Top 10 Most Ridiculous Uses of Stimulus Funds (Updated)
Morgen on December 28, 2009 at 11:50 am
“Putting Americans to work doing the work that America needs done“…
10. A $427,824 research grant to design better video games for senior citizens based on their unique “game-play needs”.
9. Funding of a Dartmouth College study involving “sexual arousal in anesthetized female rats” ($9,870).
8. 
Funding of a $168,300 SBA loan to the Escape Massage parlor in Midlothian, VA.
7. Funding a $447,492 Univ. of North Carolina study on the development and use of “African American English” amongst 70 adolescents.
6. $10,346 for a heating and cooling company to provide “escort services” for other companies performing a laser scanning survey at a courthouse in Honolulu, Hawaii.
5. An academic study comparing outcomes of the concurrent and separate use of malt liquor and marijuana ($389,357).
4. A $225,000 study at Ohio State University on the relative and combined impacts of air pollution and a high fat diet on obesity development.
3. A $712,883 research grant to develop “machine-generated humor“. Project will design artificially intelligent “comedic performance agents”, and will “deploy them both on and off-line for the enjoyment and illumination of everyday citizens”.
2. A $54 million project to relocate one bridge for the Napa Valley Wine Train (!) in order to mitigate the possible impact of a “100 year storm event”.
And the number one most ridiculous use of stimulus funds…
1. $9.3 million (!) to fund the design and development of a “coordinated colony of robotic bees“!
Our tax dollars hard at work, saving or creating jobs for mad scientists and masseurs everywhere. And I’m sure I’ve only scratched the surface with these.
Update: Since a couple of commenters have inexplicably attempted to defend some of the items I highlighted on the basis that they have created jobs, let me add that a grand total of 19.79 jobs were reported to have been created as a result of this spending. That’s 19.79 jobs for $65.7 million in federal spending, or roughly $3.3 million per job. This calculation comes from the job totals reported to Recovery.gov by the recipients, although it does not include any possible jobs created from the SBA loan to the massage parlor (apparently SBA loan recipients aren’t required to report this). It also includes 2 jobs which were reported as having been created for the “escort” boondoggle to Hawaii, which were apparently generated by a grant of only $10K.
Also, if anyone heard about this post on the radio or TV I would appreciate you dropping a note in the comments and sharing where you heard about it. As the writer of a “hack blog no one reads” I like to keep track of this sort of thing.
Category: Absurd & Outrageous |
I’m just going to go ahead and assume you functionally retarded. Those research studies (something like 1/11318th of the stimulus money)provide invaluable insight in various aspects of the human condition, such as aging, sexual dysfunction, obesity and other social ailments. They generate jobs while providing a service to the betterment of man. But since you probably don’t give a damn about anyone but yourself, I’m guessing its all lost on you. I hope when your fat, bloated body is rotting in a nursing home someday with a useless pecker (which won’t matter cos your whore wife dried up decades ago), you think about what could have been, if your brain (what little you had to start with) still functions
December 28, 2009 @ 2:35 pmYou got me – I functionally retarded.
December 28, 2009 @ 2:51 pmHey genius, several of these are products of incredibly brilliant research with practical applications. Where do you think the pentagon obtained those predator drones? Where do you think the next generation of counter-intelligence is coming from? Don’t be so goddamned willfully ignorant and shortsighted. Some of you on the right are absolutely sickening with your small mentalities.
December 28, 2009 @ 2:52 pmBtw Dug, by chance are you one of the research subjects for item #5 above? Just wondering…
December 28, 2009 @ 2:54 pmJust missing the list at #11 was a research study to determine why U.S. voters of a left-leaning political persuasion are lacking a sense of humor.
(I’ll grant your point on the robotic bees – I actually love that one. But doesn’t seem the best use of funds allocated under an economic stimulus bill. Not when the unemployment rate is north of 10%).
December 28, 2009 @ 2:59 pmMan, it’s gonna be just awesome when we find out how much GDP all this “brilliant” investment generates! Yeah, I mean, everyone KNOWS that they’ll be happy to quantify the projected ROI and prove clearly that this is the best way to stimulate the economy, and not just a bunch of random earmarks like it seems on the surface! When they can demonstrate scientifically that spending money on random shit like electronic killer bees and King Cobra and ebonics research will pay for itself plus interest – because THEY’RE the freakin’ party of “reason” and “science”, d00d! And transparency too!!!
December 28, 2009 @ 4:39 pmThe benefits or lack thereof in such spending is totally beside the point. Such projects are not a function of government.
Spend your own money to “better mankind” with rat sex and mechanical bees. It is a free country. But to use government in this way is to steal from those who actually create wealth.
December 28, 2009 @ 5:10 pmI’m going to save this list for when my granddaughter one day asks me why she has to pay so much in taxes, I can say – there was a president a long time ago that went on a spending spree the likes of which the world had never seen, and you my dear are the one who has to pay for it.
December 28, 2009 @ 5:13 pmYeah you got me, I am a researcher, although mine is of the improving the “millions of people each year that have a stroke” lives variety. The point is that short-sighted, ignorant, selfish fools like you are what have significantly hindered scientific progress for the past 30 years. It’s not my fault that scientist don’t completely sum up incredibly complex research projects in cute little titles that that some hack blogger with a 3rd grade science education can understand and grasp, but that doesn’t mean that your sorry ass won’t benefit from it someday. Oh and again, since you can’t seem to really respond to anything I said, these create jobs… jobs for people who actually contribute something to society, instead of writing for some 3rd rate echo-chamber blog for the functionally ignorant.
History will look back at you idiots and laugh, if we aren’t all dead from heart disease and cancer by then.
December 28, 2009 @ 5:33 pmHey JIM, do you think they are studying rat sex for the purpose of understanding… rat sex? Are you that thick? Really? Maybe… now stay with me here cause this gets tricky, maybe they use rats as a model of human reproductive biology. Or you could volunteer your wife and let them cut her up and test drugs on her instead, I’ll leave it up to you. Oh and enjoy your Viagra dimwit…
December 28, 2009 @ 5:37 pmJust curious… Did you happen to run across any of those stimulus grants that are researching irrational anger management issues in medical researchers?
December 28, 2009 @ 5:56 pmCome on, Jim. Anesthetized women are the only chicks that guys like Dug can score with. This is important research, man!
December 28, 2009 @ 6:09 pmThoughtfulAndProvocative,
December 28, 2009 @ 6:27 pmEpic fail of a joke there, would have maybe worked if you had gone with “rats” instead of “women”, but a gold star for trying. Just gonna assume your tag is something you saw on the back of a Glenn Beck book and thought sounded “smart”.
Dug is another glaring example of how having a lot of education does not necessarily result in intelligence or wisdom. The majority of his “rebuttals” are nothing but name-calling and insults, which is typical of too many in my own field of academic research and teaching. What is funny is that Dug is that I have freshmen students who could probably frustrate him within minutes…simply by asking him to support his ideological claims empirically, which is unlikely. Many like Dug are incapable of believing that anyone can disagree with them with any validity because, dammit, they are just more educated and that is enough justification for the great, unwashed masses to bow down in reverential adoration.
Bottom line here…government shouldn’t be subsidizing any of this crap as that is not the function of government. In addition, just because you have an education and do research does NOT make someone worthy of any respect. It just means you have an education and do research. Congratulations!
Oh, and since we are being juvenile here, I have to say it. Dug…you are a raving imbecile that is a living example of why many of us PhDs and academics get a bad name. I have three pieces of advice for you. First, get out of your ideological ivory tower and go outside to mingle with those unlike yourself. It will enlighten you. Second, heed the words of Mark Twain…”It is better to be silent and thought a fool than to open one’s mouth and remove all doubt.”
Oh, and stop calling other people’s wives “whores”. Just because you know a lot about whores because you tend to get tired of Rosy Palm and her five sisters is no reason to get tacky.
As one academic to another, blow it out your over-educated, underwhelming ass, sir.
December 28, 2009 @ 6:30 pmI do not find the list amusing in the least. There are millions of wasted dollars here going to welfare for college graduates to ‘play’ research when hundreds of thousands of hard working Americans have no jobs. The output is yet another huge pile of reports that go on shelf. Our country is going down the tubes. Only government employees (state, federal, local) have any security and now the pay of federal employees greatly exceeds that of private employees. The stimulus $$ created few private jobs but greatly beefed up government jobs. This administration will soon own health care, the automobile industry, and the banking industry. In one year we more closely resemble Venezula than the America I grew up in. I am furious at what greedy sheep Americans have become.
December 28, 2009 @ 6:50 pmI am just an engineer, but Historyprofbrad, I think you struck a nail precisely on the head with a hammer
December 28, 2009 @ 7:10 pmHistoryprofbrad,
Thanks for the laugh, that was hilarious. You managed to make yourself look like a pompous ass while calling out a pompous ass (pssst… I’m trolling), failed to refute any of my arguments, and ended the whole thing with a masturbation joke and a shot and my sexual prowess. Clearly I am in the presence of greatness.
Some quick points, in list form since paragraph form appears to be a challenge for you.
1) I called out ignorant people for being ignorant, this isn’t me disagreeing with them, it’s me telling them are are factually wrong. And yes, I’m guessing its an intelligence and/or education issue, since the 5th grade kids at the inner city school I teach at weekly grasp these concepts pretty well
2) I brought up being a researcher is response to a specific post to provide insight for why these projects might benefit man, not to lord over anyone. Btw, I am also a teacher and a volunteer, and consider myself an educator above all else, but you don’t care because assumptions and failed reading comprehension serve your outrage better. And furthermore, how much does it speak to your own arrogance, or is it inferiority, that you have to announce to everyone you are a history prof in your freaking handle… wow
3)”Second, heed the words of Mark Twain…”It is better to be silent and thought a fool than to open one’s mouth and remove all doubt.’” Seriously, read your post (especially the masturbation joke) and then look at the quote, that might be the greatest case of cognitive dissonance I have ever seen… period. From your post, you calling yourself an academic is an insult to those that dedicate their lives to education.
