Political Punch

Remind me again how much Sarah Palin earmark money requested to study crab mating habits in Alaska? Study thesis? do they do it under the Bridge To Nowhere like Alskan teenagers do?

My tax dollars are being used for education of children?!?!?! This is an outrage! That money could have been used by another bank CEO for a well needed vacation, or better yet, that could have been one more bomb we could have bought to blow up a terrorist somewhere in Whoknowswhereastand!

You people better get your priorities right when you complain on how our money is spent. You can see by some of the responses on this blog that there has not been enough spent on education in this country.

My tax dollars are being used for education of children?!?!?! This is an outrage! That money could have been used by another bank CEO for a well needed vacation, or better yet, that could have been one more bomb we could have bought to blow up a terrorist somewhere in Whoknowswhereastand!

You people better get your priorities right when you complain on how our money is spent. You can see by some of the responses on this blog that there has not been enough spent on education in this country.

ugot2bfree | Oct 7, 2008 10:57:15 PM,
Just lied to us all. McCain was found innocent in the Keating 5 situation. If you are going to post information get the facts. Oh, I get it, you're a B O supporter. You don't tell whole stories. B O was the 2nd highest recipient of contributions from Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. Now all of us in the USA are covering B O's big contribution along with many others. You have blinders on when you're evaluating B O. He isn't ready to be president and I'm not ready to be a socialist.
Darth

Trust a pitbull, lipstick-wearing pig and an angry, confused senior citizen would have problems appreciating the research and public service merit of a planetarium.

Just as an aside, I've been to the planetarium and that is the coolest projector ever! It projects huge, extremely sharp digital images on the dome, and is unlike anything I've ever seen at a planetarium.

When you're in Chicago it's worth seeing.

Not surprising coming from the McSame camp, when his running mate believes that there are witches in Anchorage, and the earth is only 6,000 years old! And a planetarium? When McSame doesn't know to use a computer -although he invented the Blackberry - what use is a planetarium?

I can understand that the Sky Theatre may need a new projector, but I'm not sure the entire state of Illinois needs to pay for it. This is a question of priorities. We have schools state-wide with inadequate facilities and next-to-zero supplies. We have kids who come to school hungry.

In the grand scheme of things, $3M is not a lot of money compared with the needs that exist in our state. But when you add it to the other things Obama has tossed his support behind, you find a lot to question.

It would be really nice, if people knew the Real Story on this 3 million dollar
THANK YOU GIFT FOR MY FUND RAISER FROM BO...on the back of the taxpayers...

It was originally a 300,000.00 requested for Adler..Barack turn into 10X more money!! (Yes, the chosen one is a magician!)FOR A FUNDRAISER THAT RAISED 200,000.00 FOR BARACK'S PRESIDENTIAL RUN, DONE BY SOMEONE ON THE BOARD AT ADLER..

The problem with McCain is that he worries about a projector to teach children and then approves of billions to bomb heck out of some country. John McCain is a tool of the industrial military complex and always has been. He is for any war that comes along and in fact, agitates for more bombing every chance he gets. His complaint about this one expenditure says it all about his priorities. What a sad situation and McCain even brags about it.

forget the projector value, but was the request met secondly Obabma has requested a total of 323million in earmarks over his senate career that does not mean that all of it has been met and in the unlikely scenario that they have been met that is still far short of the 1billion going around the rovian republican circles

McCain has some really strange advisors for his campaign. They chose to deride an Obama earmark to teach science to kids? Brilliant move.

Remember McCain's convention speech when he talked about the Michigan couple he was working to help with their real-estate INVESTMENTS? Not the roof over their head, some real estate agents who were angry that their get-rich-quick scheme of 'flipping' houses had gone south.

McCain doesn't get it.

Why is it o.k. to be spending billions of dollars a month to fight an unjustified war, which always involves killing innocent people because war does that, but it is not o.k. to spend $3 million on a planetariuum projector? What kind of "commitment to life" is that? Don't help and of the U.S. states educate kids, we need the money to kill kids in Iraq.

