FOOD FOR THOUGHT

FOOD FOR THOUGHT. Courtesy of Citizen Tom.

New Proposal May Put the Nation’s Food Safety at Even Greater Risk

 January 24, 2012                                                                               

The USDA’s food safety wing may come under control of the FDA. This will mean more power, wider scope—and greater corruption.

 

Allegedly as a means of eliminating agency overlap and bureaucratic waste, the Obama administration wants to consolidate a number of federal agencies. Last year the president pointed out that the Interior Department is in charge of salmon while they’re in fresh water, but the Commerce Department handles them when they’re in saltwater, and joked, “I hear it gets even more complicated once they’re smoked.”

 

According to an official at the Office of Management and Budget, the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) would be merged with the food safety unit at the FDA. While the proposal sounds reasonable on the surface, this would do nothing to address the systemic conflicts of interest within the FDA, and would actually increase the agency’s tendency toward crony capitalism.

 

Food Safety News reports that Mike Taylor, the former acting undersecretary for food safety at the USDA and the current deputy commissioner for foods at the FDA, has been advocating for a single food safety agency located “anywhere but at the USDA.” Former USDA official Dr. Richard Raymond, who now works as a food safety and public health consultant, believes that “a merger of the two food safety agencies would be an unmitigated disaster,” and unless megadollars flowed with the merger, nothing more could be accomplished than is currently done.

 

We might add that much harm could be done because the FDA knows nothing whatever about farming. The Food Safety Enhancement Act has already put FDA on the farm as a potential rule-maker and inspector, ignoring the agency’s complete lack of expertise in this field.

 

Obama administration officials are said to favor the merger because it would make food safety independent of USDA which, they note, primarily exists to market and promote American farm products. But rather than addressing the real issue—that USDA is in the pocket of the agricultural industry (“Big Farma”)—the administration instead wants to shift food safety over to the FDA, where both Big Farma and Big Pharma rule the roost.

 

Worse than that, the FDA will undoubtedly employ the form of food safety analysis it has learned about from its international counterparts over many years of meetings on food safety at Codex Alimentarius. This kind of food safety tends to say that food additives like aspartame, as well as a whole host of pesticides residues and genetically-modified (GM) foods, are safe, while demonstrating inexcusable scientific ignorance with their dietary advice.

 

If you think crony capitalism is bad at the USDA, just look at FDA’s existing record in regulating agriculture products. Two weeks ago we reported on how FDA crumbled under agriculture industry pressure and announced that the agency would no longer try to restrict the routine use of antibiotics in animal feed.

 

Then there’s FDA’s attempts to win approval for AquaBounty’s genetically engineered salmon despite overwhelming consumer opposition. Jurisdiction over genetically engineered food is shared by both the USDA (agriculture) and the FDA (food products). Both agencies are heavily influenced by the powerful GMO industry. Consolidation would merely ensure faster passage for genetically engineered products. So much for a new emphasis on “food safety”!

 

FDA is seriously underfunded and notoriously inept—their management of pharmaceuticals has led to skyrocketing prices, drug shortages, and a shocking lack of transparency—even suppressing scientific data about medicines that the drug companies found unfavorable. There is no indication that the FDA becoming a megabureacracy with complete control over food safety would produce better results.

 

Help us reform the FDA! An agency whose approval of dangerous drugs kills 50,000 Americans each year, and which systematically attacks natural supplements and censors scientific research, should not be getting more power and authority over our food supply. Please read about our Reform FDA campaign, and then sign our petition, which we will hand-deliver to Congress!

http://www.anh-usa.org/new-proposal-may-put-food-safety-at-risk/

Psychology 101

 From a personal contact via e-mail.  Might as well include the Senate in this allegory… “X”

 

 

If you start with a cage containing five monkeys, and, inside the cage, hang a banana on a string from the top, and then you place a set of stairs under the banana, before long a monkey will go to the stairs, and climb toward the banana.

As soon as he touches the stairs, you spray all the other monkeys with cold water. After a while another monkey makes an attempt with same result … All the other monkeys are sprayed with cold water.

Pretty soon when another monkey tries to climb the stairs, the other monkeys will try to prevent it.

Now, put the cold water away. Remove one monkey from the cage, and replace it with a new one.

The new monkey sees the banana, and attempts to climb the stairs. To his shock, all of the other monkeys beat the crap out of him.

After another attempt and attack, he knows that if he tries to climb the stairs he will be assaulted.

