Ygorl

My comments in red

Fiscal hawks in the Senate, led by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., are sponsoring a bill to create a database that would keep track of Govt. spending. You could search that database from your home and find out who got all that special-interest taxpayer largess.

That seems like useful information for citizens who would like to keep their eyes on their spend-happy representatives.

It certainly DOES.

But whats good for the taxpayers is not necessarily good for the politicians who ladle out our money or the feeders at the government trough who get all those contracts and grants. The power brokers would rather the people not look over their shoulders.

Of COURSE. They want to continue ON their merry way unmonitored by "we the sheeple". They don't care to have "we the people" return.

The bill to create the database has sponsors from both parties, including majority leader Bill Frist and minority leader Harry Reid. It has support from 100 conservative and liberal government-watchdog organizations. It was approved unanimously by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

The measure was headed for a vote in the full Senate when suddenly it was derailed by unidentified Senators. The Senate, it turns out, has a rule that lets any member delay a bill - without revealing his identity. It's called the "secret hold."

This mystery led to several days of speculation, but finally, Sen. Ted Stevens came forward. The next day Sen. Robert C. Byrd did, too.

Byrd has since lifted his hold, but Stevens hasn't. Byrd said he wanted time to read the bill and try to improve it. Stevens, who is a member of the committee that held hearings but didn't speak up at the time, now says he wants a cost-benefit analysis done before he makes up his mind.

Sounds fishy to me. I think these guys just don't want us to see how they spend our money.

I can only second that of course.

I'm skeptical of Sen. Stevens' demand for a cost-benefit study. Congress estimates it would cost $ 4 million to build the database and $ 2 million a year to run it - small potatoes next to the hundreds of billions Sens. Stevens and Byrd spend on pork.

And the benefit ? Can you put a dollar figure on the good that would result if the big spenders were inhibited because the people were watching them ?

Maybe we wouldn't need a user-friendly database if the Government weren't so big. But it is that big. So at least lets make it visible. Lets get rid of secret holds and secret spending.

It's unbeleivable to me that we've let this go as far as we HAVE. We pay these pigs our taxes and have little or no say what they DO with them ? Is this what the founding fathers intended or expected ?

dancing_space_monkeys

There should be no "secret spending", except for things that directly involve National Security and intelligence ops. Those need to be kept secret for obvious reasons, but the Intelligence and Armed Services committees should keep themselves up to date on these and make sure that things are done well.

And, there should be no "secret holds" at all. There used to be something like that in the House. It was called a discharge petition, which forced a vote on a bill if 218 House members signed it. But, the thing was, until that 218th person signed, the names who were on it were kept secret, so that Congressmen could claim to have signed it, even if they really didn't.

There was a story once where over 260 members claimed to have signed the petition, even though it was still kept secret. Kind of like when Ferdinand Marcos won the Presidency of the Philipines with more votes than the country's total population.

chukels911

[/quote] It's unbeleivable to me that we've let this go as far as we HAVE. We pay these pigs our taxes and have little or no say what they DO with them ? Is this what the founding fathers intended or expected ? [/quote]
thats what ive been trying tell people, most dont realize how bad off our economy really is, people just live in the own little fantasy world thinking our country is "doing great" the reality is we ARENT.

__________________
History ALWAYS repeats itself...........unless people dont want it to.

Ygorl

Some of us are very well aware of what's going on and always have our asses well covered. I have little sympathy for people who are currently in debt by their own poor choices when difficult times come.

Hard times are ALWAYS ahead. It's not some magical prognostication to SAY that. It's always TRUE. Plan for it or be sad and miserable when it happens.

FRYandBENDER

This is a damn good idea. We should all write to our representatives and tell them to do it or DIE!!!!!!

Unless of coarse you disagree with the idea.

__________________
Neither am I the means to any end others may wish to accomplish. I am not a tool for their use. I am not a servant of their needs. I am not a bandage for their wounds. I am not a sacrifice on their altars. ... I owe nothing to my brothers, nor do I gather debts from them. I ask no one to live for me, nor do I live for others. I covet no mans soul, nor is my soul theirs to covet.

Ayn Rand, Anthem.

Common insult examples and how to avoid them