Do all these pork projects seem like a good use of our hard earned tax dollars? What did it "stimulate"?

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/After-a-flurry-of-stimulus-spending_-questionable-projects-pile-up-8474249-68709732.html



- $30 million for a spring training baseball complex for the Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies.



- $11 million for Microsoft to build a bridge connecting its two headquarter campuses in Redmond, Wash., which are separated by a highway.



- $430,000 to repair a bridge in Iowa County, Wis., that carries 10 or fewer cars per day.



- $800,000 for the John Murtha Airport in Johnstown, Pa., serving about 20 passengers per day, to build a backup runway.



- $219,000 for Syracuse University to study the sex lives of freshmen women.



- $2.3 million for the U.S. Forest Service to rear large numbers of arthropods, including the Asian longhorned beetle, the nun moth and the woolly adelgid.



- $3.4 million for a 13-foot tunnel for turtles and other wildlife attempting to cross U.S. 27 in Lake Jackson, Fla.



- $1.15 million to install a guardrail for a persistently dry lake bed in Guymon, Okla.



- $9.38 million to renovate a century-old train depot in Lancaster County, Pa., that has not been used for three decades.



- $2.5 million in stimulus checks sent to the deceased.



- $6 million for a snow-making facility in Duluth, Minn.



- $173,834 to weatherize eight pickup trucks in Madison County, Ill.



- $20,000 for a fish sperm freezer at the Gavins Point National Fish Hatchery in South Dakota.



- $380,000 to spay and neuter pets in Wichita, Kan.



- $300 apiece for thousands of signs at road construction sites across the country announcing that the projects are funded by stimulus money.



- $1.5 million for a fence to block would-be jumpers from leaping off the All-American Bridge in Akron, Ohio.



- $1 million to study the health effects of environmentally friendly public housing on 300 people in Chicago.



- $356,000 for Indiana University to study childhood comprehension of foreign accents compared with native speech.



- $983,952 for street beautification in Ann Arbor, Mich., including decorative lighting, trees, benches and bike paths.



- $148,438 for Washington State University to analyze the use of marijuana in conjunction with medications like morphine.



- $462,000 to purchase 22 concrete toilets for use in the Mark Twain National Forest in Missouri



- $3.1 million to transform a canal barge into a floating museum that will travel the Erie Canal in New York state.



- $1.3 million on government arts jobs in Maine, including $30,000 for basket makers, $20,000 for storytelling and $12,500 for a music festival.



- $71,000 for a hybrid car to be used by student drivers in Colchester, Vt., as well as a plug-in hybrid for town workers decked out with a sign touting the vehicle's energy efficiency.



- $1 million for Portland, Ore., to replace 100 aging bike lockers and build a garage that would house 250 bicycles.Do all these pork projects seem like a good use of our hard earned tax dollars? What did it "stimulate"?
Sounds good to me.
McCain did not vote for the Stimulus act, aka American Recovery %26amp; Reinvestment Act of 2009, H.R.1 on 2/10/2009



Send your complaints to President Obama, who during his campaign promised to READ EACH BILL, LINE BY LINE, AND ELIMINATE PORK.Do all these pork projects seem like a good use of our hard earned tax dollars? What did it "stimulate"?
Doesn't look like it to me.



Instead of posting on YA all day - maybe you should contact your representatives and complain about this.
What it "stimulates" is votes from the beneficiaries of the pork barrel spending. You know the old saying, we've got the best government money can buy!Do all these pork projects seem like a good use of our hard earned tax dollars? What did it "stimulate"?
I REALLY hate to break it to you but MOST of these pork projects were added to the bill by REPUBLICANS (Arizona IS a McCain RED STATE - your first example).



dee dee dee
Stimulus? No...



$800 billion in Pork filled political payback? YES!
no, they just stimulated 0bama's donors
I agree, most seem like a waste. The 1st one takes place in Arizona, where John McCain is a Senator. McCain has stated in the past to cut out waste and make famous those who request it. Send your first letter to him.
Assuming I can trust your facts, I'd say, yes, most (I'm not reading them all) of the above (a TINY percent of the total package) are stimulative.



People have to be hired, and materials bought to do them -- which creates or saves jobs. Many of them are worthy projects.



Much of the most stimulative items in the original proposal were offed by Republicans (who then refused to vote for it after all); and less stimulative parts added by same.



However, mostly the money is going to do good things -- quality of life, envrinmental improvement, infrastructure.



I bet every worker on every one of them is glad to have the work; every supplier and person transporting materials are glad to have the business; and the people who will benefit from the results will be glad to do so.



Is each an IDEAL use of the money? No. But when does that EVER happen?