5) Please point out my ideological claims, seemed to have missed where I stated any
6) And finally “Bottom line here…government shouldn’t be subsidizing any of this crap as that is not the function of government. ”
According to you, we should disband all federal funding of all science (or this crap, and since your are knowledgeable in this field being a history professor and all, I’ll take your word on it it being “crap”). So we should get rid of the NIH, NSF etc? Ban all science that you don’t understand too? Because you have no clue how these studies might be helpful because you are too simple too see past you own conservative small government ideology. Your stupidity is boundless…
December 28, 2009 @ 7:20 pmHas anyone ever wondered why bugs only have 6 legs and spiders have 8, I wonder if I can get some free (Grant) money so I can afford enough pot to study that!!! “ARE YOU SMARTER THAN A FIFTH GRADER”? Once the curiosities of the mind have been met and time has shelved the revelations of your discoveries somewhere within the file cabinets of your memory banks and after all the money that motivated you is spent (Gone), you sit in your rocking chair and ponder about life, wishing for another grant (Gift)ask and you shall receive mentality, if not ridicule those who are tired of giving just to watch their hard earned money being wasted by a grantee and their extravagant lifestyle, at your expence))!!!
December 28, 2009 @ 7:23 pmHey Dug,
December 28, 2009 @ 7:26 pmThe only thing these grants have done is cause scientists to pay their bills at taxpayer expense. It is all a rip off. Let business pay for R&D, not us. If it is useful they will pay, if not you’re out of job. Now that is fair.
And and since I actually like to prove my points instead of making date rape and masturbation jokes, here’s this about #7
http://www.fpg.unc.edu/~aae/
Lets all laugh and get outraged about a project that’s aimed at improving literacy and fixing some of the most serious education problems facing this country.
December 28, 2009 @ 7:29 pmMost of these are actually useful, both for humanity and for providing scientists with jobs:
10. Videogames are possibly a very useful way to keep senior citizens mentally active, thus helping to stave off senility, and possibly even physically active (thanks, Wii). This grant allows a team of scientists and students to (a) have work and (b) learn something about the nature of senior citizens and human enjoyment.
9. Not sure why this is directly useful without reading the research description, but it’s still science.
8. No comment, but remember that banks aren’t the only ones who deserve bailouts; local businesses might need them, too.
7. “Ebonics” is a very widespread linguistic phenomenon that certainly merits academic study, especially since it could apply to education; use of ebonics is itself a source of discrimination, worsening the quality of life for a great many people who know no other way of speaking.
6. No comment. I don’t understand this one.
5. Beer is popular. Marijuana is popular. Marijuana’s been classified as an illegal drug for a long time, so people don’t understand its effects well enough, and given the popularity of beer, knowledge of the specific effects of the interaction of the two will be invaluable in crafting drug policy and in understanding the dangers.
4. You’re going to tell me that understanding obesity better isn’t vitally important in today’s America?
3. Very important AI research. Humor is one of the most fundamentally human aspects of our minds, and reproducing it will allow us to understand it and to possibly relieve quite a bit of the stress causing the aforementioned obesity.
2. The project itself is probably only marginally useful, but it’s directly creating many construction jobs. That’s the point of the stimulus, no?
1. Robot bees. Have you not been following the news about the colony collapse? If there is a problem with bees and we can’t somehow pollinate in their stead, our food supply might be in deep, deep trouble. Plus all the applications in AI and robotics. This is extremely worthwhile and will invite good science.
So that’s 1, maybe 2 things that are actually ridiculous on this list. Everything else will be a substantial and possibly great step forward for America. Someone above me mentioned willful ignorance, and I think I agree. It doesn’t take much to realize that these are mostly excellent ways to spend our money, and given that these 10 uses are not representative of the whole stimulus, we can see our tax dollars directly benefiting society. Before you accuse me of a lack of humor, though, realize that some of the people who may read this are *actually* ignorant and will think that these uses are actually ridiculous, so I (and the commenters above me) are fighting misinformation, not flaming you.
December 28, 2009 @ 7:32 pmDug…crack researcher, teacher, volunteer, and educator above all else. Otherwise known as an ass clown.
I normally don’t respond to substantive points from people who begin with insults and baseless assumptions. But since you argued that these types of academic research projects generate jobs as an example of my ignorance, let me point out that a grand total of 19.79 jobs were reported to have been created as a result of these expenditures.
That’s 19.79 jobs for $65.7 million in federal spending…or $3.3 million per job.
Frankly, my purpose was not even to question the intrinsic or societal value of any of these projects. But rather to highlight the insanity of an “economic recovery” bill being used to fund projects that have virtually nothing to do with economic development or job creation.
December 28, 2009 @ 7:40 pmI liked Skip’s comment. Dug, it’s obvious you’ve got some anger management issues. I suggest turning off the computer and spending some time with your family or friends.
As Morgan said in comment #5, when unemployment is north of 10% and our economy is hurting, it doesn’t make sense to pull money (taxes) out of the private sector to fund programs that are not exactly high priority. Or did you continue to spend money in your own household like a it was the last day on Earth? No, I bet you scaled back, just like everyone else. To ask our legislators to do the same is not unfair.
We want stimulus funds to be used where wealth will be created, not to line some researcher’s pocket so he can continue his study of the sex habits of college coeds (another project I read about). Hey, you can find people who would be willing to do that for free!
December 28, 2009 @ 7:46 pmMorgen:
Citation needed please. Does it count the ones that weren’t lost?
December 28, 2009 @ 7:46 pmIf you consider the creation of 12 jobs for $54M (see for yourself) a “great step forward for America” then there really is no point in arguing with you on any of your other points.
December 28, 2009 @ 7:46 pmAgain, how many jobs were not not lost because of the stimulus funding, simple question here…
December 28, 2009 @ 7:48 pmEvery one of these projects is reported on Recovery.gov, and with the exception of the SBA loan, require that recipients report the number of jobs created or anticipated.
These figures are included in many of the links in my original post, and for the ones that aren’t you can plug this search string into Google and look for them yourself.
site:*.recovery.gov/transparency/
December 28, 2009 @ 7:51 pm“If you consider the creation of 12 jobs for $54M (see for yourself) a “great step forward for America” then there really is no point in arguing with you on any of your other points.”
You do realize how much on an idiot that link makes you look like right (cherry picking again btw)? It created 12 jobs (that they can prove, becasue job creation is so easily measured) and kept countless (literally, it can’t be accurately measured) other from losing theirs. All those people could continue to buy groceries, cars, cable TV, which kept countless other people from losing their jobs… OH! And and guess what, we fixed what sound to be a rather dangerous flood situation, which will save how much in lost productivity and federal clean-up dollars next time a flood occurred and wiped out a major rail line.
Again, how many job were saved? Hmmmm? Thanks for proving my point :D
December 28, 2009 @ 7:56 pmThe media may let the President get away with smoke and mirrors economics but it doesn’t hold any water with me. Many of the recipients of the grants I highlighted are educational institutions with extremely large financial endowments. They and/or their benefactors should fund their own ridiculous research projects.
December 28, 2009 @ 7:59 pmWow, $3.3 million per job! I am obviously in the wrong career.
If I wanted my son to grow up to be a blood-sucking leech, I’d tell him to become a researcher for projects that “Dug” advocates.
Dug, just wondering, are there any stimulus projects that you think are wasteful?
December 28, 2009 @ 8:02 pmThe media may let the President get away with smoke and mirrors economics but it doesn’t hold any water with me. Many of the recipients of the grants I highlighted are educational institutions with extremely large financial endowments. They and/or their benefactors should fund their own ridiculous research projects.
Deflection, you still didn’t answer my question because you can’t. And your response in bullsh@t. The large educational institution I work for, as are most in this country, is state funded, and we have laid off over 200 people in the last 9 mos. Because of this, my state will have 20-30% fewer doctors and nurses for the next 5 years because of education cut-backs, seriously impacting the health of the entire state. Our endowments account for less than 10% of our reserach funding. And those endownments had been cut by upwards of 50% in the last year (you obviously have no clue what an endownment is or how they work). As for private intuitions, go look at Harvard and their cut-backs and lay-offs. Any you wonder why I keep calling you guys ignorant.
December 28, 2009 @ 8:05 pmIt’s nice to see the nut bin letting the mongoloids use the computer. Dug, do you get to eat jello at night?
December 28, 2009 @ 8:06 pm“Again, how many jobs were not lost because of the stimulus funding, simple question here…”
The burden of proof is on the person making the positive claim. If one wishes to claim that jobs were saved by the stimulus (which someone in here seems to be doing), it is up to the person making the claim to substantiate that claim with factual information Otherwise that person needs to STFU, because they’ve already lost the argument.
December 28, 2009 @ 8:07 pmRich,
The average post-doctoral researcher in a science field makes 32k a year, that’s after 5-8 years getting a PhD (which could cost 100k). The average starting professor makes about 50-60k. Some of the best and brightest in the country make less that the shift manager at your local gas station. The cost for those grants is for over head and *GASP* salaries for large support staffs needed to carry out the studies, as well as expensive research equipment that might be required (computers, microscopes etc). So yes, if you wanna get rich, go into science.
And yes, their are of course bad stimulus examples (we love to cherry pick), but some of “most ridiculous” in this list are not deserving, not even close.
December 28, 2009 @ 8:12 pmI think I’m starting to understand the source of your anger and bitterness. As someone who relies on talent and ingenuity rather than government largess to provide for my family I have a hard time sympathizing. But I will refrain from mocking you any further.
December 28, 2009 @ 8:13 pmThoughtfulAndProvocative,
How convenient, but this isn’t a court of law buttercup, so drop your “rules.” There is no argument because there is no “proof” as you define it either way, ask any economist. You have decided the stimulus is wasteful, and will endless cherry pick examples taken out of context, that you don’t understand, to foist up as proof, even I provide proof you are a moron. Well there is all the proof out there that economy is getting better, but lets ignore that for now.
I swear one, troll shows up in your echo-chamber and actually disagrees with you sheep and you all freak out and run around sputtering foaming diatribes about burden of proof and date rape and masturbation, its golden
December 28, 2009 @ 8:18 pmMorgen,
Yep, writing for a hack blog no one reads = talent and ingenuity
Studying the workings of the most complex machine ever witnessed by humans, developing new and novel techniques to help and rehabilitate those who have fallen victim to one of the largest scourges of the developed world, communicating and teaching complex scientific ideas and theories to a wide variety of audiences = lack of talent and ingenuity
Oohhhh you got me :(
December 28, 2009 @ 8:23 pmDug, what you say may be true, that scientists generally don’t get into science to become rich. But you point about “cherry-picking” just isn’t honest. No one is saying that the entire stimulus package is bad. Morgen is pointing out that some of these projects, considering our financial situation, are not providing the bang-for-the-buck that the stimulus was supposed to be.
