The Joy of Porkbusting

Finding places to get rid of pork is really way too easy. Consider this $400 million expansion to the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. Is it even needed?

Why bill taxpayers $400 million to erase a moderate eyesore that only D.C. residents, commuters, and art mavens ever see?

The second rationale for the toll plaza appears to be the Kennedy Center's need for 400,000 square feet of new rehearsal, educational, and museum space to supplement the center's existing 1.5 million square feet. But even folks who applaud federal subsidies of the arts should blush at prospect of building a $400 million oil-platform for new KenCen space—even if the Department of Transportation is springing for it.

That's right- the cultural space is going to be built out of funds held by the Department of Transportation. Are you kidding me? That $400 million would plug a levee quite nicely. In fact, that sum could improve the levee system considerably if the kleptocrats in Louisiana can keep their hands off most of that money. Or, that money could rebuild the access routes in and out of New Orleans and major roads along the Gulf Coast. This is one appropriation that all members of Congress should seriously reconsider. And that's not even part of the Transportation Law (SAFETEA-LU) signed into law earlier this year.

If you're a New Jersey resident, there's places to cut the pork too. The Heritage Foundation cites a $8 million pathway on Hoboken's waterfront. John Stossel notes that $18,000 was spent on a smoking room at Teterboro Airport.

From the taxpayer.net resource above, $600,000 is set aside for a riverwalk in Millburn along the West Branch of the Rahway River. Pork. Pure unadulterated pork. Axe it. $256,000 for the New Jersey Underground Railroad for preservation,
enhancement and promotion of sites in New Jersey. That's a museum. Sorry, but that's not transportation. And forget about those sound barrier projects - they're eye sores that could be better addressed through planting trees or installing berms at a fraction of the cost.

Enough of these programs that are only tangentially related to transportation.

Parks are not transportation. Recreational facilities are not transportation. Cultural facilities are not transportation.

UPDATE:
Pork-Reports is outlining some of the more egregious cases.

UPDATE:
Michael Barone weighs in, and wonders whether the American public would actually notice if some of the pork disappeared in order to defer the Katrina costs. In fact, he wonders about the utility of pork in general as an enticement to secure and maintain votes.

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