Next, remove another of the original five monkeys, replacing it with a new one. The newcomer goes to the stairs, and is attacked. The previous newcomer takes part in the punishment…with enthusiasm.

Then, replace a third original monkey with a new one, followed by a fourth, then the fifth. Every time the newest monkey takes to the stairs he is attacked. Most of the monkeys that are beating him up have no idea why they were not permitted to climb the stairs. Neither do they know why they are participating in the beating of the newest monkey.

Finally, having replaced all of the original monkeys, none of the remaining monkeys will have ever been sprayed with cold water. Nevertheless, none of the monkeys will try to climb the stairway for the banana.

Why, you ask? Because in their minds….that is the way it has always been!

This, my friends, is how Congress operates… And is why, from time to time, all of the monkeys need to be

REPLACED AT THE SAME TIME!!!!!

Republican, Democrat, Independent or Whatever!

Townhall Cartoons – Bob Gorrell – Jan 20, 2012

 

PatriotActionNetwork Admin: A Constitutional Revolution

A Constitutional Revolution

by, Rev. Larry Wallenmeyer- P.A.N. Admin.

 

When I read this it made me all “James Madison” all over! Crikey! Throw in George Mason, Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams too!

“Well, consarnit!! What has got all-fired excited there Rev. ?!!”

It’s THIS-

I’m told reliably that Governor Perry will head up a 10th Amendment project for Speaker Gingrich to rally Governors and state legislators toward a plan of devolving power from Washington. This project will include helping shape the Republican platform for the general election, something small government conservatives have been concerned about.

From Erick Erickson of RedState- Source:

http://www.redstate.com/erick/2012/01/19/perry-drops-out-endorses-newt-will-campaign-and-serve/

————————————————————————————————–

First, before going any further, let me post the 9th, 10th and 11th amendments-

Amendment 9 – Construction of Constitution. Ratified 12/15/1791.

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

 

Amendment 10 – Powers of the States and People. Ratified 12/15/1791. Note

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

Amendment 11 – Judicial Limits. Ratified 2/7/1795. Note History

The Judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States by Citizens of another State, or by Citizens or Subjects of any Foreign State.

———————————————————-

I post those so folks will have a broader context of just what I’m talking about.

The announcement that Rick Perry is working with Newt AND with The States Governors AND States Legislators to return back to Constitutional Governance, (i.e. return to The States and The People the Rights and Liberties GOD gave us and is Codified into Constitutional Law in Amendments 9, 10 and 11) that indeed IS good, good News!

Patriots, Conservatives, Constitutionalists, Liberty-Lovers, lets keep the fires UP! Lets keep pressing for a return to Constitutional Conservatism!

NEVER GIVE UP.
NEVER GIVE IN.
NEVER QUIT.
NEVER!

STAND UP.
SPEAK UP.
SPEAK OUT.

BE CONSERVATIVE.
WIN!

-Rev. Larry Wallenmeyer- P.A.N. Admin.
“Disobedience to tyrants is Obedience to God.” -Benjamin Franklin.

Devvy Kidd — 36 States Did Not Ratify 17th Amendment – What Will States Do?

Devvy Kidd — 36 States Did Not Ratify 17th Amendment – What Will States Do?.

Forgetting the Lessons of History

 

It would be nice to have the detail, and at times, rather eloquent manner of Citizen Tom’s presentations.  I harbor no illusions that I come anywhere near to that. I’m feeling sick. Sick to see the demise of our country as we knew her, perhaps forever; unless we, as a people, manage to elect a leader who has the moral fiber, and the backbone to do what needs to be done. 

One who will stay the course, and God willing, have a Congress who will do more than posture like spoiled children. They need to take a long, hard look at the vision the founding fathers had, when they designed a government to be the publics servant, not their master.

When we entered a global conflict in 1941, it was with our backs against the wall. Either we’d win, or, if we lost, freedom might be forever extinguished. We came back from the brink, and defeated three enemies (except for forgetting that Russia was NEVER our friend) and by the grace of God made the world a safe place with some hope for a better future.

The Korean conflict was an early example of having a short memory. A “Police Action” -damn U.N.- General MacArthur was cashiered by then President Truman ostensibly for being a “primadonna”, but in reality, for being of the WWII mindset that if you entered into war, you went in to WIN the damned thing. War is immoral, and a last resort. However, if  push comes to shove, you KEEP the commitment. You don’t try to preserve the “status quo”.

