Tuesday, May 8th, 2007

Clarification: Several of you wrote me after the last e-mail to point out that Senator Joe Lieberman is an Independent and not a Democrat as I had indicated. Although the Senator ran his last election as an Independent he now calls himself an "Independent Democrat" and caucuses with the Democrats. So I guess we're both right.

Warning: You will receive a series of laptop reports this week. These are not for the weak of heart. Some of you may find the contents of these reports to be very disturbing, particularly if you value liberty and have respect for the dignity and choices of individuals. Be aware that freedom lovers may react to these reports with rapid movements and cries of anguish that could damage nearby breakable objects. In the event this occurs, however, do not immediately call a trail lawyer to begin class action proceedings. That will merely result in the payment of large attorney's fees, and, as is often the case, the "injured party" (you) will get a nice gift certificate. Instead, vent your frustration in political activism for change.

You have been warned.

Phayre's Leaf Monkeys: You probably have never heard of a Phayre's leaf monkey. Neither had I, until last week, when the House voted on the reauthorization of the spending for the National Science Foundation. Never mind that the bill increased spending in excess of 25% over 3 years. I found 7 specific items of spending that were in the bill to be of particular interest. They were:

• Study the social relationships and reproductive strategies of Phayre's leaf monkeys
• Study of the sexual politics of waste in Dakar, Senegal
• Study of the cognitive model of superstitious belief
• Research the archives of Andean knotted-string records
• Study the accuracy in the cross-cultural understanding of other's emotions
• Research of bison hunting on the late prehistoric great plains
• Study of team vs. individual play

Now, I will give the academics the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps all of these studies have some value to academicians and maybe the results are interesting to those who study these areas. That is not the question. The question is whether or not they rise to the level of public need that commands the use of taxpayer funds. We have a deficit. We are annually raiding the Social Security Trust Fund. The Democrats have proposed the largest tax increase in American history. Should we increase the deficit in order to better understand the sex practices of Phayre's leaf monkeys? Is it okay to take your Social Security money in order to have archives of Andean knotted-string records? Are you willing to increase your taxes for a report on the sexual politics of waste in Senegal? I'm not.

So, I proposed an amendment to strip these 7 projects and only these 7 projects out of the bill. It would have saved hundreds of thousands of dollars of your money. It failed by a vote of 195-222 on the floor of the House. If we cannot get a majority in this Congress to stop funding things like this, what will they vote to reduce? That's why I'm so adamant about not increasing taxes on anyone. We have to starve the beast of government because it will not go on a diet by itself.

You can click here to find out more about the monkey whose flirtations your tax dollars will likely now fund. Also, there is a link at the bottom of the page to the floor debate I conducted on this amendment. The debate is about 40 minutes long, however.

Oh, and one more thing. Two of the 7 studies are scheduled to take place at the University of California at Berkeley and one at Harvard University. Figures.

Until tomorrow, I remain respectfully,

Congressman John Campbell