Posted on 02/25/2009 8:09:40 PM PST by presidio9
After President Obama's speech on the economy last night, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal criticized government spending in the stimulus bill, citing examples including "$140 million for something called 'volcano monitoring.'"
The $140 million to which Jindal referred is actually for a number of projects conducted by the United States Geological Survey, including volcano monitoring. This monitoring is aimed at helping geologists understand the inner workings of volcanoes as well as providing warnings of impending eruptions, in the United States and in active areas around the world where U.S. military bases are located.
Most of the money from the stimulus bill earmarked for monitoring (only about a tenth of the total going to the USGS) will go to modernizing existing monitoring equipment, including switching from analog to digital and installing GPS networks that can measure ground movements, said John Eichelberger, program coordinator for the USGS's Volcano Hazards Program. Much of the expense of this technology comes from the manpower required to make and install it, he added.
"Ultimately most of this creates jobs or saves jobs that would have been lost" to recent budget shortfalls Eichelberger told LiveScience.
When he heard Jindal's remarks, Eichelberger said he "was frankly astonished" that the governor would use this particular example, given his own state's recent brush with a catastrophic natural disaster.
Among the scenarios in which the USGS's monitoring can assist - the catastrophic eruption of Mount St. Helens on May 18, 1980, which killed 57 people (including a geologist monitoring the mountain) and was the deadliest and costliest volcanic eruption in U.S. history ($2.74 billion in 2007 dollars). This event was preceded by thousands of
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
And I would have a front row view. Imagine the pictures I could sell.
Actually, Belgian Jesuit Missionary Ferdinand Verbiest built the first (steam powered) automobile in China in 1672.
Actually Rainer could have a massive slope failure with no earthquake or eruption whatsoever - it’s incredibly unstable and being eaten away from within by circulating hot acidic water.
Not to mention all the people walking up and down it all the time.
actually..I thought he meant volcano monitoring here in Louisiana..
The whole claim isn't "first car" but "first production model using a gasoline engine and kind of resembling what we would, today, call a car" ~ and there are a lot of claimants. Benz and Haynes were right close together.
At the same time they were hardly "inventing" the concept of the automobile. All that was happening was the creation of a production method for obvious applications ~ to wit, small gasoline engine on frame of carriage.
Otherwise these vehicles weren't much different than a locomotive.
Note to people in the Eastern Suburbs who are worried about this: Time to pack up in leave, if you are worried about this. If something like this happens, they have my sympathy, and I will certainly send a check to whatever trustworthy relief fund is available. But if we know the thing is going to erupt, and people chose to build homes there any way, I fail to see how this is my federal goverment’s problem any more than when some nutjob who can’t feed or house herself decides to have 14 kids or a bunch or rich people choose to build beach houses in a hurricane zone. I missed the part in the Constitution where it talks about a right to stupidity.
it should be in the regular budget if its a needed existing program.
thats the point.
The “conservative” argument is not that the ‘economy needs to be stimulated ‘this way’ or ‘that way.’ It is that the economy needs to be UNCHAINED.
What the democrats are doing is shackling the economy with regulation, financial rewards for following risky/foolish ventures. Then, when the economy falls to its knees, they pretend they can't see the seven tons of chains each business is trying to run with, they claim it is the ‘running’ itself that is causing the stumbling and that it needs even more chains.
As I've said elsewhere, the rate and amounts of the spending are such that no one can pretend this is going to help the economy, not even Keynesians and socialists. This spending is designed to kill the economy and dole out lots of paybacks while sinking the knife in its back — all to ruin the economy so that the people demand a world economic ministry and a global currency.
There also was a volcano that erupted last year (Kasatochi) that didn’t have it’s own monitoring equipment, as it had never had a confirmed historical eruption and the Alaska Volcano Observatory only has the money to monitor a few volcanoes. A couple fish and game scientists were on the island and were evacuated only 30 minutes before it violently exploded, by a passing fishing boat.
Actually, I have no problem with volcano monitoring in Louisiana. Sounds realitively inexpensive to me. In fact, since no one else wanted the job, I have appointed myself chief scientist in charge of volcano monitoring here in Manhattan. No status changes to report since I began monitoring. Send email for updates.
Maybe he was in America then.
Present Obama could not be wrong.
Now, did he "invent the automobile" or just show someone a design for a 2009 Accent?
Leonardo's "invetions" are all irrelevant, because he never actually built most of them, and he never published his notes. Also, most of them don't actally work anyway.
I "invented" a time machines but I'm not telling you anything else about it.
It sits immediately atop one of those multimillion year old buried volcano plugs that dot Earth's surface.
We hope the pluton that threw that sucker up is totally dead but you never can tell.
Why would we want a world currency? WE already have one!
Those that hung around the laboratory with him back home sounded much the way he did.
I don't think he was born in Kenya to a Muslim father.
Hey neighbor! ; )
All I could hear was his hands.
What really bothered me about Jindal's performance was that a little rehearsal could have avoided a national/global embarrassment. Really, would it have been too much to have a dress rehearsal and critique the performance? I guess it was. Too bad for Bobby and the clueless GOP. Some people really need to lose their jobs.
I guess you're right. Theoretically, we actually could spend $1,000,000,000,000 monoitoring every possible volcano everywhere. But the point is, that when one actually does erupt, we still can't do a thing about it anyway, so why bother. Only Superman can stop/reverse a major geological event.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.