Oh Where, Oh Where Have The Stimulus Funds Been Wasted?

The Porkulus(Stimulus)
is filled

with soooooo
much Pork. . . .

that I can smell the
bacon all the way here. . .
(wherever you live)

all the way
from Washington D.C.

Here are some examples of many of the wasteful projects that Dirty Harry, Slicky Dickie, and Wicked Witch Pelosi of the West authorized when voting YES to pass PORKULUS, and in doing so wasted loads of taxpayer money.

1)The Stimulus Package vital water pumps in California were shut down to protect a 2-inch minnow called the Delta Smelt. Two-Thirds of the farmers in CA depend on this water for the growth of their crops.

And this is so ridiculous. . . .

the damn fish are causing. . . .

80,000 people to lose their jobs and raising the unemployment rate for both cities of Mendota and Firebaugh to 41% unemployment, the highest in the nation.

2) Non-Existent Oklahoma Lake in Line for Over $1 Million ToConstruct a New Guardrail Optima Lake was built in the 1960's but one huge problem still exists today. The lake NEVER filled up with water. In 1997, Alan Riffel, then-City Manager of nearbyWoodward, Oklahoma, called the lake, “one of Oklahoma’s greatest boondoggles.”

3) South Dakota fish hatchery to spend half of a $20,000 grant on a freezer for fish sperm.

4) The U.S. Department of the Interior will spend $280 million on wildlife refuges and fish hatcheries, $630,000 on a bridge at the National Bison Range, and $249,000 for solar panels at Ennis Fish Hatchery. Refuges and hatcheries in Montana will receive about $3 million of theInterior Department's stimulus spending at Ennis Fish Hatchery


5) Federal stimulus cash paying for a fish hatchery and a new visitor center in Missouri. $2.9 million will go to a new Mingo National Wildlife Refuge visitor center in Missouri, and an additional $940,000 will go for solar power at a Fish Hatchery.

Rev. Jeremiah The Bullfrog spewed speech like "God D**n" America" and Obama listened in one a pew for over 20 years. Now Obama says YES to the fishies, but NO to Americans and their jobs.

6) $800,000 for little-used Johnstown, Pennsylvania airport to repave a back-up runway; the “Airport for Nobody” Has Already Received Tens of Millions in Taxpayer dollars

The airport is called John Murtha Airport

7) Little-Used “Shovel-Ready” Bridges in Rural Wisconsin Given Priority Over Widely Used Structurally Deficient Bridges.

8) Pawtucket, Rhode Island spending $550,000 on a skateboard park.

9) The Florida Department of Transportation plans to spend $128 million on the proposed Indian Street Bridge, though it does not yet have all the property it needs. The proposed funding of $128 million will be used to build a bridge a quarter of a mile away from an existing bridge, but it is unclear whether it is “shovel-ready.” According to CNN, “the state has yet to buy all the property it needs for the right-of-way leading to the bridge."

10) Virginia will spend $340,000 on a rural bridge that carries only 20 cars a day. The Rock Creek Road bridge leads to a gravel road with seven houses. Two residents of Rock Creek Road said they had not realized the bridge was in disrepair and were not sure that was the best use of the stimulus funds. VDOT officials say their top priority in choosing projects was how quickly they could get started.

11) “Microsoft Bridge” in Seattle will receive $11 million in stimulus funds. Despite having nearly $20 billion in cash reserves, Microsoft will be the prime beneficiary of $11 million for construction of a bridge to connect the two campuses of its headquarters. Separated by a
highway, the Microsoft headquarters outside of Seattle in Redmond, Washington will now be
linked by an unusual diagonally shaped bridge, once construction is completed.

A Proposal to Eliminate Waste in Our Government

I just received this in an email from my dad, and I thought everyone would enjoy this poem as well. I absolutely love it!!

A SENSIBLE SUGGESTION
"The Proposal"

When a company falls on

difficult times, one of the

thingsthat seems to happen

is they reduce their staff and

workers. The remaining

workers must find ways to

continue to do a good

job or risk that their job

would be eliminated as

well. Wall street, and

the media normally

congratulate the CEO

for making this type of

"tough decision", and

his board of directors

gives him a big

bonus. Our government

should not be immune

from similar risks.

Therefore:

Reduce the House of

Representatives from the

current 435 members to

218 members.

Reduce

Senate (members

from 100 to 50 one per

State).

Then, reduce their staff

by 25%.

Accomplish this over the

next 8 years (two steps/two elections),

and of course this would

require some redistricting.

Some Yearly Monetary

Gains Include:

$44,108,400 for

elimination of base

pay for congress. (267 members

X $165,200 pay/member/ yr.)

$97,175,000 for

elimination of their staff.

(estimate $1.3 Million

in staff per

each member of the House,

and $3 Million

in staff per each send a

member of the Senate every year)

$240,294 for the

reduction in remaining

staff by 25%.

$7,500,000,000 reduction

in pork barrel ear-marks

each year. (those

members whose jobs are

gone. Current estimates

for total government

pork earmarks are

at $15 Billion/yr).

The remaining

representatives would

need to work smarter

and

improve efficiencies.

It might even be in

their best interests

to work together

for the good of our country!

We may also expect

that smaller committees

might lead to

a more efficient

resolution of issues

as well.

It might even

be easier to

keep track of what

your representative is doing.

Congress has more

tools available to do

their jobs than it had

back in 1911 when the

current number of

representatives was

established. (telephone,

computers, cell phones

to name a few)

Note: Congress did not

hesitate to head home

when it was a holiday,

when the nation needed

a real fix to the

economic problems.

Also, we had 3 senators

that were not doing their

jobs for the 18+

months (on

the campaign trail) and

still they all

have accepted full pay.

These facts alone

support a reduction

in senators & congress.

Summary of opportunity:

$ 44,108,400 reduction

of congress members.

$282,100, 000 for

elimination of the

reduced house member

staff.

$150,000,000 for

elimination of reduced

senate member staff.

$59,675,000 for 25%

reduction of staff for

remaining house

members.

$37,500,000 for 25%

reduction of staff for

remaining senate

members.

$7,500,000,000 reduction

in pork added to bills by

the reduction of

congress members.

$8,073,383,400 per year

estimated total savings.

(That's 8-BILLION

just to start!)

Big business does

these types of cuts

all the time.

If Congresspersons were

required to serve 20, 25

or 30 years (like

everyone else) in order

to collect retirement

benefits, tax payers

could save a

bundle. Now they get

full retirement after

serving only ONE term.