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Seattle Congressman Jim McDermott doubts his own request for a $250,000 earmark of federal funds to pay for renovations at the exclusive Rainier Club will win approval in Congress.While descending a tiled staircase into The Rainier Club lobby, U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott said Monday he doubts his request for a $250,000 earmark to cover renovations at the exclusive downtown Seattle club will win approval from federal lawmakers. "Given what's going on in the country these days, it seems unlikely to me," the Seattle Democrat said, amid a backdrop of fine artwork and antique furniture. "I'm not going to say definitively...

The FBI’s raid of the once-highflying PMA Group has sent a cold chill through the insular world of defense appropriations lobbying. While fallout from the raid has hit lobbyists and clients of the PMA Group the most, even defense lobbyists with strong ties to Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) but no affiliation to PMA are worried their once-vaunted connections to the senior defense appropriator could become tarnished. The lobbyists are fearful the federal investigation into defense lobbying, coming on the heels of former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham’s (R-Calif.) and Jack Abramoff’s high-profile scandals, could make it even more difficult to request...

Among more than 100 local projects for which U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott recently sought funding earmarks in the coming federal budget are a new cancer-research program, municipal road projects and a law-enforcement initiative to combat gang violence. Also included on the Seattle Democrat's 2010 appropriations wish list is a relatively modest — but curious — appeal: A $250,000 request to fund a "window repair and limestone sill replacement" at The Rainier Club — one of Seattle's premier private clubs, whose members include some of the city's most well-heeled and politically connected residents. McDermott's request on behalf of The Rainier Club...

Whose side is he on? Obama Erases Pro-Democracy Money for Iran By: Kenneth R. Timmerman Newsmax Friday, June 19, 2009 Newsmax has learned that the Obama administration also has zeroed out funding for pro-democracy programs inside Iran from the State Department budget for fiscal 2010, just as protests in Iran are ramping up. Funding for pro-democracy programs began in 2004, when Congress earmarked $1.5 million of the State Department budget for “educational, humanitarian, and non-governmental organizations and individuals inside Iran to support the advancement of democracy and human rights in Iran.” The funding ramped up dramatically two years later, when...

Some of the Most annoying pork barrel earmarks are the ones were Congressmen and Senators use public dollars to create tributes to themselves. For example there is the $200 Million for the John Murtha Airport which gets a total of THREE commercial flights a day. This tribute to the Living Pork King John Murtha is literally the airport to nowhere. Or Charlie Rangel, who directed almost TWO MILLION Dollars for a City College project named the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service. These "monument to me" pork barrel projects are quite common. There are claims that half the state...

I have conducted some research into the campaign contributions given to Rep. Rodney Alexander (R-5th-LA). Alexander is one of the leading members of the House in terms of earmark requests. "After investigating Rodney Alexander's campaign filings on the Federal Election Commission website, I have found some information on Alexander's contributions from parties associated with the Greater Ouachita Port Commission." "In all, the parties associated with the Port and the Commission have given $36,500 to Rodney Alexander's campaign. With each passing election cycle, the dollar amounts have increased." "The Port has been awarded at least $1.5 million in earmarks since 2004....

WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawmakers who steer money and contracts to favored companies and receive campaign contributions in return could face a House ethics committee investigation. The ethics committee's Democratic chairman and its ranking Republican said Thursday that the committee has been reviewing the practice — which came under scrutiny because of a Justice Department criminal investigation of a now-defunct lobbying firm, PMA. Lobbyists for the firm and their clients — the recipients of lawmakers' pet hometown projects known as "earmarks" — contributed substantial amounts to several lawmakers including three key Democrats on the House Appropriations Committee. Rep. John Murtha of...

Congressman John Murtha, the King of Congressional Pork acts may be losing his Teflon coating. A few months ago, the FBI raided the offices of the PMA group, a lobbying group founded by a Murtha aide, and one of the Pork King's favorite Lobbying firms. What they found out suggested that Murtha and his buddies at the PMA Group operated their own little Earmark Factory. Another report suggested that the FBI may be zeroing in on the relationship between Murtha and PMA. No worries for Mr. Murtha, despite the FBI putting the heat on his PMA relationship, the Porkmeister is...

