Constant Conservative

I’m not Scott Ott. This is not parody. What you are about to read is real . . .

HR 1424, AKA “The Bailout” (or if you are certain people “The Rescue”) begins as follows:

To amend section 712 of the Employee Retirement Income
Security Act of 1974, section 2705 of the Public Health
Service Act, section 9812 of the Internal Revenue Code
of 1986 to require equity in the provision of mental
health and substance-related disorder benefits under
group health plans, to prohibit discrimination on the
basis of genetic information with respect to health insur-
ance and employment, and for other purposes.

Excuse me? The bailout portion of the bill is included in the clause “for other purposes”? You have got to be joking. It is now official, there is no emergency, not if the Congress is unable to take the issue seriously. On second thought, maybe there is a crisis, but these erudite elected individuals are unwilling to address the matter at hand, and only the matter at hand.

Don’t go away, it gets even better. I’ve pulled out the headings for several sections of the bill and listed them as follows (with non-useful hyphens removed):

SEC. 114. SPECIAL RULES FOR REFUND OF THE COAL EXCISE TAX TO CERTAIN COAL PRODUCERS AND EXPORTERS.
SEC. 115. TAX CREDIT FOR CARBON DIOXIDE SEQUESTRATION.
SEC. 116. CERTAIN INCOME AND GAINS RELATING TO INDUSTRIAL SOURCE CARBON DIOXIDE TREATED AS QUALIFYING INCOME FOR PUBLICLY TRADED PARTNERSHIPS.
SEC. 117. CARBON AUDIT OF THE TAX CODE.
SEC. 201. INCLUSION OF CELLULOSIC BIOFUEL IN BONUS DEPRECIATION FOR BIOMASS ETHANOL PLANT PROPERTY.
SEC. 202. CREDITS FOR BIODIESEL AND RENEWABLE DIESEL.
SEC. 203. CLARIFICATION THAT CREDITS FOR FUEL ARE DESIGNED TO PROVIDE AN INCENTIVE FOR UNITED STATES PRODUCTION.
SEC. 204. EXTENSION AND MODIFICATION OF ALTERNATIVE FUEL CREDIT.
SEC. 205. CREDIT FOR NEW QUALIFIED PLUG-IN ELECTRIC DRIVE MOTOR VEHICLES.
SEC. 206. EXCLUSION FROM HEAVY TRUCK TAX FOR IDLING REDUCTION UNITS AND ADVANCED INSULATION.
SEC. 207. ALTERNATIVE FUEL VEHICLE REFUELING PROPERTY CREDIT.
SEC. 208. CERTAIN INCOME AND GAINS RELATING TO ALCOHOL FUELS AND MIXTURES, BIODIESEL FUELS AND MIXTURES, AND ALTERNATIVE FUELS AND MIXTURES TREATED AS QUALIFYING INCOME FOR PUBLICLY TRADED PARTNERSHIPS.
SEC. 209. EXTENSION AND MODIFICATION OF ELECTION TO EXPENSE CERTAIN REFINERIES.
SEC. 210. EXTENSION OF SUSPENSION OF TAXABLE INCOME LIMIT ON PERCENTAGE DEPLETION FOR OIL AND NATURAL GAS PRODUCED FROM MARGINAL PROPERTIES.
SEC. 211. TRANSPORTATION FRINGE BENEFIT TO BICYCLE COMMUTERS.
SEC. 301. QUALIFIED ENERGY CONSERVATION BONDS.
SEC. 302. CREDIT FOR NONBUSINESS ENERGY PROPERTY.
SEC. 303. ENERGY EFFICIENT COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS DEDUCTION.
SEC. 304. NEW ENERGY EFFICIENT HOME CREDIT.
SEC. 305. MODIFICATIONS OF ENERGY EFFICIENT APPLIANCE CREDIT FOR APPLIANCES PRODUCED AFTER 2007.
SEC. 306. ACCELERATED RECOVERY PERIOD FOR DEPRECIATION OF SMART METERS AND SMART GRID SYSTEMS.
SEC. 307. QUALIFIED GREEN BUILDING AND SUSTAINABLE DESIGN PROJECTS.
SEC. 308. SPECIAL DEPRECIATION ALLOWANCE FOR CERTAIN REUSE AND RECYCLING PROPERTY.
SEC. 401. LIMITATION OF DEDUCTION FOR INCOME ATTRIBUTABLE TO DOMESTIC PRODUCTION OF OIL, GAS, OR PRIMARY PRODUCTS THEREOF.
SEC. 402. ELIMINATION OF THE DIFFERENT TREATMENT OF FOREIGN OIL AND GAS EXTRACTION INCOME AND FOREIGN OIL RELATED INCOME FOR PURPOSES OF THE FOREIGN TAX CREDIT.

Sorry, there is more but I’m tired of pulling it all out of a horribly formatted PDF (all that is currently available).

You might ask, what does a “fringe benefit to bicycle commuters” have to do with the crisis in the credit markets. Unfortunately, I have no answer for you. The only fringe benefits to bicycle commuters of which I’m currently aware would things like higher caloric burn rates, somewhat fresh air (depending on where you might be commuting) and wearing shorts for far longer in the fall than any sane person would consider.

If our House and Senate are looking at this bill as so much medicine which will just go down easier (translation: get more people to vote for it than otherwise would) if they pile on section after section which are completely disconnected from the present reality, I tremble for the future. God help us if anyone in his/her right mind thinks that this is anything other than business as usual for (about half, anyway) of the 535 members of the collective American public conscience.