By Andrew L. Jaffee

In their “first 100 hours” pledge made for the November 2006 elections, the Democrats promised to restore bipartisanship and openness, tighten ethics rules for lawmakers, and reign in pork barrel spending. They haven’t kept their promises. In fact, they have actually moved in the opposite direction. Is this what voters really wanted last November? I doubt it. The Democrats have sought to exclude Republicans from decision-making (there goes bipartisanship), failed to enact meaningful lobbying reforms (there goes ethics), and are busy hiding pet pork funding in legislation (there goes pork reform).

Story continues below…

According to an article from the AP today, 36,000 earmark (pork) requests have been submitted to the Democratic-controlled Appropriations Committee (36,000):

After promising unprecedented openness regarding Congress’ pork barrel practices, House Democrats are moving in the opposite direction as they draw up spending bills for the upcoming budget year.

Democrats are sidestepping rules approved their first day in power in January to clearly identify “earmarks” — lawmakers’ requests for specific projects and contracts for their states.

Rather than including specific pet projects, grants and contracts in legislation as it is being written, Democrats are following an order by the House Appropriations Committee chairman to keep the bills free of such earmarks until it is too late for critics to effectively challenge them. …

Such requests total billions of dollars. …

A month after Democrats took control of the Congress, and promised to control uncontrolled spending, tracking of pork was stopped according to the Washington Times:

Story continues below…

Snap, Crackle and Electric POP: The Next Generation Stun Gun that delivers 600,000 Volts! Carry a knockdown stun gun that’s small and light enough to keep in a small handbag or pocket. All you need to power this unit is one high quality 9-volt battery
BLACK COBRA 600,000 VOLT STUN GUN

The federal agency that tracked pork-barrel spending during the 12 years of the Republican congressional majority has discontinued the practice since Democrats took power, riling lawmakers suspicious of the timing and concerned about the pace of fat being added to bills.

“To me, something doesn’t smell right,” said Sen. Jim DeMint, South Carolina Republican. “I just hope no one is pressuring” the Congressional Research Service (CRS).

While not blaming the Democratic leadership, Mr. DeMint added: “I guess if you’re looking for a motive, you’d have to look in that direction.” …

Regarding Democratic promises of “bipartisanship,” the Washington Post wrote:

…But instead of allowing Republicans to fully participate in deliberations, as promised after the Democratic victory in the Nov. 7 midterm elections, Democrats now say they will use House rules to prevent the opposition from offering alternative measures, assuring speedy passage of the bills and allowing their party to trumpet early victories. …

Here’s what Democrats have accomplished in terms of “lobbying reform,” from the Chicago Tribune:

Story continues below…

…On Thursday, after months of wrangling, House Democrats managed to pass a stripped-down version of lobbying reform that would shed more light on how lobbyists help finance congressional campaigns. But, bowing to pressure from rank-and-file Democrats, party leaders dropped a proposal that would have required members of Congress and their staffs to wait two years instead of one year to cash in on their government service by taking highly paid lobbying jobs.

Many Democratic House members, as Republicans gleefully point out, are resistant to surrendering the perquisites of power now that they finally enjoy some access to them. In the view of reformers, Democrats have passed the absolute minimum ethics package, and they struggled to do that. …

It took Republicans 12 years to get too cozy with power. It took Democrats a few months.

Gives officers the tools needed not only to survive a bad situation, but to prevail! While weapon skills are vitally important for police officers, the vast majority of confrontations will require officers to subdue suspects with non-lethal force
HAND TO HAND COMBAT FOR POLICE OFFICERS

---

---

Related: Pure Politics, Corruption

---