The sadistic joke that is Congress

Come one, come all... witness the glory that is the American system of government and "representation" of the people. This week we are being treated to a quintessential example of the American political system at its finest. Some of the great and noble acts already on display or expected to appear:

- The house taking a 4-page monumental power grab and gigantic corrupt payoff bill, and transforming it into a 104-page monumental power grab and gigantic corrupt payoff bill with riders, pork, subsidies, and even more filth

- The president lying about the scope of the problem and the effects of the proposed "solution", to pressure Congress to pass the bill

- Congressional leaders pushing to pass the bill once it had all the pork they could stuff into it in only a few days, even though the overwhelming majority of people in the country (90%+) opposed it on principle

- A "rousing" empty-headed partisan bash speech by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi just before the vote, after political leaders had worked day and night for the previous week to convince people to vote for the bill as a bi-partisan compromise which was not going to blame either side for the mess

- The House rejecting the bill in a surprise stand against their political and lobbyist masters, followed by the inevitable partisan blame game in the media; many Republicans noted Pelosi's highly partisan framing of the bill as motivation for finally listening to their constituents

- The Senate, barred from originating appropriations bills by the Constitution, originates the same bailout bill as a "amendment" to an unrelated bill (which deletes the unrelated bill in its entirety)

- The Senate inflates the bill to 400+ pages adding pork, subsidies, unrelated programs, more bailouts, more spending, pet projects, and [they hope] enough payouts for specific politicians to ensure passage

- The small business and banking lobby organizations are mobilized to literally buy enough votes to pass the now enormous and atrocious bailout and omnibus pork spending bill

- [Presumably] The Senate passes the bill, and sends it back to the House, where they hope their bribes and payouts have bought enough votes to force the House to go against the overwhelming will of the people they laughably "represent"

- The House votes again on the same bill they rejected, but this time with 300+ extra pages of crap, and we find out if Congress succeeds in blowing out the national debt by 10%, paying off the financial industry as a "thank you" for causing the housing bubble and meltdown, wrecks the financial future of the country for generations, gives a proverbial bitch-slap to anyone (personal or corporate) who tried to be financially responsible during the bubble, and passing quite possibly the most nationally despised bill in the history of the country.

What a week!