Morgen pointed out the only 12 jobs were created at the cost of $54 million. I’m sorry, but that’s a crime in anyone’s book. And if some of that money was used for “support staff”, that should have been included in the “jobs created/saved tally”. I’m a CPA (not to bang my own drum; sorry!), so I am hard-pressed to believe the remaining funds were all for expensive equipment. Accountants are trained to look at such expenditures with a “jaundiced eye”. Well, just call me “yellow eyes”.
December 28, 2009 @ 8:25 pm“There is no argument”
Hey, that’s the first intelligent thing you’ve said. Sorry for introducing the rules of formal logic on you; I’m sure they’re not a significant part of your field of study, you being an important man of science and all… It’s just that if you want to get someone to respond to an argument, you actually have to MAKE one first (before which, you must know how). Just trying to fill in the gaps in your knowledge, bro.
“ask any economist”
Hey, Morgen, didn’t you study economics at Cambridge? What do you think? Oh, sorry, never mind. Appeal to authority, you know.
December 28, 2009 @ 8:39 pmRich,
I like you, since you are actually arguing some real points on here and doing a little of the ol’ back and forth.
The 12 jobs at a cost of $54 million in disingenuous at best. Like I said, there were benefits in addition to the jobs, such as a new bridge that won’t collapse next flood and wipe out a rail line, and jobs that were kept (people who avoided being laid off). I’m not a contractor, nor a structural engineer, so I’m not gonna pretend to know what a project of that size cost (I am a researcher, so I will speak on that account), it may cost 54 million, how should I know?
My problem is that the list is called “Top 10 Most Ridiculous Uses of Stimulus Funds” key being “MOST RIDICULOUS” followed by people like Judy M freaking out that “her” country is gone. All it is is positive affirmation, in the face of flat out ignorance, that the stimulus is “teh fail.” Come up with a better top 10 list that is backed by some semblance of evidence, and not a “LULZ AT TEH STUPID RESEARCHERS LOL” Heck, read the explanations given in the links, and its hard not to feel the fool for mocking them.
December 28, 2009 @ 8:45 pmLet us be quaint, Dug you are a fucking moron. Read the Constitution, read it carefully this time and tell me where the government has the right to spend this money? Money it does not have to spend? If you spent like this you would be in prison. I do not want my grandchildren shouldering the debt this Statist is spending. If you want to spend money on this crap then by all means, spend yours, not mine, or my kids or their kids.
HistoryProf, right on dude! Mauro you seem smart, if misguided. Please understand this may all be well and good and science is usually a good thing, but this is not the function our Founding Fathers intended. Please refrain from the whole Ebonics crap. It is just that, crap. Insulting one race by insinuating that they are unable to speak a language because of big lips is at best ignorant and at worst racist. Jesse Jackson may push that crap on people but the black community (No more hyphens for me thanks) does not buy into it and neither should we.
We have the greatest system on earth and this governments wants us to be just like Europe, if it is so good, then by all means, move over. We can be anyone we want to be, our only limits are ourselves and a very meddling government intent on “helping” us with every aspect of our lives. Not what I want, not what I fought for in the Gulf and not right. If you want to turn us into Socialists, (that is just communism light), make your play, put it to a vote of the people. Don’t play the liberal games, the whole Politically Correct thing, and the bullshit that comes with it. There are two types of people in this world, Americans and enemies, which are you?
December 28, 2009 @ 8:49 pmThoughtfulAndProvocative
Quote taken out of context? Check
December 28, 2009 @ 8:53 pmFailure to address any of the points I raised? Check
Deflecting their own personal inadequacies onto the other person? Check
Questioning the other’s understanding of a concept while simultaneously proving they do not under it themselves? Check
Date rape joke? Nope, maybe next time
Since you are talking about whores, like your mom, you will be happy to know that I paid for your mom, your sister, your daughter too, good whores are so very hard to find.
Remember people when the left attacks it is because they are morons and too stupid to argue facts. It is always Bush, Bush, Bush, no personal accountability, it is never my fault etc. This gets us a haji in Ft Hood shooting up thirty soldiers and the left wanting to turn him into a victim. Wonder why that is, do these people hate this country so much that they want the terrorists to win?
As to the war, if you mouth breathers would stop and think for a second the war in Iraq was a stroke of genius. Based on the way our military fights, Iraq is the perfect place for us. Fighting there enabled us to pick our ground and make the enemy come to us. In the time we have been fighting two wars less than 10,000 deaths? That is completely unheard of. Costly in terms of equipment and money and manpower? Yes, but a whole bunch of Dug’s poor victimized friends got to meet Allah face to face. That is a good thing. Now we are going into Afghanistan and not giving the Commanders what they need. I am betting that this will be another ‘Nam.
I would further remind you when we went in there the first time we crushed them so bad we had to pull forces out because there was nothing to do. Unleashing the full might of our military over there would end the fight in a few weeks, but Leader Obama won’t do that, he will allow the Taliban and other “Man Made Disasters” bleed us dry. Why is the media not reporting every death every day like they did with Bush? Why is Time Warner pulling Fox news? Cannot deal with the competition?
And now we spend more money than the world can ever pay. Hmmm, perhaps it is time to learn to speak Mandarin. Cloward and Piven? NWO? Just some food for thought.
Oh Dug, fuck you.
December 28, 2009 @ 9:00 pmHey leave Dug alone! I am a student at SUNY Buffalo. We recieved a grant for The study of the effects of young adults who smoke marijuana and drink malt liquor at the same time
http://www.research.buffalo.edu/ovpr/arra/awards.cfm?a=PN64210
I was lucky enough to become a participant in this study. I have been high and drunk for two weeks straight. I originaly voted for McCain. After the last two weeks I changed my voter registration to Democrat. Now all I can say is OBAMA in 2012, 2016, 2020, 2024, 2028, 2032 and beyond!!! Yippee
December 28, 2009 @ 9:02 pmI’m sorry, I wasn’t aware you had raised any points. Could you sum them up for me? It all looks a lot like adolescent venting from where I’m standing …
December 28, 2009 @ 9:03 pmHere’s a program that I think everyone will agree was a complete waste of taxpayer money: “Cash for Caulkers”. I wrote up a post for it a couple of days ago concerning the State of Texas’ misuse of $2 million to weatherize only 7 homes!
http://tinyurl.com/y92evgy
That’s $286,000/home for houses that probably have a market value well below $100,000! Why didn’t we just build everyone a brand-new, energy efficient house if we’re going to sink that much into each one? The answer is that we didn’t spend that much on each house. Someone is making a lot of money on this program. Did I mention TX still has another $161M available under this program?
If we can’t agree on this then we’re in bigger trouble than I thought. Anyway, time for bed. Thanks for the conversation!
December 28, 2009 @ 9:20 pmCan’t help but notice how many entries Dug has written … he must be at work. I bet you got one of those grants – didn’t you?
December 28, 2009 @ 9:23 pmAfter reading Morgan’s list of the ridiculous ways government officials spend our money, I immediately thought of a statement made long ago by Napoleon Bonaparte: “In politics, stupidity is not a handicap.”
December 28, 2009 @ 9:28 pmDug, I’d put the pipe down and clear your head. The anger in your postings here is exceeded only by your own profound stupidity….Let’s see… what other pearls of wisdom do I have for you. I got it. Go to http://www.dumbass.com. They have a job listed there for $75,000 to become an anchovy trainer at Sea World. I think you could make some decent cash, yell at fish all day about how you’re not understood and maybe some mermaid will come out of nowhere and suck a fart out of your anus. I think you’re eminently qualified for this position. Now take the I5 freeway south to….well, you’re a genius, you’ll figure it out.
December 28, 2009 @ 10:20 pmHey Morgen, the previous Jim was not me. LOL. I’ve been so busy at work paying for Obamanure’s stimulus scheme that I haven’t had time to visit VS in a few days. It looks like we got ourselves a first-rate, class 1A retard in this Dug guy. I guess the stimulus money is making it’s way to those who are institutionalized and have computer access. Anyway, it’s fun to goof on this bozo. And I’m totally relieved that this fekless half-wit isn’t teaching anywhere near my home.
Dug, give me your address and I’ll send you a bottle of Ripple for New Years. Cheers!
December 28, 2009 @ 10:27 pmFor Dug-
December 28, 2009 @ 10:32 pmI know by your first sentence at the top of the list “I’m just going to go ahead and assume you functionally retarded” that you were/are part of the #7 study, no?
Dug-
December 28, 2009 @ 10:45 pm$448k to study ebonics? A study that is less than 50% complete, created 1.5 jobs, and has taken 17 years. WTF, over? Go to the link in #7 and read the real truth not the B.S. link you provided.
[...] [...]
December 28, 2009 @ 11:13 pmYou are all lost in the sauce. Want to talk about cognitive dissonance? The humanist “scientists” like Dug and his friends are the biggest idiot hypocrites of all; people who go around enriching human living conditions and building a better world need to just die because they are mindless polluters just like the rest of us meaningless biochemical abominations. If there was another species on this planet that behaved the way we do, we would exterminate them! Let them all die of cancer, let them lack in virility, grind up the elderly and feed them back to the children who are hooked directly into nintendo, Matrix style baby. I know what you’re thinking: I would kill myself but I want to see everyone else die first! YEHHEHEHEHEAHHEHEAHAEHHEWWW!
If Eisenhower hadn’t made the interstate system, we would have neither the pollution/CO2 problems everyone’s bitching about, nor would we have any economic problems. Economies would still be small and localized. Hell, let’s go back further and blame this on the Union winning the civil war. Agrarian society for me, please! No, wait, let’s go back further- get rid of capitalism all together and put the Catholics back in charge and everything will be GREAT. HARRHAWWWARRRHAWHAHAHAR!
December 28, 2009 @ 11:17 pmDug your an idiot… wait I take that back cause then that makes me a name calling thug for the leftists….
Drop the name calling, you, Pelosi and Boxer need to go back to school and learn some manors…
December 28, 2009 @ 11:42 pm7. Funding a $447,492 Univ. of North Carolina study on the development and use of “African American English” amongst 70 adolescents.
