Back to Basics

I’m told the administration is filing this under “erections saved or created”:

The NBC Investigative Unit has raised questions about two grants totaling nearly $1.5 million dollars distributed to the University of California San Francisco. The money was part of the federal stimulus program and went to studies into the erectile dysfunction of overweight middle aged men and the accurate reporting of someone’s sexual history.

This is part of our ongoing series of investigations by the NBC Bay Area Investigative Unit into who got federal stimulus dollars, and why some projects did not break ground more than two years after receiving the grant.

The Investigative Unit looked closely at the federal government’s decision to spend nearly $1.5 million dollars of taxpayer money, money that came here to California. Grant number 1R01HD056950-01A2 was among the thousands of grants funded, receiving $1.2 million dollars. This grant studied how to improve the accuracy of how people responded to questions about their sexual history.

The government, which consists to a great degree of overweight middle aged men, just happens to throw our money at a study about erectile dysfunction in overweight middle aged men? What a coincidence.

And what’s with the “accuracy” of questions about sexual history? Haven’t these idiots ever thought to simply apply the “rule of three”?

The Obama Justice Department awarded a group headed by a domestic terrorist, – and one-time FBI fugitive with close ties to President Barack Obama – hundreds of thousands of  taxpayer dollars “to reduce racial disparities in the juvenile justice system,” according to a leading Inside the Beltway watchdog group.

“This is a story you likely won’t see in the mainstream media, but a reputable political magazine exposed it this week,” according to officials at Judicial Watch, an organization that investigates and exposes government corruption and abuse.

According to Judicial Watch’s Corruption Chronicles, the Department of Justice has already given $400,000 in grants to an organization that blames disproportionately high criminal behavior among minority juvenile delinquents on discrimination. The San Francisco-based nonprofit describes itself as a leading organization in the field of juvenile justice and ethnic and racial disparities reduction.

Among the institute’s board of directors is Bernardine Dohrn, a longtime Obama supporter and fundraiser and proud member of the Weather Underground, a radical group that used explosives to attack the U.S. Capitol, the Pentagon and other government buildings to protest U.S. policy.  She and her group are believed responsible for the killing and wounding police officers, as well.

Dohrn’s violent actions earned her a slot on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list during the 1970s. She eventually served probation and spent some time in jail for refusing to cooperate with an investigation, the Judicial Watch blog states.

Dohrn is married to William Ayers, the co-founder of the Weather Underground. Like his wife, Ayers was also an FBI fugitive who has proudly admitted planting bombs in government buildings during the Vietnam era. In fact, he has publicly said that he doesn’t regret his terrorist acts and that in fact his group “didn’t do enough.” 

More recently, the American contingent of the Free Gaza Movement was led by President Barack Obama’s friends and supporters Bill Ayers, Bernardine Dohrn and Jody Davis, who also heads Code Pink. The Free Gaza Movement boasts the names of Bill Ayers,Noam Chomsky, Adam Shapiro and other American radicals allegedly devoted to destroying the United States and Israel.

“The couple has long supported Obama’s political career by donating money to his campaigns and hosting fundraisers at their Chicago home. For years they all hung out in the same political and social circles, lived in the same Chicago neighborhood and Obama and Ayers served on the board of a leftwing Chicago nonprofit. However, during the 2008 presidential campaign Obama worked hard to distance himself from his terrorist pals,” according to Corruption Chronicles.

“Using the generous DOJ grant as a guide, it appears that Dohrn is still benefiting from the relationship with Obama. How else could one explain the DOJ grant?” the Judicial Watch blog asks. ”As the article that broke the story points out, Dohrn has a history with the Justice Department and it isn’t good. Why would the agency responsible for enforcing the law and defending the country against the attacks she once carried out give her taxpayer dollars?

Dohrn refused to comment about the Judicial Watch allegations.

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Special thanks to Jill Farrell, director of public affairs at Judicial Watch. for her valuable assistance.

