Mullings An American Cyber Column By Rich Galen

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A Billion Dollars per Page

Rich Galen

Monday February 16, 2009

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I am new to this whole Facebook thing. When the young folks in the office told me about it and tried to explain how to "friend" people, I told them I already had two friends and, so, didn't have room for any new friends in my life.

I stole that from the Cary Grant/Audrey Hepburn Movie, "Charade."

Hepburn's character: I already know an awful lot of people and until one of them dies I couldn't possibly meet anyone else.
Grant's character: Well, if anyone goes on the critical list, let me know.

The reason I bring this up is because on my Facebook page on Friday I wrote that I was "thinking about the fact that at 1,071 pages - if you include tax, title and dealer prep - H.R. 1 will cost about ONE BILLION DOLLARS PER PAGE."

On Saturday I did a Fox News Channel segment with Mullpal Bob Beckel who did a mini-rant about Republicans not supporting the stimulus package. I said that there are about 219 Republicans in the House and Senate and 216 did not support this bill, so there was something wrong with it.

More to the point, I said, the moment President Obama signs this thing this week it officially becomes "Obama's Economy."

The Obama team needs to take care that the signing ceremony doesn't take on the aspects of the "Mission Accomplished" banner which was hung on the USS Abraham Lincoln above President Bush when he proclaimed the end of major combat operations in Iraq on May 1, 2003.

The Obama people understand this principal as well. They were all over yesterday's Sunday shows making sure everyone knows that this will be a long, difficult struggle.

White House senior advisor David Axelrod said on Fox News Sunday "It's going to take time for [recovery] to show up in the statistics. The president has said it's likely to get worse before it gets better."

Sound familiar?

According to the NY Times, "Mr. Obama will sign the stimulus bill into law in Denver and plans to unveil his mortgage rescue proposal Wednesday in Phoenix." But, then his week gets really difficult.

The Auto companies are back in town, tin cups in hand, to beg for yet more money. I think I've changed my mind on the Big Three. If we're going to bail out every major bank and brokerage firm who made crappy choices, and if we're going to bail out everyone who has fallen behind on his or her mortgage because of crappy choices, why not bail out the car companies in spite of their crappy choices?

You know the old saying, "In for a penny; in for a trillion dollars."

Speaking of the car companies, remember the last time they were in DC, hanging on to the hem of Nancy Pelosi's skirt the last time they were in DC promising to produce electric cars by the � well, lots and lots of electric cars.

According to the Associate Press, GM has announced it will outsource the manufacturing of the power supply for its electric cars to "LG Chem of South Korea to supply the lithium-ion battery cells for its Chevrolet Volt electric vehicle."

The batteries, GM hastened to add, "will be assembled in Michigan." Whatever that means.

NEW TOPIC:

In more good news for the Democratic Party, it turns out that Sen. Roland Burris (D-Il) may have not been exactly forthcoming in answering questions about his dealings with former Illinois Governor (but still a Democrat) Rod Blagojevich before he was appointed to fill the vacancy created by the election of Barack Obama.

According to Politico.com, "In an affidavit made public on Saturday, [that would be this past Saturday, about a month after he was sworn in as a U.S. Senator] Burris for the first time said that he had been solicited for campaign contributions by the brother of Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who named him to the seat."

So, now, Burris, is "facing a possible perjury investigation in his home state; and his [U.S.] Senate colleagues may face new pressure to launch an Ethics Committee probe to determine whether he should be expelled from the body.

Perhaps a reporter following the President on his Obama Stimulatic Victory Tour will ask him about Sen. Burris, a fellow Democrat, from Illinois, who is now sitting in his Senate seat, neglecting to tell the whole truth and nothing but �

On the Secret Decoder Ring today: Links and Links and Links. Also a (dare I say it?) sweet Mullfoto and a Catchy Caption of the Day.

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