Cape Karen
I just found the most interesting website:
http://www.cagw.org/site/PageServer?pagename=reports_pigbook2006
"The Congressional Pig Book is the annual Citizen's Against Government Waste (CAGW) compilation of pork-barrel projects in the federal budget. The 2006 Pig Book has identified 9,963 projects in 11 appropriations bills that constitute the discretionary portion of the federal budget for fiscal 2006 ~ projects which are costing taxpayers $29 BILLION. A "pork" project is a line-item in an appropriations bill that designates our tax dollars for a specific purpose, in circumvention of established budgetary procedures." (This is a book that I think should be required reading, every year, for all our High School students.)
Unlike most of us, who are busy just trying to survive, the folks at CAGW are keeping a really close watch on where our tax dollars are going, and they are challenging our leaders to stop this nonsense. (Now I know where John Stossle gets his "Give me a Break"reports!) If you have some spare time on your hands, go to their website, and just read. It's unbelieveable! I've listed here ~ from the largest amounts to smallest amounts ~ just a few of their interesting "pork" discoveries this year, and have added some tongue-in-cheek comments, alongside.
$591,017,000.00 - For eight additional C-130J aircraft. This, even though the Department of Defense has rated the C-130J model unsatisfactory, citing deficiencies in its defensive systems, to name a few. (Half a billion dollars worth of deficient airplanes. Okay, sure . . . why not?)
$13,500,000.00 - For the International Fund for Ireland (IFI) which includes funding for the World Toilet Summit. (Could there be a better example of flushing away our money?)
$8,270,000.00 - For breath alcohol testing equipment, including $7,270,000.00 for Breathscan® non-invasive alcohol testing. (Gee. Thanks!)
$4,200,000.00 - For shrimp aquaculture research. (Huh? )
$2,500,000.00 - For out-of-this-world telescope explorations in CA. (Are they looking for aliens or in-coming asteroids?)
$2,300,000.00 - For the International Fertilizer Development Center in Michigan. (P-U!)
$1,000,000.00 - For the already-closed Philadelphia Navy Yard. (Could you repeat that, please? I don't think I heard you correctly.)
$1,000,000.00 - For the Waterfree Urinal Conservation Initiative. (See! They are just pissing away our money!)
$950,000.00 - For a parking facility at the Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha, Nebraska. (They need more parking space in Nebraska?)
$500,000.00 - For the construction of a Teapot Museum in Sparta, North Carolina, in the hopes that it will draw tourists to their town. (O' yeah ~ I'm on my way!)
$450,000.00 - For plantings on the eastern front of the Capitol. This will allow members of Congress a chance to “stop and smell the roses” before they proceed inside to plunge the country deeper into debt.
$400,000.00 - For acquiring a support building near Kam Wah Chung & Company Museum in John Day, Oregon. This amount of money could support the construction of 10 new buildings. (Go Kam Wah Chung!)
$365,000.00 - For the Center for Rural Studies project in the state of Vermont. Since 1992, $2 million has already been appropriated for this project. According to USDA testimony, "No formal evaluation of this project has ever been conducted.” (Oops!)
$350,000.00 - For the Chicago Greenstreets Program, to install and maintain 950 hanging flower baskets. (But . . . but . . . that's over $36,800.00 a basket! Are they lined with gold?)
$234,000.00 - For the National Wild Turkey Federation. (Oh'~ of course! For Cheney and his hunting buddies!)
$179,000.00 - For hydroponic tomato production research. Since 1998, $1.2 million has been appropriated for this research. (I think these special tomatoes are being developed to give to those who will be attending future White House press conferences.)
$100,000.00- For the Harpers Ferry Police Department in West Virginia. The "police department" consists of one part-time and two full-time police officers. (This is the same size police force as the fictional town of Mayberry on the Andy Griffith Show.)
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Hey! What can I say? These are just a few examples of what's going on with our tax dollars throughout the country. You can see that the things I listed above, are things that we just can't live without, right? I'm so speechless, that I'll just end this with another quote from CAGW (an organization I think we should all join, pronto!)
"The guilty pleas of lobbyist Jack Abramoff and former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham illustrate how pork-barrel projects, whether used as currency for re-election, or as political favors to well-connected individuals and businesses, have corrupted our political process. The historic lack of restraint in the appropriations process has helped to create a projected $371 billion-dollar budget deficit in fiscal 2006, and a National Debt of $8.5 TRILLION.
We're $8.5 Trillion in debt ~ and we still have a couple more years left of this 'wild and crazy' Administration. Whoa!
(And they wanted to impeach 'naughty-boy' Bill Clinton ~ who put us in the black, and gave us an economy to be proud of? Looking at the messes we're in today, how silly was that?)