Pressing Grapes Into Wine With Your Taxes

N.Y. Congressman Has Earmarked Millions For Wine Industry Research

(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.

© MMVII, CBS Interactive, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Add a Comment See all 36 Comments

by mj_ag_man October 26, 2007 7:07 PM PDT

Being a horticulture and viticulture student/researcher, I happen to agree with Congressman Hinchey as to there not being nearly enough federal spending on agricultural research. Not only is the USDA lacking funding, manpower and support on Capitol Hill, but the United States, home to the single largest agricultural empire in the world (after all, we feed nearly a third of the world through exports) but we have slipped so far in the research catagory that we have been relying on nations such as Thailand and The Philippines for nearly half of our current research. All the while, the diseases have increased, new insects have arrived from foreign shore and an increasing reliance on chemical fertilizers have all eroded our strong agricultural infrastructure. I, for one, only hope that our federal government will continue to expand, not wither, our well deserved spending on our food supply. It''s also about time our representatives realize they can spend money wiser when spending it on our own nation, not ones that are eternal money-pits overseas. Thanks for reading this.

Reply to this comment

by Krazcarl October 26, 2007 7:31 PM PDT

This is beyond retarded I grew up on a farm and am partial to farming but this paying off political debts a blind man can see it. With a trillion dollar deficit we have 0 cash for these pork barrel projects period it''s time to start censuring these idiots,

Reply to this comment

by kewlchat-2009 October 26, 2007 7:42 PM PDT

This stuff is just part of why our country it bound for failure politicians just playing a game to get each other ritch while millions if not billions in america cant even meet our basic needs for food water and shelter it makes me sick...
my father fought for this country now its being run by a bunch of thieves and the media yes you msnbc and fox and cnn you make it possiable for them to do that thanks.. for helping to destroy our once* great nation with all your greed!!!!!!!!!!!
When will we wake up and stand up for ourselfs?

Reply to this comment

by trailzzone October 26, 2007 7:49 PM PDT

Congressman Hinchey is right. The Bush Administration wastes more money every 20 minutes in Iraq. Why don''t you report that instead of wasting our time with poorly researched stories like this!

Reply to this comment

by trailzzone October 26, 2007 7:52 PM PDT

Congressman Hinchey is right. The Bush Administration wastes more money every 20 minutes in Iraq. Why don''t you report that instead of wasting our time with poorly researched stories like this!

Reply to this comment

by speakinup October 26, 2007 8:04 PM PDT

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

Gee, why don''t we give me two million then if it is only two hours worth. I''ll tell you why NOT mister Hinchey - fuggin Democrap - because those grapes ain''t gonna save your life.

DEMS. They just don''t get it it, do they !

If we don''t call it pork - it ain''t pork! Another pile of dogshist for the flies to land on and eat. Where is feelfree and J-w anyway ?

Reply to this comment

by rudy654-2009 October 26, 2007 8:22 PM PDT

The problem I have with this kind of tax funded research, the very same kind that is done with drug research at tax payer expense, is that whatever successes come out of this research, it comes back to us as a charge on our account. For example, we pay taxes for drug research, the companies develop a new medication, then turn around and charge us megabucks for it as if they came up with the whole thing on their own. Sort of like our taxes going to fund the gas companies. Yeah, see, we pay for them to go and explore new areas and drill for petroleum, etc. and then they turn around and charge as $90 a barrel, giving us nothing back for our investment. And of course, don''t pretend not to know that they use those wonderful profits to buy off the politicians of all parties to keep that funding going. See how crazy it all is?

Reply to this comment

by likeitis5050 October 26, 2007 8:26 PM PDT

Boy, am I glad the issue of earmarks is behind us, what with the bill that was passed just a month ago!!! Imagine how bad it would be if they hadn''t protected us from earmarks attached to important bills!!

We need to look at this differently. Earmarks are the new industry that has replaced all the other industries now operating in China and India. And to quote an old f..art Congressman who has been rooted in his position for some 40 years, when everyone was in an uproar over the last pay raise they immediately gave themselves once in office..."Oh, they always complain when we give ourselves money but they get over it soon enough"... And he should have added, "and what are they going to do about it? Nothing!"

Reply to this comment

by Krazcarl October 26, 2007 8:49 PM PDT

ruby646...I kew an entomologist a long time ago he told me what you do with government research money is keep 2 sets of papers one indicating failure one with the real results so later you pattern the discovery and keep it for yourself the other way the government gets all rights it''s common practice at major universities that''s why so little is developed by government funding it''s being abused and not one individual has been charged with it there breakthrough always comes after the funding has dried up or they give a very little to look good and get more cash a very common practice why were so far behind the ball there waiting till things are cool so they can get the proceeds from their discoveries.

