Republicans stuff record pork down federal piehole

[windansea]

wingers in a tizzy....



Gigantic Outlay Party
Republicans stuff record pork down federal piehole
Ralph R. Reiland

"The pledge not to waste our tax dollars rings hollow," says Stephen Moore, president of the Club for Growth and a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, "given that in a matter of days will sign into law a budget-buster that provides money for Alaska skating rinks, Michigan swimming pools and Iowa indoor rain forests."

Moore is referring to the president's pronouncement in his State of the Union address that "we must spend tax dollars wisely" and the complete lack of opposition from the White House to the mile-high pile of pork in the recently passed fiscal 2004 Omnibus spending bill.

In addition to the tropical forest, the new Michigan pools and the Alaska skating rinks, the Omnibus bill gouges taxpayers to the tune of $725,000 for the Please Touch Museum in Philadelphia, $2 million for the Appalachian Fruit Laboratory, $1 million for the Alaska SeaLife Center, $300,000 for the National Wild Turkey Federation, $500,000 for the Montana Sheep Institute, and $2 million for a golf awareness program in St. Augustine.

The indoor rain forest gets a whopping $50 million. This faux paradise for parrots will be built in Coralville, Iowa, a town with a population of 17,246 according to the latest Census Bureau survey, or about 5,000 households. The $50 million, in other words, averages out to $10,000 per household, not bad for a place that doesn't even have an airport.

http://www.reason.com/hod/rr020304.shtml

[denverbill]

1. Hey, I used to live in Coralville.

I didn't know at the time that we needed a indoor rain forest there. What the hell do I know?

[windansea]

3. heh heh n/t

[aquart]

2. Democrats steal with one hand and give with the other.

Republicans steal with both hands.

It makes a difference.