Economic stimulus shouldn't stimulate torture racket

Few would argue that economic stimulus is a bad thing - except when it's abused to benefit unsavory organizations.

With economic stimulus in the news lately, we're all going to have to keep a very close eye on where this money goes.

Teen confinement facilities are experienced at begging for (and getting) handouts. If you read about a phony "rehab" cult, an abusive wilderness program, or a teen psychiatric gulag - whether it's nominally nonprofit or not - odds are that it's received a generous government grant at some point.

Our elected representatives of all parties are quite slipshod at dishing out taxpayer money to these fraudsters. Some legislators know that these programs are scams but keep giving them money anyway; others have been indoctrinated with so much programmy propaganda that they refuse to believe that these programs are anything but charitable endeavors.

So we're all going to have to be very careful at watching where congressional earmarks go.

I can almost guarantee you that some of the taxpayers' hard-earned money is going to be earmarked for abusive programs. It's up to all of us to identify these earmarks and make sure they never pass.