Whatever floats your boat, compare it to all of those things ... but what's your point? The money is being spent, period. And the things you've listed are drops in the bucket compared to the military spending... so again, you fail at perspective. What 'pet projects' is the National Priorities Project involved in? List them for me.. once again, they're just alternatives for perspective, not endorsements for their own 'pet projects' How about $1.4M: http://www.woai.com/content/blogs/headlines/story/Discuss-Obamas-failed-Olympic-bid-cost-estimated/8guP0ubGvEGVY5N92gRwaQ.cspx And, he met with the commander during that time too, so it wasn't a total loss, even if it was only for 25 minutes.