The only practical solution is to rule that in drafting a bill nothing (like new laws) that is not directly relevant be considered-if it is that important draft a whole new bill.

Spending appropriations, likewise must have a direct collation to the appropriations being examined. No fair trying to convolute the issue or appropriation to claim it is relevant. The following example is a primary example of that which I speak.

Please tell me how the following has anything to do with National Defense.

# $4,800,000 for the Jamaica Bay Unit of Gateway National Recreation Area added by Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.). The Gateway National Recreation Area’s website describes the Jamaica Bay Unit as “a wealth of history, nature and recreation, from New York City’s first major airport and coastal fortifications to a wildlife refuge and pristine beaches.”

They can end their search by pointing the array at San Francisco. Not so intelligent, but there nonetheless.

fogw on November 7, 2007 at 4:18 PM

They could save even more by not funding it, and just following around Denny-poo Kucie.

Hold your snorts, it’s fixed already.

Bryan on November 7, 2007 at 3:45 PM

So is the middle one (big) Murtha?

VolMagic on November 7, 2007 at 3:50 PM

NewsFlash

Feds took em into to custody maybe a month and a half ago.

If any business acted this way there would be jail time. This congress only cares about the children because they know SOMEBODY is going to have to pay for all their spending. They’ll be retired by the time it’ll matter.

This list is shameful.

A few more words:

Congress gave the Line Item Veto Power to Pres. Clinton in 1996.

He used it 82 times.

Then the Supreme Court outlawed it, June 25, 1998.

Checkmate.

Until a newly-composed Supreme Court sees different.

I have three words for Congress: Line item veto. And four more words: Now more than ever.

Five words (but one’s a contraction): This Congress won’t pass it.

Let me suggest another approach. Look, you Congresspeople, in your desire to understand those poorly misunderstood muslims, whose hearts and minds we could win if we could only be more sensitive to them, here’s your chance. Since muslims forbid pork, you could reach out to them, and show that we are sensitive to their needs, by cutting down on the pork you inflict on your fellow Americans.

$1,600,000 for the Allen Telescope Array, added by Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.). This project first appeared in the 2005 Congressional Pig Book and has received a total of $5.6 million. It is part of SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence), which describes the telescope as “dedicated to astronomical and simultaneous search for extra-terrestrial intelligence observations.”

They can end their search by pointing the array at San Francisco. Not so intelligent, but there nonetheless.

Just call it The Carpal Tunnel Act of 2007.

A better return on your taxes than the Big Dig, guaranteed.

$1,600,000 for the Allen Telescope Array, added by Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.). This project first appeared in the 2005 Congressional Pig Book and has received a total of $5.6 million. It is part of SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence), which describes the telescope as “dedicated to astronomical and simultaneous search for extra-terrestrial intelligence observations.”

The First Tee? I’m sure that it’s a swell project

Yeah. My son was in a First Tee program. I paid for it though. Why finance what people will pay for?

Talk about waste. This is disgusting, but “on par” (pun intended) with the lefties in Congress.

There will come a time when this country’s “smoke and mirrors” economy will collapse, and the pigs inside of the Beltway couldn’t care less.

…

I know this flys in the face of generations of legislation and the quid-pro-quo of politics but IMO if it has absolutely nothing to do with defense, it doesn’t belong in a bill that deals with national defense. Let programs to teach inner-city kids how to golf stand on its own merits alongside other urban program. Let that weasel Weiner attach his pork to the Interior Department Budget Bill where it belongs. And Jack Murtha just needs to go to jail for all the corruption he’s on record of supporting!

I am becoming more and more sympathetic to that couple, in Maine I think, who refuse to pay their income tax and are in a standoff with the feds.

VolMagic on November 7, 2007 at 3:50 PM

That ended a couple of weeks ago. Feds walked up posing as friends bringing food or something. They just answered the door and got arrested.

Kowboy on November 7, 2007 at 3:47 PM

For posterity’s sake: BIG Pig