Government
During the time of the Soviet Union the role of the state in economy was made absolute, which eventually lead to the total non-competitiveness of the economy. That lesson cost us very dearly. I am sure no one would want history to repeat itself. -Vladimir Putin
Government does not solve problems; it subsidizes them. -Ronald Reagan 
When it comes to government, if you aren’t involved in the provision of actual public goods, you are involved in extortion. It may be legal. It may have the blessing of the mayor, the city council, and your union representative, but it’s still extortion. And you should be ashamed of yourself.
If your only purpose is getting in the way until somebody hands you money, then you are part of a protection racket. And you might want to think about going into a more honorable line of work. -Kevin D. Williamson
“As Marxist despots from Cuba to Greece have discovered to their huge disappointment, governments can neither create wealth nor effectively redistribute it; they can only expropriate it and watch it dissipate.” -George Gilder
Democrat, Environmentalist, Liberal, Government, Incompetence, Obama, Oops
The government’s hopeful predictions for ethanol have proven so inaccurate that scientists question whether it will ever achieve its central environmental goal: reducing greenhouse gases. That makes the hidden costs even more significant. “This is an ecological disaster,” said Craig Cox of the Environmental Working Group, a natural ally of the president that, like others, now finds itself at odds with the White House.
Environmentalist, Government, Narrative, Oops
Brazil's indigenous territories are an important reason why deforestation rates there have fallen by two-thirds in the past decade. The country is a leader in handing over forests to local people, having recognised some 300 indigenous territories since 1980. Almost a third of all community forests are in Brazil. Likewise, in Guatemala's Peten region, which includes the Maya Biosphere Reserve, deforestation is 20 times lower in community areas than those under government protection.
Government, Incompetence, Financial, Oops, Waste
Government agents acting without authorization conducted dozens of undercover investigations of illegal tobacco sales, misused some of $162 million in profits from the stings and lost track of at least 420 million cigarettes, the Justice Department's inspector general said Wednesday.
Government, Incompetence, Sex, Financial, Funny, Waste, Debt
A government report released Monday says Medicare is paying out-sized amounts for male vacuum erection systems compared to non-Medicare payers. The inspector general for the Department of Health and Human Servicesfound that Medicare payments for the devices remain "grossly excessive," or more than twice as much as the Department of Veterans Affairs and consumers on the Internet pay.
Government: Is It Ever Big Enough?
“When was the last time you heard a liberal politician say, ‘Yeah, we solved that social ill?'”
The worldview of progressives "depends on a degree of government competence that is simply unattainable." -James Pethokoukis
Election, Government, Fraud, Politics, Corruption
On Wednesday, Cause of Action, a government watchdog group, released documents involving two supervisors at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) who may have told employees how to vote in order to keep their job in violation of federal law. CoA revealed that John J. Hickey, deputy associate administrator for aviation safety at the FAA, told employees at a May 23 staff meeting at the Seattle Flight Standards Division Office that “if the Republicans win office our jobs may be effected (furloughs)…if the Democrats win office then our jobs would not be effected [sic],” according to one e-mail.
Liberal, Union, Government, Incompetence, Financial, Fraud, Waste, Lie, Corruption, Debt
The Internal Revenue Service pays over 200 full-time employees not to conduct audits or process tax returns but to work for a federal employees’ union, according to documents released by the agency in response to a Freedom of Information Act request by the advocacy group Americans for Limited Government. Forty-three of those employees are earning six-figure salaries, the documents show. Oddly, the employees working for the National Treasury Employees Union have titles that suggest they perform work in behalf of the American taxpayer, among them “Tax Examining Technician,” “Internal Revenue Agent,” and “Tax Specialist.”
Liberal, Incitement, Government, Character, Sex, Degeneracy, Gay
A government website designed for girls ages 10 to 16 offers health advice and information on a wide range of topics, including homosexuality, anal sex and “mutual masturbation.” The Health and Human Services’ girlshealth.gov includes tips on fitness and nutrition and an “environmental health” section where girls can read about leading a “green” lifestyle. But the site also includes a glossary that explains anal sex and “mutual masturbation” and includes information about birth control and how to access everything from condoms to “emergency contraceptives.”
