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Subscribe to RSSEditor's Note: This story has been updated to clarify that there were two separate reports - an internal inquiry into alleged misappropriation of funds at the National Weather Service and an external inspector general's report into alleged misappropriation at NOAA.
Updated at 12:49.m. ET Monday: The director of the National Weather Service has stepped down after an internal investigation concluded that the federal agency misappropriated millions in taxpayer dollars.
Jack Hayes retired on Friday, a day after the head of the weather service’s parent agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, issued a memo spelling out the results of an investigation into allegations of mismanagement of funds.
This follows on the heels of a separate external investigation into NOAA that says the administration misappropriated $43.8 million by giving bonuses and extensions to contractors without proper justification.
In the weather service inquiry, the memo by NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco said investigators found evidence that weather service employees at its headquarters inappropriately “reprogrammed” funds in 2010 and 2011 by moving millions of dollars in program accounts and redirecting them to 122 weather service offices across the country.
According to the memo:
“The Investigative Team found that NWS employees engaged in the reprogramming of NWS funds without Congressional notification during the years in question. These actions may be a violation of the Anti-Deficiency Act. The Team also found failure of management and oversight by NWS leadership. In addition, the Team found significant problems with budget and financial controls at the National Weather Service and that Departmental financial and management controls were ineffective at detecting or preventing this inappropriate reprogramming.
Importantly, the Team did not find any evidence that any NWS employee committed fraud or received personal financial gain through their actions. This fact does not excuse, or reduce the seriousness of the employees’ actions.”
NOAA announced on Friday that Hayes was retiring and that Laura Furgione has been named acting assistant administrator of the weather service.
The investigative report recommends that weather offices be fully funded, that supervisory structure of NWS be restructured to provide additional oversight, and that the budget process be reformed to allow staff to raise substantive concerns about prioritization and long-term planning.
“The deeply troubling revelation that senior staff at the National Weather Service, which provides indispensable storm and weather forecasting, have been conducting improper and potentially illegal transfers of taxpayers’ money is unacceptable,” Sen. Olympia Snowe, the ranking member of Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries and Coast Guard subcommittee, said in a statement Friday.
“I am further alarmed that the investigative report raises fundamental concerns that the core operations of the National Weather Service are underfunded, and that the current process in the Department of Commerce is broken, as it ‘did not encourage questioning or provide independent channels for reporting dubious budget decisions,’” Snowe stated.
NOAA spokesman Scott Smullen said in a statement:
“NOAA and department leadership will continue to work with the Inspector General’s office and members of Congress to ensure that processes are put in place to restore proper oversight, that funds are properly reprogrammed, and that all individuals responsible for these unauthorized transactions are held accountable.
“In addition, Commerce leadership is initiating department-wide actions to bring more rigor and transparency to the budget formulation and execution process at the sub-bureau level, as well as provide more training to managers on how to address complaints in a timely and appropriate manner."
Separately, an Office of the Inspector General report released May 18 said NOAA paid nearly $44 million in award fees or contract extensions without proper justification.
NOAA officials could not, for example, provide written explanation for why they paid $303,000 in awards on a $10 million contract to upgrade personnel and equipment for a satellite operations control center, the report says.
An $80 million contract for the National Weather Service's river, flood and drought forecasting specified that the contract, which consisted of a base period of five years, had to be evaluated annually. But the board assigned to evaluate the contract never met, the report says, nor had a chairperson been assigned.
Even so, auditors found that all five of the one-year extensions, totaling $40 million, were approved.
Of the nine contractors, NOAA gave eight high ratings, which allowed contractors to reap "substantial award fees," the report says. As a result, auditors concluded that NOAA's pay system "provided little incentive for contractors to excel in executing their contracts."
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Leave a Comment:
Darn, I knew Obama should have fired all of Dubya's appointees when he took over. This was a major failure.
It was Obama's major failure. It's on his watch and he's had four years to correct it. Note the dates, Bush was gone in 2009 and 2010.
Is it not clear that
1. The Federal Government is far too large to manage
2. There are weekly if not daily reports of fraud, corruption and mis-appropriation of taxpayer funds
3. We cannot trust our federal government employees, from the weather service to the oil rig inspectors to the army to the white house
4. They will not police themselves, nor can or will our inept, incompetent politicians.
How about a moderate 3rd party. No religious issues, simply money / management, defense, social welfare that does not include 49% of American households receiving government assistance.
