Obama’s’ stimulus package was “supposedly” designed to create new shovel ready jobs. It definitely would require a lot of shovelers to move all that manure.
HHS spent $2.4 million on a Columbia study of how racism might affect the immune system. It didn’t create one job but that might be because after only 4 years, the study has yet to start.
It is entirely reasonable to posit that racism, real or imagined, is a stressor and that stress can, among other things, lower a body’s defenses and lead to chronic illnesses. However, this study seeks to isolate race-based stress. Isn’t that a form of discrimination, by the way? And are we racists for pointing this study out?
HHS has also gave the University of Florida in Gainesville stimulus money to study “do black people have different pain tolerances than non-Hispanic whites suffering from the same knee osteoarthritis” that only cost taxpayers $712,744.
And lets not forget the $423,000 of our taxpayer dollars that HHS spent on a study about how to properly use a condom. For those of you who out there living under a rock, putting on a condom is pretty simple to figure out, especially since the directions are already printed on the box.
It is entirely reasonable to posit that racism, real or imagined, is a stressor and that stress can, among other things, lower a body’s defenses and lead to chronic illnesses. However, this study seeks to isolate race-based stress. Isn’t that a form of discrimination, by the way? And are we racists for pointing this study out?
Not that the rest of the stimulus money was spent wisely.
- There was a North Carolina project that spent $294,958 for “reducing menopausal hot flashes through yoga.”
- A small town in Oklahoma received $89,298 “to replace a 5-year-old quarter-mile stretch of sidewalk that led to a ditch.
- The Agriculture Department spent $300,000 to market caviar.
- The U.S. Agency for International Development supplemented a $27 million pottery class.
- NASA spent nearly $1 million perfecting a menu for Mars.
- The Forest Service spent $554,763 to replace windows in a closed visitor center at Mount St. Helens.
- $200,000 to help Siberian communities lobby Russian policy makers.
- $760,000 to Georgia Tech to study improvised music.
- $700,000 to study why monkeys respond negatively to inequity.
- $529,648 to study the effects of local populations on the environment…in the Himalayas.
- $144,541 compliments of HHS went to Wake Forest to see how monkeys react under the influence of cocaine.
- Winter Haven, Florida got $2.38 million for 5 new buses even though existing buses only average 2 to 3 riders an hour.
- NorthWestern University got $712,883 to develop “machine-generated” humor.
- University of Illinois got $521,005 to study whether a soda tax would stimulate health.
- San Diego State University got $497,117 to study whether nutritional and alcohol content on labels would affect consumption.
- A Raleigh NC museum that averages 40 visitors a year got $253,123 to develop “insect of the week” for its website.
- The California Academy of Sciences got $2 million to send researchers to Indian Ocean and East Africa to capture, and photograph ants.
- $13.3 million went to the Dry Tortuga National Park located 70 miles off-shore of Key West of which only 40 aces are above water, and it is accessible only by renting an airplane, hiring a private boat or spending $165 per person for a 4.5 hr. round trip by ferry.
It really shouldn’t come as any surprise that we were fleeced or that the sole purpose of the stimulus was to line the pockets of the left and help progressives win re-election.