Reply to this comment

by toolmangler-2009 October 26, 2007 9:15 PM PDT

Thievery is thievery whether it is done by a holdup man or a Gvmnt rep. One goes to jail if caught and the other is most times re-elected.

Reply to this comment

by dweeb9 October 26, 2007 9:26 PM PDT

This story was completely retarded. You made it sound as if all scientific research should be spent on things like cancer research. What you dummies don''t realize is how there are many areas of scientific research that yield results that benefit us, and this research needs funding. Of course more funds should be given to more important areas, but that doesn''t mean nothing should go to others, like researching grapes.

Reply to this comment

by dweeb9 October 26, 2007 9:29 PM PDT

This story was completely retarded. You made it sound as if all scientific research should be spent on things like cancer research. What you dummies don''t realize is how there are many areas of scientific research that yield results that benefit us, and this research needs funding. Of course more funds should be given to more important areas, but that doesn''t mean nothing should go to others, like researching grapes.

Reply to this comment

by nolibnoneoco October 26, 2007 9:46 PM PDT

ask him to leave and do not look back .

Reply to this comment

by nolibnoneoco October 26, 2007 9:49 PM PDT

wine is not a major concern when we have our girls and boys and our seasoned soldiers dieing in a foolish blood bath. get real , we can study wine by ourselves on saturday night. if you can turn war into wine then ok study how , other wise no more whineing about sientifics of grapes.

Reply to this comment

by lx13 October 26, 2007 10:05 PM PDT

Thank you for covering this story. Its hard to believe that publicly funded, and privately owned happens so much in this country! It seems so scandalous that the public money, is used to fund all these pet projects, and when the projects become profitable, the profits go back to the PRIVATELY owned company, and the public, who funded it, sees nothing, except maybe a high price at the store, to purchase the "wine" , or the publicly funded research "drugs", now sold at a profit...back to the public..

How on earth can the government justify spending this amount of money to study grapes, but not on health care for little sick babies? Priorities people! oh, wait, Chicago School of Economics at work here, no social spending, and privatize every industry, while at the same time let the private enterprise be supported by public funding...... scandalous.

Reply to this comment

by lx13 October 26, 2007 10:07 PM PDT

Thank you for covering this story. Its hard to believe that publicly funded, and privately owned happens so much in this country! It seems so scandalous that the public money, is used to fund all these pet projects, and when the projects become profitable, the profits go back to the PRIVATELY owned company, and the public, who funded it, sees nothing, except maybe a high price at the store, to purchase the "wine" , or the publicly funded research "drugs", now sold at a profit...back to the public..

How on earth can the government justify spending this amount of money to study grapes, but not on health care for little sick babies? Priorities people! oh, wait, Chicago School of Economics at work here, no social spending, and privatize every industry, while at the same time let the private enterprise be supported by public funding...... scandalous.

Reply to this comment

by lx13 October 26, 2007 10:27 PM PDT

Thank you for covering this story. Its hard to believe that publicly funded, and privately owned happens so much in this country! It seems so scandalous that the public money, is used to fund all these pet projects, and when the projects become profitable, the profits go back to the PRIVATELY owned company, and the public, who funded it, sees nothing, except maybe a high price at the store, to purchase the "wine" , or the publicly funded research "drugs", now sold at a profit...back to the public..

How on earth can the government justify spending this amount of money to study grapes, but not on health care for little sick babies? Priorities people! oh, wait, Chicago School of Economics at work here, no social spending, and privatize every industry, while at the same time let the private enterprise be supported by public funding...... scandalous.

Reply to this comment

by standlee5 October 26, 2007 10:38 PM PDT

Are they clueless, are they tone deaf, are they stupid,or what. What don''t they get about this. We''re sick and TIRED OF THEM THROWING OUR HARD EARNED TAX DOLLARS DOWN THE DRAIN. Tell Congress loud and clear to stop playing MONOPOLY with OUR tax dollars. Then vote them all out.

Reply to this comment

by lx13 October 26, 2007 11:04 PM PDT

Thank you for covering this story. Its hard to believe that publicly funded, and privately owned happens so much in this country! It seems so scandalous that the public money, is used to fund all these pet projects, and when the projects become profitable, the profits go back to the PRIVATELY owned company, and the public, who funded it, sees nothing, except maybe a high price at the store, to purchase the "wine" , or the publicly funded research "drugs", now sold at a profit...back to the public..

How on earth can the government justify spending this amount of money to study grapes, but not on health care for little sick babies? Priorities people! oh, wait, Chicago School of Economics at work here, no social spending, and privatize every industry, while at the same time let the private enterprise be supported by public funding...... scandalous.

