Two Weeks In…Sick and Tired Already

So I’ve been perusing the stimulus bill, and there are some interesting little tidbits in there that I’m sure the average citizen would never hear about:

~National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: For an additional amount for `Operations, Research, and Facilities’, $400,000,000, for habitat restoration and mitigation activities.

~Inventory of Broadband Service Capability and Availability: (a) Establishment- To provide a comprehensive nationwide inventory of existing broadband service capability and availability, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (`NTIA’) shall develop and maintain a broadband inventory map of the United States that identifies and depicts the geographic extent to which broadband service capability is deployed and available from a commercial provider or public provider throughout each State.

~National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA): For an additional amount for `Science’, $400,000,000, of which not less than $250,000,000 shall be solely for accelerating the development of the tier 1 set of Earth science climate research missions recommended by the National Academies Decadal Survey.

~Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy: For an additional amount for `Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy’, $18,500,000,000, which shall be used as follows: (1) $2,000,000,000 shall be for expenses necessary for energy efficiency and renewable energy research, development, demonstration and deployment activities, to accelerate the development of technologies, to include advanced batteries, of which not less than $800,000,000 is for biomass and $400,000,000 is for geothermal technologies.

~National Endowment for the Arts: For an additional amount for `Grants and Administration’, $50,000,000, to be distributed in direct grants to fund arts projects and activities which preserve jobs in the non-profit arts sector threatened by declines in philanthropic and other support during the current economic downturn.

And finally, my personal favorite:

~Office of Job Corps: For an additional amount for `Office of Job Corps’, $300,000,000, for construction, rehabilitation and acquisition of Job Corps Centers, which shall be available upon the date of enactment of this Act and remain available for obligation through June 30, 2010.

According to the Heritage Foundation’s findings, Job Corps is a complete and utter waste of money. But then again, after reading more and more of this bill, it looks like just the thing for our current government.

Is anyone else sick to their stomach?

Oh, and a special “Thanks for nothing” to Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins and the ever-reliable Arlen Spector for not only selling out their party, but every American who was counting on them to stand their ground. Hope that extra bill you’re going to get pushed though was worth it, you traitors.