IMHO, If not for the U.N. and the fear of bringing China into the conflict, we would have fought to WIN.  Well, China came in anyway, almost drove us into the sea, but we prevailed.  If we fought to win, instead of being hamstrung by U.N. rules, there would have been one free Korea, and we would not face the situation which presently exists there today.  We never learned anything from Korea.  Southeast Asia had been either this colony, or that colony before WWII.  Great White Hunter had dominated many peoples; after WWII, they wanted to be their own people, not a protectorate of France, Belgium, Germany the Netherlands, …

We ought never to have gotten involved with Vietnam. Vietnam Vets, don’t get me wrong;  many of you were there when we were being fed the F’n “Domino Theory” and the B.S. that “we only have advisors over there”  by the politicians of the time. However, were we to become involved, we ought to have had the Cajones to realize that it meant making ONE free Vietnam, and not preserving the status quo. As we were not prepared to face off against China over this, we should have stayed the H— out. Fifty-eight thousand American and countless Vietnamese lives later, … 

Today, we have FEW leaders with the moral fiber, or the courage of their convictions to accomplish the goals needed to reverse the damage done. We as a people must share the blame, you can’t have a moral government if the populace is immoral. A retired Veteran friend shared an e-mail with me one month ago today. I sat, and read, then re-read this e-mail; and every time, a lump would form in my throat. Where is the America that SO MANY died fighting to preserve, protect, and defend against all enemies, both foreign and domestic?

I now share this with you, and hope that we, in this eleventh hour, make the right decisions.

Xavier

From my veteran friend:

I Wonder If Hamid Knows Prince Sirik Matak….

Posted: 20 Dec 2011 04:35 PM PST

And if he doesn’t, he ought to pick up a book . Because this is the letter that the Prince sent in response to United States’s Ambassador to Cambodia John Gunther Dean, who had offered high officials of the Khmer Republic political asylum in the United States,

“I thank you very sincerely for your letter and for your offer to transport me towards freedom. I cannot, alas, leave in such a cowardly fashion. As for you and in particular for your great country, I never believed for a moment that you would have this sentiment of abandoning a people which has chosen liberty. You have refused us your protection and we can do nothing about it. You leave us and it is my wish that you and your country will find happiness under the sky. But mark it well that, if I shall die here on the spot and in my country that I love, it is too bad because we are all born and must die one day. I have only committed the mistake of believing in you, the Americans.

Please accept, Excellency, my dear friend, my faithful and friendly sentiments.

Prince Sirik Matak

And this new information from one of my solid blood brothers overseas in Afghanistan…

“This is turning out to be the worst deployment yet. I had to take 12 soldiers off of the Unit Manning Roster as we were literally 1 1/2 hours from taking off from Ft. Bliss. Those soldiers re-enlisted for deployment, sold cars, ended rental agreements, and as you know, a did a whole host of other things to be gone for a year. The last minute personnel change is directly from the highest level so that he can show he is reducing the amount of soldiers in country for his election year”

And this new update from him as well….

Want some more news from the trenches? I have to reduce my numbers even further in just a matter of a few months AND the command wants me to take on more tasks… I’m at my witts end. It is all for the election. We were originally only a FORCEPRO unit…. Its like a really bad nightmare… and I have to reduce forces. Now my soldiers are working 12 hour shifts just to do the FORCEPRO mission. I’m looking at this other mission now. We will really be strapped when leave starts and I have to reduce my numbers just so he can say he is bringing home the soldiers.

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result. We are beginning to repeat our mistakes from the wars of our fathers and grandfathers.

Hamid should take counsel of his fears that the US is going to leave him twisting in the wind with his pants down, and maybe that is already happening, with his change of heart on how he feels about us and the “bend over” diplomacy that is practiced by this State Department helping to negotiate with the Taliban. All because this amateur narcissist president needs 4 more years to try to make us more like the very holes we defend, instead of the light of freedom to the world. As when he dithered and hemmed and hawed over our surge there, then giving the generals half of what they asked for and then told the enemy our intentions to leave and the timetable for it, we will see the level of incompetence that this guy has.

Hamid believed in us, and despite his faults, and his loyalty to his tribe over his friends, he expected us to keep our word, and now we are leaving. It is no wonder he is talking to the Taliban; I would bargain for a better deal too because the last President of Afghanistan was hung from a lightpole by these guys. The world is going to be a very dangerous place to live, because our enemies, and they are many, will see that the libturds are the assclown amateurs and lip service payers we knew them to be.

Prince Matak was shot in the stomach and left to die, which took three days, for his belief in us and in liberty.

