It's all fun and games -- until someone gets fired...

'GSA Again Under Fire, Now Over Video Spoof'

Two House committees said Thursday they are investigating wasteful spending by the General Services Administration, following an inspector general's report criticizing a lavish conference in October 2010 in Las Vegas.

The Oversight and Government Reform Committee also released a six-minute video (below) that was reportedly shown at an awards ceremony at the conference in which a GSA employee is applauded and named "commissioner for the day" for rapping about what he would do if he were head of the agency.

Earlier this week, the White House accepted GSA chief Martha Johnson's resignation after she dismissed two deputies and suspended other career employees over the conference, which cost $820,000.

Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa's office issued the following press release regarding a video they uncovered of a General Services Administration (GSA) employee bragging about lavish taypayer funded perks he enjoyed while working there.

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Federal Worker “American Idle” Uncovered:

Winning Video Skit from Taxpayer Funded Luxury Las Vegas GSA Convention

Video featuring Federal Employees jokes about never being under Inspector General Investigation, Lavish GSA Spending

The video clips below are from the U.S. General Services Administration’s (GSA) October 2010 Western Region Conference in Las Vegas, NV. It was played on Thursday, October 28, 2010 at the “Capstone Dinner Event.”

Obama better prepare, when I’m Commissioner.
I’d have a road show like [Acting Regional GSA Administrator Jeffrey] Neely, every time you see me rolling on 20s yeah, in my GOV.
Spend BA 61 all on fun.
ATF can’t touch GS-15 guns!
Cause I buy everything your field office can’t afford.
Every GS-5 would get a top hat award.
Donate my vacation, love to the nation,
I’ll never be under OIG investigation.

In congratulating the winner at the conference, Deputy Commissioner of the Public Building Service David Foley presents an award and jokes about the previous night’s lavish “party that was held in the commissioner’s suite,” having to respond to congressional oversight, and Obama Administration efforts to restrict executive pay. 
GSA Administrator Martha Johnson later resigned after the GSA Inspector General presented findings of abuse and waste of taxpayer dollars at the conference.

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UPDATE

GSA has issued a statement condemning the video that was released earlier today by Issa’s office, showing GSA employees joking about the 2010 conference.

“This video is another example of the complete lack of judgment exhibited during the 2010 Western Regions Conference. Our agency continues to be appalled by this indefensible behavior, and we are taking every step possible to ensure that nothing like this ever happens again.” - GSA Spokesman

Money talks...

Steve Wynn...

Steve Wynn, the CEO of casino company Wynn Resorts, delivered what some are calling "an epic anti-Obama rant" during his company's quarterly conference call today.

(The audio can be heard here...)

The self-described "Democratic businessman [who supports the U.S. Senate majority leader -- who just happens to represent Nevada, which is home to Wynn's hotels and casinos] Harry Reid," laid into the Obama administration for its failed economic policies.

One of Wynn's signature properties/accomplishments...

Some excerpts from Wynn's "chat" --

"And I'm saying it bluntly, that this administration is the greatest wet blanket to business, and progress and job creation in my lifetime. And I can prove it and I could spend the next 3 hours giving you examples of all of us in this market place that are frightened to death about all the new regulations, our healthcare costs escalate, regulations coming from left and right. A President that seems, that keeps using that word redistribution. Well, my customers and the companies that provide the vitality for the hospitality and restaurant industry, in the United States of America, they are frightened of this administration.And it makes you slow down and not invest your money. Everybody complains about how much money is on the side in America."

"You bet and until we change the tempo and the conversation from Washington, it's not going to change. And those of us who have business opportunities and the capital to do it are going to sit in fear of the President. And a lot of people don't want to say that. They'll say, God, don't be attacking Obama. Well, this is Obama's deal and it's Obama that's responsible for this fear in America."

"The guy keeps making speeches about redistribution and maybe we ought to do something to businesses that don't invest, their holding too much money. We haven't heard that kind of talk except from pure socialists. Everybody's afraid of the government and there's no need soft peddling it, it's the truth. It is the truth. And that's true of Democratic businessman and Republican businessman, and I am a Democratic businessman and I support Harry Reid. I support Democrats and Republicans. And I'm telling you that the business community in this company is frightened to death of the weird political philosophy of the President of the United States. And until he's gone, everybody's going to be sitting on their thumbs."

The money is talking, Mr. President? Are you listening?

"Change that works for you." Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight...

Putting their stamp on it...

The U.S. Postal Service is an easy target -- and an especially tempting target for proponents of the small-government, free market approach to basic services.

Time and time again, the USPS comes under fire for everything from its predictable billion-dollar deficits, to the ground it's losing to new communications technologies, to the market share it's lost to competitors in the private sector.

It also regularly takes hits for mistakes (like the one above) that serve to make jokes easier to write and eyebrows easier to raise.

According to the New York Times, "The United States Postal Service has issued a new stamp featuring the Statue of Liberty. Only the statue it features is not the one in the harbor, but the replica at the New York-New York casino in Las Vegas."

Time to call in an expert?

