EARMARKS AND CORRUPTION:

You hear it over and over. Denouncing earmarks is Congress’ second favorite pastime. Almost as popular as earmarks themselves.

The budget that President Obama signed today has more than 8,500 earmarks. Obama says the frenzy has to stop.

Let’s be clear. Yes, the relative size of earmarks is small, just a percentage point or two of federal spending. . . . On the other hand, here are the arguments –against– earmarks.

First: Randy “Duke” Cunningham, doing jail time for pocketing bribes from defense contractors.

Next: Corrupt lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who once described the appropriations committee as an “earmark favor factory.”.. He went down in flames.

Congressman Bob Ney went down with him.

Then there’s Senator Ted Stevens, who made Alaska the earmarks capital of the U.S., guilty of corruption, now fighting to avoid jail time.

And, currently, Pennsylvania Democrat John Murtha is under federal investigation for 114 million dollars in earmarks that he funneled to generous campaign contributors in the defense industry.

Bottom line. Don’t think of earmarks as pork. Think of them as a cash cow for the corruption of congress.

Yes.