EARMARKS... SCHMEARMARKS... WHAT IS ALL THIS STUFF? WELL BILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN MISAPPROPRIATED MONEY BY THE GOP POLITICAL MACHINE FOR STARTERS

A few months ago when Hastert told neutered GOP closet case David Dreier to come up with some kind of a showy ethics reform package-- having felt the heat of accusations of a Republican Culture of Corruption having permeating the entire capital-- one of the few attempts at genuine reform in Dreier's proposal involved doing away with anonymous earmarks. Jerry Lewis' shrill screams and threats were heard so loudly that Dreier and Hastert were forced to back down. Earmarks-- a mysterious process that has financed political power for a great number of Republican solons and personally enriched even more-- is a form of quasi-legal fraud. And Jerry Lewis, as head of the House Appropriations Committee, has been the master of the game-- a game that has cost American taxpayers billions and billions of misappropriated dollars.

Well, yesterday, the House, under pressure-- and as Lewis prepares for a federal indictment on a broad range of criminal activities-- passed some very tepid legislation, sticking it's littlest toe into the waters  of earmark reform. The bad news was that the 245-171 vote "ended the prospect for a more sweeping overhaul of federal lobbying laws" while Republicans maintain themselves in power. An actual reformer, David Obey (D-WI), and the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee before the GOP decided to turn it into a piggy bank for their members, told The Post the sham Republican bill "represents the death of lobby reform." Another major reform-minded Democratic leader, Louise Slaughter (D-NY) called it "shameful" and "a sham." Although even this pathetic fig leaf was opposed by Lewis and his corrupt gang of larceny-minded Republicrooks.

Many of the most corrupt Republicans in the House voted no, including Lewis, of course, as well as Henry Bonilla, John Carter, Joe Knollenberg, Anne Northrup, Ralph Regula, Don Sherwood, John Sweeney, Frank Wolf, Bill Young and Don Young, all legislators who have long ago proved beyond any shadow of a doubt that they below behind bars.

"Earmarks have been at the center of corruption investigations involving several lawmakers and lobbyists, and a public outcry against them helped spur a high-priority effort this year to devise ethics legislation that would have restricted contacts between lobbyists and members of Congress.
Instead, the House simply changed its internal rules to require that these targeted programs and their sponsors be disclosed in every type of bill, a procedure that does not currently exist. The measure, like any such rule change, could expire at the end of the year, but it is likely to be re-adopted along with the House's many other rules, Republican leaders said." Or maybe not. Depends who wins in November.