December 29, 2009 @ 4:06 amI think #7 be a good idea. I’s tired of the whities dissin’ the brothers. I be in Picksburg and are english is diffrent from yous. Instead of trying to find out why those 70 adolescents are developing African American English, why don’t we use it to teach them proper English. This goes for whites and Hispanics also. Used to be kids studied Maya Angelou. Now they study Kanye West. Wonder if this has anything to do with it?
No matter how valid it is to spend tax dollars on some of these things, the bill was supposed to stimulate the economy and create jobs. But what the bill ended up to be was a trillion dollar pork and political payback bill. The thing is a sham.
December 29, 2009 @ 4:26 amOther people’s money…
December 29, 2009 @ 5:53 amDug,
December 29, 2009 @ 5:55 amI would like to contribute $.50 to the “Dug, blow it out of your ass” stimulus fund. I understand your passion for science and whatever you are into, but this is America and THE GOVERNMENT’S ONLY ROLE in this is to protect my rights and help me protect my personal property. The government loves the story of Robin Hood… rob from the rich and give to the poor. Only the government can get away with that. If I robbed Donald Trump at gun point today, and gave the money to a homeless person, I would be arrested. My question is, how can the government get away with that? If at some point in my life I need a cure for Malt Liquor addiction or if I need an escort from a heating and air company, then the government can bill me for it. Until then, I think I know what is best for me and my family. So what if I am “uneducated” as you will probably say. I make just less than $80k a year but I give nearly $10k a year to charity. Do you??? I own 4 homes, three of which are rentals. I have given countless months of free rent to tenants who have been strugling through these hard times. Have you paid the rent for anyone lately? You see Sir, I know how best to take care of my fellow man. Keep your rat studies, and robot bees out of my pockets so I can continue to do the good that I do. The government is here to provide a safe and secure environment for me to succeed or fail. I don’t mind paying taxes for that. I don’t want a bail out. I don’t want studies. I don’t want anything from our government other than a safe place to live my life. It’s okay to fail. Some of the greatest people in the world became ultimate successes because of their initial failure. So go ahead Sir, like I know you will, make fun of me because you are so superior to me. I take peace knowing that for right now I can still help those who may need a hand-up…not a hand-out. Enjoy studying your rat sex you freak. It would be nice if you would just say thank you for my hard earned $$$ going to your “research”. There are only so many ticks of a clock in each of our lives. There are only a certain number of heart beats that each of us have. We trade these ticks of the clock and our heart beats for currency. I think it is our human right to decide what to trade each tick and heart beat for. After all, they are my property, not yours.
–Mark
[...] Stimulus and broken windows noted. [...]
December 29, 2009 @ 6:29 amOK, Dug, let’s say that everything you say is true and these studies really do “provide invaluable insight in various aspects of the human condition, such as aging, sexual dysfunction, obesity and other social ailments. They generate jobs while providing a service to the betterment of man”.
So what???
The issue isn’t whether or not the studies have legitimate scientific value, but whether or not the government should be spending tax payers’ money to fund them.
Why is the government funding video game development when we’ve already got hundreds of software companies who do that? Rather than wasting taxpayer dollars that could be used to pay down our massive debts, why not just offer tax incentives to software companies to develop games for the elderly?
Rather than blowing half a million dollars to figure out why black kids can’t speak properly, why not go to government schools and make their funding contingent upon how many children are taught to speak properly?
Rather than spending 400k to figure out what happens when you drink malt liquor and smoke pot simultaneously, why not just send a couple of guys with a video camera to Lindsay Lohan’s house?
December 29, 2009 @ 6:51 amI think Dug hopes to benefit somehow from number 9
December 29, 2009 @ 6:57 amNo jobs were saved. …Bob
December 29, 2009 @ 7:27 amWhat you all are missing is that the Stimulus bill was supposed to provide rapid stimulus to the economy. Research is great, but does it provide rapid stimulation to the economy? Social issues are also important, but how do they put tax dollars into the economy that will reproduce themselves…
December 29, 2009 @ 8:39 ammaybe we can get a government grant to help “research scientists” learn the correct usage of the words: there, their, they’re.
December 29, 2009 @ 8:46 am(see post #34)
Dung, there are a lot of posts here who disagree with you. Make sure that famous temper of yours doesn’t get the better of you. After all, you could wind up getting a stroke and then you could do research on yourself. Now that’s putting Obamanure’s stimulus scheme to work! May I suggest you change careers. I hear there are fascinating opportunities in elevator repair.
Dung, I’d also retire the pipe and all of the bong rips. It clouds your thinking. I do have to say though that it is a pleasure posting with you. Usually one must go to a bowling alley to meet a man of your stature.
December 29, 2009 @ 8:46 am[...] Top 10 Most Ridiculous Uses of Stimulus Funds – Yeah, this is what the Founding Fathers had in mind for the Federal Government. A few: 10. A $427,824 research grant to design better video games for senior citizens based on their unique “game-play needs”. [...]
December 29, 2009 @ 8:50 amI was born and raised unde communism and I can attest to its myth. It’s a mere theory, just like socialism and even capitalism. Lenin was advised by Stalin to engage in rounding up the opposition and executing them – in the public plazas preferrably – to establish the new regime. Fear was key. And it worked. Given that Russia had no history or experience with the key freedoms – speach, choice, and free enterpise – it was not that hard to establish the dictatorship, even though it had to kill millions in the process and to maintain it for over 70 years. Corruption was and still is as prevalent as coldness in the winter time. But the United States, for over two centuris, has created the most free and advanced society human nature has allowed. Would fear work here too, in the end. It’s most doubtful.
Once politicians here figured out that they can vote themselves money, the downward spiral accelerated. The $787 billion stimulus fund and the way it was passed represents the most egrigious act of power grabbing in the history of this nation and of usurping the constitution that even the French admire. I must point out the good senators from Maine who enabled it, should keep in mind that what’s good for Maine is not necessarily good for the country, but usually, what’s good for the country is good for them, as well as for all other small states that are enabling this administration to tear down the worldwide revered American system.
Without the three key freedoms, speach, choice, and free enterprise, a society cannot prosper, innovate, improve accross the board. When the democrats signed a memorandum of agreement with the republicans during the last presidential ellection to only use public funds for their campaigns, and then promptly disregarded it, that was the first major sign of what was to come, but no one made an issue of it, starting with the republicans. What’s most inconceivable, however, is the main stream media that seems utterly oblivious to the abvious – whatever happens with health care – is bound to affect the good reporters and journalists as well. The same with tax issues and national security matters. Their brown-nosing will never secure for them a different future. Their ideology Will Not make up for anything or make them feel good when the downgrading of our society will hit them too. Will they ever stop sitting on their own shoulders?
I lived within a system that promoted an ideology that never worked. Both Marx and Engles, who wrote the last volume of the Communist Manifesto, left out of their theories the most basic of facts – the human nature. The $787 billion stimulus is nothing more than a souce of money conceived to buy votes and re-ellections, solidifying the power of those who do not understand any system, either not having lived under them, or twisting out of shape the one they’re supposed to know. That is so infinitely ignorant and intellectually deffective that the Ignorance Manifesto will soon come to life, and clarify all that’s taking place in tangible, indisputable terms, that will surely make sense even to the uneducated and the thoroughly ignorant “intellectuals.”
December 29, 2009 @ 9:00 amMauro,
Sorry, Man, It’s bad enough so many people have allowed their kids to fry their brains on useless video games rather than socializing skills,(this could have helped Dug alot, maybe you too)…but don’t you think maybe we could better be served taking the seniors outside or reading to them if they are completely inactive. Our kids can do volunteering at senior homes.
This is a classic example of uninspired thought. For free, w/o a dime we can teach our kids about caring and responsibility…nope lets spend the tax money.
Fat people and pollution, gee, we need more data to prove stop eating fast food and pollution is bad.
I could go on and on but I enjoy reading everyone’s comments.
December 29, 2009 @ 9:08 amDaniel, I actually like your comments, but I want to add something. The most egregious problem in society, ever in America, is taking place right now. It is the complete separation of the politicians actions from the desire of the people. It is the exact thing the founding fathers warned about. Read “Liberty and Tyranny”. Its a fascinating read on the need to curtail govt because of exactly what is happening now.
Side point is the pension plans and wages that our govt. workers are getting now. Approx. 20% of govt. workers are making over 100K a year with full pensions. It used to be you took a govt. job, accepted low wage because you had security. Now they are high wage earners and massive subsidies. I would love to see data on what part of our deficit is caused by state and fed govt. payroll.
December 29, 2009 @ 9:18 amWhen you hear the word study be aware. What you are funding is some college students senior project. It’s results are suspect no matter the outcome.
Whenever I see the word in print or hear the word on TV news I immediately go on to something else knowing full well that the “study” has no scientific basis.
December 29, 2009 @ 9:58 amawww… where’d Dug go? He was funny!
December 29, 2009 @ 10:09 amDug,
December 29, 2009 @ 10:23 amDo we really need to study anesthetized female rats to understand human reproductive biology? Mankind has been reproducing for many years without this “vital” research.
In a 1939 radio address, Winston Churchill said this:
Guys like Dug are ideologues, wrapped in “progressive” ideologies, tucked inside big government thinking. I agree with the majority of you: The Constitution prohibits this kind of stimulus activity, regardless of whether a “shovel-ready” project is good for the US. Let free enterprise capitalists decide that matter! It is not for the courts, the legislative branch or the administration to make such decisions. It is clearly out of Constitutional scope.
Also, it’s beyond me how a supposed intellectual like Dug can get away with the grammar and spelling problems he has. Example: When continuing a sentence after using something in quotes, the comma goes inside the ending quote sign, not outside. Anyone who has written a thesis or dissertation knows this. He/she is not the intellectual he/she purports to be. And the vitriol of this person gives away the seething rage lying inside many far-left souls.
December 29, 2009 @ 10:34 amIt is unfortunate that some people can only offer personal insults or emotional attacks; it is especially unfortunate when those people claim to be in academia.
The gov’t funds various research projects both in industry (NASA gets a lot of our money) and academia. Some of those funded projects have resulted in significant contribution to mankind; others are simply mindless waste and folly.
The unfortunate truth is that some universities pride themselves on their ability to bilk the taxpayer into funding research projects regardless of the overall merit.
