AmeriCorps

AmeriCorps was started by Bill Clinton in 1993, basically as a Peace Corps rip-off organization, just run by the Federal Government instead.  The group was to be an “army” of do-gooder volunteers serving communities nationwide.  Unfortunately, it has actually been replete with waste, fraud and radical projects, with less than half the members who start the projects even finishing them.

For instance, President Clinton once boasted that AmeriCorps “taught millions of children to read.”  Although studies later put the true number at closer to a dozen or less.  But we expect politicians to exaggerate.

Anyway, the group is still around, surviving both Bush terms of office thus far.  Now they’re being organized for an incursion into the Badger State (Wisconsin) and deployed to attack vegetation.  “From what we can tell, this is going to be the largest single one-day volunteer event to combat invasive species in Wisconsin history,” Kelly Kearns, the state’s Department of Natural Resources Manager, told Madison’s Capital Times .

That’s right, the 450 person strong “army” is going to wage a deadly war against Garlic Mustard, Buchthorn, Honeysuckle and other harmless, innocent wild plants!  According to The Times “Physical labor will include pulling, baggingand removing plants to prevent any seeds from escaping to return next year.”

And to think, the budget for AmeriCorps this year (2008) was in excess of $828.6 BILLION dollars.  We’re paying 450 landscapers $828.6 BILLION a year!  That’s $1.84 BILLION per person!  WOW!

Where can I enlist in the AmeriCorps Army!?!

Note: this thread is supposed to be humorous, but is also factual.  Not unusual though, the government tends to waste a large sum of money for little to no return on the investments.  But common, $829 billion to pull weeds???  Couldn’t the home owners out there just buy a few bottles of Weed-B-Gone and be done with it one yard at a time?