Free Republic

What do robotic squirrels, menus for Martian meals and a musical about climate change have in common? They've all been made possible with taxpayer assistance, according to the latest survey of government waste put out by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla. Known simply as the Waste Book, the report is a watchlist of eye-opening expenditures, which Coburn blames on a "let them eat caviar" attitude in Washington -- at a time when "23 million of our fellow Americans do not have good jobs," Coburn notes. Coburn, while chiding the agencies that spend this money for their "lack of judgment," said Congress...

Dennis Miller joins Bill O'Reilly to lend his perspective on the upcoming Vice Presidential debate between Paul Ryan and Joe Biden along with comments on the big bird controversy

Brief(under 3 mins.) video re Obama's ring proclaiming there is no god but you no who. Wore this ring at least since law school and was then put on his finger by his lovely bride.

Sometimes private contractors see schools and their multi-million dollar budgets as great sources of potential revenue. And because schools rarely employ people with business sense or experience, they sometimes hire contractors to perform major projects without seeking competitive bids or doing thorough background checks on the companies.Then the cost overrun bills start arriving and more tax dollars than necessary go out the door.In Hillsborough, New Jersey, school board members were recently “shocked” and “insulted” that the district’s architectural contractor recently submitted invoices totaling about $19,000, according to the Hillsborough Beacon.Apparently there was some confusion about what the contactor should charge...

Passing the buck in dramatic fashion on the world stage, President Barack Obama told the UN General Assembly this morning that the U.S. government was not responsible for the anti-Islam video that he once again blamed for recent attacks on U.S. embassies in the Middle East. He added that more guards at the U.S. consulate in Benghazi would not have helped save Ambassador Chris Stevens, and that the real problem was "deeper causes" such as religious intolerance. "[I]t will not be enough to put more guards in front of an Embassy; or to put statements of regret, and wait for...

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Channel 2 Action News investigation found that the State Department is sending millions of dollars to save mosques overseas. This investment has received criticism as the United States makes an effort to slash nearly $4 trillion in government spending.Plenty of outrage following the announcement made Thursday afternoon by a government commission that suggested huge cuts to the budget, including eliminating the interest education for home mortgage. This juxtaposed with the United States investing millions to refurbish mosques as a good-will effort in Muslim countries has upset many taxpayer groups.

During a House Oversight Committee hearing on Thursday, Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) revealed that the U.S. military is currently spending about $20 million on firewood. That’s right, firewood. “It mentions in your report that the U.S. military is spending $20 million for firewood. Is there any justification for $20 million in Afghan firewood?” Chaffetz asks John F. Sopko, special inspector general for Afghanistan Reconstruction. “Mr. Chairman that was one of the more interesting comments my auditor told me is that — you are absolutely correct we are paying…approximately $20 million a year for firewood,” Sopko confirmed. “And when my auditors...

Left-wing activists gave a painting of Reagan the finger, but the hand that props them up comes from George Soros. One of the two activists involved is national director of public engagement at Solutions for Progress –funded in part by Soros’s Open Society Institute....Matthew Hart, the national director of public engagement at Solutions for Progress, posted his photo giving Reagan the finger on Facebook with the caption saying, “F*** Reagan,” (without the editing)

Barack Obama administration spending and projects in Kenya have become so voluminous that the U.S. Agency for International Development must hire more contractors to oversee endeavors other providers already carry out across the African nation.

Another MAP recipient, the Cotton Council International, received $20 million in 2011 to produce and promote Let’s Design, an Indian reality television show where contestants make clothing out of cotton. The council has reaped more than $169 million in the last decade.

Opposition from state veterans groups prompted Gov. Dannel P. Malloy to reverse his support Monday for using state funds to repair a New Haven community center that houses a Communist newspaper. Malloy, whose administration has gone back and forth on whether to finance $300,000 in renovations for the New Haven People's Center, issued a brief statement during the State Bond Commission meeting before moving on to the next agenda item without discussion. And one of the two Republican legislators who spearheaded opposition to the funding, Rep. Sean J. Williams of Watertown, said after he would ask the Democratic governor's administration...

The Obama’s feel your pain. Really, they do. So much so that Michelle fat cakes Obama is off to Atlanitc City to see a Beyonce concert. Wonder how long it will be before the Obama regime contacts Jake Tapper who tweeted this information to remove it immedality like the papers that published one of the daughter’s trips to Mexico about a months ago. Tapper who many people actually like (I don’t) posted about the news that ABC sources have told him. I’m sure that other than Tapper’s Tweet (if it doesn’t get scrubbed) no other pink slime media outfit will...