And for the record, the Adler Planetarium does more than just charge people money to look at the stars on a big screen. It is also a research facility.

The earmark request for
replacing the 40-year
old frequently
malfunctioning projector
is well justified.

McCain after his 26 years
in Congress should know
the difference between
projects that benefit people
and institutions, and pork
barrel spending such as
appropriations for the Bridge
to Nowhere, or federal funds
lawmakers use on questionable
local improvements to ingratiate
themselves with political
contributors or specfic
constituents to assure their
reelection to office.

Who the heck has a problem with a 3 million dollar learning aid. This is for children, for goodness sakes. It's called investing in our future!

Those $150 billion tacked onto that bill where not earmarks

That stupid subject again: earmarks.

In 2008, earmarks total 18 Billion
The Budget is roughly 2.9 Trillion

Earmarks comprise 0.63% of the entire budget.

That's right: 0.63%

Another thing not widely known is that earmarks is mostly money that has *already been* allocated to certain sectors or states. Earmarking is marking a portion of that already allocated money to a certain project.

McCain's railing against earmarks is like railing against having a cookie with your coffee after dinner to get you out of your monthly budgetdeficit consisting of hundreds of dollars a week.

>>> ZAGGS>>>>

"You would think a reporter would look into such a matter more if it piqued their interest. But then again Jake stopped being a reporter a long time ago."
______________

..along with a lot of others.

"Freedom of the Press" has morphed into "The right to hide what you want hidden, publish what you want read, and opinionate on all the rest."

We are heading backwards.

Is this the kind of change we've been hearing about?

Marylou--

Take a quick trip to the website Citizens Against Taxpayer Waste. There you'll find that in 2008 South Dakota's totals for earmarks were 86 requests for a total of $89,241,281. Not bad for a state with such a small popluation. But I don't mean to be flip. Many of those projects might be worthy, as in California or Illinois.

So I have two suggestions: 1) why don't you go to the website and find out what earmarks your state has received. Maybe there will be some items that are familiar to you and seems worthwhile. And 2) why don't you ask yourself whether you really want a nation of 50 distinct states. My guess is that under such conditions, South Dakota would be in trouble.

I'm not saying that we don't have to restrain spending, but this discussion of earmarks is both small potatoes (how about "star wars" missile defense) and also misses that some of these requests have legitimacy. As Obama argues, we need a scalpel not a hatchet.

To Mary Brown. So why the $700 billion package was enhanced by another $150 billion in earmarks? Did you talk to your own senator or congressmen?

I cannot believe that most of you missed the point of John McCain's statement about Obama's earmarks! Obama had almost $1 BILLION in earmarks in a little over 3 years in the Senate. The American economy cannot continue to spend taxpayer's money like this - regardless on what the money is used for. Count up all the Senators and Congressman and if they all did this, we would be in a never ending deficit. Why don't we concentrate on paying off the debt, funding the necessary programs - health care, social security, medicare, education, energy, etc.- instead of each elected official paying off his campaign contributors. (Check the records of earmarks against contributors.)McCain keeps trying to cut spending and, just for the record, McCain has not requested ANY earmarks in the entire 26 years of his career in Congress.

Brooklyn, you don't vote for earmarks. Thats the problem with them. They skip the appropriation process. So in the end he voted for the bill (notice he's never claimed otherwise) that contained the earmarks and higlights the bear study as wasteful. Its not as if McCain got a second chance to vote specifically against it, like Biden and Obama did with the bridge to nowhere.
But a 50k bribe can turn into a 10 million earmark which can be needed to pass 500 billion in spending. Thats the problems with earmarks.

"overhead projector"

as if this planetarium is using PowerPoint to produce its theater-sized shows.

What a crock.

Grumpy old man doesn't want kids to see stars at planetarium. Of course, they can't see them in the sky due to pollution. Doesn't believe in funding No Child Left Behind either. Education, children? Bah, humbug! Give that money to big business for golden parachutes! Now there's a beautiful sight for our kids.

