Stimulus

[hertinkness]

OK- I won't lie. In my field, I'd probably see a pretty big benefit from the current stimulus package. I'm rooting for it to pass in its current form for selfish reasons. I want to have a job, and I want my friends to keep theirs. Some people think it's too heavy on "pork."

But let's take a look at what's being labeled pork:

You can basically organize it into categories based on what Republicans hate. For example, there's the "Fuck public safety" category, in which the $10 million for urban canals and the $100 million to reduce lead paint hazards fall. Then, there's the "Fuck science" category- the $150 million for the Smithsonian and the $412 million for the CDC fits into this one quite nicely. Then there's the favorite "Fuck poor people" category, where we find most of these items, but especially the $1.4 billion for rural waste disposal (read: how DARE those hicks demand to not marinate in their own filth!), $25 million for tribal anti-addiction programs, and $1.2 billion for youth summer job programs. But really, all of these objections can fit into one big box, which sums up the current Republican party's motto pretty well:

"Fuck responsibility."

Comments

[jinjre.livejournal.com]

Have you ever seen videos of the inside of the CDC labs? Holy Cow - *my* lab isn't that bad - and we have to make a profit! I do not begrudge the CDC some new facilities!

And rural waste? I don't think most folks realize what happens to a lot of truly rural waste. I graduated from high school in a town with a local population of about 2000, middle of nowhere Louisiana. The creeks and ponds (excepting the ones people raised catfish in) were - foul doesn't begin to describe it. They had an open sewage law - as long as you didn't live where sewer pipes were available, you could run your sewer lines from your mobile home to the nearest flowing creek. How very Elizabethan. And I don't think much has changed in that regard.

There were a few things I remember thinking "yeah, well, that's probably not all that great", but I'd rather have a few extras which might actually create a few more jobs, than have not enough and have us sink even further into the pit of "keep cutting taxes and maybe something will happen".

I note that the complaints about cost from the GOP don't ever seem to be compared to the cost of the Iraq war - which was completely unnecessary and possibly illegal AND KILLED a lot of people (both US and other nationalities). I don't think working on rural waste disposal is going to kill anyone (though I won't say that for certain - I've tested some of those "unknowns" found in barrels in old barns...amazing what chemicals people keep in a barn.)

[boudiceaborn.livejournal.com]

My dad's pretty excited about the science category, because the 3.5 billion going to the NIH will really help. Someone in his lab has a really good grant in with them, and they've been asked to revise it twice. It was scored 28% last time (better than 72% of grants) but they still didn't fund it because their cutoff has been dropped to 18% or so with their cutbacks. If they revise it a bit more and the NIH lowers their threshhold, it could make a big difference for the company.

I'm sure in all this stimulus there are plenty of large amounts of money going to causes that I think aren't worthy...but at the moment it's about keeping people in jobs, and as long as there aren't crooked dealings I'm okay with bridges to nowhere and some faith-based initiatives grants.

[cielamara.livejournal.com]

WHAT. Cut money to screen and prevent STDs? Why would you cut that? And why would you cut renovations on CDC buildings?! That's NOT going to create jobs? Why would you cut ANY funding for building crap?

WHY. WHY. WHY.

[fledgist.livejournal.com]

The overall attitude of Republicans is 'fuck anyone who isn't rich'.

[patty1943.livejournal.com]

Republican politically correct speech:
Pork (def: anything that doesn't help the rich.)
Free enterprise: (def: Tax breaks for us. Eminent domain for developers. Low wages for everyone else. Send jobs overseas. Pay ourselves huge bonuses. Get "too big to fail," and get bailed out.)
Responsibility: (def: Nothing for the poor, tax breaks for us.)
I am working on a list.
Fucking Republicans.

[zenkitty-714.livejournal.com]

Fucking selfish whiny arrogant Republicans. First they demand stuff to be cut from the stimulus plan, and then when compromise is made and their demands are given to them, they still don't vote for the plan! Not one of them. They call it "pork" when it doesn't benefit rich white men, or when it's all sciency or artsy and they don't get it. Because if a Republican doesn't get it, it must not be important.