[OPE] Philippines writer in favour of United States legislation

Wednesday, April 08, 2009
 
INSIDE CONGRESS
By Efren L. Danao
A US Congress rule worth adopting

The appropriations committees of the US House and Senate have formulated a new rule or guidelines on special funding that I believe should also be adopted by our own legislature. The new guidelines require US congressmen and senators to post on their Web site full details of their requests for earmarks submitted to their respective committee on appropriations. The information must include the purpose of the earmark and why it is a valuable use of taxpayer funds.

Before the issuance of the new guidelines, earmarks were largely confidential until the appropriations committee decides, which earmarks would be included in budget bills. The American voters previously never knew which earmarks were nixed. (...) Incidentally, what US legislators call "earmarks" are what we call "congressional insertions" or "congressional initiatives." Both are what is popularly known as "pork barrel." Oh well, what's in a name? That which we call pork by any name would still smell as (deleted). (...)

http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2009/april/08/yehey/opinion/20090408opi4.html

Have you seen the bigger piggies
In their starched white shirts
You will find the bigger piggies
Stirring up the dirt
Always have clean shirts to play around in.
In their sties with all their backing
They don't care what goes on around
In their eyes there's something lacking
What they need is a damn good whacking.

- The Beatles, "Piggies"

(In other news from Manila: Wednesday, April 08, 2009 Suffering on Good Friday not required. Flagellation, or the suffering of the body during Good Friday, is not necessary, an official of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said Tuesday. "The suffering of Christ is enough" for it to have an impact on all of mankind, said Msgr. Pedro Quitorio 3rd, the bishops' media director. "You don't have to duplicate that [suffering]," he added. "What He did was enough. What is important is for what He did to have an impact on our personal lives by looking at ourselves and [our] crosses in that sense . . . to embrace their own crosses through that symbolism." http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2009/april/08/yehey/top_stories/20090408top8.html

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Received on Fri Apr 10 19:08:04 2009