Hastert says no to gobbeldygook!
(from Hastert's press conference today):

QUESTION: What does earmark reform mean? Does that mean getting rid of
earmarks?


HASTERT: That's something that we, first of all, want to do through
regular order. But an earmark means that somebody, first of all, says
that, I need have this project in my district. That's what members do.
I mean, they represent their districts. They take cases to Congress and
say that, We need this, or, I need help here, or, I believe that this
issue should move forward. In a lot of cases, the Senate plays
appropriation games. And you who are familiar with it watch that all
the time. They may move a lot of money in one area and we may put
earmarks in for water projects -- I'm talking about energy and water,
for instance, may put earmarks in for water projects or energy
projects, and all of a sudden, you know, they don't have any earmarks
in, and it gets a game back and forth, and things like NOAA become
projects that end up being earmarks for senators.


We need to make sure that, whatever we do, we do this on an equal
footing and there's a fairness across the board in both the House and
Senate. Quite frankly, we also have to observe the rights of members to
represent their districts and to be active in favor of things that they
think will help -- actually help maybe in health care issues or
educational issues, that they have a role in playing out.