air-dropping
n.— «Obey originally said House earmarks would be kept secret until they were inserted into the conference bill. By then, members cannot change them and can only vote up or down on the bill. Since the passage of earmarks is then all but a done deal, critics refer to it as “air-dropping.”…The “air-dropping” plans elicited howls that Democrats were reverting to the same cloak-and-dagger process that typified the practices of Cunningham and former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who once referred to earmark-laden appropriations bills as “favor factories.”» —“Obey shines light on earmarking process, but GOP”ˆlabels move a hollow gesture” by Mike Soraghan, Jackie Kucinich The Hill (Washington, D.C.) June 12, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
In 1971, when a new public library opened in Troy, Michigan, famous authors and artists were invited to write letters to the city’s youngest readers, extolling the many benefits of libraries. One of the loveliest was from E.B. White, author of...
There was a time when William Shakespeare was just another little seven-year-old in school. Classes in his day were demanding — and all in Latin. A new book argues that this rigorous curriculum actually nurtured the creativity that later flourished...