Lying weasels

They're still trying to fool all the people all the time:

The spending barons on Capitol Hill, long used to muscling past opponents of bills larded with pet projects, are seeking one last victory before tea party-backed GOP insurgents storm Congress intent on ending the good old days of pork-barrel politics.

You might call it the last running of the old bulls in Congress.

In the waning days of the lame duck congressional session, Democrats controlling the Senate — in collaboration with a handful of old school Republicans — are pushing to wrap $1.27 trillion worth of unfinished budget work into a single "omnibus" appropriations bill.

Their 1,900-plus-page bill comes to the floor this week stuffed with provisions sought by lawmakers. It contains thousands of pet projects, known as earmarks, pushed by Democratic and GOP senators alike — despite a pledge by Republicans to give up such projects next year.

"That omnibus bill will be loaded down with earmarks and pork-barrel spending, which is a direct — a direct — betrayal of the majority of voters on Nov. 2 who said 'Stop the earmarking, stop the spending, stop the pork-barrel projects,'" protested Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

Altogether, the bill contains about $8 billion worth of earmarks, less than in previous years since House Republicans didn't ask for any. The earmarked funds equal less than 1 percent of the measure.

If this really were the last gasp of the dinosaurs, that would be one thing. But it feels more like addicts having one last debauched bender before they go to rehab. "Yes, I am going to quit after this one, I really and truly am!" And there will be no relapses, no siree. Only $8 billion, wow! Thank goodness for House Republicans, I suppose.