PHOTOS.COM
Government employees act as if money grows on trees while American taxpayers suffer.

Recent news-making events demonstrate that the rot infesting the cesspool that is Washington, D.C., can no longer be contained. The rot is noxious, pervasive, knows no political party and infests all it touches.

The recent events include the scandalous excesses of the General Services Administration junkets — on which even the bureaucrats’ spouses traveled, partied, wined and dined on the taxpayers’ dimes — and the Secret Service’s drunken whoring with Colombian prostitutes.

These events contain a common thread: Federal government employees who understand that in the United States, money does indeed grow on trees (or at least in Federal Reserve computers). They view the American taxpayer as a bottomless pit. They have come to think of themselves as a privileged class and believe rules of decorum and normal conduct do not apply to them.

This is not a new thing; it has been occurring — at the GSA at least — for about 40 years. As lawmakers grilled GSA officials last week, they learned that GSA employees have repeatedly taken financial kickbacks, engaged in insider dealing and suffered from general incompetence. It’s a pattern that dates back to the 1970s.

It’s also increasingly apparent that the rot is not confined to the Federal government. More than 100 workers in the city government of Washington, D.C., received jobless benefits totaling at least $800,000 while still working for the city. Ninety-two workers implicated in the scheme were suspended (61 of those were subsequently fired), and 40 more workers who left the city’s employment before the scandal broke have been identified. Another 100 workers are being investigated.

Federal bureaucrats and elected elites owe $1 billion in back taxes for 2010. Some of them are people who set or enforce tax policy on the rest of us. Remember that Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner did not pay taxes for the years 2001-2004 until the issue came up as he was being vetted for Senate confirmation. Obviously, Senators did not care.

Nor did Congress care that former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) flew home and back on weekends at a cost of $120,000 per trip. That’s almost four times as much as Defense Secretary Leon Panetta spends to go home to Carmel Valley nearly every weekend. They are not the only ones who have done this or are doing it. At least Panetta says he regrets the cost (not that he’s stopping the practice).

Neither the criminal political class in Congress (criminalongress?) nor President Barack Obama, the Redistributionist-In-Chief (RIC), speak of making any meaningful cuts in government spending. Under Obama’s recently introduced budget, Federal spending would increase by 55 percent from 2012 to 2021, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Under Congressman Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) budget, Federal spending will increase 34 percent.

In other words, when members of the political class speak of “cuts” what they’re talking about is reducing the amount of year-to-year increases. They never cut anything.

Yet bearing down on America like a Category 5 hurricane is taxmagedon. It will make landfall on Dec. 31 unless a lame duck Congress and President (whether Obama is re-elected or defeated will not matter) can reach some kind of agreement.

What is taxmagedon? It’s a combination of expiring George W.

Virginia just avoided a state–sized version of the popular “government shutdown” crisis. Democrats had twice defeated the budget in Senate votes and it looked like the usual hostages — children, teachers, social workers, grief counselors, underwater mortgage holders, illegals, addicts, the lame, the halt and the blind — were going to be bussed in to Richmond and threatened with self–sufficiency until stingy Republicans came up with a few more billions.

Then it all went away, like an Obama campaign promise, when a single Democrat senator broke ranks and voted ‘yes.’ (So far there are no media reports that praise him for “growing in office.”)

The ostensible reason for the “shutdown” crisis was the potential demise of Phase II of the planned $6 billion railroad to Dulles Airport that would connect with the existing Washington Metro.

There’s something about spending billions on 19th Century transportation solutions that liberals find irresistible. Frankly, I’m fearful that one of our local politicians, famous for his support of a commuter ferry on the Potomac, will learn the steamboat has been invented.

Senate Democrats claimed Dulles rail was threatened by Republican’s refusal to pony up an additional $300 million to subsidize drivers on the Dulles Airport Toll Road, which voters were promised would cover 75 percent of the construction cost of the Silver Line.

