Current mood:	tired
Current music:	Jimmy Ruffin - What Becomes Of The Brokenhearted
Entry tags:	allen, coburn, congress, corruption, feingold, mccain, politics, porkbusters, presidential candidates, us politics

porkbusters: coburn bringing the corrupt further into the light
coburn has brought a series of fiscal conservative ammendments before the us senate， almost all of them have been rejected。 the following was not：

The Senate did accept three Coburn amendments. One amendment required that all earmarks be included in the bill’s conference report. This amendment helps lift the veil of secrecy that conceals the process of inserting special projects into appropriations bills. Similar amendments have been attached to the Agriculture, Military Construction and Department of Defense Appropriations bills.

one more step in making it harder for the bastards to hide their corruption。

further， we now having the voting record as further evidence of preference for personal corruption over good government。

there are two expected candidates for the republican presidential nomination amongst those that stood up to the corruption： mccain and allen。 only one democrat voted with the good guys： feingold， who has a record of working with mccain on finance issues。 this cooperation includes the campaign reform bill that bears their names [which is having some ongoing unfortunate consequences - for example it has potential to be used to as a legal weapon to *try to* significantly reduce the free speech rights of bloggers， attempts that i can't see ever succeeding]。 there appears to be a possibility that feingold will run for his party's presidential nomination。。


amongst the ammendments rejected 15-82 in the senate was one to block funding to the alaskan "bridge to nowhere"：

The Coburn amendment would have blocked funding for a $223 million bridge to a town in Alaska with a population of 50 people. At $4.46 million per person, the cost of the bridge alone would be enough to buy every island resident their own personal Lear jet. The Coburn amendment also would have blocked funding for a $229 million bridge that would connect Anchorage, Alaska to hundreds of square miles of unpopulated wetlands.

obviously i would have prefered that coburn's ammendments were passed。 however， this is no defeat for the anti-corruption campaigners： the ammendment passed (see above) and the voting record that will be publisised mercilessly just further expose the pork-pushers for what they are： highly corrupt men， now on the run。 the principle that applies to bigots， applies just as well to the corrupt：

How it infuriates a bigot when he is forced to drag out his dark convictions.

--logan pearson smith.

Pork is the poster child for government bloat, and it needs to highlighted, project by project, by project, and the politicians who push it should be made to defend each project again and again.

everyday more people internalise these ideas。 we do not need to win everything overnight， we just need to keep on steadily improving small step by small step。 in the end， there is nothing these politicians can do about it if people are determined。 as coburn himself put it in a recent interview：

when the American people want things to change, they will change.

is coburn running for the nomination also？ the more serious candidates the better。。

already individual americans are responding to their senator's actions：

Just after I read your blog on the Coburn Amendments' failure, I received a phone call - AT MY OFFICE (a church) - from the Republican National Committee thanking me for my past support and asking for more money for some critical election in Florida.

I interrupted them and said "You won't get one thin dime from me, until you do something about the pork. I called my Republican Senator's (Coleman) office a couple weeks ago to talk about Pork - but barely received a response. Now they rejected the Coburn amendment. Where is the fiscally responsible Republican party I helped to elect? You won't get any more money from me until it changes."

politicians survive on their campaign funds， which are more and more provided for by small donations from very large numbers of people - yet another consequence of the mccain-feingold campaign finance reform， the growing power that the internet gives to individuals and the vastly expanding personal wealth。 where do you think this increasingly important funding will be directed and not directed？

politicians are not invunerable， they keep their jobs on sufferance。 individuals hold vastly greater power than most realise， especially where they focus and cooperate。 gradually that realisation is spreading； in step the power of those "in charge" reduces。 this is a positive feedback loop： the more people see how ineffectual the "in charge" power is， the more who are emboldened to further erode that flimsy power。