Why should someone in California fund a planetarium in Chicago that they'll never use? Presumably so that someone in Chicago can fund something in California that they'll never use. How about if we each just take care of our own backyards and stay out of our neighbors'. I think that might especially appeal to the poor taxpaying sucker in the middle of South Dakota who's paying for both pork barrel projects which he'll never use or see reciprocal taxpayer dollars from.

You can eliminate earmarks completely and only be dealing with a little over one percent of the entire budget. FYI - Olberman revealed the other night that McCain had, in fact, voted for the Grizzly Bear DNA study that he mocked and derided during the last debate.

What was more interesting about last night was that no one brought up McCain's plan to reduce Medicare by $1.3 trillion. According to his Chief Economic Advisor, the savings are to come from eliminating waste (in one of the government's more efficiently run programs) and raising age limits. This will be a big hit in Florida.

JB--

My point was simply in response to someone who complained about folks from George having to pay for something in Chicago, that Georgia also gets this kind of funding (I threw in OH because the writer identified him or herself as being from Ohio). Of course, one could look for bigger funding requests from other states.

But also consider that the Adler planetarium is a major--nationally and internationally know--museum. The museums I listed were relatively obscure (sorry to the folks who work and promote those museums). So a true comparison would have to be per capita, money spent relative to people served. I suspect the Adler Planetarium would come out well in such a comparison.

Finally, as a number of comments have pointed out, money spent can also be an investment. Yes, we need to keep to a budget, but we also need to invest wisely.

I still remember going to the planetarium as a gradeschooler. Many of the students who live in a city do not have the money to travel outside the city to see a proper night sky at all.

3 million is a lot, but an appreciation for the planet and the universe it inhabits for the youth of a city is priceless.

musing on museums- add all of the money you posted that was designated to four separate museums and you still only come up to a little over 1,042,000. Compared to 3 million for one Chicago museum. If you can't see something wrong with that, I guess there's not much more I can say to convince you.

As for it being for educational purposes. Yes, planetariums can be exciting and inspiring for children, but in times of economic crisis (which Sen. Obama insists he foresaw years ago) there are sacrifices that need to be made on extravagances.

That's my biggest problem with government today. In our households across the country, we have to live within our means or suffer for lack of fiscal responsibility and proper prioritization. That's a lesson government needs to learn. Will all earmarks go by the wayside? Of course not. But they do need to be transparent and they do need to be prioritized based on need and our ability to fund them.

McCain needed to go further. The 3 million for the Adler planetarium was after they raised $250,000 for his presidential campaign. Frank Clark, the chariman of the board of trustees is listed as having raised more then $200k on Obama's website.

You would think a reporter would look into such a matter more if it piqued their interest. But then again Jake stopped being a reporter a long time ago.

Just checked further into this. This funding request was made by Obama in association with a bipartisan group from Illinois. It has NOT been funded. Jake, please report this properly.

The point here is that Obama has made REQUESTS public, which is a level of transparency almost NO other senators offer. Again, this is a worthy fuding request that HAS NOT BEEN FUNDED! The point of putting the REQUEST to the public is to allow accountability and transparency.

For McCain, this point = MASSIVE FAIL

I happen to work at a planetarium in a similar situation to the Adler. This "overhead projector" is most likely closer in fact to a system of many high-end digital projectors all stitched together and controlled by a whole room of computers. This is very sophisticated equipment you won't find at your neighborhood big-box electronics store and it takes a very skilled set of people to engineer and implement a system such as this. After all, it is replacing a 40-year-old projection system for something much more capable and flexible for displaying any type of educational media. Education costs money... especially when it the tools involved are 40 years old. That being said, the Zeiss Star Projector that is there now is still an extraordinary piece of equipment capable of some very beautiful and inspiring imagery. It's what led me to where I am now, and I am very happy with my career.

I'll let you get back to the earmark discussion now. Oh... and hold on! This is gonna be one bumpy ride.

Just going from memory here- I recall Obama asking for 1 mil for his wife's medical center which as a "non-profit" turns a good profit of several million dollars. A couple of million to his political godfather, Emil Jones, and some to other campaign contributers- I think Fr. Michael Pfleger got some (he's the one who mocked Hillary in Rev. Wrights church) and a substantial amount to an amory in Rockford.

