On the campaign trail John McCain routinely mocks Congress's lavish taste for earmarks by way of such comedic examples as an appropriation to study the DNA of Bears in Montana. "I don’t know if that was a paternity issue or a criminal issue," McCain quips. Well, if McCain is in need of new material, he need look no further than his running mate's FY 2009 earmark requests.
It turns out that Gov. Palin has requested federal funding to study the DNA of harbor seals (bears are so yesterday) and the mating habits of crabs. When coupled with Palin's support for the infamous bridge to nowhere, these revelations show that McCain's running mate represents, perhaps better than anyone else, the very me-first, country-second, fiscally irresponsible Washington politicking McCain professes to detest.
And yes, it's okay to laugh.
2 Responses:
That's a picture of a sea lion (external ears), not a seal (no external ears).
It's OK to spend trillions in Iraq, but any money for science should be questioned, according to McCain, who doesn't understand wildlife biology. DNA studies on populations of animals that are under stress (bears in Montana) are important. You must know the genetic relatedness between the different populations of a species, for management decisions. As populations of a species decline, inbreeding becomes one of the biggest threats to the survival of that species. This is money for basic science. The lack of understanding of basic science by the politicians, of both parties, is shameful.
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