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Post by tetherednchained on Aug 26, 2009 23:26:45 GMT -5
This should be fun. Rules: It doesn't matter what country you are from. You must state what country is being wasteful. It doesn't matter what party is at fault. It doesn't matter if someone else thinks it isn't a waste. You must post a link to back it up. Post how you believe your government is wasting your tax dollars. Me first: In the US 3,900 stimulus checks went to prison inmatesfinance.yahoo.com/news/Stimulus-checks-not-boosting-apf-2542694170.html?x=0&.v=2Quote: About $425,000 was incorrectly sent to inmates.
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Post by garbagefiend on Aug 27, 2009 7:55:32 GMT -5
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Post by tetherednchained on Aug 27, 2009 18:37:55 GMT -5
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Post by tetherednchained on Aug 30, 2009 23:29:02 GMT -5
Here is another one. This one was under Bush and the Democratic led congress. www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/05/14/government-funds-million-program-make-chinese-prostitutes-drink/The federal government is spending $2.6 million to make sure prostitutes in China drink less on the job.That's the goal of a five-year study, bankrolled by the National Institutes of Health, designed to help lower HIV infections among China's "female sex workers," who are referred to in the study as "FSWs." Researchers will visit 100 houses of ill repute -- a whole hamlet of harlots -- to collect data on 700 prostitutes and 150 pimps and madams, referred to as "gatekeepers" in the study's sterile abstract. Phase one of the study is intended to research "alcohol use/abuse and related sexual risk among FSWs in China," according to the abstract -- a cold hard look at why prostitutes engage in dangerous sex while drunk. The study's director says the information gained from the study will then be used to tailor HIV prevention programs for the bawds from Beihai, a coastal tourist town in Guangxi province, which has the third-highest HIV infection rate of China's 22 provinces. The project comes thanks to a grant from the NIH's National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, which is also funding a $400,000 study of bars in Buenos Aires to find out why gay men engage in risky sexual behavior while drunk -- and just what can be done about it. The first prong of the Chinese intervention program involves "gatekeeper training," which means teaching pimps and madams to enhance the culture of safe sex in their brothels. The study's director, Dr. Xiaoming Li of Wayne State University in Michigan, then hopes to convince the prostitutes to drink less and use condoms more while they're on the job. The U.N. estimates that about 700,000 people are infected with HIV in China, mostly transmitted through unprotected sex. Recent government programs to distribute condoms to prostitutes have helped address the problem, but they haven't solved it. The study -- tailored specifically for use in China -- was approved in November, and the government has already spent $469,903 to fund it. "The proposed intervention program will be a cultural adaptation and integration of existing evidence-based programs in Asian settings," reads the study's abstract, which singles out China as a special challenge because of unique cultural circumstances (and 10 million working prostitutes) there. Dr. Li, who did not respond to calls and e-mails from FOXNews.com seeking comment, told CNS News that because prostitution occurs with alcohol use in the United States, just as it does in China, Americans will be able to benefit from the project's findings. "We want to get some understanding of the fundamental role of alcohol use and HIV risk," he said. "We use the population in China as our targeted population to look at the basic issues. I think the findings will benefit the American people, too."
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Post by tetherednchained on Aug 31, 2009 0:15:02 GMT -5
And more US government waste. www.cnn.com/2009/US/03/12/corridor.h/index.htmlWest Virginia's road to nowhere gets stimulus boostWARDENSVILLE, West Virginia (CNN) -- After more than 40 years and $1.5 billion, West Virginia's massive "Corridor H" project is getting another boost from the Obama administration's economic stimulus package, despite questions over whether the project will ever be completed.The plan is to build a 100-mile, four-lane highway through the Appalachian Mountains, connecting West Virginia to the eastern seaboard. It has been receiving federal money for decades, largely due to Sen. Robert Byrd, the Democrat who has represented West Virginia in the Senate since 1958. Byrd has steered hundreds of millions of dollars to the project, including a $9.5 million earmark in the $410 billion spending bill signed by the president Wednesday. Another $21 million will come from the nearly $800 billion economic stimulus bill Obama signed into law in February. Corridor H has been billed as a way to promote economic development in the impoverished state. But most of it remains on the drawing board. It's not projected to be complete until 2035 -- and neighboring Virginia says it has no plans to add on to the eastern end of the highway, meaning the road will end in West Virginia, 10 miles from the state line.So why keep building it? Paul Turman, West Virginia's assistant transportation secretary, said the $21 million in stimulus money will connect two unfinished stretches of the superhighway at the midpoint of the route. The State Division of Highways said the money will create 60 jobs lasting between 18 and 24 months, which works out to $175,000 in taxpayer dollars a year for each job created. West Virginia also says Corridor H would be an ideal evacuation route for Washington, about 100 miles away, in case of an emergency. "If something happens in the D.C. area, they can get out," Turman said. But Virginia's refusal to connect to Corridor H means anyone fleeing would have to negotiate a 20-mile stretch of narrow, winding county road on the way west. Critics say the cost is too high for a lightly traveled road, and the state keeps shifting its reasons for continuing to fund it. "They went through a lot of contortions to try to explain what the need was," said Hugh Rogers, a conservationist who lives at the end of the first stretch of Corridor H. "Traffic is not the need." At the ice-cream shop in Wardensville, where Corridor H now abruptly ends, residents say the big road does make it easier to drive to the high school, but it hasn't been a boon to business. "It doesn't seem like it, no," waitress Jeanette Strawderman said. Nevertheless, the project is expected to continue for another 26 years -- and another projected $1.5 billion."I think any time we get some money from the federal government, Corridor H manages to get a little piece of it," Rogers said. "They have to show that the project is alive. We can't let the people who have faith in it down."