That being said, there are also some very bright people who are working in research and it is sometimes hard for the layperson to understand the ramifications of such research. For example, researchers at Pfizer were studying a new drug for high blood pressure and angina. Unfortunately, it had very little positive affect on angina, but had a pretty remarkable side affect that gave the world Viagra!
Oh…but that was industry funded research…not a gov’t handout.
December 29, 2009 @ 10:42 amheard on limbaugh show.
December 29, 2009 @ 10:47 amheard about this website from Mark Steyn on today’s Rush Limbaugh show.
as for Dug, if some of this research is so important why weren’t they able to get grant funds from private foundations?
December 29, 2009 @ 10:55 amJust wanted to comment on #6. I don’t think it means “escort” in the parochial sense. It is not uncommon for many state and federal buildings to have secured areas that require special screening and credentials to enter. Background and security checks are expensive (sometimes upward of $50K), so it is usually much easier and cheaper to hire someone that already has them to act as an escort for companies wanting access to those areas. As for the rest, looks like a colossal waste to me, although I’ll sign up right now for the beer and pot study. And I’ll do it for half of what they are charging!!
December 29, 2009 @ 10:56 am“…it is sometimes hard for the layperson to understand the ramifications of such research…”
the research example you cite is a result of the private sector funding the research not the government. I believe in research for research as we don’t know what the results are, but I firmly believe that they research should be funded by the private sector (businesses and foundations) and not the government. yes there is legitimate government research e.g., DARPA which has resulted in improvements to our lives, but the vast majority of scientific research comes from the private sector. Did Edison receive federal funding? What about the Wright Brothers? How about Marconi? Google?
as for the robot drones mentioned earlier radio controlled planes have been around since the 1930s
December 29, 2009 @ 11:00 amI must say that don’t understand arguments in favor of #7.
American’s who are African ancestry are taught the same English in school as every other person in America regardless of racial profile or ethinic origin.
Isn’t it odd that we would have specially funded research for a group of individuals who are born in America, whose families were born in America, and who grow up speaking English, yet we don’t see gov’t handouts for peoples of Asian or Hispanic ancestry who immigrated here recently and are trying to assimilate and become Americans just like the rest of us.
December 29, 2009 @ 11:01 amReposted to my blog, with snark. I like how youhad to use Google Cache. Nice to see the government is quick to Baleete f***ing Everything! but still doesn’t realize that the Internets Nevar Forget. Mentioned by Mark Stein on the Rush Limbaugh show, and decided to share the lols.
December 29, 2009 @ 11:11 amYour website was referenced on rush limbaugh today.
December 29, 2009 @ 11:12 amGlad I found this site after Mark Steyn mentioned it while filling in for Rush today.
Re: Dug
December 29, 2009 @ 11:30 amApparently he is a legend in his own mind.
Got a link to your article through John Stossel’s website – he mentioned that Big Government.com also had it there. Way to go! I’m also going to post this to my loacal 9/12 group on Meetup.com.
December 29, 2009 @ 11:41 amSince your organization is the only one who employ journalists who know how to investigate and write a story, could your journalists also find out who sponored these earmarks and print their names and their parties? Thanks.
December 29, 2009 @ 11:48 am[...] VerumSerum, My favorite: #8, Federal funding for a Virginia Massage parlor. You can suffer through the [...]
December 29, 2009 @ 12:09 pm[...] Keynesian Hangover Obama Ups US Debt Ceiling – That’s a sure fire cure for what ails us.10 Most Ridiculous Uses of Stimulus Funds – Any [...]
December 29, 2009 @ 12:17 pmThe defence of these spending sprees remind me of the importance of getting a tick off of you before he gets his head in.
December 29, 2009 @ 12:30 pmDug
December 29, 2009 @ 12:36 pmYou gotta get out of your Mamas basement more and get off that computer she bought you for your birthday.
There,s no way somebody with a job has that much spare time on his hands to write this junk.
Geeez
DUG…
I agree with you! 600,000,000 jobs have been saved by the stimulus bill! There are no unemployed people in America, except for the lower class swine that you so wonderfully skewer with facts instead of resorting to name calling like the evil-right-wing-imperialist-science-hating-superstitious losers.
December 29, 2009 @ 12:45 pm(Darn it…I should have known I couldn’t keep a straight face while I said that…)
Wow, I hadn’t checked out what a hotbed this thread had become thanks to troll-Dug.
I see he pretty quickly backed off his initial defense of the whole list and settled on one bridge project to focus his faux-outrage on.
He also said:
Getting a bit emotional, dug? Be careful, I hear stress can lead to heart trouble.
For the record, Morgen doesn’t do this for a living. Also, maybe you should have a look at this page before you shoot your mouth off about the insignificance of his blogging hobby.
Finally, we’re all really impressed with your position. It does leave me wondering whether all the years of schooling made you such a prat or whether you were a prat all along?
December 29, 2009 @ 1:00 pmWonderful article! I concur almost a hundred percent. However, I think a coordinated hive of robotic bees is something people like me ought to have. Don’t worry, I intend to use them responsibly. Heh heh heh. . .
December 29, 2009 @ 1:26 pmThe problem with a lot of “journalism” on the web these days is that most authors are lazy. Rather than do any research on their own, they simply pass along stuff they’ve read elsewhere.
Morgen’s list is an example of this lack of research. I’m sure Morgan spent less than 2 minutes researching any of the items on his list.
Well.. I can be equally lazy. I’ll pass along something that I read elsewhere.
http://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/story/1760588.html
This article from the Fresno Bee points out that the Napa flood control work is being miscast as a wine train stimulus spending boondoggle. It makes for an entertaining story shout about the Wine Train.. but it’s a bunch of crap to do so.
December 29, 2009 @ 1:50 pmI, too, found your blog by linking from Breitbart’s”Big Government.” For the most part, I found “Dug’s” posts to be fraught with logical fallacies and mostly nonsensical. Isn’t it curious how leftists simply CANNOT admit when they’re faced with superior logic and resort inevitably to name-calling.
Others have already said it, but it bears repeating. It’s NOT the proper function of government–especially the federal variety–to fund scientific “research” such as the examples listed above. For that matter, neither is it the proper function of government to “play Robin Hood” with the money taxpayers have earned by the sweat of their brows. That is, by the way, a gross misnomer. Robin Hood didn’t “rob the rich and give to the poor.” He robbed the TAX COLLECTORS and gave the money BACK to those from whom it’d been confiscated…a very different prospect.
Finally, “Dug” is not a proper name. “Dug” means “the past-tense of dig,” or, alternatively, is another word for teat–at which this bug-witted moron seems to be eternally suckling. Thank God he’s not teaching any of my kids or grandkids, though his comments here point out quite clearly what’s wrong with public education these days.
December 29, 2009 @ 1:53 pmBTW, I have no particular problem with research such as that performed under the aegis of DARPA. That research has resulted in our having the scariest, best-equipped military technologies on the planet and that’s a PROPER function of government…national defense…as specified in the Constitution.
December 29, 2009 @ 2:28 pmBidness first…Morgen, saw your blog advertised on “The Daily Crux”, a right-wing, conservative blog. You are doing good.
As for DUG, go out and slit your own worthless, entitlement throat. If you need money for research, get it from some capitalist corporation that can make some money off your work. Don’t ask the gov’t (i.e. Taxpayers) for it. The gov’t doesn’t know what to do with new developments. What we need is to reduce the size of gov’t by about 90% and dry up all you entitlement niggers.
December 29, 2009 @ 2:31 pmSome of the thoughts and comments here concern me.
If this is the level at what America is at eg. DUG (a moron – that is what we call them in Europe) …then America is in deep trouble.
Guess this is the reason America is where it is at.
Good luck Americka….
Views from Europe
LR
December 29, 2009 @ 2:46 pmHey Dug…….. Shut your pie hole!
December 29, 2009 @ 2:58 pmHey Dug
“Our endowments account for less than 10% of our reserach funding.”
That is sad.
Begging begat Jealosy.
December 29, 2009 @ 3:07 pmJealosy begat ability.
Ability begat begging.
I heard about this “top 10 most ..” mentioned by the guest host on the Sean Hannity Show 12/29/09.
December 29, 2009 @ 3:24 pmDUG,
December 29, 2009 @ 3:36 pmI have only a singular lone response to any attempt of communication you may try to utter~~~
I simply hesitate to articulate from fear of gross deviation from the upmost degree of accuracy, therfore it is my conjecture that your mother was no stranger to the embraces of barnyard animals and very undomesticated pets.
[...] comparing outcomes of the concurrent and separate use of malt liquor and marijuana ($389,357). Read the complete article here. Public date: December 29th, 2009Categories: NewsTags: tax dollars, waste var [...]
December 29, 2009 @ 3:36 pmSTOP FOR A MINUTE AND REALIZE THAT ONE THING IS FOR CERTAIN. OTHER THAN THE TRUE GOALS OF WEALTH AND POWER, OUR GOVERNMENT HAS BEEN USING THE OLD “DIVIDE AND CONQUER” STRATEGY FOR DECADES AGAINST THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. AS WE FIGHT AMOUNGST OURSELVES, NEW LAWS GET PASSED OVERNIGHT. IT DOESN’T MATTER LEFT OR RIGHT, THOSE IN GOVERNMENT THAT ARE “REPRESENTING US” ARE ALL ON THE SAME TEAM. PRESIDENTS PAST AND PRESENT HAVE HAD THE SAME AGENDA, THE CURRENT ONE HAS JUST QUICKENED THE PROCESS WHERE OTHERS HAVE FAILED. I PERSONALLY DON’T TAKE SIDES AND CARE NOTHING FOR ANY OF THE LIERS AND TAX EVADING CHEATS. YOU MUST REALIZE NO ONE IN POWER CARES ABOUT THE AMERICAN CITIZENS’ WELL-BEING, IT IS ALL ABOUT LINING THEIR POCKETS AND KEEPING US HARD WORKING, FREEDOM LOVING AMERICANS UNDER THEIR FEET. WAKE UP! “MY DAD CAN BEAT UP YOUR DAD” MENTALITY IS GETTING US NOWHERE. WE CAN’T CHANGE THE PAST, BUT WE CAN PAVE THE ROAD TO THE FUTURE. DON’T LIE TO YOURSELF ANY LONGER, JUST OPEN UP TO THE TRUTH. BLACK, WHITE, HISPANIC, AND THE MANY OTHERS TOO MANY TO LIST, MUST BE AMERICANS AND STOP THE DIVIDE THAT FEEDS THE GOVERNMENT’S POWER. IF YOU ARE A LEGAL AMERICAN CITIZEN, YOU ARE AN AMERICAN! GOD BLESS THIS WONDERFUL COUNTRY WHERE WRITING THIS HAS NOT YET BEEN RULED A CRIME! WE ARE TRUELY FORTUNATE HUMANS. HAVE A SAFE AND HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE.