"You might think that the post office would have just gone with the original, the one off the tip of Lower Manhattan that for 125 years has welcomed millions of New York’s huddled masses yearning to breathe free," the NYT story goes on to say. "Instead, they accidentally used the 14-year-old statue that presides over thousands of weary gamblers a week. The post office, which had thought the Lady Liberty 'forever' stamp featured the real thing, found out otherwise when a clever stamp collector who is also what one might call a superfan of the Statue of Liberty got suspicious and contacted Linn’s Stamp News, the essential read among philatelists."

So, I wonder how the USPS will rectify this error?

“'We still love the stamp design and would have selected this photograph anyway,' said Roy Betts, a spokesman, in the NYT story. Mr. Betts did say, however, that the post office regrets the error and is 're-examining our processes to prevent this situation from happening in the future.'”

Yes, go with that...

If at first you don't suceed...

...try something else.

Hey, GOP. Remember how profligate spending helped run the party out of Washington? Remember how Tea Parties usually zero-in on hacks and lying politicians? Then why in the heck are you doing this?

And Justice for all? Forever?


Lady Justice?...

No smart alecky remark here. This is just the Tweet O’ The Week©!

You’re getting warmer: looks like they’re starting to follow the money.

This just in from the icebox formerly known as Washington, D.C.: “UPDATE: The following Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works hearing [has] been postponed due to inclement weather this week: The Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works will hold a hearing entitled, ‘Global Warming Impacts, Including Public Health, in the United States.’”


Congress shut down due to heavy weather. (Thank You, God!)

When it comes to science, when all else fails look at the data. (Which might explain why some of that climate change information is coming into question.)

“Forget all that! If we really want to get to the bottom of this weather stuff, we need more bureaucracy.”


It didn't seem possible, but things actually got chillier in D.C...

Looks like Ol’ Rahm is the one getting the finger this time.

From the president’s mouth to tourists’ ears (Sen. Reid – please explain to the 350 or so employees that will no longer have a job how that Hope & Change is working for them.)

Demonize any place long enough and you're bound to bring some sort of Change...

I wasn’t impressed by Sarah Palin cribbing reminders on the palm of her hand (for an interview), but if you’re going to go after her at least don’t immolate yourself in the process.

Add Palin: I guess White House spokeshole Robert Gibbs wasn’t listening to his boss’ chat with the press before he took the stage.

"What does the writing on my hand say? Quit acting like a jackass..."

Groundhog Day

I Got You Babe – “Groundhog Day prediction from Punxsutawney Phil: 6 more weeks of winter.”



From The Washington Post: “President Obama continued efforts to open himself to direct scrutiny from his critics on Monday, sitting for a half-hour of questions submitted to YouTube during his State of the Union address last week.” Adds Don Surber on his Daily Scoreboard: “Except the White House handlers got to pick the questions. You want transparency and tough questions? Broadcast his next meeting with the Democratic Caucus.”

I Got You Babe – “Groundhog Day prediction from Punxsutawney Phil: 6 more weeks of winter.”

Strike two: Looks like White House chief of staff Rahm Emmanuel has joined his fellow Chicagoan – and boss – in having to issue an apology to the developmentally disabled. (Interestingly enough, he apologized for using the term, “retards,” but just to those who are challenged…not the Democrats he originally pointed the barb at.)

I Got You Babe – “Groundhog Day prediction from Punxsutawney Phil: 6 more weeks of winter.”

Ooops, he did it again: “President Barack Obama took another dig at Las Vegas at his New Hampshire town hall Tuesday after similar remarks got him into hot water last year. Obama said that people should now “blow a bunch of cash in Vegas” during a tough recession. Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman called for Obama to apologize after he made comparable comments last February. ‘When times are tough, you tighten your belts,” he said at the forum.” You don’t go buying a boat when you can barely pay your mortgage. You don’t blow a bunch of cash in Vegas when you’re trying to save for college.’” So much for that re-election, eh, Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV)?

I Got You Babe – “Groundhog Day prediction from Punxsutawney Phil: 6 more weeks of winter.”

TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program) is “a looming disaster?” You don’t say. (Actually, the program’s Inspector General said so.)

I Got You Babe – “Groundhog Day prediction from Punxsutawney Phil: 6 more weeks of winter.”

Once again, “it’s George W. Bush’s fault.” Of course it is.

I Got You Babe – “Groundhog Day prediction from Punxsutawney Phil: 6 more weeks of winter.”

How do we get out of this recession? “The U.S. government must spend its way out of the recession, the Democrats' third-ranking House leader stressed Monday.” That Congressman? Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.). That philosophy? Business as usual.



I Got You Babe – “Groundhog Day prediction from Punxsutawney Phil: 6 more weeks of winter.”

Live from Vegas!

Waiting for Mr. Batchelor's call...

I'll be joining John Batchelor's (now nightly) radio show tonight, live from the Strip in Las Vegas.

My segment starts around 8:50 pm PST, and we're slated to discuss the current economic situation in Nevada (read: not good) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), who is having a tough time in the Silver State in the run-up to next year's election.

