John McCain would have us all believe that he suspended his campaign, went to Washington, and helped hammer out a $700 billion bailout of the financial sector. Most of us “common folk” were saying “screw ’em,” but we understood that without this bailout, things could get much worse.

So we can all thank John McCain, at least in part, for this band-aid that hopefully will get money flowing to small businesses and potential homeowners again, right?

And if he wants to be held up as the good guy, the responsible guy, in all this mess, should he also be held at least partially responsible for the $112 billion in PORK that was added to this bill and signed into law by George W. Bush?

McCain has been making a big deal about earmarks in this campaign, but these accounted for $16.5 billion in the 2008 budget. Meanwhile, his big landmark bailout included almost seven times that amount?

Here’s a list of a few things included in this bailout, courtesy of SF Gate:

Wooden arrows: This tax break, backed by Oregon’s two senators, would benefit an Oregon manufacturer of wooden arrows for children by $2 million over 10 years.

Racetracks: Earmark would allow auto racetrack owners to depreciate their facilities over seven years, saving the industry $100 million over two years.

Rum: Offers rum producers in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands a rebate on excise taxes worth $192 million over two years.

Wool: Reduces tariffs for U.S. makers of wool fabric that use imported yarn, worth $148 million over five years. The measure was pushed by Reps. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., and Melissa Bean, D-Ill.

Exxon Valdez: Plaintiffs in the suit over the 1989 oil spill could spread their tax payments on punitive damages over three years, cutting their tax bill by $49 million. The measure was backed by Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska.

American Samoa: Allows certain corporations to reduce their tax liability on income earned in American Samoa, at a cost of $33 million over two years.

Hollywood: Extends a tax break for film and TV companies that keep their production in the United States, worth $478 million over 10 years. The provision was originally pushed by Rep. Diane Watson, D-Los Angeles.

If that hasn’t sickened you enough, you can read about the top ten earmarks included in this bill from Taxpayers for Common Sense.

You know, with all the talk about wasteful spending in Washington, and knowing that most of America opposed this bailout, don’t you think congress would’ve been on its best behavior? How about just dealing with the bailout in one bill, and debate these other issues later?

It seems to me that once people were on board (basically) with the $700 billion bailout, a bunch of politicians saw a whole bunch of ‘approved, free’ money available, and decided that while $700 billion was good, $112 billion more wouldn’t make that much of a difference.

Now, I’m all for fixing the AMT so that people don’t get hit with it, and I’m all for bicycle commuting incentives, but this is now $812 billion where American taxpayers are on the hook. My real question in all this is this: Who decides what bad debt the financial sector will be able to rid themselves of?

Can they throw everything in the mix and say, “here, can you help us with this?”

And what happens to this bad debt where the houses have more paper out than what they could get in the current market? Do the banks get to apply for the full value of bad debt on a house? If the house is under water, will they get the full return on their original bad loan?

Where can I go to get the government to buy my house for more than it’s worth?

I just wish we knew more about how this is going to be handled. Right now, it seems to me like a giant blank check. I hope people more educated in finance and law than myself can explain this to me over the coming weeks and months, because right now it sure sounds like not only does the working class have less of a safety net than they have ever had in this country, but now it looks like we’re actually paying for a safety net for corporations. Odd, since we can’t even seem to get one for ourselves.

I think all these corporations and banks and investment firms should pick themselves by their bootstraps and suck it up.

It should be easy, right? I mean, isn’t that what the Republicans have been telling us for so long?