive without most of this
My comments in red ..MB

Obama wrote in an op-ed piece in the Washington Post that if Congress does not pass his "stimulus" package, and do so right away, "Our nation will slip deeper into a crisis that, at some point, we may not be able to reverse." "Wow," I thought when I read this, "The stimulus bill must contain some really important stuff if it's critical to the survival of our country! I better take a closer look. Maybe the guy is really onto something." So, I did some internet research and here is just some of the massive spending proposed in the bill:

-- $50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts
Seems to me we could survive without this money for the Arts..eh?
-- $380 million for the Women, Infants & Children welfare program
This is one I've seen in action and I think it is anything but wasteful..
-- $300 million in grants to combat violence against women
I doubt this would add to our country's survival..
-- $1.2 billion to provide "youth" with summer jobs
Why not let local communities do this and not be funded by the taxpayers.. you know, government?
-- $2.4 billion for "neighborhood stabilization" activities
Let the neighborhoods stabilize themselves..they don't need this and we dont' need this money spent for survival
-- $650 million for digital TV coupons
Can't tell you how long it's been since I last watched tv.. this is NOT critical to survival.. I've survived all this time without
-- $150 million for the Smithsonian
The Smithsonian can make it without all the extra cash.. Not critical to survival
-- $34 million to renovate the Dept. of Commerce headquarters
To help them do what? Renovate What specifically? Really, think about it.. could our country ever survive without this renovation?
-- $500 million for improvements to the National Institute of Health facility
Exactly what improvements.. can we survive without it?
-- $44 million for repairs to the Dept. of Agriculture's headquarters
Can we survive without these repairs? Hire a local.. a handyman.. Joe the plumber.. and send that $44 million to the farmers
-- $350 million for agriculture department computers
Just what kind of computers do they need? That seems steep to me..
-- $88 million to move (that's right, move) the Public Health Service into a new building.
Yeah.. our country won't make it unless this is completed.. Hire locally like the rest of the taxpayers
-- $1 billion for the Census Bureau
What on earth could the census bureau need for a billion dollars? I think we can survive without it
-- $89 billion for Medicaid
There are many who depend on this assistance.. but $89 billion? How about letting the states take care of this?

-- $30 billion for COBRA extensions
Should the government even have their fingers in insurance? States need involved, not feds
-- $36 billion for expanded unemployment
Once again, the states need to be controlling this. We pay into this.. it's not welfare
-- $20 billion for food stamps
The whole thing needs revised and where there is need, there are food banks .. let the local communities care for their needy
-- $850 million for Amtrak
Oh, no! The country won't survive unless we give Amtrak money.. is that extortion?
-- $87 million for a "polar ice breaking ship" (What about the ice caps melting because of global warming?)
Better question "WHY?"
-- $1.7 million for the National Park Service
This one probably serves the people, but as for survival?.. hmmm I'd be hard pressed to consider this an emergency
-- $55 million for the Historic Preservation Fund
I wonder if that affects our survival?
-- $7.6 million for the Rural Advancement Program
What on earth is the RAP?
-- $150 million for "agricultural commodity purchases"
I haven't got a clue.. you?
-- $150 million for producers of livestock, farm-raised fish and honey bees
Now you're talking..
-- $160 million for paid volunteers (what is a "paid volunteer"?) at the Corporation for National and Community Service
If they are volunteers, they don't get paid.. scrap this one for sure
Are we really to believe Obama that we may not be able to reverse our country's slide if he and Congress are prevented from ramming all this pork down our throats? And, by the way, what happened to Obama's pledge to end pork barrel spending?

Another interesting tidbit: Obama said that one of the reasons Congress must pass the stimulus bill, and must pass it NOW, is to end our dependence on foreign oil. What is astonishing is that he made this proclamation about energy independence less than 24 hours after his new interior secretary canceled the oil and gas leases on 77 parcels of federal land.