Jo’s Cafe

Okay, this is about Diabetes, but yet moves off into the part of my brain that knee-jerks into instance anger when people pull this stunt.

This week I received this “news flash” from the ADA:

ADA Urges President Bush Not to Veto Critical Appropriations Bill

Alexandria, VA (November 9, 2007) –The American Diabetes Association (ADA) strongly urges President Bush to sign the Labor HHS Appropriations bill which will help provide for the well being of millions of people suffering from diabetes. Nearly 21 million children and adults are affected by diabetes in this country.

The bill contains $65,975,000 for the Division of Diabetes Translation (DDT) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and $1,903,037,000 for the National Institute for Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) at the National Institute of Health (NIH). The bill represents a 5 percent increase for DDT and 2.7 percent for NIDDK; this is the first increase in two years for either program.

Okay — there go the heart strings pull in bold.  BUT before I fired off a nasty email to my President, I stopped and did some research as to why he would consider vetoing such a bill.

And I found so damn much Pork stuffed in this bill that it could feed the children of Afghanistan until they died, and then some of their grand-children taboot!

From Wake up America we find a good post, and list, about some of the pork that had nothing to do with Diabetes or healthcare.  Amounts highlighted in red are mine

Here are some outrageous examples of pork that members of the House and Senate included in the Labor/HHS bill:

● “That $1,500,000 shall be for a non-competitive grant to the AFL-CIO Working for American Institute, which shall be awarded not later than 30 days after the date of enactment of this act: provided further, that $2,200,000 shall be for a non-competitive grant to the AFL-CIO Appalachian Council, Inc, for Job Corps career transition services, which shall be awarded not later than 30 days after the date of enactment of this act.” There is no member identified with this earmark.

● $1,000,000 for Bismarck State College for an instrumentation and control training program for the energy industry, inserted by Sens. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) and Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), and Rep. Earl Pomeroy (D-N.D.).

● $882,025 for 25 projects to organizations in Pennsylvania for “abstinence education and related services,” inserted by Senate Labor/HHS Subcommittee Ranking Member Arlen Specter (R-Pa.).

● $500,000 for the Charter School Development Foundation in Las Vegas for the Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy, inserted by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Rep. Shelley Berkeley (D-Nev.).

● $400,000 for Jazz at Lincoln Center by Sens. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), and Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.). That amount more than doubled in the conference report from $150,000 in the House bill.

● $400,000 for Guam Community College for skilled craft training, inserted by Rep. Madeleine Bordallo (D-Guam).

● $350,000 for the Museum of Aviation Foundation, in Warner Robins, Georgia for educational programs, inserted by Rep. Jim Marshall (D-Ga.).

● $320,000 for the American Jazz Museum, Kansas City, MO, for exhibits and educational programs, and an archival project, sponsored by Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.).

● $300,000 for the Des Moines Art Center, for exhibits, sponsored by Senate Labor/HHS Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Tom Harkin (D-Iowa).

● $250,000 for the Alaska Sealife Center in Seward for a marine ecosystem education program, sponsored by Senate appropriator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska).

● $175,000 for the Young at Art Children’s Museum, in Davie for the Global Village Project, inserted by Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.).

● $150,000 for the Shedd Aquarium, Chicago, for exhibits and community outreach, sponsored by Reps. Melissa Bean (D-Ill.) and Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill).

● $150,000 for the Burpee Museum for educational programming and exhibits, sponsored by Rep. Don Manzullo (R-Ill.).

● $150,000 for College Park Aviation Museum in College Park, for exhibits and educational programs, sponsored by House Majority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.).

● $150,000 for the History Museum of East Ottertail County, Perham, Minnesota for exhibits and equipment, sponsored by Collin Peterson (D-Minn.).

● $150,000 for Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, SUNY New Paltz, in New York for exhibits and programs, sponsored by Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.).

$9,027,025 of Pork, and that’s all that is noted above — lord only knows how much more there was.   What does that nine-million dollars for museums and parks got to do with continued help with diabetes for “children” in America?

Nothing.

But the ADA, although great in their assistance for diabetics in this country, pulled a typical liberal bullshit trick and showed only what was important to them because to them Nine Million Plus Dollars in pork doesn’t matter.  It doesn’t matter that tax payers, some diabetics themselves, were being abused for the betterment of how some in Congress want to be seen in their districts.  It doesn’t matter to these asswipes, Republican and Democrat, how much oink was stuffed into a bill that had nothing to do with what they wanted.  It was a way to make President Bush look bad for vetoing it and when he did, the ADA pulled out only the parts that effected them and used it against him. 

If the ADA wants me to continue to support them, and all they do for diabetics, the bull-shit, knee-jerk reaction shit needs to stop.  Yes — the money for the “children” was lost due to the veto - but the veto was NOT because of the money for the “children” - it was due to the pork. 

ADA - get your act together!