Making A Bottomless Purse Out Of A Sow's Ear.

My friend Christopher Johnson reminds us not to put away our Gadsden Flags just yet: The lame duck Pelosi/Reid Congress is trying to pass, at the last minute, a 2,000 page, nobody-has-read-it, budget. And, it is loaded with bring-home-the-other-guy's-bacon, who-gives-a-damn-many-of-us-won't-be-here-in-a-month-anyway, spending requests - those infamous ear-marks we hear about.

According to John McCain, there are 6,488 earmarks in this bill alone. And, according to this, 104 of those belong to 'Miss Louisiana Purchase', Senator Mary Landieu (D), and 48 belong to Louisiana's 'Mister Tea Party Conservative', Senator David Vitter (R?).

Which beings up an interesting point: How bad are our Bayou Congresscritters when it comes to bribing us with our own money; or, more accurately, bribing us with money from the Red Chinese?

Well, in order to keep the public informed and small children amused (or, is that the other way around? -ed.), here's how many times in FY 2011 our Louisiana delegation has tried to put their mark on the sow's ear:

(Note: Each 'page' represents 20 requests for an ear-mark, but the last page may not be full - so it's not a straight multiplication to get the number of requests. -ed.)

Senators:

Mary Landrieu (D): 36 pages.
Surprised? She sold her vote on Health Care for $300 million, for pity's sake. Hope she has a fallback job lined up for 2015.

David Vitter (R): 10 pages.
Eh tu, David?... Tea Partiers don't like being cheated on. We have long memories, and Internet connections. You better straighten up. Fast.


Representatives:

Steve Scalise (R-01): None.

Joseph Cao (R-02): 4 pages.
Considering his district, not really a surprise. But, it makes his post-election turn to the right seem pretty hollow. Expect a lot more requests from Democrat Cedric Richmond come January.

Charlie Melancon (D-03): 4 pages.
Like a good Democrat, Charlie was getting while the getting was good. Don't expect the same from Republican Jeff Landry in January.

John Fleming (R-04): None.

Rodney Alexander (R-05): None.

Bill Cassidy (R-06): None.

Charles Boustany (R-07): None.