Transparency. That's a joke right?

If you looked carefully at the Change.gov site (that's the Obama Administration's transition website), you'd come to the following page. If you take a close look at the content of the page, you'd read:

End the Practice of Writing Legislation Behind Closed Doors: As president, Barack Obama will restore the American people's trust in their government by making government more open and transparent. Obama will work to reform congressional rules to require all legislative sessions, including committee mark-ups and conference committees, to be conducted in public. By making these practices public, the American people will be able to hold their leaders accountable for wasteful spending and lawmakers won't be able to slip favors for lobbyists into bills at the last minute.

Now, pardon me for being cynical, but hasn't this ethical mantra already been violated? I mean, here we are with the absolute biggest piece of legislation (in dollars) to EVER be passed, and they're hammering the details...where? Are they on the floor with all congressional members involved? You know, from both parties (since they're so bipartisan)?

No. They're behind closed doors. Talk about your transparency. Check this out, but here's the important part:

Reid also said he and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi met yesterday with Obama to discuss a compromise. White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and Budget Director Peter Orszag met behind closed doors with Democrats about a plan.

Oh wait - I just re-read the statement. It said that Obama will work toward more transparency. Oh ok...I guess we can just do that after this bill, right? Got it.

You're doing a great job of restoring my trust. Keep it up.

The icing on the cake, however, is the so-called compromise that the Democrats have reached. They reduced the overall cost, but I don't know if they think this will appease us or infuriate us. Then again, they probably don't care.

This is how it happened. No, really, it did...

Them: "Hey guys and gals and transgenders and aliens, both legal and illegal! We wanted to let you in on the good news! We reduced the bill by like, $100 billion bucks!"

Us: "Holy crap - that's awesome! What did you get rid of? That ridiculous Smithsonian thing?"

Them: "Huh? Oh-HA! That's a good one..."

Us: "The STD stuff?"

Them: "Dwellings-of-higher-powers-of-various-religions no! Try again."

Us: [dismayed] "Let me guess. All the stuff that Republicans got squeezed in there?"

Them: "BINGO! I knew you'd get it! You know, like the tax credits for homebuyers, the auto interest deductions..."

Us: "Oh, well. I guess that's to be expected."
Them: "Hey there, cheer up. We let Arlen Specter keep his $10 billion for the National Institute of Health in there! HE'S a Republican."

Us: [stares blankly]

Them: "You know...cause he, like, voted with us and stuff."

[crickets begin chirping]

Them: "Sooo..anyway. That's the good news. Later."

Us: "Hang on! Is there any bad news?"

Them: "No! Oh no no nooooo no........Yes."

Us: ?

Them: "The per-worker credit was also reduced and will essentially amount to only $13 bucks extra per paycheck. Toodle-oo!"
[Then they walk off and fist bump each other saying "One ta nuthin!"]

I wish I could say that I hope this succeeds, but I don't. I honestly hope it fails miserably. Luckily, I feel pretty safe in this happening. Don't get me wrong - I want our economy to boom again, but not at the expense of increasing the already size-gazillion government foothold over...practically everything.

We'll see...