Re: 'I'm Just a Citizen'

Andrew reports that Rep. Weiner's is sticking to his story that alleged hacking of his computer is not a federal crime and, since he's "just a citizen," he can't really report it. As I noted yesterday, computer hacking is a federal crime (as well as a state crime), and one the authorities actually encourage ordinary citizens to report.

But look, we're broke and we need to cut unnecessary spending. I wonder if Rep. Weiner would support slashing the Justice Department budget, which is now close to $30 billion. Much of what DOJ does can be handled by state and local law enforcement. And we hardly need to maintain expensive websites and support staff to encourage citizens to report crimes if members of Congress -- even Big Gummint leftwing Democrat members of Congress -- are telling the public those crimes are too trivial to expend public resources on. What do you say, Congressman? How 'bout we cut, say, $25 billion or so -- that'll leave more than enough to deal with any "second rising of bin Laden" (though I don't know if it'll cover the pension plan).