Free Republic

Just because they're already behind bars doesn't mean they aren't making out like bandits. Prisoner tax fraud has ballooned in recent years. In 2010, more than 91,000 inmate returns claimed $758 million in fraudulent refunds, a new audit from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration finds. That's more than double the previous year. While the IRS stopped the vast majority of fraudulent refunds from actually getting into the hands of prisoners, $35 million still slipped through the cracks.

Conservatives complain Sandy bill includes millions in unrelated spendingBy Erik Wasson and Kevin Bogardus - 12/17/12 12:33 PM ET Conservative groups say the Senate’s $60.4 billion Hurricane Sandy supplemental bill is loaded with millions of dollars in spending unrelated to damage from the devastating storm. The bill includes $2 million to fix museum roofs in Washington, D.C.; $100 million for Head Start centers; $348 million for damage to parks, including the Statue of Liberty’s island; and $4 million to repair the Kennedy Space Center and other launch sites. It also includes funding for commercial fisheries disasters for as far away...

*snip* Mrs. Pritzker has bundled at least $904,957 for Mr. Obama. A former board member of the Marmon Group, the Pritzker family owns as much as 40% of Marmon while Berkshire Hathaway owns the rest. Marmon and Berkshire own IMPulse, a transit-manufacturing firm, located in Mount Olive, North Carolina. IMPulse received or directed numerous construction projects that received millions in taxpayer-funded stimulus money. Among others, those projects include: A $485.8 million contract that was awarded for the extension of the Metro Gold Line from Pasadena to Azusa A San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) infrastructure project worth $67 million in...

'Green' Jobs Estimates Cost Taxpayers MillionsFeds spend $8 million, states $48 million on repetitive surveys By Don Carrington Feb. 27th, 2012 RALEIGH — Sometime in March, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics will release its first report estimating the number of “green” or “clean” jobs in the nation. The $8 million BLS project follows $48 million worth of stimulus grants that the Labor Department had made to individual states to produce their own green job definitions and estimates. North Carolina received $946,000 from the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for its study. While most states released...

Colleges pay presidents millions while raising tuitionBy Blake Ellis @CNNMoney December 20, 2011: 5:22 AM ET NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Some private colleges are paying their top executives millions of dollars, at the same time they're hiking tuition prices for students. Vanderbilt University paid its chancellor, Nicholas Zeppos, $1.9 million in 2009, according to the school's most recent tax filings -- enough for up to 43 students to attend Vanderbilt at current prices. His total pay includes a base salary of $673,002, as well as bonus and other compensation. That same year, Vanderbilt's tuition jumped 4.3%. Since then, the college...

DOJ AUDIT: $16 muffins, cups of coffee for $8.25… (First column, 2nd story, link ) Related stories: Spent $121 million on conferences in two years.. Read the original here: DOJ AUDIT: $16 muffins, cups of coffee for $8.25…

EPA spending millions for ‘environmental justice’The Daily Caller – 38 mins ago Earlier this month the Environmental Protection Agency awarded a $25,000 grant to the Louisiana Bucket Brigade for air-quality sampling, as part of an initiative which is funneling millions annually into local organizations for environmental justice. According to the EPA, environmental justice is “the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies.” EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson has made environmental justice a priority at the agency, issuing...

(From ABC News) - Mike McCabe is the executive director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, a nonpartisan political watchdog group that tracks campaign money, and he says the amount of money being spent is around $30 million, with $25 million of that coming from outside groups on both sides and $5 million being spent by the candidates. McCabe added the election has been “hijacked” by outside groups from both parties. “It’s wall-to-wall TV ads. There is a hell of a lot of on-the-ground work at the same time there are air wars,” McCabe said. “We don’t see statewide elections that...

In Wisconsin, six Republican state senators face recalls on Tuesday. And outside groups have sent enormous sums of money into the state in preparation. Local races rarely receive this much attention or this much out-of-state funding, but both liberal and conservative advocacy groups have decided there’s enough at stake to prompt a tidal wave of outside support. ABC News reports that non-Wisconsin organizations have poured $25 million into the races so far. That figure came from the nonpartisan Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, which estimates that candidates

Brussels is pouring nearly £20million a year from its human rights budget on lecturing the Americans on left-wing causes. The EU Human Rights Fund is intended to help promote Western values in the developing world. But a shock report has found at least £17million of cash – around £2million from British taxpayers’ – has been ploughed into promoting the pet causes of Eurocrats in the U.S. It is being spent on promoting abolition of the death penalty, discussion of climate change, green energy, and the International Criminal Court – all controversial subjects in the U.S. The study by the Heritage...