Platform would include term limits, balanced budget amendment, reduction in the size of the federal government by 30% over 10 years (not a reduction in the increase, no, an actual real reduction, as they are far too big and powerful and corrupt). And a limit of 10% of our annual budget can be spent off-shore on any kind of activity.
When 70% of energy dept grants go to Obama donors, we have a systemic problem - and I don't doubt the same or similar problem exists with Republicans.
All we can do is to take away power, by reducing their pot of gold. Nothing else will work.
This is what Chicago politics is like, pay offs, bribes, out right theft and don't forget all the HOOKERS!!
4 more years of this> NO WAY!
Doesn't matter which party was in charge. They both practice the art of 'vote for our guy and watch what I will give you....' The Tea Party wants to do away with this nonsense and yet the media paints them as rascists, bom$ throwers and terrorists. This election, do your part, and vote BOTH parties out. Any candidate running for office needs to sign a promise of 'no lobbyist control'. Then every community needs to audit the he!! out of them for their whole term. The government must be brought back to the states and communities or we are all doomed
The MEDIA is straight up commie sympathizers.
Do not expect anything but pro left rhetoric from the main ...(I mean) lame stream media
valhalla
Selective reading?
This is what you get when you appoint appoint your political pals. Let's look for businessmen.
NOTE; Republican agenda, sabotage current administrations efforts to get country on track to recovery and to WIN the next election. Deliberately underfund critical agencies, excuse, cut the fat, actuality, sabotage gov programs that benefit all. That so called misappropriated money went into the system and nothing below board was done. Smell the stench of a Republican set up here. Also notice that if the program benefits the Republican fan base it is left alone?
I can not help but wounder if perhaps our government has not ROBBED PETER TO PAY PAUL ?????
It is an old shell game in government . You take money from one department and give it to another . Leaving the one department with unexplainable debt or missing funds . Perhaps the bean counters in Washington placed some of the national debt on their books . Just like they did to the Post Office . It makes the debt look smaller that way . The military must have needed it more than the weather service.
bob
gil
And who do you think was taking these incentive pay and contracts?
I would like to see every dept. in washington investigated for abus of power and funds.....I for one do not think that the weather service is the only one to be caught. Congress has for years accepted funds from whoever had the deep pockets..every dept. hands out bouns money to friends in business in one form or the other. Every politican in washington is doing the same things...if anyone thinks this is incorrect as a statement..then you had best look at who gets what and from who on every committee congress has set up.
These oversite committees have congress people who are overseeing things that they themselves have an interest in ..or their wealthy friends do. Other wise, why wouold any lobbyist be handing out millions to these committees and the individual congress reps in them ??
We have high levels of corruption, from government to wall street. This country needs a big change, we have already lost great part of our moral autorithy at home and aboard, nobody looks up to us anymore.
Tierney targets NOAA criminalization tactics »chorus of condemnation from Tierney Brown Kerry Jones Frank
Fisherman faces fines and jail for lying to judge »Meanwhile, NOAA agents who also lied not punished
My View: Bad NOAA science rooted in flawed model » newsviner Carmine Gorga, Gloucester, MA
Editorial: NOAA's 'acting' cast shows dysfunction of its leadership »
NOAA awash with acting leadership roles »a culture of low standards and no accountability
Warren echoes Brown stand on NOAA fisheries policy »Gloucester, MA
Brown presses for new answers on NOAA accountability » Fishing Industry
Brown ad targets NOAA's dealings with fishing industry -people have lost their jobs, their homes, and their way of life.
Latest probe due on NOAA policing ills -fairness could not be gotten in trials presided over by the Coast Guard judges.
NOAA pulls ad for magical motivation at conference
There is a fruitcake in charge of NOAA.
Damn. Sounds like this goes right to the heart of our disabling of regulatory oversight by Dubya! Our government is acting just like big business for some unknown reason. I wish we had some kinda oversight!
Oh, we DO have oversight. That's good. I'm sure they were all aware of this and were all over it.
