I Heart My Congressman and Senators.

Do ya know what earmarks are? Well I can tell ya they ain't from scratching your ear with earrings, that's for sure. No, actually they call them earmarks when Congressmen or Senators try to add a special favor to a bill being readied to become law. The "special favors" are lots of "pork", which is another word for money, to friends and relatives in their home districts or states. See, the way they do it is to get the government to give a contract or grant to a company formed by this friend or relative, often formed for the purpose of receiving these "earmarks". Okay, so  last fall and last winter, the House and Senate voted to stop doing it because of our tight financial situation. Because of the economic downturn and our burgeoning deficit and debt, it was decided that they needed to stop adding these earmarks to other bills, at least until the country got back on it's feet. At which time, presumably, our legislators could then return to the pork-fest. Well if you think about it, while it sounded like a magnanimous gesture, because of the fact that they're hooked on the process just like being hooked on heroin, they couldn't stop. There have been hundreds of earmarks that have been slid into bills since the "ban" took place. Or maybe the ban was only for that day, or week. Anyway, you'll be pleased to note that the friends and relatives of our hard serving servants of congress are now back on the gravy train. Now if you're a friend or relative of one of these selfless servants and are not receiving any earmarks as yet, you may want to be in tough with that legislator to whom you have a relationship, in order to ascertain an estimate of the approximate date and amount you will receive for your earmark, in the form of pork of course. Don't ya just love these folks. It's perhaps the only bi-partisan effort you'll find in the halls of congress. I have a special place in my heart for them. I sit on that place every day.