Accountability?
The wrinkly old men that we elect to Congress are so horny and gross that the American taxpayer shells out on average $1 million a year in settlements to sexually harassed Hill staffers, according to the Office of Compliance. The level of perviness fluctuates from year to year "” in 2007, 25 staffers were paid a total of $4 million.
Wouldn't such settlements possibly be of interest to voters, the media, and opponents of the crotch-grabbing perv-boys? It sure would! And that is why Congress passed a law saying that no one can obtain this information!
Via the South Bend Seven. The New York article also makes this observation:
According to the same Office of Compliance, which is on a roll today, "the Capitol and other congressional buildings are rife with fire traps and other pervasive problems of age and dangerous design, with an estimated 6,300 safety hazards lurking on Capitol Hill this Congress." Congress has exempted itself from federal workplace safety regulations, so it isn't legally obligated to repair any of these hazards, many of which will be expensive. It's the kind of short-sightedness we've all come to expect from our lawmakers.
It is irritating that they exempt themselves from the same laws everyone else has to follow, though I can't say I am too worked up at the thought of some Senator slamming his or her head on a low doorway.
me:
Good thing we got rid of kings and feudalism - today nobody remembers the days when the highest authority could literally ignore laws and there was no constitution. Their knights roamed the land, dispensing justices as they saw fit, while breaking the law themselves any time they pleased, subject only to punishment if they upset their superiors.
Today, of course, we have a democracy with a congress and a president and a body of law and a system of prosecutors and police to enforce it. What an achievement for us that the congress and president don't consider themselves above the law, wouldn't dream of abusing or ignoring the constitution. And the policement and prosecutors who enforce the law give equal treatment to all, certainly don't ignore laws themselves or selectively enforce them at whim or get covered by their superiors for it.
This is why those terrorist hate us for our freedoms.
July 15, 2010, 11:39 amme:
Speaking of terrorists - all 500 of them.
That's the official estimate by Michael Leiter and the CIA.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/01/world/asia/01qaeda.html
So, by now we've spent 1,000,000,000,000 on apprehending those 500, which makes it roughly 2,000,000,000 per remaining terrorist. Glad to see my tax dollars used to ensure my security. I was beginning to feel real threatened.
But that's hardly relevant. With 500 or less terrorists left - how do we justify staying?!
July 15, 2010, 12:01 pmCT_Yankee:
"I can’t say I am too worked up at the thought of some Senator slamming his or her head on a low doorway."
As a troubleshooter for hardware/software problems, I find the first step it to see if the problem can be repeated. In this particular case, I would suggest devoting an afternoon at least.
July 16, 2010, 4:50 pmIgotBupkis:
With any luck we'll have a nice workplace fire as a result that burns up some of our Congressional deadwood. The more the merrier, I say. It's long past time for a bicentennial Congressional Bonfire.
P.S. --
July 19, 2010, 2:59 amCT_Yankee: LOL. Nice one.