THE BURNED OVER DISTRICT

Not even with your colleagues in Congress. So secretive are the Bushoviks that they used laws and rules to eliminate any oversight of the intelligence community. Congress is forced to buy a pig in a poke because everything is classified secret in the War on Terra, especially if it is embarassing to Our Dear Embattled Leader. The Boston Globe has a report on why Congress votes billions of dollars for bills they have never read.

Only about a dozen House members scheduled time this year to read the classified sections of the intelligence bill, according to a House Intelligence Committee spokesman. The estimate dovetailed with a Globe survey sent to all members of the House, in which the vast majority of the respondents -- including eight out of 10 in the Massachusetts delegation -- said they typically don't read the classified parts of intelligence bills.

``It's a trap," said Representative Russ Carnahan, Democrat of Missouri, referring to the rule that members must refrain from discussing items in the bill. ``Either way, you're flying blind."

The failure to read the bill, however, calls into question the vows of many House members to provide greater oversight of intelligence in the wake of pre-9/11 failures, mistakes about Iraq's weapons capability, and revelations about spying on Americans.

Unclassified versions of authorization and spending bills for intelligence activities are made public, but are purposely vague and do not include specifics of covert operations or even the aggregate cost of the bill. Lawmakers can read the classified portions of intelligence authorization and appropriations bills but must go through a strict security process and cannot discuss any aspects of the classified version.

In addition, the administration sometimes offers verbal briefings to some or all members of Congress. But some lawmakers said they also passed on these sessions, since participants are prohibited from future discussions of the information -- even if it is subsequently revealed in the media, as was the case with the recent disclosure of efforts to monitor overseas financial transactions.

The rules make open debate on intelligence policy and funding nearly impossible, lawmakers say. While members of Congress said they understood the need for some secrecy, many complained that the administration stamped as ``classified" information that should be subject to public debate.

``We ought to be doing a better job of oversight, [but] if you're not going to be able to question it or challenge it, that makes it difficult," said Representative Walter Jones , a North Carolina Republican.

The failure of individual members to read the bills or attend briefings puts a far greater onus on the House and Senate intelligence committees' reviews of secret programs.

But committee members in both parties say the administration gives them too little information, and sometimes waits until a program is about to be leaked before sharing it with the panels.

``Is the administration giving us everything we want or need? Of course not," said Representative William ``Mac" Thornberry , Republican of Texas and chairman of the oversight subcommittee of the House Intelligence Committee,

Secrets are power in DC and ODEL takes all power to himself.