This is classic Democrat economics: Use money raised by selling long–term bonds to subsidize a recurring expense. Talk about your fiscal treadmill. Without subsidizing tolls, railroaders fear the cost will be so high that drivers will use nearby free roads. Effectively converting the toll lanes into a long, narrow asphalt preserve for Northern Virginia’s growing deer population and Obama’s golfing motorcades.

In the absence of taxpayer–funded bond money, the cost of a roundtrip toll next year will range between $4.50 and $9.00. By 2018 it is projected to be $13.50. And just thinking about using the toll road will deduct $2.00 from your E–Zpass account.

Naturally this is what you get when a Democrat governor goes legacy shopping. Former Gov. Tim Kaine (D–Flomax) concluded that closing all the rest stops in Virginia might get him in the history books, but not in the way he preferred. Instead, like Ezekiel in the Valley of Dry Bones, Kaine took a moribund plan for a railroad to Dulles and breathed life into it by turning the project over to the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA); an inspired choice for a multi–year, multi–billion–dollar operation.

Board appointees made by liberals in D.C. and Maryland vastly outnumber Virginia appointees. Consequently the carpetbaggers are more than happy to spend Virginia dollars for which they will never be held accountable.

While Dulles rail is sold to taxpayers as a mass transit project, the airport board uses it to reward cronies and amass chits for the next election (see: Government Motors bailout). This was done by tying construction contractors and sub–contractors to what is called a “project labor agreement” (PLA).

This means that during Phase I of the project all contractors and subcontractors “voluntarily” agreed to pay union wages, hire union workers and follow union work rules, in spite of the fact Virginia is a right to work state where union membership cannot be required as a condition of employment.

I have a sneaky suspicion that Obama’s brother George is about to get a lucrative, US taxpayer funded job as a cattle-driver at a dude ranch:

Kenyan businesses lately are increasingly becoming recipients of U.S. government largesse, as the Obama Administration, among pursuing other endeavors, aims to expand “livestock-related economic opportunities” in that nation. Although this and other recently released presolicitation notices for unrelated programs serve as advance alerts to potential vendors—and therefore do not offer cost estimates and other details— a review of U.S. government contracting actions nonetheless indicates a spike of activity in Kenya in a variety of sectors.

The White House is committing to a five-year effort to “improve the inclusiveness and competitiveness” of the livestock industry specifically in Marsabit and Garissa counties, Kenya, according to a presolicitation notice released April 12 that U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor located via routine database research.

The Feed the Future-related initiative, known as the Resilience and Economic Growth in the Arid Lands-Accelerated Growth, or REGAL-AG, program, will be carried out by contractors hired by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), according to the document.

The agency did not disclose the project’s estimated cost: “No additional information regarding this planned RFP [Request for Proposals] is available at this time.”

Um, aren’t the global warming alarmists always telling us that climate change is impacting third world countries hardest, and that livestock is a major contributor? Now we’re paying for more livestock in a third world country? Somebody get the Goracle on the phone.

If Obama really wants to help Kenya flourish, why doesn’t he just get them into the government-backed solar industry that’s worked out so well here in the U.S.?

Before you decide if over two hundred grand for translocating an Arctostaphylos franciscana a good deal or not, allow me to put “translocate a Arctostaphylos franciscana” into language we can all understand: “Move a shrub”:

The government spent at least $205,075 in 2010 to “translocate” a single bush in San Francisco that stood in the path of a $1.045-billion highway-renovation project that was partially funded by the economic stimulus legislation President Barack Obama signed in 2009.

“In October 2009, an ecologist identified a plant growing in a concrete-bound median strip along Doyle Drive in the Presidio as Arctostaphylos franciscana,” the U.S. Department of Interior reported in the Aug. 10, 2010 edition of the Federal Register. “The plant’s location was directly in the footprint of a roadway improvement project designed to upgrade the seismic and structural integrity of the south access to the Golden Gate Bridge.

