You may have read this article about the law closing in a John Murtha (D – PA). A few excerpts:
Murtha’s richest earmark largesse was saved for a former appropriations subcommittee staffer who had a long-standing personal relationship with the congressman… The companies received an impressive $30,200,000 in earmarks from Murtha and Murtha received $83,800 in PAC contributions and $209,050 in donations from executives at the companies.
Obviously, congressmen such as Murtha, Rangel, etc. are consummate self-serving politicians. With their moral compasses, they could easily find reasons to justify first degree murder. It’s fairly evident that Murtha’s constituency doesn’t care what he does (or says… about those rednecks), as long as he “brings home the bacon”. If you’re over 40 years of age, you may remember Abscam:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwjkQTNPDAg[/youtube]
Of course, I don’t want to put too many comments about Murtha in writing. Who knows, he may have a hit squad after me 😉
I suppose that stealing from Peter to pay Paul is as old as mankind, as well as the core tenant of Socialism… It’s interesting to note that the tea parties have started to have a general impact on the public relations associated with plus-ups. It’s interesting to note the recent negative publicity that Congressman Turner (my rep for the 3rd district) received. He was in front of a crowd in Columbus announcing how he brought $1.5M to OSU in an earmark… and the crowd booed.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k57BktwaCWY[/youtube]