Waste Book 2012 by Sen. Tom Coburn, M.D. (PDF file)
Senator Coburn, is a government pork/waste gadfly in the United States Senate.
Often humorous descriptions call attention to many programs or policies that appear to be pure waste.
I say “appear to be pure waste” because Senator Coburn’s reports are islands of commentary, in a sea crowded with such islands.
There is no opportunity to “connect the dots” with additional information, such as rebuttals, changes in agency policy or practices, or even the personnel responsible for the alleged waste.
Imagine a football (U.S. or European) stadium where every fan has a bull horn and is shouting their description of each play. That is the current status of reporting about issues in the U.S. federal government.
Senator Coburn’s latest report may be described in several thousand news publications, but other than its being issued, that group of shouts should be reduced to 1. The rest are just duplicative noise.
The Waste Book tries to do better than conservative talk radio or its imagined “liberal” press foe. The Waste Book cites sources for the claims that it makes. Over 1,000 footnote islands.
“Islands” because like the Waste Book, it isn’t easy to connect them with other information. Or to debate those connections.
Every increase in connection difficulty increases the likelihood of non-verficiation/validation. That is, you will just take their word for it.
The people who possess information realize that.
Why do you think government reports appear as nearly useless PDF files? Or why media stories, even online, are leaden lumps of information, that quickly sink in the sea of media shouting.
Identifiable someones, want you to “take their word” for any number of things.
They are counting your job, family and life in general leaving too little time for any other answer.
How would you like to disappoint them?
(More to follow on capturing information traffic between footnote “islands” and how to leverage it for yourself and others.)