Jindal

I'm always impressed at how the Republican party preys on stupidity. There are a number of examples, climate change is a farce, tax cuts can fix everything, blah blah blah. Last night in a speech that even conservatives thought was pretty awful, Jindal attacked stimulus money going to volcano monitoring.

Now if you weren't familiar with the program or with it's history you might join Jindal's outrage over this program. I'll let Nate Silver clear things up.

The USGS and PHIVOLCS estimate that their forecasts saved at least 5,000 lives
and perhaps as many as 20,000.

And

In addition to the many lives saved, property worth hundreds of millions of
dollars was protected from damage or destruction in the eruption. When aircraft
and other equipment at the U.S. bases were flown to safe areas or covered,
losses of at least $200 to 275 million were averted. Philippine and other
commercial airlines prevented at least another $50 to 100 million in damage to
aircraft by taking similar actions.