True enough. According to the nonpartisan watchdog group Citizens
Against Government Waste, Congress spends more than $25 billion
annually on pork-barrel projects -- budget-greasing,
constituent-pleasing oinkers like the National Cattle Congress
($250,000) and the money-down-a-flushless-drain Waterfree Urinal
Conservation Initiative ($1 million).
The really upsetting part? Some -- too much -- of that largesse goes to sports.
Think
$1 million for the First Tee youth golf program. Nearly $73,000 to
build a miniature red-brick replica of Oriole Park at Camden Yards. A
cool $35,000 for the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame, which also doesn't honor Jim Brown.
Just
this year, the same spendthrift legislative body that once signed off
on $640 Pentagon toilet seats and a $50 million indoor rain forest --
in Iowa, of all places -- approved $50,000 for the Capitol Hill
baseball and softball league.
Pay taxes? Thanks in advance. But don't expect a free league T-shirt.
You know when the pork debate has hit ESPN, we're moving in the right direction. Jeff Flake will look great on SportsCenter.