Bureaucrats, Cocaine and Quail

            Remember this blogpost the next time some government bureaucrat is crying for more of your money and elected officials are raising your taxes.  The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded nearly $200,000 of your money to a researcher at the University of Kentucky to study how cocaine enhances the sex drive of Japanese quail.  I wish I had an imagination so good that I could make this up but no, unfortunately it is all too true. 

          NIH bureaucrats have a long history of spending your money foolishly, but this one deserves some kind of award.  RuminationsBlog has previously covered NIH studies of prostitutes in China and Vietnam, and another to determine why gay men engage in risky behaviors while drunk. 

          The grant description of this excursion into malfeasance states, “cocaine use in humans may increase sexual motivation, thereby increasing the likelihood of the occurrence of high-risk sexual behavior.”  Additionally they state that such behaviors include, “sex with multiple partners, and unprotected sex.”  The study notes that these risky behaviors, “have been linked with considerable health consequences, such as the transmission of HIV and hepatitis C.”  Sifting through the jargon, the goal of this study is to explore how bad choices (illegal drugs) lead to bad consequences (HIV and hepatitis).  My parents explained that to me for free.    

          Congress and the NIH are out of control, spending money on projects that are wasteful and unnecessary.  This fleecing of taxpayers is especially repugnant during a recession with so many looking for work or struggling.   

Tax Dollars to Study Prostitutes, Again

            The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded over one million dollars to study prostitutes in Asia.  The year the ongoing project will study the “social milieu” of male prostitutes in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, with your money.  In part, the tax dollars will be used to, “recruit young men who have recently initiated male sex work for participation in a one year series of ethnographic interviews to describe the unique vulnerabilities associated with the early course of male sex work.”  Just in case you think I could make this up, here is a link to the study proposal on the NIH website. 

            I’ve already reported how this same project funded a study of Chinese prostitutes so, I suppose it is only natural for them to move on to male prostitutes in another part of Asia.    

            Because of our growing budget deficit, the federal government regularly borrows money from China.  These same elected representatives turn around and use the money to study prostitutes in China and Vietnam.  Then these officials pass the bill to you and me.  Do you really believe that anyone in Washington cares about how much you are taxed or how they spend your money?   

Tax Dollars to Study Prostitutes

The United States government has decided to study prostitutes. Yes, the federal government has determined that during this time of economic crisis, home foreclosure and job loss, the best use of your money is to research the drinking habits of prostitutes. However, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is not content to study local harlots, they desire something more exotic. These dedicated scientists have decided they must spend over two million dollars of your money to study Chinese prostitutes. Yes, I mean the ones in China. The purpose of the study is to learn how to teach the women to drink responsibly on the job. (I wish I was making this up, I really do.)

Using your tax dollars these faithful public servants will visit over 100 Chinese brothels and get to know over 700 prostitutes and 150 pimps and madams over the five year period of the study. All of this will be done solely for the advancement of science, we are told. Perhaps when they’re done with this penetrating study of whores they can transfer to the NIH study of Argentinean bars. (No, I’m not making that one up either.) The purpose of that study is to determine why gay men engage in risky behaviors while drunk. After hours of ruminating I think I have the answer. They engage in risky behaviors because they are drunk. (Maybe I should get a job as a consultant on the study.)

To be fair, the NIH spending orgy (and there has never been a more appropriate use of the term) started under the Bush Administration, but it has continued under the current president. President Obama has called upon Americans to make sacrifices for the economic recovery of the nation. Are these “studies” what the federal government terms “necessary spending?” I think not.

Scientists for the NIH have become rogues, lurking in bars and brothels across the globe. Uncle Sam needs to cut their allowance and bring them home.