Pork: It’s not just for dinner

by

I’ve got a couple of free moments on hand, and at the same time I saw this (via Glenn Reynolds):

Bloggers, too have latched onto this theme. A coalition of bloggers have launched a website called “porkbusters.” The site lists every member of the House and Senate by the name and has a column next to the name for “committed cuts,” or sacrifices. Currently, the only member of Congress listed with a “committed cut” is House Minority Leader, Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).

Many Republican members of Congress must be asking themselves, “Is Nancy Pelosi the best fiscal conservative this Congress has to offer?”

This is the sort of departure between what politicians say and what they do that’s one of the many things that had me leave the Republican party in the first place.  Conservative politicians say they’re about fiscal responsibility, but in reality they’re just a different face of the political animal that buys votes using taxpayer dollars.  It’s an addiction of sorts, methinks.  Kudos to Pelosi for at least making the pledge, for whatever reasons.

I looked at the portions of the highway bill that are going to Florida, and I know there’s at least ten million dollars that don’t belong there, without even looking into what each line item actually means.  It’s likely that the inappropriate appropriations (heh) are actually several times that.  I think the state got over half a billion, so I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if we got into nine-digit amounts of pork.

I’m still sick, and I’m still working my ass off when I’m not sleeping, but this was one of those funny-tragic things that I thought needed to be underlined, highlighted, and raised to a larger, bolded font.

Consider this an open thread. 

Update:

09222005_1

39 thoughts on “Pork: It’s not just for dinner”

  1. You know, the “waste, fraud, and abuse” that goes on with government spending is really something that can’t be eliminated in a democracy. You can try to keep it down, you can hope for a divided government so that when trying to screw each other both parties cut spending, but to think that any Congress will voluntarily quit that sort of horse trading is a pipe dream.

    Taxes need to go up, and to say otherwise is to simply engage in wishful thinking.

  2. “[…]but to think that any Congress will voluntarily quit that sort of horse trading is a pipe dream.
    Taxes need to go up, and to say otherwise is to simply engage in wishful thinking.”
    Well that’s just defeatist, as well as being a terrible reason for taxes to go up. Not that I wouldn’t be willing to pay higher taxes for any number of well run government services, but to fund pork – because it’s what government always does – is certainly not one of those reasons.
    I do believe that government – when transparent – can efficiently serve the public good. What we have now is neither transparent, nor does it serve any public good. Our federal government is a mess of self serving institutions and politicians. Unfortunately, I have no idea how to fix this mess. –M

  4. Conservatives say they’re about fiscal responsibility

    Should have read “Conservative politicians say…”, but I’m sure that some will maintain the original was true. I’m going to edit the post, and leave this here as a keeping-the-author-honest kind of thing.

  5. Re: Update. If I ever have an “office conversation” like that, I have left a living will instructing that I be actively euthanized via fourth-story defenestration.

  6. What we’re learning is that the only party in favor of fiscal responsibility is the party out of power.
    Despite Nick Danger’s* suggestions to the contrary, however, that is not a license to spend like drunken sailors.
    *I want a Matinee B-Movie Action Hero- sounding name too! How about Edward Courageous! Or (more noire) Edward Calamity?

  7. What we’re learning is that the only party in favor of fiscal responsibility is the party out of power.

    I’m wondering if this is true enough to be considered axiomatic. If only there were a “no trump” version of politics…

  8. “I want a Matinee B-Movie Action Hero- sounding name too! How about Edward Courageous! Or (more noire) Edward Calamity?”
    While not wanting to rain on your thoughts of changing your name to something more heroic than Underscore, I assumed he took his handle from the Firesign Theatre detective character:
    “Hello, I’d like a pizza to go, with no anchovies.
    Sorry, Mac, I spell my name Danger!”

  9. You could ride the coattails of this guy:

    Edward finally arrived in London in August 1274 and was crowned at Westminster Abbey. Aged 35, he was a veteran warrior (‘the best lance in all the world’, according to contemporaries), a leader with energy and vision, and with a formidable temper.

