This is what republicans call "pork"

[Horse with no Name]

Fixing the levees in New Orleans


Fixing the bridges in Minnesota


Anyone else wanna talk about "pork"?

[uppityperson]

1. k&r for succintness

[YOY]

2. anyone who calls infrastructure (REAL infrastructure and not bridges to nowhere) Pork

Needs to be kicked in the head with steel toes. Repeatedly.

[KansDem]

3. Those levees look pathetic...

Check out how other countries approach their need for levees...

&imgrefurl=http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0112-15.htm&usg=__xqnYVoECA5vF0EkebJTCoyqZ3_8=&h=337&w=425&sz=39&hl=en&start=1&sig2=_KrcF9MiFJ8cGu8D69mXxg&um=1&tbnid=czSFHGjJhjEZ0M:&tbnh=100&tbnw=126&ei=NAWKSa6qFo2ssAO7woTEDQ&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dlevees%2Bnetherlands%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den">Common Dreams

[Horse with no Name]

13. I actually have those pics saved in my pictures

That is probably where I got this pic from.

[KansDem]

15. $720 million a day for Iraq, and to protect New Orleans from flooding...

...we put up walls that look like the kind you'll find around a house in suburban L.A.!

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

4. A-friggin-men.

Honestly, I hate discussing pork. Very, very little of what is termed pork is actually wasteful, but rather "not important to the direct interests of the person doing the labeling." Not to mention that it typically amounts to budget dust and has a very profound impact on the ability to pass the bill.

[liberal N proud]

5. They do not want to create jobs

All they are interested in is lining the pockets of the wealthy with more tax cuts

[underseasurveyor]

6. Anything that doesn't directly or indirectly inject their own pockets with money

is defined by them as pork. Fucker$!

[NOW tense]

7. Pork

[EndersDame]

8. Republicans want more Abortions!

Seriously, they are against the 200m for contraceptives for medicaid. I receive free contraceptives because i am enrolled womens health program otherwise between bills tuition rent and gas i could not afford my birth control.When I am not in school (where i get internet to post) I am waiting tables my partner does the same. If I were to get pregnant right now both my partner and I agree that we could simply not afford neither the time nor the money it costs to raise a kid so I would get an abortion.Someday after school (and the ability to have our own health insurance and financial independence) we will probably have a kid but not now. The republicans should either allocate money for birth control or allocate money for abortions.

[D-Lee]

9. Photos of what we should all think of when hearing "infra-structure"

These two photographs are what I think of myself. It is appalling that vital repair projects are described as "pork" -- we need to spread a more positive message.

On the power of photographs, look at http://www.ChrisJordan.com/, and click on "Running the Numbers" -- an incredible portrayal of consumer and national issues through photographs.

Creative, imaginative, highly skilled, mind blowing -- one could go on and on ... Selected ones might be particularly good for children's education and children's projects (after an adult looks at them first).

P.S. And I totally agree with the prior post on the need to fund birth control for those with limited means. The hypocrosy, short-sightedness and mean spiritedness of the anti-free-choicers is exposed by their position on this issue.

[old mark]

10. I don't understand why we are paying more attention to them now that they are

out of power - it's still the same group of assholes, as they are demonstrating every day lately.

mark

[leftofthedial]

11. I don't even want to think about pork.

I'm still puking peanut butter.

[Moostache]

12. "this is your brain....this is your brain on right-wing nuttery....any questions?"

[spanone]

14. any spending is pork to republics..they only believe in tax cuts..unless it's for war

[Hawkowl]

16. President Obama is failing

President Obama is failing to frame the issue effectively. He needs to use small words and pictures. I think one of his greatest weaknesses is in fact he is a "pragmatist" or tries to portray himself as a centrist without an underlying philosophy. Without a passionate philosophical viewpoint it is hard to win the propaganda war.

Republicans are literally criticizing federal building renovations and hiring census workers?!?! President Obama is getting a rude awakening I think. Hopefully, being the quick study that he is, he'll strike back quick and forcefully at rethuglicans.

[4_TN_TITANS]

17. Just a minute...

From the great wet-dream state for road contractors, by the time the money trickles down from contractor to subcontractor to sub-subcontractor to the actual workers, the jobs will be paying peanuts for the hard work involved.

I'm all for infrastructure, as long as it is done BY the government without private enterprise sinking it's teeth into it. That's how to turn these jobs into good paying, lasting jobs. If we approach it as a short term investment that can sold to private companies to complete, the economic benefits are greatly watered down and the quality suffers as the businesses race to cut corners.