Transparency? About As Clear As Mud

My mother always taught me to beware of salesmen who spent more time stressing the urgency of the purchase than they did extolling its benefits. That alone makes me very worried about the "Stimulus" Bill. We've been told much more about the need for immediate action than about what's actually in the bill.

So our noble leaders have come up with legislation that is reportedly more than 1000 printed pages. They intend to vote at 1 PM today on an agreement that was only reached last night. So much for the new era of transparency and the promise of having every piece of legislation on the Internet for at least 48 hours before the final vote.

To compound the problem, the lobbyists on K Street received their copies before Congressional staffers, according to U.S. News and World Report. No matter who got the bill first, no representative can possibly have read it, much less reflected on its implications, before the vote. And, as usual, those of us who have to pay for this, are left out in the dark -- until the tax bill comes.