Check out this blog at Heritage. Goes over all the spending waste in this new $516 Billion budget bill.

It's just so funny that whenever someone suggests cutting gov't spending...politicians threaten first to cut the most important stuff..instead of, say, $500,000 worth of federal weed control, or $53 Million for aid to North Korea, or a $20 million increase for the National Endowment for the Arts.

http://omnibusting.heritage.org/

12/18/2007 11:03:52 AM

I think it's not so much funny as sad.

12/18/2007 11:12:24 AM

because the NEA is fucking waste and has never produced anything. AMIRITE!?!

12/18/2007 11:16:47 AM

what about the billion+ spent for the DEA to incinerate natural growing hemp around the country. gotta get those drugs!!

12/18/2007 11:41:09 AM

because the NEA is fucking waste and has never produced anything. AMIRITE!?!

12/18/2007 11:54:31 AM

sure lets scrap it. everyone is guilty of pork spending

12/18/2007 12:52:25 PM

YES!

4.5% raise for me!

[Edited on December 18, 2007 at 1:30 PM. Reason : w]

12/18/2007 1:24:35 PM

You know, while I'm sure there's plenty of waste in this bill, some of the aspects Heritage chooses to point out are most telling of their biases. To wit:

Quote :

"• Farm Service Agencies: Funded at $98 million below the request. • Plan Colombia Cuts: The omnibus cuts $93 Billion in military assistance under Plan Colombia from President’s request, meaning that fixed-wing and helicopter interdiction programs critical to the success of Plan Colombia are likely to be curtailed or stopped entirely. Development aid and counter narcotics work are largely dependent upon the Colombian government’s ability to get manpower and resources into otherwise unreachable areas. • Cuba Restrictions Weakened: While not expressly authorizing counter-narcotics cooperation with Cuba, the Omnibus does omit the prohibition on such efforts which has been carried in previous years. • Abstinence Funding: The omnibus repeals the requirement in existing law that 33% of Global HIV/AIDS funding be expended for abstinence-until-marriage programs. • Restricting U.S. Energy Sources: The omnibus prohibits funding for oil shale commercial regulations. Without these regulations, commercial production of the United States’ 2 trillion barrels of oil shale resources is impossible."

I fail to see how any of these is actually a bad thing.

12/18/2007 2:31:31 PM

how about we end the war in Iraq?

or better yet... use the money we now spend in Iraq to build a time machine and go back and prevent it from ever happening in the first place

we would save a BUNDLE

12/18/2007 2:33:23 PM

despite the pathetic ad hom by sarijoul, much of NEA is a waste...i dont have a problem with giving kids scholarships based on their artistic skills...but its wasteful stuff like this

http://www.nea.gov/grants/recent/07grants/am07.php?disc=Choral%20Music

thats about half a million dollars to support some choral music festivals...who cares

12/18/2007 2:39:01 PM

do you know what ad hominem means? i said nothing about you. i was just being sarcastic. obviously i think that the NEA has some value. that's all.

12/18/2007 2:41:53 PM

Quote :

"i think that the NEA has some value."

I like art, I like promoting the arts. But I don't want to be forced to pay for it with my taxes.

The arts, so subjective in its benefits, should not be funded by force from the taxpayers.

There are an endless list of projects that "have value". We can't afford the size of gov't that would pay for them all.

The Arts should make it or not- out here with the rest of us.

12/18/2007 5:48:25 PM

Quote :

"I like art, I like promoting the arts. But I don't want to be forced to pay for it with my taxes. The arts, so subjective in its benefits, should not be funded by force from the taxpayers. There are an endless list of projects that "have value". We can't afford the size of gov't that would pay for them all. The Arts should make it or not- out here with the rest of us."

you could replace "art" with just about anything and make the same argument. obviously i think it has enough merit that i think the NEA is a worthy investment as a country. you don't think that. cool. art has a value outside of its worth in a capitalist framework. do i think art would disappear in this country if the NEA was gone? of course not. i don't think that federal money should fund abstinence-based AIDS programs in africa. life isn't fair.

12/18/2007 6:23:29 PM

i think the main common sense idea that people like EarthDogg and myself would rather see is for the government to pay for things that the majority of people can definitely use...ie making sure public utilities like water and electricity are in order, or maintaining roads...those are tangible things that everyone can benefit from...things that people can benefit more from than a cool statue in the middle of a building downtown that doesnt really have any purpose other than aesthetics...I say let private donors pay for those and get rewarded with naming rights, etc

and maybe i'm oversimplifying the NAE, but you cant convince me its that important WHEN COMPARED TO a lot of other govt agencies and funding

12/18/2007 6:42:52 PM

Quote :

"you could replace "art" with just about anything and make the same argument. obviously i think it has enough merit that i think the NEA is a worthy investment as a country. you don't think that. cool."

But this is exactly the problem - as you point out, "art" could be replaced with just about anything, and usually is. So, everybody pays for everyone's pet projects, and the result is a giant mess.

It just seems by definition that it would be easier if we all just paid for what we want on our own.

12/18/2007 6:54:31 PM

^ it'd also probably be much cheaper if we paid for such things on our own, since we'd be getting rid of the gov't middleman

12/18/2007 7:08:56 PM

Quote :

"i think the main common sense idea that people like EarthDogg and myself would rather see is for the government to pay for things that the majority of people can definitely use"

Like F-22 Raptors for $2billion a piece to aid in our adventure in neo-colonialism right???

or bailing out choice corporations who the free market economy clearly shows should fall to the dogs.

[Edited on December 18, 2007 at 7:42 PM. Reason : l]

12/18/2007 7:42:03 PM

Quote :

"ie making sure public utilities like water and electricity are in order, or maintaining roads"

i put it all in the post to avoid misinterpretations like that ^

are you opposed to public utilities and roads?

12/18/2007 7:43:52 PM

Quote :

"i don't think that federal money should fund abstinence-based AIDS programs in africa"

I don't either.

Quote :

"the NAE, but you cant convince me its that important WHEN COMPARED TO a lot of other govt agencies"

Quote :

"It just seems by definition that it would be easier if we all just paid for what we want on our own."

Quote :

"it'd also probably be much cheaper "

Quote :

"bailing out choice corporations who the free market economy clearly shows should fall to the dogs."

Ditto

12/18/2007 8:54:10 PM

when does the Prez suppose to sign this?

12/23/2007 4:59:02 PM

Quote :

""i don't think that federal money should fund abstinence-based AIDS programs in africa""

yeah they might as well throw those bills into a shredder.

"Hi random black africans living in destitute in Africa please stop having Sex. God says sex before marriage is evil and this is also spreading viruses like aids. Thanks guys!"

12/23/2007 7:54:59 PM