If you're in the NYC or Washington, D.C. metro areas, you can listen on WABC-AM 77 or WMAL-AM 630...respectively. If you don't live in those broadcast areas, you can listen via the stations' websites.

Thanks for listening!

Nothing short of amazing

The massive stage/set...

Amazing. Simply amazing.

Where? - the University of Nevada Las Vegas' Sam Boyd football stadium (located on the outskirts of Las Vegas).

When? - Last night, Oct. 23, 2009.

Who? - U2 (and about 40,000 of the band's closest friends...plus the 42nd president of the United States).

What? - the 360˚ world tour.



Bono, on video, over his minions...

In the middle of the desert, outside of a neon-lit town built upon vice, they built a cathedral and held a church service. More than 40,000 people crowded into the worship space and listened to homily after sweet homily; rode the highs and lows of every emotion; and when it was all over they begged for more.

U2, the ubiquitous rock icons, brought it's latest world tour - in support of its latest album, "No Line on the Horizon," to Vegas for another of its patented arena concerts that have become such productions - literally and figuratively - that there has never been another act in the modern era that performs at the level they do.

For this tour, the band exceeded any expectations by bringing a set to stadiums so large, imposing, versatile and mind-bending that it almost defies any attempts to describe it. So let's try...the stage spans the width of a football field; as with previous tours, it includes "runways" that extend out to and encircle parts of the floor audience; there are bridges (which can be slid) reaching out from the main stage to the runways and the stage is open on all sides (hence, just part of the tour's "360˚" title).

But the most impressive aspects of the set/stage is the massive structure that resembles some sort of creature with four arms (think an upside-down octopus), which rises from the set's four corners and overhangs the stage. From the structure hangs speakers and lights, and in the middle of the structure is a multi-story tower that holds lights, speakers and smoke machines. And surrounding/hung from the bottom of the needle is a giant 360˚ video screen (Bono called it a video "carousel") that not only provided stunning video coverage and effects, but also was an effect all to itself at times - it can lower, rise and even break apart into literally hundreds of separate video screens.

(Accompanying this post, you will see several photos I snapped from my seat that provide an idea of what the staging encompassed.)

The music

Oh, yeah...I almost forgot to mention - there was music played. It wasn't just about eye candy.

Kicking off the night with "Breathe" from their newest album, the band (Bono, vocals and rhythm guitar; The Edge, guitar, keyboards, and vocals; Adam Clayton, bass guitar; and Larry Mullen, Jr., drums and percussion) seemed determined to enjoy the staging but not to let it overshadow their sonic offerings.

They needn't have worried.

Showing they weren't afraid to sail into uncharted waters from the beginning, U2 kicked the concert off with two other powerful, new numbers along"Breathe" - "Get On Your Boots" and "Magnificent" (the last of which is destined to become another in the long list of the band's concert "hymns"). It was a bold move but the adoring crowd had already been swept up by the typical pre-show anticipation and hype, not to mention the sight of the massive set inside the stadium. The band was in high gear from the get-go and notched it up from there throughout the show.

The rest of the show included "Mysterious Ways," "Beautiful Day" - "In God's Country" - "Fix You," "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" - "Viva Las Vegas," "Stuck In A Moment," "No Line On The Horizon, Elevation," "In A Little While," "Unknown Caller," "Until the End of the World," "The Unforgettable Fire," "City of Blinding Lights," Vertigo" - "All These Things That I've Done," "I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight," "Sunday, Bloody Sunday," "MLK (Martin Luther King)," and "Walk On" - "You'll Never Walk Alone." The encore list included "One," "Amazing Grace," "Where the Streets Have No Name," "Ultraviolet," "With or Without You," and "Moment of Surrender."

It was a typical U2 concert and it wasn't. It was because it included many favorites (not hard with such a sizable/meaningful catalog); the crowd sang backing vocals; and appeals were made for various human rights causes. It wasn't the same and the staging was the proof.

The association between U2 concerts and spiritual experiences is nothing new - Bono has said as much during previous shows. But the band has stepped beyond that now. It has become so big, so significant, that even a typically large rock concert stage can't accommodate (certainly not contain) it. And while the structure had a "sci-fi creature on steroids" look to it as more than one person said, it had a very real feel of a medieval cathedral: massive arches, a spire, an altar, etc.

In describing the architectural significance of a cathedral, experts say they are "frequently the most imposing building, and one of the most ancient buildings in its town. The great size and splendour of the cathedral may be out of all proportion to the town itself. The money and talents expended on the building are seen as honouring God, and may also demonstrate both the devotion and the status of the patrons."

Hard to escape the parallels.

But as any devotee will tell you, the church might be beautiful on the outside but it's what's inside that's beautified.

In the case of last night's show, the temple out on the desert town's edge was impressive but it was what was going on inside that counted.

Viva Las Vegas - Irish style

Just got in from an incredible evening at Sam Boyd Stadium (UNLV), where U2 played as part of its worldwide "360" tour.

I'll spill the beans on it and throw in some additional media in a coming post, but it's late and this is all I have time for.

Good night, boyos!