pattygreen

Why? Because the Nation you live in was founded on His principles. Because this is a Christian Nation. Because it is our History. That's why! If you don't like it, go live elsewhere. No one is telling you that you have to believe in God. You have the freedom here to worship whomever you choose or noone at all. But just don't try to take our God out of this country in any way.

I have never listened to Rush Limbaugh, but even if I had, him calling someone else a retard would not be acceptable to me. Also, I could care less about what Palin considers acceptable or not. MOST people do not find Retard or Niger acceptable terms to call ANYONE. Now, you can stand with tdslf1 on that, and say those terms are just fine, as Sarah Palin did with Rush or you can admit that they are not. What will it be? One thing I have noticed with you. Everything is okay and acceptable to you because someone on the right has done a similar thing and it was okay by the right. Don't you have your own opinion on things, or do you need to judge the acceptableness of things by what others do? Your policy: (if you can do it, so can we) 2 wrongs don't make a right. Let me tell you, that if someone, and I don't care who it is, on the right, like a tea partier, called someone else a retard or a niger I would reprimand that person if I could. I would come right out and tell them that if they are going to offend others in that way, then they should not be associated with me. Tea partiers have always voiced that. They do NOT want anyone calling anyone derogatiry names like niger or retard. We do not advocate that or violence of any klind. If there is any form of violence or name calling, it is a select minority who are not acting as the majority would.(these are strongly opposed by the rest of us) Unlike the protesting assemblies of the democratic party of the past, which were violent and dangerous, the Tea partiers are peaceful assemblers who only voice their disapproval of the government and its policies.

Your point was that Cinco de Mayo isn't an American holiday and should be left out of schools. Then so should St. Patrick's Day and Valentine's Day. They are not American holidays. So you should support them being taken out of schools and celebrated in their own homes. I guess you would be okay with latino students wearing mexican flag tee shirts on Columbus Day or Independence Day. I should have been more specific for you. "It should be left out of school if it's going to cause fights and trouble." BTW, Your last sentence I am in support of. I do not advocate silencing free speech. Anyone can be allowed to wear anything they want, whenever they want. It may be morally wrong to do so, or it may be offensive to others and be lacking in sensitivity, but to sensor it would be wrong also.

Yes, it is just as bad. It is an offensive name to those who are mentally challenged and their family members and friends. It is JUST as offensive as the N word to black people. Deny it if you wish, but others know better. Come on Cleo or Bjean.... Afraid to call one of yours out?

And when you wore green on St. Patricks day, did the kids who wore American flags on the same day get reprimanded and sent home or their flags ripped off their cars, and did fights break out because American flags were worn on Valentines day along with the parties? The point is that these Mexican kids were not celebrating being Mexican-Americans, they were celebrating being Mexicans. The American flags offended them. I say if you can't include the American Flag in your celbration, then take your Mexican celebration back to Mexico and have it there. There should NEVER be an occasion here in America where the flag offends anyone living here. The teachers and school administrators missed a great opportunity to teach their teenage students a great lesson about America. That all people living here came from many different countries and together, we make this a great nation of AMERICANS. They should have told the Mexicans that attended the school that those who were wearing American Flags on their T-shirts were welcome and that if they had a problem with the American symbol of the flag, that they would not be allowed to celebrate their countries custom. Not the other way around.

I'm never politically correct. But you were upset with the tea partiers for calling Obama racist names, yet you call republicans retards. That name offends people with mentally challenged children, just as much as the N word offends people with black skin. I'm just pointing out your hypocrisy.:biggrin:

