Sign the stimulus package, or the world will end.

"[I]f nothing is done, this recession might linger for years. Our economy will lose 5 million more jobs. Unemployment will approach double digits. Our nation will sink deeper into a crisis that, at some point, we may not be able to reverse." - Barack Obama, The Action Americans Need, Washington Post, Feb. 5, 2009, at A17.

Of course, Obama is talking about the proposed stimulus package. If we don't pass the bill, threatens Obama, America may never recover.

So what is so important in this stimulus package that if we fail to approve it, America as we know it will cease to exist? National Review has a detailed list of ridiculous items included in the stimulus package.

If we don't spend $4 billion for job-training programs, including $1.2 billion to provide “youth”
summer jobs for people up to the age of 24, America may sink further into recession.

If we do not spend $50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts, America may never recover.

If we do not spend $87 million for a polar icebreaking ship, America may never recover.

If we do not spend $1 billion for the manufacturing of advanced batteries, America may never recover.

If we do not spend $400 million for hybrid cars for state and local governments, America may never recover.

If we do not spend $600 million to convert federal auto fleet to hybrids, America may never recover.

If we do not spend $650 million for digital TV coupons, including $90 million to educate “vulnerable populations”, America may never recover.

The list goes on and on.

For someone who preaches Hope and Change, this seems like more of the same. And not very hopeful.