WASHINGTON -- For the second straight day, minority House Republicans ground the House to a standstill Wednesday as they drove home their objections to a Democratic plan to deny a floor vote on lawmakers' thousands of pet projects.

Public anger over the surging number of special member projects called earmarks -- derided as pork barrel spending -- was a factor in the Republicans' loss of House control last November, GOP members concede, and now they say they've gotten religion on the need for openness in government.

Emphasis, of course, on "now".

...About 90% of the raving about pork-barrel spending is bullshit; these are mostly just projects that, however obscure, genuinely benefit people and cost little in the broad scheme of things. Sure, there are extreme examples -- see Bridge to Nowhere -- but for the most part these are things like municipal buildings, offices, public events, aid programs for needy subgroups, research funding, etc. The vast majority of them are respectable. And lawmakers know that.

But they're a hot issue with the public, because nobody likes to hear that their tax dollars are being wasted. Never mind that the vast majority of earmarks are for perfectly legitimate public use; at any moment some pissant congressional candidate, TV commentator or blogger can yell "Hey! You're paying for such-and-such boondoggle!" and next thing you know it's Fiscal Conservatism time again. Give me a break! Going from particular bits of congressional overspending to a sweeping criticism of spending as a whole is like saying "professional wrestling sucks, so let's ban all televised sports." But this is the caliber of political debate today.

Criticizing "earmarks" in general is the pinnacle of easy political bullshit -- Democrats have been guilty of this too -- and it's time we spoke honestly about it. I like government spending and I'm not afraid to say it. How about you?