The 2008 Appropriations defense bill contained 936 earmarks (and those were the ones disclosed) for a total of $5.1 billion.The worse culprits are the top committee members...

Sens. Ted Stevens (RINO-AK), under FBI investigation for corruption, with $189 million

Daniel Inouye (D-HI) with $183 million

Robert Byrd (D-KKK) with $166 million

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Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Chappaquiddi~k ) attempted to add another ridiculous rider onto the bill. This time he tried to add 'The Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA)', which would add “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” to federal hate-crime law to the Defense funding . As mentioned in previous posts ;if this legislation is desirable then it should be introduced as a separate bill and not piggy -backed onto a bill that funds troops on the battlefield .

He tried to add it to the bill by unanimous-consent agreement but Sen, John McCain (R-Ari.) blocked the move.Kennedy bloviated the "defense-authorization bill is dealing with the challenges of terrorism and the hate crimes issue... we’re talking about domestic terrorism, domestic terrorism!”
He must mean like driving off a bridge and leaving your passanger to drown.

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Kudos to the Senate for rejecting a bill to give jihadi detainees access to federal courts to protest their detention. The motion fell short of cloture by four votes. As Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) noted, “Never has such an unprecedented legal right been granted to a prisoner of war or detainee.”

That's part of MY money! Grrrrr. Things like this make me fume and then I write my Congressmen (they know me by name now, I even get their Christmas cards -lol).

Thank you again, Tom, for enlightening me.