December 29, 2009 @ 4:02 pmI honestly cannot believe there is one American left alive that would think ANY of this spending is justified??? The only thing that justifies any of this is if you HATE America and wish to see it go broke. If so I am sure you support this. However I still don’t see how you justify this to your children and grandchildren who will be paying it off if we don’t go bankrupt before we elect someone with some sanity to POTUS.
I for one do not like my hard earned money being confiscated from me and use on these sort of useless, YES i will be the politically incorrect one here USELESS projects. Sorry I am just not into the crazy theory that this is going to provide some betterment to human existence via these worthless projects.
I think the people of this country better wake up quick to who is running the show. We need CONSERVATIVES. Not republican, Not democrats but someone who isn’t the normal run of the mill tax and spend politician. Wow.. what a refreshing day that would be.
December 29, 2009 @ 4:39 pmTo Dug and friends…..
Did you ever consider the fact that when the government gives $10,000 to you, they had to collect at least $30,000 to do so?
So lets do a research study on this:
1. The government takes $30K from me.
2. After expenses, they give you only $10K.
3. You complain you need more money.
4. We tell you no, with the impending tax bill we’re broke.
5. You say we’re idiots, and “missing the big picture.”
Want more money? Do purposeful and beneficial research, especially now. Eschew crazy studies and researchers-you know which ones, and stay away from our tax money, this will save us a bunch.
I can then afford give you $20K, (afterall, it saves me $10K!) And the golden goose lives to give another day.
Now, who is really “missing the big picture?”
Rick
December 29, 2009 @ 4:54 pmDug and his elitist ilk are the reason we need school vouchers so parents can choose which schools their children attend. Public schools with their left-leaning faculty, pro-democrat indoctrination agenda is the death knell of our once great society.
p.s.: Morgen sounds hot.
December 29, 2009 @ 5:03 pmTruely Amazing………….
.
.
These complete idiots don’t have a problem with government blowing their money on insanity.
……Nope……they are upset that somebody told them about it.
Perhaps if they removed their lips from Obama’s scrotum…..they could see whats actually going on….let us HOPE.
December 29, 2009 @ 5:03 pm.
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[...] [...]
December 29, 2009 @ 5:08 pmI think we’re missing the point. Let’s all look at these matters critically, but without rancor:
10. A $427,824 research grant to design better video games for senior citizens based on their unique “game-play needs”.
Obviously you all are young. I am old, so this is important research to me … my cognitive skills need to be maintained — the reason is explained below, but it fundamentally relates to my appreciation of “malt liquor,” “marijuana,” “sexual arousal,” “escort services,” and “massage parlors.”
9. Funding of a Dartmouth College study involving “sexual arousal in anesthetized female rats” ($9,870).
As mentioned above, I am old, so I have a short attention span. The use of the words, “sexual” and “arousal” in any proximity puts an end to my ability to read further. “I am Tiger Woods.”
8. Funding of a $168,300 SBA loan to the Escape Massage parlor in Midlothian, VA.
Are you kidding me … this project will probably pay for itself and return huge amounts of money to the taxpayers.
7. Funding a $447,492 Univ. of North Carolina study on the development and use of “African American English” amongst 70 adolescents.
This one is tough … we oldsters are constantly trying to find a way to communicate. “Shaft… can you dig it?”
6. $10,346 for a heating and cooling company to provide “escort services” for other companies performing a laser scanning survey at a courthouse in Honolulu, Hawaii.
“Sexual arousal,” “escort services” and “massage parlor” all strike me as lucrative … and therefore value accretive to the taxpayer.
5. An academic study comparing outcomes of the concurrent and separate use of malt liquor and marijuana ($389,357).
Please add, “malt liquor and “marijuana” to “sexual arousal,” “escort services” and “massage parlor.” However, intense study of the foregoing, both concurrently and separately, is clearly required, after all, “I am Tiger Woods.”
4. A $225,000 study at Ohio State University on the relative and combined impacts of air pollution and a high fat diet on obesity development.
I am willing to participate in the study … so long as they also study “malt liquor,” “marijuana,” “sexual arousal,” “escort services” and “massage parlors” … both concurrently and separately.
3. A $712,883 research grant to develop “machine-generated humor“. Project will design artificially intelligent “comedic performance agents”, and will “deploy them both on and off-line for the enjoyment and illumination of everyday citizens”.
Strikes me that the entire purpose of this exercise is “machine generated humor.”
2. A $54 million project to relocate one bridge for the Napa Valley Wine Train (!) in order to mitigate the possible impact of a “100 year storm event”.
I’d rather pay for this that the “bridge to nowhere” … at least wine bears a propinquancy to “malt liquor,” “marijuana,” “sexual arousal,” “escort services,” and “massage parlors” … so we’re good to go here… both concurrently and separately.
1. $9.3 million (!) to fund the design and development of a “coordinated colony of robotic bees“!
Admittedly, the most potentially frivolous of the important grants cited above – however, when looked at as a cosmic building block, it becomes far more important. You combine the importance of pollenization in creating wine, malt liquor, and marijuana with the importance of the foregoing in creating sexual arousal, and then parlay the importance of “sexual arousal” to “escort services” and “massage parlors,” it seems that a mechanical (and therefore more efficient) fertilization mechanism might be the basic building block of the Universe. After all, when you cut to the chase, isn’t it all about the birds and the bees? After all, “we’re all Tiger Woods.”
December 29, 2009 @ 5:28 pmI can’t believe this didn’t make the list. I read somewhere that the movie Avatar had been produced using mainly Stimulus Funds. The freaking movie cost like 7 Billion dollars and most of it came from our tax dollars. I think I’m just going to sneak into the damn movie since I helped produce it. It better be worth it, or I’m going to start a Tea Party movement against it.
December 29, 2009 @ 5:30 pmThe original request was to know where we heard about this list. Rush Limbaugh, 12/29/09, Mark Steyn guest hosting.
And it seems to me that anyone with a bit of common sense could see the stupidity of most of these. The bridge thing MIGHT deserve some consideration, but I suspect that a much cheaper means of acomplishing the same end result could be discovered with a little thought.
And if I were younger, I suppose I’d also agree with joining in on the Malt Liquor study.
You know what, I’m in construction, and I know what the guys in my business are like. Maybe the government could combine the bridge and ML study to save a little money. Most of those guys working on raising the sewer line (a real no brainer – poop runs DOWN HILL. How are you going to RAISE the line unless you add a lift station. Opps I forgot, I guess that falls under the header of ‘cost over runs’)would relish the idea of being in a government study of their recreational activities.
December 29, 2009 @ 6:05 pmSo all of the people that are supporting these very noble academic endeavors, please tell me how academic grants stimulate the economy? Directly that is.
December 29, 2009 @ 6:06 pmThanks to everyone who mentioned where they found this. Having this post featured by Fox & Friends and Mark Steyn on Rush’s show is a great end to an amazing year.
Alas it seems Dug is too busy saving the world to grace us with his presence again.
Just a couple of housekeeping items.
#106:
Truer words were never spoken (lol) but as I fear that said commenter mistook me for someone of the female persuasion, I feel compelled to direct them here.
As for Mike R @ #93:
While I have too much self-respect to call what I do “journalism”, your criticism in this case is completely off-target. This post was based completely on original research, as are the majority of the things I write on. I assure you a lot more than a “couple minutes” per item were spent compiling this list. A good 3 or 4 at least – lol.
If you’d like to defend the appropriateness of any of this federal spending under the guise of an economic stimulus bill then I invite you to do so. There seems to be no shortage of commenters here willing to debate this with you.
December 29, 2009 @ 6:11 pmI can’t imagine any sort of research being done with those funds would satisfy someone like you. May as well be malt liquor and pot right?
The robotic bee thing is actually important, as we’re running out of the real thing, and they could be used in indoor (or in SPACE) food production. If you did more research other than looking at the numbers and saying “Wow this sounds silly I bet this will inflame my politically extreme readers”, this article would never have been written.
Talking out of your ass at its finest is what it is.
December 29, 2009 @ 6:16 pmSpeaking of stimulus money.
Nature Magazine published this in their Dec. 24, 2009 issue.
Newsmaker of the year: The power player
As a physicist, he found a way to capture atoms and won a Nobel prize. Now he is marshalling scientists and engineers to transform the world’s biggest energy economy. Eric Hand profiles the US energy secretary, Nature’s Newsmaker of the Year. STEVEN CHU
http://www.nature.com/news/2009/091223/full/462978a.html
Look at the money he controls. All based on the hockey stick.
December 29, 2009 @ 6:25 pmI have been reading through the posts by ‘Dug’. He seems to be willing to defend the study of AAE. Ghetto speak, in my line of work. Did anyone see the movie Airplane? Remember the scene where the stewardess was trying to communicate with the two tall Black men? And the little old lady (from Father Knows Best, I think) comes up and says she speaks Ghetto? Then they have this back and forth with a lot of MFs and other typical AAE language. She then translates between the stewardess and the two Black guys.
The problem here for Dugs enlightenment is that we, the tax payer, do NOT need to try to teach people that are willingly ignorant of the proper language of business here in America how to communicate. They have that opportunity in the public school system; IF THEY ARE WILLING TO AVAIL THEMSELVES OF IT!! Dug may feel he is doing a great service to the poor and down trodden by teaching them his view of life (here is where he will say he is only teaching what the children need) but what he is doing, and what this AAE grant is doing, is to enable the people that need the most help to REMAIN in a situation that is untenable: that being their inability to communicate in plain English. “Cent” is not plural.
While I am in construction, I do have some ability to make decisions concerning the continued employment of individuals on my projects. I refuse to keep someone that can’t properly use the English language. You were taught proper grammar in the second to the seventh grade. Use it!
