Government watchdogs are blasting taxpayer-funded grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities that send college professors on free vacations and pay for programs on topics like the "cultural significance of the circus poster" -- just a few items on an eye-popping list of questionable NEH projects.
As if the life of a college professor weren't easy enough, millions of taxpayer dollars are going to fund monthlong vacations for sightseeing scholars in Europe and South America, part of the $144 million budget provided for the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Government watchdogs say those trips are a waste of taxpayer money, and they're not alone on an eye-popping list of NEH funding for projects, including:
$400,000 for an exhibition "exploring the importance of plants as a source of inspiration for noted American poet Emily Dickinson"
$350,000 to explore the "cultural significance of the circus poster"
$725,000 to produce a two-hour documentary on the history of American whaling.
$130,000 for 16 professors to study the "truth and meaning" of life according to Aristotle
$50,000 to build a computer model of an ancient city in Pakistan complete with "animated and interactive 'inhabitants'"
"Everybody should be angry ... that federal taxpayer dollars are being used on projects at a time when we have such bigger priorities, like getting the national debt under control," said Pete Sepp of the National Taxpayers Union.
"They're being done with tax money we don't have. We are mortgaging our future with projects people may never even see."
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3 comments:
Cancel those grants and eliminate the budget for NEH.
Who is on the oversight committee for this one??????
Let's all remember if it wasn't for a circus poster John Lennon would have never written the song "For the Benefit of Mr. Kite".
Prof gates had just returned from one of these when he was caught red-handed breaking into his own home. Probably the jet lag...
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