And so she just found out when we did? I certainly hope her name doesn't come up on some National Weather Service payoff list or something. That would be bad. Maybe she was oversighting something other than NWS financials.. something more important maybe?
This stuff been going on since the start of tax collections...its not their money..so why should they care attitude.
Happens all over in all kinds of government branches in the USA.
almost every Government agency runs itself, with very little over-site from Congress, GSA, the watchdog , is like having a toy poodle as a attack dog; the waste, not counting the war contracts is a couple of billion a year, after a few years , you are talking about enough money to run the wars for at least a week. No one gives a damn.
LmarcT
Bush has been gone for four years, plenty of time for Obama to figure out how to get his thumb out of his a$$.
Bribery, corruption and kickback in a government agency? I am shocked. How many to date? Ah, well, it's only money. Let's raise taxes, that should help them out of their losses.
New government motto: Tax, spend, bribe, steal and cheat...oh, wait, isn't that the old model? Democrats should be all over it.
So the head honcho retires and collects his fat paycheck for the rest of his life and they sweep this under the rug and no one gets punished.
Isn't Amazing how the Left tries to blame Bush and of course the right blames Obama?
The problem is this isn't new and has been going on for years. You can go back as far as the Bush Admin but why stop there? Go back to Clinton, Reagen, Carter, JFK, Woodrow Wilson, George Washington and I bet you will still find kickbacks, Political favors, misappropriated funds, etc...
Maybe the real difference is that the Current POTUS ran on a Platform of "Hope and Change", "Were going to Change the Way Washington Works", "End the Status Quo", "No Lobbyists in my Administration", "the most transparent government in history", etc.
Obama's the one who set the bar with his lofty campaign promises, so how about actually manning up and accepting responsibility, when you get called on it?
Wouldn't that be a nice "Change"?
Yep. Transparent alright!
You need to go up another level to get to the head honcho. Lubchenko is the head of NOAA, which oversees the NWS. She "broke" this story to take the heat and vision off of all of her illegal activities.
Check some of the links that bore-head007 posted at 1.13 to see just how out of control and corrupt the entire NOAA administration is, especially Lubchenko. The NWS exercised poor judgement in what they did. The real problem is the criminal activities at NOAA administration that the congress fails to act on. Until they get rid of the head of NOAA, the entire thing is nothing except more smoke and mirrors.
This all started under Mr Bush watch, it took this long to get enough evidence to kick this A hole out. Lack of Regulations by the Republicans caused this problem, crooks are alive and well in Wash., D. C.. Another bites the dust. Many more to go???
Governments and waste are synonyms. The only successful way to reduce the waste is to diminish the size of the government. This is true for all governments at all levels.
You can have watchdogs watching watchdogs and the only thing you will succeed in doing is increasing waste.
@bore-head
It's not "transparent" it's INVISIBLE.
Voila, Now you see it, now you don't!
Ron Paul 2012
Get rid of all these leeches and go back to the roots of American government and the Constitution.
This government, ALL governments, have the distinct disadvantage of being composed of people. Where there is money and authority, someone will misuse that authority and cut corners or "do the right thing," which turns out to be the wrong thing. Then, if it doesn't get caught, it becomes standard procedure until it is exposed.
what government agency isn't corrupt ?
It's called "trickle down arrogance," it started in 2009.
If anyone is interested in learning about Lubchenco and her organied crime syndicate, some links.
Jane Lubchenco
http://www.fishtruth.net/Connections.htm
From the beginning.
United States Fishing Regulations - A Coup D'état
I still appreciate anything NWS does, it's the only agency I would gladly trust my life to. Glad to see there are those there who can realize they screwed up badly and need to accept the consequences for it
...looking at you GSA...
They didn't realize anything...an audit discovered the problems. No one has realized anything or accepted any consequences. Stepping down is not accepting responsibility, rather the cowards way out.
I think Jordan was saying that GSA realized that NOAA screwed up (lots of pronouns, open to multiple interpretations.)
"Senator Snowe stated there is no evidence that anyone profited from these transactions."(emphasis mine)
I think this is a read-between-the-lines thing - the Senator and staff (and probably GSA) know that someone in NOAA took kickbacks, but they haven't nailed down the evidence - yet. And they probably will not spend additional treasure to find evidence - would need to pay off some witnesses with cash, immunity, and maybe witness protection to recover very little, if any, of the people's money. A few administrators will leave with fat retirement annuities - justice prevails.