Don’t waste MY effort and work (for the sake of Dug, that’s what money represents) on trying to understand why people refuse to learn when they have the chance. It’s easy to understand why they can’t or won’t learn to properly use our language; they are rebellious, or their parents have instilled in them a sense of entitlement to other’s wealth, therefore they have no need to strive to fit in AND WORK WITHIN the system.
December 29, 2009 @ 6:42 pmTo those who are praising the use of stimulus money for these science projects… I think you are missing the point. Regardless of the merit of these science projects/experiments, the purpose of the stimulus money is to create jobs, and hopefully create jobs that will remain, even after the stimulus money is spent. Even the president would say that the primary purpose of the stimulus package is to create jobs. Having said that, the money needs to be spent on things that generate jobs… And spending $3 million per job is not a good value for the taxpayer.
December 29, 2009 @ 7:25 pmDecember 28, 2009 @ 7:29 pm
And and since I actually like to prove my points instead of making date rape and masturbation jokes, here’s this about #7
http://www.fpg.unc.edu/~aae/
Lets all laugh and get outraged about a project that’s aimed at improving literacy and fixing some of the most serious education problems facing this country.
Dug…did you actually go and read the ‘Aims of the Study’ section on that AAE site…it’s pure academic gobbledygook…probably written by a grant writer grasping for public funding and clearly NOT by a person versed in AAE, as AAE would not have the vocabulary to write such insanity.
Teach Black children to read and speak proper English and they will get much further along in life. Condoleeza Rice, Colin Powell, Bill Cosby, Oprah and even Obama do not speak ‘black’. Ever wonder why? Because its the language of the lower classes and the professional world is not interested in such gibberish.
December 29, 2009 @ 7:39 pmThis was a great article but would have been much better if the politicians who obtained this fat greasy pork had been listed with each one.
Why does the press refuse to hold individual politicians responsible for wasting our money?
It’s the obscene waste of our tax money like this which makes people who “cheat” on their taxes feel totally justified in doing so.
December 29, 2009 @ 11:10 pm[...] Top 10 Most Ridiculous Uses of Stimulus Funds [...]
December 30, 2009 @ 4:05 amInsofar as the Ebonics thing is concerned, where we went wrong was in making the assinine assumption that only a black teacher can teach a black student. This occurred back in the 1960′s and 70′s, after which the scramble was on to find degreed, more or less qualified, black teachers. What MOST schools wound up with were those who were black, had one of those infamous race-normed “degrees” and who were willing to take an underpaid job with the promise of tenure, which is a concept found ONLY in academia and government civil service. As a consequence, kids–particularly those in inner-city schools–were shortchanged with, at best, mediocre teachers who taught English using the same, “ghetto-speak” the kids had learned at home. The culprit then, was the fallacious idea that only black teachers could teach black students. There you go. No need for that “research” at all now. Give us back the money!
December 30, 2009 @ 4:53 amWow! Can you say drama with a capital D?
I don’t think the point here was that the research in and of itself is bad or useless. The point was the stimulus package funded by the taxpayer was spent on said research that isn’t exactly tied hip to waist to the state of the economy.
I remain completely dumbfounded by the pervasion of the belief that the government – and only the government – can solve our problems. And readers accused Morgen of being functionally retarded.
Let me leave you with a quote from Winston Churchill upon which I hope a great many will ponder seriously.
“The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.”
December 30, 2009 @ 5:08 am[...] Top 10 Most Ridiculous Uses of Stimulus Funds (Updated) VerumSerum [...]
December 30, 2009 @ 5:14 amPart of the problem here too is that language is significantly dumbed down for entry in the recovery.gov pages.
December 30, 2009 @ 6:37 amFor example, number is almost ground based LiDAR MMT with kinematic GPS and inertial measuring. High tech stuff that costs a small fraction of what it costs to physically survey a utility system.
But instead of “inertial measuring unit support for ground based LiDAR MMT with kinematic GPS”, it gets dumbed down to “escort services for companies doing a laser scanning survey”.
DUG…I notice you replying to everyone that has disagreed with you, while not really defending your insult laden opinion with facts. Are you typing away on your tax funded computer while at “work” being paid with our tax dollars? There must also be a tax funded electrical outlet in a tax funded playground where your “research” is taking place and are doing your responding from because you sound like a child having a tantrum.
December 30, 2009 @ 7:26 amDUG.. You come accross as a bitter person, is your wife or partner dried up? Awaiting your insult.
December 30, 2009 @ 10:25 amWell then can we have Cindy instead? (re: post #113).
I think that the name-calling and ad hominem attacks have diffused and de-focused the original point here. Someone is taking my money at gunpoint and spending it on things that are not granted to the government by the basic law, the US Constitution.
It’s just like when my child support went to pay for boob jobs instead of school clothes. And in that case also, I don’t have any say in the matter.
December 30, 2009 @ 11:57 amThey can study the effects of malt liquor and weed for free just by hanging out in the hood with some ghetto rats. They can study niggerbabble, er, I mean African American English, for free while they’re down there.
December 30, 2009 @ 12:03 pmWhitedeer,
I don’t censor anything here but “niggerbabble” is really offensive. If you want to use the n-word maybe this isn’t the site for you.
December 30, 2009 @ 12:24 pmI wonder what would happen if the entire working population just stopped paying their taxes until our crooked government cleanup its act. One day people are going to get so fedup this will happen.
December 30, 2009 @ 1:10 pm“I wonder what would happen if the entire working population just stopped paying their taxes until our crooked government cleanup its act. One day people are going to get so fedup this will happen.”
We will all end up like Dug, that’s what. Non-productive smart assed ignorant sissies who need to be put out of their misery.
December 30, 2009 @ 2:39 pmIt’s called civil war. See also: American Civil War on wikipedia.
December 30, 2009 @ 2:52 pmflush rush whines: “Hey genius, several of these are products of incredibly brilliant research with practical applications“…
Well if this was such a good use of money why didn’t you use your money to finance these projects?
December 30, 2009 @ 4:04 pmMorgen, you are obviously under-reporting all of the hand jobs created at the massage parlor.
December 30, 2009 @ 4:35 pmJohn, I did have one of my postings dropped here. And I thought I had some of my best comedic material in it. Maybe you guys thought it was too over the edge.
December 30, 2009 @ 5:11 pmJohn, my bad. I found the posting, it wasn’t deleted. There’s so many here that I just missed it.
December 30, 2009 @ 5:15 pmDug, you sound like such a hateful person. Is that allowed with the enlightned ones? Hope your life improves so you can enjoy it and not be so bitter against others.
December 30, 2009 @ 7:19 pmI came across this list while researching a response to another socialist nutball who was extolling the values of government research.
Two points of particular value:
Sorry Morgen, you got one wrong. It is an economic impossibility for government spending to actually create jobs, so even the 19.79 figure is inaccurate. This is because of two easily understood facts: 1) the government doesn’t magically create valuable resources out of thin air (it can create money but only by stealing value from savers) so every dollar spent by government is unavailable to the private sector, and 2) the government is never as efficient as the private sector (actually, it isn’t even close) due to a simple little thing called the “economic calculation problem”. As a result, every dollar spent by on the swamp on the Potomac actually destroys jobs.
Second, for those geniuses accusing those with a grasp of reality of being Luddites or anti-science zealots unfairly attacking valuable research, the facts are against them. Quite simply, if the research had real value (or at least sufficient value to warrant consideration), then the private sector would have funded it in the first place. In the OECD countries two-thirds of all research is performed in the private sector. In the US, the figure is closer to 80% and much of the publicly funded research will never have any substantive value for the economy or the general public. Much of it is simple demographic data gathering (at the BLS, Census Bureau, IRS, etc. – and yes, those activities are included in the data or the research percentage done privately would be even higher), much is repetitive and some involve using malt liquor and marijuana (one heck of a party if the Feds’ll pay for it!).
That certain researchers are upset that their ox has been gored (and feel it necessary to paint those appalled by this waste as anti-science) does not give their arguments (sic) the slightest credibility.
December 30, 2009 @ 10:06 pmDung is gone guys. He’s off hugging a tree or on a date with his boyfriend. Anyway, rumor has it that stimulus money is going to be spent to capture all of the hot air proceeding from the lips of Obamanure in the hopes of generating some electricty. It is thought that the entire state of Illinois will benefit.
December 30, 2009 @ 10:24 pmHeard of your “jobs” list via Mark Steyn.
Well done…love your work.
nmewn
December 31, 2009 @ 3:51 amWell isn’t this thread a ringing endorsement of teh American right? I was particularly taken with
but the standard of abuse and vitriol alongside which many are prepared to stand is quite appalling. Fair enough, Dug’s attitude was lacking in courtesy and grace, but he didn’t suggest anyone go and slit their throat.
Debate is dead on the internet as long as people are prepared to agree with flawed reasoning, mindless aggression and downright lies, provided they are argued from the ‘right’ point of view. My most valued friends are the ones who will criticise me, point out the flaws in my reasoning or opinions, and strengthen them by testing them. People who just cheer you on when you’re being an idiot are just dragging you down.
December 31, 2009 @ 6:50 amDug,
Get your lazy ass back to work. If you liberal leeches are going to steal our money to support your valued reserch the least you can do is get back to work.
December 31, 2009 @ 8:14 am[...] the higher wisdom under which the Democrats are operating. Verum Serum has compiled a list of the top 10 most ridiculous uses of stimulus funds. It’s an impressive [...]
December 31, 2009 @ 8:49 am[...] Serum lists the Ten Most Ridiculous Uses of Stimulus Funds: 10. A $427,824 research grant to design better [...]
December 31, 2009 @ 9:18 amThe only things crazier than this list of waste are those that try to defend it.
December 31, 2009 @ 9:36 am[...] the higher wisdom under which the Democrats are operating. Verum Serum has compiled a list of the top 10 most ridiculous uses of stimulus funds. It’s an impressive [...]
December 31, 2009 @ 10:02 amThese so-called researchers, and the projects they dream up, are in the same category as Welfare Queens.
December 31, 2009 @ 10:35 amthe “stimulus” is supposed to create jobs. NOT
December 31, 2009 @ 10:50 am[...] Top 10 Most Ridiculous Uses of Stimulus Funds [...]
December 31, 2009 @ 11:00 amWith all due respect to everyone here, this is disgusting. Not the list (which I found amusing), but the conversation surrounding it. It seems to be less a discussion, in some parts, than a more obscene version of a little girls’ fight on the playground. While people are making good points, the good is more often than not outweighed by the offensive.