Maybe when City College of NY is done building Charlie Rangel's favorite Pork project, the $1.95 million, federal earmark funded Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service one of the first courses they could teach is "Playing Fast and Loose with Ethics 101." This past September Rangel admitted that he failed to report $75 thousand in taxes. A few weeks earlier it was discovered that he was using four rent-controlled apartments, one for an office which while legal, is immoral for someone of his income. Here is the real fun part. Rangel is the chairman of the House Ways and...

WASHINGTON, June 8 (Reuters) - A $100 billion bill to fund U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is rapidly accumulating extra items such as money for military aircraft the Pentagon doesn't want and possibly a scheme to jump-start sagging auto sales. The cars and planes are not directly linked to the U.S. war effort. But they are typical of Congress' penchant for loading bills with unrelated spending in hopes the funds will sail through on the strength of the main legislation. President Barack Obama originally sought $83.4 billion for the two wars and more foreign aid for countries like Pakistan....

NY Congressmen, John McHugh recently nominated by President Obama to Army Secretary, was described by the press as a popular and bi-partisan pick (McHugh is a Republican). Perhaps the most happy about the selection are the defense vendors, contractors, and lobbyists that In Congress,that gave McHugh thousands of dollar of campaign dollars who he provided with millions in earmarks ABC News and Taxpayers for Common Sense are reporting that McHugh was excellent at "playing the game:" "He has certainly played the game here in Washington, gotten campaign contributions and delivered earmarks," said Steve Ellis of Taxpayers for Common Sense, a...

Companies Under Investigation Have Gotten Millions in EarmarksCROYLE TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- Inside the LBK Ranch, a private game preserve on a scenic hilltop here, guests mingle at a stone lodge after hunting deer and wild boar. Signs posted at intervals along the fence warn: "No Trespassing: U.S. Govt. Testing Facility." Defense firm owner Bill Kuchera and his wife, Lena, the owners of the 161-acre property, live in an upscale log home within the preserve and go to extensive efforts to keep out strangers. There are no visible signs of government testing, but behind the 10-foot fence and electronic gate lies...

Picture a freight train roaring down the tracks. Picture House Speaker Nancy Pelosi positioning her party on the rails. Picture a growing stream of nervous souls diving for the weeds. Picture all this, and you've got a sense of the Democrats' earmark-corruption problem. This particular choo-choo has the name John Murtha emblazoned on the side, and with each chug is proving that those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it. Republicans got tossed in 2006 in part for failing to police the earmarks at the center of the Jack Abramoff and other corruption scandals. Mrs. Pelosi is today leaving...

The House on Wednesday approved a resolution requiring the House ethics committee to report on the status of any investigation into a now-defunct lobbying firm and its ties to lawmakers. The unusual move by Democratic leaders came in the wake of steady Republican pressure on the ethics controversy and is aimed at giving vulnerable Democratic members political cover. The resolution, offered by Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), would force the ethics committee to disclose within 45 days whether it is investigating the nexus between campaign contributions and earmarks PMA Group clients have received. The measure specifically requires the ethics panel...

Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) is making plans to offer a resolution as early as Wednesday afternoon that will provide Democrats political cover on an FBI investigation into the now-defunct PMA Group and its ties to senior Democratic lawmakers. The resolution would force the ethics committee to disclose whether it is investigating the nexus between campaign contributions and earmarks PMA Group clients have received, according to knowledgeable Democratic sources. Such a move would implicate Reps. Peter Visclosky (D-Ind.), whose office the FBI subpoenaed for documents last week, as well as Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) because both are top recipients of...

You have to give pork king, John Murtha points for creativity. Between the nepotism, creating a new federal drug abuse agency and his own airport, Murtha constantly finds new ways to cheat the public by creating new earmarks that waste federal funds. The latest Murtha revelation is just pure artwork. The pork king has figured out a way to turn a regular defense contractor, Commonwealth Research Institute, into a not for profit charity, saving the company at least $15 Million Dollars in taxes. Have no fear though, their not for profit status has absolutely NOTHING to do with the fact...

