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Gotcha! It turns out that John McCain, while crusading against wasteful spending, specifically objected to three earmarks that Sarah Palin requested as mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, including a dubious agricultural-processing facility designed to promote local produce. In fact, Palin has a consistent record of chasing the bacon that McCain has fought for years. She pulled in $27 million in earmarks as mayor, requested $450 million in earmarks as governor and even supported the state's notorious Bridge to Nowhere before she opposed it. There isn't enough lipstick in Alaska to cover all that pork. (See photos of Sarah...
Americans may despise pork in someone else's district, but they tend to view it as vital infrastructure when it comes home; that's why so many Americans despise Congress but still support their local members of Congress. And that's why McCain's steadfast opposition to all earmarks requested by individual members of Congress - the common definition of pork - could be a political liability. As a procedural matter, it makes sense to stop Representatives from slipping pet projects into law, although some legislators argue that earmarking is a useful check on executive power, and that earmarks are just...
Obama hasn't said much about McCain's pork-bashing; on a national level, it would just play to McCain's maverick strengths. But on a local level, when McCain has spoken at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, Lehigh Valley Hospital and the city of Youngstown, Ohio, the Obama campaign has released lists of earmarks those places have benefited from. And in a speech to aerospace workers, Obama himself recently accused McCain of hurting the American economy by battling Boeing, even though McCain's investigations into a sweetheart deal for Boeing helped expose a Pentagon scandal...
...Success in modern Europe, however, often comes at a price of diluting local tradition. Where once the launch of a new fishing vessel would have drawn hundreds of locals in their Sunday best to the quayside, the big draws at this year's Seafest were not fishing vessels but Viking warrior re-enactments, candy stores, carnival rides and a palmist called Amalia Lavengra. The largest boat in the harbor was not some weathered trawler, but the Donara II, a 34-foot yacht owned by Andy Stewart, Commodore of the Arbroath Sailing and Boating Club. "It's mixed emotions," says Alex...
...Others suggest that Chávez may be trying to whip up his base in advance of local and state elections in November. He and his party desperately need a strong showing in order to reverse the unusual downward political slide he's experienced since losing a national referendum last year in which he sought to expand his socialist projects and eliminate presidential term limits...