On this day in 1862, in a town called Puebla, a ragtag Mexican army defeated an invading French army that was better equipped and twice as big. France eventually won the war and went on to rule the country for a few years, but the unlikely defeat at the so-called Battle of Puebla made it into the history books as Cinco de Mayo. It was an underdog victory — no more, no less. U.S. Latinos in the late 1960s would later cite it, if not cling to it, in their fight for equal rights as the movement really put Cinco de Mayo on America’s radar, mostly in the Southwest. Over the years, it would gradually become commercialized (not unlike the Super Bowl), with its countless advertisements of beer mixed in with stereotypical sombreros and mustaches resembling Pancho Villa’s. (For the record, even Pancho Villa wouldn’t be born until 1878). Often, Cinco de Mayo is confused with Mexico’s Independence Day, which is Sept. 16, 1810. That’s the day Mexico began its pursuit for independence from Spain — much like the United States declared its own independence on July 4, 1776. But the real confusion these days surrounding Cinco de Mayo is whether it’s an actual Mexican holiday — or an excuse for everybody to just hoist a few Mexican imports like Corona and Dos XX and tune out the rest of the world. It’s true that Cinco de Mayo is barely recognized or celebrated in Mexico, except perhaps in Puebla, the old battle site an hour west of Mexico City. But in California and other states in the Southwest, the holiday has been going strong, mostly among Mexicans who want to Celebrate their heritage or among Americans who want to jump on the party bandwagon. Hence, it’s referred to by many in the drinking circles as Drinko de Mayo — not too far off from the kind of excitement associated with St. Patrick’s Day. “We’re going to have $3.95 margaritas instead of the usual $6,” said Gabe Lozano, manager of El Ranchito, a Mexican restaurant in Newport Beach. And Dos XX beers are going for $4, he said. Asked if he knew anything about the history of the holiday, Lozano said he didn’t but then added: “It’s a reason to celebrate,” he said. “We cater to our crowd.” And that crowd is mostly white middle class, often of the surfer persuasion — although Jose Vazquez will be in the back, cooking the meals. Vazquez lives on Costa Mesa’s Westside, and earlier Tuesday he said he wasn’t going to be celebrating Cinco de Mayo because he was going to be working at the restaurant. And yet even Vazquez, admittedly, couldn’t tell you much about the history of the holiday, although he did know that Lazaro Cardenas, the Mexican president in the 1930s, hailed from his home Mexican state of Michoacan. Nor could Gabriela Lopez, 23, an Estancia High School graduate, tell you the particulars of Cinco de Mayo. “I used to go clubbing with my friends,” she said as she sat behind the counter of El Farito, a meat market on Costa Mesa’s Westside. “But now I don’t do anything. I’m not sure what it means, to be honest, and my parents came from Mexico.” And that’s OK. Very many Americans would be hard pressed to tell you about the particulars of, say, the American Revolution or the battle at Valley Forge. You either like history or you don’t. But if you like beer, you can bet that quite a few Mexican restaurants around town will have something in store for you to celebrate today, Lozano said. I say this so-called holiday should be celebrated by those who wish to celebrate it in their own homes. It is not an American Holiday and therefor should be left out of the schools. Kids wearing American flag shirts should be proud to do so, and them being asked to take them off was inappropriate.

Obama managed to double the federal budget from $2 trillion to around $4 trillion in just 15 months! Cap and trade looms upon us. The HC bill came back with a figure of $800 billion, and a week after it passed we found out it would cost $1.2 trillion. That's a difference of $4 billion dollars This bill is going to kill an economy that is just beginning to rally. We need to repeal it! Obama running his mouth about how illegal the Arizona law is, when it is basically word for word the federal law. That Arizona law reinforces the federal law, which congress doesn't have the guts to enforce, yet the liberals are going around yelling their only defense: "racial profiling". Congress is too busy telling us how much salt we should be allowed to have in our diets to protect it's citizens from a war zone between the drug dealers and coyotes bringing illegal aliens across the border, shooting, killing and kidnapping each other. The gov. is NOT protecting them, which is their primary job. Have you noticed the almost complete lack of coverage by the liberal media of the rioting and violent demonstrations going on around the country? The same media that called the tea party demonstrations violent and racist because they hold up signs demanding less government and lower taxes.It's hilarious listening to Attorney General Eric Holder run his mouth about investigating this law, when he is the one who dropped charges against the Black Panthers for actually stopping people from voting by violent means. But you can be sure that Obama will do nothing about the illegal immigrants coming into this country, except for being able to get them legal status here, cause he desires their vote in a few years from now.

Most of the mortgage lending sins were motivated by zealous liberal legislators who thought everyone deserves a mortgage regardless of their economic circumstances. I blame them.