The one that took kickbacks was the one that retired. Now he will collect his fat paycheck and they will just sweep it under the rug. No One gets punished.
@jepeg,
"Oh, monies missing? I quit! By the way, can you make good on my pension, unused sick and vacation time, bonus's and any retroactive pay raises I might of missed. I'd hate to LEAVE empty handed, know one else does!!"
Try that in the private sector an see how far you would get!!
If you are a senior executive, it's already part of your multi-million dollar golden parachute.
Government is not expensive because of its administrative functions or paperwork. It's expensive because it keeps outsourcing to private contractors with little or no oversight.
The Pentagon is the number one example. It keeps awarding limited/no-bid contracts for supplies or even construction (recall Haliburton, couldn't account for $2 billion in charged budget for troop supplies in Iraq)
Even better if you're a private contractor and you screw up! Lockheed keeps screwing up each new generation of fighter jets. What does the government do? Award them even more money to try to fix the problem. Lesson? If you are a private corporation you can coax the government into giving you more money for screwing up, and then hide behind your 'private' label to avoid any oversight!
Only reason congress and senators get upset over this type of waste of money is that they didnot get a piece of the pie.
It's not so much the contractors as the method the government uses to award those contracts. Generally speaking they will go with the lowest bidder. Inevitably this mentality leads to low quality work that either has to be redone or requires additional money to complete the project. The contractors are aware of this and a good percentage will under bid just to get the contract knowing they will get more money down the line. Ultimately the blame has to fall to the government. The contracting officers who routinely screw up these contracts are simply incompetent. Their reward... a promotion.
So, just how much OVERSIGHT was Mrs. Snowe responsible for ?
Maybe the investigation should have dug into the "OAF-CG" subcommittee's responsibilities for NWS's funding activities.
Wait a minute....another Mr. Obama "I will do a top down review of ALL government agencies for Fraud, Waste, and Abuse and consolidate or terminate duplicate agencies" 2008 campaign promise down the tubes.
Darn, I knew Mr. Obama would NOT keep all the campaign promises he flooded the airways with in 2008.
Meanwhile, back to the GSA, DHS, DSHS, ICE, IRS, DOE, and "other Liberal controlled agencies" investigations for Fraud, Waste, and Abuse.
P.S. I really like the IRS Income Tax one: Illegal Aliens (Immigrants) receiving about $ 4,200,000,000 a year in FRAUDULENT Income Tax refunds claiming the Additional Child Tax Credit for children LIVING IN MEXICO and who are NOT related to the individual filing the return.
There it is folks, the 'it's all Obama's fault' from a Republican/TP Inc. troll. The only surprise is that it took so long for this troll to post.
Give it a rest, ldo, you're a fool that no one listens to, anyway.
If everything that happens on Obama's watch is Bush's fault then everything that happened on Bush's watch is Clinton's fault right? That's your logic! Suck on that troll.
I regret to say you are wrong on DHS...Real American Heroes working there We must stop putting a divide up because of political affiliation..Remember ALL HUMANS are corruptible given the right environment..regardless of Party affiliation..NIXON and CLINTON
You forgot the MOST corrupt President EVER> OBAMA
ldo
I didn't know Sen. Snowe (R) was a liberal?
Ido, I agree with you about the IRS and the blatent fraud going on by illegals. Did anyone see the investivagative report out of Indianapolis televisison WTHR? It showed how how the illegals were getting so much money back for listing the child deductions and most of these children have never lived or stepped a foot into the US. And it's all on record, the local IRS admits they know about it, the tax preparers have came forward for a few yrs showing thousands of fraudulant claims, and nothing is done about it. In this report from the TV station it showed a household with 5 different people claiming the same address and scores of children for the tax credit. Do they live there, NO. And the children...NO. They are listed as nieces and nephews on the forms. The report goes on the reveal the tax fraud of at least 4.2 Billion dollars. That my folks is not a drop in the bucket. I'm sure some US citizens have done this also, but it needs some major investigation by the Feds. Why should our tax money be given to children who have never lived here at all? Do we as citizens already give aid to Mexico thru our tax money, of course we do. Go to WTHR in Indianapolis and watch these reports, you will be in for a surprise.
