Pork In The Budget

Ok. So we’ve already established that Obama was pulling a fast one on us when he campaigned on the whole “Hope Over Fear” thing.

We also found out that the ‘transparency in government’ stuff was BS, when instead of being put up online for five days as we were promised, the stimulus bill was shoved through congress without a single member being allowed time to read the actual bill.

Now we find out that Obama really didn’t mean what he's been saying about pork for the last year either.

I’m not even referring to the laughable statement that the president made in Tuesday’s address when he said that the stimulus package was passed without a single earmark. That was a fib. What I’m referring to is the President’s budget proposal, which was released today. Remember when Mr. Change said this on the campaign trail:

“We need earmark reform. And when I’m president, I will go line by line to make sure that we are not spending money unwisely.”

...or not.

Here are a few of the 9000 earmark goodies that your tax dollars are going to and which the president hasn’t indicated that he has any problem with:

$1.7 million for a honey bee laboratory in Texas

$1.5 million for work on grapes and grape products — including wine

$1.8 million to research “swine odor and manure management” in Iowa

$200,000 for Gang Tattoo Removal Violence Prevention Outreach. What?

Unspecified amount for Lobster Farmers in Maine

$185,000 for coral reef research and preservation in Maui County, Hawaii

$55,000 in meteorological equipment for Pierce College in Woodland Hills, Calif.

$9.9 million for science enhancement at historically black colleges in South Carolina.

$9.9 million for South Carolina's historically black colleges and universities.

$473,000 for La Raza

$24,000 A+ for Abstinence program in PA.

$300,000 for the Montana World Trade Center.

$950,000 for the Myrtle Beach International Trade and Convention Center.

$190,000 for the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody, WY for digitizing and editing the Cody collection.

$143,000 for the Las Vegas Natural History Museum. Sponsored by Harry Reid

$238,000 for the Polynesian Voyaging Society, i.e – canoe trips
$381,000 for Jazz at Lincoln Center, New York, NY for music education programs

A $950,000 nature education center in Moss Point, Miss.

$142,500 for a museum honoring the late House speaker Sam Rayburn

$300,000 for a science camp curriculum in West Virginia

$150,000 for renovations to the Westwood Theater in Rexburg, Idaho

Now, if President Obama doesn’t put up a fight and send this bill back to congress, demanding that all this junk be removed, I think any reasonable person has to conclude that the guy has broken yet another major promise to the American people.

And while breaking this promise he is at the same time talking about implementing job killing tax increases on entrpenuers and small bussiness owners who already pay the lion’s share of taxes in this country.

I know that these earmarks make up a relatively small percentage of the massive budget that Obama is proposing, and some of them were even proposed by GOP members of congress. But you all know that John McCain would never let this slide. Especially during an time of such econmoic uncertainty.

Spending money is the easiest thing for a politician to do. So forgive me if I’m not impressed by Mr. Obama’s ability to do so. I’m pretty sure that this was not what 52% of Americans voted for last Novemeber. And here's the real kicker. This bill actually contains earmarks put there by Obama an Biden when they were still Senators, but Obama cleverly took his name off of his earmark earlier this afternoon. How's that for transparency?

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