Anyone who calls someone a 'retard' is just as horrible as anyone who calls someone a racial slur. You are no better than those you criticize!

Is that all you could pull out of that post? Really. Just ignore all the proof in that post about violence that YOUR party participated in that far outweighs anything the tea partiers ever did. Soooo typical. Just keep ranting about how bad the tea pariters are.:thumbup: It will make you feel better.:thumbup: Hypocrit! Your motto: Do as I say, not as I do. How could you condemn a group of people for voicing their opinions on government by protesting, yet not condemn your own party for far worser things they have done at protests? There will always be a small fraction of any group that assembles who will act out inappropriately. To label the entire group for the actions of the very few is VERY childish and immature. Even I will be mature enough to admit that the dems who acted out in all those protests in the past did not represent the entire group of democrats. They were a select minority of your group who were stupid. Can't you do the same? When I finally hear from you that you are wrong in labeling the 'whole' tea party group as violent and racist, then, and only then, will I see you in a different light. But, I don't believe you are mature enough to admit that BOTH parties are equally at fault for some of their members actions. I believe I will continue to hear all about how 'horrible' the tea partiers are, dispite the proven facts of your own partys 'horribleness'.

No. What pisses us off is that he IGNORES what the people want. Oh yeah, he just keeps moving right along, all right. Right along in the wrong direction! You post sooooooooooooooooooo much crap about the tea parties being violent people, yet choose to ignore that your own party had its day a while back. AND they were FAR worse at being violent. I have already posted my proof to that as well, so I won't repeat it, even though you felt led to do so. You seem to get off on finding the few and miniscule infractions out of a group that opposes the governments ways, yet you ignored it when your group, the whole lot of them, went off. How hypocritical. Oh well, it's just the way you are. But you should try to see the plain truth, which is that people, no matter what party they affiliate with, are mere humans that are sinful and have faults. You are, too. We all are. Shame on you for being so hateful. It's one thing to hate what people do, it's quite another to hate them simply because they don't agree with your stand on things. And Bjean, maybe you should take your meds, cause you have problems.

Clinton makes me laugh! His pious concern about a "vocal minority" protesting government threats to freedom was nowhere around when Bush was in office. Many liberal commentators were saying that Bush was "shredding the Constitution". A "local minority" back then thought that Bush was a far greater threat to American liberty and a far greater threat than Islamic extremists. Their saying so didn't trouble Clinton back then, nor was he moved to speak out when anti-Bush protestors labeled him the world's worst terrorist and carried posters of the president wearing a Hitler mustache. The best poster spotted at a tea party rally: "IT DOESNT MATTER WHAT I PUT ON MY SIGN, CAUSE YOU WILL ACCUSE ME OF RACISM ANYWAY!" Dems are reduced to warning certain attitudes can lead to violence because there has been NO actual violence at tea party rallies. All have been remarkably orderly, even friendly. You can almost feel the democrats frustration at this. By contrast, many left wing protests have sparked violence. Just last year at the G20 meeting in Pittsburgh, rampaging protestors broke shop windows and scuffled with police, who used batons and tear gas to subdue them. A 1999 meeting of the WTO in Seattle was so badly by anti globalization fanatics, who smashed windows and shut down the center of the city, that the governor had to declare a state of emergency and call out the National Guard. (Clinton failed to assail those who critisized corporations as inspiring the violence) In 2007, several hundred protestors who descended on Washington DC during the International Monetary Fund meeting turned over trash cans, smashed windows, threw bricks and pushed a police officer off her motorcycle. In 2008, anti republican protestors at the convention in St. Paul threw bricks through the windows of busses, sending elderly convention delegates to the hospital. They dropped bags of sand off highway overpasses onto vehicles below. They attacked a bus full of boyscouts that were passing through. The violence was only fleetingly covered in the press and went unmentioned by leading dems, including Clinton. Reps have repeatedly condemned violent acts or even intemperate words by right individuals or groups. They have even condemned some that didn't happen, like false accounts of racial slurs shouted at members of Congressional Black Caucus. While it's important to police ones ranks, it's also necessary to expose the Democrat's persistent and malignant libels. (excerps from Mona Charen, who is a syndicated columnist.)

