Pig Oil

Earmarks Help The System Work

In Praise of Earmarks

This piece at Roll Call tracks the growing acceptance of the practice of “earmarks” (often derisively called “pork”) among GOP members of the House, as previous iterations of the House GOP had come to eschew the practice in pursuit of some skewed version of fiscal discipline. I applaud the House GOP for evolving back to the correct position on this subject, something I first began to write about in 2008.

Congress is broken—more broken now than in 2008. Committee term limits, the end of earmarks, the neutering of committee chair authority—all have conspired to create a Congress where little gets done, and by little I mean the kinds of things a functioning republic requires. Absent the discipline mechanism that was previously available to Committee Chairs who could withhold earmarks to members who did not toe the line, we have (especially in the House) created a new generation of lawmaker who makes few laws, choosing to concentrate instead on activism and media. Put another way, earmarks are a reasonable lubricant for a works that have ground to a halt.

Another oldie but goodie I put out on earmarks gets at what an earmark is—and isn’t. You can find it here. I’ll reproduce my commentary in its entirety:

I found this story to be insightful with respect to the ongoing debate (early 2009) about earmarks. As many of you know, I'm not a critic of earmarks...I defend them in many cases. My theory is that the "adds" process in the Federal budget is a relatively efficient way for the Congress to 1) exercise the power of the purse and 2) ensure that government revenue is spread around the country in as efficient a manner as possible. Some say that if the projects were "worthy", they'd have been funded in the budget submitted to the Congress by the Executive Department responsible...I don't have such a high level of confidence in the Teutonic efficiency of our Federal Departments, and so I don't mind the step in the process (yes, it really is just part of the process) that gives legislators the opportunity to add in projects they believe to be particularly worthy.

$767B for "stimulus"? $650B for "health care"? These are the things that get me excited about waste, over-reach and the remaking of our compact with the Federal government. $1M to help the people of Utah with a tough pest problem strikes me as a damn fine way to spend taxpayer money.

I still stand by what I wrote then. If you really want to get at government waste and overspending, go after what makes its way THROUGH the appropriations process. We’re talking TRILLIONS of dollars that get little or no attention when compared to the relatively minor expense of earmarks. The irony of those who spend considerable time riffing on “the deep state” entrusting the overwhelming majority of federal budgeting authority thereto will never not cause me to shake my head. I’m happy to grant 535 legislators with limited authority to offer up ideas for spending taxpayer money after a career of watching an executive branch agency do it mostly alone.

A line from another old post also stands up:

…it is an excellent way to distribute taxpayer money back into the economy. Yes, I know, the Museum of the Onion and funding for the study of cow flatulence make for great headlines, but you know what? At the end of those earmarks are real American citizens with jobs, jobs funded ultimately from that earmark (and very often matching state or local funds).

Yep. Still good.

The Spring Offensive

Most stories about Ukraine these days contain a reference to what seems to be the universally acknowledged truth of a major Ukrainian “Spring Offensive”. Some wonder about whether Ukraine has the ammo it needs. Some wonder about the ability of Russia to repulse such a move. Some provide opinions as to where it will occur, where the main effort will be, and where feints will occur.

I have no expertise in these matters, finding myself quite overmatched by the requirements of American seapower. But I find myself wondering if there is going to BE a Spring Offensive at all? Is there an argument for Ukraine taking a breather and continuing to work on its allies for more material? Maybe a “late summer” offensive?

Could there be some kind of “strategic pause” underway, where Ukraine believes that its ability to “get better” after a few months of stasis is better than Russia’s ability?

Again—I don’t know, not my field. But a lot of folks seem pretty convinced that something big is coming.

The Old Man of the House

Bagheera

That fellow in the photo above is Bagheera, and he is 19 years old. He and his (deceased and mourned) brother Mowgli were adopted by my womenfolk a few years before I arrived on the scene in the summer of 2007, and so not only is he the longest tenured male in the house, he is—I suppose—the oldest by far if some approximation of cat to human years is applied. He is mostly deaf, almost blind, and is the best example of a living “bag of bones” that I have seen. He’s not terribly good about his grooming standards anymore, as the energy required for such things is best applied to what he does better than anyone these days, and that is to sleep. He lives almost exclusively in our bedroom, although Catherine will liberate him on occasion to join us on the porch while she puzzles and I watch some odd Norwegian crime show. Bagheera is one of three cats who allow us residence in their home, and he shares the master bedroom (are we allowed to say “master” bedroom anymore?) with a three year old female cat named “Hazel”. They keep each other company and can often be found snoozing snuggled up next to each other.

They occupy the bedroom and bath because of the presence of Cat #3 in the rest of the house. Miss Moppet is her name, and while she is a wonderful cat and quite affectionate, she has a searing hatred for Hazel, and whenever there is not a door between them, there is war between them. So Hazel and Bagheera (also “Boogie, Baggy, Mr. Baggypants”) can pair off nicely, while Moppet rules the rest of the roost (in concert with the two dogs, one of which she loves and one of which she gives wide berth to).

A few years ago, Baggy stopped being all that careful about where he deposited his cat droppings. Mind you, there are two cat boxes in the master bathroom, but for some reason he decided that a third of his efforts would be left in the shower or on the bathroom floor. We discussed this with our vet, who offered quite logically, “there are worse things in life than a good cat who poops in the bathroom”. He had a point. Recently though, he’s gotten a little less careful about where he downloads, and there are two or three places on the hardwood where he likes to create. Again—-two out of three make their way into one of the two kitty boxes, but he occasionally goes on a tear, maybe two or three in a row just dropped on the wood, there to effervesce. No joke—the cat has awakened me from a sound sleep simply from the smell of a fresh effort. When I walk into the bedroom these days (the door is always closed to separate Moppet and Hazel), I immediately do a smell test while my eyes dart to the three places of choice in the bedroom, and then I move aggressively to the bathroom to scope out those places. I do a little happy dance when there is nothing to be found.

Bagheera is my oldest girl’s cat, or at least that’s how he is discussed in our house. Hazel is the youngest girl’s. The truth is, all five animals think Catherine is a Goddess and they tolerate the rest of us. But when Bagheera and his brother Mowgli were young and hale, and would join us in our bed, Baggy was always my guy and Mowgli was Catherine’s.

Baggy and I spend a good amount of time on that couch he’s pictured on. He seems to appreciate the company, and he usually greets me with a bit of chewing on the ends of my fingers. I don’t expect that he has a lot of time left, and I will miss him when he’s gone.