Despite earmark reforms, 'pork' spending rises

CSM "Squeal like a pig"
Despite promises on both sides of the aisle to cut back on "pork-barrel" spending, Congress served up 11,610 member-sponsored projects in spending bills for FY 2008 at a cost to taxpayers of $17.2 billion.

Although how they can call it "earmark reform" still confuses the hell out of me. The Citizens Against Government Waste recent release of their 2008 Pig Book would be much better if it expressed values in real terms and could be much more useable, but still gives a good break out of what is close to outright federal theft and perhaps what states could barely exist off the national dole.