"Some people without brains do an awful lot of talking"

Scarecrow: I haven't got a brain... only straw.  

Dorothy: How can you talk if you haven't got a brain? 

Scarecrow: I don't know... But some people without brains do an awful lot of talking... don't they?  

Dorothy: Yes, I guess you're right. 

- The Wizard of Oz (1939)

Oh, Scarecrow, how right you are.

Some people without brains do an awful lot of legislating, too.

Remember all the controversy over the House refusing to pass the Senate's version of the Hurricane Sandy relief bill, because they said there was too much pork in it?

The Democrats screeched that the Republicans were heartless jerks, and Chris Christie lost his freaking mind, holding a theatrical press conference in which he declared that the House Republicans were a bunch of meaniepants who hated New Jersey. 

(OK, so what Christie actually said was, "The House majority failed the most basic test of leadership...and they did so with callous disregard to the people of my state." But my version was funnier.)

Spitting on every Republican in sight is an odd way to win your
party's presidential nomination, but hey, to each his own.

Anyway, where were we? Oh, yes. 

Hooray, the House Republicans refused to be bullied! They stuck to the principles of fiscal conservatism! They resisted the pressure from the Left and the MSM and the Overemotional Sturdily-Built New Jersey Governors, and they rejected the Senate's Sandy relief bill for being a pork-filled pile of crap...

...and then they turned around and passed their very own pork-filled pile of crap.

So much #headdesk

Holy heck. We've elected a Congress full of Scarecrows. They "did an awful lot of talking" about fighting pork-barrel spending, then passed a bill without ever figuring out how to get any brains.

What an ugly mess this bill is. $50 billion in spending borrowing money from China but only $17 billion is for Sandy relief.

This is how we end up $16 trillion in debt - passing "emergency" bills that spend a bunch of money on stuff that has nothing to do with the emergency. Might as well get started on that letter to your great-great-grandchildren, apologizing to them for leaving this debt for them to pay.

Gabriel Malor has a great post at Ace of Spades HQ, detailing all the oink-tastic parts of the bill. Go read it here. Another Ace of Spades blogger, DrewM, describes how the vote went down yesterday here. I'll give credit to the majority of House Republicans for voting against the bill, but serious questions need to be asked about why leadership brought this monstrosity up for a vote.

Here's how Florida's Congressional delegation voted:

YES VOTES: All the Democrats, plus Bill Young, Mario Diaz-Balart, and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen 

NAY VOTES: Jeff Miller, Steve Southerland, Ted Yoho, Ron DeSantis, John Mica, Bill Posey, Daniel Webster, Richard Nugent, Gus Bilirakis, Dennis Ross, Vern Buchanan, Thomas Rooney, Trey Radel. 

Ander Crenshaw did not vote.

You can see how your Congresscritter voted here.

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