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Open for Business: Gov’t to Erect $98,670 Outhouse in Alaska

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Photo Credit: Romtec

Photo Credit: Romtec

The Federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) recently paid $98,670 for the purchase and installation of an outhouse at the Swede Park Trail Head in Alaska.

The purchase includes a single-vault Romtec 1011 “Aspen Single” prefabricated waterless toilet and its installation at the parking area for the trail head.

KJ Mushovic of the BLM tells CNSNews.com, “Almost half of it (contract expense) is for the cost of the toilet.”

The Oregon based company Romtec lists the “Aspen Single” model on its website for “as low as $9,999”, but the BLM says the price they paid likely includes shipping to Alaska.

“And the cost of all the materials that will have to be taken to the site, Mushovic said. “There will be earthwork that’ll have to be done.”

Read more from this story HERE.

HHS Awards $556K to Train Med School Students on LGBT Mental Health Care

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

The Department of Health and Human Services has awarded $556,000 to Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine for an LGBT mental health internship program.

“Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals experience unique health disparities. As a group, LGBT adults experience more mood and anxiety disorders, an elevated risk for suicide, and substance use as compared with heterosexual adults. LGBT people are more frequently the targets of stigma, discrimination, and violence because of their sexual- and gender-minority status,” the grant abstract said.

“LGBT adults have higher rates of smoking, alcohol use, and substance use than heterosexual adults, which leads to long-lasting effects on both the individual and the community. Health professionals with greater exposure to LGBT patients and formal education in LGBT Psychology are better able to provide competent care,” it said.

The program is considered to be the first of its kind to focus on pre-doctoral LGBT psychology training, according to the grant abstract.

“Health professionals with greater exposure to LGBT patients and formal education in LGBT Psychology are better able to provide competent care that improves long-term mental health outcomes, reducing the risk of suicide and substance abuse,” HHS spokesperson Martin Kramer told CNSNews.com.

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‘Everyone Is a Pedestrian’: Gov’t Spending $2M to Increase Communities’ ‘Walkability’

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Photo Credit: NHTSAConcerned about a rise in pedestrian fatalities at a time when walking is strongly encouraged (“Let’s Move!”), the Obama administration is spending $2 million to give local communities the “resources and the tools they need” to prevent pedestrian deaths.

The effort — dubbed “Everyone Is a Pedestrian” — goes beyond public awareness campaigns that tell you to look both ways before crossing the street.

The new safety grants “will allow communities to take actions to make their city safer and better places to walk,” said David Strickland, director of the National Highway Transportation and Safety Administration (NHTSA), who spoke at a news conference on Monday.

Some of the “resources to increase walkability” mentioned at Monday’s news conference include “better infrastructure for pedestrians,” such as highway medians, pavement markings and new traffic signals.

And NHTSA’s “Everyone Is a Pedestrian” website offers a “Walkability Checklist,” which reads like a “how-to” guide for budding community activists.

Read more from this story HERE.

Michelle Obama Heads to Ireland for Two Days, Books 30 Rooms in $3300 per Night Hotel

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Photo Credit: The Shelbourne Dublin

Photo Credit: The Shelbourne Dublin

First lady Michelle Obama is sparing no expense on her trip to Ireland, staying at a $3,300-per-night hotel suite in Dublin.

Irish press reports Monday said Mrs. Obama and her entourage have booked 30 rooms in the five-star Shelbourne hotel. The first lady is said to be staying in the Princess Grace Suite, named for the Hollywood film star and princess who had an attachment to the room.

The suite has two guest bedrooms, a living room and a dining area, according to the hotel’s website. There are four phones, three large televisions, bedding of 100 percent Egyptian cotton, a Nespresso machine and butler service.

The cost of the two-day trip in Ireland and Northern Ireland has been estimated at around $5 million. U.S. taxpayers pay the cost of the first family’s travel.

The Obama family also will travel to Germany, where President Obama is to give a speech on Wednesday.

[Editor’s note: this Irish trip is in addition to the colossal $100 million that may be spent on the Obamas’ trip to Africa later this month]

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IRS Official Who Played ‘Spock’ in Video Apologizes Under Issa Grilling

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Photo Credit: AP

The Internal Revenue Service executive who portrayed Spock in the agency’s “Star Trek” video parody apologized to lawmakers for inappropriate spending on a $4.1 million conference from 2010.

The videos, “at the time they were made, were an attempt in a well-intentioned way to use humor,” said Faris Fink, moments after the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee showed excerpts from the video. “It’s embarrassing and I apologize.”

Fink is commissioner of the agency’s small business and self-employed division, which has 24,000 employees across the country and organized the conference.

The IRS spending on conferences was “at best, maliciously self-indulgent,” said Rep. Darrell Issa, the committee chairman.

Issa, a California Republican, said he was less concerned about the total IRS spending on conferences — $49 million from 2010 to 2012 — than about perks such as discounted presidential suites and hotel rooms for local employees at the expense of other employees who could have gotten better training.