FBI Investigating Multi-Billion-Dollar Defense Contractor With Tax-Exempt Status In Congressman's HometownCBS News has learned the FBI is investigating a little-known not-for-profit organization called Commonwealth Research Institute. It's located, like a lot of Rep. John Murtha's, D-Penn., pet projects, in his hometown, Johnstown, Penn. Commonwealth gets the same benefits as the Salvation Army or any other charity: It doesn't have to pay taxes. But its line of work may be surprising. It's a defense contractor. "It certainly raises a question," says Dean Zerbe, a former top Senate investigator. He questions Commonwealth's tax exempt status, saying it seems to do business just...

This document was e-mailed to a substantial distribution list here in Vancouver Washington's local Governement by Mr. Joel Rubin, who is a paid legislative consultant for (among others) the City of Vancouver, Washington. This is his latest report on what to expect during the upcoming Congressional session. The only thing I have changed on this is to substitute "City of Vancouver Distribution List" for the names and e-mail addresses of the actual recipients. Please note that Mr. Rubin requested wide distribution of this message.... From: Joel Rubin [mailto:joelr@cfmdc.com] Sent: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 11:21 AM To: City of Vancouver Distribution...

Reform Bills Are Increasingly Winning Support From Democrats At a time when the federal budget tops $3 trillion, it's easy to see why some regard earmarks, which account for an estimated 1 percent of spending, as insignificant.But calls on Capitol Hill to rein in earmark spending may get increasingly hard to ignore. President Obama has asked Congress to restrain earmarks, and Democrats and Republicans alike are pushing bills, resolutions and investigations aimed at curbing abuses.Fanning the anti-earmark fires are scandals involving Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa. The chairman of the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee, Murtha is now associated with so many...

John "Pay-to-Play" Murtha An investigation by the advocacy group Common Cause has determined that members of a key House defense subcommittee in 2008 allocated more than $350 million in military contracts to companies that had contributed handsomely to congressional representatives. Leading the way was Congressman John Murtha (D-PA), chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, who funneled $166.5 million in defense contracts to some of his largest campaign contributors.  A key example was Concurrent Technologies, a tax-exempt corporation that manages the National Defense Center for Environmental Excellence (NDCEE), and a contributor of more than $12,000 to Murtha. According...

It looks as if the King of pork need should be looking over his shoulder, because the law is getting closer and closer to his swine-hooves. The latest revelation involves Gaucherie Defense Systems a company that has received almost $15 million dollars in Murtha earmark-directed defense contracts and most coincidentally has donated $60,000 to the pork-king's campaign committee. Allegations of fraud have caused the company to be banned from receiving any new Navy contracts. Murtha must be feeling the heat because when he was asked about Kuchera Defense Systems during a press opportunity he had a hissy fit:

ON MONDAY we received an e- mail from Matt Mazonkey, the communications director for Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., disputing some statements in our day-before editorial, "House of Murtha." The editorial talked about the remarkable success of Mr. Murtha, a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee, in directing federal dollars to his Johnstown district. To take Mr. Mazonkey's objections in order: (1) "Robert Murtha [the congressman's defense-contractor nephew, who's corralled a stockyard of Pentagon business] isn't a 'Johnstown defense contractor.' His business is somewhere in MD [Maryland] and we've never done work with him." Answer: Robert Murtha may not reside...

While many companies hire lobbyists to win earmarks, General Electric’s unmatched lobbying force has secured a tax increase — or its equivalent — in President Barack Obama’s budget. Labeled “climate revenues” and totaling $646 billion over eight years, this line item in Obama’s budget has inspired confidence in GE Chief Executive Officer Jeff Immelt. As Immelt put it in a letter this week, he believes that the Obama administration will be a profitable “financier” and “key partner.” On page 115 of Obama’s fiscal 2010 budget is Table S-2, titled “Effect of Budget Proposals on Projected Deficits.” The chart forecasts the...

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) is pressing for new answers about funding for a counter-narcotics center that Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) has supported for more than two decades. Coburn sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder late last week reiterating charges that the center in Johnstown, Pa., previously known as the National Defense Intelligence Center (NDIC) is a duplicative boondoggle and asking for the explanation behind a recently proposed name change. “I am concerned about both the costs and the motivation of this proposed name change,” Coburn wrote. A spokesman for the Department of Justice (DoJ) said only that Holder’s...

