The 102 ways the government is spending your tax dollars:,

102: Protecting a Michigan insect collection from other insects ($187,632)

101: Highway beautified by fish art in Washington ($10,000)

100: University studying hook-up behavior of female college coeds in New York ($219,000)
(Was this done by a match making service?)

99: Police department getting 92 blackberries for supervisors in Rhode Island ($95,000)

98: Upgrades to seldom-used river cruise boat in Oklahoma ($1.8 million)

97: Precast concrete toilet buildings for Mark Twain National Forest in Montana ($462,000)

96: University studying whether mice become disoriented when they consume alcohol in Florida?? ($8,408)
(The whole world is going stupid, apparently!)

95: Foreign bus wheel polishers for California ($259,000)

94: Recovering crab pots lost at sea in Oregon ($700,000)(Wonder what it would cost to replace them, instead--wait, found it would be $19.99 each!!)

93: Developing a program to develop "machine-generated humor" in Illinois ($712,883) (Just call 'me'--I'll read a joke to you, for free!)

92: Colorado museum where stimulus was signed (and already has $90 million in the bank) gets geothermal stimulus grant ($2.6 million)

91: Grant to the Maine Indian Basketmakers Alliance to support the traditional arts apprenticeship program, gathering and festival ($30,000)

90: Studying to find out if methamphetamines increase the female rat sex drive in Maryland!! ($30,000) (Give them 'rat poison' for crying out loud!)

89: Studying mating decisions of cactus bugs in Florida ($325,394)(Excuse me--WHY??)

88: Studying why deleting a gene can create sex reversal in people, but not in mice in Minnesota ($190,000) Uhhhh!

87: College hires director for a project on genetic control of sensory hair cell membrane channels in zebrafish in California ($327,337)
(Shaking my head!)

86: New jumbo recycling bins with microchips embedded inside to track participation in Ohio ($500,000) (That's in my town, folks--sigh!!
You should also see the lightly trafficked sidewalks that we have, that have been enlarged from 4 ft. wide to 6 ft. wide with our 'stimulus' dollars!
A *job,* that lasted--ummm, maybe a week or two, maybe?? Sigh!)

85: Oregon Federal Building's "green" renovation at nearly the price of a brand new building ($133 million)

84: Massachusetts middle school getting money to build a solar array on its roof ($150,000)

83: Road widening that could have been millions of dollars cheaper if Lousiana hadn't opted to replace a bridge that may not have needed replacing ($60 million)

82: Cleanup effort of a Washington nuclear waste site that already got $12 billion from the DOE ($1.9 billion)

81: Six woodlands water taxis getting a new home in Texas ($750,000)

80: Maryland group gets money to develop "real life" stories that underscore job and infrastructure-related research findings ($363,760)

79: Studying social networks like Facebook in North Carolina ($498,000)(What?)

78:18 North Carolina *teacher* coaches to heighten math and reading performance ($4.4 million)(Teachers need coaching--wasn't that what they should
have gotten when in college?)

77: Retrofitting light switches with motion sensors for one company in Arizona ($800,000)

76: Removing graffiti along 100 miles of flood-control ditches in California ($837,000) (Wow--now the 'artists' have a brand new
canvass to start all over on!!)

75: Bicycle lanes, shared lane signs and bike racks in Allentown, Pennsylvania ($105,000)(Residents expressed the belief that only 1-2% of their
population will benefit from this project!)

74: Privately-owned steakhouse rehabilitating its restaurant space in Missouri ($75,000)

73: National dinner cruise boat company in Illinois outfitting vessels with surveillance systems to protect against terrorists ($1 million)
(This while the owners admitting they are at low-risk for a terrorist attack!)

72: Producing and transporting peanuts and peanut butter in North Carolina ($900,000)

71: Refurnishing and delivering picnic tables in Iowa ($30,000)

70: Digital television converter box coupon program in D.C. ($650 million)(How did this increase productivity, folks?)

