links for 2010-12-20
On 20 December 02010 with 1 comment
What a buffoon.
The Senate Arms Services Committee sensibly prohibits its staff from own stock in any company with a Defense Department contract. After all, that would be a huge conflict of interest. But there's an exception: senators. They can—and do—own as much of such companies as they want. Two thirds of the senators on the committee do so. (Including Sen. Jim Webb, with thousands of dollars in GE stock.) Shameful.
Heard the story about Davy Crockett's speech in Congress, "Not Yours to Give," in which he gave a rousing speech about how congress has no right to use public money for charity, even to help a war widow? It's a favorite of conservatives. It's also totally untrue. In fact, Crockett's beliefs were quite the opposite: he was a populist who thought it was important that the U.S. government help the poor.
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