Stimulus Update: Millions Wasted On Ridiculous Health Studies (Video)

The NIH spending hundred of millions of on studies that critics say are a waste of money.

Connecticut Lawmakers Caught Playing Solitaire During Budget Hearing (Video)

House Minority Leader Lawrence F. Cafero Jr., R-Norwalk, far right, speaks while colleagues play solitaire on their computers as the House convenes to vote on a new budget for the fiscal year in the Capitol on Monday [AP Photo/Jessica Hill]

Outstanding! Politics at its finest. What else could one expect from the land of Chris Dodd!

During a hearing on state budget, Connecticut legislators Barbara Lambert and Jack Hennessy are caught playing computer solitaire. Surprisingly, CNN's Kyra Phillips actually identifies them as Democrats.

Then, Phillips and Rick Sanchez joke about it.

Cash for Clunkers to End on Monday (Video)

Reports indicate that the government is planning to end the Clunkers for Cash program on Monday, Aug. 24 at 8pm. MSNBC's Monica Novotny has the details.

Damn! No more discounts for that guy still driving the lime-green 1972 Ford Pinto!




Breitbart reports:

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Obama administration plans to end the popular $3 billion Cash for Clunkers program on Monday, giving car shoppers a few more days to take advantage of big government incentives.

The Transportation Department said Thursday the government will wind down the program on Monday at 8 p.m. EDT. Car buyers can receive rebates of $3,500 or $4,500 for trading in older vehicles for new, more fuel-efficient models.

"It's been a thrill to be part of the best economic news story in America," Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement. "Now we are working toward an orderly wind down of this very popular program."

Through Thursday, auto dealers have made deals worth $1.9 billion and are on pace to exhaust the program's $3 billion in early September. The incentives have generated more than 457,000 vehicle sales. Administration officials said they have reviewed nearly 40 percent of the transactions and have already paid out $145 million to dealers.

Administration officials said applications for rebates will not be accepted after 8 p.m. EDT Monday and dealers should not make additional sales without receiving all the necessary paperwork from their customers. Dealers will be able to resubmit rejected applications after the deadline.

President Barack Obama said in an interview Thursday that the program has been "successful beyond anybody's imagination" but dealers were overwhelmed by the response of consumers. He pledged that dealers "will get their money."

Dealers have complained of delays in getting reimbursed and backlogs of vehicle paperwork getting processed in the program. Dealers have said they face a risk of not being reimbursed but LaHood has pledged that dealers will get paid for the incentives.

The administration has said it has tripled the number of staffers sorting through the dealer paperwork.

"Cash For Clunkers" Planned Scrapped; Program Sent To Junkyard Where It Belongs!

As of midnight ET, the Chevy is still running TV and radio ads in the New York metro market.

This entire program was a disaster from the start. Visit the official site for all the complicated details. CARS.gov. Apparently, the anticipated two-month incentive program has run out of money after just over a week or so.

Newsweek did a good job explaining the details and how it's a raw deal for car buyers.

Breitbart reports:

WASHINGTON (AP) - Congressional officials say the government plans to suspend the popular "cash for clunkers" program amid concerns it could quickly use up the $1 billion in rebates for new car purchases.

The Transportation Department called congressional offices late Thursday to alert them to the decision to halt the program, which offered owners of old cars and trucks $3,500 or $4,500 toward a new, more fuel-efficient vehicle.


The congressional officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

Through late Wednesday, 22,782 vehicles had been purchased through the program and nearly $96 million had been spent. But dealers raised concerns of large backlogs in the system, prompting the suspension.

Michelle Malkin adds these nuggets:

Good thing they junked it. Alan Reynolds at Cato explains how easy it was to use “Cash for Clunkers” to buy a gas-guzzler.

Good riddance to Fraud on Wheels.

Outrage! Stimulus Bill Funding Porn, "Pervert" Revues In San Francisco Art Houses! (Video)

"We can't afford to make perfect the enemy of the absolutely necessary," Obama said during debate over the stimulus bill in February.

Anyone surprised this is going on in Nancy Pelosi's home turf? Remember, she is the "architect" of the disastrous piece of crap known as the "Stimulus Bill".

Another reason why the NEA is a complete joke and every penny we spend for this frivolous organization is a waste of tax payer dollars.



Fox News reports:

Talk about a stimulus package.

The National Endowment for the Arts may be spending some of the money it received from the Recovery and Reinvestment Act to fund nude simulated-sex dances, Saturday night "pervert" revues and the airing of pornographic horror films at art houses in San Francisco.

The NEA was given $80 million of the government's $787 billion economic stimulus bill to spread around to needy artists nationwide, and most of the money is being spent to help preserve jobs in museums, orchestras, theaters and dance troupes that have been hit hard by the recession.

