Ben Vos: Earmarks? Let's take a closer look

A BUZZFLASH READER CONTRIBUTION
by Ben Vos

Sarah Palin is trying to accuse Barack Obama of asking for too much money in earmark spending.

Let's look at the facts.

1.  Obama is a U.S. Senator for a population of over 12,000,000 people.  It's the 5th largest state in the U.S. by population.

2.  Sarah Palin was mayor of Wasilla, Alaska.  It's one of the largest cities in Alaska.  Population?  9,000. 12,000,000 divided by 9,000 = 1,333.33 times larger population in Illinois than in Wasilla.

3.  Obama requested $1 billion over three years for the state of Illinois.  He didn't receive most of this funding.

4.  Palin received $27 million over 8 years for Wasilla.  How?  She hired a lobbyist.

$1 billion divided by 3 years = $333,333,333 per year, or $27.78 per resident per year.  REQUESTED.  Not received.

$27 million divided by 8 years = $3,375,000 per year, or $375 per resident per year.  RECEIVED.  Not requested.  RECEIVED.  (And actually, Palin's town of Wasilla had a population closer to 6,000 when she stared as mayor.)

That's 11 times more funding RECEIVED by Palin than Obama even REQUESTED!!!  And meanwhile, Palin's state (Alaska) makes BILLIONS (with a "b") of dollars a year on oil.  Must be nice to have a country full of oil wells.  How many oil wells do you have in your neighborhood?

More importantly, let's look at the details.  Lynn Sweet of the Chicago Sun Times received an exhaustive list of Obama funding requests since 2005, when he took office as U.S. Senator of Illinois.

http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2008/03/sweet_scoop_obama_after_initia.html

These so-called "earmarks" include:

-- investment in info technology to improve govt. programs

-- investment in green tech such as fuel cell tech

-- biotech investment such as genetic research at leading facilities in Chicago

-- improving air and water quality and safety

-- arts and science education and training programs

-- providing hospital funding for growing communities

-- improving water and sewer systems in urban areas near Chicago

-- teacher training programs

-- drug abuse treatment and prevention programs

-- employment and training programs through Goodwill

-- reading and literacy programs

-- charter school funding

-- improved mental health treatment facilities

-- renovations of a children's hospital

-- rural education and technology infrastructure

-- disease prevention and public health education

-- improved farming and ag tech to increase crop yields and food safety

-- after school programs for at-risk youth

-- assistance for rehabilitating criminals who are overcrowding our prisons

-- repairing and maintaining dams, levees, and other civil engineering projects

Gosh, Obama sounds like a really bad guy, huh?  (Look at the list for yourself!  It's a good set of solid initiatives, with transparent grant requests and proven effectiveness.  You get a return on your investment for these sorts of things.)

Read the Obama "earmark" list.  Then ask yourself: Why are we spending billions in Iraq, when these worthy projects are not being funded in the United States?

Who's really putting "Country First"???

A BUZZFLASH READER CONTRIBUTION

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