The Liberty rocket is no joke...

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1102/08liberty/

It's a last-ditch effort by incumbents to remain viable after being
undercut by SpaceX's Falcon 9 / Dragon. They'll use their political
connections, just like they did with Ares V-Lite, by bribing lawmakers
into drawing up legislation which virtually names their company and
product in the law, leaving NASA no room to use the cheaper SpaceX
alternatives or rockets from any other manufacturer for that matter.

Obviously this Liberty rocket (purposefully named such as to instill
patriotic emotions) would be another mulch-billion turkey, but no one
in Washington cares. The corrupt lawmakers need the money to fund their
campaigns. It's just pathetic what the U.S. has turned into.