    You could adopt the handle ‘Longshanks’, I guess. The alternative (thoughtfully left unbolded in the above excerpt) might be humorous, but it’s a little…unwieldy.

  11. According to chroniclers, Edward requested that his bones should be carried on Scottish campaigns and that his heart be taken to the Holy Land. However, Edward was buried at Westminster Abbey in a plain black marble tomb, which in later years was painted with the words Scottorum malleus (Hammer of the Scots) and Pactum serva (Keep troth).
    For the record: despite the romanticism of having my bones go to Bavaria and my heart to Istanbul, all body parts, lance included, are to be scattered near some body of water…preferably fresh water [i.e., no whales nearby]

  16. I’d seen that in the MSM, Jack, but it’s too soon to say what happened, there. Evidently this is not the sort of barrier that the Army COE recommends in this environment, so there’s a puzzler.
    More here.

  18. “What we’re learning is that the only party in favor of fiscal responsibility is the party out of power.”
    It doesn’t have to be that way. Case in point, the Liberal Party of Canada has been in power for over a decade now and has been very fiscally responsible running small to medium surpluses for 8 years now.
    (Yes, you can argue as the Torys loudly do, that they could do better. But the fact remains).

  19. Pelosi and Pork

    PELOSI AND PORK….Democratic House leader Nancy Pelosi has publicly committed to giving up some pork in her district and redirecting the money to Hurricane Katrina. Good for her. On a cynical note, this is incredibly good politics, and other Democrati…

  20. Pelosi and Pork

    PELOSI AND PORK….Democratic House leader Nancy Pelosi has publicly committed to giving up some pork in her district and redirecting the money to Hurricane Katrina. Good for her. On a cynical note, this is incredibly good politics, and other Democrati…

  21. Pelosi and Pork

    PELOSI AND PORK….Democratic House leader Nancy Pelosi has publicly committed to giving up some pork in her district and redirecting the money to Hurricane Katrina. Good for her. On a cynical note, this is very smart politics, and other Democratic…

  22. Pelosi and Pork

    PELOSI AND PORK….Democratic House leader Nancy Pelosi has publicly committed to giving up some pork in her district and redirecting the money to Hurricane Katrina. Good for her. On a cynical note, this is very smart politics, and other Democratic…

  23. Edward – A few ideas from your fan base:
    Edward Torment*
    Edward Tension*
    Edward Menace
    Edward Battle
    Edward Fury*
    Edward Ambush
    Edward Omen*
    Edward Venture
    Edward Feral
    Edward Deadfall*
    Edward Obscene
    Edward Savage (Nah, too close to Michael)
    Edward Vicious
    Edward Brutal
    Edward Hotpants (not so much “noir”)
    * My favorites…YMMV.

  25. It is my considered opinion that fiscal disapline is only available from the party or idealogy willing to pay for spending with taxes.
    I think Republicans have shown that once the relationship between levels of taxation and levels of spending is taken away spending becomes a free lunch and, as Cheney so famously said, ‘Reagan proved deficits don’t matter’ becomes a political creed.
    Taxes are the only guage we have if spending is worthwhile or not. Taxes limit pork, taxes limit adventuous foreign wars, taxes limit boondoggle missions to Mars.

  26. I should have added that a liberal philosophy of tax and spend is therefore far more fiscally responsible than its alternative conservative philosophy of cut taxes, borrow and spend.

  27. awesome xanax!
    top three
    Edward Fury*
    Edward Ambush (love the rhythm of it)
    Edward Venture
    ’bout Grateful Ed?
    Would my groupies then be EdHeads?
    Nah…might was well be Mr. Ed at that point.

  31. I don’t know about you cleek, but if I were Edward I’d much prefer Longsword than Shortsword…if you know what I mean.

Comments are closed.