69: Elevating and relocating 3,000 feet of track for the Napa Valley Wine Train in California ($54 million)

68: Hosting events for Earth Day, the summer solstice etc. in Minnesota ($50,000)

67: Expanding ocean aquaculture in Hawaii ($99,960) for floating fish habitats! (Bet the fish are happy--at least!)

66: Raising railroad tracks 18 inches in Oregon because the residents of one small town were tired of taking a detour around them ($4.2 million)
(Maybe the folks in that town should have funded it themselves, if they were so inpatient!!)

65: Professors and employees of Iowa state universities voluntarily taking early retirement ($43 million)

64: Minnesota theatre named after Che Guevara putting on "socially conscious" puppet shows ($25,000)(Has ANYONE researched
'Che Guevara' and really understand why we'd want to honor a *mass murderer*??)

63: Replacing a basketball court lighting system with a more energy efficient one in Arizona ($20,000)

62: Repainting and adding a security camera to one bridge in Oregon ($3.5 million)

61: Missouri bridge project that already was full-funded with state money ($8 million) (???)

60: New hospital parking garage in New York that will employ less people ($19.5 million)

59: University in North Carolina studying why adults with ADHD smoke more ($400,000)

58: Low-income housing residents in one Minnesota city receiving free laptops, WiFi and iPod Touches to "educate" them in technology ($5 million)
(Right!And are they funding the monthly service fees required for these devices?)

57: University in California sending students to Africa to study why Africans vote they the way they do in their elections ($200,000)

56: Researching the impact of air pollution combined with a high-fat diet on obesity development in Ohio ($225,000)

55: Studying how male and female birds care for their offspring and how it compares to how humans care for their children in Oklahoma ($90,000)
(OKAY--this is just ridiculous, folks!!)

54: University in Pennsylvania researching fossils in *Argentina* (over $1 million)

53: University in Tennessee studying how black holes form (over $1 million)

52: University in Oklahoma sending 3 researchers to Alaska to study grandparents and how they pass on knowledge to younger generations ($1.5 million)
(Prolly--they actually take the time to 'talk' to their grandchildren??)

51: Grant application from a Pennsylvania university for a researcher named in the Climate-gate scandal (Rep. Darrell Issa is calling on the president
to freeze the grant) ($500,000)

50: Studying the impact of global warming on wildflowers in a Colorado ghost town ($500,000)(Let's see, if it's too hot, and it never rains,
they dry up--if it's too cold, they freeze--seems simple and I won't charge but maybe $10,000 to reveal my *findings*!

49: Bridge built over railroad crossing so 168 Nebraska town residents don't have to wait for the trains to pass ($7 million)(O--kay,
folks--maybe they could learn to 'wait', for crying out loud!!)

48: Renovating an old hotel into a visitors center in Kentucky ($300,000)

47: Removing overgrown weeds in a Rhode Island park ($250,000)(Follow ken's advice and get the generic Round-up and save a bundle!)

46: Renovating 5 seldom-used ports of entry on the U.S.-Canada border in Montana ($77 million)

45: Testing how to control private home appliances in Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts from an off-site computer ($800,000)

44: Repainting a rarely-used bridge in North Carolina ($3.1 million)

43: Renovating a desolate Wisconsin bridge that averages 10 cars a day ($426,000)

42: 4 new buses for New Hampshire ($2 million)

41: Repaving a 1-mile stretch of Atlanta road that had parts of it already repaved in 2007 ($490,000)

40: Florida beauty school tuition ($2.3 million)

39: Extending a bike path to the Minnesota Twins stadium ($500,000)

38: Beautification of Los Angeles' Sunset Boulevard ($1.1 million)

37: Colorado Dragon Boat Festival ($10,000)

36: Developing the next generation of supersonic corporate jets in Maryland that could cost $80 million dollars each ($4.7 million)

35: New spring training facilities for the Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies ($30 million)

34: Demolishing 35 old laboratories in New Mexico ($212 million)

33: Putting free WiFi, Internet kiosks and interactive history lessons in 2 Texas rest stops ($13.8 million)

32: Replacing a single boat motor on a government boat in D.C. ($10,500)

31: Developing the next generation of football gloves in Pennsylvania ($150,000)

30: Pedestrian bridge to nowhere in West Virginia ($80,000)

29: Replacing all signage on 5 miles of road in Rhode Island ($4,403,205)

28: Installing a geothermal energy system to heat the "incredible shrinking mall" in Tennessee ($5 million)

27: University in Minnesota studying how to get the homeless to stop smoking ($230,000) (Let's see, they are homeless and they can
afford to buy cigarettes? Have you priced them lately?)

