“President Bush signed a $555-billion spending bill Wednesday that will pay for a large share of government operations in 2008, but he complained that Congress did not do enough to restrict pork-barrel expenditures and was not providing enough money for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Bush said in a statement: ‘I am disappointed in the way the Congress compiled this legislation. … Congress dropped into the bill nearly 9,800 earmarks that total more than $10 billion. These projects are not funded through a merit-based process and provide a vehicle for wasteful government spending.’” [editor’s note: Around $1,850 for every man, woman and child in the United States — and of course there WILL be more — and he’s bitching about $33.33 of it? The statement, as it happens, was made from an airplane that costs taxpayers $55,000 per hour to operate while it flies him … to his vacation destination! - TLK] (12/27/07)