“The translocation of the Arctostaphylos franciscana plant to an active native plant management area of the Presidio was accomplished, apparently successfully and according to plan, on January 23, 2010,” the Interior Department reported.

I’ll bet you this thing’s now in Pelosi’s backyard:

When I heard there was a new GSA video coming out, I was looking forward to seeing more wacky taxpayer-funded shenanigans from Sin City, but it was not to be.

In the universe of things that warrant a detailed explanation to taxpayers, the $800,000-plus bureaucrats gone wild junket in Las Vegas isn’t anywhere near the top of the list, but they started there anyway:

Acting General Services Administration administrator Dan Tangherlini tried to rally his beleaguered agency Tuesday in a video message that acknowledged the agency’s significant missteps and asked employees to focus on the future.

“There were violations in travel rules, acquisition rules and good conduct,” said Tangherlini about reports of an $800,000 Vegas conference that cost the top three GSA administrators their jobs last week. “Just as importantly, those responsible violated rules of common sense, the spirit of public service, and the trust that America’s taxpayers have placed in all of us.”

“I speak for the overwhelming majority of GSA staff when I say we are shocked and deeply disappointed by these indefensible actions,” said Tangherlini. “We’ve take a number of steps to ensure that future misconduct doesn’t occur,” said Tangherlini, announcing that the agency’s “Hats Off” awards program has been shuttered due to more reports of abuse.

It’s a shame Tangherlini didn’t make the Angry Office Clown personally deliver this address. Too much to hope for I guess:

The General Services Administration’s now infamous 2010 “team building” junket in Nevada has been widely talked about lately. Heads have rolled and the White House was reportedly furious, though it’s unclear if that anger was over the amount of money spent, or that the meetings were held in Vegas in spite of a presidential advisory to avoid Sin City.

We’re just now getting to the bottom of who’s really to blame for the latest example of government waste. I don’t want to ruin the suspense, so all I’ll say is that the last name of the culprit rhymes with “push.”

From Fox News:

The Obama administration is responding to the recent report that shows a federal agency spent more that $800,000 on a lavish conference near Las Vegas by putting some of the blame on the Bush administration.

“At least we have taken, bold, swift forceful action to hold those responsible accountable and put in place protections to make sure this never happened again,” a White House official told Fox News.

The Inspector General Office’s report last week about the 2010 General Services Administration conference outside of Las Vegas indicates the Obama administration knew about the trip since May 2010. The report was followed by a release of videos.

One video shows an employee performing in the fake music video, which is laced with jokes and references that only federal employees are likely to get.

In the lyrics, the employee sings: “Donate my vacation, love to the nation, I’ll never be under OIG investigation.”

The $840,000 conference is partly Bush’s fault, they say, but at least it helped serve as evidence of the Obama administration’s stewardship of taxpayer dollars:

The administration also argued Friday night that the cost of the Western Regional Conference increased sharply under the Bush White House — from $93,000 in 2004 to $323,855 in 2006 to $655,025 in 2008, then $840,616 in 2010, or just 28 percent under Obama.

So even if the bill for the 2012 conference is a cool million, the cost will have only increased 19 percent — or a 9 percent decrease from 2010. That’s saving money, government style.

We’ll close with words of wisdom from somebody who made an appearance at the 2010 GSA meeting in Vegas, the Angry Office Clown: “Government — if you think the problems we create are bad, just wait until you see our solutions.”

If the mind reader taxpayers were billed $3,200 for could only read our minds now.

Will the IRS give it back if the Supreme Court strikes down the law?

From The Hill:

The Obama administration is quietly diverting roughly $500 million to the IRS to help implement the president’s healthcare law.

The money is only part of the IRS’s total implementation spending, and it is being provided outside the normal appropriations process. The tax agency is responsible for several key provisions of the new law, including the unpopular individual mandate.

That’s a lot of “enforcement” for something we’re all allegedly going to love, isn’t it?

Dems say the law is about health care, but it’s really about revenue to the government at the expense of our health care.