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Top 10 Examples of Government Stupidity
Human Events ^ | July 30, 2011 | Human Events Editorial

Posted on 07/30/2011 9:47:22 AM PDT by Clairity

With Americans burdened with high taxes, one would hope that the government they pay for would at least be used efficiently and wisely. These Top 10 Examples of Government Stupidity from around the country would suggest otherwise:

1. Sensitivity training: The Omaha, Neb., public school district spent $130,000 in federal stimulus money to buy manuals to instruct teachers and school administrators on how to be culturally sensitive.

Green car bust: The city of Salinas, Calif., invested more than $500,000 in Green Vehicles, an electric car venture that failed to produce a single car.

(Excerpt) Read more at humanevents.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; Government
KEYWORDS: debt; democrats; dumb; fraud; goobermint; government; kleptocracy; obama; spending; waste
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I think these are just a few examples, there are many more. One of my "favorites" is the study the Federal government funded, that put shrimp on a threadmill and determined that sick shrimp don't do as well on the threadmill as health shrimp -- and we paid for that!
1 posted on 07/30/2011 9:47:24 AM PDT by Clairity
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To: Clairity

Only ten (10)?


2 posted on 07/30/2011 9:50:35 AM PDT by paratrooper82 (We are kicking Ass in Afghanistan, soon we will be home to kick some more Asses in Congress!)
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To: paratrooper82

“Only ten (10)?”

Darn you stole my thunder :)


3 posted on 07/30/2011 10:06:11 AM PDT by blueyon (The U. S. Constitution - read it and weep)
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To: paratrooper82

We really need a top down review of government spending and the only thing that will force it is a crisis.

As horrible is it might be, maybe we need a debt crisis. It will force a long needed review of all expenses. Because there is no accountability, I’d bet the security of our economy that there is huge waste and corruption.

And the AAA rating be damned. It is a lie anyway. We should have a C rating or worse for how we run our finances.


4 posted on 07/30/2011 10:07:28 AM PDT by dhs12345
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To: Clairity
If government workers would be honest about this topic and have guaranteed anonymity, I bet there would be close to 100,000 of these examples - at least. After Sarah or Phase II, all of this wasteful spending hopefully will stop. It will take awhile, but needs to be done. Stop spending and cut all this fluff out!
5 posted on 07/30/2011 10:34:57 AM PDT by Art in Idaho (Conservatism is the only hope for Western Civilization.)
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To: Clairity

#1. Obama. #2 Biden. #3. Reid.... etc. etc. to include ALL members of the ruling elite.


6 posted on 07/30/2011 10:52:50 AM PDT by Safetgiver (I'd rather die under a free American sky than live under a Socialist regime.)
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To: Clairity

$1.44 Million [to study] the ‘Social Milieu’ of Male Prostitutes in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2543904/posts

NIH Spends $178,000 to Study Why Prostitutes in Thailand Have High HIV Risk
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2254962/posts

maybe the next time they’ll put prostitutes on treadmills...


7 posted on 07/30/2011 11:09:45 AM PDT by WOBBLY BOB ( "I don't want the majority if we don't stand for something"- Jim Demint)
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To: Clairity
The real stupidity is not in Government. It is in the voters. Bureaucrats could never get away with behaving this way if stupid voters did not elect immoral corrupt politicians.

This one reveals the worst of government abuse: 10. Go Gore, not Palin: The state of Nevada last year denied a request for a vanity license plate that said “GOPALIN” because, in the view of the Department of Motor Vehicles, such a plate was “vulgar or obscene or expressing superiority of political affiliation.” That policy didn’t stop the agency from issuing personalized plates that said “AL GORE,” “GO OBAMA,” “GOGREEN,” “DMOCRAT,” and “KERRY.”

This is typical behavior for bureaucrats empowered to control the population. It is a continuous pressure to tame the sheep. The most destructive examples of this practice is in the school house.

8 posted on 07/30/2011 11:15:47 AM PDT by CharlyFord (t)
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To: Clairity

Here is one very recent one:
http://www.doi.gov/news/pressreleases/Salazar-Announces-2-pt-7-Million-in-WaterSMART-Funding-to-Study-River-Basins-and-Improve-Water-Systems.cfm

Salazar Announces $2.7 Million in WaterSMART (”Sustain and Manage America’s Resources for Tomorrow”) Funding to Study River Basins and Improve Water Systems - Klamath River Basin has been selected for a dull-basin study to “include basin-specific plans that recommend collaborative solutions to help meet water demands and foster sustainable development.

“U.S. Bureau of Reclamation provides funding for Klamath River study” http://www.times-standard.com/news/ci_18520600A total of $1,944,000 will go for studying the Klamath River Basin, ”The basin study will collaboratively develop a basin wide perspective of the climate change-related risks for supply and demand that may affect agriculture, anadromous and resident fish, recreation, municipal and domestic water supplies, hydropower and flood control facilities,” Interior said. “This effort will assess potential impacts of climate change on snowpack and precipitation, timing and quality of runoff, groundwater recharge and discharge and any increases in demand and/or reservoir evaporation; and will develop structural and non-structural options to address current and projected imbalances in the basin.” The Order creating WaterSMART http://www.doi.gov/news/pressreleases/upload/WaterSMARTOrder.pdf

Or this one:
Expanding the List of Endangered Species http://www.azpm.org/science/story/2011/7/20/1830-expanding-the-list-of-endangered-species/

OP-ED; The $206,098,920 Endangered Species Act Settlement Agreements; is all that paperwork worth it?http://www.klamathbasincrisis.org/esa/esa$/206milESAsettlement072111.pdf

or this:

http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2011/07/11/11greenwire-study-forest-service-paid-61m-in-groups-legal-98487.html
Study: Forest Service Paid $6.1M in Groups’ Legal Fees Over 6 Years


9 posted on 07/30/2011 11:19:50 AM PDT by marsh2
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To: Clairity

It’s not a bug, it’s a feature. Government at all levels will spend enormous amounts of money on things that no individual or private group would ever choose to fund with their own money.

