Gov’t Pork That Endangers Our Troops
Today’s pork report centers on the porcine efforts of Representative David Wu, Democrat from Oregon, who wrung out of the Congressional budget a $2 million earmark for T-Shirts that were supposed to go to the U.S. Marines. Of course, Wu forgot to notice that the very shirts he had surreptitiously appropriated Federal money for were deemed a danger to our troops health by the very branch upon which he had wished to bestow the fruits of his pork barreling.
According to the Associated Press:
PORTLAND, Ore. — Oregon Rep. David Wu fought criticism Monday following a report in the Seattle Times that he got the U.S. Marines to buy shirts that can melt in battle, causing severe burns.
Of course, this treasury raiding by Wu was to pay back a company that gave him campaign donations, the ol’ quid pro quo rears its ugly head.
Wu helped get a $2 million earmark in the 2006 budget for InSport, a Beaverton company in his district. The report found InSport, parent company Vital Apparel and executives from both companies donated more than $7,000 to Wu.
The problem is that the shirts that Wu set up as a mandate for the Marines to take delivery of were made of nylon and shirts made of such material have been deemed a danger to the troops seeing battle “after finding the fabric melts in intense heat, adhering to the skin” causing severe burns to our injured troops.
“This essentially creates a second skin and can lead to horrific, disfiguring burns,†Capt. Lynn E. Welling, the 1st Marine Logistics Group head surgeon, who conducted research in Iraq, told the Seattle Times.
Nice job, Wu. Glad you’re there for our troops.
Then, to make matters worse, Wu inserted another $1 million in at another time to purchase the very same shirts again!
Naturally farmer Wu denies there is any “link” to his giving out Federal largess and his receiving campaign donations from the very company that benefited from these budget-busting earmarks.
Yeah. OK. Sure.
It was hard to hear Wu during the press conference, though, what with all the clatter of cloven hooves all around him and all.
This is a picture perfect case of why earmarks should be done away with. Not only is Wu’s raiding of the treasury bad fiscal policy but in this case it can actually lead to putting out troops in even more danger.
So, the Pork king medal goes to David Wu this week. May his constituents reward him by introducing him to the unemployment line.
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Posted by Warner Todd Huston on October 24, 2007 10:11 am
» Filed Under News, Politics As Usual, War On Terror
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3 Responses to “Gov’t Pork That Endangers Our Troops”
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“but in this case it can actually lead to putting out troops in even more danger.” is a bit of a stretch for me… I need to look up the melting point of Nylon, but I think it’s melting temperature is still highly unpleasent for a person with or without the shirt.
This is still wasteful spending of money in a shameful attempt to give lip service to “support our troops” without actually supporting them in the fight.
Tim~ I agree that the melting point of nylon may be higher
than would be comfortable… but I think the point is, enough
damage is being done without the ‘equipment,’ in this case a shirt
that ought to at least provide an additional, thin layer of
protection under the rest, melting down and doing more injury.
Maybe we can get them into the black market that AQ buys from?
I am opposed to earmarks, but Congress will never willingly give them up. This is a perfect example of how earmarks are used to ensure campaign donations for Congressmembers. As long as earmarks remain the political lifeblood of our Senators and Congressmen/women, they will never go away.