Another Republican, another stupid thing said

You know, when I look back these last few weeks I've been blogging, Liberals seem to have an unfair (or perhaps very fair) advantage over Republicans when it comes to public relations: they don't stay incredibly stupid, mindless and ignorant things like Republicans seem to do so very often these days. I may be a hardcore Libbie myself, but if a Liberal said something stupid I'd blast his ass like any Republican or politician. The fact that nothing downright idiotic ever seems to come out of Libs' mouths seems like a sign to me ... perhaps that not all Republicans are idiots, but it seems more and more certain that conversely, most idiots seem to be Republicans. (But then, I can't understand what minimally-intelligent person wouldn't favor progress and advancement, which is the Liberal focus, over keeping things in their current and crappy states, which is the texbook definition of 'Conservative'/'Republican' ... But then, don't try to understand inferior mindsets, folks, you'll only hurt yourself.)

Okay, I've digressed enough as it is from this post's subject. Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana commented on President Obama's recent speech concerning the Stimulus Package, and lamented that 'something called 'volcano monitoring'' was included in the bill.

'Something called 'volcano monitoring'' ... are you kidding me? This is the kind of intellect that's classified as a 'rising star' in the Republican party?

(CNN) -- Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal's swipe at federal spending to monitor volcanoes has the mayor of one city in the shadow of Mount St. Helens fuming.

"Does the governor have a volcano in his backyard?" Royce Pollard, the mayor of Vancouver, Washington, said on Wednesday. "We have one that's very active, and it still rumbles and spits and coughs very frequently."

Jindal singled out a $140 million appropriation for the U.S. Geological Survey as an example of questionable government spending during the GOP response to President Barack Obama's address to Congress Tuesday night.

The governor, a rising Republican star, questioned why "something called 'volcano monitoring' " was included in the nearly $800 billion economic stimulus bill Obama signed earlier this month.

"Instead of monitoring volcanoes, what Congress should be monitoring is the eruption of spending in Washington," Jindal said.

What does this ignorant fool think, that the millions spent towards 'volcano monitoring' (which seems fairly straightforward in what that means to me ...) are just thrown into the craters and burned up while the rest is used for expensive wine or something? This moron has zero knowledge about geography, and I bet even most forms (if not all) of basic science.

The $140 million line-item for the USGS includes not only monitoring, but also replacement of aging equipment "and other critical deferred maintenance and improvement projects."

The spending could provide new jobs "no different than the amount of money you would spend on building a street or building a bridge or something," said Danny Boston, an economist at Georgia Tech university in Atlanta, Georgia.

Pollard, a former Army officer who has served as Vancouver's mayor for 14 years, said USGS equipment used to keep tabs on volcanoes is frequently damaged or destroyed. He said he wasn't sure how many jobs the money could produce, but, "For us and the people who live closer to it than Vancouver, it's important."

"We lost lives the last time, and we could lose them again," he said.

Just two of the more prominent volcanoes the USGS is keeping close tabs on, in American territories alone, are the famous Mt. Saint Helens, which had a devastating atypical eruption barely 20 years ago and keeps randomly fuming and trembling to this day, and a smaller peak called Mt. Redoubt, about 100 miles from Anchorage, Alaska. And that's apart the several other active volcanoes spread around the Pacific Northwest, Alaska, and of course Hawaii (you know, the islands that are basically volcanoes in themselves ...). Cutting funding for researching and keeping tabs on these natural hazards is nothing short of manslaughter when one of them decides it's time for an 'explosive comeback' and – whoops! No funding for equipment to warn people and get them evacuated in time.

I understand this Gov. Jindal just wanted to say that he wanted funds to increase jobs in the civilian sector and not the government, but dude, volcano-watching funding is one thing you seriously need not scrimp on. Several million Americans are in direct line of fire from these fiery mountains, apart from the other international summits the USGS also monitors for activity, and if necessary, prevention of casualties.