Reply to this comment

by jonesforch October 26, 2007 11:47 PM PDT

LX13

How on earth can the government.

It is not government...it is congress and who is charge of the congress? I know do you?

Reply to this comment

by lx13 October 27, 2007 12:01 AM PDT

Thank you for covering this story. Its hard to believe that publicly funded, and privately owned happens so much in this country! It seems so scandalous that the public money, is used to fund all these pet projects, and when the projects become profitable, the profits go back to the PRIVATELY owned company, and the public, who funded it, sees nothing, except maybe a high price at the store, to purchase the "wine" , or the publicly funded research "drugs", now sold at a profit...back to the public..

How on earth can the government justify spending this amount of money to study grapes, but not on health care for little sick babies? Priorities people! oh, wait, Chicago School of Economics at work here, no social spending, and privatize every industry, while at the same time let the private enterprise be supported by public funding...... scandalous.

Reply to this comment

by jonesforch October 27, 2007 12:13 AM PDT

LX13

Nothing new you have to repeat yourself?

Reply to this comment

by jimkun October 27, 2007 3:45 AM PDT

Obviously a very slanted article. Why do some reports try to pass opinions as news stories? Perhaps because Fox "News" has become so successful with it.

I wouldn''t mind if the report would just simply list facts but you can tell by the choice of words that the reporter is expressing the reporter''s own opinion.

Reply to this comment

by crater7 October 27, 2007 5:56 AM PDT

WINE FOR THE ELETE.

TOO HELL WITH THE CHILDREN.

STAY THE COURSE...............

Reply to this comment

by ziparmux October 27, 2007 6:18 AM PDT

Obviously a very slanted article. Why do some reports try to pass opinions as news stories? Perhaps because Fox "News" has become so successful with it.

I wouldn''''t mind if the report would just simply list facts but you can tell by the choice of words that the reporter is expressing the reporter''''s own opinion.


Posted by jimkun at 03:45 AM : Oct 27, 2007


Fox news and Bill O''Reilly, to be frank I am speechless, the more I watch this guy, I cannot believe..... surely you have some kind of media television ''watchdog'', as we refer to them here in the UK there in the US!
This man is a menace to US society, free speech and democracy, and a cancer within your country that needs to be cut out ASAP.

Reply to this comment

by bb19631 October 27, 2007 7:47 AM PDT

We as tax paying citizens need to over haul our politians, vote them idiots out. It''s time for the people to stand up against the government, to stop this negligent waste of money on ignorant ***. SUCH AS RESEARCHING GRAPES!!!!! The money spend on grapes could have been used on the homeless and the poor for food and shelter. Also, healthcare.

Reply to this comment

by bb19631 October 27, 2007 7:49 AM PDT

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

Reply to this comment

by bwright923 October 27, 2007 10:41 AM PDT

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.

Reply to this comment

by missingamerica October 27, 2007 12:15 PM PDT

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...

Reply to this comment

by maypo October 27, 2007 1:27 PM PDT

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.

Reply to this comment

by rumboogie3 October 27, 2007 2:34 PM PDT

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.

Reply to this comment

by tromba59 October 27, 2007 10:21 PM PDT

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.

Reply to this comment

by my2centss October 28, 2007 9:01 AM PDT

"$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.

Reply to this comment

by usaprophet October 28, 2007 6:21 PM PDT

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!

Reply to this comment

by usaprophet October 28, 2007 7:43 PM PDT

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

Reply to this comment

by abbe91 October 29, 2007 9:31 AM PDT

"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.

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[mj_ag_man]

Being a horticulture and viticulture student/researcher, I happen to agree with Congressman Hinchey as to there not being nearly enough federal spending on agricultural research. Not only is the USDA lacking funding, manpower and support on Capitol Hill, but the United States, home to the single largest agricultural empire in the world (after all, we feed nearly a third of the world through exports) but we have slipped so far in the research catagory that we have been relying on nations such as Thailand and The Philippines for nearly half of our current research. All the while, the diseases have increased, new insects have arrived from foreign shore and an increasing reliance on chemical fertilizers have all eroded our strong agricultural infrastructure. I, for one, only hope that our federal government will continue to expand, not wither, our well deserved spending on our food supply. It''s also about time our representatives realize they can spend money wiser when spending it on our own nation, not ones that are eternal money-pits overseas. Thanks for reading this.