After reading this again: Something I find rather funny. The last sentence in this report states: "I think any time we get some money from the federal government, Corridor H manages to get a little piece of it," Rogers said. "They have to show that the project is alive. We can't let the people who have faith in it down." This has been in construction for 40 years and wont be completed until, according to this report by CNN, until 2035. ("It's not projected to be complete until 2035") That would make the people that were around, when it first started, around 65 years old and older! I would HATE to let those people down! lol
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Post by tetherednchained on Aug 31, 2009 0:46:24 GMT -5
So this is the update: The US: 3,900 stimulus checks went to prison inmates = $425,000 John Murtha's Pork Laden Airport = 150 million + $800,000 Postitutes in China = 6 million West Virginia's road to nowhere = Hundreds of millions of dollars. Another $21 million + another projected $1.5 billion Not sure how to count that!!! Hundreds of millions?!?!?! Thats rather vague, don't you think? How could they not have an exact total?
New Zealand: Anti-smacking law referendum (smacking your child as punishment was considered child abuse as of 2007) $9 million
Should we not keep tabs on what we as taxpayers are paying for? Come on people! Dig! And then post what you find here!
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Post by tetherednchained on Aug 31, 2009 1:02:54 GMT -5
The US again The study began in September 2008. www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/05/08/government-funds-study-gay-sex-argentina-bars/U.S. Government Funds $400,000 Study on Gay Sex in Argentina BarsThe National Institutes of Health are paying researchers to cruise bars in Buenos Aires to find out why gay men engage in risky sexual behavior while drunk -- and what can be done about it. Government researchers are spending more than $400,000 in taxpayer money to hit the bars in Argentina. The National Institutes of Health are paying researchers to cruise six bars in Buenos Aires to find out why gay men engage in risky sexual behavior while drunk -- and just what can be done about it. Doctors and specialists from the New York Psychiatric Institute are using the generous grant from NIH's National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism to help tailor HIV prevention programs to work at bars and clubs. Though public health officials say that HIV/AIDS rates are higher in Washington, D.C., than in some parts of West Africa, U.S. government funds are going to help curb dangerous liaisons in Argentina's capital. The study began in September 2008, according to an online abstract, and has already cost taxpayers $198,776, NIH documents show. "Targeting public venues in Buenos Aires where men meet, alcohol is consumed and sexual behavior occurs," the project's overview explains, "the goal of this 2-year exploratory study is to understand the various factors that contribute to the creation of a high risk sexual space." That means NIH researchers will have as many as 730 nights on the town for careful observation and interaction. "To that end, the study seeks to describe the relative contribution of physical characteristics of the place" -- social scientists call this the "vibe" -- and other factors like "patron characteristics" and "social dynamics" that can lead to risky behavior when mixed with a few parts alcohol. NIH officials say the study is doing valuable work to address high HIV infection rates among homosexual men in Argentina, and that plans developed there could be translated for use in the United States and elsewhere. Researchers plan to interview dozens of bar patrons and proprietors to help develop the on-site intervention programs -- and they mean to be exact. "Venue patrons will also undergo a brief quantitative assessment to gather descriptive data on sexual behavior and substance use among this sample," the study's abstract reads. In layman's terms, that means they're asking drinkers to keep tabs on their quaffs and their quarry; fortunately for their more modest subjects, it's not a qualitative test too. Because the study is promoting venue-based prevention programs, researchers will have to be exact about the bars they visit in the city of 13 million, taking special care to describe the them "in terms of their physical characteristics, alcohol availability, patron characteristics and sexual behavior that occurs in the venue." An NIH official said that funds approved for the project include $275,000 for direct costs and an additional $125,000 in indirect costs, but would not elaborate. Though FOXNews.com could not confirm the median price of cervezas in Buenos Aires, that should leave a lot of money for tips.
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Post by pdn on Aug 31, 2009 1:20:57 GMT -5
I have no problem with our government funding communicable disease prevention research. Capital projects are wasteful pork. Disease prevention studies are not.
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Post by tetherednchained on Aug 31, 2009 10:40:25 GMT -5
I have no problem with our government funding communicable disease prevention research. Capital projects are wasteful pork. Disease prevention studies are not. I understand what you are saying and I agree that disease prevention research is important but what I have a problem with is that my tax money is going to a different country for research. Why? Why not do the research here? What politician is behind this and did he or she get some kind of kickback for it? I think those are valid questions. Also, I think this study is completely ridiculous. The National Institutes of Health are paying researchers to cruise bars in Buenos Aires to find out why gay men engage in risky sexual behavior while drunk -- and what can be done about it. Really? Lets take the "gay men" issue out of it. Straight people do the same thing and I think the answer is common sense. No need for a study in the first place in my opinion. People that are attracted to each other get drunk. They do things that they normally wouldnt do. Why? Because they are drunk. Problem solved! Can I have my $400,000 now?
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