GordonUnleashed

My Response to Kyle Whitmire

August 23rd, 2007 by Steve

Last week, I wrote about the Birmingham Weekly’s List, which is dedicated to “…the jackals and jackasses who have made Alabama and Birmingham a worse place in which to live, who have betrayed their constituents and fellow citizens. Their indiscretions border on the unforgivable.”

I suggested that a potential nominee for the list might be Alabama’s entire congressional delegation because they all have abysmal records for pork barrel spending.

The Weekly’s Kyle Whitmire was kind enough to drop by and ask a question.

What constitutes pork is often in the eye of the beholder. Several years ago, Sen. John McCain decried the federal tax dollars that Sen. Shelby directed to the Vulcan restoration as the most egregious pork project in America, but what does that symbol mean to Birmingham? I’m interested to see some examples of our delegations’ pork projects and then hear whether Alabamians think they are wasteful.

According to Wiki, pork is “government spending that is intended to benefit constituents of a politician in return for their political support, either in the form of campaign contributions or votes.” Here is a set of criteria which further identify pork:

Requested by only one chamber of Congress;
Not specifically authorized;
Not competitively awarded;
Not requested by the President;
Greatly exceeds the President’s budget request or the previous year’s funding;
Not the subject of congressional hearings; or
Serves only a local or special interest.

What constitutes pork is fixed. Where the eye of the beholder applies is not in the definition, but whether constituents will reward their Congressmen with re-election.

To me, it’s a matter of principle and it doesn’t matter which projects Alabamians find wasteful. You won’t find me saying nice things about John McCain very often, but he’s right on this one. If people in Alaska want to build a bridge to nowhere, why should Alabamians have to pay for it? If Alabamians want a big iron butthole (pictured above for people not familiar with Birmingham) winking at them, we should pay for it out of our own pockets.

By the way, as a former Birmingham resident, the Vulcan doesn’t mean enough to me to allocate one thin local, state or national dime to the project. If people want to see a big iron butt everyday, let them pay for it out of their own wallets, but please keep your hands out of my pockets.

While I’m sure Kyle and I aren’t likely to agree on this issue, here is one I’m sure we can agree upon. How about an endorsement of Free The Hops over at the Birmingham Weekly?

Posted in Alabama Politics, National Politics

One Response to “My Response to Kyle Whitmire”

titaniumgirl wrote on 08/23/07 at 9:30 pm :

When I went to ‘Bama for the Mercedes Marathon 2 years ago, my hosts were discussing “The Vulcan”.
Nobody seemed to know why it was there. I think govt should operate like a HOA and let people decide whether they want to pay for crap like that.

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My Response to Kyle Whitmire

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