Middle Georgia Brings Home the Bacon

[Laelth]

Our nearly bankrupt federal government saw fit to reward Middle Georgia handsomely for its faithful service to the President in the $388 bil. Omnibus Spending Bill that passed the Senate last night. I remember feeling ill last year when my DINO representative, Jim Marshall, took a trip to Iraq and came home to praise *'s efforts to rebuild the country and bring freedom to the Iraqis. Now my district is rolling in pork as a result of his faithful service.

The Macon Telegraph reports that Middle Georgia is slated to get over $7.5 mil. for pet projects. Here's a partial list:

Macon Downtown Airport: $2.3 mil. (FAA Instrument Landing System--This is the airport that supports private, corporate jets)
Eastman Airport: $1 mil (new, cross-wind runway)
Macon-Bibb County Convention and Visitors Bureau: $1 mil.
Macon's Terminal Station: $750,000 (tourist center renovation)
Dooly-Crisp united transportation system: $200,000
City of Byron water and wastewater infrastructure: $150,000
City of Forsyth wastewater infrastructure: $250,000
Museum of Aviation (at Robbins AFB): $250,000
Tubman African American Museum: $921,250
Wesleyan College Willet Library: $100,000
Mercer University post-secondary education critical personnel development: $250,000
Georgia College & State University Coverdell Archives: $100,000
City of Macon after-school programs: $100,000
(plus a number of grants of less than $100,000)

And this is what a DINO gets. I can only imagine how much pork Republican congresspersons get for their districts. And notice that the largest chunk of spending in Middle Georgia goes to improving the airport that serves the region's corporate jets and private planes.

Health care coverage for all Middle Georgians? BAH! Nice airport for corporate execs? YES! Typical R. legislation.

:puke:

-Laelth

[recovering democrat]

1. Other great projects

Equally nauseated to read this. After sending a couple of immediate messages to Chambliss and my congressman (Scott) about this mess, decided I needed to get through ALL the things that are ridiculous before complaining any more. Whether they are in Georgia or not, a majority of our Congress voted to pass this insanity, knowing the size of the deficit.

A few more from the MSNBC news site on this bill: While the spending bill was one of the most austere in years, it had something for virtually every lawmaker, including mountains of home-district projects. Taxpayers for Common Sense, a bipartisan group favoring less federal spending, said it found 11,772 projects worth $15.8 billion.

Projects included:

$335,000 to protect sunflowers in North Dakota from blackbird damage.
$60 million for a new courthouse in Las Cruces, N.M.
$225,000 to study catfish genomes at Alabama’s Auburn University.
A potential boon for Bush himself, $2 million for the government to try buying back the former presidential yacht Sequoia. The boat was sold three decades ago, and its current owners say the yacht is assessed at $9.8 million and are distressed by the provision.

A PRESIDENTIAL YACHT???

[Laelth]

2. Yeah, the yacht was a really stupid idea.

Did you see this graphic from the homepage?



That particular absurdity deserves special attention and ridicule.

BTW: You can now purchase BrandDem gear HERE.

-Laelth

[recovering democrat]

3. Yep, sent a copy to Chambliss

[RedTail Wolf]

4. Fellow Middle Georgians

Hi Nice to find you here. I'd like to become involved more in the local Dem party and have written letters(e-mails) but have never been answered. What is the deal. Are you all practicing members of the say Macon Bibb Democratic Party? If so can you provide me some info on what kind of organization it is? Is it open or an old boy or old gal network? Just curious.


RedTail Wolf

[Laelth]

5. Hi RedTail Wolf

To be perfectly honest, I know very little about the Bibb County Democratic party. I went down to election HQ a couple of times during the campaign to make a donation and get some yard signs, and I talked to several nice people in the office, but that's as much as I know, really. During the election, HQ was in the Crowne Plaza building, in an office with an exterior entrance facing Walnut Street. I think that office closed, though, soon after the election.

A.B. "Tony" Caldwell is the Chair of the Bibb County Democratic Party. You can PM me for his phone number, if you're interested.

Hope that helps.

-Laelth