MSD

I'm glad to see $10,000,000 going to the International Fund for Ireland, especially knowing that a portion of it will go toward "a national water sports center used for coaching top-level athletes, golf videos, and exporting sweaters"

"$3,000,000 added by the House for a House staff fitness facility. Staffers will be able to work off all that pork at taxpayers’ expense, despite the close proximity of two private gyms."

"$200,000 for streetscape improvements in Berkeley Springs. Berkeley Springs, a cozy little mountain town just two hours from Washington, D.C., offers visitors "state-of-the-art spas, unique shops and local arts, all surrounded by West Virginia's splendid outdoors.""

" $191,000 for pedestrian and bicycle trails in Whitefish, a 'local playground for water sports enthusiasts.'" (note: I think it may be a bad sign if the first though I had when I saw "watersports" did not in any way involve pools or oceans)

"$20,000,000 for the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas Program of the Office of National Drug Control Policy." (We all know that I firmly believe in legalizingm taxing, and regulating everything.)

"$72,750 for the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation for construction of a stadium in Aberdeen. When the stadium is completed, it will be a replica of Camden Yards in Baltimore in order to give kids a feel for playing in the major leagues. The foundation boasts that for $60, each donor can have bricks engraved with their name placed in the stadium.

Appropriate recognition of the largest contribution would be to have 1,212 bricks engraved with 'A Gift from the American Taxpayer.'"

"$100,000 for the Dream Foundation, Inc. in Louisville for playground construction." (we built one hell of a quarter-acre playground here in my town entirely with volunteer labor and private contributions, and it cost about a tenth of that.)

"$775,000 for the Biltmore Hotel in the district of Rep. Ileana Ros- Lehtinen (R-Fla.). The hotel’s owners recently completed a $40 million, 10-year renovation and rooms are $350 per night. The Biltmore’s website boasts, "Coming Spring of 2005, The Biltmore will introduce a brand new, 12,000 sq. ft. destination Spa on the seventh floor of the hotel. Featuring spectacular views of surrounding Coral Gables, the Biltmore Spa will offer a luxurious and sophisticated setting for state-of-the-art treatments and services. Treatments will also be available in the hotel’s soon-tobe refurbished, private poolside cabanas." This earmark was part of a program that was supposed to fund projects to provide economic opportunity in areas of the country with populations with low or moderate incomes. There is nothing low or moderate about Coral Gables’ per capita income of $46,000, which is 19.6 percent greater than the national average of $37,000."

"$250,000 added by the Senate for the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, Tenn."

"$400,000 for educational outreach for the Washington Opera."

"$1,000,000 for the National Trust for Historic Preservation for capital development for the Lincoln Cottage. With National Trust revenues exceeding $62 million and assets of more than $180 million, there is plenty of money to proceed with this project rather than taking it from the taxpayers."

"$1,500,000 added by the House for the Allen Telescope Array at the University of California, Berkley. This telescope is part of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute (SETI). SETI’s website boasts about the telescope’s potential to help uncover extraterrestrial life and its strength as a radio telescope. The website fails to mention any defense-related mission, unless the telescope will alert us to an alien attack. It is no wonder that we have to look for intelligent life elsewhere after seeing how Congress spends our money." (This was under defense spending. I threw it in mainly for the quip at the end.)