"Truth-O-Meter" Vol. I, No.4

"And the Truth shall set you free"

Well, fellow Truth-seekers, it's time again to delve into the slime of the Nameless Campaign for another installment of the "Truth-O-Meter".

This time, we will depart from the usual format and talk about having it both ways. The Nameless Campaign seems to want to be able to bash Our Congressman for travel except when that travel would allow him to attend some low-priority meeting that they can bash him for not attending when he doesn't travel to it ... still with me? Confusing, I know. But when you are telling this many lies, it's really hard to keep them all straight.

So, strap on your "Truth-seeker Utility Belt" and don your Truth-seeker Special X-ray glasses as we expose yet another example of the NC's hypocrisy. This one's a gem.

The "heroes" over at the Nameless Campaign beat up Our Congressman for missing a "Wilmington, Ohio feild hearing of the Government Reform subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy & Human Resources on proposals to address the problem of small, clandestine methamphetamine-producing laboratories ..." on Tuesday, August 23 (2005) and another "Boston, Massachusetts field hearing of the Government Reform's subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy & Human Resources on (get this) federal management of northeast national parks ... " the next day, Wednesday, August 24 (2005). Both of these events took place during the August "recess" or, as the Congress affectionately refers to it: "The August District Work Period".

Now, it is important to understand something about "field hearings". These are hearings that are conducted, usually in a committee members' district, usually by a subcommittee, usually for some local perspective on an issue that is before the committee. They are usually attended by one or two members, and committee staff. All of the testimony is part of the "official record".

Now then, in order for Our Congressman to be at these meetings, it would require the taxpayer (that's you and me) to spring for the Member, and probably a staffer, to fly, get a room, eat, fly again, get a room, eat, and then fly back. In addition, it would require the Member, and probably the staffer, to NOT be in the district, during the district work period, attending to the needs of the constituents of his or her district. The question then becomes: "Is it more important to be talking about management of the national parks in Boston, or Economic Development and Jobs in Indiana? I will stipulate that meth is a bad thing, but is it more important to spend the day talking about meth problems in Ohio, or actually working with law enforcement here in Indiana to give them the tools they need to actually fight the meth problem here in Indiana?

But the hypocrisy doesn't end there! These geniuses actually say, are you ready ...

"In August, Burton missed both of his committee and subcommittee meetings (100%) for which transcripts are available online." (emphasis added)

Let your humble Dumpster Diver point out just two things about that statement. At the risk of being "Mr. Obvious" here, there was no "committee" meeting in August. Both of the meetings these knuckleheads are talking about were meetings of the same subcommittee. Remember now, one day apart in two different places, but the same subcommittee. The other, more subtle item of interest, is that the transcripts are available online. Thereby confirming that Our Congressman (and his crack staff) aren't the only ones who have access to the spell-binding information presented by the good people of the "Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts" museum, or the "Friends of Arcadia National Park" society. While I am sure that the testimony of the Director of the "Ohio High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area" was "must read" material, I wonder if it was any better delivered in person, since these folks generally read prepared statements that have been submitted "for the record." (and which, as pointed out above are available online!)

Does anybody else feel as sorry for this misanthropic group of amateurs as we do for the Luv-Guv and his happy Hooker gal-pal? At the risk of kicking these guys while they're down, your humble flack-meister thinks these dilettantes are going to be, if not currently, the biggest cocktail party joke in town.

Back on message. You can't have it both ways, fellas. You can't beat up Our Congressman for not being in the district and then complain that he's not in Boston at a meeting. You can't beat him up for official travel that you think wastes the taxpayers money and then beat him up for not doing travel to things that actually wastes taxpayers money.

See, this is what happens when you get so desperate that the left hand can't keep all the lies and distortions that the right hand is telling straight. What little credibility you ever have is diminished exponentially by this kind of stunt politics. But, please, keep it up! We're lovin' all this new material!

Fellow Truth-seekers, stay tuned. We're going to keep documenting the misrepresentations and tortured distortions of the Nameless Campaign's spiral into oblivion. More to come ... because these guys just can't help themselves.