A "Dr. No" I Can Believe In!!!

Sen. Tom Coburn, M.D. (R. Okla.)

When I hear laudatory commentary from both Fox Talk Radio and Air America about the same person on the same ride home from my day behind walls and barbed wire (another story for another time) ... it's worth my while to listen up, I think.

Basically, they were both heralding the courage and common sense of Dr. Tom Coburn (a US Senator in his off-time) who took notice of the fact that Of the 890 bills that have been passed in the 110th Congress, only 50 of them have been debated. For simply insisting that the Senate debate a bill before it is passed, Coburn has been labeled “Dr. No” by nearly all politicians and persons with a fork in the pork, so to speak.

Interestingly, neither Barack Obama and John McCain are among these sneaky legislators (liberals and conservatives) with selfish agendas. It speaks well of them both that they co-sponsored a bill with Senator Coburn back in 2006 that called for "transparency" in our spending. Coburn, at that time, introduced the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act, which requires the full disclosure of all entities or organizations receiving federal funds. This was so that Americans could better hold government accountable for wasteful spending.

Problem is: What good is that bill today if the legislation passes through to law without even being debated? Data are simply data ... nothing more, unless the persons who vote on the bills have access to those data in the course of DEBATING!!

Count me among the "Dr. No's" in this great country.