No more psychic readings for welfare recipients

The Governator announced that Psychics, pot shops, and other businesses deemed "inconsistent" with the intent of welfare.
Cruise ships, bingo halls and tattoo parlors have also been removed from the approved point of sale list where welfare cards can be used.
Of course, as one commenter stated: "So, they can still go to WalMart and buy beer and cigarettes?"

Early Cheating?

Election complaints are already coming in and it isn't even November.
In Las Vegas, people are saying they wanted to vote for Sharon Engel and Harry Ried's name was already checked.
Elections officials are claiming it is likely human error due to sensitive touch screens and assured people that they can review their choices before finalizing their vote.
Washington voters weren't getting their ballots and Republicans had to "urge" the county auditor to notify voters that they could still vote.
In North Carolina, voting machines switched party line votes to the other party.
There are more examples, but the funniest one is the misprinted one that changed Rich Whitney's name to "Rich Whitey".
He is not likely to get the minority vote.

Fraud at Government Motors

The Chevy Volt was going to save the planet and save GM too.
The Chevy Volt was going to be all electric with a small gas engine to recharge the batteries on the fly.
The Chevy Volt was supposed to get 230mpg.
The press finally got to try the Volt out and they found a few things were changed.
230mpg?
Nope! It gets less than 45mpg on engine only city driving.
Small engine?
Nope! The engine runs the front wheels over 70mph and cannot charge the batteries at the same time.

So a $41K (hybrid, not electric) car that is only that cheap with a $7.5K taxpayer subsidy that gets worse mileage than the Prius is what we get when the Government runs the company?

Stimulus fail in Chicago

In a microcosm of government waste and failure, Chicago's weatherization program has failed.
Inspections of homes repaired and/or upgraded under the program show charges for work not done and materials not used; work that was ruined by failing to repair roof leaks; and overcharging for equipment.
They should have just used the rebate model using approved contractors (which still would have failed in Chicago), or just given the money to the homeowners (they would have spent it on something, therefore stimulating the economy).

Great Job! Get paid for 12yrs of no-show

If you thought the outrageous salaries and other shenanigans of Bell California's city council was bad, there is a topper in Norfolk Virginia.
A community services board employee hasn't even shown up for work and still got paid for 12 years!
How did the worker finally get caught?
The new executive director, Maureen Womack,  from one of those right wing states (Utah) found out and immediately brought the issue to the attention of the city attorney and the council and fired the worker.

Amazing what employees with ethics can do when they take charge of a government organization.

Fake fishermen claiming BP payments?

Say it ain't so, Joe!
Applications for commercial fishing licenses have increase 60% in the Gulf.
In a time where you can't fish or can't sell your catch, why would someone want to become a commercial fisherman?
Simple; with a valid license, you can claim loss of income and get BP to pay you big bucks.
In addition to the license increase, fishing captains have claimed that multiple individuals have approached them with offers of cash if they sign documentation claiming the men worked for them as fishermen.
BP claims that while this may have occurred in the beginning, they have set up verification procedures to weed out the fakes.
Right, sure; we believe you.

If you didn't see this one coming, you must be a Democrat.

Crazy Cops just crazy like a fox?

Imagine you are a cop that managed to get a 75% disability medical pension and you miss that full pay.
Now imagine that you find a lawyer that tells you you may have post traumatic stress syndrome or some other difficult to disprove mental ailment.
Now you can also get a Social Security bonus tacked on to your nice retirement and live large on the taxpayer's dime!
But you miss packing heat and being able to flash that hardware to make people show respect, so you sign a permit application for concealed carry.
Oops!
That application swears you have NO mental issues!
24 NYPD cops are now being investigated for fraud because the connection between them and the lawyer and the permits was made.

No one likes a greedy civil servant.
No one likes a dirty cop.
If they are guilty, they should lose all pensions.

Your tax money at work

We like to know where our tax money ends up and who benefits, but rarely do we get satisfaction.
When government money is spent overseas, there are procedures to follow that help track the funds.
In Iraq, reconstruction funds of more than $9B were doled out and the government cannot account for $8.7B of it.
The required tracking accounts were never set up by the vast majority of organizations disbursing the money, so no one officially knows where the money went.

I knew I should have set up that reconstruction company in Iraq.

"Home School" a cover for dropouts?

Texas schools are under scrutiny after the possibility of fraud in the Home School program came to light.
US statistics show that more than 70% of Home Schooled kids are non-minority children of college educated higher wage parents.
In one Texas district, most of the children listed as Home Schooled are minorities with parents that are low wage and less uneducated.
Students listed as "Home Schooled" have tripled in number in the last decade and have outpaced other states.
It (finally) occurred to some bright light in the system that this may be the schools way of hiding a sky high truancy or dropout rate (Ya Think?).
Now they want to crack down on the possibility of fraud by making it more difficult to list children in this category.
This is a good idea since some districts only require a "record of an oral statement from the parent/guardian"

Will this make it tougher on parents that really are home schooling their kids?
I hope not.

Michael Mann gets backlash

Michael Mann (author of the famous "Hockey Stick" graph of Global Warming) has recently threatened to sue those claiming he cooked the books and massaged his data so hard it no longer reflects reality.
Now it appears his keester may be dragged into court for fraud.
Ken Cuccinelli, VA Attorney General is pushing for a civil fraud case and has demanded records from Mann.

While I am not holding my breath, it is nice to see Mann facing the kind of inquiry that cannot be controlled by a friendly press.

Scientific Fraud (in China)

Another gem from Sweetness and Light
The Chinese apparently copied the western practice of using falsified data to obtain funding, promotions, and power. As usual, they are bent on doing it "better".