Posted 4:43 PM by steve

I too will jump on the "Pork For The Big Easy" bandwagon ... and call on the good state of New Hampshire to give up all its pork in order to fund relief efforts for New Orleans... and while I'm at it, I support the good people of Rhode Island, Utah, Iowa and Massachusetts to sacrifice their pork on behalf of the greater good.

Of course, I don't live in New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Iowa or Massachusetts, so it's pretty easy for me to support cutting federal expenditures in those states.

As for my home state, Virginia, I'l like to offer up something but the fact of the matter is that every single dollar of federal expenditures in this fine state is critically important to our state. We simply have no pork. All the transportation dollars, all the welfare spending, all the defense spending, all the spending on government workers and Beltway bandits... they are all expenditures needed for our national security and well-being.

Why do I say this? Because our fine Senators, George Allen and John Warner, together with our excellent Representatives, such as Tom Davis and Frank Wolf, would never, ever agree to the federal government to spend money in Virginia unless it was of the utmost importance that it happen. I know this is not the case in other states, where politicians of both sides of the aisle collude to loot the federal treasury in order to pay for unneeded construction, studies and projects.

So I applaud all of you other Americans who are stepping up and finally demanding that your Congressional Representatives and Senators live up to the high levels of integrity that we Virginians have long insisted on... it's about time you got off your collective rear ends and stopped acting so selfishly...

Actually, I'm in a bit of a quandry. I don't agree with Bush's opening up the fiscal floodgates (yes, that's a bad pun) to pay for rebuilding New Orleans. And I could do with a whole lot less federal spending in just about every area that the federal government spends money. But the idea of cutting back in some areas to pay for an equal amount of equally unwise spending just doesn't sit well with me... it only legitimizes what Bush is doing in New Orleans.

|