Here at Sip & Savor we’ve spent some time blogging about various unscientific attacks on our industry’s products and ingredients.  And we’ve also blogged about our support for real stimulus – stimulus as it was intended, to create and retain jobs, not kill them.  That’s why we’d like to share with you an interesting Washington Times article that ran today, pointing out some of the ways in which our $814 billion dollars in stimulus funds are being spent – including $870,000 being spent by the New York City Department of Mental Health and Hygiene to run an anti-soda advertising campaign. Yes, this is an issue of concern to our industry.  But there are a number of ways in which stimulus dollars appear to be misdirected.  In fact, yesterday’s Wall Street Journal included a story about how House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., is hoping to address this very issue through a number of amendments he has put on the table.  Rep. Issa has taken the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation to task, offering amendments to restrict spending stimulus dollars received to fund specific studies.  And what topics are among them?  Get ready…

Studying the impact of integral yoga on hot flashes in menopausal women; Studying condom use skills in adult males; Studying whether video games improve mental health for the elderly; and… Examining the potential impact of a soda tax on population health

We applaud Rep. Issa for offering some common sense into the debate – and we’re anxious to see where his amendments pan out.  If nothing else, his amendments are drawing attention to blatant misuse of taxpayer dollars.