- National Journal's Technology Daily - BUDGET; GROUPS, ONLINE ACTIVISTS WORK TO IDENTIFY EARMARKS TECHNOLOGY DAILY
A diverse group of online writers, advocacy groups and one newspaper group is turning up the heat on government budget earmarks by bringing them to light.
- Christian Science Monitor - Push grows to reform the way Congress spends
House Republican leaders promise that even if lobby reform stalls - as it has - they will do something to rein in earmarks when they return to Capitol Hill next month.
- Contra Costa Times - Rooting out the pork
Pork may be the "other white meat" in the famous national advertising campaign, but it is also the lifeblood of the members of Congress.
- The Island Packet - Web helps open up Congress
Imagine my surprise at Wednesday's headline: "Lawmakers urge workers to save more for future."
This from the folks who have our nation $8.4 trillion in debt. The national debt is increasing $1.74 billion per day. Yes, that's day, D-A-Y. Congress is putting $1.74 billion per day on the credit card, and it's telling us to save.
- Washington Post - Putting the Pork in One Barrel
One legislator's "pork," of course, is another's vital public works project. But all are earmarks, those tax and spending directions added to money bills at the behest of anonymous lawmakers -- anonymous, that is, until the legislation is passed and they can boast of it to constituents.
A coalition of odd bedfellows is trying to bring more transparency to earmarking by encouraging citizens to get involved in tracking who is trying to get what money for which special interest. And all of this will be online and available to the public.
- The Oakland Tribune - Online muck rakers shed light on earmarks
"Follow the money."
That iconic command from a source called Deep Throat was the advice that launched a thousand careers in investigative journalism.
- Captain's Quarters - The Post Highlights Pork Database
The new effort by a coalition of bloggers and non-profits to identify pork-barrel projects gets noticed in today's Washington Post.
- Marketplace - Earmark forensics
A watchdog group has launched a campaign to uncover which members of Congress are inserting costly earmarks into spending bills — and they want your help. Scott Tong explains.
- National Journal's Hotline - Let the Sunshine In
Perhaps it's due to the GOP's recent electoral success, but the right side of the 'sphere continues to focus less on campaigns and elections and more on other (still political) projects. 8/16 is yet another example of the trend as a broad coalition of conservative bloggers and other established institutions join forces to promote an anti-pork spending project that, since the GOP's in power, ought to bring embarrassment to GOP lawmakers in the midst of a tough cycle. With their current belief in partisanship at all costs (see CT SEN), would lefty bloggers ever put forward such an effort that had the potential to hurt so many Dems?
- The Examiner - Editorial: Spending money behind closed doors?
Something new is happening today as The Examiner invites readers to help uncover which members of Congress sponsored the 1,867 secret spending earmarks worth more than $500 million in the Labor-Health and Human Services appropriation bill now before Congress.
- Captain's Quarters - Exposing Earmarks
The Sunlight Foundation unveils its new Exposing Earmarks website today, in conjunction with the Club for Growth, Citizens Against Government Waste, The Heritage Foundation, and many in the blogosphere, including Instapundit, Porkbusters and Human Events Online.
- PressThink - The Era of Networked Journalism Begins
Today marks a key moment in the evolution of the Web as a reporting medium. The first left-right-center coalition of bloggers, activists, non-profits, citizens and journalists to investigate a story of national import: Congressional earmarks and those who sponsor and benefit from them.
- craigblog - How you can investigate Congressional malpractice
The folks at the Sunlight Foundation are pioneering new ways for ordinary people to figure out bad politics, first Congresspedia, like Wikipedia for Congress.