Guess what the government plans to do with your tax dollars to stimulate the economy?  According to the New York Post, $300 million of Porkulus will go towards purchasing a fleet of “neighborhood electric vehicles”, or NEVs, along with more than $500 million for more traditional electric cars.  Ever seen an NEV?

We used to call them “golf carts”:

The $838 billion economic stimulus bill that passed the Senate yesterday contains $300 million for the government to purchase a fleet of “green” cars.

But the money won’t just go to buy fuel-efficient hybrids such as the Ford Escape or Chevy Volt.

The cash also can be used to purchase “neighborhood electric vehicles.”

The NEVs, which resemble streamlined golf carts, scoot at up to 25 mph, operate on battery power and can be plugged into 110-volt outlets for charging.

They are sometimes used at hospitals, college campuses and retirement communities, and can cost around $8,000 each. They don’t produce carbon emissions.

The House-passed version of the stimulus provides even more money for federal car purchases – $600 million. The pot of money also specifically includes the NEVs.

During Obama’s current campaign to get his stimulus bill through Congress, he’s talked about infrastructure — roads, bridges, energy grids, and so on.  This doesn’t do anything for real infrastructure, but it does help out Earl Pomeroy.  Who’s Earl?  He represents North Dakota, where Global Electric Motorcars produces NEVs.  He and Senator Byron Dorgan apparently inserted this pork to throw federal business to GEM.

Remember when Obama insisted that this bill contains no pork?  It all depends on how one defines pork, stimulus, and infrastructure.

Just words.  Just words.

Update: I forgot to mention the absurd notion that the NEVs don’t create carbon emissions.  Not from a tailpipe, of course, but they create higher electrical demand, which gets provided by coal-burning plants, for the most part.  The NEVs would only eliminate carbon emissions if we started a massive program of building nuclear power plants.