The Angry White Guy

Recovery.pork

Posted July 20th 2009 at 12:15 pm by AWG

If this isn’t enough to piss off the Pope I don’t know what is…
H/T to Drudge Report for this list…

RECOVERY.GOV ~ AWARDED: $2,531,600 FOR ‘HAM, WATER ADDED, COOKED, FROZEN, SLICED, 2-LB’…

RECOVERY.GOV ~ AWARDED: $1,191,200 FOR ’2 POUND FROZEN HAM SLICED’…

RECOVERY.GOV ~ AWARDED: $351,807 FOR ‘REPLACE AND UPGRADE THE DUMBWAITER’…

RECOVERY.GOV ~ AWARDED: $1,562,568 FOR ‘MOZZARELLA CHEESE’…

RECOVERY.GOV ~ AWARDED: $5,708,260 FOR ‘PROCESS CHEESE’…

RECOVERY.GOV ~ AWARDED: $16,784,272 FOR ‘CANNED PORK’…

RECOVERY.GOV ~ AWARDED: $1,444,100 FOR ‘REPAIR DOOR BLDG 5112′…

RECOVERY.GOV ~ AWARDED: $541,119 FOR ‘INSTALL TRAFFIC SIGNAL’…

Response to Drudge Item on Recovery Act Funding Statement from Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack

“Through the Recovery Act, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has made $100 million available to the states for The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), which acquires food that is distributed to local organizations that assist the needy – including food banks, food pantries, and soup kitchens.

The Recovery Act funds referenced in press reports allowed states to purchase ham, cheese and dairy products for these food banks, soup kitchens and food pantries that provide assistance to people who otherwise do not have access to food. This program will help reduce hunger of those hardest hit by the current economic recession.

The references to “2 pound frozen ham sliced” are to the sizes of the packaging. Press reports suggesting that the Recovery Act spent $1.191 million to buy “2 pounds of ham” are wrong. In fact, the contract in question purchased 760,000 pounds of ham for $1.191 million, at a cost of approximately $1.50 per pound. In terms of the dairy purchase referenced, USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) purchased 837,936 pounds of mozzarella cheese and 4,039,200 pounds of processed cheese. The canned pork purchase was 8,424,000 pounds at a cost of $16,784,000, or approximately $1.99 per pound.

While the principal purpose of these expenditures is to provide food to those hardest hit by these tough times, the purchases also provide a modest economic benefit of benefiting Americans working at food retailers, manufacturers and transportation companies as well as the farmers and ranchers who produce our food supply.”

Government pays $1.50 a pound while Food Giant sells it retail for $0.79 pound.

Let’s explore more…

The closest “recovery” I found to my house is… $2,500,000 at the PADUCAH REMEDIATION SERVICES LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY for RECOVERY REPLACE WAGE DETERMINATIONS… WTF is that?

Well I called PADUCAH REMEDIATION SERVICES LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY to find out what RECOVERY REPLACE WAGE DETERMINATIONS is and according to HR it’s to create 100 jobs… BUT also according to there web site they have no job posting as of this writing and if they have a job posting you have to be a 3161? What the hell is a 3161 status? Well again according to the human resources spokeswomen I talked to it laid off government workers.

This is what is said on their site…

Candidates eligible for 3161 status must so indicate on resume or cover sheet and provide a copy of their 3161 Preference-in-Hiring form. Section 3161 of the National Defense Authorization Act requires PRS to give preference in hiring to qualified 3161-eligible displaced DOE contractor employees before other external hiring takes place on DOE-funded work.

PRS is an equal opportunity employer. Applicants receive consideration without regard to race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.

I’ve Googled 3161 job status and I found this…

SRS CONTRACTOR PREFERENCE IN HIRING PROCEDURE

Section 3161 of the National Defense Authorization Act of FY 1993 provides that, to the extent practicable, eligible terminated employees at a defense nuclear facility should receive preference in filling all prime contractor and subcontractor job vacancies. The Department has determined that employees must be identified as having helped maintain the Nation’s nuclear deterrent during the Cold War in order to qualify for this preference. The preference should be honored by all contractor and subcontractors with contracts that equal or exceed $500,000 in value, except subcontracts for commercial items defined as commodities and service

So according to the spokeswomen they are going to hire 100 people for $2.5 million or $25,000 a head including benefits or what I calculate to be something around minimum wage to work with nuclear waste at USEC in Paducah, KY which this company doesn’t clearly define their affiliation with for what ever reason. USEC is actually uranium enrichment plant which still causes you to glow in the dark so where do I sign up?

What I want to know is where the hell is the transparency? I had to call several people including a Congressman (that had no clue what I was talking about) then dig around several web sites to try and get an answer for some of this spending and I still don’t know where the damn money is going. Really “RECOVERY REPLACE WAGE DETERMINATIONS” what the hell is that? Seems to be a little thin on the details, seems to be lacking transparency and it’s happening again and again on the Recovery.gov website.

By the way if you are keeping note… all those Stimulus Job going to USEC in Paducah are UNION jobs. Think about it… that would be Obamabots.

Other project use terms I found…

“DEOBLIGATION OF FUNDS” … first as far as I know “deobligation” isn’t even a word but it’s costing us millions. However, “Deobligation of Funds” has a handbook.

But I took a look at the projects in my state of Kentucky I found a lot of mowing of campgrounds, maintaining park trails, building a fence around a campground and I ask how the hell is this stimulus? Where is the improved roads, the bridges, where are the job, jobs, jobs for the private sector? Everything listed is jobs for the state or federal government.

Take a look at your state and see if you fill stimulated.

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