Friday, February 15, 2008

What Did I Read Today?

The latest Harpers is pretty good. An article by Ken Silverstein about how members of the US Congress dip into their re-election campaign funds (supported by lobbyists, natch) for all sorts of perks, year round, year in, year out.

I'd thought that the constant fund-raising that one hears about in Washington was about the expenses of television-based advertising and so-on, but Silverstein connects the fact that thanks to gerrymandering, 90 percent of incumbents, Republican or Democrat, get re-elected.

One Republican Congressman from Florida spent $18,000 a month on hotels, restaurants, and other recreation, and charged it all to his "campaign" expenses.

It is a good thing to subscribe to good magazines.

Ah, I've been busy.

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