Americans roll up their sleeves and get to work, finish the job, and keep our word. That is how we have been making the world safe for over 100 years. The essense of leadership is also that you don’t get to just take the easy ones, you have to take to hard ones too.

Regardless of what it means to you personally or professionally.

Free Speech Under Siege In America By Those that Support Illegal Immigration

January 19, 2012

by William Gheen
President of ALIPAC
http://www.alipac.us

On Wednesday January 18, 2012 over 7,000 websites ‘blacked out’ in open protest of new legislation called SOPA and PIPA, which would have a chilling effect on free speech on the Internet and for all Americans.

ALIPAC would like to offer our full opposition to the SOPA and PIPA legislation as written because the legislation is so broad our primary mission to collect and archive all information possible about America’s illegal immigration invasion could be stopped by the legislation.

We did not black out our website at www.ALIPAC.us because it is new and still under construction after a recent revamping, but we are going to make our opposition to SOPA our first activist alert for 2012!

For the last few years, we have been warning Americans about the three “nation breakers” that the same power factions supporting Amnesty for illegal aliens want to see applied to Americans in their quest for power and domination over us.

1. We have warned that these corrupt elites will try to pass a form of Amnesty which would eventually puts millions of illegal immigrants into a new voting block permanently displacing American voters who would stand up for Border Security. These illegal immigrants, once legalized, will then be given preference in government and corporate hiring and placed in positions of dominion over once sovereign American citizens.

2. We have warned that these corrupt elites will try to stifle freedom of Speech in America and on the web to prevent Americans from stopping their plans as we have in the past by stopping their amnesty legislation.

3. We have warned that they will eventually try to disarm the American public depriving us of our 2nd amendment rights to make their power over us permanent and supreme and insulated from any significant resistance to an increasingly diabolical series of abuses. With the British and Australians recently disarmed and dis-empowered, Americans are the last besieged and faltering bastion of freedom and citizen empowerment with rights.

We see SOPA and PIPA as the latest attempts by our US government, which is becoming more dictatorial and more authoritarian like their Chinese and Saudi Arabian counterparts each week, to silence free speech.

We have become experts in free speech and civil rights matters at Americans for Legal Immigration PAC (ALIPAC) because our free speech and civil rights are under constant attack and our government appears to be helping the attackers more than American defenders like us.

Our website at www.ALIPAC.us is under constant attack from illegal alien supporters who do their best to disrupt our communications and our operations. They have proven there is no low they won’t go to including hacking and vicious Internet troll attacks.

On Sunday January 15, 2012 Google Inc. literally handed over the master e-mail control and password to our youtube account previously at ALIPAC1′s Channel – YouTube to an illegal alien supporting attacker. All of our videos that contain over 4 years of our work have been deleted. These videos had over 4.3 million views and were expressions of ALIPAC’s civil rights and free speech. They are all gone and so far Google has not responded to our numerous requests for assistance and account restoration.

Then there was the RightHaven copyright trolls that sued ALIPAC and hundreds of other bloggers trying to shake all of us down for money. We are thankful that many groups aligned to fight back and RightHaven has been stopped by the courts, but this attempt to silence those of us on the web that compile, analyze, aggregate, and utilize news articles was a very close call.

Then there is the attack of free speech that occurs when illegal alien supporters like NCLR La Raza (The Race), SPLC, ADL, Media Matters, MALDEF, LULAC, and a constellation of hundreds of other groups label an American peacefully speaking out against illegal immigration as a violent racist. These well financed national smear efforts have a terrible chilling effect on free speech for all Americans. Talk show hosts and news casters are encouraged not to allow those of that represent the views of most Americans on the air due to false claims of tenuous ties to mysterious racist blogs.

I have dubbed what these groups try to do to us as “hooding.” They attempt to silence those of us who become public figures by intimidation and libel. Minorities that believe this hostile propaganda would deem us worthy of violence or death because of our views.

What these invasion supporting groups do is the equivalent of tying an innocent man or woman to a utility poll in a urban minority neighborhood, taping their mouth shut, and putting a white hood on them to leave them to their fate. This “hooding” has become so prominent that now even the Executive Branch and the Department of Homeland Security are using this despicable technique to vie for more power and control over the disgruntled American populace.

In case many of you have not heard, this week the White House began meeting with police leaders from across America to explain to them that the new threat are Domestic Terrorists and that the Domestic Terrorists are not Muslim exremists. Here is how they are describing domestic terrorists to police.

Does this new Homeland Security release information describe anyone you know?

