Posts that more or less write themselves (UPDATED)

From the L.A. Times:

President Obama railed against pork barrel projects on Wednesday. Then he signed a massive spending bill stuffed with them.

Obama said he was signing the $410-billion spending bill, which funds the operations of all but three Cabinet departments, to keep the federal government running. The bill had won final approval Tuesday, just before a stopgap funding measure was due to expire.

"I am signing an imperfect omnibus bill because it is necessary for the ongoing functions of government, and we have a lot more work to do," Obama said. And he didn't want Congress "bogged down" in a discussion about earmarks rather than working on more pressing problems.

With all that Congress has graced upon us, lately, who’s for a little (a lot of?) “bogging down”, raise their hand.

"But I also view this as a departure point for more far-reaching change," Obama said.

See! Just what more proof do you people need in order to realize we have a problem than me signing this bill?

Obama also said that earmarks benefiting for-profit companies should be subject to the same competitive bidding requirements as other federal contracts. He called such earmarks "the single most corrupting element of this practice."

Just, not this time around – but, you know, next time.

House Democrats replied with a reform package of their own, with Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) saying that federal agencies would now be asked to review the earmarks that members propose.

The fox was asked to “review” the plan that would send the house a dozen more hens.

Read entire story here. Also, complete listing of earmarks for California can be found here. Open only if you have a few spare hours on your hands.

UPDATE #1: B-Daddy has his take on this spending bill and focuses on Obama's use of "signing statements" of which Obama was critical of Bush's use but which appears to be just another Bush hold over in the HopeandChange administration.