[Krazcarl]

This is beyond retarded I grew up on a farm and am partial to farming but this paying off political debts a blind man can see it. With a trillion dollar deficit we have 0 cash for these pork barrel projects period it''s time to start censuring these idiots,

[kewlchat-2009]

This stuff is just part of why our country it bound for failure politicians just playing a game to get each other ritch while millions if not billions in america cant even meet our basic needs for food water and shelter it makes me sick...
my father fought for this country now its being run by a bunch of thieves and the media yes you msnbc and fox and cnn you make it possiable for them to do that thanks.. for helping to destroy our once* great nation with all your greed!!!!!!!!!!!
When will we wake up and stand up for ourselfs?

[trailzzone]

Congressman Hinchey is right. The Bush Administration wastes more money every 20 minutes in Iraq. Why don''t you report that instead of wasting our time with poorly researched stories like this!

[trailzzone]

Congressman Hinchey is right. The Bush Administration wastes more money every 20 minutes in Iraq. Why don''t you report that instead of wasting our time with poorly researched stories like this!

[speakinup]

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

Gee, why don''t we give me two million then if it is only two hours worth. I''ll tell you why NOT mister Hinchey - fuggin Democrap - because those grapes ain''t gonna save your life.

DEMS. They just don''t get it it, do they !

If we don''t call it pork - it ain''t pork! Another pile of dogshist for the flies to land on and eat. Where is feelfree and J-w anyway ?

[rudy654-2009]

The problem I have with this kind of tax funded research, the very same kind that is done with drug research at tax payer expense, is that whatever successes come out of this research, it comes back to us as a charge on our account. For example, we pay taxes for drug research, the companies develop a new medication, then turn around and charge us megabucks for it as if they came up with the whole thing on their own. Sort of like our taxes going to fund the gas companies. Yeah, see, we pay for them to go and explore new areas and drill for petroleum, etc. and then they turn around and charge as $90 a barrel, giving us nothing back for our investment. And of course, don''t pretend not to know that they use those wonderful profits to buy off the politicians of all parties to keep that funding going. See how crazy it all is?

[likeitis5050]

Boy, am I glad the issue of earmarks is behind us, what with the bill that was passed just a month ago!!! Imagine how bad it would be if they hadn''t protected us from earmarks attached to important bills!!

We need to look at this differently. Earmarks are the new industry that has replaced all the other industries now operating in China and India. And to quote an old f..art Congressman who has been rooted in his position for some 40 years, when everyone was in an uproar over the last pay raise they immediately gave themselves once in office..."Oh, they always complain when we give ourselves money but they get over it soon enough"... And he should have added, "and what are they going to do about it? Nothing!"

[Krazcarl]

ruby646...I kew an entomologist a long time ago he told me what you do with government research money is keep 2 sets of papers one indicating failure one with the real results so later you pattern the discovery and keep it for yourself the other way the government gets all rights it''s common practice at major universities that''s why so little is developed by government funding it''s being abused and not one individual has been charged with it there breakthrough always comes after the funding has dried up or they give a very little to look good and get more cash a very common practice why were so far behind the ball there waiting till things are cool so they can get the proceeds from their discoveries.

[toolmangler-2009]

Thievery is thievery whether it is done by a holdup man or a Gvmnt rep. One goes to jail if caught and the other is most times re-elected.

[dweeb9]

This story was completely retarded. You made it sound as if all scientific research should be spent on things like cancer research. What you dummies don''t realize is how there are many areas of scientific research that yield results that benefit us, and this research needs funding. Of course more funds should be given to more important areas, but that doesn''t mean nothing should go to others, like researching grapes.

[dweeb9]

This story was completely retarded. You made it sound as if all scientific research should be spent on things like cancer research. What you dummies don''t realize is how there are many areas of scientific research that yield results that benefit us, and this research needs funding. Of course more funds should be given to more important areas, but that doesn''t mean nothing should go to others, like researching grapes.

[nolibnoneoco]

ask him to leave and do not look back .

[nolibnoneoco]

wine is not a major concern when we have our girls and boys and our seasoned soldiers dieing in a foolish blood bath. get real , we can study wine by ourselves on saturday night. if you can turn war into wine then ok study how , other wise no more whineing about sientifics of grapes.

[lx13]

Thank you for covering this story. Its hard to believe that publicly funded, and privately owned happens so much in this country! It seems so scandalous that the public money, is used to fund all these pet projects, and when the projects become profitable, the profits go back to the PRIVATELY owned company, and the public, who funded it, sees nothing, except maybe a high price at the store, to purchase the "wine" , or the publicly funded research "drugs", now sold at a profit...back to the public..

How on earth can the government justify spending this amount of money to study grapes, but not on health care for little sick babies? Priorities people! oh, wait, Chicago School of Economics at work here, no social spending, and privatize every industry, while at the same time let the private enterprise be supported by public funding...... scandalous.

