Just a few more words about 'earmarks'......

.... and then I'll leave it alone! First, let's talk about them at their best. Public/private organizations that do good work in small towns and inner cities sometimes find it difficult to obtain any federal funding. Especially when competing with some of the larger outfits with paid lobbyists. Bending the ear of their Senator or Congressperson can sometimes cause that rep' to attach an 'earmark to some other bill which directs a certain number of our tax dollars to that organization. Given even it's best face -- it is a disaster waiting to happen and fraught with political chicanery. "You get me the federal money - and all of our group's efforts will be aimed at getting you re-elected." Here are a couple of examples - I'll offer my humble opinion of an alternative at the end of this segment.

Top Earmark-er Clinton Grants $303,000 to Gay Lobby Group
By Fred Lucas
CNSNews.com Staff Writer
January 24, 2008

(CNSNews.com) - A group that lobbies for needle exchanges, for allowing more immigrants with HIV/AIDS to legally enter the country, and for condom distribution in prisons received a $303,000 federal earmark pushed by Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.).

That was one of 261 earmarks Clinton personally helped usher through Congress. That's more earmarks than any other member of Congress seeking the presidency, according to an analysis by the watchdog group Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW).

http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewPolitics....20080124e.html

Pastor Got $1.5 Million in Clinton Earmarks Before Endorsement

(CNSNews.com) - Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) secured more than $1 million in federal funding last year for a Harlem-based non-profit whose leader gave her presidential campaign a major endorsement last weekend. Clinton - who is aggressively competing for the black vote with her chief rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) - touted the endorsement of Rev. Calvin O. Butts III, a prominent black leader and pastor of one of the oldest black churches in America, the Abyssinian Baptist Church of Harlem. Butts is also known for his controversial comments. Among other things, he has said that "racism is built on a Christian foundation," and he once called for a statue of former President Theodore Roosevelt to be torn down.

How about this for an alternative to the current system of buying political donations with taxpayers money:
- Each Congressperson and Senator will be given access to a sum not to exceed $1.00 per constituent per year for earmarking for their Districts or States.
- No earmarks would be allowed in the twelve months preceding an election in which the incumbent is running for office.
- No incumbent would be allowed to receive a campaign donation of any amount from a company, organization or entity to which they have provided earmark money.
Nah --- never gonna happen -- it's like dreaming that a law could be passed wherein it would be a conflict of interest for a licensed, practicing lawyer to serve in public office! Oh well.............