Have you seen the bigger piggies?...

Ever have a song that you just can't get out of your head? I haven't been able to shake this one since the new stimulus package was passed.

I have a friend that says it's only pork when someone else gets it, and I suppose that is how a lot of taxpayers look at things, but the package has $308 billion set aside discretionary spending. Out of all that, surely there's something that everybody could agree was pork. $200M has been allocated to “design and furnish” the Department of Homeland Security headquarters. So far everybody I've talked to thinks that's pork. Of course, I haven't talked to the designer or furnisher yet.

It seems a lot of Republicans were up in arms about the spending, but apparently not about about the spending that put them on the receiving end.

This is from Donny Ferguson at National Libertarian Headquarters, at www.LP.org :

Taxpayers for Common Sense released a database Monday of the 8,570 earmarks, totaling $7.7 billion, in the FY09 omnibus spending bill.

Remember all that talk last week about Republicans "learning the error of their ways" and promising to embrace fiscal responsibility? Well, it seems six of the ten biggest recepients of earmarks just happen to be Republicans.

Perhaps a Republican will insert an earmark using taxpayer money to build a "Museum of Empty Promises." They could enshrine "we'll cut spending if you just put us back in power" next to Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton's "she meant nothing, it'll never happen again."


SENATOR EARMARK $$
Byrd (D-WV) $122,804,900
Shelby (R-AL) $114,484,250
Bond (R-MO) $85,691,491
Feinstein (D-CA) $76,899,425
Cochran (R-MS) $75,908,475
Murkowski (R-AK) $74,000,750
Harkin (D-IA) $66,860,000
Inhofe (R-OK) $53,133,500
McConnell (R-KY) $51,186,000
Inouye (D-HI) $46,380,205


Unfortunately, I don't think it suprised anyone.