We begin with this:
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BARACK OBAMA: We are going to ban all earmarks, the process by which individual members insert pet projects without review.
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That’s President Obama pledging last January to end earmarks in federal spending. But now the House has passed a new spending bill full of earmark pork, and if the Senate OKs the $400+ billion spending bonanza this week, Mr. Obama is expected to sign it into law.
Senator McCain is outraged:
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SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, R-ARIZ.: Not surprising, the measure has over 9,000 unnecessarily (sic) and wasteful earmarks. So much for the promise of change, Mr. President. So much for the promise of change.
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McCain should also be hammering his own party. Republican Senator Thad Cochran is the biggest pork promoter on Capitol Hill.
The dumb spending of our money just never ends. Here’s a partial list:
• More than $2 million will be given to the Center for Grape Genetics. Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer and others asked for that.
• Almost $2 million for Swine Odor and Manure Management. Democratic Senator Tom Harkin wants that, and no jokes please about how it may be used around Capitol Hill.
• Almost $1 million for the study of catfish. Alabama Senator Richard Shelby, a Republican, is down with that.
• A half-million to control fruit flies in Hawaii. Both Democratic senators from the Aloha State want that.
• And $200,000 for tattoo removals in California. We just hope it’s not earmarked for Angelina Jolie. She can afford her own tattoo removal.
In fact, there are 9,000 earmarks in the spending bill, and every American taxpayer is being ripped off.
The really shocking thing here is that in the face of massive corruption on Wall Street and unbelievable government spending, the president would sign this bill. It goes against everything he says he stands for: responsible government spending and federal accountability.
And Obama knows how bad this looks. So Wednesday he went after wasteful spending in the Defense Department to try to blunt some of the bad publicity:
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OBAMA: Last year, the Government Accountability Office, GAO, looked into 95 major Defense projects, and found cost overruns that totaled $295 billion. Let me repeat. That’s $295 billion in wasteful spending. It’s time for this waste and inefficiency to end.
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But it will not end unless Obama vetoes the stupid spending bill, which he most likely will not.
So it is becoming difficult for honest Americans to believe in their government. Both parties are at fault, but the Democratic administration is driving the massive spending train. So the buck stops there, so to speak.
Finally, “Talking Points” would like to congratulate Senator Evan Bayh of Indiana, a Democrat, for publicly speaking out against the waste. If more Democrats would do that, President Obama would have to stop the madness.
And that’s The Memo.”
Pinheads & Patriots
Twenty-one-year-old actress Hilary Duff is involved in a very worthy cause. At a Florida elementary school Wednesday, she gave her time to raise awareness for the “Blessings in a Backpack” program, which gives poor kids free food for the weekends. The charity is helping more than 10,000 needy children, so Ms. Duff is a patriot.
On the pinhead front, a fast food emergency. Twenty-seven-year-old Latreasa Goodman called 911 three times after her local McDonald’s ran out of Chicken McNuggets:
Click here to watch “Pinheads & Patriots”!
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911 OPERATOR: 911, do you need police, fire or an ambulance?
LATREASA GOODMAN: Police.
911 OPERATOR: Where?
GOODMAN: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) the McDonald’s on Delaware.
911 OPERATOR: What’s going on there?
GOODMAN: I ordered a 10-piece chicken nugget with a small fry, and she say that they didn’t have any chicken nuggets. And so I told her I want a McDouble with small fry, and she said I’m going to have to pick anything else off the menu.
911 OPERATOR: You already spoke with the manager?
GOODMAN: She say she are the manager. I told her to just give me all my money back and I don’t want anything. She’s telling me she can’t refund my money. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) She don’t have what I want. She can’t force me to eat something I don’t want.
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Ms. Goodman is charged with misusing 911. She is, of course, a super-sized pinhead.
— You can catch Bill O’Reilly’s “Talking Points Memo” and “Pinheads & Patriots” weeknights at 8 and 11 p.m. ET on the FOX News Channel and any time on foxnews.com/oreilly. Send your comments to: oreilly@foxnews.com
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