Something else that has been bothering me. "Will the left ever realize that taking resources from one and giving them to another does not work. It will not end poverty. Good intentions would not have evacuated those folks in New Orleans any faster than their own feet would have." Excellent point GeeGuy!

My take on Pork:
We are being asked to give up money that our state officials have been fighting for for years and send it to the south for rebuilding. Sounds like a good idea, but I want to know, if we give up the money for say, the Fort Peck Fish Hatchery, is it really going to make a difference in federal government spending? This is a huge deal for Montana, with long reaching economic impact. It is a project that is big for our state, but that federal money is just a drop in the bucket for the expected financing of the rebuilding. I think we need to look beyond this month, this year even, at what Our state needs and how this will effect us in the long run. We have been suffering from drought for years. Part of the problem has been water management, and RIGHT NOW the lower states on the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers are demanding we let out out more water, to sustain their small percentage of barge shiping, at the cost of our farming and recreation industrys. Fort Peck is at an alarmingly low level, has been for years, yet we are required to release water for downstream industrys at the expense of our own. Let's give where we can, but killing our economic growth is not going to help anyone in the long run.
I do not expect everyone to agree with me, but I think this is something to consider.