Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uunet!aplcen!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!psuvax1!psuvm!auvm!VTVM1!CCCS From: CCCS@VTVM1.BITNET (todd pukanecz) Newsgroups: bit.listserv.politics Subject: (no subject given) Message-ID: <90043.2125.CCCS@VTVM1> Date: 12 Feb 90 21:25:27 GMT Sender: Forum for the Discussion of Politics Reply-To: Forum for the Discussion of Politics Lines: 38 Approved: NETNEWS@AUVM Gateway As a follow-up the the posting about Michigan's state dirt, I found an article in Sunday's Roanoke Times, which originally ran in the Washington Post. Here are some juicy excerpts... Thirty-eight percent of all the bills passed by Congress last year consisted of commemoration of time periods, according to Rep. Dave McCurdy, D-Okla. Last year, there was National Tap Dance Day, Patient Account Management Day, and the ever popular Drinking Water Week. McCurdy said that a survey of House members ... found that some spend 15 percent of their time on the commemorative process, even though most thought the time could be better spent. "The present method of desig- nating commemorative events is embarrassing, unfair and a poor use of Congressional time and resources," said Rep. Claudine Schneider, R-RI. Efforts to change the process are entombed in the House Post Office and Civil Service subcommittee on Census and Population. Rep. William Ford, D-Mich, suggested Congress couldn't afford the change. While Congres- sional Budget Office estimates a commission [dedicated to the commem- orative process] could save $100,000 on printing it would cost $300,000 to set up a new bureaucracy. "The record has been abused since there was a record," Ford said. "A member has a constitutional right to be a damn fool and to act like one." It seems that both federal and state governments "waste" alot of time on frivolous legislation. But it is done at the request of a group of constituents, so the legislator is merely responding to the will of the voters. This is an example of wanting/expecting too much from government and is a form of abuse of government. The bottom line is that congressmen wouldn't spend time on crap like this if your neighbors didn't ask them to. P.S. My apologies to the list for my reply to John Kelsey. I had my mailer send the reply without first double-checking the destination. -------- /^^\ ---- Todd Pukanecz ---- ---- CCCS@VTVM1 ---- ----- / > --- Ag. Econ. DPL --- "Reality is a sandwich that --- /\_ / @ \ -- Virginia Tech -- I did not order." - /________________> - Blacksburg VA - - ZIPPY THE PINHEAD