Not getting off to a sterling start here, Dems

And in the very next post yb Paul Kiel over at TPMmuckraker:

Soon-to-be Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) secured millions to build a bridge near to land that he owns, likely increasing its value.

Last year, Reid earmarked $18 million in federal funds for the bridge linking Nevada and Arizona by traversing the Colorado River, just a few miles from Reid's 160-acre undeveloped plot on the Arizona side of the border. According to the Times, Reid "valued the Arizona land at $500,000 to $1 million in his most recent disclosure, which reported total assets of at least $2.2 million."

Of course Murtha is no stranger to earmarks either:

Overlooking Arnold Palmer Regional Airport in western Pennsylvania sits a research center that has received $12 million from the Defense Department since 2003 to help companies such as Alcoa Inc. and Timken Co. improve production methods.

The man behind the center is Congressman John Murtha, a local Democrat who founded and allocated the money for it. Trouble is, the Defense Department never asked for it.

The U.S. military's budget is increasingly being diverted to fund the pet projects of lawmakers, often for purposes that stretch the meaning of national defense. The funds are sometimes taken from training and spare parts -- a ``dangerous'' practice at a time when the Army is spread thin in Iraq and facing threats in Iran and North Korea, says John Shalikashvili, a retired general and former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

And then this:

Mr. Murtha alone brought home about $80 million for his district and $120 million for his state, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense, a nonpartisan group that tracks such projects.

This stuff has to be slowed down or stopped if there's to be significant change in Washington.