This was not a 'severe' depression. Go back to the twenties and you'll see what 'severe' was. This is a recession. People who were looking to buy a home recently scrambled to get their closing dates before April 30th so they could take advantage of the tax credit of up to $8000. off the price of their home. They would have bought their houses whether our taxes got paid to them or not. It was such a waste! It was thievery. No one gave me $8000. when I was purchasing my home, and why should I have to give someone that kind of money to buy their home?

The point is that when politicians say that a program is for one thing, it ends up being something totally different and not what the people thought. The point is that politicians lie. The point is that if Obama says the HC bill will lower the deficit, you can be certain that it will only raise it! If F. Roosevelt (D) started SS for the good of the country and it was well intentioned, you can be sure that any other programs that the feds start will end up just as disasterous. They have a past record of screwing up!

And you post without checking your facts. Mike Hewitt wrote that piece and I posted his name at the bottom of it.

To begin with, the twelve regional Federal Reserve Banks are private institutions operating collectively in a quasi-governmental capacity. When the government spends more than it receives in tax revenue, it experiences a budget deficit. To make up this shortfall, it issues new debt. This takes the form of treasuries that are sold on the open market. When there is not sufficient interest in the open market to buy up the required number of treasuries, the government will turn to the Federal Reserve, otherwise known as the "lender of the last resort". When the government "borrows" from the Federal Reserve, both the treasuries and the money are literally created out of thin air. These newly acquired government securities increase the assets of the Federal Reserve Bank. This enables it to lend out many times that amount through the fractional reserve banking system. The process, known as "monetizing the debt", is inflationary. For example, let us assume that the legislated reserve ratio is 10% and the government requires US$10 billion from the Federal Reserve to cover a shortfall. The government creates US$10 billion in government bonds to give to the Federal Reserve who issues US$10 billion in newly created money to the government. Interest payments on these bonds are paid for by tax revenue and/or additional deficit spending. The Federal Reserve may now legally lend out US$100 billion. This credit expansion as a direct result of the U.S. government borrowing from the Federal Reserve dilutes the value of all outstanding currency. When the value of the dollar goes down, prices go up. In effect, it is theft from everyone who holds U.S. currency because they can now buy less with it today than they could have before. (By Mike Hewitt) So, you see, everytime the government borrows money to pay for all their wonderful programs and "needs", it increases the cost to the consumer enumerously. Why do you think a jar of Hellman's mayo is $4.49?:mad2:This is how the deficit effects everyone. Not just my every day life.

Even our own government officials don't have an "exact" count of the people who live in this country, yet you expect me to come up with one? All anyone can go on is an estimate of how many people live here. It's a round about figure taken from the last census. Always has been, cause that's all we have to go on. Therefore, taking that number and dividing it by how much debt we are in gives the approx. amount each person would owe. When it's about $41,000., who cares if it's off a dollar or two? Get real! The point is this: It's unsustainable! My answer for stimulating the economy is for the government to do NOTHING!!!! We have been in a down turn before, and they did nothing and the people once again brought themselves out of it. A recession in this country is still far better than a regular day in any other country. Be thankful for what we have. Try living somewhere else and see if living through a recession in America is better. Is there any question as to why people from everywhere in the world want to immigrate into this country? Spending us into oblivion is not the answer. That only has to paid back, and the interest alone on the loans to get that money is unsustainable for us. Take a look at the list of Government waste that I posted and go through it. That's a start. Start there and eliminate all of that, and then we can start working on the salaries of government employees and their pension plans. Let's move to that next. Corporate welfare, let's get rid of that. Why should the people in this contry have to pay for portions of someone elses business? Then how about all the programs that enable the people to become dependent on the government. Why should I have to give up to $8,000. towards someone elses home purchase? Or towards a car? Why should I have to pay for somebody elses HC or rent? And the list goes on.

The estimated population of the United States is 308,249,358 so each citizen's share of this debt is $41,775.54. I guess when it starts to blow us out of the Water, then it's too much. Ya think?

Hey, you can't trust mankind. It's that simple. I don't put my trust in anyone but God. I look forward to eternal life in Heaven. I'm just passing through here. Ever hear the song "This is my temporary home"? Carrie Underwood.