And why not? It makes the recipients happy, and it doesn’t cost the government-grantors a dime, and no matter how may times Human Events or CAGW or Andrew Breitbart points out this stuff, there are never any negative consequences to the givers or receivers.

People have got to stop imagining that we can get government to work in what we consider a rational way. We can’t. All we can do is reduce the amount of money and power we allow them to have, knowing that the use of a considerable amount of *whatever* they have is going to be stupid beyond belief.


10 posted on 07/30/2011 11:40:02 AM PDT by Tax-chick (Do you know why I love reptiles? It's because they don't play guitars.)
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To: dhs12345
We really need a top down review of government spending...

No, we really don't need a top down review. In DC that means some congressional committee will listen ad nausea to the special interest groups who simply cannot be put of existence and will live another day after a nice contribution is made.

We need a across the board cut of 10 % per year until we reach a certain level of sustainability based on revenue.

Every federal dept have very well paid non political people running them and for the most part are competent.

Let dept management, not politicians decide how to eliminate, reduce, reorganize, scale back the layers of federal workers in a fair and human way and eliminate the programs which have lived their useful lives out or combine them if they have merit with one of the other 10,000 programs .

11 posted on 07/30/2011 11:57:20 AM PDT by Popman (Obama. First Marxist to turn a five year Marxist plan into a 4 year administration.)
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To: Popman
You are probably right. I hoping (false hope, probably) that the Tea Party Republicans might make a difference.

We are talking about a huge bureaucratic, mostly political, out of control pandering bunch of goofs and an American public who doesn't know any different.

There is huge waste, maybe as much as 20%, that is hidden beneath the surface.

I am all for whatever forces them to look at this waste. Call me skeptical, but an across the board 10% cut isn't going to do it.

Maybe an itemized list of all expenses with enough detail to be able to sort out waste from need. Has a third party, maybe someone in the press, ever done this?

I realize that it is a astronomically huge task. But it has to be done. And you are going to anger some very powerful people when you start poking around. Watch out.

12 posted on 07/30/2011 12:56:54 PM PDT by dhs12345
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To: Tax-chick
All we can do is reduce the amount of money and power we allow them to have, knowing that the use of a considerable amount of *whatever* they have is going to be stupid beyond belief.

I know! We'll write a constitution in which we clearly defines the limited responsibilities and powers of the Federal government. We can include a 'Bill Of rights' that protects the rights of the States and people.

No! Wait! That was already done! The immoral corrupt politicians elected by the people ignore the Constitution. What do we do now??

"What country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time, that the people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to the facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure." - - - Thomas Jefferson

13 posted on 07/30/2011 1:09:10 PM PDT by CharlyFord (t)
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To: dhs12345
Call me skeptical, but an across the board 10% cut isn't going to do it.

Well, that was 10 % per year. Cut much more and you are likely to get way too much pushback

We are talking about a huge bureaucratic, mostly political, out of control pandering bunch of goofs and an American public who doesn't know any different.

One has to wonder how huge thousand page bills get produced by Congress in record time. There are legions of special interest groups actually writing language into bills.

No wonder Pelosi spilled the beans when she said we have to read the healthcare bill to know what's in it.

Tea party republicans can make a difference by holding their colleagues feet to the fire

14 posted on 07/30/2011 1:12:45 PM PDT by Popman (Obama. First Marxist to turn a five year Marxist plan into a 4 year administration.)
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To: Clairity

These days everything they do is stupid. How do you choose?


15 posted on 07/30/2011 1:15:30 PM PDT by bmwcyle (Obama is a Communist, a Muslim, and an illegal alien)
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To: Popman
I just sent an email to my Senator requesting online information about the budget. Not just high level statements and numbers but details.

I realize that I am a fool for thinking that he will provide this information. But I'll keep pressing.

I'll probably get the usual form letter response.

Heck, millions of bloggers may be able to do something that hundreds of Congressmen can't.

First rule in management: know the scope of your problem and be able to quantify it.

The budget is largely unknown to Americans. Me especially. I know what items are on the budget. But I don't know the allocations, costs, etc.

16 posted on 07/30/2011 1:39:13 PM PDT by dhs12345
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To: dhs12345

Budget of the United States Government: Main Page

http://www.gpoaccess.gov/usbudget/


17 posted on 07/30/2011 1:58:45 PM PDT by Popman (Obama. First Marxist to turn a five year Marxist plan into a 4 year administration.)
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To: Popman

Thanks. I’ll review it and try to itemize the costs. I’ll start a new thread.

I’ll also like an open discussion with my Senator to answer questions. That is if he responds.

I am betting that the below links don’t get into the details. But it is a start.


18 posted on 07/30/2011 2:11:19 PM PDT by dhs12345
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To: dhs12345
I'm looking at it now and it 216 pages. You can skip the BS on page one. It's Obama lying his ass off.

It's a pdf file and skip over to page 171 for summary tables

19 posted on 07/30/2011 2:18:17 PM PDT by Popman (Obama. First Marxist to turn a five year Marxist plan into a 4 year administration.)
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To: Popman

The spreadsheet at the bottom looks handy. It is in numerical form and can be analyzed easier.

Things that I will be looking for:

- actual expenses and projected.
- revenues actual and projected.

A fools errand but interesting and maybe informative. The actual work will be to break down each of the functions.

It is easy for a million or billions to get “lost” and no one would know.


20 posted on 07/30/2011 2:35:48 PM PDT by dhs12345
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