SPENDING IN CONGRESS ISN'T PRETTY SIGHT

The spectacle of politicians spending money usually isn't a pretty sight. So it is again this year as Congress struggles to pass the appropriations bills that contain the federal budget. "Spending bill contains many hometown projects," read the headline over a recent Associated Press dispatch.

Included is $10,000 for Los Angeles to build a new archway in its Chinatown, $1 million for New York's Carnegie Hall, $500,000 to rehabilitate the Sitka Pioneer Home in Sitka, Alaska, and $400,000 to build a memorial in Springfield, Mass., for native son Theodore Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss. "The bill once faced a veto threat," continues the AP story, "but that vanished after Republicans agreed to add $7 billion above what the House originally approved." In other words, the congressional spenders had to add $7 billion to appease the spenders in the executive branch.

At this rate, Congress can't finish the budget and get out of town soon enough. Perhaps when that happens, our lives and property will be safe once again.