A $15,000 federal grant for police computers in one Monongahela Valley city slipped unnoticed past council and was awarded without competitive bids to a firm run by the son of then-Mayor Ken Cole, city officials said today. The contract is one of dozens under scrutiny by federal investigators who are looking into defense firms with ties to U.S. Rep. John P. Murtha, D-Johnstown. Mr. Murtha, who chairs the powerful House Appropriations defense subcommittee, was instrumental in securing millions of dollars in grants through the Department of Justice to upgrade communications systems for small towns. In one of those towns, Monongahela,...

In tiny, cash-strapped Monongahela, Pa., the city clerk was stunned when federal investigators arrived this fall with a subpoena seeking information on a crime-fighting grant she'd never heard of. She takes pride in tracking every dollar in the municipal budget. The $15,000 federal grant was to buy police radios and other equipment to protect the city's 4,700 residents, but it had traveled an unusual route, never crossing the clerk's desk. Over the past five years, a local defense contractor with close ties to Rep. John P. Murtha, a Democrat who has represented southwestern Pennsylvania for three decades, has selected several...

The Department of Justice is probing a Pennsylvania contractor that has won millions in earmarks and contracts with the help of Rep. John Murtha, according to a new report. The Washington Post reported Monday that federal investigators are looking into how Mountaintop Technologies got involved in distributing and monitoring local police grants. +++++++++SNIP++++++++++++++ Mountaintop Technologies founder David Fyock told the Post that his company won the contracts on merit. "We are pretty darn good at managing contracts," he said.

A few months ago, the FBI raided the offices of the PMA group, founded by a Murtha aide, and one of the Pork King's favorite Lobbying firm. What they found out is that Murtha and his buddies at PMA Group operated their own little Earmark Factory. But the pork king isn't slowing down, he posted on his site a list of $134 Million Dollars of earmarks that he is requesting, $20 Million of it to clients of PMA, the very firm that is being investigated. Other recent revelations have been Murtha's "airport to nowhere" and his nephew getting bid-free Defense...

Earmark critics on both sides of the aisle have teamed up to offer the first bipartisan bill that would deny earmarks to for-profit companies. Four Democrats, Reps. Jim Cooper (Tenn.), Ron Kind (Wis.), Adam Smith (Wash.) and Tim Walz (Minn.), joined GOP Reps. Jeff Flake (Ariz.), Jeb Hensarling (Texas), Mark Kirk (Ill.) and John Campbell (Calif.) as the initial sponsors of the bill. “There’s a wide range of opinions [about what to do about earmarks] in this Congress, but we have a major problem,” said Kind. “It’s a bipartisan problem and we need a bipartisan solution.” President Obama has called...

Congressional Corruption Outlined by: Bethany Stotts, May 20, 2009 Does lobbying represent a corrupt special interest, a neutral force, or a beneficial component of democracy in Washington, DC? George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley defended lobbying as a beneficial part of Madisonian political competition in a May speech at GWU. “In fact the lobbyists fit within the Madisonian view. Lobbyists are perfect,” Prof. Turley argued, later continuing, “That’s a good thing because it allows factional interests to be expressed clearly and effectively in Congress and what you have to do is try to make sure every one has that...

Democrats who now run Capitol Hill have come under fire from government watchdog groups and the issue involves one as old as politics itself – pay to play. A now defunct Washington, D.C., lobbying firm called The PMA Group is at the heart of what could be the Beltway’s next big money scandal. The FBI is looking into allegations that several lawmakers gave lucrative defense contracts to their campaign contributors. The three principle targets of this federal investigation are Democratic Congressman John Murtha of Pennsylvania, Peter Visclosky of Indiana and Jim Moran of Virginia. Investigators want to know for whose...

The Johnstown based National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC) began with the blessing of President George HW Bush. Its mission: to collect and coordinate intelligence from often-feuding law enforcement agencies in order to provide a strategic look at the war on drugs (it was still called that at the time). But the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), worried that its pre-eminent role in the drug war was slipping away, fought the idea "tooth and nail". So did many on Capitol Hill, arguing that the new center would duplicate the efforts of existing intelligence centers, notably the El Paso Intelligence Center, operated by...

