Posted on 02/11/2010 3:36:03 PM PST by American Dream 246
Let’s recap the current economic state of our country. Our deficit has been quadrupled in one year. The unemployment rate is in double digit territory, the highest its been since 1982. We’ve lost 16,000 jobs a day since the stimulus package was passed. The public debt is around $11 trillion.
None of this keeps Democrats from spending money like Marie Antoinette on meaningless projects. The latest example? Congress blew $50 million on a park in the Caribbean — St. Croix, to be exact. The vote was almost exclusively along party lines, with every Republican and five Democrats voting against it, and 240 Democrats voting for it.
If you are hoping to visit the newest crown jewel in America’s park system chosen by Congress, throw away the car keys and open up your wallet. The 2,900 pristine acres of beachfront property were not cheap — or even in the United States.
The property soliciting accusations of “pork” from critics is the Castle Nugent National Historic Park. It’s in the U.S. Virgin Islands, about a thousand miles from Miami and an expensive jet ride to get there. Two weeks ago, on a near party line vote, a huge Democratic majority in the House agreed to spend $50 million to buy the former cotton plantation on the island of St. Croix.
“This is a beautiful and important natural and cultural resource that is in danger of being lost forever,” Virgin Island delegate, Donna Christiansen, told House colleagues in January.
… “Now is not the time to spend up to $50 million dollars of the taxpayers’ money to buy nearly 3,000 acres of beachfront property on a Caribbean Island,” said Rep. Doc Hastings, (R-Wash.), ranking Republican on the House Natural Resources Committee. “We can’t afford a price tag for a new park in St Croix, just as many Americans will never be able to afford a visit there.”
Democrats approved the purchase, even though the National Park Service has yet to complete a study on the purchase.
“We don’t have the money to do this,” said Rep Jason Chaffetz, (R – Utah). “Currently the National Park Service has an estimated $9 billion in backlog maintenance on existing parks. Why should the people of Iowa, Rhode Island or California or Utah have to continue to pay and supplement the people there on St Croix for this property?”
Residents of St. Croix of course support this. But most constituents don’t complain about pork when it benefits them.
The land is currently owned by the Gasperi family. Apparently, they want to sell the property to keep it pristine and to prevent developers from taking over: The Gasperi family maintains it wants to sell the land to the U.S. government in order to protect it from developers. Critics in Congress say there is nothing stopping them from doing that. They don’t have to sell, or the family could impose a conservation easement on the land, preventing development forever.
“Sometimes you have to say, enough is enough,” Rep. Rob Bishop of Utah told the House in January. “We heard it is (the Gasperi’s) desire that this land not be developed, but preserved in its current condition. It seems to me they are in the perfect position to accomplish that goal as landowners.”
If the Gasperis don’t want the land to be developed, then they have every right to keep that from happening. There is no need for the government to get involved, but there was never a time when Democrats saw a bill with pork barrel spending in it that they didn’t like.
And of course, how can this really be justified when the National Park Service hasn’t even surveyed the area and has a $9 billion backlog for parks right here in the United States? Most Americans will never see this park. The parks here that they could afford to see are the ones that apparently need maintenance.
But then, maybe that’s an ideal situation for Democrats. They can afford to go see this beautiful, pristine park in the Caribbean without worrying about seeing any of us uneducated middle-class low-lifes. They certainly aren’t looking out for the best interests of their constituents. They don’t care about what constituents want. They’re completely out of touch with reality… and in control of our wallets.
If that’s not a nightmare scenario, then I don’t know what is.
Oh..forgot - I also would like to know where to apply to be the skipper of the “government” 75ft sailboat. Sorry...forgot about that one. Hope it’s not too late.
Sometimes government waste is amazing. There was something about a Florida school using stimulus funds to give away $300,000 in ipods to students to fill out a survey or something.
With ever criminal actbeing perpetrated on the American people I say POST THIER NAMES, PICTURES, E MAIL, PHONE # AND ADRESSES. FLOODD THIER OFFICES UNTIL THEY DROWN.REMEMBER AFTER NOVEMBER WE MUST START TO DEMAND PROSECUTIONS!
Why can’t we pull a twofer, and ask Pelosi to source her airplane booze from that plantation..? The broad gets her bubbles, and we save a nice stretch of beach, you know?
Or she could just fly her kids back and forth all year to the Carribean...
Wow, my brain hurts.
It will always be. That's why "starving the beast" by cutting spending is the best approach. They can't waste what they don't have.
That does happen. The national parks have homes that have been taken over that are administered by the Dept of Interior. They are booked as vacation retreats.
Great spot for the next Hussein extended family and friends vacation.
You can not starve them. They print their own money. They don’t even need, if need be, your taxes. They can borrow as much as people will lend them and make your kids serfs.
You and I cannot starve them. The key is to get a President and a Congress that cut spending authorizations, an admittedly tall order. Unfortunatley, all of the societal forces seem to be currently aligned for large, rather than small government. You are correct in the sense that once they authorize spending, they cannot be stopped.
When GM execs flew into DC via learjet for their bailout, the feds SCREAMED TO HIGH HEAVEN.
The head of the fake, thieving scam electric car company, TESLA, flew in a private jet to get more sucker money from Congress just the other day.
Some bailout companies are more equal than others.
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