Disregarding the fact that some seem to find actual argument offensive, it does not help a case to be deliberately rude. The politer one is, the more likely one is to have others actually listen to what one has to say.
Unless you have no desire to convince, and you merely wish to insult others. In which case I respectfully ask that you go away and find a fifth-grader to argue with.
Now, regarding the actual list…
I found it funny, because of the content. However, what it represents does not amuse me nearly as much. It doesn’t matter how useful these projects may or may not be; the government should not be funding them. If jobs are needed, people should open new businesses, without government help. If, with the intention of creating more jobs, you take money from those who may need it just as much, what have you accomplished? Taking taxpayers’ money to pay for jobs, rather than letting those who can afford it start new businesses, is counterproductive.
All of these social programs are a departure from the pull-yourself-up-by-the-bootstraps character of which America should be proud.
And a teenage girl should not have to request that adults be more respectful. Food for thought?
December 31, 2009 @ 2:06 pmWhen we reach your level of sanctification, we’ll all get together and throw a party.
December 31, 2009 @ 5:45 pmThe problem, though, is that many people do find argument offensive, have no desire to convince and merely wish to insult others. Its not conservatives, its not liberals, its simply many people.
No, a teenage girl should not have to request that adults be more respectful, but you can always rely on Jim to ensure that she does.
January 1, 2010 @ 12:56 amAlways happy to be of service here Keith. Don’t forget that she had an insult in her posting as well. But she’s much better than the rest of us so it really doesn’t matter. She played the role of a good “cosmic cop”.
January 1, 2010 @ 10:30 amI just wish the gubermunt would take more of the money I earn and give it to other people.
10 – I’m old and like games
January 1, 2010 @ 10:42 am9 – it’s more of a challenge to use vodka and human females
8 – it’s a loan, it will actually create jobs and contribute to the tax base, good one
7 – waste (oh no, now I’m a racist)
6 – WTF?
5 – I completed this research 30 years ago and didn’t get a penny
4 – polluted air DOES have calories
3 – a robotic skeleton walks into a virtual bar and says, “gimme a beer and a mop”
2 – Napa is for auto parts, drink Sonoma!
1 – might lead to the “nanites” from Star Trek…no kidding
Hey Dug, lern how to spel wood ya? Idiot!!
January 1, 2010 @ 8:36 pmDid she? Where? Maybe a transatlantic thing, but I don’t get it.
January 2, 2010 @ 6:06 amWell, I did say that you all sounded like fifth-grade girls, and would certainly consider that an insult. However, it was intended more as a “Do you really want to sound like this?” than anything else.
January 3, 2010 @ 6:57 pmI hardly think myself better than anyone (well, maybe a few people), but when a conversation has degenerated to the point this one has, I don’t see why I shouldn’t. Whatever happened to being civil to one another?
[...] million for handicap access and a sprinkler system at a community club in New York Verum Serum did a column last week on the ten most ridiculous uses of our stimulus money. Just as noted, it [...]
January 4, 2010 @ 7:02 pmHey Dug,
You dimwit idiot. Your simply a freak, and have no arguments to counter. Your crap is garbage, and I am glad people did not respond your Non arguments.
The world is full of Left Wing freaks,that think they are brilliant. I don’t know how many brilliant drop outs – store clerks, who think their Einstein, simply because they spout this socialist garbage.
The Obama train is about to crash. The USA will get rid of him, like they did with Carter.
Bye Bye.
January 7, 2010 @ 9:44 amWe the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
Although much of the preable to the constitution is subject to intrepretation, such as “promote the general welfare”, each of the so called stimulus projects should have to be held up to these standards. Spending money on projects that temporarily employ 2 or 3 people is way outside the spirit of promoting the general welfare.
The left has thrown all common sense out the window and are spending money like there’s no tomorrow. Well, be careful what you wish for!
January 7, 2010 @ 11:52 amRumor has it that some of our stimulus funds are going to “flatulence detectors”. These detectors will be secured to the back of your trousers and should anyone exceed the government quota for flatulating in a twenty-four hour period you will be fined for increasing the man-made components relative to global warming. I just had a government agent leave my house after inspecting my fanny. He took measurements as to where to properly place the device. He said he’d be back on April 15th to install the detector. Oddly, my wife and children were spared this experience. Suddenly, I feel a tingling sense of warmth cascading through my inner being knowing that our President is on top of things. Although sitting down will be unconmfortable, I’m willing to do my part to be an agent of change and hope for what many believe to be the greatest President ever to occupy the White House. The agent told me that our President will have his device secured to his mouth.
January 7, 2010 @ 2:26 pmSome may say that you’re talking about only $68 million out of $750 billion. To those non-functioning rertards I say this, THAT’S $68 MILLION OF TAXPAYER MONEY THAT OBAMA AND COMPANY ARE SO FREELY THROWING AROUND WITHOUT THE RESULTS THEY PROMISED!
Add that $68 million to the billions given to ACORN and to people/organizations that the government accounts for by listing non-existanty congressional districts and zip codes and it is a prime examply of the sheer incompetence of obama, reid and pelosi.
P.S., Mark Styne read this list on the Limbaugh show.
January 7, 2010 @ 5:13 pmJim Bob, you are a train wreck.
January 7, 2010 @ 7:51 pmDrink heavily Roger, it’s your only hope.
January 7, 2010 @ 8:47 pmAnd for the record, Cindy it is Roger who once again is pursuing me here at VS. He’s always the first to open his piehole when it comes to something I’ve posted.
January 7, 2010 @ 8:51 pmJim Bob, I am trying to wean you off of sick attempts at humor, that rely on bodily fluids and odors to make your point. Couldn’t you try something a little more creative, like, “YO MOMMA” jokes”, or something other than displaying your “anger mismanagement”?
January 8, 2010 @ 7:38 amDFTT
January 8, 2010 @ 6:29 pmDid we forget the $1.7M earmark for hog odor research in Obama’s stimulus package.
January 9, 2010 @ 11:06 amThat definitely belonged on this list. Do you have a link?
January 9, 2010 @ 11:16 amI’m sure Jim Bob will have quite a few links.
January 9, 2010 @ 12:02 pmI heard about the the hog odor research in the bill off the news. I got the price of the earmark by typing in google (stimulus package hog)I grew up on a farm if it helped farmers breathe better it be ok. I think it is more for the people that do not want to smell it going to work in the morning and the hogs impact on global warming. Crazy Stuff!
January 9, 2010 @ 4:03 pm$4.23 is going to be spent figuring out how univited guests attend White House dinners.
January 9, 2010 @ 5:22 pmDUG, your #1 response proves that humans ARE dumber than dog shit! I have a stimulus idea; why not let us keep our money and spend it on things We need ,not some half-assed gov. give-away.Why don’t people trust politicians? Those two words don’t belong in the same sentence.
January 11, 2010 @ 5:14 amTo you people putting down this list you know some of these could actually do some kind of good and thats great, but this is stimulus money you know taxpayers money. It was meant to stimulate the economy not build bridges for a hundred year storm or other things that will do nothing for us. All money given out in the stimulus is supposed to be paid back tell me how these people doing studies are going to pay the money back? Or how is the bridge going to repay 54 million dollars? How about just giving the american people stimulus since its are money anyway or actually give people like teachers a decent salary something good if this money isnt going to be paid back
January 14, 2010 @ 5:29 pmRyan, that was really the point I was trying to make with this list. It just takes highlighting things that are a little absurd to get people to pay attention. This bill was sold as necessary to keep the economy from collapsing, yet so much of the money is being used for things that aren’t even intended to stimulate the economy. Basically the spending funded by the bill was about 50% stimulus related (at best), and the rest was additional discretionary spending for programs and projects favored by the Democrat majority.
January 14, 2010 @ 7:56 pm[...] at 8%) the bill hampered economic recovery by redistributing wealth to important and shovel ready projects like creating robotic bees ($9.3 million), and the relocation of an unimportant bridge ($54 [...]
January 22, 2010 @ 3:29 pmLooks like progress on #10. CBS was running a story this a.m. – I only saw the preview but it was seniors playing video games. I’m going to go out on a limb and guess the story was about the great care for seniors, not the silly use of ARRA $.
January 25, 2010 @ 9:29 am[...] at 8%) the bill hampered economic recovery by redistributing wealth to important and shovel ready projects like creating robotic bees ($9.3 million), and the relocation of an unimportant bridge ($54 [...]
February 3, 2010 @ 3:01 amI think DUG should concentrate on his so called research and less on defending spending money on ridiculous research. elderly people and video games? air pollution effects on obese? shouldn’t be be concentrating on getting people in shape. isn’t there thousands of worse situations for obese people than air pollution.
on second thought. i’m going to apply for a grant to study the effects of dogs watching a person play with a slinky. in my mind that’s as plausible as plenty of other ridiculous grants.
July 15, 2010 @ 8:56 amDUG: you are a complete Moron. You are the reason being stupid should be a crime. All Human beings should rise up and kick you off the fucking planet for being a horses ass! oh and of course i would like to include our wise president Obama!! what a dumb ass ! i can guarantee he will be a one term president; hopefully america wakes up and hopefully all the loosers that voted for him realize their getting screwed. He is nothing more than a snake oil salesman and belongs at the fair. The man has never run a business or so much as a lemonade stand.
August 3, 2010 @ 3:59 pmGovernment..frustration..opposition…frustration…sublimination…apathy…equal the American People…WE CAN STILL RISE UP!!
August 4, 2010 @ 5:19 pmI haven’t read through all of the comments above, for which I apologize. I just wanted to share that I took this article as a joke, and I enjoyed it, but I think (hope) it’s likely that the author and perhaps many of the readers realize that most of those items are not as ridiculous as they appear. I know people have strongly conflicting ideas of what the government’s “place” is, but for the most part we agree that the government takes up the slack that private businesses leave behind wherever nongovernmental agencies aren’t effective.
Research, no matter how silly it appears on the surface, is a vitally important function of the government. This is because private businesses are not going to invest their money in something they don’t see the profit in, even if it could benefit millions of people in the long run; they are not humanitarians, and they really have no obligation to be. That’s why I feel this is as much the government’s “place” as job creation is–more so, in fact, because if the private industry as a whole was more concerned about its employees than its profit margins we might not have the employment crisis we have today.
August 5, 2010 @ 9:16 am