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IRS Spent Millions on Conferences, Employees Stayed in $3500 per Night Hotel Suites (+video)

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The Internal Revenue Service is playing defense on a new front: excess spending on conferences.

The IRS spent close to $50 million on 225 conferences between 2010 and 2012, according to briefings given to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.

TIGTA will release an audit Tuesday that details surplus spending at a conference in 2010 for 2,700 people in the IRS Small Business/Self-Employed division.

At a House oversight committee hearing on the issue next week, lawmakers will focus on the August 2010 conference held in Anaheim, California, at a cost of $4 million. Several IRS employees stayed in presidential suites at hotels, the committee learned. Such suites currently cost between $1,500 to $3,500 per night.

“The culture of the federal workforce is one where I don’t think you can underestimate that if you don’t keep reminding the voters – but also the federal workers – that we’re watching, this will happen again,” Rep. Darrell Issa said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

Read more from this story HERE.

IRS Worker Used Federal Credit Card For Amazon Buys

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Photo Credit: The Smoking Gun Entrusted with a government credit card, an Internal Revenue Service worker allegedly used the plastic for a years-long Amazon.com shopping spree that netted her hundreds of items, including a chocolate fondue fountain; Bollywood movies; Pampers; Harlequin romance novels; Omaha Steaks; Apple Bottoms skinny jeans; mango body wash; and a Ginsu knife set.

Yetunde Oseni, 37, was named this month in a U.S. District Court felony complaint charging her with embezzling government funds. Oseni has worked since 2000 as a secretary in an IRS office in Lanham, Maryland.

According to a court filing, Oseni was given a Citibank MasterCard for the “purchase of office supplies for her business unit.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Reporter Asks Carney: Will Obama Cut Back On Lavish Vacations, Golf Trips?

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Photo Credit: U.S. Embassy Jakarta, Indonesia

A reporter from Colorado asked White House spokesman Jay Carney how President Obama justifies “lavish vacations” and golf trips, and whether he plans to cut back.

Carney responded, “I can tell you that this president is focused every day on policies that create economic growth and help advance job creation.”

Here’s the full exchange:

Q. All right. I wanted to follow up on this young woman’s question about the high unemployment out in places like Colorado, all around the country, especially in the minority communities — exceptionally high unemployment. And when there is government workers who may be furloughed, millions of Americans unemployed, and family budgets that have been cut, how does the President justify lavish vacations and a golf trip to Florida at taxpayer expense? And does he plan to cut back on his travel?

A.  I can tell you that this President is focused every day on policies that create economic growth and help advance job creation.  We have presided over the past three years over an economy that’s produced over 6.3 million private sector jobs, and we have more work to do.  And this President’s number-one priority is growth and job creation.

Watch video here:

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Sessions: Government Spends Trillions On Poverty Programs, But Poverty Continues To Grow

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Photo Credit: Daily Caller

Alabama Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions delivered the Weekly Republican Address Saturday, highlighting the fact that both poverty and spending on government assistance continues to grow in America.

“We spend a trillion dollars each year on federal poverty programs. That’s more than the budget for Social Security or Defense,” he said. “But poverty seems only to increase.”

Sessions, the ranking member on the Senate Budget Committee, highlighted the low-income troubles in the nation’s capitol, where 1 in 3 children in Washington D.C. live in poverty and 2 in 3 live in single parent homes. Just northward in Baltimore, Sessions added, 1 in 3 are living on food stamps and 1 in 3 children are living in poverty.

“Americans are committed to helping our sisters and brothers who are struggling, but we are seeing the damaging human consequences of our broken welfare state,” he said.

The Alabama senator slammed the Agriculture Department for its aggressive outreach efforts to enroll more people on food stamps, including strategies to overcome “mountain pride,” and the USDA’s contention that “each $5 in new [food stamp] benefits generates almost twice that amount in economic activity for the community.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Cruz: Defund Obamacare Through Spending Bill

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Photo Credit: Daily Caller Texas Republican Sen.Ted Cruz declared Wednesday that he will reject any government spending bill that does not directly cut off funds to the Affordable Care Act, President Barack Obama’s signature piece of legislation.

Cruz said “he will offer an amendment to delay the flow of funds to implement the healthcare law when the Senate takes up a continuing resolution to fund the federal government,” the Hill reports.

“I believe we should continue to delay such funding at least until economic growth returns to historic averages, and I intend to object to consideration of any continuing resolution that does not include a vote to delay funding of Obamacare,” Cruz said in a statement.

Cruz’s comment comes on the heels of a continuing resolution to fund the government, including money set aside for Obamacare.

After the GOP’s hopes of easily repealing the national health care law were lost with the 2012 election, some in Congress have said that they will work to use creative tactics to chip away at the law.

Read more from this story HERE.