Maybe my current contributions will go to those who are getting it now, but I put my finances into it while I was supposed to and therefore am entitled to a return on my investment. Those who will pay into it when I turn 65 will give back to me what I put in it for those before me. That's the way it works. Because the feds rob SS to pay other things, it probably wont be there for us when we retire. (we paid into it all our lives, but when it's our turn to receive it, it won't be there for us. But you're okay with that, cause the gov. will take care of you some way some how) I have said a hundred times before, yet you refuse to accept the reality of my statements. I do not push for NO government whatsoever, I push for LESS government. The programs that are already in place have a nill chance of ever being abolished, for what program does the federal government start that they end? NONE! As for saving BIG now, I am. I do not depend on the government or anyone else to provide for my retirement. My husband and I have invested in rental property, we have pensions, and we have IRAs, stocks, and a savings to rely on as well as SS. None of our eggs in the same basket. If one fails, we will have the others to rely on.

You put your trust in them, not me. My trust is in God. Everyone knows, or should know, that you shouldn't put all your eggs in one basket. And, just because there are private companies in the world that do us wrong and that we should not trust, doesn't mean that our government needs to be one of them.

And YOU trust the government!!! Ha! ha! ha! You are one of those 20% or so who trust the government! That's all I have to say. Enough said. You are the minority and your way of thinking is definitely skewed. Go ahead, keep on trusting them. They will provide for you and take care of you. Count on them to be the ones to carry you through. The sad thing is that most liberals do. They prefer to have that security blanket for themselves rather than their individual freedoms. What a shame.

