Graduate student interns love early exploration of their territory around the stately Willard Manor 2.0.
After searching this border, no vandals or Visigoth incursions were found, so we were able to admire the beauty of this particular day. When I got home, I commented to the CEO, “All the signs are in place for a great day.”
She recognized this and continued to work as CEO. But I stopped and thought. “That term, earmark, doesn't seem to have anything to do with weather forecasting. Where did it come from?
Well, it was first noticed in 16th century England.
In 1541 a suit for libel was brought to the King's Court. The defamatory statement included: “George Butler accused Robert Hawke of one mare.'' Earmarks are cuts or marks on the ears of domesticated mammals such as cows, goats, camels, sheep, and pigs that indicate ownership or year of birth.
This practice, which involved registering ear marks, was common until around the 1950s, when ear tags were used in place of marks, as colored tags could convey more information than ear marks.
It also gave some of the more ostentatious cows a more appealing flare, leading to the phrase “making a silk purse in a sow's ear.” No, that's just me being weird. ” – The proverb about silk wallets appeared in his 1500s, so plastic tags were not in fashion at that time.
The proliferation of usage marks in the 19th and 20th centuries led to the designation of identification marks and usage marks.
And you might ask, “Where did that lead us, Jim?” Sadly, that brings us to politics.
For centuries, it was common for Congress to focus money on projects that favored members.
Let me say that the first example of this approach dates back to the Lighthouse Act of 1789.
The purpose of this act was to build lighthouses at specific points on the Atlantic coast.
Although the Pacific Coast existed at the time, it was 16 years before Lewis and Clark, so there was no mention of the Pacific Coast in the documents.
There is no information about the deputies involved, but they were male and from Pennsylvania.
Although recent quotas are an equal opportunity proposition, for centuries it has belonged to men.
Citizens Against Government Waste defines earmarks as line items in spending bills that bypass normal budget procedures and designate funds for specific purposes.
To meet the Earmark definition, a project must meet at least one of the following, but most projects meet at least two: Requests from only one Congress. Not specifically authorized. Has not won any competitive awards. This is not a request from the president. Significantly exceeds the President's budget request or prior year funding. Not subject to Congressional hearings. or those that serve only local or special interests.
From this list of asides, you may have guessed that the term came from the designated pig. The analogy would be the distribution of pork barrel bills among the affected members of the political machine.
According to the latest statistics I could find, legislators in one southern state won a total of more than $2 billion in 716 elections during the period.
This equates to $673 per resident in the state, which is much lower than the amount paid to the federal government. And I sincerely wonder if much of it actually reached the people it was intended for.
I won't go into detail about “The Bridge To Nowhere.”
At lower levels of governance, decisions are much more difficult to make and allocating funds to projects is easier to track.
Having said that, I think I will withdraw my request for federal funding for Willard University's journalism project.
