Economic Stimulus or California Bailout?

President Obama and his Congressional Cronies appear on the precipice of signing into law another $800 billion stimulus package -- but I wonder, how much of it is going to California.

The once "Golden State" is broke. Spending has increased dramatically as the state has put more prisoners behind bars and paid for health care for uninsured children among other goodies. But the state's citizenry has been unwilling to pay for these little extra's. Instead, they have received a reduction in their taxes, through ballot box initiatives.

In the end, it's meant that California's state politcos have "fished" out the state rivers and lakes for cash so instead are looking for a bigger pond --namely the federal government for bailout money. Enter California's Nancy Pelosi, who just happens to be Madam Speaker of the House, and I think you know where we're going with this.

North Dakota doesn't need a bailout. And yet our Democratic Congressional delegation walked march step with the other donkeys -- not because we need it, but because California needs it. What we get is socked with the bill.

The hypocrisy is that our Senator Conrad has nearly broken his arm patting himself on the back for the past 20 years telling everyone who will listen what a "fiscal conservative" he is. And yet when it came to bailing out California, he showed little or no willingness to do what was right and say, "we're going to have to tighten our belt and do more with less."

No, what Senator Conrad says was "This is serious and we've got to do something even if it's not a perfect bill."

Not a perfect bill? What in fact we're doing is following the California path into the quagmire of debt with no hope of ever getting out.

A state auditor last week in California summed up his state's budgetary doldrums with this telling tidbit: "Like homeowners paying off one credit card with another, they used accounting gimmicks and more debt, rather than raising taxes or cutting spending, to balance the books. As the economy worsened and tax receipts plummeted — from $102.5 billion last year to an estimated $87.5 billion this year — the house of cards collapsed."

The irony is that our country won World War II, survived the Cold War against the Soviets, and to date, anyway, has made headway in our other military battles. How ironic it would be if we lose our freedoms not because of terrorists or a vastly superior military, but because of irresponsible "fiscal conservatives" who are willing to "get along by going along" with idiotic Left Coasters who have some feeling of entitlement that we all should be paying for the ills that they have put upon themselves.

If this is a dream, somebody pinch me because I can't stand the nightmare any longer. I'm looking for a leader that can lead. Anybody seen anyone like that? I don't know what happened to hope in a mere two weeks time, because it's a fear of what it is happening in Washington, D.C., that has overtaken this country's financial markets.

Looks like a good time to stash your money in an empty coffee can -- if you still have that much cash.

The reason I'm spotlighting Senator Conrad and not Congressman Pomeroy or Senator Dorgan is they don't really try to hide the fact that they take their marching orders from California House and Senate leaders. However, I really felt like Senator Conrad would stand on principle. Boy, was I wrong.