[lx13]

Thank you for covering this story. Its hard to believe that publicly funded, and privately owned happens so much in this country! It seems so scandalous that the public money, is used to fund all these pet projects, and when the projects become profitable, the profits go back to the PRIVATELY owned company, and the public, who funded it, sees nothing, except maybe a high price at the store, to purchase the "wine" , or the publicly funded research "drugs", now sold at a profit...back to the public..

How on earth can the government justify spending this amount of money to study grapes, but not on health care for little sick babies? Priorities people! oh, wait, Chicago School of Economics at work here, no social spending, and privatize every industry, while at the same time let the private enterprise be supported by public funding...... scandalous.

[lx13]

Thank you for covering this story. Its hard to believe that publicly funded, and privately owned happens so much in this country! It seems so scandalous that the public money, is used to fund all these pet projects, and when the projects become profitable, the profits go back to the PRIVATELY owned company, and the public, who funded it, sees nothing, except maybe a high price at the store, to purchase the "wine" , or the publicly funded research "drugs", now sold at a profit...back to the public..

How on earth can the government justify spending this amount of money to study grapes, but not on health care for little sick babies? Priorities people! oh, wait, Chicago School of Economics at work here, no social spending, and privatize every industry, while at the same time let the private enterprise be supported by public funding...... scandalous.

[standlee5]

Are they clueless, are they tone deaf, are they stupid,or what. What don''t they get about this. We''re sick and TIRED OF THEM THROWING OUR HARD EARNED TAX DOLLARS DOWN THE DRAIN. Tell Congress loud and clear to stop playing MONOPOLY with OUR tax dollars. Then vote them all out.

[lx13]

Thank you for covering this story. Its hard to believe that publicly funded, and privately owned happens so much in this country! It seems so scandalous that the public money, is used to fund all these pet projects, and when the projects become profitable, the profits go back to the PRIVATELY owned company, and the public, who funded it, sees nothing, except maybe a high price at the store, to purchase the "wine" , or the publicly funded research "drugs", now sold at a profit...back to the public..

How on earth can the government justify spending this amount of money to study grapes, but not on health care for little sick babies? Priorities people! oh, wait, Chicago School of Economics at work here, no social spending, and privatize every industry, while at the same time let the private enterprise be supported by public funding...... scandalous.

[jonesforch]

LX13

How on earth can the government.

It is not government...it is congress and who is charge of the congress? I know do you?

[lx13]

Thank you for covering this story. Its hard to believe that publicly funded, and privately owned happens so much in this country! It seems so scandalous that the public money, is used to fund all these pet projects, and when the projects become profitable, the profits go back to the PRIVATELY owned company, and the public, who funded it, sees nothing, except maybe a high price at the store, to purchase the "wine" , or the publicly funded research "drugs", now sold at a profit...back to the public..

How on earth can the government justify spending this amount of money to study grapes, but not on health care for little sick babies? Priorities people! oh, wait, Chicago School of Economics at work here, no social spending, and privatize every industry, while at the same time let the private enterprise be supported by public funding...... scandalous.

[jonesforch]

LX13

Nothing new you have to repeat yourself?

[jimkun]

Obviously a very slanted article. Why do some reports try to pass opinions as news stories? Perhaps because Fox "News" has become so successful with it.

I wouldn''t mind if the report would just simply list facts but you can tell by the choice of words that the reporter is expressing the reporter''s own opinion.

[crater7]

WINE FOR THE ELETE.

TOO HELL WITH THE CHILDREN.

STAY THE COURSE...............

[ziparmux]

Obviously a very slanted article. Why do some reports try to pass opinions as news stories? Perhaps because Fox "News" has become so successful with it.

I wouldn''''t mind if the report would just simply list facts but you can tell by the choice of words that the reporter is expressing the reporter''''s own opinion.


Posted by jimkun at 03:45 AM : Oct 27, 2007


Fox news and Bill O''Reilly, to be frank I am speechless, the more I watch this guy, I cannot believe..... surely you have some kind of media television ''watchdog'', as we refer to them here in the UK there in the US!
This man is a menace to US society, free speech and democracy, and a cancer within your country that needs to be cut out ASAP.

[bb19631]

We as tax paying citizens need to over haul our politians, vote them idiots out. It''s time for the people to stand up against the government, to stop this negligent waste of money on ignorant ***. SUCH AS RESEARCHING GRAPES!!!!! The money spend on grapes could have been used on the homeless and the poor for food and shelter. Also, healthcare.

[bb19631]

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

[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.

[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...

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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!

[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

[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.