Liberal, Tax, Election, Government, Scandal, Threats, Oops, Fascism, AntiAmerican, Bigbrother, Corruption, Teaparty
WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service inappropriately flagged conservative political groups for additional reviews during the 2012 election to see if they were violating their tax-exempt status, a top IRS official said Friday. Organizations were singled out because they included the words “tea party” or “patriot” in their applications for tax-exempt status, said Lois Lerner, who heads the IRS division that oversees tax-exempt groups. In some cases, groups were asked for their list of donors, which violates IRS policy in most cases, she said.
A Department of Health and Human Services official resigned from his post in a scathing letter that ripped the agency for profound dysfunction. David Wright headed the Office of Research Integrity for two years and wrote in his letter dated Feb. 25 that his time with the agency left him “offended as an American taxpayer.”
Government, Guns, Character, Threats, Corruption
“We just learned that ATF senior management placed two of the main whistleblowers who have testified before Congress about Fast and Furious under the supervision of someone who vowed to retaliate against them,” they wrote before describing how senior political figures have made dangerous threats before. Grassley and Issa said that in early 2011, right around the time Grassley first made public the whistleblowers’ allegations about Fast and Furious, Scot Thomasson – then the chief of the ATF’s Public Affairs Division – said, according to an eyewitness account: “We need to get whatever dirt we can on these guys [the whistleblowers] and take them down.” Thomasson also allegedly said that: “All these whistleblowers have axes to grind. ATF needs to f—k these guys.”
Democrat, Environmentalist, Liberal, Government, Obama, Fascism, Demagoguery, Energy, Regulation
Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) took to the Senate floor today to draw attention to a video of a top EPA official saying the EPA’s “philosophy” is to “crucify” and “make examples” of oil and gas companies - just as the Romans crucified random citizens in areas they conquered to ensure obedience. Inhofe quoted a little-watched video from 2010 of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) official, Region VI Administrator Al Armendariz, admitting that EPA’s “general philosophy” is to “crucify” and “make examples” of oil and gas companies.
Government, Guns, Incompetence, Racism, Corruption, Sexism, Assault
Managers at the Federal Air Marshal Service regularly made fun of blacks, Latinos and gays, took taxpayer-paid trips to visit families and vacation spots, and acted like a "bunch of school kid punks," current and former air marshals tell One supervisor was even photographed in 2006 asleep on a flight, carrying a loaded pistol, the air marshals said.
Liberal, Government, Narrative, Economy
In the empirical analysis, for a panel of 108 countries from 1970-2008, we use different proxies for government size and institutional quality. Our results, consistent with the presented growth model, show a negative effect of the size of government on growth. Similarly, institutional quality has a positive impact on real growth, and government consumption is consistently detrimental to growth.
President Obama may be the Democrat who ends up convincing millions of American millennials that Ronald Reagan was right, and that the progressive administrative state is neither honest nor competent enough to solve the problems of the American people. -Walter Russell Mead
Government, Incompetence, Financial
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- U.S. taxpayers likely lost $1.3 billion in the government bailout of Chrysler, the Treasury Department announced Thursday. The government recently sold its remaining 6% stake in the company to Italian automaker Fiat, wrapping up the 2009 auto bailouts that were part of TARP.
Democrat, Liberal, Union, Government, Obama
Financial disclosure documents filed by two of President Obama’s illegal appointments to the National Labor Relations Board show that one will continue to receive payments from a major labor union during his time on the board. Richard Griffin, the former general counsel for the International Union of Operating Engineers, will receive regular payments under two different IUOE pension plans. The payment amounts are not listed on the disclosure form.
Crime, Government, Justice, Corruption
After more than 10 years of allegedly sending youths to private prisons in exchange for around $1 million in kickbacks, former Luzerne County, Pennsylvania Judge Mark Ciavarella (left) was sentenced to 28 years in prison — essentially a life sentence for the 61-year-old convicted criminal. The federal charges stemmed from Ciavarella’s involvement in a criminal plot to fill up privately owned juvenile-detention facilities. According to prosecutors, he was handing out wildly inappropriate sentences to first-time offenders and even children as young as 10.