AK
I thought that was tricky dick?
AKRandy, if you think Obama is the most corrupt President ever you know nothing about history.
I love when people post on here and make total fools of themselves!
Especially those that defend Obama Bin Laden
The only tricky dick around here is the one Obama has been slipping us for the last 4 years.
flnobody
" I didn't know Sen. Snowe ( R ) was a liberal? ", You should have been aware of that, it was her vote that allowed PPACA out of committee, where it should still be!
steve
keep your mouth shut, and he can't put it in there.
flnobody:
Snow votes left so much she thinks she is a race car driver. (she only goes left)
First off, I didn't say it was Bush's fault, fool.
Second, no one said 'everything on Obama's watch is Bush's fault' but when it is Bush's fault, then it is entirely appropriate to say it. You guys just don't want to admit when it is Bush's fault.
Suck on that, and crawl back into your troll hole, a$$hole.
Really? Prove it, or STFU.
Seriously? Illegals filing tax returns? LMAOROTF!!!!
And if you are talking about them taking those deductions through the company paperwork, it sure isn't the illegal employee who is benefiting from that, it's the employer who is keeping the extra money of the fake employee.
Are you implying that legal taxpayers aren't taking advantage of the IRS, and aren't lying on their tax forms? It is actually one of the ways that the very rich hide income (you know, hiding money in places like . . . oh, say, the Cayman Islands?), and pay a lower tax rate than you, and I pay.
Were you people born this stupid, or did you have to work at it?
Thanks for reading my post and providing comments. Apparently, you have no idea who I might be and still call me a "fool". Is that typical from the Left? Apparently YES. And, you are LISTENING (or is that reading my post). Good for you...being able to read.
Furthermore, the reference to the Illegal Aliens (Immigrants) fraudulently obtaining about $ 4,200,000,000 per year in tax refunds should have EVERYONE hopping mad. Sure there are other folks and companies who file false information. Problem is, the IRS is sitting on their hands with their NEW Information system which cost the taxpayer BILLIONS of dollar (and climbing) which is supposed to detect these folks.
I didn't say she was a Liberal nor a Cabinet Member.....comprehension please. She is the RANKING MEMBER of the sub-committee overseeing this operation which mis-used taxpayer money.
And I assume you are paying your Income Taxes and not like 41 Obama White House staffers and some of their aides, along with HUNDREDS of our "elite" elected Congressional Representatives and HUNDREDS of government employees who have NOT PAID THEIR BACK IRS TAXES.
ldo
Hmm,
so NOAA isn't one of those other Liberal controlled agencies?
Sorry to say, every damn year, for the last 43 years.
Where were you people when Mr Bush, Our Worst President in History of this Country, ran this country into the giant ditch or canyon and got us into two wars, Mr Cheney, no heart, Halliburton crime organization!!! Collapse of Wall Street, (No Regulations), ran away big Banks, (No regulations), $14 Trillion down the hole to the banks, Taxpayer money, Tax Cuts for the rich, (twice), Drug plan for seniors, (win fall for the drug co's.) Mortgage Companies collapse,(No Regulations). This all started under Bush, Not Obama asswipe. Question, TPers keep saying were are the JOBS, Republicans have not produce JOB Plan ONE since Obama has been in Office. You guys voted down every JOB PLAN the President try to introduce to Congress by using your Fillibuster. You are the party of NO and Come November the Public will remember your voting record???
Doesn't surprise us this gov't has turned out to be as corrupted as china and russia. Its not even worth voting anymore. now with florida disqualifing voters
So you advocate for Illegal voting rights?
Florida is a corrupt state, they have showed it numerous times in pass few years. Florida Supreme Court is right in the pockets of the TPers republicans. Just Look at who is Governor???
GEEZ--is that all? LUCKY U.S.--Whew--that was a close one!!! LOL.
Glad you can laugh. Those are MY tax dollars being wasted. You must be one of those who are living off the teat.
Jim must be one of the 48% that PAYS NOTHING!!!
Don't worry Darryl, I'm sure they just spent the $43 million on carbon credits.
ak
Jim could be a millionaire. A lot of them are included in that 48% you know.
