The NY - SC Stimulus Connection .....

It's not easy trying to find politically related stuff between Long Island and South Carolina, but I still try. Most days, it's a exercise in futility, but then days like today come, when it falls together nicely.... I give you the Calverton, Long Island - Chapin, South Carolina - Economic Stimulus Tie-In!

Each state has been trying to keep you up to date on just what impact the Economic Stimulus Bill has had on their economy. Mostly, it's to try and show you that they got their piece of the pie, but the truth is it's not that easy to tell... Case in point. Here are Long Island, we have two National Cemetaries - Pinelawn Cemetary in Farmingdale, which is pretty much full, and Calverton National Cemetary on the East End, which is newer. From the picture above, you can see that the grave markers for our dead heroes are getting kind of crooked. The project to straighten them is part of the nearly $350 million in funds that went to Long Island from the Stimulus. The cost of this project is estimated at $1.2 million.....

You would think that a local company would be able to handle the job, but nope, this project was given to Allserv Inc., or Chapin, South Carolina. I'm not sure what exactly goes into straightening out crooked tombstones, but I'm sure they'll tell us at some point. One would think a whack with a rubber sledgehammer would do the trick, but what do I know?

More importantly than this project's cost of necessity for this post is the confusion of which area is truly benefiting from the stimulus... Long Island is taking credit for the project, but isn't South Carolina actually getting the money? Conversely, there are $70 million in projects awarded to Long Island companies that are not in Long Island. The question of this is, doesn't all this cross-awarding of projects actually decieve voters into believeing that they got more than they actually did? Is this what actually is going on, or is there a criteria that decides what state/region can take credit for the project? Sure Savannah River Site may get a $2 billion add-on, but if it's awarded to a company in Nevada, do we really benefit here? Do I make any sense at all ????

Anyway, I'm going to go out to Calverton with my sledgehammer in the meantime, and start whacking those tombstones straight. If I finish first, I'll just bill Allserv or Washington DC .....

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