44: Repainting a rarely-used bridge in North Carolina ($3.1 million)

43: Renovating a desolate Wisconsin bridge that averages 10 cars a day ($426,000)

42: 4 new buses for New Hampshire ($2 million)

41: Repaving a 1-mile stretch of Atlanta road that had parts of it already repaved in 2007 ($490,000)

40: Florida beauty school tuition ($2.3 million)

39: Extending a bike path to the Minnesota Twins stadium ($500,000)

38: Beautification of Los Angeles’ Sunset Boulevard ($1.1 million)

37: Colorado Dragon Boat Festival ($10,000)

36: Developing the next generation of supersonic corporate jets in Maryland that could cost $80 million dollars each ($4.7 million)

35: New spring training facilities for the Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies ($30 million)

34: Demolishing 35 old laboratories in New Mexico ($212 million)

33: Putting free WiFi, Internet kiosks and interactive history lessons in 2 Texas rest stops ($13.8 million)

32: Replacing a single boat motor on a government boat in D.C. ($10,500)

31: Developing the next generation of football gloves in Pennsylvania ($150,000)

30: Pedestrian bridge to nowhere in West Virginia ($80,000)

29: Replacing all signage on 5 miles of road in Rhode Island ($4,403,205)

28: Installing a geothermal energy system to heat the “incredible shrinking mall” in Tennessee ($5 million)

27: University in Minnesota studying how to get the homeless to stop smoking ($230,000)

26: Large woody habitat rehabilitation project in Wisconsin ($16,800)

25: Replacing escalators in the parking garage of one D.C. metro station ($4.3 million)

24: Building an airstrip in a community most Alaskans have never even heard of ($14,707,949)

23: Bike and pedestrian paths connecting Camden, N.J. to Philadelphia, Penn. when there’s already a bridge that connects them ($23 million)

22: Sending 10 university undergrads each year from North Carolina to Costa Rica to study the rainforests ($564,000)

21: Road signs touting stimulus funds at work in Ohio ($1 million)

20: Researching how paying attention improves performance of difficult tasks in Connecticut ($850,000)

19: Kentucky Transportation Department awarding contracts to companies associated with a road contractor accused of bribing the previous state transportation secretary ($24 million)

18: Amtrak losing $32 per passenger nationally but rewarded with windfall ($1.3 billion)

17: Widening an Arizona interstate even though the company that won the contract has a history of tax fraud and pollution ($21.8 million)

16: Replace existing dumbwaiters in New York ($351,807)

15: Deer underpass in Wyoming ($1,239,693)

14: Arizona universities examining the division of labor in ant colonies (combined $950,000)

13: Fire station without firefighters in Nevada ($2 million)

12: “Clown” theatrical production in Pennsylvania ($25,000)

11: Maryland town gets money but doesn’t know what to do with it ($25,000)

10: Investing in nation-wide wind power (but majority of money has gone to foreign companies) ($2 billion)

9: Resurfacing a tennis court in Montana ($50,000)

8: University in Indiana studying why young men do not like to wear condoms ($221,355)

7: Funds for Massachusetts roadway construction to companies that have defrauded taxpayers, polluted the environment and have paid tens of thousands of dollars in fines for violating workplace safety laws (millions)

6: Sending 11 students and 4 teachers from an Arkansas university to the U.N. climate change convention in Copenhagen, using almost 54,000 lbs of carbon dioxide from air travel alone ($50,000)

5: Storytelling festival in Utah ($15,000)

4: Door mats to the Department of the Army in Texas ($14,675)

3: University in New York researching young adults who drink malt liquor and smoke pot ($389,357)

2: Solar panels for climbing gym in Colorado ($157,800)

1: Grant for one Massachusetts university for “robobees” (miniature flying robot bees) ($2 million)

http://a11news.com/1404/stimulus-waste-list/

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/After-a-flurry-of-stimulus-spending_-questionable-projects-pile-up-8474249-68709732.html

http://hannity.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/03/12/waste-102-the-final-list/

http://projects.propublica.org/tables/stimulus-investigations

The Iraq War has not cost 3 trillion, The Iraq War and Afghanistan War combined has cost 1.05 trillion and Im not sure where you get your information but funding for the War was not under the Stimulus bill.

http://www.nationalpriorities.org/costofwar_home

You can go ahead and enjoy a fun-filled family vacation and save money at the same time. You can have camping trips using cheap camping supplies. Prepare for those trips by comparing prices and taking advantage of discounted prices for camping supplies through online shopping. Websites provide information about these supplies and can help you decide wisely. The good thing about it is that shopping for these items online can give you excellent value for money, which means you can have high quality supplies at relatively low prices. It also means taking a long view of your vacation needs. For example, buying high quality supplies will give you the luxury of using them a number of times more. In effect the cost of your supplies will be less over a period of time.

Your preparations for a family camping vacation include getting ready with provisions for camping gear, such as sleeping bags, cook wares and tents. For versatility, a tent that can accommodate up to 6 persons is ideal. Again browsing the websites can show you offers for this equipment of as low as 200 dollars. Sleeping bags are also available online at 50 dollars, and some even go cheaper at 20 dollars each. Take time to study each item. There is a wide range of choices for sleeping bags. If you camp during cold weather, choose the insulated type of sleeping bags.