BoycottLiberalism.comgovernment waste When I created this page someone asked, "Why don't you list the money spent on the war with Iraq?" Please be advised that the primary responsibility of government is to protect its citizens. Government should do those things that we cannot as individuals do for ourselves. I could not personally take down the Taliban government or Saddam Hussein, but the U.S. Government can. This is not to say that the U.S. military should not be efficient in its spending. However, below are examples of your tax dollars wasted. The next time a government official wants to raise your taxes- think of the below list. Our cumulative running total of government waste is: $1,230,956,867,592.00 Liberalism Defined Exposing Liberalism to Light The Stimulus Plan The National Institutes of Health spending more than $400,000 in taxpayer money by paying researchers to cruise six bars in Buenos Aires to find out why gay men engage in risky sexual behavior while drunk -- and just what can be done about it. The U.S. government is spending $2.6 million to make sure prostitutes in China consume less alcohol while working. As part of the five-year study that the National Institutes of Health bankrolled, researchers are visiting more than 100 houses of prostitution to monitor their employees, designated as FSWs, or female sex workers. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is funding a study on the use of ecstasy, LSD and other “party drugs” in Porto Alegre, Brazil. To do this, U.S. taxpayers will invest $117,876 for the three-year study, conducted by researchers from the University of Delaware, who will work in collaboration with researchers from Brazil's Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul. Federal employees wasted at least $146 million over a one-year period in business- or first-class airline tickets bought in violation of travel policies, congressional investigators say. It looks like Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., is going to get his wish – $2 million in taxpayer funding for a library commemorating his 37 years in the House of Representatives. The Charles B. Rangel Center for Public service will serve as a repository for his "papers," and the congressman will have his own office in the Harlem complex. The earned income tax credit (EITC) provides $31 billion in refundable tax credits to 19 million low-income families. The IRS estimates that $8.5 billion to $9.9 billion of this amount—nearly one-third—is wasted in overpayments. A recent audit revealed that between 1997 and 2003, the Defense Department purchased and then left unused approximately 270,000 commercial airline tickets at a total cost of $100 million. Since World War II, the U.S. has spent $1.2 trillion on foreign aid to 70 countries – and all are worse off than they were in 1980, according to the U.N. For the Department of Commerce for giving the City and County of Honolulu $28,600 in 1981 to study how they could spend another $250,000 for a good surfing beach. For the Health Care Financing Administration for Medicaid payments to psychiatrists for unscheduled, coincidental meetings with patients who were attending basketball games, sitting on stoops, etc. -- the cost of which was between $40 and $80 million from 1981 to 1984. The National Endowment for the Humanities for a $25,000 grant in 1977 to study why people cheat, lie and act rudely on local Virginia tennis courts. The Office of Education for spending $219,592 in 1978 to develop a curriculum to teach college students how to watch television. The Environmental Protection Agency for spending an extra $1 million to $1.2 million in 1980 to preserve a Trenton, NJ sewer as a historical monument. In 2005 - $469,000 for the National Wildlife Turkey Federation in South Carolina In 2005 - $100,000 for the Punxsatawny Weather Discovery Center Museum In 2005 - $350,000 for the Inner Harmony Foundation and Wellness Center in Scranton, Penn. In 2005 - $1,430,000 for various Halls of Fame, including $250,000 for the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, Tenn., and $70,000 for the Paper Industry International Hall of Fame in Appleton, Wis.; Medicare, the U.S. health-insurance program for the elderly and disabled, erroneously paid out $19.9 billion during fiscal 2004, up from $19.6 billion a year earlier, because of mistakes, waste and fraud, a government report said. In most cases, hospitals and doctors billed for medically unnecessary services or didn't provide proper documentation to support the fees for services. The GAO estimated that between 1997 and 2003, the Defense Department spent an estimated $100 million for airline tickets that were not used over a six-year period and failed to seek refunds even though the tickets were reimbursable. While Andrew Cuomo was HUD Secretary under Bill Clinton, the agency set up a "Creative Wellness" program that spent $1,100,000 million taxpayer dollars on “gem” bags and taught public tenants to burn incense. The study, titled "Status/Dominance and Motivational Effects on Nonverbal Sensitivity and Smiling," attempts to find out if it's really true that women smile more than men, and if people of higher status smile less. Judith Hall, a highly respected researcher at Northeastern University in Boston, is conducting the smile study — and it is not her first. Since 1993, she has been awarded more than $500,000. A National Science Foundation study looking at whether White House reporters have become more adversarial sounds a bit strange to reporters and critics. Even more surprising: the study cost taxpayers $180,000. In 2001 more than $600,000 in tax money was spent on researching the sex lives of South African ground squirrels. The head of the IRS sent out a notice to every person advising them that they would be receiving a tax refund in 2001 - the estimated cost $30,000,000. In 1998 more than $800,000 was approved for a coal library in Pennsylvania. Defenders staed that it would provide historical insight into a very important part of Pennsylvania and history. In 2001 the U.S.. Government gave $5,000,000 to the University of Alaska, North Pacific University, and the Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation to fund the "stellar sea lion recovery plan." In the year 2001, Congress appropriated $340,000,000 in federal tax dollars to PBS (Public Broadcasting Services). In 1999 the U.S. government spent $500,000 for a Mississippi