The Ultimate Porker, Now Bedridden
June 3, 2008 by elcap
CNN is reporting that Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia will be hospitalized for several days due to an infection. Bryd is a political legend, whose acheivements may never be topped.
Advocates of term limits know well that Byrd has been a US Senator longer than anyone else in history — if he can last until January 3 it will be 50 years. Others may remember Byrd as a former leader in the Ku Klux Klan who once famously wrote:
I shall never fight in the armed forces with a Negro by my side…. Rather I should die a thousand times.
Once such words became a political hindrance, he apologized for the babble. But he doesn’t regret being labeled the ultimate King of Pork. Citizens Against Government Waste crowned Byrd King as he’s served on appropriations committees for 48 years and brought about $4 billion in pork to West Virginia — just from 1991 to 2006. Bryd responded to the namecalling by saying this:
They call me ‘The Pork King,’ they don’t know how much I enjoy it.
For a lengthy tally of his pork projects, see here.
Byrd had erected a 10-foot, 1500 pound statue of himself in the state capitol building, despite the fact it’s illegal. Funny enough, rumor has it that if you stand below the statue Byrd’s hands are pointed at your pockets.
Here’s an impressive list of additional public works and pork projects Bryd has placed his name upon:
Robert C. Byrd Locks and Dam
Byrd Aerospace Tech. Center
Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope
Byrd Industrial Park
Robert C. Byrd Drive, from Beckley to Sophia (Byrd’s hometown)
Robert C. Byrd National Technology Transfer Center at Wheeling Jesuit University
Robert C. Byrd Highway
Robert C. Byrd Federal Correctional Institution
Robert C. Byrd High School
Robert C. Byrd Freeway
Robert C. Byrd Center for Hospitality and Tourism
Robert C. Byrd Science Center
Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center of West Virginia
Robert C. Byrd Cancer Research Center
Robert C. Byrd Technology Center at Alderson-Broaddus College
Robert C. Byrd Hardwood Technologies Center, near Princeton
Robert C. Byrd Bridge between Huntington and Chesapeake, Ohio
Robert C. Byrd addition to the lodge at Oglebay Park, Wheeling
Robert C. Byrd Community Center, Pine Grove
Robert C. Byrd Honors Scholarships
Robert C. Byrd Expressway, U.S. 52 near Weirton
Robert C. Byrd Institute in Charleston
Robert C. Byrd Institute for Advanced Flexible Manufacturing
Robert C. Byrd Visitor Center at Harpers Ferry National Historic Park
Robert C. Byrd Federal Courthouse
Robert C. Byrd Academic and Technology Center
Robert C. Byrd United Technical Center
Robert C. Byrd Federal Building (there are two)
Robert C. Byrd Hilltop Office Complex
Robert C. Byrd Library and Robert C. Byrd Learning Resource Center
Robert C. Byrd Rural Health Center
Robert C. Byrd Clinical Addition to the veteran’s hospital in Huntington
Robert C. Byrd Industrial Park, Hardy County
Robert C. Byrd Scholastic Recognition Award
Robert C. Byrd Community Center in the naval station, Sugar Grove
Robert C. Byrd Clinic at the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine
Robert C. Byrd Biotechnology Science Center at Marshall University
Jeez. And I thought John Murtha was bad.
You shouldn’t have had the auto-crop post option turned out. Go into the actual post and the number of projects Byrd’s put his name on grows ten fold.
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