Seriously? Why is this a Good Idea?

My local papers both had stories this weekend about earmarks - aka Pork Projects that congress members sneak into bills, usually unrelated to the bill itself.

I don't know why (well, yes I do) but both papers were touting the great things about all this Pork for our community.

Excuse me?!?!

I just shook my head because I know the Olympian is a total rag of useless tree wasting paper. But I still have a hard time believing that anyone can believe that earmarks are a good thing.

Let's see ... how logical is it for the federal government to take tax money from us and then return it to us...less a "minor" processing fee?

"...review of budget earmarks provided by the 2007 Congress — which funneled $1.38 billion in special budget awards to Washington state..."

Hello! Just keep that money here locally in the first place and let us do what needs to be done! The federal government doesn't know local needs and all that earmarks do is encourage waste and fraud. Not to mention lobbyists earning huge salaries - for what? Just for taking politicians out to lunch to persuade them to funnel tax payer money to their particular cause?

"One other earmark — for $446,500 — helps pay for a gym and culture center for Nisqually tribal youth. ... Yet another gives Intercity Transit $343,000 to design a bus station — for lease to Greyhound — next to IT's transfer station in downtown Olympia."

Seriously? SERIOUSLY!?! Do you really want to help pay for the Nisqually tribal youth's gym? Really? Do you even know where the Nisqually tribe is? I live very near it and trust me when I tell you that they do NOT need the federal dollars. Their casino is going gangbusters and they can afford to build their own freaking gym.

Not to mention the fact that no one living in Kansas should be taxed to pay for these things here in Washington State. The people of Washington should be the ones to decide what their taxes should be used for here. Let the people of Kansas use their tax money for themselves! (I just picked Kansas at random...feel free to insert your own state!)

The ONLY thing the federal government SHOULD be taxing and spending on is the military and national infrastructure like highways/freeways. That's it. Everything else should be left to local and state government. Oh and national parks. Those are good too.

Our government is so freaking inefficient it blows my mind and yet our local papers say its a good thing to have earmarks? Ridiculous!