Thursday, October 27, 2005

More on Pork... not Port

If this is the crap that's happening with the Republicans in control, what hope do we have?

Last week, Alaska's other senator, Lisa Murkowski, said it would be "offensive" not to spend your money on her bridge. When she first became a senator, I asked her if Republicans believed in smaller government. She was unusually candid: "We want smaller government. But, boy, I sure want more highways and more stuff, whatever the stuff is."
I'll say. Alaska's pork projects spanned 67 pages. They get much more than other states. "Oh, you need to come up," she said. "You would realize it's not pork. It's all necessity ... People look at Alaska and say, 'Well, gee, they're getting all this money.' But we still have communities that are not tied in to sewer and water. There are certain basic things that you've got to have."
But my children shouldn't have to pay for them. If people want to live in remote areas of Alaska, why can't they pay for their own sewers and water, through state or local taxes, or better yet, through private businesses? Why should all Americans pay to run sewer lines through the vast, frozen spaces of Alaska? Because Alaska has no money?
Don't believe it. Alaska has so much money, it has no state income tax or sales tax. Instead, it gives its citizens money from something called the Alaska Permanent Fund.

4 comments:

Granted said...

Crap. Let's move! They give you money and they've got good gun laws... What's wrong with this picture (apart from the MOUNTAIN of snow, I mean, & the occasional earthquakes & saying good-bye to the sun for three-four months)?

Nylarthotep said...

Odd, I would have thought that Alaska would have the lowest rated representatives in congress. But they don't.
http://councilfor.cagw.org/site/PageServer?pagename=reports_Ratings_AtaGlance

State Delegations

Highest Rated

State Ratings

New Hampshire 75%
Wyoming 67%
Arizona 66%

Lowest Rated

Massachusetts 9%
South Dakota 11%
Hawaii 13%

Nylarthotep said...

PORT?

Granted said...

I am shocked that second largest nanny state in the union (California is still leaps & bounds ahead of MA, though our representatvies are trying hard to catch up) is one of the worst when it comes to big government spending. I'm surprised we're not #1.