Census spending we almost do NOT want to know about

Multiply this story from Denver by, oh, just say 10 for starters, and you can find a whole lot of wasted money.

Thousands spent on unused census swag

by Jace Larson

DENVER - The U.S. Census Bureau spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on promotional items used to convince more people to mail back their census forms, but a 9Wants to Know investigation found thousands of the items were dropped off, unused, at a local high school.

- Colorado's Census participation below average

The leftover items, such as backpacks, cloth grocery bags, hats, pins, magnets and business card holders, were dropped off at Lakewood High School last month.

"We probably had, between the backpack style [bags] and the shopping bag style [bags], over 1,000 dropped off," Lakewood High School Principal Ron Castagna told 9Wants to Know.

He estimates more than 1,000 posters printed in different languages were also dropped off at the school.

An unknown Census worker walked into the school in mid-April and asked the principal if she could leave the items. She did not ask the school to distribute them.

"[She] said, 'We have extra stuff. We're wrapping up the Census and we just want to distribute the materials,'" Castagna said.

It did not sit well with him.

"Wait a minute, times are tough and I'm sitting in a position where we've got a school district that's done everything the right way and yet we're still going to face budget cuts," he said.

Among the many boxes of posters the Census worker left at the school, were more than 300 promotional posters printed in Farsi. Farsi is the language spoken in Iran, Afghanistan and parts of Pakistan.

9Wants to Know reviewed the U.S. Census Bureau's numbers from 2000 and found 360 people spoke Farsi in all of Jefferson County at that time.

Castagna says he hopes to let students use the backs of the posters in art classes.

There is more here.

Win An All Expense Trip to Cophehagen

That's what friends and colleagues of Nancy Pelosi did just by traveling with her, and by the way that included her. CBS News (yes, that CBS news) reported the trip costs were over a million  dollars.

Congress Went to Denmark, You Got the Bill

Congressional expense reports there's new light shed on the Copenhagen Climate Summit in Denmark and how much it cost taxpayers.

CBS News Investigative correspondent Sharyl Attkisson reports official filings and our own investigation show at least 106 people from the House and Senate attended - spouses, a doctor, a protocol expert and even a photographer.

Read the Congressional Expense Report

For 15 Democratic and 6 Republican Congressmen, food and rooms for two nights cost $4,406 tax dollars each. That's $2,200 a day - more than most Americans spend on their monthly mortgage payment.

CBS News asked members of Congress and staff about whether they're mindful that it's public tax dollars they're spending. Many said they had never even seen the bills or the expense reports.

Copenhagen Congressional Junket

Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., is a key climate change player. He went to Copenhagen last year. Last week, we asked him about the $2,200-a-day bill for room and food.

"I can't believe that," Rep. Waxman said. "I can't believe it, but I don't know."

But his name is in black and white in the expense reports. The group expense report was filed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. She wouldn't talk about it when our producer tried to ask.

At least Mr. Waxman has a record of being dedicated to working on global warming, for that I will give him a pass on going to the summit; the others, not so much.

Read all the links in the article to get the full story.

While terrorists plot,the FAA parties

While a terrorist was plotting to kill Americans over the Christmas holidays, what was the Federal Aviation Administration doing? Why, spending $5 million on a three-week-long Christmas party, of course.

This is disgusting - go read it.

Gore clears carbon dioxide of most blame

by Andrew Bolt

This is big. Al Gore is now saying carbon dioxide isn’t actually to blame for most of the warming we saw until 2001:

Gore explored new studies - published only last week - that show methane and black carbon or soot had a far greater impact on global warming than previously thought. Carbon dioxide – while the focus of the politics of climate change – produces around 40% of the actual warming. Gore acknowledged to Newsweek that the findings could complicate efforts to build a political consensus around the need to limit carbon emissions.

Which suggests not only that was Gore wrong to claim the science was “settled”, but that the hugely expensive schemes to “stop” warming by slashing carbon dixoide emissions will be less than half as effective as claimed.

Tim Blair isn’t surprised that Gore now says he’s switching from appealing to facts to appealing to faith. Well, actually, Tim is surprised, since facts actually have never been Gore’s thing.

I don’t know if you will see this in any American papers, this is from the Herald Sun in Australia. Earlier this week Gore was interviewed by Diane Sawyer on GMA and he professed to not know about any methane studies, perhaps he CAN learn.

Go read it all.

A Tale of A Cash for Clunker Victim

From the Volokh Conspiracy: by Jim Lindgren
The Death Throes of a Corvette.---

In the Great Depression, the government paid to destroy crops in order to prop up farm prices — about as dumb a policy as can be imagined.

Today the government pays to destroy cars in order to ... frankly, I don't know why.

"Cash for Clunkers" appears to be a bizarre combination of the "broken windows fallacy," the desire to change the climate of the planet, and staggering administrative incompetence. In other words, "Cash for Clunkers" hits the trifecta: bad economics, bad science, and bad government.

Witness the dying gasps of a Corvette. (video)