In an effort to keep the American people informed about where their tax dollars are going and to keep politicians accountable, we are bringing to you a regular list of pork projects delivered fresh from the fiscal 2004 omnibus spending bill:
$977,000 for the Plano, Illinois, library:
-Plano has only 5,633 residents, but it also has House Speaker Denny Hastert (R.-Ill.) as its congressman, so they're going to have one heck of a library.
$500,000 for the Vermont Institute of Natural Science, Woodstock, Vermont for the construction of a wildlife rehabilitation facility:
-Why should Vermont get favors like this while Sen. Pat Leahy (D.-Vt.) keeps the President's judicial nominees dangling?
$1,000,000 for construction of a "business incubator" in Huntington, West Virginia:
-Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D.-W.Va.), the top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, is never outdone when it comes to pork-barrel spending.
$200,000 "for the Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management (NESCAUM)":
-Is there an air shortage in the Northeast? Should we be worried?
$1,000,000 for "curriculum development" at the new Clinton School of Public Service at the William Jefferson Clinton Presidential Park in Little Rock, Ark:
-Make up your own joke for this one.
