WHAT?

Ok.. I know I posted earlier about upcoming events here... but this article I am reading, is just %$@&#$!

I'm reading the 2010 Wastebook - Put together by Tom Coburn (R-OK), and I'm ready to scream. AND go to my legislators' websites & contact them with WHY IS THIS GOING ON? WHAT ARE YOU ACTUALLY DOING UP THERE BESIDES SITTING AROUND SPENDING LIKE A DRUNKEN SAILOR?

HERE is the PDF of the Wastebook.

Some lovely facts to turn your stomach today:

“Free” Grateful Dead Archive - (Santa Cruz, CA) $615,000

Agencies Pile Up Unnecessary Printing Costs - $930 Million

Studying World of Warcraft and Other Virtual Games - (Irvine,CA) $2.9 Million

Poems in Zoos - (AR, IL, LA, WI, & FL) $997,766

Shooting Range Armed with Taxpayer Dollars - (Las Vegas, NV)$15.68 Million

Internet Dating Study - (Stanford, CA) $239,100

Studying Male Prostitutes in Vietnam - (San Juan, Puerto Rico)$442,340

Teaching South African Men How to Wash Their Genitalia -(Los Angeles, CA) $823,200

FDA Employees Need Contractors‟ Help to Understand Backlogs - (Washington, DC) $1.08 Million

“Free” Harvard Courses for Federal Workers - $5 Million

And of course, ethanol. to the tune of 6 billion.

Federal Study Investigates Cow Burps - (Durham, NH)$700,000

Pedestrian Bridge Built Steps from Another Pedestrian Bridge -(Bothell, WA) $260,000

Study of Why Political Candidates Make Vague Statements -(Berkeley, CA) $216,884 (they can't figure this one out on their own?)

Transportation Enhancement Grants Used to Plant Flowers Instead of Repairing Highways - (Department of Transportation) $571 Million

Office for Retired Speakers of the House of Representatives -$440,955.87


anddddddddddd...the best for last... shrimp on a treadmill! Yes, imagine the US without a study of shrimp running on a treadmill. Makes me wonder if the shrimp was being chased by...a giant cup of cocktail sauce! After dumping a bit over $3 million into this, they came to the grand conclusion that: "... sick shrimp did not perform as well and did not recover as well from exercise as healthy shrimp."

is that a duh! moment or what? they even put on little duct tape "backpacks" on the shrimp to see if an increased load slowed them down. You can watch the shrimp here.


OH BOY! HERE is the NSF (National Science Foundation) idiocies. Including this gem:

create? One of the recent studies highlighted by NSF is “ground-breaking” research being performed at the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research: “Exactly How Much Housework Does a Husband Create?” By the way, they've spent $60 million on this. How do you like your hard-earned dollars going to the government to be WASTED in this fashion?

These two PDFs really need to be gone over, and then...do what your gut tells you to do - Lambaste your legislators about this STUPID spending. The NSF *has* given us useful things, like the net, barcodes, cloud computing, MRIs, and vision care. but it has given us quite a bit of crap studies that shouldn't even be getting a penny.

I'd write more, but I have lots of housework to do (not all caused by the husband!) and my lamb for kebabs needs some garlic in the marinade :)