26: Large woody habitat rehabilitation project in Wisconsin ($16,800)

25: Replacing escalators in the parking garage of one D.C. metro station ($4.3 million)

24: Building an airstrip in a community most Alaskans have never even heard of ($14,707,949)

23: Bike and pedestrian paths connecting Camden, N.J. to Philadelphia, Penn. when there's already a bridge that connects them ($23 million) (???)

22: Sending 10 university undergrads each year from North Carolina to Costa Rica to study the rainforests ($564,000)

21: Road signs touting stimulus funds at work in Ohio ($1 million)(Got some of those in our town, next to the widened sidewalks--that didn't
need widening!)

20: Researching how paying attention improves performance of difficult tasks in Connecticut ($850,000)(PAY ATTENTION: this is idiotic!!)

19: Kentucky Transportation Department awarding contracts to companies associated with a road contractor accused of bribing the previous state
transportation secretary ($24 million)(Is it just me, or does it seem to be unacceptable that a crook would be rewarded in this way or at all?)

18: Amtrak losing $32 per passenger nationally but rewarded with windfall ($1.3 billion)

17: Widening an Arizona interstate even though the company that won the contract has a history of tax fraud and pollution ($21.8 million)
(Words fail me!)

16: Replace existing dumbwaiters in New York ($351,807)

15: Deer underpass in Wyoming ($1,239,693) (Wonder if the deer will realize it's a 'better' way for them?)

14: Arizona universities examining the division of labor in ant colonies (combined $950,000)(What--think we can train them to flip hamburgers
for us?)

13: Fire station without firefighters in Nevada ($2 million)(If there's no firefighters, whey do they need it?)

12: "Clown" theatrical production in Pennsylvania ($25,000)

11: Maryland town gets money but doesn't know what to do with it ($25,000)(Hmmmm, send it to me then!)

10: Investing in nation-wide wind power (but majority of money has gone to foreign companies) ($2 billion) (foreign companies?)

9: Resurfacing a tennis court in Montana ($50,000)

8: University in Indiana studying why young men do not like to wear condoms ($221,355) (Come on--this is not rocket science, folks!)

7: Funds for Massachusetts roadway construction to companies that have defrauded taxpayers, polluted the environment and have paid tens
of thousands of dollars in fines for violating workplace safety laws (millions)

6: Sending 11 students and 4 teachers from an Arkansas university to the U.N. climate change convention in Copenhagen, using almost 54,000 lbs
of carbon dioxide from air travel alone ($50,000) (And, this while the whole premise of the convention has been proven scandalously questionable!!)

5: Storytelling festival in Utah ($15,000)

4: Door mats to the Department of the Army in Texas ($14,675)

3: University in New York researching young adults who drink malt liquor and smoke pot ($389,357) (Apparently the test was to see how they 'feel'
when they are under the 'influence'! You gotta be kidding--no, guess not!!)

2: Solar panels for climbing gym in Colorado ($157,800)

1: Grant for one Massachusetts university for "robobees" (miniature flying robot bees) ($2 million)

GRAND TOTAL: $4,891,645,229

Some of it, mini bees for example, help further science.

The list could be more inspired. High speed wireless internet for everyone for example.

If the problem is all the stuff we buy comes from overseas, then look at the why the Government allows unbalanced trade, and also why any American company would have an advantage to move production overseas. It just seems that no matter what the problem, the government can't fix it, because at some level, they created it.

OK, the FBI is knocking at my door, gotta go! lol

George

Connie