Sens. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., and John McCain, R-Ariz., have just issued a report that looks at some of the worthy projects funded by the administration’s $862 billion stimulus program. Some highlights (as reported by ABC News’ Jonathan Karl):
The Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center was awarded $71,623 to study what the report calls, “Monkeys Getting High for Science.”
The California Academy of Sciences is receiving nearly $1 million in stimulus funds to send researchers to the Southwest Indian Ocean Islands and East Africa to capture, photograph and analyze thousands of exotic ants.
There’s also funding for yoga and hot flashes. Researchers at Wake Forest University have received nearly $300,000 to study whether integral yoga “can be an effective method to reduce the frequency and/or severity of hot flashes” in breast cancer survivors.
And this:
In perhaps the most eye-popping instance, the report says oil giant BP, the company behind the worst oil spill in the nation’s history, is benefiting from $308 million given to Hydrogen Energy California — a company it owns — to build a California power plant that won’t even break ground for another two years.
These projects all sound shovel-ready-let’s use our shovels to dig a hole and put them in it!
Hat tip: Kathryn Jean Lopez at The Corner