re: #487 Viper123456

Stimulus package, right or wrong, is cheaper than the Iraq war. Iraq war, right or wrong, cost a lot of money. 42% of the stimulus package as it stands right now are tax cuts. Viper doesn’t mind tax cuts. Most of the rest is federal relief for state unemployment programs. Probably need that to keep the riots down. I read the whole thing. I have time. I’m old. Not sure I’m just going to opt to hate for the hell of it. I didn’t question George Bush’s intentions, and I’m not going to question Obama’s. He may be right and he might be wrong, but I’ll give him the respect of the president of the United States deserves. I gave it my guy Bush, and I’ll give to this guy. I may not agree with his policies, but I won’t just trash him because he’s on the other team. i won’t do it. If he’s doing something wrong, point it out. I’ll slice up his ideas, but not the guy himself. I didn’t like when people did it to Bush, and I don’t much care for it the other way. maybe I’m too old for all the nastiness. I like the computer. But i think sometimes it lets people do or say things they wouldn’t say in person. the thing that really bothered me is to hear a lot of soldiers post that they did not believe he was their commander in chief. it made me sick to my stomach.

• $2 billion earmark to re-start FutureGen, a near-zero emissions coal power plant in Illinois that the Department of Energy defunded last year because it said the project was inefficient.

• $650 million for the digital television converter box coupon program.

• $88 million for the Coast Guard to design a new polar icebreaker (arctic ship).

• $448 million for constructing the Department of Homeland Security headquarters.

• $248 million for furniture at the new Homeland Security headquarters.

• $600 million to buy hybrid vehicles for federal employees.

• $400 million for the Centers for Disease Control to screen and prevent STD’s.

• $1.4 billion for rural waste disposal programs.
• $125 million for the Washington sewer system.

• $150 million for Smithsonian museum facilities.

• $1 billion for the 2010 Census, which has a projected cost overrun of $3 billion.

• $75 million for “smoking cessation activities.”

• $200 million for public computer centers at community colleges.

• $75 million for salaries of employees at the FBI.

• $25 million for tribal alcohol and substance abuse reduction.

• $500 million for flood reduction projects on the Mississippi River.

• $10 million to inspect canals in urban areas.

• $6 billion to turn federal buildings into “green” buildings.

• $500 million for state and local fire stations.

• $650 million for wildland fire management on forest service lands.

• $1.2 billion for “youth activities,” including youth summer job programs.

• $88 million for renovating the headquarters of the Public Health Service.

• $412 million for CDC buildings and property.

• $500 million for building and repairing National Institutes of Health facilities in Bethesda, Maryland.

• $160 million for “paid volunteers” at the Corporation for National and Community Service.

• $5.5 million for “energy efficiency initiatives” at the Department of Veterans Affairs National Cemetery Administration.

• $850 million for Amtrak.

• $100 million for reducing the hazard of lead-based paint.

• $75 million to construct a “security training” facility for State Department Security officers when they can be trained at existing facilities of other agencies.

• $110 million to the Farm Service Agency to upgrade computer systems.