Conservatives Hit Dems Over “Tattoo Removal” Pork — But It’s An Anti-Crime Program!

[Pirate Smile]

Conservatives Hit Dems Over “Tattoo Removal” Pork — But It’s An Anti-Crime Program!

Uh oh — looks like we have our next marsh mouse-style talking point.

Conservatives are hammering the House’s new $410 billion spending bill because it contains $200,000 for what they’re derisively referring to as “tattoo removal.” Fox News’ Sean Hannity, Drudge, and at least one GOP official on MSNBC, among others, have been all over this today.

But a little reporting reveals that that this “tattoo removal” program is an anti-crime program in the San Fernando Valley that re-integrates reformed gang members and makes it easier for them to find jobs. Two Los Angeles law enforcement officials I just spoke to — one who identified himself as a “conservative Republican” — swore by the program for reducing crime and saving lives.

The tattoo pork story kicked off in earnest when the New York Post flagged the “tattoo removal” pork in a story this morning. It was subsequently pushed by Drudge with the headline: “Congress: Big Bucks To Canoes And Tattoos.”

Fox’s Hannity then jumped on the tattoo tale, flashing on the screen a list of what Fox dubbed “pure pork” and describing the tattoo money as merely being $200,000 for “tattoo removal,” with no explanation. Hannity blasted the pork as “outrageous.” Click to enlarge:



Hmmm. This program, maybe not so much. I checked in with the office of Dem Rep Howard Berman, the sponsor of this funding, and his aides said the money goes to a program run out of the Providence Holy Cross hospital in San Fernando Valley that helps reforming gang members remove their gang tattoos. I asked Robert Ordelheide, the chief of San Fernando Police Department, for his read on the program.

“It helps people who want to get out of the gang life,” Ordelheide said, adding that the program was “important.”

“It reduces attacks” and causes a “reduction in gang rivalry,” he added. “$200,000 is a good investment if we can save lives.”

Rep. Berman’s office also put me in touch with Harold Gold, a probation officer with a local specialized gang unit. “It can get the kids jobs — if you have gang tattoos, you can’t get a job,” Gold said. “This program is one of the best life-saving and life-changing programs out here. I am about as right wing a conservative as you would ever find.”

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Posted by Greg Sargent | 02/26/2009, 04:42 PM EST |

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/political-media/conservatives-hit-dems-over-tattoo-removal-pork-but-its-an-anti-crime-program/

[beac]

1. There should have been a " GOP head from ass removal" program

in the stimulus bill.

Or conversely, a program to tattoo "Asshat" on the forehead of every GOP pundit-- stimulative AND fun, what more could you ask for??

[RC]

2. Republicans are against anti-crime programs for obvious reasons.

[Bleacher Creature]

3. Paul Krugman Summed this All Up Perfectly Yesterday.

"The intellectual incoherence is stunning. Basically, the political philosophy of the GOP right now seems to consist of snickering at stuff that they think sounds funny. The party of ideas has become the party of Beavis and Butthead."


http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/25/what-should-government-do-a-jindal-meditation/

[Cha]

5. Yes, that's a quote

worth passing on.

[Cha]

4. They leaped before they looked

right into the boiling cauldron of shame.