Republicans are planning new attacks on a vulnerable Democratic front: earmarks senior Democrats, including Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), directed to clients of a now-defunct lobbying firm under FBI investigation. Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), a member of the Appropriations Committee, plans to offer an amendment that would freeze millions of dollars directed to PMA clients as earmarks in the 2009 omnibus spending bill. The money would be on hold until the FBI investigation into the lobbying firm is concluded and Congress and the public can determine whether any wrongdoing occurred, the lawmaker confirmed late last week. Kirk has railed against the...

The Federal Aviation Administration, after reviewing concerns about a project at a regional airport named after Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.), has decided to go forward with plans to use $800,000 in stimulus funds to repave the airport's alternate runway. Late this afternoon, a spokesperson for the Department of Transportation confirmed that the department had completed its review and would be releasing the funds for the Johnstown, Pa., airport project. DOT spokesperson Jill Zuckman said the review was undertaken after a "senior policy" official at DOT decided he wanted to reconsider the project, but she declined to identify who that...

Last week the broke that John Murtha's nephew created a company, Murtech that received $4,000,000 worth of Pentagon contracts without having to bid on them. At the time the junior Murtha (Robert C. Murtha Jr) said that his defense contracts had nothing to do with his Uncle, the King of Congressional pork: Murtha said he does not advertise being the nephew of John Murtha and considers it "unfortunate" that some will unfairly assume Murtech received its federal contracts because of his uncle's influence at the Pentagon. New information has been discovered that indicates that Robert Murtha may not have been...

(snip) SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: Well, first of all, Neil, they should not be eligible for any benefits. That would be crazy. But the major point here is that President Obama, with great fanfare, announced the closure of Guantanamo Bay, the prison at Gitmo, as we know it, and then, nothing. In other words, they did what, you know, that everybody would like to see done at least around the world, et cetera, but then no addressing of the fundamental issues associated with it. What do you do with the detainees? What sort of system of trials do you...

Well, one good thing you can say about the king of pork, he is a family guy. Another way to look at it is, he continues to thumb his nose at the American people. Even though the FBI is investigating him and his relationship with the PMA group, the man who put the ear in earmark continues to move as much as the defense budget as possible to his district even when it unwarranted like the Airport, named after him who's total traffic is three flights a day. Along with the all that pork, there are accusations from contractors that...

The House ethics committee is facing more public pressure to launch a probe into a lobbying firm under investigation by the FBI and its ties to three powerful Democrats. Four watchdog groups, Democracy 21, Common Cause, Public Citizen and U.S. PIRG, are urging the ethics panel to investigate activities involving PMA Group and Democratic Reps. John Murtha (Pa.), Peter Visclosky (Ind.) and Jim Moran (Va.), all members of the House defense appropriations subcommittee. In a letter sent to the ethics committee Wednesday, the groups called for an investigation aimed at determining whether the campaign contributions from PMA, its employees and...

JOHNSTOWN, Pa. -- At the behest of House Defense Appropriations Chairman John P. Murtha (D-Pa.), the Pentagon has spent about $30 million equipping a little-used airport named for the congressman so that it can handle behemoth military aircraft and store combat equipment for rapid deployment to foreign battlefields. Most of the expensive improvements, funded through appropriations approved by Murtha's committee, have not been used for their intended purpose. The projects delighted National Guard and reserve units based in Murtha's Pennsylvania district who have suffered from budget cuts, but critics charge that the expenditures are a waste of taxpayer dollars. Murtha...

If you are one of the few who are planning for a summer vacation this year and want to leave the hustle and bustle and crowds behind then check out this site located in the middle of nowhere. Amenities include a $2.5M terminal, $5M state of the art traffic control tower (never used) and stimulus money on the way!

Among the defense projects being cut from the budget are many championed by Murtha. In a recent meeting with Secretary Gates, Mr. Murtha pushed a plan to divide a $35 billion contract to build a new airborne refueling tanker between two rival contractors — a compromise that pleases both but would cost the government much more. Mr. Gates listened with little response, several people briefed on their conversation said, but he later came out firmly against it. “I’ve had conversations with Congressman Murtha,” Mr. Gates said in a briefing at the Pentagon this month. “I still believe that it is...

