PUBLIC MARKS with tags government & money

The topics will be on pretty much anything covered in the news that catches my eye in either economics or politics (Incredibly broad, so I shouldn't run out of content). I'm not doing this to make money, just to put my thoughts out there and be active in my interests.

One of the things the President and his evacuation team must do is follow the law -- or at least people say the President is not above the law, so it’s better that he obeys it. A law especially pertinent to this situation is the 2003 Foreign Relations Authorization Act, which -- in part -- requires the government to charge evacuees commercial fare plus a dollar for government evacuation. Obeying the law, the State Department had planned to make the evacuating Americans sign a note pledging to reimburse the U.S. government before they got on board. They were charging the price of a single commercial flight from Beirut to Cyprus -- usually $150-$200. When House Minority leader Nancy Pelosi heard about this, she quickly asked her staff to find the nearest microphone. They found CNN, to which Pelosi declared, “A nation that can provide more than $300 billion for a war in Iraq can provide the money to get its people out of Lebanon.” ()() Incidentally, Nancy voted for the law which requires the state department to charge evacuees. Didn't she read the bill before voting for it?

A congressman under investigation for bribery was caught on videotape accepting $100,000 in $100 bills from an FBI informant whose conversations with the lawmaker also were recorded, according to a court document released Sunday. Agents later found the cash hidden in his freezer. At one audiotaped meeting, Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., chuckles about writing in code to keep secret what the government contends was his corrupt role in getting his children a cut of a communications company's deal for work in Africa. ()() But if you believe the MSM the Democrats are pure as the driven snow. Only Republicans are supposed to be acting like this.

Upstate leaders call Clemson University's automotive research center critical to the nation, but a fiscal watchdog group said Wednesday federal money for the center is nothing more than "pork." In its annual "Pig Book," Citizens Against Government Waste dismissed the $100,000 for the International Center for Automotive Research Park Innovation (ICAR) with nine words: "Yes, they are racing away with our tax dollars."

A multi-million dollar restoration project will expend $24,000 to reconstruct a "historic toilet" on the first floor of a 1912 courthouse, authorities said.

Perhaps you've heard the one about the 700 firefighters from a variety of states who volunteered to do rescue work following Hurricane Katrina? They sat in a hotel room in Atlanta for days getting sexual harassment training from FEMA officials. No joke. Note to Republicans eager to shovel new money at federal agencies: This is the way government works.

I've been dropping hints in previous columns about the FairTax proposal. Now the time is ripe to examine this idea.