@ AKRandy. You DO know WHY 48% of Americans pay no taxes, right?
IT'S BECAUSE THEY DON'T MAKE ENOUGH MONEY TO BE TAXED ON!!!
You can thank your greedy 1% bosses for that. Oh, and you also conveniently forgot about things like sales taxes, fuel taxes, etc. etc. Geez, if I hear one more conservaturd trot out this tired fact, I think my head will explode! STFU and GTFO, you idiot!
DoneBending
It seems your head may have allready exploded! Those of us who pay income taxes ALSO pay those other taxes, that idiotic statement is non sequitur!
no problem. obama was able to divert some to his campaign.
You just made that up, didn't you? There's a name for people who do that -- liar.
Blame every thing on Mexico, it the normal mark in there, corruption is very contagious and is no endemic, is pandemic, "VIVA PANCHO VILLA HIJOS DEL MAÍZ"
Even the trusted, low-budget agencies are sloppy and/or losing track of tax-payer $$. Multiply by a thousand or more for all US Gov't. Why aren't audits of the corporate operations, with billions at stake, more routine? This agencies sub-groups have to account for every nickel, and get pre-approval for almost every routine expenditure. It's a corporate black-eye, but field offices are still the best there is.
rmanodac
You present a conundrum. You posture that more audits by the GAO, the government audit department, would save money by revealing unauthorized spending. But to do that you would have to increase the size of government by hiring more auditors. Seemingly conflicting goals.
LoyalTexan
Thanks for your reply. The way I understand DOC audits, they are conducted internally by the IG office. I believe this problem was reported by that IG office in it's normal duties. I'm not sure if they had been "informed" by a whistle-blower or not, but at least DOC cleans it's own house. I certainly would be opposed to increasing gov't even more, just to do audits. I think the current structure requires audits be done - just not enough to my satisfaction. All-in-all, this actually is a gov't success story to do what is right for the American people. Now, we'll sit back and see if the "other shoe" falls on NOAA.
Unfortunately, the Congress keeps cutting the budgets of internal enforcement agencies who would do these audits. If there are only three auditors to cover a major department, it might take generations to get to a particular office. That's one reason for the tax frauds described above, the budget for the IRS enforcement section has been cut to the bone. Other departments are the same.
Okie joe
That is not good to hear - but not a surprise, either. Cutting inspectors, and then yelling "fraud!" when there are not enough to do the job, is another conundrum. Maybe good for political gain - not good for the USA.
Does the corruption ever end in our government. It just seems to go from one government dept to the next government dept. Is it the lack of moral character and leadership in government or what? We really need a change in whose running the show in Washington.
Let's see now. It says the NWS mis-apparopriated $43 million. How much does it cost to send aircraft out into one hurricane over the storm's life? How about a couple of serious storms? er, hurricanes? And How about a couple of good Pacific hurricanes/typhoons? How many millions of dollars? All for hard, risky work? Work that is the only way to get certain vital data out of the storm? By contrast, how much money did the GSA blow on A single conference in Las Vegas? Which agency is the more spendthrift? Which one needs to be kicked in the #$%? I don't worry too much about NWS expenditures; it is working for all our safety. The GSA, on the other hand, doesn't seem to get it, that its job is to monitor and minimize expenditures, especially its own.
That's a good point; this screw-up is a blip among such models of efficiency (ha!) as the DoD.
Still, that they have done this at all means less free weather data and services for us long-term. Accu-Weather and friends share a powerful voice against them: money. Combine that with the reduced trust (and political capital) Congress and friends will have in the NWS and their budget will be NASA'd into oblivion, at our ultimate intellectual expense.
game kid, what do you mean by "free weather data?" These people don't do anything for free. As for data, NOAA has done more than it's share to manipulate data than anyone else.
Just because someone else might have done it bigger is not justifcation for NWS!
I don't see how the NWS as misappropiated anything. How soon could they expect an answer from Congress these days(approvals to send money to various stations); they can't agree on anything anymore. The NWS just took $$ they had and put it where it was needed. The NWS is one of the most vital parts of our government. It warns of storms of all kinds. How many more lives would be lost if it were not for the close montoring by the NWS?
jpeg -- There is a proposal by some Republicans to require all weather bureau data to be passed to the public exclusively through a private, for-profit corporation. That means that if you want to know about the weather, you have to buy it from someone. Someone who got it free from the government.
