Why I Hate Pork (and why you should too).
In the new version of the much-discussed stimulus package, found HERE, are several earmarks that make me go, “Buh?” Here are the highlights:
$50 million for “Watershed Rehabilitation”
$2.8 billion for loans to spur rural broadband (just build some Starbucks.)
$650 million for Digital-to-Analog Converter Box Program (who has an analog set anymore?)
$30 million for necessary expenses of the “Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership” (Yes, because I’m sure that’ll benefit me.)
$140 million for “climate data modeling” (do you think they’ll fix what the U.N. screwed up?)
$50 million for repairs to NASA facilities from storm damage
$18.5 billion for “Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy” research in the Department of Energy. That money includes:
$2 billion for development of advanced batteries
$1 billion for expenses necessary for advanced battery manufacturing
$1 billion for the Advanced Battery Loan Guarantee Program (someone’s obsessed with batteries)
$1.5 billion for “National Center for Research Resources”
$500 million for “Buildlings and Facilties” at the National Institutes of Health in suburban Washington, D.C. (suspiciously vague)
$2 billion for “Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology”
$300 million for Indian Reservation roads (aren’t they sovereign countries?)
$500 million in Native American Housing Block Grants (Huh?)
$4.1 billion to help communities deal with foreclosed homes (too little, too late)
$1.5 billion in homeless prevention activities (activities? like “building new homes” activities?)
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