research project on "manure handling and disposal". In 1999 the U.S. government spent $1,500,000 million to promote silk production in Laos In 1999 the U.S. government spent $1 ,000,000 for the "eradication of Brown Tree Snakes" (Hawaii). In 1999 the U.S. government spent $1,000,000 to "develop and train Alaska natives for employment in the petroleum industry." In 1999 the U.S. government spent $500,000 for water taxis in Savannah (Georgia) In 1999 the U.S. government spent $200,000 for a transit center for the Toledo Mud Hens minor league baseball team. In 1999 $1,200,000 million to subsidize a park on the Galapagos Islands. In 2000 the U.S. government spent $100,000 to study the causes of sediment buildup at a Santa Cruz, New Mexico dam. In 2002 the U.S. government spent $50,000 for a tattoo removal program in San Luis Obispo, California. In 2002 the U.S. government spent $400,000 for the Montana Sheep Institute to improve the profitability of the state's sheep industry. In 2002 the U.S. government spent $273,000 for the Blue Springs (Missouri) Youth Orchestra Outreach Unit for educational training to combat Goth culture In 2003 the U.S. government spent $1,000,000 appropriation for the Center for Public Service and the Common Good (a think tank) at the University of San Francisco. In 2002 the U.S. government spent $400,000 for manure management research at the National Swine Research Center. In 2002 the U.S. government spent $1,100,000 for the MountainMade Foundation in Thomas, West Virginia for business development and the education of artists and craftspeople. In 2002 the U.S. government spent $4,000,000 to implement the forest and fish report of the Washington State. In 2002 the U.S. government spent $500,000 for exhibits on the Sullivan brothers at the Grout Museum in Waterloo, Iowa. In 2002 the U.S. government spent $61,000 for the State Historical Society to archive the history of Iowa workers. In 2002 the U.S. government spent $1,200,000 for the Ohio Arts Council to expand international programs. In 2002 the U.S. government spent $2,900,000 for the Mountaineer Doctor Television program at West Virginia University; In 2002 the U.S. government spent $2,000,000 for an educational mall at the Raleigh County Commission in Beckley. In 2002 the U.S. government spent $2,000,000 for West Virginia University to establish a Center on Obesity. In 2002 the U.S. government spent $260,000 for asparagus technology in the stae of Washington. In 2002 the U.S. government spent $1,200,000 for music education at the GRAMMY Foundation In 2000 the U.S. government spent $50,000 for the development of a Welcome Center Facility City for Enumclaw, Washington. In 1997 - $4,000,000 for the Gambling Impact Study Commission. In 1997 - $330,000 for Stellar Sea Lion research of the North Pacific Universities Marine Mammal Consortium. In 1997 - $785,000 for bluefish/striped bass research by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. In 1997 - $2,700,000 added by the Senate for the Animal Resource Wing at South Dakota State University In 1997 - $4,000,000 added in conference for the Discovery Center of Science and Technology. In 1997 - $19,600,000 added by the House for the International Fund for Ireland, a program that tries to aid the peace process in Ireland by paying for golf videos, pony trekking centers, and sweater exports. In 1997 - $16,369,000 added by the Senate for public library construction. In 1997 - $9,469,000 added in conference for Migrant Education programs including: $7,441,000 for the High School Equivalency Program; and $2,028,000 for the College Assistance Migrant Program In 1997 - $3,100,000 added by the Senate for the National Writing Project. In 1997 - $8,200,000 for a new classroom building at the Rowley Secret Service Training Center in Beltsville, Maryland, which is the district of House Treasury, Postal Service and General Government Appropriations subcommittee member Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and the state of Senate appropriator Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.). In 1998 - $220,000 added by the Senate for lowbush blueberry research in Maine. In 1994 - $221,000 for lowbush blueberry research at the University of Maine in the state of Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell (D-ME). In 1998 - $150,000 added by the House for the National Center for Peanut Competitiveness. In 1998 - $127,000 added by the Senate for global marketing support services in the state of Senate appropriator Dale Bumpers (D-Ark.). According to testimony, the goal of this research is to identify “potential foreign markets for Arkansas products….” In 1998 - $32,000 added by the Senate for the Center for Rural Studies in the state of Senate appropriator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.). A portion of this grant money is used for analytical reports to guide the development of Vermont retail shopping areas In 1998 - $500,000 added by the House in the district of House appropriator Richard Durbin (D-IL) for the construction at the Lincoln Home National Historic Site, Illinois, of Chalres Corneau’s house, a neighbor and friend of Abraham Lincoln. In 1998 - $10,912,000 added by the Senate for foreign language assistance. In 1994 - $200,000 for locoweed research at New Mexico State University in the state of House appropriator Joe Skeen (R-NM). Since 1992, $716,000 has been appropriated, and there is no expected completion date for this research. In 1994 - $1,000,000 added in the Senate for the Multispecies Aquaculture Center in the state of Senate appropriator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) In 1994 - $19,600,000 added in the House for the International Fund for Ireland. The conference report “restores language stricken by the Senate and appropriates up to $19,600,000 for the International Fund for Ireland.” In the past, this program has used American taxpayer dollars for a golf video and pony trekking centers. In 1993 - $19,704,000 for the International Fund for Ireland requested, according to committee sources, by House Speaker Thomas Foley (D-WA). In 1993 - $9,170,000 added in conference for the Southwestern Pennsylvania Heritage Preservation Commission in the district of House appropriator John Murtha (D-PA) In 1992 - $2,000,000 added in conference by Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) for a New York Bight Center for undersea research. <FONT size=3>