At a time when the private weather service lobby (one actually exists!) wants our knowledge of the very climate of our world to be paywalled and forced into non-free data formats*, we cannot afford to let NOAA, one of our last defenses against them, do such terrible accounting.
I am glad that the clearly incompetent (or worse) Director has resigned at all, but if he knew of this earlier he should've left earlier.
*From that page, by the way, comes perhaps my favorite Slashdot comment ever. Don't ask; it's a nerd thing.
Man oh man..I bet Dr. Hayes didn't forecast this to be brought out into the light...
Sunny tomorrow with increasing clouds on Wednesday. Abundant showers on Thursday and Friday....watch those slick roads on your way to the unemployment office. Long term forecasts look bleak.
you don't need a weather vane to know which way the wind blows
I'm going to blame Obama for every hurricane that hits the US this season. It's easy to track responsibility for these natural disasters directly to the steps of the White House and we all know Mitt will do a better job of keeping them away from our shores.
®¿®
Misappropriating funds does seem to be a natural disaster for obama, but could you clue us in on what you are trying to say??
Did you mean...it's all Bush's fault? or it will be Mitt's fault come November after his landslide win?
Thank You Comrade Alinsky!
jpeg -- Whose fault is it? It's the fault of the people who did it.
43 Million? Really? This country is in debt by trillions and you guys are headhunting for 43 million? LMAO. Hell, i bet Romney has evaded that much in taxes over the last 20 years.
If Obama never made President of the US, this would never have been news. Why? Because the prior President could have cared less about "misappropriations". Now that Obama is President and holding agencies and people accountable incidents like this are coming to light.
PS, you want to headhunt over millions be my guest, but while you're wasting time trying to find drops in a bucket there are congressman trying to pass an annual defense bill that could use some trimming as well. If the pentagon budget were cut in half and the amount saved applied to our debt for a handful of years we'd be paid off quick fast and in a hurry.
Give it a rest GCooper, BOTH parties have been fleecing this country for the last 60 years. One party gets the law passed, the next abuses it. Just interchange the D and R as needed. One day, you and most others will wake up to the fact that worshipping a 'party' is the most dangerous thing a person can do.
διαιρει και βασιλευ ·· Divide and rule.
Thank you President Obama for getting the inspector generals to start cracking down on mis-use of tax-payers money. All other government activities and contractors, beware, your on President Obama's watch on government waste of us tax-payers. While the republician politician preach no regulations, President Obama is doing his job of regulating.
President Obama-2012
deb, theirs a big difference between regulation and oversight. If you are going to lie, at least make it sound believable.
And as for "cracking down on mis-use of tax-payers money", wouldn't that have come in handy in the first 3 year of office, instead of right before election time? The only thing obama is watching is his bank account, golf score and the weather report to determine where to go on vacation next.
we need regulators to make sure our employees don't rob us ??????? Blind watching Blind !! This is the Obama world ... this is Big Gov't !! This is the crap that happens with Big Gov't !!
You have regulations over businesses. You have oversight of employees, and you are right....Big government has no oversight. Bet they couldn't tell you where 90% of the stimulus money went. (the crap about most being tax cuts is just that...crap)
jpeg
The Tax Policy Center crunched the numbers and concluded that the average savings would be $1,179.
http://money.cnn.com/2009/02/21/news/economy/tax_savings_stimulus/index.htm
Did we ever figure out how much of the tarp money went to CEO's bonuses?
Did you miss the speech by Giethner, who announced we made money on the tarp program? Of course, the tarp money was re-invested in the auto bailout program...billions we will never see again. But you are right...I believe the banks that never fully paid back the money were the worst and most generous with the taxpayer money.
As from the CNN article, at lot of should's and could's in there....I didn't get a dime. Now I bet a lot of those people who don't pay any federal taxes got some huge returns.
Perhaps you're right about the CEO bonuses, however what you failed to mention is this: 71% of all stimulus loans went to Obama bundlers! They gave his campaign $457,834 and he gave them $ 11.35 Billion! A significant portion of those companies are now OUT of business!