The rest of us other minorities get nothing, but that's OK with me, I am not into entitlement and I don't plan to vote for the Chicago pol anyway...

Good news--ACORN was raided in Nevada today. Obama and Ayers gave them grants from two boards they chaired and/or founded.

Thank you, Dan, for your comment. I have to agree with you. Sen. McCain was not wise to bring up this issue as an example of "wasteful spending" or "pork." Investing in the educational opportunities for the young and old alike is never a waste of our tax dollars, and having world class planetariums, museums, and other learning tools are not examples of wasteful spending. In fact, one could say that if federal funds should be used in state affairs, these are exactly the types of projects that should be funded.

Some of my fondest memories as a child involve my father taking my brother, sister, and me to the planetarium in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. It was such an exciting event for us and I was thankful that the facility was even there to serve North Carolinians. McCain was wrong (and even out of touch) to suggest that planetariums were illegitimate projects and just another example of wasteful spending. He was not just wrong, he was completely wrong.

$1,648,850 for the Shedd Aquarium by Senate appropriator Richard Durbin (D-Ill), Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), House appropriator Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) and Rep. Danny Davis (D-Ill.). The aquarium’s website says the facility was a “gift to the people of Chicago from John Graves Shedd, president and chairman of the board of Marshall Fields & Company.” This aquarium receives 2 million visitors per year and has 36 corporate benefactors. At the end of 2004 (the last year for which information is available), the aquarium had a fund balance of approximately $200 million.

$4,800,000 by Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) for the Jamaica Bay Unit of the Gateway National Recreation Area. The Gateway National Recreation Area’s website describes the Jamaica Bay Unit as “a wealth of history, nature and recreation, from New York City's first major airport and coastal fortifications to a wildlife refuge and pristine beaches.” Under Defense budget.

(from Citizens Against Government Waste site)

As a 22 year old student in Indiana, I am shocked by how many people are stating that a measly $3 mil for an incredibly complex device, with potential for inspiring children and adults alike, is a ridiculous use of taxpayer money. My town is much, much smaller than Chicago and our museum just initiated a $15 mil renovation of its own planetarium. $1.5 mil of that was provided by our local government. (I'd happily help fund the campaign of those who helped make that happen too.) How is this so different and terrible simply because it involves the federal government in this case? For what it's worth, I can recall countless times I crossed the border into Illinois to learn more.

Most of the strongly negative comments also contain false assumptions that it was a small-scale projector for a single inner-city school. This goes to show how ignorant some people are in regards to the incredible financial detriment some school systems are in, among other things.

Bottom line, the GOP should drop this issue like it never happened... if they know what's good for them. Unfortunately for them, they're repeatedly showing that's not the case.

People don't understand "earmarks". it just means that the money is "earmarked" for a particular cause as opposed to being spent from general funds. The issue is IF (and that is IF) it was earmarked for the wrong reasons (paybacks, etc.). But it could very well be earmarked because, like in this case, it was needed to inspire young children at the Adler Planetarium. And it's not an "overhead projector." This is a planetarium with a sky theater that projects the universe of stars onto the dome, it's a very sophisticated device that will educate children and adults for generations, inspire them, to do things like go to Mars and change our world like going to the moon did. Fools, that you don't understand that.

Westcoastmessenger:

The Adler Planetarium is a major landmark museum near Grant Park in Chicago. Right next to the Shedd Aquarium and the Museum of Natural Historyu. It's considered one of the best in the country. It's visited by tourists from all over the country. Get your facts straight before going off half-cocked.

Disappointing that you've decided to rail against Obama. I recall from an earlier post of yours that you want to "punish" him for being presumptuous, or some such thing. I really hope you'll reconsider that.

Jake, you should also check to see if this request was funded. Remember, these are requests, not necessarily funded ones. Obama is among a very few senators who actually post their budget requests, a level of transparency generally not exercised.

