Tim Cavanaugh knows where to find the money to rebuild southeast Louisiana:

Nobody, however, made out on the highway bill quite like the state of Alaska and its ravenous political class. Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska), chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, bragged to his constituents that the transportation bill (which Young loves so much he named it after his wife) was "stuffed like a turkey" with handouts for his state, and he was not exaggerating. The $721 million in tundra spending includes: a $2 23 million "bridge to "nowhere," connecting the 8,900-person town of Ketchikan to an airport on Gravina Island, whose population is 50; a $200 million bridge connecting Anchorage to a rural port so insignificant even the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce tried to block the project; and $15 million in seed money for a 68-mile, $284 million access road to Juneau. (This last one is opposed by not only the Environmental Protection Agency but a majority of the area's residents.)

It's not just Alaska. Here in Bremerton our House member in collusion with our Senator is trying to get some millions of dollars for a tunnel - said tunnel will only be used two hours each week day, and will be locked and alarmed the remainder of the time.

The theoretical purpose is to prevent ferry traffic from blocking acess to local businesses - none of which are actually open during the hours (5am-7am) the tunnel will be in use.

At least one of the Alaska projects makes a little sense.
Ketchikan is the fourth largest city in Alaska.
While the population is 8900 in city limits
the actual population is much bigger.
In the summer when the fishing fleet is in it might be 4 times.

Ketchikan is the service center for everything south of Sitka, fishing, logging , tourism.

Ketchikan's Airport is on Gravina Island, so the bridge is being built to connect Ketichikan to
it's airport, not to connect th 50 people that live on Gravina to Ketchikan.

Only three cities in South East Alaska have
airline service to the lower 48, Ketchikan is one of them. All the mail, all the fresh food, etc..
etc.. comes in that airport. it is currently served by Ferry. My guess is that is costs several million $ a year to run the airport Ferry.
Every 20 minutes all day 365 days a year.

So the bridge to gravina at least makes a little sense.

To see the Ketchikan airport
try Google Earth to:
55 21' 25.57" N 131 42' 58.28" W
Zoom in....
The airport is on the left, Ketchikan is the strip of civilization running north/south on the right.
It's hard to tell, but both Ketchikian and the airport is at the base of some very steep mountains.

No wait - every transportation link built increases wealth and prosperity, lowers prices and so on. I said this before and it's true!

Of course in this case (bar the exception of the Gravina link assuming Mr. Breed is correct) it is an individual's wealth and prosperity not the rest of us but why pick nits?

It's not just a problem of earmarks, it's also a problem of fairness. Under the previous federal transportation bill, TEA-21, Alaska received $6.08 for every dollar it generated in gas tax revenue. The rate of return for Louisiana, however, was only 90 cents. The new bill, SAFETEA-LU, is a little better, but not by much. Louisiana is still a donor state and Alaska still receives over $5 for every dollar it sends to Washington.

I find the entire "pork" community disgusting. The average working middle America person is donating money and goods to the New Orleans cause. I cannot see where our Congressmen have sacrificed anything. Perhaps the reconstruction should begin with a cut in their salaries and pensions. Following that, a cut out the free medical benefits, let them pay social security on what they do earn, and go on Medicare and purchase supplemental insurance. They should pay for their drugs like everyone else. Any elected official convicted of a felony should forefeit all rights to a lifetime government pension and get a job. Elected officials have lived off the backs of the working people (those who still have jobs) too long. Nobody is minding the store.