|
Pork-barrel spending for
fiscal 2005 reached a record $27.3 billion,
according to CAGW, a 19% increase over last year. While just what counts
as "pork" is open to debate--one man's pork being another's essential
government service-- CAGW requires that pork meet at least one of seven
criteria, e.g., it's not competitively awarded, not subject to
congressional hearings, or it serves only a local or special interest.
Much of the spending noted by the group is dubious
indeed and takes place in the districts or states of powerful members of
congressional appropriations committees.
REALLY? WHAT A SURPRISE! IT
MUST BE NICE TO HAVE YOUR VERY OWN GOVERNMENTAL TREASURE TROUGH TO
FEED OUT OF. – SNOW OWL
Among the "awards" handed out
by CAGW this year:
• The Halls of Shame Award--for $1.4
million spent on various halls of fame, including
$75,000 for the Greater Syracuse Sports Hall of Fame and $70,000 for the
Paper Industry International Hall of Fame
LET’S SEE IF I GOT THIS
RIGHT. THERE ACTUALLY IS A HALL OF FAME FOR THE PAPER
INDUSTRY...INTERNATIONAL EVEN? EXCUSE ME, I HAVE TO GO TO THE CORNER
AND CRY A BIT.
SNOW OWL
• The
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Pork Award--for $100,000 to the Tiger Woods
Foundation for "at risk" youth programs in Los Alamitos, Calif.
TIGER WOODS NEEDS A “GIFT”
FROM THE GOVERNMENT? THEN AGAIN, THE GOVERNMENT STAYS TRUE TO FORM:
$100,000 FOR KIDS AND $2,000,000 TO BUY BACK A BOAT THEY SHOULDN’T
HAVE SOLD IN THE FIRST PLACE…DARE I ASK WHAT THE SELLING PRICE WAS
WHEN THE GOVERNMENT DECIDED TO SELL MORE HISTORY? – SNOW OWL
• The
Sapping the Taxpayers Award--for $6.3 million spent on wood-use
research
SURE, LIKE STAKES FOR
VAMPIRES. – SNOW OWL
• The La Pork-a-Racha
Award--for $25,000 to the Clark County School
District in Nevada to develop a curriculum for the study of mariachi
music
OK, YOU CAN
PUT THIS ONE IN THE SAME HEAP AS THE STUDIES SOME SCHOOLS HAVE ON
BASKET WEAVING AND COMIC BOOK APPRECIATION. – SNOW OWL
• The Fiscal
Unfitness Award--for $6.7 million to fund YMCAs
YMCA, YOUNG
MEN’S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. SOOOOOO, THE GOVERNMENT CAN TOSS CASH
INTO THE HANDS OF “CHURCH”, BUT THEY CAN’T HAVE STATUARY OF THE TEN
COMMANDMENTS IN, ON, OR AROUND THEIR EDIFICES? HMMMMMM. – SNOW OWL
•
The Pirates on the Potomac Award--for
$2 million to buy back the USS Sequoia
presidential yacht
ONLY TWO
MILLION? MUST HAVE BEEN SOLD BACK BY A PATRIOT! – SNOW OWL
•
The Hog Heaven Award--for $8.2 million to
the Fort Lewis Army Chapel, which offers religious services for
Christians, Jews, Muslims--and Wiccans
I AM NOT TOO
SURE WHAT TO SAY ABOUT THIS ONE, EXCEPT WONDER, DOESN’T THE ARMY HAVE
ITS VERY OWN FULLY PACKED VAULT THAT GETS REFILLED EVERY YEAR? WELL,
AND I GUESS THE ADDITION TO “WICCANS” TO THE ABOVE IS GRINDING MY
BRAIN TO DUST. – SNOW OWL
•
The Hogzilla Award--to Sen. Ted Stevens
(R-Alaska) for his $646 million in pork for Alaska
WAY TO GO,
BOY! IF YOU READ THE FIRST EDITION OF THIS
PORK SUBJECT, I BELIEVE YOU WILL SEE THEY DIDN’T DO TOO BADLY LAST
YEAR EITHER! – SNOW OWL
•
The Flipping the Byrd at the Taxpayers Award--to
Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) for his $399 million in pork for West
Virginia
There's a lot more questionable spending that wasn't quite bad enough to
win an award. Take the $469,000 in taxpayer
dollars that went to the National Wild Turkey Federation, which
according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture "supports public
conservation education, especially that concerning wild turkey hunting
as a traditional North American sport."
Overlapping such pork is the broader category of corporate welfare,
which the Cato Institute discusses in its latest Cato Handbook on
Policy. Cato defines corporate welfare as
"government programs that provide unique benefits or advantages to
specific companies or industries." According to Cato,
the biggest recipients of this largesse include:
the big three auto makers, General Motors (GM), Ford Motor (F) and
DaimlerChrysler (DCX), which get handouts to develop new car technology;
Boeing (BA), which dines on export subsidies; and Archer Daniels Midland
(ADM), the king of agricultural and ethanol subsidies.
It turns out some states get much bigger servings
of pork, per person, than others. The
best-fed is Alaska, which received $985 for every man, woman and child.
That's a whopping 30 times the national average. Other states in
the top five for pork include Hawaii, West Virginia, Montana and South
Dakota. The five states that get the least pork per capita? Texas,
California, Georgia, Michigan and North Carolina.
In what areas of the government is pork growing the fastest? CAGW points
to homeland security, which saw pork increase 306% this year to $1.7
billion; energy and water, which increased 163% to $1.9 billion; and
labor/health and human services, which increased 80% to $1.7 billion.
http://pf.channel.aol.com/forbes/general/canvas3?id=20050506141609990001
 HEYA!
|