WASHINGTON — So powerful was Representative John P. Murtha at one time that he used to put up billboards in his Western Pennsylvania district declaring that “the P is for Power.” Few in Congress dared disagree: he doled out or withheld billions in federal money each year for lawmakers’ pet projects, better known as earmarks. Now, however, a string of federal criminal investigations of contractors or lobbyists close to Mr. Murtha, the top Democrat on the defense appropriations subcommittee, are threatening to undermine his backroom clout. In the weeks since the news that prosecutors had raided the offices of the...

The Pork King is at it again. John Murtha who has turned congressional earmarks into an art-form has directed two-hundred million of your tax dollars to the John Murtha Johnstown-Cambria County Airport. The Airport has so many pictures of the Congressman you would think that it was a monument to the pork-meister. Even that wouldn't be so bad if the airport was actually used, but Murtha Airport gets a total of THREE commercial flights a day. This tribute to John Murtha is literally the airport to nowhere:

JOHNSTOWN, Pennsylvania (CNN) -- Located outside a small Pennsylvania city, John Murtha airport may not see many passengers. But it's seen plenty of arrivals of tax dollars from Washington, most recently economic stimulus funds.   The airport offers three commercial flights. In between the arrivals and departures, airport officials admit there are few faces around the facility. "When the flights are coming in, there are people. Other than that, it's empty," said Scott Voelker, manager of the John Murtha Johnstown-Cambria County Airport.But one face is everywhere. Rep. John Murtha, the airport's namesake, is hard to miss.Considered one of "the kings...

Congressman John Murtha, the King of Congressional Pork acts as if he is invulnerable. A few months ago, the FBI raided the offices of the PMA group, founded by a Murtha aide, and one of the Pork King's favorite Lobbying firm. What they found out suggests that Murtha and his buddies at the PMA Group operated their own little Earmark Factory. A recent report, the FBI may be zeroing in on the relationship between Murtha and PMA. Despite the FBI putting the Heat on Murtha and his PMA relationship, the Porkmeister is is still accepting money from PMA clients and...

Visclosky Seeks to Use Campaign Funds for Legal Defense Rep. Peter Visclosky (D-Ind.) is seeking permission from the Federal Election Commission to spend campaign money on legal fees that may arise from the FBI investigation of the PMA Group lobbying firm, though his request letter claims no independent knowledge of the investigation. PMA Group imploded after news broke in February that federal agents had raided its offices last fall, reportedly as part of an investigation of potentially improper campaign contributions. The firm’s employees and clients have provided millions of dollars worth of campaign donations to top Members of Congress, including...

Washington Congressman Brian Baird says the states revenue projections for a toll on the new 12 lane Columbia River Crossing are innaccurate. By Christine Alexander Tuesday, April 14, 2009 As the plans for a new Interstate Bridge progress Washington Representative Brian Baird (D-Vancouver) is concerned that toll projections from the Washington Department of Transportation and the Columbia River Crossing are not realistic and will not create$1.35 billion in revenue. "The toll piece will probably not generate as much money as they indicated. In fact they will probably need more tolls because the Federal and State shares will probably be less."...

Whichever term you prefer, Sacramento-area members of Congress last week requested more than $1.1 billion worth of them, from $400,000 for a Folsom hospital helipad to $154 million for major Natomas levee improvements. All but one of the region's five representatives posted funding requests on the Web, as required by new congressional rules. The fifth, Rep. Tom McClintock, a Republican whose district stretches from El Dorado County to the Oregon border, did not ask for earmark dollars because he opposes the system. The latest round of requests is for the next fiscal year. Critics have charged that the process is...

The head of a Philadelphia nonprofit organization is facing charges he used more than $400,000 in state taxpayer funds intended to poor childern and elderly residents to finance a lavish lifestyle.

As strange as it sounds, one of the greatest threats to individual liberty in the United States is an obscure legislative tactic called "earmarking." As you probably know, earmarks are provisions individual senators or representatives drop into congressional spending bills to fund specific projects, usually in their home state or district. Members of Congress insert these provisions to circumvent the usual process by which executive branch agencies decide how to spend the funds Congress gives them. Earmarks are the means by which low-priority projects are funded in favor of higher-priority projects: you could call it affirmative action for pork. Earmarks...