But some of the NEA's grants are spicing up more than the economy. A few of their more risque choices have some taxpayer advocates hot under the collar, including a $50,000 infusion for the Frameline film house, which recently screened Thundercrack, "the world's only underground kinky art porno horror film, complete with four men, three women and a gorilla."

"When you spend so much money in a short amount of time ... you're going to have nonsense like this, and that's why the stimulus should never have been done in the first place," said David Williams, vice president for policy at Citizens Against Government Waste.

Click here for a full list of all of the NEA's Recovery Act grants.

Williams said such support for the arts is a luxury at a time when the president and Congress have been telling the public to make sacrifices to manage the recession.

"When taxpayers see this, they realize that's just a bunch of hot air," he told FOXNews.com.

Some members of Congress raised alarms as the stimulus bill was being drafted and approved, but President Obama, while admitting there were problems with the $787 billion legislation, stressed the need for immediate action to resuscitate the economy.

"We can't afford to make perfect the enemy of the absolutely necessary," Obama said at the time.

But he presumably didn't intend to have stimulus money help fund the weekly production of "Perverts Put Out" at San Francisco's CounterPULSE, whose "long-running pansexual performance series" invites guests to "join your fellow pervs for some explicit, twisted fun."

CounterPULSE received a $25,000 grant in the "Dance" category; a staffer there said they were pleased to receive the grant, "which over the next year will be used to preserve jobs at our small non-profit."

Similarly, the director of Frameline, the gay and lesbian film house, told FOXNews.com in an e-mail that their $50,000 grant was not to support any program in particular.

"The grant is not intended for a specific program; it's to be used for the preservation of jobs at our media arts nonprofit organization over the next year during the economic downturn," wrote K.C. Price, who listed four other NEA grants his organization has received.

An NEA spokeswoman defended the agency's choices and said its grants would help "preserve jobs in danger of going away or that had gone away because of the economic downturn."

"Our review process is very comprehensive -- we take great care with applicants and with grantees," said NEA spokeswoman Victoria Hutter. "It's a thorough, rigorous process that they all go through, and we're proud of the projects that we've been able to support."

Though the process was sped up, the NEA's 109 panelist reviewers handled the compressed schedule by giving their $50 million in direct grants only to individuals and groups that have received funding in the past and have already passed muster. An additional $30 million was given to state agencies to parcel out to local artists during this year.

One project that has received past NEA funding and stands to get an additional boost from a $25,000 stimulus grant is "The Symmetry Project," a dance piece by choreographer Jess Curtis.

The show depicts "the sharing of a central axis, [as] spine, mouth, genitals, face, and anus reveal their interconnectedness and centrality in embodied experience," according to a description offered on Curtis' Web site.

In the flesh -- and there's a lot of it -- it amounts to two people writhing naked on the floor, a government-funded tango in the altogether.

Potty Pork! Money Down The Toilet: CRAPulus "Stimulus" Bill Literally Flushing Tax Dollars Down The Crapper!

The New York Post reports:

WASHINGTON -- The feds are spending tens of millions of stimulus dollars to repair and build toilets across the nation, in an outflow of taxpayer funds that critics have branded "potty pork."

From humble sylvan outhouses to "historic" restrooms, cash from the $787 billion stimulus is going to spruce up or completely replace aging toilets, government releases show.

In New Mexico alone, the feds are spending $2.8 million for toilets in national forests.

The bathroom bonanza runs across myriad federal agencies, from the Department of Housing and Urban Development to the Veterans Affairs Administration and the Army.

"You could definitely say this is potty pork," said Leslie Paige of Citizens Against Government Waste. "This puts a whole different swirl on money going down the drain."

Many proposals cite the need to improve accessibility under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Related: CRAPulus ("stimulus") Funds To Flush Away Illinois Town's Sewage Problem? (Video)

Change you can crap on.

CRAPulus (krap-yuh-luhs)
noun, verb CRAPulized, CRAPuloused
1. Generational Theft Act of 2009
2. Congressional Radical Anti-American Pork (CRAAP)
3. Congress Ruins America With Pork (CRAP)
4. Congress Raped America People (CRAP)
5. Slang: Sometimes Vulgar.
a. nonsense; drivel.
b. falsehood, exaggeration, propaganda, or the like.
6. refuse; rubbish; junk; litter: Will you clean up that crapulus!

Verbs

1.crapulus around, Slang: Sometimes Vulgar.
a. to behave in a foolish or silly manner.
b. to avoid work.
2. crapulus on, Slang: Sometimes Vulgar.
a. to treat badly, esp. by humiliating, insulting, or slighting.
b. to cause misery, misfortune, or discomfort.
3. crapulus up, Slang: Sometimes Vulgar. to botch, ruin, or cheapen; make a mess of.

Biggest Waste of Money Ever—Obama Spends $18 Million to Redesign Website (Video)

Absurd...

