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We deserve what we get
Editor:
During the last five years or so I’ve really been ticked off at my
Republican party. George Bush turned out to be a big spending closet
liberal. In my opinion Robert Taft was the dumbest Governor in my
lifetime. The state Republican Party only gave us recycled retreads to
vote for year after year.
Here in the county we had three financial fools in the Commissioners
office trying to bankrupt us by building a new courthouse we have no
real need for.
Then came the November elections. I couldn’t believe it. The majority
of the country felt the same way I did. Stop wasting our taxpayer
dollars.
It was a great day for me when I saw John Boehner take the gavel from
Nancy Pelosi and park her airplane. During all these years of my
discontentment the one politician I never lost faith in was Boehner.
UTOPIA
Not just yet. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I saw the Republicans in
Washington reward Hal Rogers the Prince of Pork with the Chairmanship
of the Ways and Means Committee. That old porker has been a burr under
my saddle for 20 years. I know Hal Rogers personally. His congressional
district includes two counties in Kentucky where I have a substantial
investment in land and energy.
There isn’t enough room here to tell you what this man has done to the
taxpayers since he was first elected in 1981, so I’ll give you a run
down for 2008 and 2009.
In 2008 he squandered $76 million on earmarks. He ranked 26th out of
435 congressmen in spending. In 2009 he spent $98.9 million on 32
earmarks. He ranked 10th out of 435. He cosponsored 37 other earmarks
that came to a total of $246 million. This is the man the Republicans
chose to handle our money.
I’ll mention a few of Hal Rogers’s projects that drove me ballistic. He
built a highway to nowhere. Of course it’s called the Hal Rogers
Parkway. He decided that everyone in his district should have a septic
system. Every hillbilly in eastern Kentucky that owned a backhoe went
into the septic tank business. They dug holes, put in the tank,
collected their money and went on to the next one. Since they didn’t
know what they were doing, they left a terrible mess. The locals call
these places Hal Rogers poop farms.
Hal Rogers decided the mountain people needed city water. Since they
all had wells and didn’t want to pay for city water not many people
used the water line. Actually he should have known you can’t make good
whiskey with city water.
The earmark that ruined my family reunion, Hal Rogers built a $27
million airport on top of a mountain strip mine. The locals call it the
USS Hazard. That’s because it has a landing strip the size of an
aircraft carrier and is just as hard to land on. No traffic. No
business. We pay. Oh yes, my family reunion. One of my parasitic
cousins took exception to my bad mouthing Hal Rogers. After the dust
settled I suggested that maybe Mr. Rogers could get him an earmark to
fix his nose.
Folks for 20 years I’ve watched what just one selfish man can do to our
country. Think how many men and women have to get up every day, pack a
lunch and go to work. Some people have to work like an Alaskan sled dog
for their money. How many man-hours out of people’s lives has this one
old porker taken? Think what this money could have done if it had been
spent responsibly. As Republicans we still have a long way to go.
Here in the county we elected another Republican Commissioner that
wants to build a new courthouse.
We deserve what we get. Hell I’m going to go get drunk. Be back when I
sober up.
Don Wright
Greenville
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