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Politics : Liberalism: Do You Agree We've Had Enough of It? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: lorne who wrote (60088)	2/25/2009 6:09:56 PM
From: tonto	1 Recommendation Respond to of 224737

Obama should not forget how our dollars are wasted by politicians... Hey, remember last week, when Congress filled a room full of bank CEOs, to yell at them for wasting taxpayer money. Yeah, it was basically a theatrical event. And sure, if you look hard enough, I'm sure you'll find some of those "pot-kettle-black" instances where your Congressperson has wasted their own share of money. But you know what? To be fair, you really should look a little bit harder than Jonathan Karl and ABC News did for their article, "Congress Travels Free on Taxpayers' Dime," which depicts serious and substantive work as frivolous, and from which the palpable stench of asininity emanates. My does ABC News lay it on thick! The subhed comes with terrifying scare quotes ("U.S. Air Force Flies Bipartisan Congressional Group to Europe to 'Build Relationships'")! The photo caption contains an editorial admonishment ("Lawmakers, who chastised CEOs for using private jets, should look at themselves."). And in case YOU JUST HAVE NOT GOTTEN IT, readers are invited to learn more about these horrible money-wasting hypocrites by browsing related stories on "Congressional boondoggles," "AIG resort junkets...caught on tape," and how BofA CEO John Thain "was living large." In the article itself, Karl discusses the case of Representative John Tanner of Tennessee. He's been "travel[ing] the world on the taxpayers' dime" as "members of so-called congressional delegations, or 'CoDels.'" A bipartisan group of members of Congress and their spouses went on an official trip to Europe this week, traveling through Brussels, Vienna, Paris -- where they spent Valentine's Day -- and the Bavarian Alps. As is the case with almost all of these congressional trips, they were able to avoid annoying airport lines, frustrating flight delays and baggage nightmares, because they were flown at no cost to them by the Air Force. Commercial airfare for a comparable trip across Europe would cost roughly $10,000 per person. A good deal on a private charter flight for a trip like this would be at least $200,000. ...