Obscene spending in the "Obamnibus Spend Like A Drunken Sailor And Spread Pork Act, 2009"
$14.5 Million for a National Animal Identification program
$86.7 Million for the alteration and repair of buildings of the Agricultural Marketing Service
$1.5 Million for the California National Historic Trail visitor center in Nevada
$250,000 for the sage grouse in Idaho
$250,000 for the Lahontan cu.tthroat trout restoration
$250,000 for wolf monitoring in western states
$350,000 for the Nevada Biodiversity Research and Conservation Initiative
$350,000 for sea otters and pacific marine mammals
$4 Million Don Edwards San Francisco Bay NWR–salt ponds
$42.647 Million for the North American Wetlands Conservation Fund
$300,000 to commemorate the 150th anniversary of John Brown’s ra.id on the ar.senal at Harpers Ferry National Historical Park
$350,000 National Voting Rights Interpretive Center
$750,000 Hudson-Fulton-Champlain Quadricentennial
$200,000 Loyola University, Mundelein, IL
$250,000 Julius Freyhan High School, St. Francisville, LA
$240,000 Schubert Performing Arts Ctr., Minneapolis
$150,000 WPA Mural Conservation, Harlem Hospital
$150,000 Af.rican American Art Museum, Historic Archives
$171,000 Williamsburg County, SC Courthouse
$175,000 Winnsboro, SC Historic Clock Building
$100,000 Can.non County, TN Courthouse
$125,000 Fisherman’s Hall, Charles Town, WV
$1.6 Million Golden Gate National Recreation Area (Pt Bonita)
$2.5 Million Vanderbilt Mansion NHS
$4 Million Golden Gate National Recreation Area–Rancho Cor.ral de Tierra
$500,000 for the Arkansas Seismological Observatory
$650,000 for minerals resource as.sessment of federal lands in Nye County, Nevada
$900,000 for San Di.ego, CA, aquifer mapping
$500,000 to maintain the San Francisco, CA salt ponds restoration science
$10 Million for the National Global Warming and Wildlife Science Center
$5 Million for Tribal Governments to partially restore the welfare program
$2 Million for the Navajo Technical College
$25 Million for tribal law enforcement in In.dian country
$1 Million for the Marshall Islands four atoll health care program
$800,000 to maintain the Leetown, WV molecular biology effort
$300,000 for the University of Missouri’s extension program for a woody biomas.s technology
$500,000 to Purdue University to fund wood products technology development
$200,000 to New Hampshire’s Northern Forest Center to fund a sustainable forestry
$1 Million for emerald ash borer work in the Midwest
$750,000 for gypsy moth suppression in the Mid-Atlantic area
$500,000 for Seattle-Tacoma regional urban forestry
$300,000 for the Chicago GreenStreets Program to mitigate emerald ash borer infestation and promote urban forestry (IL).
$4 Million for the Valles Caldera National Preserve Trust
$200,000 to begin Timberline Lodge water system upgrades
$26.2 Million for Quincy Library Group’s hazardous fuels reduction activities (CA)
$400,000 for the Center for Bottomlands Hardwoods (MS)
$1.3 million for Forest Products Lab equipment (WI)
$900,000 each for the Northeast States Research Cooperatives in Vermont and New Hampshire and $300,000 for this item in Maine.
$50,000 for tree replacement in River Rouge, MI
$10 Million for the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
$2,234,000 for the Commission of Fine Arts
$9.5 Million for the National Capital Arts and Cultural Affairs grant program
$47.26 million for the United States Holo.caust Memorial Museum
$2 Million for the Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Commission
$8 Million to fund efforts to monitor and remediate groundwater contamination and other pollution sources at Hunter’s Point Naval Shipyard in San Francisco, CA
$2.2 Million Upper Sacramento River Area of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC)
$1.35 Million Sandy River/Oregon National Historic Trail
$300,000 Cahaba River National Wildlife Refuge–plan and design visitor center
$1.75 Million Mammoth Springs National Fish Hatchery–complete visitor center
$600,000 Theodore Roosevelt National Wildlife Refuge–plan and design visitor center
$500,000 CA seafloor mapping
$400,000 National Ironworkers Training Program for American In.dians (IL)
$5 Million San Francisco Bay Restoration Grants
$15 Million California Emission Reduction Grants
$300,000 Kinzua D.am Marina Repairs (PA)
$300,000 Joshua Tree National Park Visitor Center
$60 Million Everglades Nat’l Park
$5 Million Boston Harbor Islands (Pavilion)
$5 Million Apo.stle Islands National Lakesho.re–lighthouse reconstructions
$2.25 Million Vir.gin Islands National Park
$1 Million for the Chesa.peake Bay program
$1.8 Million for the Eden Forest project in Vermont
For more porky tidbits, check in tomorrow.
Posts
Alrighty Then!
4 weeks ago
10 comments:
Howdy!
Please provide your reference material, chapter and verse for "$14.5 Million for a National Animal Identification program". Feel free to email me directly at henwhisperer [@] gmail dot com (remove the spaces, etc). Thanks.
Henwhisperer, Check out http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?r111:H23FE9-0057:
Thank you for bringing this to our attention! It's about time federal dollars were spent on some of these worthy issues.
