The report Summertime Blues, a report issued by Senators Tom Coburn (R-OK) and John McCain (R-AZ), on how your stimulus money is being spent is replete with wasteful programs.  Yesterday, Red State reported that $114,541 of your tax dollars are being spent to study the effects of how “monkeys react under the influence of cocaine.”  Earlier today, Red State reported that “the Coburn-McCain report indicates the President Obama is also using $1.9 million of your tax dollars to listen to foreign Ants.”  Now we are learning of $296,385 of your tax dollars being used to study “dog domestication.” 

84. Stimulus Funds Going to the Dogs (Ithaca, NY)

Cornell University scientists have received $296,385 in stimulus funds to study “dog domestication.” Researchers believe that there is common understanding of where dogs descended from, but the progression from there to Lassie “is poorly understood.” They point out that much of the research “has focused on breed dogs, but the diverse populations of semiferal ‘village’ dogs are likely an important key for understanding dog domestication.” A previous Cornell study found that North Africa was probably the origin of dog domestication. In that study, the scientists examined the genetic markers of 318 African dogs and then performed the same test on mixed breed American dogs and street dogs in Puerto Rico. The new study “will likely to [sic] challenge current theories of dog origins and develop village dogs into a useful system for the study of domestication, speciation, behavior and morphology.”

Monkey, Dog and Ant stimulus are not a good use of taxpayers dollars.  President Obama needs to explain why the Administration is spending money on these ridiculous projects.