Stinginess with public dollars (comment to US News story April 16, 2010)
I externed for the federal district court judge Harry L. Hupp a few years back. I still remember that when it came time for the annual judicial conference, which took place at the Dana Point Ritz Carleton that year, Judge Hupp disapproved of the extravagance for a government meeting. I do not begrudge such judges anything as they are remarkable high-achievers, accepting far less in salary than they would receive in the private sector, but I will say that his attitude made an impression on me, as does that of Clarence Thomas, reported here.
The public purse is a strange beast, where it is all but impossible for the spenders of it to feel the pain of those who give it through their taxes. It is not just these two judges who exemplify careful stewardship of public funds, but we would be well to have this attitude infect our congressional leaders, rather than the ethic we have now, which is still, The more you bring home the bacon by steering public funds into your district, the more likely you are to get personal support in your re-election campaign.
If Justice Thomas’ ethic were pervasive, the public would feel much better about paying its share of taxes and about the government those taxes fund.
An archive of Marc Seltzer's writing about US Supreme Court cases and blogging on political topics 
The people who have been on disability and unemployment sure know how to spend the little that they get from this goverment, most of their check is ate up by just trying to pay the bills that they need to in order to exist, what little that is left usually had to go to buy the meds that they need to live. I’m not talking about designer drugs, I’m talking about life sustaining meds.
I have a sister who earns $517.00 a month on retirement and has applied for medicade and was turned down b/c the hernia surgery that she has wil enable her to go back to work, you heard me right, will enable her to return to work. She is 66 years old and has to have this surgery b/c of the pain she is in and has been turned down by medicade to help ellimate the costs that she will incure when this surgery is done. They will not do the surgery until June and she has to suffer and do without life sustaining things such as her food and shelter,( she is moving in with her daughter.) It has come to this after working 50 years of her life. It hurts her so much that most of her time is spent looking for other ways that she can lower her cost of living. What a wicked world we live in…….Her siste….r Helen