The point is that these requests need to be open to scrutiny. Obama's requests are, and this is not a bad one. The item in question is the centerpiece of any planetarium, and the Adler is a major landmark museum that is visited by tens of thousands of people.

Yet more McCain stupidity.

Wow - the children of Chicago get access to a $3M projector using federal funds? What about the children of Denver...and Nashville...and Miami. Folks, you're missing the point of earmarks. It's not just whether the project is worthy. It's that the project is payback for a vote/support for something else. Let the city of Chicago or state of IL take care of the projector. They have their own tax bases.

John McCain's view of spending on museums misses the return on investment that these bring to cities such as Chicago. Don't investments over time pay for itself? At least that's the logic we use to justify building new ball parks. If the planetarium has any merit, both educational and economic for the city of Chicago, what benefit could it provide without a projection system? Is McCain saying that is should just been shut down? It's this narrow kind of thinking that makes me thing he and his fellow Republicans should be shut down.

How about the trillion dollar war? It may not be pork, just murder, mayhem and destruction.

McCreep should crawl back under his rock.

I visited a planetarium for the first time whin I was in the first grade. That experience gave me a greater appreciation for science that has remained with me to this day. I would rather a planetarium is supported thana bridge to nowhere. C'mon, do you honestly believe that McCain has never requested and earmark?

Please $3M of our tax monies going to a museum in Chicago, give me a break and we want to trust our tax dollars to this man???? I can't afford to go Chicago after taxes. What good does that do all American's who don't live there???

West Coast Messenger -- The Adler Planetarium is not a local elementary school but a major museum, and, as others have pointed out, a planetarium's projector is not an overhead projector. In general, even with entrance fees, museums don't cover their costs.

Concerned in Ohio wonders why residents of George should support a museum in Illinois. Well, first of all, Georgians have been known to visit Chicago and go to its museums. But I would also note the earmarks that GA got for museums, according to Citizens Against Government Waste in 2008; I threw in an Ohio museum too. You can rail against this sort of spending, and perhaps we can't afford it. But don't pretend it's just "waste" that no one uses or that it is limited to one state or party.

GA $341,000 Museum of Aviation Foundation, Warner Robins, for education programs (Institute of Museum and Library Services - Department of Education)

GA $243,000 Massie Heritage Center, Savannah, for exhibit upgrades and purcahse of equipment (Institute of Museum and Library Services - Department of Education)

GA $215,600 Tubman African American Museum in Macon for construction and buildout of a new facility at the museum (Economic Development Initiative)

OH $243,000 Cincinnati Museum Center, for a digital records initiative (Institute of Museum and Library Services - Department of Education)

Here is that lil ole projector that was a bargain for 3 mill

cost lots more than the 3 mill to install by the way.

I noticed that McCain never offered any specifics about that projector. But in any case a 3 million dollar projector beats a half trillion dollar senseless war any day of the week.

Bingo. Mr. Obama is overproving himself to be a serious serial liar.

I have personally been to the Adler Planetarium and can attest to the exceptional educational value the Sky Theater presents. A loss of the planetarium would be a great educational loss. McCain has repeatedly not recognized the value of our children's education. By the way, a planetarium projection system is not an "overhead projector" by definition. This statement by McCain is a white lie, and is a disservice to the efforts of our educators to ignite the imagination of our children.

What if our problems are so complex that neither man understands them fully? We need a return to balance. Balanced budgets, balancing carrots and sticks in foreign policy, leaders willing to listen to ideas no matter where they come from and judge them with a balanced view, a balance between punishing those who intentionally rip us off and giving those who made a mistake a second chance, a balance between the needs of capital and the needs of labor and yes the balance of power our Constitution talks about.

Having grown up near Chicago- and having visited Adler Planetarium - let's have a little respect here.
Adler is one of the world's leading planetariums - the projector IS overhead, but it IS also a special projection unit that is capable of showing the night sky in any configuration - going hundreds or more years into the past.
When you go for a presentation, they can move the stars around and demonstrate eclipses, planetary cycles, comets - simply amazing scientific knowledge. The planetarium also caters to busloads of schoolchildren from IL, WI, MI, and IN for field trips.

