Here's where our stimulus money is going

I'll let other bloggers debate whether the Obama stimulus package is working yet, as it's really (in my opinion) too early to determine this.

While Obama's stimulus packages is supposed to stimulate the economy, he is adamant that nothing in the bills were wasted spending. I'll let you decide:

1. $1 million to study red snappers. Yep, there's no income tax in Florida, so they rely on us to flip the bill for this.
2. Free cars to people on welfare in one state
3. $500,000 payment to make lights in one town more historically accurate
4. $578,000 to combat homeless problem in one city that does not have a homeless problem. The good folks in that town were actually shocked to get the money.
5. $590,000 to turn a barn into a storage facility
6. $120 million to create a waste water plant in Maryland
7. $479,000 for beaver management and control in Mississippi
8. $2.8 million in Rochester, NY, to extend art walk at museum
9. $162,000 to control rodent population in Hawaii
10. $500,000 in Nebraska to create a walking trail shortcut
11. $1.7 million to research honey bees in Texas lab.
12. $1.3 million in New Jersey to repair a bridge that's going to be torn down anyway
13. $190,000 to digitize and edit research project
14. Study wheat disease that poses no threat to humans
15. $380,000 in Main to pay for lighthouse preservation for (get this) just three of the 60 lighthouses in that state.
16. $27 million to make Colombian river deeper.
17. $637 million on solar farm to create energy for only a hundred homes in a state that has 6 million people.
18. $119,000 on blackbird management in Kansas
19. $100,000 to do something for lobster in Gulf of Mexico
20. $2.1 million to get homeless off streets. Now, how does that help the economy.
21. Study potato disease
22. $15 million to maintain a border crossing that has only 2 cars crossing it a day.
23. $37 million on a house project that will cost $180,000 per job. The people employed to do this will only have jobs for this summer.
24. 6.5 million in Louisiana for Termites
25. $187,000 to turn old railroad depot into nice facility. The depot is not used.
26. $292,000 in NY state to study grape genetics.
27. $100,000 i Pennsylvania to determine density of population. Why not wait 'till 2010 census?
28. $1 million to build solar panels in one state
29. $100 million to pay salaries of volunteers in one state.
30. $7.5 million in Delaware to refurbish boardwalk. The irony is project will not begin until fall/winter season just before snow will fall.
31. $935,000 for pasteurization of shell eggs
32. $170,000 on gang prevention efforts in one city
33. $253,000 in Oregon to study Shell fish
34. $125 million to clean bridges in New York state (to stimulate the economy?)
35. $400,000 to close secondary road that leads to park. Ironically, in 2007 money was allocated to close this road too. Waste? Or good use of your money?
36. $300,000 for traffic control project in town of 4,000 people
37. Study alternate use of tobacco
38. To build a skate park
39. $950,000 to improve aquatic habitat in Jackson, Wyoming
40. $200 million to repair alternate runway in three flight a day (20 passengers) airport (this was John Murtha's project.)
41. $451,000 to study cranberry/ cranberry breeding habits (Huh?)
42. $30 million to cover bill in Texas port of entry.
43. $8 million to repave roads in Illinois. The project will only create 20 jobs for summer at $60,000 per week per worker.
44. $3.85 million in Nebraska to convert old bridge to bike and pedestrian path. Experts claim the bridge may not even hold.
45. $9.8 million for visitor center
46. $94,000 in Louisiana to study blackbirds.
47. Build a firehouse in in Connecticut. Ironically, this is the same firehouse that is is going to the supreme court because of a Sodomyer ruling.
48. Money to city officials to pay for railroad projects to block access to a lake.
49. $118,000 to clean up radioactive waste @ nuclear waste plant that's $184 million over budget already. Plus there are safety concerns.
50. $4.1 million to fund signals and turning lanes in one city
51. $254,000 in Montana for sleep institute.
52. $30 million so one school district can feed 20 teachers.
53. $700,000 to fund treatment for meth addicts in one city.
54. $4.4 million to create historical waterfront that is buried in snow more than 1/2 year.
55. $2.5 million at University of Maryland for security cameras that many say is a violation of civil liberties act.
56. $469,000 to study fruit fly facility
57. $381 million in NY city Lincoln Center for Jazz program. I'm sure there's a shortage of performance art in NY.
58. $500,000 to subsidize cost of fish food in Missouri fish farm
59. $250,000 for wool research
60. To build a bridge in Missouri that will create 100 jobs and few people know why bridge is needed.
61. Tear down remains that burned in a fire in 1971 in one city. If this needed to be done, don't you think it would have been done before now.
62. $1 million to build a fence on bridge to prevent people from suing city.
63. More $$ to pay for historical lights on a main street that aren't needed.
64. $800,000 for catfish genome research in Alabama
65. $3 million to improve state run liqueur warehouse.
66. $25 million to fund wind technology testing center.
67. $250,000 to a woman who has been dead for 40 years.
68. $37.5 million to repave road in Alabama by a company in Kentucky.
69. $2.5 million to build airport ramp in New Hampshire.
70. $9.5 million to reserve habitat of warble in Michigan
71. $11.4 million in Washington D.C. for National Zoo.
72. $1.1 billion to fund skateboard, basketball and tennis court. This will create no jobs once it is built.
73. Thousands to build walking trail in a park in Shoreline, Michigan that is out of the way and seldom used.
74. $200,000 for weed removal
75. $870,000 to move wolves to private location.
76. $800,000 at University of Alabama for oyster rehabilitation project.
77. $60 million to build bridge many don't want and is not needed.
78. $1.9 million for Connecticut to fix a town that burned down years ago and no one lives there.
79. $100,000 to conduct endangered species bat research
80. $20 million to build a bridge in Florida that may not be needed, and there is already a bridge right next to it. The bridge is to an island.
81. $230,000 to replace public restrooms in town of 130 residents.
82. $3.6 million in Kentucky to build pedestrian trail along Ohio River.
83. $120,000 for Nat. History museum in Vegas.
84. $4 million in Motown for conservation project to save old Tiger Stadium that has already been torn most of the way down.
85. $11 million to pay for beach re nourishment in Miami.
86. $340,000 in Hawaii to replace air conditioning systems and restrooms.
87. $4.3 million to upgrade NY traffic system lights to LED lights.
88. $103,000 to Nat. Guards Facility lights.
89. $1.4 million to rebuild 50 year old well in town of 272 homes.
90. $13.5 million to enhance program for repeat drug offenders so they don't have to go to prison. They couldn't be rehabilitated the first time, so the stimulus package should be able to provide enough money to do that now.
91. $128 million in Palm City to build a new bridge that they wanted to build decades ago but could not fund locally. So now we all have to pay for it. Oh, and by the way: it's not needed. They already have a bridge. It's being build because people have to wait three minutes at light at current bridge. Oh, and the project won't begin for 2 years.
92. Convert signs back into miles in one city. The signs were converted to kilometers because it was expecting a conversion to metric system.
93. $1 million to pay for removal of crickets.
94. Improve landscaping in front of Hotel.
95. $11 million to build garages for bikes. It seems if it were raining no one would ride bikes anyway.
96. 11 million in Connecticut for building adjacent to Microsoft. I wonder if Bill Gates had a hand in this bill?
97. Illinois road signs
98. Swine odor research.

So, are these projects needed so bad that we all should flip the bill, or should they be paid for by local residents or private companies. Likewise, one might wonder how the government decides who should get which dollar? One also might wonder if it is even Constitutional to pick and choose who gets what dollar?

All this, and only 10-15% of the money has been spent.

Well, you can decide for yourself if Obama's stimulus plan was about stimulating the economy, or a guise to increase the size of government.