Porkbusters!
September 19, 2005
Posted by John Tant at September 19, 2005 01:12 PM
The trackback entry for this page is : http://www.inthehat.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/1090
Emboldened by this post from Michelle Malkin, I thought I'd do a little digging and see what fat could be cut from my state of Virginia.
Ho boy.
In 2005, Virginia received $250,000 for an "Art Museum of Western Virginia in Roanoke for planning and construction of a new museum." Hm. I'm thinking Roanoke can pay for their own bloody museum.
Fairfax County received $400,000 "for the drinking water infrastructure improvements associated with the Electric Reliability Project." Let 'em buy bottled water like the rest of us. And we'll throw in the ~3.5 MILLION dollars going to similar programs across the state. Hey, you want water infrastructure improvements in your city? How about YOU PAY FOR THEM?!?
The Boys and Girls club of Alexandria received $97,000 "for renovation and expansion of its facility." I'm sorry, I thought they were a private charity-type organization. Why are they getting federal dollars?
The town of Appomattox is getting $150,000 for "facilities construction of an African-American cultural and heritage museum at the Carver-Price building." Great. Where's the Italian-American cultural and heritage museum in Appomattox? What, there isn't one? Then screw you, Appomattox.
More from Fairfax. $200,000 for "City of Fairfax for the City of Fairfax Downtown Redevelopment Project." Putting aside the fact that these types of projects usually revolve around perks for the people managing the project, why are the Feds even putting money toward a redevelopment project for Fairfax? Let the city pay for it.
And this is from a very cursory review from my database search. There is a lot more, ranging from work done on many of Virginia roads (hey, isn't that why we have VDOT?!?) to various anti-gang initiatives (I have an idea...give every homeowner in NoVA an M-1 Garand rifle with 100 rounds of ammo, then turn them loose in a Take-My-City-Back night) to, and I'm not kidding here, $450k for a dental clinic for Martinsville Virginia.
The next time some moronic politician says I'm not paying my fair share, I'm going to ask him exactly what's fair about paying for crap like this.
Technorati Tag: porkbusters
Posted by John Tant at September 19, 2005 01:12 PM
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Comments
| # September 19th, 2005 3:56 PM BVBigBro |
| The state pork is nothing. How about the 104 BILLION NASA says its' going to spend to send a man to the moon? |
| # September 20th, 2005 5:53 AM thegameiam |
| Whether or not you agree with what NASA's doing, they're a legitimate Federal (as opposed to State) enterprise: we do want a national policy vis-a-vis space, and there are national security and policy considerations.
Now, personally, I think that NASA the organization has pretty much outlived its usefulness, and the right way to get us into space is to have private firms compete outside the NASA structure - like the Ansari X-prize, for instance. As for the amount, don't forget that all the money NASA spends is spent here on Earth, so even at worst, it ends up being a jobs program for people with PhDs - however, at best, we get all kinds of useful spinoffs from their research. |
| # September 20th, 2005 8:02 AM james |
| tang is pretty good |
| # September 20th, 2005 8:46 AM JohnTant |
| Well, the 104 billion is over more than one year I think. But the point is made, sure.
I think the previous poster (I'm not even gonna try to decipher your name!) makes a good point about NASA itself being obsolete. I agree, I think NASA has become too mired in bureaucracy to properly fulfill its mission. The Cato Institute says it should be done away with in favor of private space exploration. While I don't know about going quite that far (mainly because I haven't researched the subject), I do think that if we put in some Pete Wilson Post Northridge Earthquake thinking, we could probably land on the moon for considerably less than 104 billion dollars. And one final point...it's true that the 104 billion is spent here on Earth. But if it were never taken from the taxpayer to begin with, it would still be spent on Earth. |
| # September 20th, 2005 9:06 AM BVBigBro |
| My points are: NASA will never do it for even double what they say it will cost now, they will never get there when they say they will get there, and if they do eventually get there, it won't be worth 1/10 of the money it cost. We need some space capability for defense purposes. That could be done by the pentagon or a drastically reduced NASA.
How about 104 billion on finding practical alternative energy sources? |
| # September 20th, 2005 11:44 PM Laura |
| Last year, Senator Mary Landrieu sent out a brag letter explaining how she got x number of million in federal funding for our Louisiana DNA database and detailing other porcine victories.
I wrote her back to ask why my Yankee relatives ought to pay to help convict LA criminals, and would she please explain why that is anybody's problem other than LA residents? I got back the same old, "Rest assured," letter, of which I already had at least 6 variations with her signature. I don't think it's possible to hold these people's feet to the fire. They must be issued teflon shoes when they're sworn into Congress or something. But if I had time to do the research, I bet I could find enough pork and stolen/mismanaged funds in LA to rebuild us and the MS Gulf coast too. |
| # September 21st, 2005 11:58 AM Porkopolis |
| I've put together a spreadsheet of 5,091 earmarks (All 50 States) as part of the analysis of the Highway Bill with respect to Ohio's pork.
