In August, President Obama proclaimed that he would not tolerate pork in the defense budget by declaring “If a project doesn’t support our troops, we will not fund it.” He is being accused again of a substantial gap between his rhetoric and the reality of his politics. He just signed the 2010 Defense Appropriations Bill with an estimated $4.2 billion in pork contained in 1,720 earmarks.
In a flagrant violation of the promise of both Obama and the Democrats, the defense bill is a continuation of the pork politics that they said that they would end. The bill includes the following:
∙$5 million for a visitors center in San Francisco
. $54 million for a flood-control project that will raise two trestles used by the Napa Valley Wine Train
∙$23 million for indigent health care in Hawaii
∙$18 million for the Edward Kennedy Policy Institute in Massachusetts
∙$1.6 million to computerize hospital records in Oakland
.$1.6 million for a Monterey graduate school
∙$47 million for anti-drug training centers around the country
∙$20 million for the World War II Museum in Louisiana
∙$3.9 million grant to develop an energy-efficient solar film for buildings
∙$800,000 for minority prostate cancer research
∙$3.6 million for marijuana eradication in Kentucky
∙$2.4 million for handicap access and a sprinkler system at a community club in New York
The bill also funds weapons that the Pentagon does not want such as $5 billion for two destroyers, 10 C-17 cargo planes and to develop a jet engine rejected earlier by Defense planners.
For the full story, click here
rafflaw,
anon nurse posted this on another thread but it fits here as well:
“Federal Judge Dismisses All Charges in Iraq Massacre By Jeremy Scahill
December 31, 2009
“A federal judge in Washington, DC, has given Erik Prince’s Blackwater mercenaries a huge New Year’s gift. Judge Ricardo Urbina dismissed all charges against the five Blackwater operatives accused of gunning down 14 innocent Iraqis in Baghdad’s Nisour Square in September 2007. Judge Urbina’s order, issued late in the afternoon on New Year’s Eve is a stunning blow for the Iraqi victims families and sends a clear message that US-funded mercenaries are above all systems of law–US and international.”
full article: thenation.com
One Small quibble. The Postgraduate school monies may be legitimate. Monterey, California has two institutions that qualify for DoD funding. One is the DLI; the Defense Language Institute. This is where military types learn those critical language skills like Farsi, Pathan, Punjabi, Arabic, etc.
The other school is the Navy Postgraduate school. This is were ROTC and Annapolis grads go to become flag officers.
Both of these educational outfits have serious missions that support the training of our war fighters.
Having actually gone down to the facilities, it appears that some of the monies may have gone to improve base housing. The old housing was torn down and brand spanking new housing has gone up. As it was dark I was not able to read the spiffy new sign explaining who actually was putting up those new housing units and for what purpose. I will say that the old housing units were not fit to be dog kennels.
If the 1.6 million was spent on DLI and NPGS then it was money well spent.
The 1.6 million spent in Oakland is a little dicier but there used to be a Naval Hospital there once upon a time and if those monies were used for archiving and digitizing those old Navy medical records, meh. Plus there are still quite a few Military Retirees in the Bay Area so there is at least a patina of plausibility for that particular line item. Thus out of the twelve items pointed out, maybe two do not belong. That still leaves ten on Mr. Turley’s list of shame. All I can say there is that if the spending is in someone else’s district it is wasteful pork, if it is your district– it is bringing home the bacon.
It wasn’t gonna be on it long
Nice site BTW but a big fat O in most of the comment sections. Zero, Nada, Zilch 4 years running. Thats not sarcasm, it’s fact
I’ve read enough of your comments, Bdaman, and like so many of your ilk your have a total inability to recognize sarcasm when it bites you on the butt.
Please remove my blog from you favorites bookmarks.