"I obviously think that independence should be just that." We agree. I just don't think it can happen. Politicians will not appoint truly independent people to a watchdog branch.
"I agree. Hence I'm a fan of organizations like Wikileaks that publishes large troves of original documents." The documents released by Wikileaks are being mined by extremist in order to find informants and kill them. The mass dumping of documents is not necessarily the solution. There has to be a level of responsibility to it, which organizations like Wikileaks don't have. "However, I feel that there is a great deal of analysis and research being put out, by government agencies, that is largely ignored. Should you trust it completely? Hell no. But in a lot of cases, media is relying upon press releases by the speech writers of politicians who selectively choose and edit those reports that are actually commissioned. The original reports, in many cases, are actually quite informative. They just don't really see the light." The watchdog of democracy is failing. "I didn't say leave them out." Ah man. You missed my not so well made point. There was no excuse for the "Maverick" and Coburn to leave them out. "Let's have an audit of the projects included in the stimulus package. I'm totally down with that" Me too. Make government financing transparent and the citizens could even do it. There are probably some people sitting at home in Mom's basement salivating over the prospect. " I said that a one-time $500,000 appropriation pales in comparison with an ongoing waste of billions or hundreds of billions a year. " My bad. I took your lack of energy statement as lack of care. I see things in a different light. Think of the 500k as gateway pork. Once hooked on the gateway pork, it's easier to move up to more powerful pork. Just say no to pork. J - Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny - Thomas Jefferson on government ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology-Michael-Dinowitz/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:324349 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
