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Archive for the 'Government Waste' Category

Question Of The Day

by Doug Mataconis @ Saturday, April 19th, 2008. Filed under College Sports, Congress, Government Waste, Politics, Sports

Is it a proper function of Government for the United States Congress to be worrying about the Bowl Championship Series:
WASHINGTON — Forget government corruption or corporate fraud. Three members of Congress want the Justice Department to investigate whether college football’s Bowl Championship Series is an illegal enterprise.
Reps. Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii), Lynn Westmoreland (R-Ga.) and Mike [...]

Let’s Call It The “Buy A New Home And Get A Goverment Bribe” Act

by Doug Mataconis @ Saturday, March 15th, 2008. Filed under Economics, Government Waste, Politics, Real Estate

Georgia Senator Johnny Isakson comes up with a really bad idea:
As a longtime realtor in Cobb County, Sen. Johnny Isakson has seen housing downturns before. “We had recessions in 1968, 1974, 1982, and 1991, by every measurement, this is going to be a deeper and bigger recession in residential housing. It’s a significant event.”
Isakson is [...]

Shame On You Senator Warner and Senator Webb

by Doug Mataconis @ Friday, March 14th, 2008. Filed under Government Waste, Politics, Virginia Politics

Virginia’s two Senators were among 71 other Senators who voted against a proposal by Senator Jim DeMint that would have placed a one year moratorium, an amendment that even Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton could agree on:
Presidential politics swept onto the floor of the Senate yesterday, as the three contenders took a rare break from [...]

Another Reason To Hate The Post Office

by Doug Mataconis @ Monday, February 11th, 2008. Filed under Government Waste

The price of stamps is going up yet again:
WASHINGTON — Mailing a letter will soon cost a penny more.
The cost of a first-class stamp will rise to 42 cents starting May 12, the U.S. Postal Service said Monday.
The price of the Forever stamp will go up at the same time, meaning those stamps can still [...]

The Georgia Porkbuster

by Doug Mataconis @ Saturday, November 10th, 2007. Filed under Government Waste, The Liberty Papers

Fellow Liberty Papers Contributor Jason Pye is featured in a report from WSB-TV in Atlanta on the fight against pork in the Peach State:

Way to go Jason !

Jack Bauer Joins The Fight Against Government Waste

by Doug Mataconis @ Thursday, November 8th, 2007. Filed under 24, Government Waste, Television

Prior to the writer’s strike, the cast of 24 was in Washington filming scenes for the opening episodes of Season 7, and Jack Bauer met up with the guys fighting waste in government:

Maybe we can send Jack to Congress to fight the earmarks.
H/T: Swineline — the blog of Citizens Against Government Waste

Look Who’s Been Editing Wikipedia

by Doug Mataconis @ Monday, August 27th, 2007. Filed under Government Waste

I missed this story last week, but the Congressional Quarterly reports that Congressional staffers have been spending time editing Wikipedia:
Political spats, petty vandalism, cleft chins and Rep. Rahm Emanuel’s (fictional) death by shark attack — Wikipedia users on House computers clearly have a lot of time on their hands.
A new online tool has made it [...]

Welfare For Dead Farmers

by Doug Mataconis @ Monday, July 23rd, 2007. Filed under Government Waste

No, really, the government apparently continued to send farm aid to farmers after they died:
The U.S. Department of Agriculture distributed $1.1 billion over seven years to the estates or companies of deceased farmers and routinely failed to conduct reviews required to ensure that the payments were properly made, according to a government report.
In a selection [...]

Metro To Dulles: Another Government Boondoggle

by Doug Mataconis @ Thursday, June 21st, 2007. Filed under Government Waste, Virginia, Virginia Politics

The D.C. Examiner takes a look at the Metrorail to Dulles project, which is being touted as one of the greatest transportation achievements in Northern Virginia in decades, and finds that there’s quite less than meets the eye:
WASHINGTON (Map, News) – How’s this for a deal? Riding the $5.14 billion Dulles Rail extension [...]

Great Moments In Government

by Doug Mataconis @ Friday, April 13th, 2007. Filed under Government Waste, Humor

West Virginia’s own Robert Byrd steals the show at a committee hearing on contaminated pet food:
[B]est-in-show honors went to Byrd, who, in a statement notable for its breadth, explained why his eyes had been closed (“I have what is called dry eyes”) and why he has tremors in his hand (“I’m not scared or anything”), [...]

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