Pork Politics As Usual

A good friend of mine sent this to me via e-mail. Whether you are Democrat or Republican, Liberal or Conservative this should matter to you.
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"There are in [Congress] many very wealthy men - men who think nothing of spending a week's pay, or a dozen of them, for a dinner or a wine party when they have something to accomplish by it. ... Money with them is nothing but trash when it is to come out of the people. But it is the one great thing for which most of them are striving, and many of them sacrifice honor, integrity, and justice to obtain it." - Col. David Crockett, Representative - Tennessee

source: http://www.juntosociety.com/patriotism/inytg.html

The top 10 senators misusing tax payer money:

1. Senator Thad Cochran of Mississippi (Republican) with 245 projects costing $892 million
2. Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska (Republican) with 150 projects costing $469 million
3. Senator Richard Shelby of Alabama (Republican) with 206 projects costing $465 million
4. Senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana (Democrat) with 161 projects costing $459 million
5. Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia (Democrat) with 111 projects costing $386 million
6. Senator Daniel Inouye of Hawaii (Democrat) with 131 projects costing $386 million
7. Senator Patty Murray of Washington (Democrat) with 208 projects costing $328 million
8. Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa (Republican) with 154 projects costing $321 million
9. Senator Christopher Bond of Missouri (Republican) with 142 projects costing $310 million
10. Senator Thomas Harkin of Iowa (Republican) with 194 projects costing $303 million

There you have it folks! When politicians talk about responsible government spending, big government, small government, whatever... here's what they're really like. Only five politicians had zero earmarks:

Senator Thomas Coburn of Oklahoma (Republican)
Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina (Republican)
Senator Russell Feingold of Wisconsin (Democrat)
Senator John McCain of Arizona (Republican)
Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri (Democrat)

Those five names are your real fiscal conservatives, at least in the sense of not throwing your tax dollars around where they see fit. Cheers to Senator McCain, as he's the only one of the three competing to be the next President that didn't use our tax dollars on pet projects. For the other two:
Senator Hillary Clinton of New York (Democrat) with 281 projects costing $296 million
Senator Barack Obama of Illinois (Democrat) with 53 projects costing $97 million

Source: http://www.cagw.org/site/PageServer?pagename=reports_pigbook2008

[I apologize, but I have been unsucessful in making the source links "live links". You will have to cut and paste these links into your browser to view them.]