Weeel, Republicans are crowing about Bush's victory in congress today. They are crowing about the passage of CAFTA. I guess Bush can say, as a lame duck, he is trotting along like a thoroughbred. I fail to see that a terribly overblown and overbudgeted, pork-stuffed Transportation Bill is so much to crow over, though.
While, in general, I am all for free trade and that is essentially what CAFTA purports to be, what I am against is the bill the president will have us pay to achieve this victory. There is certainly a mile of crap to look forward to in exchange for the votes he purchased on CAFTA. What troubles me most is that when this budget eating pork-laden Transportation bill hits Bush's desk, he'll fawn over it and sign it like it was something of which he approves. This will be a bill that I would veto faster than Teddy Kennedy can down a Dewars.
On the positive side, the energy bill looks good for all involved. It does good things and will probably sail through the Senate with little trouble. It is a start and it's about time. Too bad they didn't throw ANWR into it, though. Oh, and one thing the passage of CAFTA did that I really enjoyed was put Nancy Pelosi on the tube to rant and rave about Bush and the Republicans, again. You gotta enjoy the freebies, folks. Hence, the pic at the top of this page, which has nothing to do with the post but I thought you would enjoy!
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21 comments:
Unfortunately, "pork products" are inevitably included in a lot of high profile bills...
Well, one man's pork is another man's "other white meat", I guess...
Beerme:
True, but cat is another "other white meat".
Would you call this a list of "pork" or "cat"? I call it "bull"!
* $220,000 for one line-item for trolley buses in Puerto Rico
* $366,000 for one line-item for intermodal transportation at the Bronx Zoo
* $835,000 for a second line-item for intermodal transportation at the Bronx Zoo
* $4.2 million for intermodal transportation at the Philadelphia Zoo
* $146,000 for a second line-item for trolley buses in Puerto Rico
* $1.3 million for sidewalk lighting and landscaping around Cedar's-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles
* $1.3 million for a daycare center and park-and-ride facility in Champaign, IL
* $1.7 million for an intermodal park and ride facility at the Museum of Latin American Art, Long Beach, CA
* $2 million for a third line-item for intermodal transportation at the Bronx Zoo
* $440,000 for a bike path in Powers, OR
$480,000 for pedestrian and bicycle sidewalks, lighting, and handicapped ramps in Miramar, FL
* $200,000 for trails and bike paths on Bird Mountain, TN
* $960,000 for a bike path in Riverhead, NY
* $2.3 million for landscaping enhancements "for aesthetic purposes" along the Ronald Reagan Freeway, CA
* $240,000 for boardwalks at Pismo Beach, San Luis Obispo, CA
* $1.6 million to enhance the Battery Park bikeway perimeter, New York City
* $200,000 for a historical trolley project in Issaquah, WA
* $200,000 for trails, bike paths, and recreational facilities on Black Mountain, TN
* $235,796 for extensions to the Mesabi Trail, Aurora, MN
* $144,000 for paths and trails at the Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens, OH
* $160,000 for a bike path, Petal, MS
* $200,000 for a bike path "network", Evanston, IL
* $2.9 million for a bike path, Delta Ponds, OR
* $240,000 for bike and pedestrian improvements, Windermere, FL
* $2.4 million for bike trail, Smyrna, TN
* $1.2 million for a bike trail, LaVergne, TN
* $800,000 for regional bike routes on existing highways, Austin, TX
* $480,000 to rehabilitate a historic warehouse, Lyons, NY
* $320,000 for a bike path from San Luis Obispo to Avila Beach, CA
* $280,000 for a bike path, Fairview Park, OH
* $600,000 for horse-riding trails, Jefferson National Forest, VA
* $2 million for a bike trail, Cookeville, TN
* $2 million for an intermodal bikeway, Independence, OH
* $640,000 for bike, pedestrian and other improvements at Georgia Veterans Memorial Park
* $1.2 million for pedestrian bicycle access project, Newark NJ
* $1.2 million for a bike path, East Long-meadow Redstone, MA
* $8 million for the Harlem Hospital parking facility
* $1.8 million for a bike path, Portage, WI
* $2.6 million for pedestrian walkway and bikeway improvements along the NYC Greenway System in Coney Island, NY
* $400,000 for a bike path in Dunkirk, NY
* $532,000 for a bike and pedestrian trail, Gallatin, TN
How do you like the idea of cutting almost all of this crap, and replacing the real "much-needed" items like Kajun's highway, with toll roads?