Obama was all smiles because he thinks he is so smart and has been able to decive the American public. Factcheck is owned by The Annenberg Foundation. Factcheck published the “fight the smears” story about Obama’s Certificate of Live Birth (COLB)that they saw it and the certification (not the original birth certificate) was real. The Chicago Annenberg Challenge is the organization of Bill Ayers that Barack Obama chaired for years. The American Public has be HAD.

"Who is the vendor for the $3 million dollar projector, and what is there connection to Obama? Follow the money trail. There's a stench coming out of Chicago on that particular trail. We need a diligent press that will connect the dots."

SkyScan, Nashua New Hampshire makes the thing. Public knowledge. So what?

Who is the vendor for the $3 million dollar projector, and what is there connection to Obama? Follow the money trail. There's a stench coming out of Chicago on that particular trail. We need a diligent press that will connect the dots.

---------------------------
Yes, because if it involves Obama, it just has to be something shady!

I am a moron who believes everything I read!

Sarah Palin is really Smart!

It was outrageous to hear that Obama's church got 20 million, now the overhead projector that was 3 million sort of knock me off my feet. The expensive overhead projector was nice for Chicago, but it sure hasn't help with the crime in that city (the highest in the nation). Text that message Mr. Obama.

It's not an "overhead projector". It's a digital planetarium system, designed to project the night sky and coordinated media for the Adler Planetarium. It a big honking hand built piece of equipment of which there are maybe a few dozen in the world. It is used to teach science to thousands of students per week. The $3M theater projector was part of a $40M expansion to the Adler.

"We need to stop the spending spree in Washington"

"I want a spending freeze"

"I want to spend $300 billion dollars to buy bad mortgages"

THE UNBELIVEABLE LOGIC OF JOHN McCAIN

did you republican yaboos read the article? it was not an "overhead projector for a public school". that's like referring to the space shuttle as a plane...

Adler Planetarium:

It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1987.

The Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum in Chicago, Illinois was the first planetarium built in the Western Hemisphere and is the oldest in existence today.[1] The Adler was founded and built in 1930 by the philanthropist Max Adler, with the assistance of the first director of the planetarium, Philip Fox. Located on Northerly Island, it is a part of Chicago's Museum Campus along with the Shedd Aquarium and the Field Museum of Natural History.

What's the big deal... senators are elected to represent their consituents. Sometimes this means asking for funds for a museum or library.

I don't see the problem unless the funds are to benefit a friend or business associate.

But a museum? Better spent there than on a phoneywar in Iraq.

Who is the vendor for the $3 million dollar projector, and what is there connection to Obama? Follow the money trail. There's a stench coming out of Chicago on that particular trail. We need a diligent press that will connect the dots.

This whole thing comes down to a simple question. If you think the last 8 years of republican presidential management has been good, then vote for the republican candidate for president. But if you feel as I do that the last 8 years has seen the biggest rip off of the American people in the history of this country then you would be a fool to put the republicans back in charge.

Oh you object because you say McCain/Palin are different republicans. Your right they are even more out of touch than Bush/Cheney. Palin knows about as much about recent historical events as a high school student and is a rabid religious fanatic.

You have McCain who his whole political career has been a champion of no-government oversight of financial dealings and we see what that has gotten us. And as far as corruption how about the Keating 5, Savings and Loan swindle and the resultant bail out that cost the American tax payers 200 billion. Even after that close call, he is so audacious that though he is co-chair of the committee overseeing gambling, he regularly(once a month) went to the casinos with their lobbyist in tow and gambled. Surprise, surprise - he won most of the time!

So if you want 4 even worse years than the last 8. Then vote for McCain/Palin who will just keep on rippin off the American people in the great contemporary Republican tradition.

admission fees to museums don't come close to covering their costs--especially groups of school children. before you suggest raising those fees, let remind you that museums exist for the public good. if we charged enough to cover costs, no one could afford to go to them.

Good grief, Obama expects the federal government to buy projectors for a local school in Chicago? This race really is about the future of Chicago, Illinois isn't it? It's Obama's turn to get paid, along with the hometown boys.

