Stimulus Funds For Peruvian Genetic Research Questioned

What an ignorant f*&khead this Brogdon character is.

Only valuable question:

How many jobs is this creating?

For the price - 1 full time job for 5 years doesn't qualify as money well spent. The part time workers (8 of them) also got five years worth of employment - wouldn't want to leave that out.

YES INDEED - CHANGE YOU CAN BELIEVE IN!

Peru.....Alaska.....ferry boat......Our tax dollars have been spent foolishly for generations and these "project" are no different. If the government REALLY wants to help us, then just LOWER our taxes so we can spend part of the money they take from us (and waste) to help support businesses who REALLY can "stimulate" our economy....Let us keep more of our money. We'll use it to support our local grocery stores, mechanics, plumbers, dry cleaners, etc.....Local businesses that will hire local people who will spend their wages to support their local economy.

This is just another example of "The Change" that was voted into the presidential office one year ago. It's like a bad case of another type of change --- menopause.

Yes Upstream, stimulate only the only grocery stores, mechanics, plumbers, dry cleaners and our next generation of those professionals will be limited to that profession.

The grant research they discussed is focused on education and training, the goal is to keep this country we love, the United States of America, on top when it comes to skilled workers. People who will get jobs, as early as next year, in these fields. In this case, geneticists and health professionals. If that's not a good investment, then maybe you should have your next physical conducted by your dry cleaner, because in the world you want to create, nobody else will be able to do it in Oklahoma.

Of course Brogdon's reaction and reasoning is scary as usual. He says it let's the feds control what is taught in our universities. Paying his salary is the biggest waste of my tax dollars.

Critical Thinker wrote:

Yes Upstream, stimulate only the only grocery stores, mechanics, plumbers, dry cleaners and our next generation of those professionals will be limited to that profession.
The grant research they discussed is focused on education and training, the goal is to keep this country we love, the United States of America, on top when it comes to skilled workers. People who will get jobs, as early as next year, in these fields. In this case, geneticists and health professionals. If that's not a good investment, then maybe you should have your next physical conducted by your dry cleaner, because in the world you want to create, nobody else will be able to do it in Oklahoma.

I'm sorry, I didn't realize you had to go to Peru to study DNA......And I didn't realize this country had a shortage of geneticists and health officials. What I do realize is that businesses in small towns all over Oklahoma, similiar to the ones I mentioned, are hurting and closing their doors because of this economy. Do you really think our tax dollars are being spent wisely??? The medical/science field is one that is being least impacted by our economy. The large drug companies will make sure it is well funded. All I'm saying is that if you want to really "fix" our economy, then it might be a good idea to start with the basics. Things that the majority of the tax payers use and spend money on every day. Make sure the foundation of our economy is healthy and then concentrate on these projects that while they may be good, would not have the same lasting impact on the average middle income American.

What a waste of $650K.

Upstream, local business is very important, and needs to be supported (stop going to Walmart, that would help local business more than the stimulus money), but we can’t be so narrow focused that we damage a generation of skilled professionals. Remember, this stimulus money would not come to OK if not for the researcher’s award. Also, medical/science field is in great need of support. We are beginning to loose our best scientists to other states and countries that recognize their contribution to improving the quality of life, not to mention the great shortage of nurses in OK. As for DNA from Peru, yes you can collect samples from the US (in fact, the researcher is doing this as well, here in OK, but that was not covered by the press). But the idea is to create a world class dataset for the students and professionals here in OK. They are making sure that cutting edge research is something that the US science professionals can be, and should be, proud of! Keep good scientists in OK!!! We loose them, we loose our future!!!

Critical Thinker wrote:

Yes Upstream, stimulate only the only grocery stores, mechanics, plumbers, dry cleaners and our next generation of those professionals will be limited to that profession.
The grant research they discussed is focused on education and training, the goal is to keep this country we love, the United States of America, on top when it comes to skilled workers. People who will get jobs, as early as next year, in these fields. In this case, geneticists and health professionals. If that's not a good investment, then maybe you should have your next physical conducted by your dry cleaner, because in the world you want to create, nobody else will be able to do it in Oklahoma.

I see your point. I have been appalled to see stimulous dollars go to 'beauty school students'(a saturated profession). I'm also appalled by the 'pride' of building nothing by shopping centers and restaurants in Tulsa which provide a ton of low-level paying jobs.

However, I believe that a better way to spend the $ written about in this article would have been to help health care professionals (doctors, nurses, allied health professionals) graduate from college. In my opinion, a study in Peru by a team of geneticists is not stimulus dollars worthy. Especially at a point when our country is so economically depressed.

