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Critics of pork-barrel government spending love to point to ridiculous project like Alaska's "bridge to nowhere." That one was an obvious target of ridicule. But most pork isn't so obvious. Most pork is disguised as high-minded and benevolent government do-gooding, designed to make it difficult for critics to assail without being accused of being cold-hearted. But one doesn't have to be a cold-hearted opponent of do-gooding in order to oppose pork projects whose do-gooding is based on lies in the first place.

Consider the case of the expansion of a Veterans Administration facility near Pittsburgh. The VA's planning projections, used to justify the project, show rising service demands by patients in the area. The VA's own data shows that actual service use trends and veteran demographics indicate that the Pittsburgh VA has passed its peak volume and that demand will begin a steady decline before the new facility is even completed in 2009. Other VA documents indicate that existing capacity at the nearby Heinz Division, in addition to existing and planned new capacity at the University Drive Division, can readily accommodate realistic service demand estimates.

This $200+ million project got part of its momentum from Senator Arlen Specter trying to give his colleague Rick Santorum something to brag about -- bringing federal money back to the Pittsburgh area -- as if that would help his doomed reelection efforts. Santorum lost, but the pork project lives on. Besides being useless and a waste of federal money, the VA expansion will cost the neighboring townships millions in extra costs for highway, waste treatment and other expenditures for decades to come.

This project only exists as an excuse to spend money. There is no need for it. The VA patient population doesn’t need it, nor is there even any political credit to be received. The locals are either intimidated, unaware or outraged. The local media is mostly disinterested or stupefied.

The famous Alaskan pork barrel "bridge to nowhere" was outrageous -- but it was only an example of congressional hubris hitting a new high. It was, as they say in finance, a nonrecurring event. This VA project presents an opportunity to go after the more prevalent virus, namely the perception on Capitol Hill that project spending is rewarded back home.

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