Homeland Security wants local police now looking for American citizens that…

“”…increasingly spoke out against the government, blamed the government for perceived problems and did so in a way that caught the attention of other people in their communities, according to the senior counterterrorism official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private White House event. Subjects became active on the Internet to espouse extremist views. In some cases, the subjects purchased weapons, ammunition…Analysts found that a person’s origin, ethnic background and socioeconomic status are not good indicators for potential violent extremist activity, the senior counterterrorism official said.” — Huntington Post, January 18, 2012

So now the Obama administration is seeking to silence you by sending you the message that law enforcement is now on the lookout for American citizen gun owners that speak out against the government or government policies instead of going after the murderous illegal alien drug and alien smugglers that are armed with assault weapons provided by the Obama administration. Yes, Americans speaking out against the government are now the targets of Janet Napolitano’s Homeland Security more than the Muslim extremists that comprise over 90% of those charged with and convicted of terrorism in the US in the last ten years.

The 9/11 terrorist never spoke out against the US Government online. Tim McVeigh, the Oklahoma bomber, never organized online. In fact, the Obama administration offers no verifiable proof that there are any substantiation to these claims!

This is the same government that recently had to retract leaked documents claiming US veterans and citizens that support Ron Paul or fight against abortion, high taxes, and illegal immigration are potential terrorists.

While some of the left may be chuckling and rooting Obama on right now, they will come for you once they are done enslaving the Americans they worry about standing up to them effectively. Americans on the left, right, and center need to unify against these numerous attacks on American liberties and Constitutional governance.

At ALIPAC, we have archived entire articles for the last 7 years because when we started the Internet had no long term memory on these topics. Now our archives are used by citizens, journalists, researchers, lawmakers, candidates, etc…

Since we started, many of the older articles on our site no longer appear at the sources that first reported them. Reports of gang rapes by illegal aliens and school riots between black and Latino students have disappeared or been altered since their original publication. Our archive work at ALIPAC.us at least gives the American public a chance to know what is really going on.

But of course the elites who support the illegal immigration invasion of America have noticed our work and our successes and they conspire to take us down and silence us any way they can.

We encourage the 40,000+ national supporters of ALIPAC to get on the phones to Congress right away to say “I oppose the SOPA and PIPA legislation and want Congress and Obama to keep your hands off of free speech on the web.”

You can even use our brand new Congressional contact list that has many new features.

Let’s burn up those phone lines to DC once again and stop this latest attempt to silence groups like ALIPAC.

People ask me all the time why illegal immigration is allowed to continue and how Obama can get away with the things he is doing.

I’ll tell you the answer to those questions, it is because not enough Americans are standing up and speaking out yet. These bad things are happening because not enough Americans are taking the time to learn what is really going on and choosing to dedicate themselves to real reform.

Stand up and speak out against illegal immigration, against Obama’s unlawful gun running and amnesty for illegal aliens, against SOPA, PIPA, and the NDAA. Speak out while you still can and if you chose to bow down and stand down against those that would intimidate or threaten you into silence, it will likely be one of the last choices you are allowed to make for yourself in the ruins of what is left of America and the American dream.

——————http://www.alipac.us/f8/free-speech-under-siege-america-those-support-illegal-immigration-248592/

Jefferson’s revolutionary take on the Bible reissued

Sad. I really didn’t need to find this out; God first. Acceptance, obedience, submission of will. Those who know the penalty for “taking away from” will understand.

Jefferson’s revolutionary take on the Bible reissued

He was one of the men who laid the foundations for God’s own country, but Thomas Jefferson had his own revolutionary ideas about the Bible.

The third US president’s unwillingness to swallow miracles such as the virgin birth led him to cut out parts of the Gospels he did not agree with and compile his own version.

The result, known informally as The Jefferson Bible, has been published in a new edition by Tarcher, part of Penguin USA, this month.

The original, which has been painstakingly restored by the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC, where it is on display, was created by Jefferson in 1820 by cutting out passages from six other volumes with razors. He then pasted them into a book of his own, which he had bound.

During Jefferson’s life the book’s existence was known only to his friends and family. His great-granddaughter sold it to the Smithsonian Institution in 1895 and it was finally published in 1904, 78 years after his death.

http://zionica.com/2012/01/17/jeffersons-revolutionary-take-on-the-bible-reissued/

Now’s the Time to Start Cutting Wasteful Government Programs

I’m having a difficult time keeping a civil tongue… Puts a whole new spin on the term “transparency”.  “X”

Doug Bandow, Contributor

I write about domestic and international policy.

