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"I don&amp;#x27;t know why I should believe the promises President Bush made last night in his final State of the Union address. He claims he is ready to stop the type of reckless spending, called &amp;quot;earmarking,&amp;quot; that has swelled under his presidency, but I&amp;#x27;m not holding my breath. Earmarks are pet projects that lawmakers secure for their home states and districts that cost taxpayers billions. These items have little oversight, are not voted on and are often dropped into legislation in the dead of night. Recent earmarks have funded &amp;quot;dairy farm profitability&amp;quot; in Pennsylvania ($375,000) and &amp;quot;blackbird management&amp;quot; in the Dakotas ($284,000). Bush has promised he would stop this before. In last year&amp;#x27;s State of the Union speech Bush looked straight into the eye of the American public and said he would make Congress cut their earmarks by half. But that didn&amp;#x27;t happen. This year says he&amp;#x27;ll veto any bill that doesn&amp;#x27;t cut pet projects by half. Riiiight. If Bush was serious he would have gotten out his veto pen sooner. Over his two terms, he&amp;#x27;s signed bills that contain at least 55,000 earmarks that cost taxpayers more than $100 billion. He tells us he&amp;#x27;s adding teeth to his pledge by issuing an Executive Order that will ban earmarks in 2009 spending bills. That sure sounds like a convenient promise for someone whose term expires in 2008. I mean, does anyone seriously believe President Hillary would honor such an order? This is the woman who tried to get a $1 million earmark for a Woodstock Museum, for crying out loud. In the end, Bush&amp;#x27;s tough talk sounds an awfully lot like lip service to me. At least there are more exciting things happening with today&amp;#x27;s GOP Florida primary to watch. It&amp;#x27;s worth noting that John McCain, an outspoken voice in the Senate against earmarks, skipped the State of the Union last night to campaign in the Sunshine State. What did you think of the State of the Union? Did you even watch it? Did you spot Rebecca and her grandmother? &amp;amp;#8212;Amanda P.S. For a completely different take on the presidential race, check out Glamour&amp;#x27;s beauty blog, &amp;quot;The Girls in the Beauty Department,&amp;quot; blog later today. Topic A: Hillary."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.glamour.com/sex-love-life/blogs/glamocracy/2008/01/mr-president-i-just-dont-belie>