This is the kind of nonsense you get when the Federal government starts giving away money

US News:

At first glance, the town of Edwardsville, Ala., with a population of 194 people, might raise a few eyebrows with its bid to receive $375 million from the economic stimulus package being assembled by Barack Obama and lawmakers in Congress.

The tiny town, located near the Georgia border and 26 miles from the nearest "big city" of Anniston (population: 24,276), added 33 proposals—about two thirds of them related to "green" energy—to the list of "ready- to- go" projects assembled by the U.S. Conference of Mayors. Total sum: $375,076,200.

Along with the more traditional proposals to replace streetlights with solar-powered lights (cost: $3,479,200), to install solar panels on the town hall (cost: $77,000), and to build solar-powered recharging stations for electric golf carts and vehicles (cost: $620,000), Edwardsville and Talladega Springs have assembled a set of even more far-reaching projects.

An outlay of $50.4 million, for example, would go toward installing water pipelines beneath roads to soak up the sun’s rays, transferring heat. That technology is currently being used in the Netherlands, which found that while the cost of installation was double that of normal gas heating, the system halved the amount of energy required.

One of Edwardsville’s biggest proposed expenditures is for a "renewable energy museum and information dissemination center." Phillips envisions exhibits, audio tours, seminars, a research center, and a satellite lab run by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

My comment: Do I really need to comment on this. When government says it will fill the trough the pigs come running. This is not the worst as Larry Flynt of Hustler infamy is requesting $5 billion dollars for a bailout of the porn industry. People still ask chastise me for not voting and being pessimistic about the future of the country. The Republic is dead and voting for this idiot or that one will not change a thing because this is what "the people" voted for and want. As I have said before you need to take precautions by getting your wealth out of the dollar or you will suffer the consequences.

John Polomny
The Real Deal