Spreadsheet (in zip format): HighwayBill.zip detailing $14,823,809,666 in earmarks. |
| # September 21st, 2005 12:17 PM james |
| i like the spreadsheet, porkopolis, but so many of the entries are for work on US highways or on Interstate highways, which i assume that the federal govt is primarily responisble for.
am i missing something? |
| # September 21st, 2005 12:32 PM JohnTant |
| I should make a minor clarification to my post.
In the face of my (relatively) minor dollar amounts I've received a few notes pointing me to guys who have picked out pork in multi-million dollar batches in other states. I'm not trying to say that the money Virginia is getting in pork is significantly less than other states. I'm sure there's lots and lots more that should be trimmed. But I just did a quick scan of the database I linked and picked out items which were both ridiculous and clear examples of waste and/or inappropriateness, while keeping the post relatively short. I didn't mean to suggest that my list was all-inclusive, and I regret that it may have appeared that I was. |
| # September 22nd, 2005 11:19 PM PopCulture |
| "I'm sorry, I thought they were a private charity-type organization. Why are they getting federal dollars?"
UMMMM..."faith based initiatives" anyone? |
| # September 22nd, 2005 11:21 PM PopCulture |
| "The town of Appomattox is getting $150,000 for "facilities construction of an African-American cultural and heritage museum at the Carver-Price building." Great. Where's the Italian-American cultural and heritage museum in Appomattox? What, there isn't one? Then screw you, Appomattox."
Uh, no. screw you for not knowing your American history: http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/appomatx.htm |
| # September 22nd, 2005 11:27 PM PopCulture |
| "The next time some moronic politician says I'm not paying my fair share, I'm going to ask him exactly what's fair about paying for crap like this."
Okay you win. Fuck everything you have no interest in. Somehow I think projects like the TVA, rural electrification, and a billion other projects that have improved overall life in america, lowered birthrate deaths (that still have a LONG way to improve) etc prove that every once in a while, the Fed steps in and REALLY hooks people up- more than enough to excuse $100k for poor kids to have a safe place to assemble and play. Even if it does not directly benefit you. |
| # September 22nd, 2005 11:44 PM james |
| you wnat kids to have $100k, popculture?
go give them $100,000 of your own money. as it stands now, you have have no right to spend mine. or maybe i should just send you my bank account numbers, so you can spend my money on any cause that you deem "worthy?" |
| # September 22nd, 2005 11:48 PM PopCulture |
| as a nation we are larger than the sum of our states.
Its been widely documented that red states currently (and historically) recieve FAR more federal money than blue states. How does this equate with your "conservative" financial views??? Please explain! |
| # September 22nd, 2005 11:55 PM james |
| trolls are unwelcome here.
thanks for stopping by. |
| # September 23rd, 2005 12:46 AM BVBigBro |
| No, red states don't really receive more money than blue states, and even less if you factor in that farm subsidies should really be considered as going to consumers largely in urban areas, and not to farmers. |
| # September 23rd, 2005 8:24 AM BrianH |
| BV,
You can't use facts and logic to dispute a Lib troll. They are immune. |
| # September 23rd, 2005 9:43 AM JohnTant |
Well, I guess I'll take each comment in turn.
UMMMM..."faith based initiatives" anyone? You are assuming I'm onboard with giving federal money to those either. Uh, no. screw you for not knowing your American history: Train leaving for "Missed The PointVille from platform seven. If the town of Appomattox wants a museum, they can darn well pay for it themselves. OR they can hit up a group of investors willing to pony up for it. And not to get all racial (again), but if African Americans can merit a "cultural and heritage" museum with Federal dollars then I say we have an Italian American museum too. Isn't it the Black Caucus that complains about underrepresentation? Well, in Appomattox it certainly appears the Italians are underrepresented. I'm oppressed!!! Okay you win. Fuck everything you have no interest in. Somehow I think projects like the TVA, rural electrification, and a billion other projects that have improved overall life in america, lowered birthrate deaths (that still have a LONG way to improve) etc prove that every once in a while, the Fed steps in and REALLY hooks people up- more than enough to excuse $100k for poor kids to have a safe place to assemble and play. Even if it does not directly benefit you. Well, this is a first...equating the dental clinic in Martinsville with the TVA. And then it's followed up by the tired old saw that if the Feds are spending tons of money on something "important," they can certainly spend a little money on something inappropriate. Logically that makes no sense, no matter how many bottles of scotch you're drinking. Incidentally, if I have interest in something that doesn't automatically mean I think the US Government should pay for it. I have a healthy interest in satellite radio, but taxpayers should not foot my bill. In other words, what I am opposed to is broad taxation for exclusive benefit, and the dollar amount doesn't factor into my opinion all that much. |
| # September 23rd, 2005 10:46 AM BVBigBro |
| Popculture has a point about the whole being greater than the sum of the parts, and I think the far greater problem is federal spending that is not pork for a particular state. |
| # September 23rd, 2005 12:33 PM BrianH |
| Yes, pork is only a small part of the problem, but you have to start somewhere. |