TMZ: Recovering missing soldiers is a "ridiculous waste"

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TMZ: Recovering missing soldiers is a "ridiculous waste"

TMZ, the celebrity gossip site, has taken a break from posting about Britney's crotch shots, celebrity sex tapes, fashion scandals, and American Idol to opine about taxes and the military. Here's what they had to say:

Former "Bachelor" bachelor Andy Baldwin just got back from the island of Palau in the South Pacific -- not on vacation, on a mission with the Navy. Now let's talk about why we the taxpayers are footing the bill on such BS.

Baldwin was among 20 military types who were on a search mission in the middle of the ocean. What, you ask, were they looking for? A B-24J bomber that went down during the war. Not Iraq. Not Vietnam. No, not Korea. We're talking WWII, as in more than 60 years ago.

Turns out, the military spends $52 million each year to find the remains of missing soldiers -- it's part of the POW/MIA program. That's all well and good depending on the circumstances. But a crash that is ancient history, at a time when the economy sucks and the Federal government is sucking the life out of everyone with taxes??

Baldwin, a Navy medic and diver, and crew found what could be human remains. We're told it's all being tested in the lab and it could take months, even years, to determine identities. At least he got a really good tan.

A poll accompanied the story asking, "Ridiculous waste?", which 48% of TMZ readers responded, "Yes".

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Oh my Lord, some people are disgustingly disturbing. How brain-dead... recovering the remains of missing soldiers is a waste? Recovering the remains of people defending our freedoms and way of life is a "ridiculous waste"?! These men and women give the ultimate sacrifice for us... and they don't want to spend $52 million out of a $3 trillion federal budget to find the remains of these brave individuals? How vile and pathetic. What parasites.

You want to see what real freaking waste is you cursed leeches? Well here is several examples you.... ugh... I hate brain-dead people.

• The federal government made at least $55 billion in overpayments in 2007.

• The Pentagon recently spent $998,798 shipping two 19-cent washers from South Carolina to Texas and $293,451 sending an 89-cent washer from South Carolina to Florida.

• Washington spends $60 billion annually on corporate welfare versus $50 billion on homeland security.

• Suburban families are receiving large farm subsidies for the grass in their backyards—subsidies that many of these families never requested and do not want.
• Over half of all farm subsidies go to corporate farms with average household incomes of $200,000.

• Government auditors spent the past five years examining all federal programs and found that 22 percent of them—costing taxpayers a total of $123 billion per year—fail to show any positive impact on the populations they serve.

• Congress appropriated $20 million for “commemoration of success” celebrations related to Iraq and Afghanistan.

• Examples of wasteful duplication include: 342 economic development programs; 130 programs serving the disabled; 130 programs serving at-risk youth; 90 early childhood development programs; 75 programs funding international education, cultural, and training exchange activities; and 72 safe water programs.

• Federal auditors estimate that $4 billion in Iraq-related spending is lost to corruption each year.

• Homeland Security employee purchases include 63-inch plasma TVs, iPods, and $230 for a beer brewing kit.

• The CBO published a “Budget Options” book identifying $140 billion in potential spending cuts.

• Two drafting errors in the 2005 Deficit Reduction Act will add $2 billion to its total cost.

• The National Institutes of Health spends $1.3 million per month to rent labs that it cannot use.

• The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration billed taxpayers for its 30th anniversary celebration in 2000 and then for its 200th anniversary celebration in 2007.

• Members of Congress have spent hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars supplying their offices with popcorn machines, plasma televisions, DVD equipment, ionic air fresheners, camcorders, and signature machines.

• The Defense Department wasted $100 million on unused flight tickets and never bothered to collect refunds even though the tickets were refundable.

• Medicaid fraud and abuse are estimated to cost $15–$25 billion annually.

• Over one recent 18-month period, Air Force and Navy personnel used government-funded credit cards to charge at least $102,400 on admission to entertainment events, $48,250 on gambling, $69,300 on cruises, and $73,950 on exotic dance clubs and prostitutes.

• Congress recently spent $2.4 billion on 10 new jets that the Pentagon insists it does not need and will not use.

• Lawmakers diverted $13 million from Hurricane Katrina relief spending to build a museum celebrating the Army Corps of Engineers—the agency partially responsible for the failed levees that flooded New Orleans.

• Fraud related to Hurricane Katrina spending is estimated to top $2 billion. In addition, debit cards provided to hurricane victims were used to pay for Caribbean vacations, NFL tickets, Dom Perignon champagne, “Girls Gone Wild” videos, and at least one sex change operation.

• Auditors discovered that 900,000 of the 2.5 million recipients of emergency Katrina assistance provided false names, addresses, or Social Security numbers or submitted multiple applications.

• Medicare officials recently mailed $50 million in erroneous refunds to 230,000 Medicare recipients.

• The Commerce Department has lost 1,137 computers since 2001, many containing Americans’ personal data.

• Audits showed $34 billion worth of Department of Homeland Security contracts contained significant waste, fraud, and abuse.

• Washington recently spent $1.8 million to help build a private golf course in Atlanta, Georgia.

• Congress recently gave Alaska Airlines $500,000 to paint a Chinook salmon on a Boeing 737.

• Congressional investigators were able to receive $55,000 in federal student loan funding for a fictional college they created to test the Department of Education.

• The Advanced Technology Program spends $150 million annually subsidizing private businesses; 40 percent of this funding goes to Fortune 500 companies.

• The Conservation Reserve program pays farmers $2 billion annually not to farm their land.

Don't EVER say that spending $52 million to recover the remains of the bravest amongst us is a waste of resources!