Led by union workers from across Texas, thousands of chanting marchers converged on the Capitol on Wednesday to protest the recently passed House budget's deep spending cuts to education, health care and state jobs. "We are all in this together," Judy Lugo, president of the Texas State Employees Union, told the raucous, cheering crowd on the south steps of the Capitol. "Every Texan, now and for years to come, will suffer the consequences if the Texas Legislature does not change course." Shortly before the rally, conservative and tea party activists held a news conference on the other side of the...

Arizona has attracted more than $3.6 million of donations to help defend its law to crack down on illegal immigration, with one whopping contribution—and thousands of smaller ones—from out of state. Timothy Mellon, an heir to a Pittsburgh steel and banking dynasty, has donated $1.5 million to a legal-defense fund established by Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, according to the governor's office. Mr. Mellon, who is identified on a donor list as a Wyoming resident, is among more than 42,000 people who have contributed to the border state's legal battle for the right to enforce the law, which Arizona's legislature

Posted: 4:21 p.m. Oct. 25, 2010 Michigan to get $160M for high-speed rail projects link only http://www.freep.com/article/20101025/NEWS06/101025042/1318/State-to-get-160M-for-rail-projects

2:19pm UK, Wednesday September 22, 2010 Robert Nisbet, US correspondent Nick Clegg has defended the government's commitment to pouring millions into international aid, while cutting budgets and services back home. The deputy Prime Minister is in New York attending a three-day summit at the United Nations to assess whether the Millennium Development Goals are still on target. Leaders from 192 countries set eight ambitious goals, including eradicating hunger and poverty, reducing child mortality rates and promoting gender equality. They also agreed goals on maternal health and creating a global partnership for development by 2015. Mr Clegg will confirm in a...

The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) says Muslim countries, organizations and individuals have pledged nearly $1 billion in response to the Pakistan flood emergency, and Pakistan’s prime minister says Saudi Arabia has overtaken the U.S. in responding to the crisis. But figures made available by the United Nations call both claims into question. With the exception of Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Kuwait, none of the OIC’s 56 member states have contributed – or pledged – donations reaching the double-digit millions. Fifteen OIC member governments have together given or pledged a total of $157.2 million... Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani’s...

As US President Barack Hussein Obama continues on his seemingly endless quest to appease Muslims, with instructions to NASA to ‘find a way’ to reach them, Iftar dinners at the White House and the US State Dept.’s sponsorship of Ground Zero Mosque Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf’s forthcoming ’speaking tour’ of Muslim countries (without knowledge of what exactly he’ll be talking about); it emerges that that his administration is also planning to spend millions of taxpayer dollars on the restoration of dozens of Muslim sites around the world... Throughout his administration, Obama has been fervent in his support of Islam and...

The last redoubt of concern for the common man is ridiculously awash in the cash that keeps eluding the object of its affections but then, maybe that’s where it comes from. The Almanac of Higher Education shows us that colleges and universities took in about a trillion dollars this year and spent roughly that amount. Most of these institutions have multi-million dollar endowments, even some community colleges. Most parents do not. Professors make about $100,000 a year with tenure while the untenured lecturers and associates range between $45-80,000 a year. Ironically, this is where most share-the- wealth schemes originate. The...

This Would Be a Waste Even If It Cost Nothing July 14, 2010 By George Leef I read on the front page of the new (July 16) issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education, in an article entitled “Obama Begins Rebuilding Academic Ties to Indonesia,” that “at the recent G-20 summit meeting . . . Mr. Obama announced that the United States would spend $165 million over the next five years on programs to help strengthen higher education in Indonesia through educational exchanges and university partnerships. The two countries will also hold a higher education summit next summer.” OK —...

SNIPPET: "(CNSNews.com) - Maryland will join Pennsylvania as the second state to use federal tax dollars to pay for abortions under the new health care law signed by President Barack Obama in March, according to information released by Maryland’s State Health Insurance Plan. Maryland will receive $85 million in federal funds for its federally mandated high-risk insurance pool, which will cover abortions. As CNSNews.com reported on July 14, Pennsylvania will receive $160 million in federal funds for its high-risk insurance pool, which will also cover abortions."

NOTE The following text is a quote: www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-national-hivaids-strategy Home • Briefing Room • Speeches & Remarks The White House Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate Release July 13, 2010 Remarks by the President on the National HIV/AIDS Strategy East Room 6:10 P.M. EDT THE PRESIDENT: Hello, everybody! Hello! (Applause.) Hello. Hello, hello, hello. Hello. Well, good evening, everybody. This is a pretty feisty group here. (Laughter.) AUDIENCE MEMBER: We love you, President! THE PRESIDENT: Love you back. Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you. Well, it is a privilege to speak with all of you. Welcome to the White House. Let...