On Friday, the President, the Treasury Secretary, and a vast majority of Congress signed into the law the great financial debacle known as the “Rescue Bill.” The $700 billion bill that was defeated in the House of Representatives only a week ago was magically made delicious by adding an additional $1.7 billion worth of artificial sweeteners, also known as pork, to the bowl. As a taxpayer, it is hard to comprehend how spending an additional $1.7 billion could somehow improve what was voted down only one week ago. With the facts being what they are, here is a list of a few items we can find in our “Rescue Bill” cereal box:

• Wool research

• $6 million for manufacturers of wooden arrows

• $128 million to auto-racing tracks

• Film and television productions receive $10 million

• Puerto Rican and Virgin Island rum producers, $191 million

• $33 million for corporations operating in America Samoa

• $223 million for tax benefits for fishermen and others whose livelihoods were impacted by the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill (Why should the American taxpayer pay for Exxon’s mistake — especially with what the oil producer in making in profits nowadays.)

• $3.8 billion health-care provision that forces insurance companies to provide coverage for mental-health treatment (This government interference in the private sector will only once again force insurance premiums to go up.)

• A benefit for bicycle commuters

The above list could go on and on. However, it is the hidden ingredients of the President, Congress and our presidential nominees that could end up costing American much more.

Our President continues to throw conservative principles out the window while promoting liberal and socialistic solutions to domestic issues. He also appointed a Democratic Treasury Secretary whose only solution was to throw billions of dollars at the American mortgage institutions and effectively socialize them. This effectively makes our government the CEO of the housing and mortgage industry; unfortunately, we all know how well our government runs private industry.

The Democratic congressional leadership of Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Chuck Schumer, Barney Frank and Chris Dodd helped to create this financial mess by passing legislation that required lending institutions to provide housing loans to very risky individuals and neglected to reel in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. They are also the ones who helped to craft this bill. Unless things change, these ultra-liberal socialist will continue to be the ones making decisions in the future as well. Our Georgia senators, Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson, continue their slide away from conservative values and chant the “Gang of Ten” mantra of “Something has to be passed regardless of its true value.” Their laughable performance of late is more in tune with that of the comedy team of Laurel and Hardy. Unless something is done to dismantle the continued practice of political congressional bribery through the use of earmarks and pork barrel spending, life will go on as usual for our elected politicians.

As for our two presidential nominees, John McCain and Barack Obama, their lack of leadership on the issue doesn’t make our future look any brighter. During the senate vote, Senator McCain could have displayed his self-declared maverick tendencies and hammered this bill on the earmarks and pork spending that it contained. He could have named names as he promised and rooted out the political beneficiaries of this bailout bill, but he remained silent. Why couldn’t the ticket be Palin/McCain? As for Senator Obama, his leadership during the process was to tritely state that he would be out on the campaign trail and to just call me if you need me. If Senator Obama is elected President, I’m afraid America will pay dearly for this escort service style of leadership.

In conclusion, the bill will add at least another $1 trillion to our national debt; it is presently at $10 trillion. This will mean that our country will have to get a loan from others outside of our country to prop up the loans within this bill. The wisdom of our national leaders continues to be amazing. Most importantly, the bill does very little to address the issues that got our country into this financial mess; history has a way of repeating itself. To be honest, the bill looks more like a sellout than a bailout.