Moreover, sleeping pads can make your rest or sleep more comfortable at the campground. They protect you from the creeping cold from the ground and cushions the area on which you put your sleeping bag. You can place orders for them at 10 dollars apiece. Another camping gear which you can purchase at reasonably cheap prices is a tarp, which goes for as low as 10 dollars. You put this item underneath to protect your tent from getting wet on the ground when it rains.

Cheap cooking wares for camping are also available by shopping online. Look out for coolers with big discounts. You need these pieces of equipment to keep your food and drinks cool while camping. Stoves and grills are also essential camping gears that can be purchased at low prices from the internet. Propane stoves for camping work well for cooking and you can save money by buying them at discounted prices.

It is possible there are other important camping supplies which you can readily found in your house. You will not need to buy items you already have, and save money in the process. Examples are old pans, pots, and skillets which you can use as cook ware in your camping vacation. Cook wares in cast iron are particularly useful, and for which you may be able to save much money since they can be expensive. Other items would include old plates, silverware, mugs, cups, even tablecloths, cutting boards and knives, all of which would come in handy when you prepare food at the camping site.

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Time and again, people have been fascinated with wealth. Treasure hunters, bankers, Las Vegas casino gamblers, kings, tomb raiders, stock brokers, you and me, all of us want wealth. The world has been changed because of the search for wealth and a better place in the New World. Why are we awestruck with money and wealth? Power. People are enthralled by it. Everyone is captivated by it or spellbound by its raw ability to change circumstances and conditions. However, for most of us, wealth is a very elusive goal. It is like the mystical unicorn or the legendary fountain of eternal youth. For most people finding wealth is the Holy Grail quest with which they live by.

Here are down to earth, hard and irrefutable principles on wealth. Let these things be life principles that you will live by. Take them as your own, and let the ideas transform you. Practice this on a daily basis until it becomes a lifestyle. You should try and live with these principles, in order for them to be effective.

1. Sow seeds.

One of the most important thing to do is to invest. We can learn a lot from a farmer. A farmer sows his seeds every planting season. He does not eat the seeds for the next planting seasons. He might get hungry for a week or two, but he will be bountiful for the rest of the year. We should also try to invest. Ask yourself, what investment should I go into? Is your money just sitting in a bank? It is a very bad idea. Don’t let it sit. Plant your seeds. Sow them in fruitful endeavors and finally, do not max out your profits. Try to channel everything back to your business. Your capital should remain capital investments to further develop your financial capacity.

2. No pain, no gain.

Hard work is quintessential in the accumulation of wealth. I have to stress this out in most of my seminars and conferences. People nowadays are very accustomed to the instant lifestyle. We want instant success, instant happiness. Our culture is based on fast food, speed dating, automatic machines and electronic equipment. Somehow, this concept is carried over to our concept of wealth. A lot of books these days delve in the topic of how to get rich quickly. Many people, without having sound investment plans, are fooled into shady investments and networking schemes. No pain, no gain. In order to be happy, suffering is inevitable. Pain is a celebration of life and going near it is discipline. If you truly want to be rich not just in monetary aspects, you will undergo this evolutionary process of making wealth.

3. Live within your means.

People should live within their means. Unlike the West, Asians have a very good work ethic. Apart from this, they also know that the secret to success is living a simple life. Most often than not, they are very modest when it comes to spending and wise in their investments. There are two kinds of rich people: the one who has an excess of everything and the one whose needs are limited but met. Living a simple life means that you will have more savings and these savings are seeds for investments. Investments, in turn, creates wealth.

4. Meet the needs of people.

The reason why you are blessed is not because you are lucky. With great powers come great responsibilities. We are all given the potential to create wealth. At the same time, we are all called to be responsible with our use of money and valuable resources. Meet the needs of people. Why is WalMart successful? It is because it is meeting the needs of people everywhere! Where there is a need, there is an opportunity to create wealth. The war drive in the Middle East, for the most part, is actually a very fertile soil for investments. Why? Because there are needs to be met there.

There’s this story about an island where there people don’t wear shoes. Two shoe salesmen went there. The first one said, there is no market here. I will leave as soon as possible because people here don’t wear shoes. The second salesman immediately called his company. He asked that thousands of shoes are needed in the island because the market is huge.
Ask yourself, where can I meet needs? Do we need a restaurant in this area of town? Can I sell my home made turkey ham because the needs are great? Who might need something? How can I help?

5. Have a vision.

Vision is important. Vision is the ability to see things that are yet unseen, and the ability to turn these things into reality. Studies show that the probability that a vision comes to pass is increased by as much as 50% when the vision is written down. Write down what drives you. Meditate on it. What are the things that I need? Do I need a team to help me out in fulfilling my vision? Do you know why Microsoft came into reality? We have Microsoft because a high school kid had a vision that one day, every household in the world would have a personal computer. Back then, PCs are luxurious equipment and it seemed crazy to have such a vision.

Only crazy people can turn the world upside down. Believe in yourself. Wealth is there, we are all given the potential to make it. Your past and your failures should drive you to continue and strive for the best. Excellence should be there in everything that you are doing. Mediocrity does not have a part if you want to make millions. Discipline is important. I know that you can do it. Take heart my friend because great things start from small beginnings.