Originally Posted by The_Dunedan

My feelings and thoughts on her earmarks are held in reserve for the moment. I'm trying to find out more about what these specific earmarks were, and why they existed. The only one I've been able to find much info about is the Bridge...turns out it's to link a fast-growing tourist destination with its' airport, which is on a nearby island. It'd save the city of Ketchikan gads of money in ferry-boat fuel and help relieve harbor congestion. This last is a major problem, since the island is a major port-of-call on Alaska's cruise lines, as well as being a seasonal fishing-industry hub like most places on the Alaskan coast. Palin's objection seems to stem from the fact that the projected cost more than tripled between the time the proposal was submitted and when the plans were finalised. However, it was a pretty obscenely expensive thing to begin with, so I'm holding agnostic on this one as well.

I object to the earmark system on principle, but since it's currently in place (and unlikely to go anywhere) I don't have a problem with congressthingies or governors trying to get some of their constituent's stolen money back and applied to things that the money should be going for anyway. I only truly get outraged when it goes for pointless pet projects, silly nonsense like studies on the IQ of Mayonnaise.