Green Eggs and Pork

Springfield Library and Museum Association would build the memorial to the late author of such children's classics as "Green Eggs and Ham" and "Horton Hears a Who." So $400,000 was inserted into a Department of Housing and Urban Development 2001 appropriations bill by Massachusetts Democrats Sen. Edward Kennedy and Rep. Richard Neal.

Congress is expected to vote on the HUD bill this week during its "lame duck" session.

Neal even composed a verse when announcing the appropriation in Washington:

"We love Ted Geisel, yes we do. We love the Grinch. We love the Whos. But most of all, our whole fam, loves to read 'Green Eggs and Ham.' And so, in honor of Springfield's wonderful writing man, we're proud of this grant from Uncle Sam."

The Libertarians are not impressed, calling the memorial "wasteful pork spending."

The party has its own verse as well: "We do not like it, Pork-I-Am. This spendaholic, Uncle Sam. We do not like those R's and D's, who can't resist more subsidies. We do not like the cash they waste, sky high taxes spent in haste. Frugality they have erased, and every bill, of pork it tastes."

"We do not like it on the Hill, when snuck into HUD's spending bill. It shouldn't pass. We bet it will. More money from the public till. We would not vote for Pork-I-Am or subsidize green eggs and ham. Job training programs for the Grinch? We would not even budge an inch. And if a cat needed a hat? Free enterprise is there for that.

The Libertarians concluded: "Now, just in case you are obtuse, I'll make it clear, with no excuse. We would not do it for a moose, we would not do it for a goose. And as you may by now deduce, we'd vote 'no' on Doctor Seuss."

Officials in Springfield say Geisel's widow has contributed $1 million to the memorial, thus getting the project within $400,000 of its funding goal. Neal vows if Congress doesn't pass the appropriation this year, he will try again next year.

The mystery is why Seuss' estate and supporters do not pay for the whole project. After all, "The Grinch" is soaring toward $200 million after just a few weeks at the movie box office, a slew of Grinch products is tempting Christmas shoppers, and a Seuss musical is drawing crowds in New York.

Copyright