Rational people have known all along that the so-called Stimulus Bill was nothing but Democrat payback and pork. But this story on port barrel spending hits close to home.
But to former Republican presidential nominee John McCain, spending $454,200 in federal stimulus funds to replace lighting at Softball World, a city park in Euless, is a prime example of how the government is wasting taxpayer dollars.
"Playing in the glow of stimulus funded lights -- now that's something completely new," according to a "Summertime Blues" report written by Sens. McCain, R-Ariz., and Tom Coburn, R-Okla. "One would think that the teams using the fields should just pay higher fees for the light renovations instead of the American taxpayer, most of whom will never see Euless, Texas, no matter how bright the new lights are."
But many who live in the Northeast Tarrant County city said that more than 100,000 people use or visit the city park each year and that the lighting is a proper use of stimulus funds.
"This is ridiculous," said Richard Hopkins, who plays outfield with the Diamond Softball Club at the park about three nights a week. "A lot of people go to the park to play or watch, and this is a need.
"The lights are definitely antiquated, they are more than 25 years old. This will help make them energy-efficient," he said. "It's unfair that they singled out the one park in Euless."
Is this how we define a "need" these days? A bunch of people like playing softball, so they "need" taxpayer funds to upgrade the lighting system?
At a time of economic hardship, paying for new lighting at a softball field seems wasteful and trivial. And worse, look at the "jobs saved or created" numbers:
At No. 99 was Softball World, a project expected to be finished within a year and save or create 2.8 jobs.
That's something over $162k per job. For softball lights. And they wonder why Americans are angry?
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