If you want to know who is a true champ at bringing home the federal bucks, look at Alaska's record. They receive more federal dollars per capita than any other state in the nation. Guess we know how things will run if McCain/Palin get elected. He'll cut the earmarks and she'll sneak them back in. At least until Alaska secedes from the nation with the help of her loving hubby Todd.

Senator Obama stated in tonight's debate that 18 billion of earmarks are only a very small problem. I think he should update his figures to include the $150 billion of earmarks added to the $700 billion rescue bill. I believe that starts to add up to a lot of money even in Washington. Just try and find out who added the 447 pages of earmarks. I really want to believe these guys but they both need to get their facts straight. Also keep in mind when you go to the polls that there are 33 senators who have been in the senate since 1992 who DID NOTHING to head off the problems the rescue plan is attempting to Band-Aid. Never vote for and incumbent.

Referring to a planetarium projector as an "overhead projector" appears to be intentionally misleading, to give the impression of a grossly inflated amount of money being requested for a trivial use, whereas what we're actually talking about is a very sophisticated and expensive piece of equipment.

Barack Obama's allies in the media again. you've got to be nuts trying to defend a $3M projector.

The lipstick on the pig says "projector and related equipment." This should be paid for by local or state governments. I do not believe it is the federal governments job to fund every single project in every single town. The federal government should fund infrastructure and security. The compared to everything else it isn't that much money is offensive. 3M is a lot of money for a projector and related equipment (projector, power supply, controller).

That kind of spending is an out rage, maybe Obama can pay for it him self he made 4 million last yr..!!

Mc Cain 2008 !! The only right vote!

That price sounds "out of this world" to me! I'm going with McCain, now more than ever we need, sound financial responsibility, homeland security and bi-partisanship cooperation at the Helm, with a guy who does not need on the job trainning.

McCain was losing and had to dig dirt, Well, Palin and McCain it BACKFIRED...
BREAKING NEWS AT: TIME.COM.....

McCain Linked to Group in Iran-Contra Affair--

In the 1980s, McCain served on the advisory board to the U.S. chapter of an international group linked to ultra-right-wing death squads in Central America.

The council created by retired Army Maj. Gen. John Singlaub was the U.S. chapter of the World Anti-Communist League, an international organization linked to former Nazi collaborators and ultra-right-wing death squads in Central America. After setting up the U.S. council, Singlaub served as the international leagues chairman.
The council created by retired Army Maj. Gen. John Singlaub was the U.S. chapter of the World Anti-Communist League, an international organization linked to former Nazi collaborators and ultra-right-wing death squads in Central America. After setting up the U.S. council, Singlaub served as the international leagues chairman. Obama/Biden

Please folks, you can't want to pay down our deficit, worry about bailouts, corruption et al if our Leaders can't do the same.

Obama wanted or got over $900MM in pork spending, stopped only 1/3 into his short term as Senator, since he spent the other 2/3 running for President. So you really expect him to use a scapel on waste?

Look 11.5 Trillion government deficit can't be handled with a scapel but go ahead and vote for the guy who most resembles the past Presidents Hoover and Carter.

Sorry, but all ear marks are not "pork"

That particular Planitarium has been used by tens of thousands of students for education.

Should the federal gov't pay for it? I don't have a problem with spending on education. But I would concede that there is a legitimate ideology that could see it as "unnecessary" for the federal gov't.

I teach in a school. Our project cost about $600.

Enough said.

earmarks ..like Republican Sen. Stevens' "Bridge to Nowhere" are unnecessary; however, they are a tiny drop in the bucket compared to the cost of the 'economic stimulus" for the US banks and mortgage lenders, the War in Iraq, and other current budget expenditures. Spiraling health care costs are being shouldered by poor and middle class Americans and are profiteered by insurance companies who will receive McCain's disingenuous "tax incentives".

I thought they charged admission to the Alder. What do they do with that money?

steve, while i never expected to be defending jake, it was mccain who called it "an overhead projector."