Government Waste Irony: Woman Who Once Said Government Is "Pissing" Money Away, Gets Stimulus Check For Deceased Father! (Video)

You can't make this stuff up folks!

An Italian woman, Antonietta Santopadre shows Neil Cavuto a stimulus check made out to her late father, who died in 1975... in Italy! The man was never in the U.S. system, never registered with Social Security!

The irony is that this woman once said that "the government is... pissing [our money] off."

I couldn't agree more!

Obama Hypocrisy 2.0:: "We Don't Like Meddling In the Private Sector" (Video)

During his staged speech in front of drooling media sycophants, aka press conference, President Obama was asked about his involvement in rescuing the auto industry and he responded: "We Don't Like Meddling In the Private Sector".

He also says he doesn't want to grow government!

Hahahahahahaha! Wow, what a jokester! Seriously, who does he thing he's kidding?

Government Employees Make Too Much Money? (Video)

Fox News "Bulls and Bears" crew discusses government wages. Does it make sense that government employees make 30-40% more that private workers?

Compares government employees to unions for monopolizing wages; that is, government employees hold tax payers by their proverbial balls.

Barack Obama's 850 Mile Pizza Run

Fair and Balanced Update: The Pizza Guy Paid His Own Way

Hmmm. It's good to be king. I wonder how much this cost the tax payer?

The Sun reports:

Barack Obama liked a restaurant’s pizzas so much he has flown the chef 850 miles to make some at the White House.

The US President got a taste for Chris Sommers’ pizza while campaigning in St Louis, Missouri, last year.


After Mr Obama’s election win, Chris offered to deliver frozen pizzas to the White House but was told he couldn’t because of security concerns.


So he took 20lb of dough and three gallons of sauce to Washington.


Chris was due to cook lunch at the White House yesterday, reported People.com. He said: “It’s surreal. It’s a huge honour.”

Obama Hypocrisy 2.0: $100 Steaks Served at White House Keg Party

Change You Can Waste

According to ABC’s Jake Tapper, the snacks that were served at last night's Kegger at the White House were not exactly chips and dip.

Hors d'œuvres -- chicken curry, wagyu steak -- will be served in addition to drinks.

President Obama, it should be noted, is not a particularly big drinker, though he has been known to enjoy a vodka martini time and again.

Malkin brings us this:

• Yeah, “wagyu steak.” $100 per serving delicacy. I had to look it up, too.

And here we were lobbying for pigs in a blanket to celebrate the Pork Spending Act of 2009!

"The cost of our debt is one of the fastest growing expenses in the federal budget. This rising debt is a hidden domestic enemy, robbing our cities and states of critical investments in infrastructure like bridges, ports, and levees; robbing our families and our children of critical investments in education and health care reform; robbing our seniors of the retirement and health security they have counted on."

--Barack Obama, Speech in the U.S. Senate, March 13, 2006

President Obama has been a strong advocate for sound budget practices and the reduction of wasteful spending in Washington.

Really? Change? Really?

Senate OKs Delay in Digital TV Changeover, Digital Converter Coupons: Government Waste At Its Finest. Where is the missing $780 Million?

Congress has officially wasted, lost or misused $780 Million of your tax payer money. Where is it? We need answers.

Town Hall reported yesterday:

The Senate on Monday voted unanimously to postpone the upcoming transition from analog to digital television broadcasting by four months to June 12 setting the stage for Congress to pass the proposal as early as Tuesday.

Monday's Senate vote is a big victory for the Obama administration and Democrats in Congress, who have been pushing for a delay amid growing concerns that too many Americans won't be ready for the currently scheduled Feb. 17 changeover.

Great! Looks like we don't need that $650 Million for "converter coupons" in that good ol' stimulus spending bill!

Who the hell are the 6.5 Million people still using rabbit ears anyway? Yup, that's what The Nielsen Co. estimates.

The Obama administration began pushing for a delay this month after the Commerce Department hit a $1.34 billion funding limit for coupons that help consumers pay for digital TV converter boxes. The boxes, which generally cost between $40 and $80 and can be purchased without a coupon, translate digital signals back into analog ones for older TVs.

*Sound of record scratching*

Wait, we've already spent $1,340,000,000 on these "coupons"? The Democrats want to add $650 million more bringing the total to nearly $2 billion?

That's about $300 per converter box. But the boxes only cost between $40 and $80 right?

Still with me? $300 per viewer for something on that even on the high end costs $80. So, even assuming no one will go out and purchase the boxes with their own money and assuming that there is an extra $120 per viewer that is "missing" or "misused"... where is the other $780 Million?

No, really? Where is it?

This is going to the inbox of my Republican Representative and my two Democratic Senators and I suggest everyone else do the same.

It's time for all of us to hold this "Transparent" government accountable to its words and its deeds.