NASA Cracks "Stimulus Checkup" Top Ten

This was a top-100 list. Not a top-ten list. JWST was #95.

This document is worth perusing. Evidently McCain and Coburn are trying to channel Senator Proxmire and his simplistic "Golden Fleece" awards. Like those, many of these have silly titles, but actually have as much merit as many other deserving items in the non-stimulus federal budget.

I recall that McCain has a bee in his bonnet about astronomy. He snidely twittered last year in his "Ten Porkiest Projects" about the FY09 omnibus spending bill that "nothing says new jobs for average Americans like investing in astronomy”. Quite remarkable for a senator from a state that prides itself as being a major venue for U.S. astronomy.

Now, those two legislators are real leaders in the opposition to earmarking, and I admire them for that. But this list is just a silly extension of that. The stimulus, they would say, is just earmarking by the White House, instead of Congress. Also simplistic.