Quote:

CAGW's 2006 Pig Book Exposes Record $29 Billion in Pork
WASHINGTON, April 5 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) released the 2006 Congressional Pig Book at a press conference today. The Pig Book is CAGW's annual compilation of all the pork-barrel projects in the federal budget.

The 2006 Pig Book identifies 9,963 pork projects in the 11 appropriations bills for fiscal 2006, a 29 percent decrease over last year's total of 13,997. However, the total cost of these earmarks is a record $29 billion, or 6.2 percent more than last year's total of $27.3 billion. The cost of pork has increased by 29 percent since fiscal 2003. CAGW has identified $241 billion of pork since 1991.

"Pork-barrel spending illustrates and contributes to the meltdown of spending restraint in Washington," CAGW President Tom Schatz said. "Instead of averting an impending fiscal crisis, members of Congress are grabbing the spoils to support their own re-election."

The Pig Book features a complete database of projects, profiles the most egregious examples, breaks down pork per capita by state, and presents the annual Oinker Awards. Highlights include:

$1 million for the Waterfree Urinal Conservation Initiative;

$550,000 for the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, Washington;

$500,000 for the Sparta Teapot Museum in Sparta, North Carolina;

$500,000 for the Arctic Winter Games in Alaska;

$250,000 for the National Cattle Congress in Waterloo, Iowa; and

$100,000 for the Richard Steele Boxing Club in Henderson, Nevada;

"The lobbying scandals show the extent to which earmarks are abused," Schatz said. "The Pig Book presents almost 10,000 more reasons for serious earmark reform."
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Citizens Against Government Waste is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.
Read more wasteful spenmding here in the 2006 Pig Book Summary

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Definitely not a record to be proud of. Like I've said before it's time to take the trash out of Washington DC.

Had some time to read through the a few of the sections, here's a few that stood out for me:

$6,435,000 for wood utilization research in Alaska, Idaho, Maine, Mich., Minn., Miss., N.C., Ore., Tenn., Wash., and W.Va. Since 1985, $86 million has been sapped from the taxpayers for this purpose.

$4,200,000 for shrimp aquaculture research in Ariz., Hawaii, La., Mass., Miss., S.C., and Texas. According to USDA testimony, “The goal of this program is to develop a sustainable domestic shrimp farming industry in the United States.” The timeline for this program appears to be indefinite. Since 1985, $65.7 million has been appropriated for this research.

Come on, Arizona? The state is mostly a desert

$33,360,000 for projects in the state of Senate appropriator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska)
$1,300,000 for berry research, $500,000 for fruit and berry crop trials for rural villages

$3,400,000 for the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP), which was initially designed to capture energy from the aurora borealis [northern lights], but is now being configured to heat up the ionosphere to improve military communications (CAGW has identified $105.9 million appropriated for HAARP since 1995)

$500,000 for the Arctic Winter Games. According to the winter games website, “The Arctic Winter Games is a high profile circumpolar sport competition for northern and arctic athletes. The Games provide an opportunity to strengthen sport development in the participants’ jurisdictions, to promote the benefits of sport, to build partnerships, and to promote culture and values. The Games celebrate sport, social exchange and cultures. The Games provide an opportunity for the developing athlete to compete in friendly competition while sharing cultural values from northern regions around the world.”

$300,000 for the Oquirrh Institute. According to the Institute’s website, “The Oquirrh Institute was founded in Salt Lake City, Utah, during the 2002 Winter Olympic Games. The Institute's mission is to shine early light on public policy dilemmas and establish innovative solutions. The Oquirrh Institute is currently involved in four areas of concentration: Moving to Competency-Measured Education, Improving Environmental Management, Advancing Health Information and Research and Enhancing Governance Through Technology.” According to USDA testimony, “The principal researchers have not yet determined a completion date on this project.” A total of $500 has been raised from corporations and foundations. Taxpayers have “contributed” $550,000 to Oquirrh since 2004.

$3,000,000 for the Animal Waste Management Research Laboratory

It's poop for Christs sakes. Are they trying to find a way to make it turn different colors?

$180,000 for turfgrass research

$2,100,000 for the viticulture consortium in California, New York, and Pennsylvania. According to USDA testimony, “The original goal of this research was to maintain or enhance the competitiveness of the United States viticulture and wine industry in the global market.”

$365,000 added by the Senate for the Center for Rural Studies in the state of Senate appropriator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.). According to USDA testimony, “The original goal was to create a database and analytical capability for rural development programming in Vermont.” However, USDA also testified that, “No formal evaluation of this project has been conducted.” Oops! Since 1992, $2 million has been appropriated for this research.

$1,000,000 for the Gaming-Technology Software Initiative.

$8,270,000 for breath alcohol testing equipment, including $7,270,000 for Breathscan® alcohol detectors and $1,000,000 for autonomous non-invasive alcohol testing.

$1,000,000 for the Waterfree Urinal Conservation Initiative added by Rep. Vernon Ehlers (R-Mich.). According to a October 20, 2005 CongressDaily article, Rep. Ehlers wrote a letter to House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman C.W. (Bill) Young (R-Fla.) requesting this earmark.

$11,250,000 for the Inner Harbor Canal Lock, which has been deemed ineffective because of changing water traffic patterns

One would assume that the increase in Louisiana earmarks could be attributed to Hurricane Katrina. Unfortunately, this was not the case as the majority of projects added by the appropriations committee do not concern flood control or the reparation of destroyed levees. For example, 13.4 percent of total Louisiana pork, or $13,500,000, was allocated to one project, the J. Bennett Johnston Waterway, even though it is only used by 4 percent of Louisiana’s commercial traffic. And, according to the Army Corps of Engineers, the waterway’s costs will not be justified until 2046.

This is our tax money put to extraordinarily bad use.

OK, now hounestly, so of the work listed above does need to be done.

HARP is far more than is being let on, and 3.4 mil is cheap for what it can do.

Animal waste poses a serious health hazzard if it handled improperly (ask the 2700 affected in the small town of Walkerton Ontario), and get's into your drinking water. There is a serious amount of it too. It's not just "poop" research.

Granted, there are many projects that are not worthwhile I'm sure. I find it far to easy to sit back and call something wastefull when really all you are doing is armchair QBing. Nobody can really know what's wastefull and what isn't unless they are familiar with the topic at hand.

PAX