Biggest PORK (Earmark) Contest

We’re hearing a lot about pork and earmarks. I guess those are 2 words that mean the same thing. An appropriation of Federal tax money for a local non-Federal purpose. Most Federal money is spent through the Executive Branch.

However, the US Constitution, Article 1 grants exclusive power to Congress to appropriate money for. Look here: Section 8. “The Congress shall have power . . to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States . . To borrow money . . To coin money, regulate the value thereof, . . To raise and support armies . . To provide and maintain a navy . . To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the government of the United States, or in any department or officer thereof.”

This pretty much puts Congress in charge of the money! And who is to say what the limits are on “ . . the general welfare . . ?“

My hometown of Louisville got an earmark for$15 million to finish a Gorilla Exhibit at our publicly owned zoo. It cost $20 million, $2.5 m paid by the local government, $2.5 m. paid by the state, and $15 m. paid by the Feds. Stop in if you get a chance. It’s rated in the top 5 in America.

But for the Heavyweight Title, I nominate this one: The Houston Space Flight Center! By all logic this facility should be located close by the launch site of our space program. Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Flight Center. But it is not. It is in Houston TX. Mapquest says it is 1,015 miles from Cape Canaveral to Houston. Can you imagine how many trips each year must be made between those 2 places by technical and managerial personnel? Delta quotes $675 for a first class round trip.

Can you image how much effort was involved in making certain communications were 100% reliable between Houston and Cape Canaveral? Redundancy! A simple telephone line between the two places would not be enough. I expect there are cables laid through the Gulf of Mexico, and some laid on land, passing around New Orleans. And micro-wave towers, too. I wonder what NASA pays AT&T for those cables plus maintenance?

Well why you ask, did NASA put the “brains” of the Moon project in Houston? Here’s why. The Dems had 259 seats in the House. The long time (17 years) Speaker of the House, Sam Rayburn, died in office in late 1961. He was succeeded by Majority Leader John McCormack. The Dems had 65 seats in the Senate and 1 independent who voted with the Dems.

The Vice President, Lyndon B. Johnson, had been designated by President Kennedy to head up JFKs “Moon and Back in This Decade” program. Johnson had just come off 8 years as Senate Majority Leader. Speaker McCormack was a fellow Massachusetts man with JFK. In part as a tribute to Speaker Rayburn, ti was agreed to divide the upcoming space program between Texas and Florida. (Florida was the best location from which to launch a moon shot. It was a default choice).

I estimate the removal of the control center to Houston has cost the US about $20 b. over what it would have cost to have it in Florida where logic says it should have been. The biggest on-going earmark!

Hey don how's it goin'. You make a very convincing case for the "pork" distribution hierarchy. I thought I might add some reference data for your claim. You see there was this book written in the 1990's... it's on a NASA server and may have long since (2004) been forgotten (lotta that at NASA if one looks http and scads more FTP) any way folks can read "Suddenly Tomorrow Came... A History of the Johnson Space Center". It's a bit "grandiose" to call historical but it shows some of the elements of your position very, very well without having to read between the lines too, too much.

Each NASA center has it's own "political center of gravity"... JPL is "extra-spicy", even more so with the DHS vs The Scientist's flap... which may have downstream implications. I think today was the last day the scientist's could "sign away" to DHS without causing disruption to on-going missions.

In Canada we have our own legacy-porcine. Most provinces and the feds and municipalities are affected to some degree and there are bi-lateral and poly-nation examples too I'd imagine.

Cheers don

Vic

[edit on 12-10-2007 by V Kaminski]

reply to post by V Kaminski



Thanks for the link V Kaminski. Although I call NYC the capital of the world, California is where it’s at down here. What they do this year, we’ll be doing in 10-20 years. At one time - before Ronald Reagan - the UC System was the leading public university in the world. It struggles now. But back in the ‘60s it was way out front. That accounts for JPL in southern California. If we were starting over, JPL would probably be in New Delhi this time. DHS is the most useless concoction since Nixon decided to break into the Watergate complex. The quicker we UNDO that the better we’ll all be.

I’ve watched government at all levels for a long time. Although I was born a Democrat and I will die a Democrat, I have come to the conclusion that in the US between 25% and 33% of all public funds are mis-spent. Some by fraud, some just misdirected and some by neglect. Assuming Canada has about the same problem, perhaps this is as good a free governments can expect to be?

[edit on 10/12/2007 by donwhite]

I can't believe more people haven't responded to this thread since pork is such a HUGE part of government waste and deception. In fact, that's the reason that Bush vetoed that bill that was supposed to help low income children get healthcare. It wasn't that he hates little children, it's that the pork attached to that bill was outrageous!

Here's a website that will help you track down some pork

Follow the pork