 

Op/Ed

1/16/2012 @ 7:27PM |12,484 views

 Government spending must be cut. The national debt exceeds the annual GDP. Total unfunded liabilities are 14 times as much, more than $200 trillion. Government spending once again must be cut.

Unfortunately, the biggest pots of money have the largest number of dedicated guardians. Interest on the national debt must be paid, unless Uncle Sam is prepared to default, like Greece. Seniors form a phalanx around Social Security and Medicare. Medicaid already ill serves the poor and underpays doctors. The military-industrial complex fights as hard for weapons spending today as it did against communism during the Cold War.

About all that’s left is domestic discretionary spending, roughly 15 percent of the budget. Most everyone in Washington talks about freezing or cutting these outlays, but nothing ever happens. Politicians want pork to distribute and interest groups want grants, loans, loan guarantees, tax preferences, and all manner of other privileges funded by government. Whether Republicans or Democrats are in control, the taxpayers’ money continues to be wasted.

Last year the deficit was $1.3 trillion. That means every “discretionary” outlay effectively came from borrowed money. Loans that must be repaid. By taxpayers in a weak economy made permanently smaller by the diversion of otherwise productive resources to political projects.

If Congress doesn’t have the courage to cut even these expenditures, then what hope is there that it will bring the nation back from hundreds of trillions in future overspending?

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) is a rarity on Capitol Hill, a scourge of the wasteful foolishness which emanates from the Potomac. In his view “perhaps there was no bigger waste of the taxpayers’ money in 2011 than Congress itself.” Lots of people talk about “waste,” but few do anything about it. Sen. Coburn identified 100 really dumb projects and collected them in the “2011 Wastebook: A Guide to Some of the Most Wasteful and Low Priority Government Spending of 2011.” It is a great place to start cutting unnecessary government.

Number one is obvious with the approach of another presidential election. As of November Presidential Election Campaign Fund contained $35.38 million. What could be dumber than forcing the American people to pay for the campaigns and conventions of the very politicians who created today’s mess? At least President Barack Obama is helping to destroy the system by eschewing public funding.

The 99 other examples of waste? The U.S. Agency for International Development (U.S. AID) spent $30 million to spur mango production and sales in Pakistan—and failed utterly. The Air Force spent $14 million to switch three radar stations to wind power; poor planning forced cancellation of one turbine and consideration of the same for the other two. The Federal Aviation Administration devoted $6 million to subsidize air service at small, underused airports.

A federal grant for $765,828 went to—I am not making this up, to quote Dave Barry—bring an International House of Pancakes franchise to Washington, D.C. Although the famed “Bridge to Nowhere” might never be built, Uncle Sam still shelled out $15.3 million in project costs, including a 14-minute promotional video, on top of $50 million already absorbed by the Knik Arm Bridge. The Office of Personnel Management sent $120 million to dead federal employees (actually, they probably did less harm than the live ones!).

The Department of Transportation spent $529.689 to create the fourth visitor center around the 54 mile Talimena Scenic Drive between Oklahoma and Arkansas. A check for $113,277 was cut to help the International Center for the History of Electronic Games to preserve “historic” video games. Washington helpfully gave almost $18 million in foreign aid to China—money effectively borrowed from China. The Department for Housing and Urban Development (HUD) provided a $484,000 grant to build a “Mellow Mushroom Pizza Bakers” restaurant in Texas.

Uncle Sam sent $100,000 to the Washington State Fruit Commission to stage a “celebrity chef fruit promotion road show” in Indonesia. U.S. AID gave $10 million to an arts organization in Pakistan—a country threatened with disintegration—to produce local episodes of Sesame Street. Then there was $150,000 for the American Museum of Magic in Marshall, Michigan. Another HUD grant, this one for $1 million, went to a foreign architectural firm to move its headquarters from Santa Monica to Los Angeles. The federal government cut a check for $550,000 to underwrite a documentary on the impact of rock and roll on the collapse of communism.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) provided a $702,558 grant for the study of the impact of televisions and gas generators on villages in Vietnam. Hawaii’s annual Chocolate Festival collected $48,700 from Washington. People who didn’t own homes, such as children and prisoners, claimed as much as a billion dollars in tax credits for promoting energy efficiency in their homes. The Department of Commerce gave $936,818 to create a web TV soap opera on single moms to spur adoption of broadband.

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http://www.forbes.com/sites/dougbandow/2012/01/16/nows-the-time-to-start-cutting-wasteful-government-programs/