Bob's Links and Rants

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Wednesday, August 03, 2005

Your children's tax dollars at work

The WSWS has a rundown of the multiple pork-laden boondoggles Congress passed last week. Excerpt:
The most financially lucrative piece of legislation was the transportation bill, authorizing $286 billion in road, bridge and transit construction over a six-year period, including 2004 retroactively. It earmarks funds for 6,000 local projects, enough to provide dozens for each congressional district. While the bill is the largest "public works" legislation ever passed by Congress, the projects have been chosen, not for their public utility, but on the basis of the power and influence of the congressman or senator involved. The bill was approved 412 to 8 by the House, and 91 to 4 by the Senate.

One of the most notorious projects is the "bridge to nowhere," a $250 million mile-long, 200-foot-high bridge from Ketchikan, Alaska to a small offshore island where 50 residents and a small airport are located. Alaska Congressman Don Young, a Republican, is chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, which drafted the legislation. The bill also provides $230 million for a bridge over an inlet near Anchorage. The structure is to be named "Don Young Way." Another $3 million is earmarked for a public relations film to celebrate the development of infrastructure in Alaska, "the last frontier."
I hate to pick on the usually excellent writing of the WSWS, but have you ever heard of an onshore island?