Tell me: Is it your intention to broadly condemn the use of taxpayer dollars to pay for things that benefit lots and lots of taxpayers, and about which you have little understanding? Why don't you do some research into the issues here instead of assuming that they're all worthless because you know nothing about them? Why don't you comment on individual items and say why you think they don't deserve the expenditure of public funds? Get informed before you rant!
I can't comment on many of these topics (I'll leave that to the experts), but I can tell you that spending on programs to limit the spread of exotic insects (such as gypsy moth, emerald ash borer, and Asian longhorned beetle, for example) is critical to protect vital natural resources (e.g. trees) from these insects that arrived from overseas. Without these efforts, billions upon billions of trees will be potentially lost, many of them in urban areas where the loss of any street tree is a big deal. With emerald ash borer, we stand to lose virtually all ash trees in this country (and Canada) if nothing is done. Asian longhorned beetle poses a similar, if not quite as complete, threat to maples and many other hardwoods.
I suggest you be a little more thoughtful, and put a little more time, into your public rants.
Newsflash Anon: We are in the greatest economic crisis in 100 years and we have NO MONEY. NONE. Our very economy could collapse under the weight of the deficits that are being created, and you are worried about insects? Guess what; I know a bit about entomology and botany as I majored in biology at one of the best schools in the country, and in normal, fruitful times, addressing some of these issues would be great. But these are not normal times. There is no room for earmarks of any kind in this bill. There is no room for 8.2% increased in the budget over last year. It is time that Obama stood by his word to "cut, line by line, wasteful spending in the budgets" (his exact words). Yet he allows 8500 earmarks to clog this omnibus bill after passing the $787B Stimulus Bill which is one big pork package. I suggest you do some research before throwing stones. Or you are free to start your own blog in which you can opine ad nauseum about the grave threat of gypsy moths during times of economic crisis.
Anon, I have to agree with Mad Mom on this one. Let me explain my rationale. While the concern for the issues you cited is a valid concern, what we face with the problem in the economy in general, and the horrendous increase in the National Debt as a result of the Spending Bill, is one that falls into the category of the general welfare of the country. The objective must be to make every dollar have as much positive impact on as many people as possible. Going down the list using the question, "Does this expenditure really help the general public, or is it a large outlay for a small group of people?", as a measure of effectiveness of the expenditure helps put each item in proper perspective. Does each item in the list really rapidly create lasting jobs?
Mad Mom: the link didn't work for me. Will you email it to me, please. I am a nationally known activist against NAIS and need to see what it is you found.
To Anon...typical of people like you to post without a name. You say, "Tell me: Is it your intention to broadly condemn the use of taxpayer dollars to pay for things that benefit lots and lots of taxpayers, and about which you have little understanding?" My response to you...go eat some more pudding and wash it down with more KoolAid.
Anon is a member in good standing of the "the enviro end justifies the means club". Anon is perfectly content with the bait and switch techniques and the misdirection employed by congress and da Prez in order to get a multitude of their personal agenda line items passed without due process and requisite public debate and comment. Just sneak it all in the name of "Saving the Economy". Anon should be ashamed for accepting so little transparency from our elected public servants. The reason Anon isn't ashamed is that Anon would do exactly the same thing if the shoe was on the other foot. Yes, fascism is alive and well in the world of Anon.
As to the merit of Anon's argument re. the importance of programs such as expanding the habitat of the South Bolivian Tsetse fly, if it is that important, then it should be able to withstand a healthy, open public debate and therby be funded appropriately.
But the real reason that brought me to this blog in the first place is the line items pertaining to the GGNRA/NPS. That is truly analogous to flushing money down the proverbial toilet. Please check out http://OceanBeachDOG.home.mindspring.com for our experience with this unlawful, dictatorial, deceitful, self-serving branch of the federal government.
Mad Mom: GREAT JOB! You go girl!!!
I own a small business with a few employees. I've done everything possible to keep my staff, and have not had to lay anyone off so far.
Tax cuts do not help much. Too little too late.
Stimulus money for projects will keep my business open and my staff employed.
Sorry, Mad. You sound like any other Fox News fan taking pot shots at everything Obama does. Ho hum.
Let's talk about the billions in bailout money taken by banks and brokers, which have done very little if anything to help the economy or the taxpayers they fleeced. They caused the problem and now they won't even tell us how they're spending the money. Now there's something to get mad about.
I'm glad you can partake at the trough, Anon. None of this spending will help my small business. Peruse the blog and you'll see I'm no fan of any fiscally irresponsible behavior, whether it was initiated by Bush, or is now turbo-charged spending under Obama. My concern is for the economic viability of the country, which could be in very dire straits should our foreign investors lose their appetite for our bonds. Nuthin' ho hum about that.
One key element of the stimulus is sustaining and creating jobs. These projects are not simply about 'protecting insects' or plants, or wolves, or whatever other type of flora or fauna you prefer to rant about protecting. Though I have many arguments as to how and why such projects benefit many, many people, I'm going to focus this solely on jobs. There are people that are employed to study these things. There are buildings and facilities that are needed to support the people that study these things. There are people needed to provide supplies for the people building the buildings that support the people studying these things. Are the linkages becoming more clear? It may not be as cut and dry as building a bridge, but in many ways such projects sustain and create just as many jobs and pump just as much money back into the economy as so many of the other "public works" that may not have been included int the legislation...making it more possible for many other projects to happen. It's about time something other than the military got some attention in this country.
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