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Senator Harkin defends earmark to research pig odor [we’ve got $1.8 million to study why pigs smell]
Reuters ^

Posted on 03/04/2009 3:18:59 PM PST by Sub-Driver

Posted by: Jeremy Pelofsky Tags: Front Row Washington, Iowa, pigs, Tom Coburn, Tom Harkin

Some might think it would be hard to defend spending $1.8 million on researching how to deal with the odor from pig manure, but Senator Tom Harkin found it pretty easy to do.

Harkin, an Iowa Democrat, succeeded in getting the funds included in the $410 billion omnibus spending bill that is pending in the Senate, drawing protests from some like Senator John McCain that it is wasteful spending of taxpayer dollars.

“I’m sure that David Letterman will probably be talking about it and Jay Leno will be talking about it, we’ve got $1.8 million to study why pigs smell,” Harkin said on the Senate floor after an amendment was introduced aimed at killing the funding.

“People constantly complain, with good reason, about big farms, factory farms and their environmental impacts so it makes good sense to fund research that addresses how people can live in our small towns and communities and livestock producers can do the same and co-exist,” he said.

(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.reuters.com ...


TOPICS: Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: dungheap; earmarks; harkin; pig; porkulus; stink
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headline of the day from Congress...........
1 posted on 03/04/2009 3:18:59 PM PST by Sub-Driver
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To: Sub-Driver

Gee, could it be they roll around in their own shit everyday?


2 posted on 03/04/2009 3:19:49 PM PST by Gaffer
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To: Sub-Driver

Do we get referral fees?


3 posted on 03/04/2009 3:20:32 PM PST by allmost
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To: Gaffer

Sen. Dung Heap would know. His stink is the worst of all.


4 posted on 03/04/2009 3:21:02 PM PST by darkangel82 (I don't have a superiority complex, I'm just better than you.)
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To: Gaffer
Gee, could it be they roll around in their own shit everyday?

Who, the pigs or Democrat Senators?

5 posted on 03/04/2009 3:21:27 PM PST by rfp1234 (Phodopus campbelli: household ruler since July 2007.)
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To: Sub-Driver

With all the PORK in DC,,I suppose this research will be done at the Capitol,,right?


6 posted on 03/04/2009 3:22:05 PM PST by austinaero ((More Bark, Less Wag))
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To: rfp1234

I think the pigs have more self respect.....


7 posted on 03/04/2009 3:23:08 PM PST by Gaffer
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To: Sub-Driver
Here is your answer Harkin..

E-Mail me and I'll send you an address to mail my $1.8Million.

8 posted on 03/04/2009 3:23:13 PM PST by mnehring (!!!!!!!SHRUG!!!!!!!!!)
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To: Sub-Driver

I can understand the dislike of the pig smell, but there is no justification for this kind of waste right now.

A lot of central Iowa has the stench of pigs, just like some other parts of the country have the stench of cows. I wore a brand new pair of boots into a pig barn for 15 minutes a couple of days after Christmas. To this day, when I wear those boots, I can still smell the hogs on them...even though I didn’t step in anything in the barn.

The smell is that permeating...but not worth $1.8 million dollars.


9 posted on 03/04/2009 3:23:25 PM PST by Tex Pete (Obama for Change: from our pockets, our piggy banks, and our couch cushions!)
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Comment #10 Removed by Moderator

To: Sub-Driver

Doesn’t take any money at all to figure out why the US Congress stinks worse than any hog farm........


11 posted on 03/04/2009 3:23:42 PM PST by Enchante (What the Demagogues Call "bi-partisanship" is RINO Grovelling)
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Comment #12 Removed by Moderator

To: Sub-Driver

For a mere $200K I could tell them that pigs stink and even give them several reasons for the phenomenon, and they would save over $1.5 million.


13 posted on 03/04/2009 3:27:10 PM PST by VRWCmember
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To: Sub-Driver

Tom Harkin...the Faux Viet Nam Pilot;

What he did while on active duty is even more confusing. In 1979, Mr. Harkin, then a congressman, participated in a round-table discussion arranged by the Congressional Vietnam Veterans’ Caucus. “I spent five years as a Navy pilot, starting in November of 1962,” Mr. Harkin said at that meeting, in words that were later quoted in a book, Changing of the Guard, by Washington Post political writer David Broder. “One year was in Vietnam. I was flying F-4s and F-8s on combat air patrols and photo-reconnaissance support missions. I did no bombing.”

That clearly is not an accurate picture of his Navy service. Though Mr. Harkin stresses he is proud of his Navy record—”I put my ass on the line day after day”—he concedes now he never flew combat air patrols in Vietnam.

He was stationed at the U.S. Naval Air Station at Atsugi, Japan. Damaged aircraft were flown into Atsugi for repairs or sometimes flown out of Atsugi to the Philippines for more substantial work. Mr. Harkin says he and three other Navy pilots flew these ferry flights. And, when the planes had been repaired, he and his fellow pilots took them up on test flights. “I had always wanted to be a test pilot,” he says. “It was damned demanding work.”


14 posted on 03/04/2009 3:28:18 PM PST by jessduntno ("Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice! Moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue!")
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To: Sub-Driver

” you can understand that the management problems of what to do with the waste has become very serious, “

Yucca Mountain storage is now available!


15 posted on 03/04/2009 3:30:06 PM PST by Dr. Bogus Pachysandra ( Ya can't pick up a turd by the clean end!)
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To: Sub-Driver

Senator Harkin defends oder of pigmarks...


16 posted on 03/04/2009 3:30:16 PM PST by xcamel (The urge to save humanity is always a false front for the urge to rule it. - H. L. Mencken)
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To: Sub-Driver; All
The New, improved Great Seal for Congress, the Senate, and Duh!1®:


17 posted on 03/04/2009 3:32:19 PM PST by backhoe (All across America, the Lights are going out...)
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To: jessduntno

That’s a maintenance test pilot not a “Chuck Yeager” type break the envelope style Test Pilot....

Just another exaggeration....

or Tom Harkin Faux Test Pilot


18 posted on 03/04/2009 3:37:04 PM PST by usmcobra (Your chances of dying in bed are reduced by getting out of it, but most people still die in bed)
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To: Sub-Driver

Harken unto this, my FRiends: “why does pork stink?” well, look at this earmark, commonly referred to as “pork,” to research why pork stinks.” That’s almost a self-answering question!


19 posted on 03/04/2009 3:37:11 PM PST by NonValueAdded (May God save America from its government; this is no time for Obamateurs. Emmanuel = Haldeman?)
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To: Sub-Driver
1.8 million would be well spent to help with this issue. The economic value of the pork industry is huge, and the smell issue is a big issue. And this issue has received funding probably for at least 10 years.

But the government should not be footing the bill. Pork producers should be. And on and on, thousands of times, with many other issues in this budget; and budgets for the last 60 years.

20 posted on 03/04/2009 3:37:39 PM PST by HereInTheHeartland (I agree with Rick..)
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