Before she became first Lady Michelle Obama was had a $317,000 job as Vice President of the University of Chicago Medical Center. At her job she helped to create a program where the uninsured get sent to a different hospital. Imagine that, while her husband was pushing universal healthcare Michelle was doing her utmost to make sure the poor didn't come to her hospital. It seems as if the FLOTUS got more than a salary for her work denying health care to the poor. According to The Amateur” author Edward Klein, Dr. Eric Whitaker vice president of the University of...

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) today revealed it recently awarded a $61 million contract to Chemonics International, Inc., to boost the productivity and product quality of the Nigerian agriculture sector. Chemonics is led by Richard Dreiman, a Harvard University and UC Berkley educated CEO who worked as a privately contracted advisor to USAID/Zaire before coming to the company in 1992. Indeed, the Chemonics executive team is composed of many former USAID officials and independent contractors, including ex-USAID staffers and current Chemonics Senior VPs James Griffin, Stephen Pelliccia, Chris Scott, and Douglas L. Tinsler. Although Chemonics secured the award...

An obscure federal agency may have set a new benchmark for lavish conferences on the taxpayers' dime. Lawmakers are voicing outrage following a government report that found the General Services Administration held a blowout $820,000 conference near Las Vegas which grossly exceeded what the planners were allowed to spend. The employees dropped thousands of dollars on luxury items and convention giveaways -- including more than $6,000 on commemorative coins, $8,000 on a "yearbook," and $3,200 for an in-house mind reader. "It's unbelievable that red flags didn't immediately go up well before this junket," Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said. In the...

LUFKIN, TEXAS, February 15, 2012, (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Congressional investigation into Planned Parenthood that touched off the controversy over Susan G. Komen’s funding of the abortion giant may soon expand into a series of national hearings in the nation’s capital and court cases around the country that could expose hundreds of millions of dollars of financial impropriety, critics say. Karen Reynolds, a decade-long employee of Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast (PPGC) in Texas, has filed a lawsuit claiming 12 Planned Parenthood mills in Texas and Louisiana bilked the government by billing medical agencies for services that were unnecessary or that were...

Of course the government has to choke off the feeble “recovery” by raising taxes still further. How else is it to pay for essential services like providing the public with gay sex manuals? According to someone who works for the state printer and wants to stay anonymous so as to keep his job: “It’s almost like a how-to manual to have gay sex." Who pays for this obscene depravity? You do: All of that comes with the supposed endorsement of state department of public health and federal funding. But the taxpayer money flushed away here is peanuts compared to what...

America's police state: The drones are coming Friday, February 10, 2012 A new federal law accelerating domestic use of government aerial surveillance drones brings America frighteningly close to an Orwellian police state. President Obama is expected to sign the FAA Reauthorization Act, which expedites approval for federal, state and local police to use these drones. The Federal Aviation Administration's existing case-by-case approach is chilling enough -- it's being sued over its refusal to disclose publicly which agencies use drones and how they're used. Still, it's known that the Department of Homeland Security's Customs and Border Protection arm uses drones domestically....

Portage Public Schools had an odd reaction to some good financial news this week, telling a company that could save it $270,000 a year "no thanks." That offer came from Grand Rapids Building Services, a facilities cleaning contractor that proposed taking over the school district’s first shift custodial duties. GRBS is able to accomplish the same work at a lower cost primarily because it uses a different benefits package than Portage schools, one that doesn’t include overpriced health insurance from the Michigan Education Special Services Association or expensive contributions to the unsustainable school employee pension plan. GRBS’ more reasonable benefits...

More taxation for Islamization as we told you about here in 2010. Gadi Adelman writing at Family Security Matters has more disturbing waste of taxpayer money via U.S. Taxpayers Subsidize Overseas Mosques.The story of the U.S. State Department funding mosques overseas was uncovered in July 2010 when reporter Justin Farmer from ABC affiliate WSBTV Channel 2 in Atlanta Georgia did an investigative report. Farmers’ story focused on how the U.S. was spending its tax payer dollars while supposedly trying to cut the budget. The U.S. budget is so bad that we need to cut $487 billion in defense spending, but...