Pork

I was reading Dispatches from the Culture Wars about US President Obama's stimulus plan and I was struck by this comment from Lurkbot.

Am I the only one tired of hearing this word "pork" used to mean "any project not located in my district?" A lot of things need doing. Only a fraction of them will get done, but all of them are done Somewhere.

If the representatives of Somewhere aren't advocating for projects that benefit their constituents, then it's time for the Somewherians to vote them out and get someone who will!

Pork barrel projects get a lot of criticism, and a lot of them deservedly so, but not all pork barrel projects are bad, just like not all politicians are corrupt. The trick is knowing what project is just waste and who are the incorruptible politicians. The problem of course is that its hard to do so.