And Can I Get an Extra $25,000 for Cure Tickets?

Reader Clay Young points to this great instance of your tax dollars at work: In 2002, the Department of Education approved a $273,000 grant to Blue Springs, Missouri to study why kids there were "going Goth."

According to the KSHB Action News account, town officials ended up spending "only" $132,000, but even then the money was misspent:

What's more infuriating to some is that with all the money spent, Blue Springs still wasn't able to complete what it set out to do. The town hall meetings to educate people about Goth dangers didn't happen. They were replaced by a video documentary and website on Goth and counter cultures. The training sessions for 5,000 people reached 1,200. And as for those assessments and therapy for kids in need, not one child was referred.

Maybe some of the leftover $$$ can go to studying the the dread meance of the Hippy Hippy Shake, which we understand is every bit as popular among kids today as Goth rock.