Free Republic

It is the time of year when Hollywood pats itself on the back honoring its own with everything from the People’s Choice Awards to the Oscars. And so it is time to revive the annual Pennsylvania tradition of giving the “Golden Snout” awards to those politicians and government officials who feast most deeply at the public trough. This year’s Golden Snouts (hereinafter known as the “Snoutie”) has a theme. With bailout mania gripping Pennsylvania and the nation all the categories have been renamed to honor those who are working the hardest to take advantage of the nation’s economic ills to...

At a time when many Los Angeles County residents are grappling with the squeeze of an economic downturn, dozens of top county government officials are tooling around in "unjustified luxury vehicles" costing taxpayers as much as $50,000 each. More than 1,400 county workers are given take-home cars, even though some don't have official authorization to drive them, and at least 30 employees aren't paying the required taxes on the vehicles. Meanwhile, county employees were involved in 1,852 accidents in their take-home vehicles over the past few years - with 830 accidents in 2005-06 alone that cost taxpayers $6.7 million. The...

Nearly the entire federal government would be funded by an omnibus appropriations bill to be unveiled today after covert negotiations. In parliamentary maneuvering likely to extend all through this week, Democrats will pare the spending level to the maximum demanded by President Bush in order to avoid a veto. Republicans will declare victory. In fact, they are in retreat. As the minority party in Congress, the GOP will have less than 24 hours to read the massive bill before it comes up for a House vote Tuesday. While at least coming close to the Bush limit, the bill will be...