My kind of earmarks:

[hedgehog]

Obama Requested $2.5 Million For The Illinois Program For Integrated Sustainable Agriculture At The University Of Illinois College Of ACES. In 2006, Obama requested $2.5 million the University of Illinois College of ACES Illinois Program for Integrated Sustainable Agriculture. The Illinois Program for Integrated Sustainable Agriculture will research and develop an integrated livestock and corn-soybean production system which will recycle valuable nutrients from the animal waste stream in an effort to improve agricultural productivity and reduce the emission of livestock wastes into the environment.


Obama Requested $900,000 For The Women's Sports Foundation’s Go Girl Go Chicago Initiative. In 2006, Obama requested $900,000 for the Women’s Sports Foundation’s Go Girl Go initiative, which targets inactive teenagers between the ages of 8 and 18 who are at-risk for social behavioral indiscretions including dropping out of school and becoming involved in drugs, alcohol, and other risky health and social behavior. The program is delivered through partner youth-serving schools and organizations. GoGirlGo also provides cash grants to enable socio-economically underprivileged girls to participate in physical activity. The program aims to work with parents, coaches, after school programs and youth organizations to get inactive girls involved in regular physical activity which prevents involvement in other socially risky behavior. GoGirlGo will provide direct financial support, free curriculum materials and technical assistance to schools, recreation agencies and 300 non-profit girl-serving organizations that are committed to addressing the needs of sedentary girls, and the program will serve as the basis for a national model.

Obama Requested $1 Million For The Chicago Botanical Garden To Support Its Seed Bank And Plant Conservation Center. In 2006, Obama requested $1 million for the Chicago Botanical Garden to support its Seed Bank and Plant Conservation Center. In April of 2003, the Chicago Botanic Garden was asked by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew to participate in the Millennium Seed Bank Project. This Project seeks to safeguard the most endangered of the world's plants by conserving more than 24,000 species of seed-bearing plants by 2010. In order to fulfill its role in this mission, the Garden is constructing a new Seed Bank and Plant Conservation Science Center that will significantly expand the capability and capacity of the Chicago Botanic Garden. Funding would go towards construction of the Chicago Botanic Garden Seed Bank and Plant Conservation.


Obama Requested $2 million For The University of Illinois At Chicago Prisoner Reentry, Family And Communities National Resource Center. In 2006, Obama requested $2 million for the University of Illinois at Chicago Prisoner Reentry, Family and Communities National Resource Center. Funding for the Prisoner Reentry, Family and Communities National Resource Center would be utilized to conduct research, education and community outreach activities that will contribute to the successful reentry of former prisoners. The ultimate goal is to enhance public safety, and reduce recidivism by identifying policies, practices and service delivery models that will help returning prisoners become productive members of their communities. Engagement with community organizations to strengthen the community's resources and improve the effectiveness of services provided to returning prisoners will be a central element of this project.

Obama Requested $750,000 For The Windy City Harvest To Support Its Windy City Harvest Resource Center. In 2006, Obama requested $750,000 for the Windy City Harvest To Support Its Windy City Harvest Resource Center. Windy City Harvest (WCH) is a transitional jobs training program that is grounded in a sustainable urban horticulture business. It will supply high demand food and ornamental plans to the local wholesale, retail and institution market and train ready-to-employ workers. The core business will provide pre-employment training, case management, literacy and basic skills training, transitional work experience and job placement services. Thirty to sixty trainees will be accepted into the program annually and the first group will begin in late 2006. As trainees, they will learn how to grow mixed lettuces, spinach and bedding plants, as well as how to process, package and distribute crops directly to retain wholesale markets. In addition, funding will go towards providing trainees basic skills certifications in areas such as food preparation, food safety and production, customer service, horticulture, landscape maintenance and materials handling.

Obama Requested $600,000 For The International Arid Lands Consortium’s For Research And Demonstration Projects On Providing Water Resources For Arid Lands. In 2006, Obama requested $600,000 for the International Arid Lands Consortium to support its WRDA project. Transitional and local disputes over water rights have the potential to increase tensions in the Middle East and elsewhere in the world. Water shortages reduce the potential for agricultural production, preserving unique desert wetlands, improving the quality of human life, and even insuring human survival in arid regions around the globe. Water scarcity is increasingly important in the western United States and Mexico as a prolonged, natural drought cycle reduces the stability of industry, agriculture, and even current human population levels in this region. The International Arid Lands Consortium (IALC) is focusing its research and demonstrating projects on providing methods for conserving water resources in arid lands, and funding would go to support that effort.


More at:

http://answercenter.barackobama.com/cgi-bin/barackobama.cfg/php/enduser/std_alp.php

Earmarks are listed as the second item on the list.

and

http://obama.senate.gov/press/070621-obama_announces_3/

[Connie_Corleone]

1. He doesn't just talk the talk. He walks the walk too.

[LTR]

2. Also wanted more traffic lights up in his district

I remember reading that.

As someone who constantly complains about the lack of much-needed lights in my neighborhood (on a street with two schools) and at a heavily-trafficked freeway intersection nearby, I find absolutely no fault with this.

[sudopod]

3. Flying...

KICK

[redqueen]

4. Good stuff.

Thanks.

:)

[hedgehog]

5. On the other hand......

The New York Sun reported that Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Schumer had secured $123 million in Defense Department funds for New York projects for which the Defense Department had not requested funding, but that had benefited contributors to the New York senators' election campaigns.

http://www.nysun.com/article/26538

Clinton’s earmarks often directly benefit specific corporations and businessmen, who, in turn, make large contributions to her campaign. This “pay-to-play” earmarking, as one left-leaning budget watchdog group put it, highlights the truly dirty side of earmarks and plays to McCain’s most famous theme: the corrosive effects of money in politics.

...

Clinton’s most eye-catching earmarks might be the two $5 million line items for a mall in upstate New York. The Syracuse mall, called DestiNY, made a grand entrance into federal politics in 2005, when Clinton, together with local congressman James Walsh, Republican, put $10 million of earmarks for the project into the highway bill. Syracuse City Councilwoman Stephanie Miner, who is supporting Clinton for president, called government funding for the mall “corporate welfare.”

The developer behind the project is New Yorker Robert J. Congel, who has been a generous contributor to politicians, mostly Republicans. They make an exception for Clinton, however. Federal Election Commission records show Congel and his wife have contributed $26,700 to Clinton’s campaigns and political action committees. Clinton has also pocketed thousands in contributions from Congel’s family and business associates. The Los Angeles Times reports that Congel also held a fundraiser for Clinton that netted $50,000.

http://prairiepundit.blogspot.com/2008/02/clinton-mccain-in-different-corners-on.html

[redqueen]

6. Yeah... my first response was:

What, no love for defense contractors? Where are his priorities?!

But really at this point, anyone who's STILL ignoring it, I just figure they don't give a shit.

[tabasco]

7. Thinking long-term!

This is the kind of leadership we need!