Emergency Funds for Iraq War Pork
Bush asked congress for another $105 billion in emergency funding for his illegal war in Iraq. The Democratic majority, even though they said they desperately wanted to end the war, approved the spending under the guise of supporting the troops.
But wait! While we were watching the Dems and Bush play good cop, bad cop, the money the war spending bill requests jumped from $105 billion to $124 billion dollars.
How’d that happen? What’s the extra nearly $20 billion for?
$20 billion worth of pork
Bacon isn’t cheap these days, but it turns out that $20 billion can buy a lot of pork:
If you’re feeling bad for the California spinach growers who lost out in last September’s E. coli-tainted spinach recall, don’t feel too bad. The emergency Iraq war spending bill will give them $25 million compensation for their loss.
Did al Qaeda cause some of your citrus fruit to freeze? No problem. There’s $100 million allotted for oranges that have succumbed to terrorists.
There’s also $74 million for a peanut storage program.
And $500 million to fight western wild fires.
And don’t forget the old FDA building in D.C. that’s being converted into Capital office space—we need $600 million for THAT emergency war spending.
There’s also $1 billion for fighting a potential avian flu epidemic (Rumsfeld may not be Secretary of Defense any longer, but he’s still got clout and sway to increase his stock dividends from the makers of Tamiflu…)
What about $400 million for additional heating subsidies for the poor? Yes! Please inform al Qaeda the 12% of Americans living below the poverty line will not negotiate their right to subsidized heat.
And finally—and I think he’s speaking for all of us—in the spirit of supporting the troops, Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Oregon, said he would only vote for the spending bill if it included an add-on that gave $400 million to rural counties hurt by cutbacks in federal logging.
Bravo, DeFazio. You’re red, white, and blue, man.
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March 16th, 2007 at 7:48 am
How do I get in that line?
I still have student loan debts — because I was out of work and then underemployed for a very long time. The economy was craptastic due to all of the wars we were fighting because of Al-Queda. All I want is like a half million dollars — because I’ve already tacked a few other items onto my bill that I would like to have the government pay off for me, as well.
March 16th, 2007 at 8:03 am
First, you have to get elected, then you have to negotiate what’s left of your soul with the President’s chief of staff, and then…well, AIPAC will be giving you a nice little swiss bank account… ;-)
March 16th, 2007 at 9:04 am
I get up every morning and walk to my stall and put my head through the opening, I feel the locking mechanism move, securing my head in place. But it’s okay, because I have my little bit of aromatic grain and I know they will wash my tender parts down with warm soothing water before they attach the milk suckers. And when they have relieved the pressure, they will give me a nice friendly slap on the ass on the way out the door.
March 16th, 2007 at 4:31 pm
Hahhahaahha…and take lots of antibiotics from Monsanto so you can produce a gajillian gallons and not get an infection from all those suckers…
March 16th, 2007 at 10:04 pm
After all the hoopla in January, it didn’t take them long to get back to politics as usual.