http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/20 ... sts-in-dc/

Oops.

Sarah Palin likes to tell voters around the country about how she “put the government checkbook online” in Alaska. On Thursday, Palin suggested she would take that same proposal to Washington.

“We’re going to do a few new things also,” she said at a rally in Cedar Rapids. “For instance, as Alaska’s governor, I put the government’s checkbook online so that people can see where their money’s going. We’ll bring that kind of transparency, that responsibility, and accountability back. We’re going to bring that back to D.C.”

There’s just one problem with proposing to put the federal checkbook online – somebody’s already done it. His name is Barack Obama.

In 2006 and 2007, Obama teamed up with Republican Sen. Tom Coburn to pass the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act, also known as “Google for Government.” The act created a free, searchable web site – USASpending.gov — that discloses to the public all federal grants, contracts, loans and insurance payments.

In June of this year, Obama and Coburn introduced new Senate legislation to expand the information available online to include details on earmarks, competitive bidding, criminal activities, audit disputes and other government information.

Palin repeatedly accuses Obama of never having lifted a finger, or ever trying to pass bipartisan legislation, certainly of never accomplishing anything.

But then again, she's a pathological liar. Or completely empty-headed. Either way.

Good god. Obama has been talking about this accomplishment the entire campaign. It's prominent on his web page. And she doesn't even know that.

There’s just one problem with proposing to put the federal checkbook online – somebody’s already done it. His name is Barack Obama.

In 2006 and 2007, Obama teamed up with Republican Sen. Tom Coburn to pass the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act, also known as “Google for Government.” The act created a free, searchable web site – USASpending.gov — that discloses to the public all federal grants, contracts, loans and insurance payments.

Those two items don't equal putting the federal checkbook online, so the answer as I'm reading it is that Obama has NOT already done it. What a sick article.

It's getting REALLY annoying seeing the GOP ticket keep stealing things from the Dems.

First the Change slogan. Then the glass ceiling. Now this. And I'm sure I'm leaving out a lot of other stuff. *rolls eyes*

That BITCH.

Then you're reading it wrong. Obama has done what Palin is describing, whatever the semantics. No one is literally going to put the federal checkbook online. She's talking about the kind of transparency in spending that Obama has already helped enact.

And my real issue here is not that she stole the idea. It's that she's touting an idea that Obama worked across the aisle to pass, while at the same time she lambasts Obama for never accomplishing anything or working with Republicans.

She's a liar and a hypocrite.

What Palin should propose is a website that enables people to access (in one place and for FREE!!!!!!!) federal court cases and regulatory laws/decisions. These things influence many people's lives and unless you can afford Westlaw/Lexis or live near a law library, you're sol. Loislaw and Cornell are sorta nice but way underdeveloped.

If the website existed, poor people might have access to better lawyers due to the costs of running your own library or subscribing to a service.

Yeah, helping the poor. THAT'S a way to excite the Republican base. You DO know what party you're in, don't you? She might as well propose a website that helps gay people find lawyers to fight for abortion rights of their illegal Mexican immigrant babies.

She is just stupid. The lying and hypocrisy are a result of that.

It does exist. I don't have the URL handy because I don't practice federally, but it's all available. On the state level here in PA there are web pages I go to in order to see the status of cases and to read the decisions once they are finished.

Yea, there's Loislaw and Thomas and Cornell that provide lots of free stuff, but they aren't anywhere near as crossreferenced and old as Westlaw and Lexis. You can also visit courts (District, Circuit, S.C. and states) for rules and administrative agencies for regulations, but I like the one-stop nature of Westlaw.

Yeah, but Westlaw is expensive; I was referring to free sites.