Rep. Mark Kirk (R-IL) and Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) have listed 11 pork projects paid for by the $787 billion porkulus bill as examples of how our tax dollars are being flushed down the toilet by this Democrat controlled Congress. These examples are in addition to the ones I listed in an earlier post:
- 1.9 million for water taxis in Pleasure Beach, CT. Congress approved the money after a fire destroyed the bridge to Pleasure Beach, but the area already is accessible by foot and rowboats.
- 3.8 million for an urban art trail in Rochester, NY.
- 3.1 million for upgrades to a boat owned by the NY State Museum. The boat dates back to 1921 and was originally used in canals.
- 3 million for bicycle racks in Georgetown -- the Washington, DC, neighborhood that is one of the wealthiest areas in the country.
- 1.5 million to improve the streetscape in the six blocks surrounding a downtown Detroit casino.
- 578,000 for fighting homelessness in Union, NY. According to a local news report, the town never asked for the stimulus money and did not even have a program through which to administer the money. The town supervisor said he wasn't aware of a homelessness problem in the town.
- 550,000 for a skateboard park in Pawtucket, RI.
- 500,000 for fish food in Missouri, to help defray the costs for state fish farmers.
- 400,000 for renovations to a vacant building in Jal, NM.
- 380,350 to encourage landowners in West Virginia to grow shiitake mushrooms and ginseng.
- 90,000 for a communal kitchen in Watsonville, CA. The shared kitchen is meant to help food service entrepreneurs.
So that's about 16.5 million of our dollars pissed away on things that are certainly not needed, and in most cases not wanted.
Now, if you think that's bad, just wait until Obamacare is passed ... it will take page after page of single spaced typing to list all the pork that will be contained in the final bill.
Just to be fair, this isn't just a Democrat problem - abuse of pork is truly one of the few things that is bi-partisan in Washington. Rep. Kirk, who is running for the Senate seat vacated by Obama, was guilty of landing more than 30,000,000 for 19 pork projects in his home district, including a planetarium and a religious outreach program.
Slamming Obama, Reid, and Pelosi for the wasteful use of our tax dollars as a basis for the 2010 mid-term elections is fair game. They ought to be called out for what they are doing. But ... (and it hurts me to say this) ... Republicans doing the call outs really shouldn't be the ones who are just as guilty.
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