But read the ‘dvdTalk’ site! owww.

And info from the ‘messages’ site: “…ever since Bill Clinton created it in 1993, AmeriCorps has involved a different sort of flagwaving for its conservative critics, who saw only red at the notion of a bureaucratized paid-“volunteer” program. Under AmeriCorps, about 50,000 members a year sign on to work between 20 and 40 hours a week, for up to two years, in exchange for a $4,725 annual award to use for college costs. About half of the participants also receive a living allowance, bringing the total cost of each AmeriCorps “volunteer” to $14,025 a year, according to Goldsmith.

Bush’s proposal would increase the number of members by 25,000, and impose new accountability measures in response to the programs conservative critics.

But the critics are right: AmeriCorps is a wasteful boondoggle. After a few years of monitoring the program-and armed with critical reports from the General Accounting Office-the House Appropriations Committee eliminated the funding for AmeriCorps. (The program was spared by the Senate.) James Bovard found enough abuses in AmeriCorps to devote a whole chapter to it in his book Feeling Your Pain: The Explosion and Abuse of Government Power in the Clinton-Gore Years. Bovard found plenty of examples of AmeriCorps participants’ wasting their time, engaging in liberal advocacy, and making wildly exaggerated claims about their accomplishments. ” etc …