Pressing Grapes Into Wine With Your Taxes

(CBS)  These federal scientists aren't researching a cure for cancer. Their discoveries are meant to help the grape and wine industry, and your tax dollars are about to provide them with a brand new state-of-the-art facility.

The Center for Grape Research is to be built here in the heart of New York's Finger Lake wine country.

Congress has earmarked more than $11 million dollars so far for the building and hundreds of thousands more for research. That's not to be confused with the $2.6 million they've earmarked to study grapes out in California.

It's not as if Uncle Sam wasn't already investing millions a year in grape research: there are 25 full-time federal scientists working on nothing but grapes. The special earmarks are tax dollars added on top of that by individual members of Congress.

Some of them at a meeting of the House Wine Caucus, including Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y., the driving force behind the New York Grape Center.

He proudly defends earmarking millions of your tax dollars for the project in his home state.

"So when you have a Congress, and particularly an executive branch, dealing adequately with the internal needs of the country, I'm gonna try to step in and meet those needs as best I can," Hinley said.

But the Grape Research Center is not in the same category as roads and bridges and basic needs.

"Well it is," Hinley said. "It's part of basic needs, because it's part of the basic infrastructure of the nation."

"It's become a zero-sum game in which every earmark takes away some money from competitive programs," said Kei Koizumi, of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Koizumi is worried that politicians, not scientists, are determining how research tax dollars are spent.

"The research dollars tend to go to the states or districts of powerful politicians who sit on the money committees of Congress. So it's not evenly distributed," he said. "A scientist who lives in a politically powerful state has a much better chance of getting earmarks than another scientist."

Congressman Hinchey sits on the powerful House spending committee called Appropriations - and says the cost of the Grape building is negligible.

"The cost of this building is what we spend in Iraq in two hours," Hinchey said.

But if you compare anything to the cost of the war in Iraq you can make it sound very tiny, Attkisson said.

"Well it is tiny. It's tiny in comparison to what we're spending in a wasteful way," Hinchey said.

But the "tiny" earmarks add up.

Six million dollars to research new uses for wood

Millions more for the Appalachian Fruit Lab

Hundreds of thousands for potato breeding

And millions to study animal waste

Does Hinchey have any idea what the total number of research earmarks was last year?

"Offhand, I don't know what the total is," he said.

It was $2.6 billion.

"Research earmarks? Two-point-six billion is not nearly enough," Hinchey said.

Which is a pretty good indication there's much more to come. And it better come fast.

Wine may improve with age, but the Grape Research Center just gets more costly. What began as a $20 million project is now closing in on $30 million, and the first brick hasn't even been laid.

[abbe91]

"I see nothing wrong with research on agricultural products. Whether it be wine, wheat or whey. It must have been a really slow newsday to air this.
Posted by maypo402t at 01:27 PM : Oct 27, 2007"

Actually, a bit of wine is good for your health. I wish
heath insurance would pay for it.

[usaprophet]

If he is elected President, Dr. Paul''s will work to abolish the Federal Reserve System as well as the IRS, returning return our country to the Gold Standard. And rather than our current, Personal Income Tax, which he views as unconstitutional, because it''s is a direct tax that is not equally apportioned as the Constitution requires. He beleives that if taxes are raised from private citizens, it should be done as the Constitution DOES require, in the form of a National Sales Tax. Under this form of taxation, the rich and powerful cannot avoid taxes through their artfully-crafted tax shelters. Everyone would be taxed EQUALLY. This system would benefit all of us, creating more individual wealth, and allowing us to make more decisions for ourselves about our lives. Dr. Paul will also work to abolish the Federal Reserve, a group of private banks which loans our government money that they print out of thin air, making each dollar in your pocket worth less. The Fed is run by unelected officials who are not required to be accountable to we the people. Worse, our economy and our very independence as a nation is increasingly in the hands of foreign governments such as China and Saudi Arabia, which finance our runaway spending. If we don''t cut spending now, especially overseas military spending, higher taxes and economic disaster will be our future. The guidelines we need for governing taxation and spending is called the Constitution. Ron Paul has ACTUALLY read it! ronpaullibrary.org

[usaprophet]

I want to report a major fire, my friends. Our Constitution is on fire. And it''s currently being burned in Congress. See H.R. 1955, a.k.a., Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007. I couldn''t believe it. Apparently, activists with Web sites are really begining to anger the elite insofar as they are publically holding them accountable for their evil. Here''s a part of the bill, which passed the house on Oct 23, in spite of Congressman, Ron Paul''s opposition thereto. The right to free speech on the Internet is gone, my friends. Look it up for yourself, and weep for your country that our rights have eroded this far. Here''s a short excerpt from the bill''s DEFINITIONS statement: "The development and implementation of methods and processes that can be utilized to prevent violent radicalization, homegrown terrorism, and ideologically based violence in the United States is critical to combating domestic terrorism." Here''s another excerpt from the bill''s FINDINGS statement: "The Internet has aided in facilitating violent radicalization, ideologically based violence, and the homegrown terrorism process in the United States by providing access to broad and constant streams of terrorist-related propaganda to United States citizens." And guess who get''s to decide what is "terrorist-related propaganda?" You got it! The Department of Homeland Insecurity, an agency that''s answerable ONLY to The President. If Ron Paul isn''t elected, our country is doomed!

[my2centss]

"$20 million project is now closing in on $30 million... the cost of the Grape building is negligible. "

Then why do you go after us for not paying our less than negligible taxes? Some people lose everything over a few thousand.

[tromba59]

Hinchey is absolutely correct. $2.6 billion is no where near enough. Compare $2.6 billion per year to the cost of this ********* war the stupidest president ever started. Economic development research is a good thing. Spending $1.5 TRILLION (CBO estimate) searching the globe for non-white people to kill is not.

[rumboogie3]

Research on grapes, research for breeding potatoes. What''s going on. It is time to up-root these so-called politicians and limit the number of years they can represent us, just like we do the presidency. There are so many things that money can used for. Is this research going to benefit everyone, or just an elite few. Does the common man really care about grapes, do we really need another type of potato. I don''t think so. I am so disgusted with our government. Write your congressman, write your senator and tell them how you feel.

[maypo]

I see nothing wrong with research on agricultural products. Whether it be wine, wheat or whey. It must have been a really slow newsday to air this.

[missingamerica]

Hmmm...and how many people does the wine industry employ - people, that is, who aren''t seasonal migrants from Mexico?

This piece of pork would seem to have a very elite slice of potential beneficiaries...

[bwright923]

Six million dollars to research new uses for wood
Millions more for the Appalachian Fruit Lab
Hundreds of thousands for potato breeding
And millions to study animal waste

Believe it or not, there are pests out there that still affect our food supply. People have grown so far out of touch with where their food comes from that they forget that research has to be done to prevent devastating blights from hitting out economy and our ability to feed ourselves and the world. And as far as the other things that aren''t directly food, they provide employment for thousands of people. Any investment in research will be visited back a thousand fold.
The U.S. wine industry contributes $162 Billion to the economy.

[bb19631]

I have grapes in my front yard, come research those for Free!!