Pay as you play, so to speak.
At least when you pay for a toll road, you're only paying for what you use, not a bunch of CRAP to get some politician elected.
Don't forget Nancy Pelosi's $4,000 dollars worth of botox.
Er was that the Kerry feller?
Gotta tell ya, that "laundry list" you posted all sounds like transportation (of one type or another) related to me.
Also, as an avid bicyclist, I'm all for bike paths.
The stuff that bothers me is things like the National Endowment for the Arts spending MY tax dollars on homoerotic art, National Public Radio...y'know, TRULY useless stuff.
I hear ya camo,
What about the millions of NASA budget dedicated to the over scale ant habitat at ( I believe) The Chicago Science museum?
Now we got seven potentially stranded astronauts.
Think they give an insects thorax about ants right now?
Me either.
Libby Gone™:
Yes, bogus museums such as the "Please Touch Museum" in Philly definitely qualify as pork...
Hey, I love bike paths, too. I just don't think the federal government should be paying for them. It should be local. As should any improvements in intermodal transportation in any of the zoos and parks in the country. This state's roads are woefully neglected and need expansion, but my tax dollars are going to zoos and museums and the lighting around Cedars Sinai Hospital???
The great bulk of travel in this country is done for commercial purposes, that is we drive to work or while we work. We also drive for leisure but not nearly as much. Federal Transportation bills should focus on this and leave the local stuff to the local economies. If I want a bike path in my neighborhood, I shouldn't mind paying for it, locally. I shouldn't use my senator's shmoozing ability to get him to get it for me, paid for largely by people who will never use it.
It's always nice to get a present, though. Free stuff rocks!
Yep as Mage and Beerme know, alot of our old train tracks are now bike paths. I agree Fed's don't need to reallocate my paycheck to fund them.
Oh by the way, my oldest son is turning 11 this month.
And he's getting a 4 wheeler!
I agree that landscaping and bikepaths should not be funded at all by the Federal gov.
Besides, bike paths bad: horse trails good. ;oP
Beerme:
I agree that the Federal Government shouldn't be paying for bike paths...but technically they are a form of transportation.
Libby Gone™:
That's precisely why I'm a member of Rails-to-Trails; to do my (2) bit(s) for the "cause".
MargeinMI:
I own a bicycle, but I don't own a horse, except for my "iron horse".
(A.K.A. Harley...)
camo,
I think "Rails to Trails" is awesome.
However, as a practicing Model Railroader I resent the loss of prototypes to copy on "my own scale world"
actually there is an old wooden trestle near by, on a converted trail, that I am dying to photograph.
I WILL POST !
Libby Gone,
Great! Please do!
I don't have a horse either--except for my 18-1/2 horse Briggs & Stratton of course! I did ride a trail over by Wadhams that was great! There's a very nice bike trail along the river through St. Clair also. If the community supports it and pays for it--GREAT!
Marge,Camo,
I coordinate my company's work with Acheson Ventures. They once proposed to continue the Bike path from algotucky (local inside joke) at Lake St. Clair through to Port Huron up Water St.Through the old Michigan National Bank in a "glass" tube to the Military Street bridge!
This is a great example of how the government does NOT need to pay for this work. Philanthropist are everywhere and if VOTED on alot of people would accept a millage or a bond, or fund raising for such beneficial civic improvements.
Besides it fits in with the Presidents plan of "Privatizing Exercise"!
Libby Gone,
They better enclose the whole thing in a glass tube north of St. Clair. Who knows how healthy it is to breathe around there with all the chemical plants, etc.
I hear that,marge.
Where I work you occasionally get a wiff of Sarnia. Yuck. I'd rather smell manure!
Home, however is safely beyond the Smellzone.
LG,
I used to have to go downriver on work related ventures, right by the rendering plant in Allen Park/Melvindale. NOTHING on the St. Clair River copairs to that!
xx
~
P
compares, but you knew that didn'tcha?
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