It’s that time of year again. Time for the annual edition of the Pig Book, that now famous report on pork barrel spending by our nations leaders in the House and Senate. Is it any surprise that this years edition is up over last years? So, just where is the pork going?

According to Citizens Against Government Waste, which is the watchdog for the Pig Book, one of the most appropriate pork expenditures was the $1.8 million tax payer dollars going to the state of Iowa for swine odor and manure management. I’ll leave that to your imagination as to what that is all about.

All told, there were over 10,000 little projects stuffed inside various appropriation bills that total close to $20 billion!

To qualify for the “Pig Book,” a project must meet at least one of these standards: It was requested by only one chamber of Congress; was not specifically authorized; was not competitively awarded; was not requested by the president; greatly exceeded the president’s budget request or the previous year’s funding; was not the subject of congressional hearings; or served only a local or special interest.

All of this comes on the heels of our leaders saying that earmarks are being reduced and won’t be tolerated any longer. You couldn’t tell it from this latest list though.

Harry Reid got $143,000 for a Las Vegas Natural History Museum. An additional $1.9 million went to the Pleasure Beach water taxi service project in Bridgeport, Connecticut, requested by then-Rep. Chris Shays. And the list just goes on and on.