The AP was once a respectable newswire that we all turned to for objective analysis and reporting of current events. However, the AP has apparently gotten wrapped up in the culture of Washington.

In a "fact check" of Obama's press conference last night, the AP called Obama out on his claim that the stimulus bill contained no pork in it. The AP claimed that, "There are no 'earmarks,' as they are usually defined, inserted by lawmakers in the bill. Still, some of the projects bear the prime characteristics of pork - tailored to benefit specific interests or to have thinly disguised links to local projects." Then they went on to claim that one such project was a proposed highway called U.S. 31, which according to the AP is a "north-south highway serving South Bend (Indiana)."

I didn't really realize it until now but the AP doesn't seem to understand what the word subjective means. PORK is a SUBJECTIVE term. While the AP may think that US 31 is a waste of tax-payer money, all the construction workers that will be employed to build it and all the nearby businesses that will flourish because it would probably disagree.

There is no such thing as pork. Pork is what a lawmaker calls a project that will be funded by federal dollars that he or she doesn't like. It is a term used by lawmakers not by members of the media.

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