Hate, Government, Gay, Tolerance
The Daily Caller has obtained two photographs from inside the Department of Labor (DOL) elevators where Obama administration employees have again defaced photos equating gay rights with civil rights. A worker or group of workers in the DOL ripped off a portion of these posters that compared gay rights to African American civil rights.
Cumulatively, recent developments surrounding the rollout of Obamacare strengthen the most damaging conservative portrayals of liberalism and of big government – that on one hand government is too much a part of our lives, too invasive, too big, too scary, too regulatory, too in your face, and on the other hand it is incompetent, bureaucratic and expropriatory. -Thomas Edsall
Hypocrisy, Liberal, Hate, Government, Degeneracy, Smears, Gay
he federally funded National Portrait Gallery, one of the museums of the Smithsonian Institution, is currently showing an exhibition that features images of an ant-covered Jesus, male genitals, naked brothers kissing, men in chains, Ellen DeGeneres grabbing her breasts, and a painting the Smithsonian itself describes in the show's catalog as "homoerotic."
Democrat, Liberal, Financial, Demagoguery
As Congress struggles to negotiate a budget deal to keep the government running, the head of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) told lawmakers Wednesday that the GOP version of the budget bill would result in the deaths of at least 70,000 children who depend on American food and health assistance around the world.
Democrat, Environmentalist, Liberal, Government, Obama, Funny
The Environmental Protection Agency wants kids to rap about climate change. No, not talk about it, rap about it. The EPA web site has a downloadable tune called "Click It -- Flip It" intended to inspire kids to live more sustainable lifestyles.
Union, Government
When Erin McFarlane looks at public workers, she sees lucrative pension benefits she doesn't ever expect to get. And it makes her mad.
Thirty-seven percent (37%) of Likely U.S. Voters now fear the federal government, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Forty-seven percent (47%) do not, but another 17% are not sure. Perhaps in part that’s because 54% consider the federal government today a threat to individual liberty rather than a protector. Just 22% see the government as a protector of individual rights...
Liberal, Government, Narrative, Oops
A large majority of Americans say they did not miss the federal government when it was partially shutdown during the first half of October, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll released today. The survey conducted Oct. 17-20 asked 1,002 adults: “Were you personally inconvenienced by the partial shutdown of the federal government or not?”
Government Targeting Opposition Groups
'We know as fact: a) The Steele dossier was the sole evidence used to justify spying on the Trump campaign, b) The FBI knew the Steele dossier was a DNC op, c) Steele's source told the FBI the info was unserious, d) they did not inform the court of any of this and kept spying.
Government Incompetence
It was obviously the signature effort of the Obama administration, but it was a flop. Forget launching to the moon; we can't even launch a website now. What does that tell us?
-Glenn Harlan Reynolds
Big Brother Government
‘Is this still America?' he asked him. 'Is this government so drunk on power that it would turn its full force, its full might, to harass, and intimidate, and threaten an average American who only wants her voice, their voices heard?’
Fraud Waste & Abuse
"When you are given an FBI BlackBerry, it's for official use," Ms Will said. "It's not to text the woman in another office who you found attractive or to send a picture of yourself in a state of undress."
Government Regulation
ANALYSIS: TRUE. Every Industry Gets Worse When Government Gets Involved. "This is easily provable with Public Choice Theory, and consistently proven in practice." -Glenn Reynolds
Public Transportation
President Obama’s infatuation with the effort to create another government-subsidized rail entitlement means the rest of the country is on the hook for at least half of this still considerable sum. Retirees in Florida and schoolteachers in Mississippi, who will never ride California’s train, will be forced to pay for it anyway.
Damage To Society
"Conversely, the Democratic appetite for ever-increasing redistributionary handouts is in fact the most insidious form of slavery remaining in the world today, and it does not promote economic freedom." -Rep. Allen West
The Prosecution
As Ninth Circuit Judge Alex Kozinski noted in his now much-quoted opinion in United States v. Olsen: "There is an epidemic of prosecutorial misconduct abroad in the land. Only judges can put a stop to it."
Everything government touches turns to crap. -Ringo Starr