Oklahoma needs to have a major focus on attracting industries that have a wide-range of wage and salaries within their companies. Not just low-end incomes.

KTP, the media focussed on the Peru part making it out to be much more than it is. From someone on the inside, I wanted to add more contexts for how this money will be spent. It seems that people are focused on the fact that samples from Peru will be a part of the study. However, in Peru, less than 3% of the award would actually be spent (mainly on travel). This provides a world class dataset to study. The rest is spent on activities in the US, in particular Oklahoma. This includes an annual professional development workshop for high school and community college teachers, a course and hands-on experience in genetics for undergraduate students, courses and hands-on training in genomics for graduate students, public education using an online course, and the dissemination of the research by a project website. In addition to lab employment, which is a huge fraction of the budget (26%) and indirect costs to help the University keep its lights on (31%), the data generation will include invoices to US companies/laboratories (20%). Also, if the research didn't get this award, it this stimulus money would have gone to another state. This is really a BIG win for Oklahoma.

Thanks for clarifying the research. Pure research is so important and not respected enough. We would still be in the dark ages w/o research. It may not seem like it would imact us but it may down the road. I feel that this money is a sign of respect for scientific research in OK and we should be proud of that fact. I'm glad my tax dollars go to scientific research.

The people that voted for Obama for president only voted for him because they of his big give-a-way programs that he promoted and this appears to be one of them.
Is there absolutely no way of stopping these big spending spree's that Obama is on, other than trying to vote him out of office

OU inside wrote:

KTP, the media focussed on the Peru part making it out to be much more than it is. From someone on the inside, I wanted to add more contexts for how this money will be spent. It seems that people are focused on the fact that samples from Peru will be a part of the study. However, in Peru, less than 3% of the award would actually be spent (mainly on travel). This provides a world class dataset to study. The rest is spent on activities in the US, in particular Oklahoma. This includes an annual professional development workshop for high school and community college teachers, a course and hands-on experience in genetics for undergraduate students, courses and hands-on training in genomics for graduate students, public education using an online course, and the dissemination of the research by a project website. In addition to lab employment, which is a huge fraction of the budget (26%) and indirect costs to help the University keep its lights on (31%), the data generation will include invoices to US companies/laboratories (20%). Also, if the research didn't get this award, it this stimulus money would have gone to another state. This is really a BIG win for Oklahoma.

Thank you, OU Inside, for the clarification. I appreciated your breakdown of the spending and I feel better about the award to OU.

I still hold that the overall Stimulus Program monies from the Obama administration are on borrowed dollars, particularly from China....just my opinion. Use your award wisely (it looks like you will) yet I wish we would all remember that these monies are borrowed monies --- like a badly used credit card. There will be a comeuppance (sp?) some day unless there is a major turnaround in our country.

Cynthia Barnes wrote:

What an ignorant f*&khead this Brogdon character is.

Another example of liberal brain trust that would rather see money wasted on this crap instead of creating real jobs that last more than three months, which is what most of the Odoodle stimulas money has done.

I am registered to vote as a Democrat and I am a middle of the road moderate.

I don't see how the Stimulus money for this research outside of the United States is going to help the economy in the state of Oklahoma.

It's certainly not providing jobs for people who aren't leaving the state.

It's obvious at this point that the only people who are opposed to the money being granted have no actual idea how science works.

Now that is a true statement, Mr. Allred!
Joe Allen, read the bit from OUinside-it explains it pretty well.

Well, really you know, when people are unemployed in the US and unable to make their car and house payments it just makes a lot of sense to donate money to investigating the habits of Peruvian people. Yep, it does. I'm sure that it is going to benefit the people. It will indeed benefit the public in a serious way, Mr Lewis. There is nothing quite like the Government being in charge of billions of stimulus dollars. We really can't help it that those in charge of the ones with no money and no resources when those people have to buy for the family and have a mortage payment to make to keep the roof over the family's head decide it would be important to study the habits of the Peruvian people, BY GOD. It will indeed benefit the US to investigate the Peruvian people.:) I am indeed happy that we are doing this. Thank you so much, Idiots in Charge!

So are you asking me to comment on my own post or are asking me to post again? I believe I saw something about government money going towards paying for a research project into investigating habits of Peruvian people. Being my stupid self, I thought the government might consider using that money for tax paying citizens who had lost their jobs, couldn't pay their bills, and are about to lose their houses. Surely no one would actually be stupid enough to approve government money going into something like that when we have our own citizens suffuring? Even the US Government can't possibly be that stupid, or can they? Can the US Government be that stupid? A simple yes or no will be sufficient.