JPG
What they didn't mention was the fact that TARP was a Bush '43' plan, not Obamas!
ted
That was still less then what the banks took as bonuses from tarp. That $11.35 billion you are talking about. Is about the same we give to the oil companies ever year for the last 10 years.
http://www.forbes.com/2009/02/04/stimulus-obama-daschle-opinions-columnists_0205_dan_gerstein.html
ted -- He failed to mention it because it didn't happen. This is what is known as an untruth, also known as a lie.
And this is the same government that wants to manage our health care.
The affordable health care act has nothing to do with health.
Yeah, the insurance companies are doing such a bang-up job of it...
McGuffin -
Then why does Obamacare give them even more power?
Ask the ones who will be able to have health care now if the ACA has to do with health care.
snow says that there was no evidence that anyone profitted from this? What about the contractors award fee contracts are for high risk endeavors not upgrading or remodeling facilities and systems- somebody needs to go to jail
Big distraction to follow tomorrow....this will be ancient history by the end of the week.
Just another reason big Gov't doesn't work anymore , imipossible to control ............ this is just the tip of the ice burg
Yeah, the government can't even manage schools with students who know how to spell "iceberg"
And for some reason some on this board think , this kind of stuff couldn't happen with Health care ???????
Perhaps this is why people realize giving Gov't a Blank check for Health Care is a bad idea .... not only won't it work but it will be riddled with corruption ............... Please tell me one gov't program that is solvent ? or came in under budget ?? or even on budget for that matter .......... there is no incentive for the
gov't to be good
Yup...they'll spend $1,000 to determine it's not cost effective for you to get a $5 tetanus shot.
Medicare is already a government program, folks. And the Affordable Care Act doesn't create a public, government-run option for health insurance; it forces people to buy insurance from private companies that will manage their own budgets.
Unless you kick everyone out of office and start new things like this will NEVER EVER CHANGE! Every branch of Government is suspect. Lavish parties in Vegas, Hookers for Security Staff, Medicare fraud in the billions and the list goes on and on. When will People ever learn??? If you don't send a message you are no better then the morons that rips us ALL off.
This never happened when bush was prez. When bush was prez the secret service was lily white pure, gas $1 a gallon, plenty of jobs fighting 2 wars, everyone had a home they couldn't afford, but Obama CHANGED everything for the WORSE!
Does not matter what is was before or in 1942. It is what is is now, period. It is NOT okay for you to rob everyone because someone else robbed before. People will just NEVER EVER get it, period. They will use someone else to compare someone else, political rhetoric and BS. Our Government as it is today is criminal, deceitful and downright NOT trustworthy. They all make promises that THEY NEVER EVER KEEP. Change........What change....not for the betterment of ALL people that is for sure. Tell me people are happy with the way WE are going? They are NOT.
Alan, THANK YOU!
It happens under every administration...some worse, some better....Every politician runs on stopping it, then a few years later, retire millions richer.
This kind of bullshi$ has happened under every administration since I can remember. And, the more I see of this the more I distrust any business that does business with the government.
While the pols in DC are far from innocent of mis-doings, and they sure as hell can't manage money, nor do they have any concept of the value of a dollar - the perception on the outside is what the sales world calls a "lay down". Too many businesses and/or contractors repeatedly gouge the various government departments and then have the balls to step up for award bonuses. These people are stealing from the taxpayers.
And - don't look now - but those businesses are comprised of members of "We the People". Surely there are "citizens" - like you and me - working inside those businesses that are appalled at the pilfering and padding?? Surely they would speak out?? Or do they look the other way just to keep a job?? These people are allowing others to steal from the taxpayers.
And how about those people from "We the People" who work for the government and see this type of stealing - and just rubber stamp the checks? I'm sure its easier to use the rubber stamp than to get up out of the ergonomically correct chair and stop it. And these people are also allowing others to steal from the taxpayers.
Some have mentioned the new health care. Anybody want to "audit" the current bunch of thieves that are billing our government under Medicare?? My mother is 85 - and every time she goes to the doc all they want to do is run endless tests - and the only thing ailing her is old age. How come nobody is all twisted up with the doctors and nurses who are clandestinely stealing from the taxpayers??? Or the diabetes tester supply companies who advertise it is all FREE!!! That TV airtime isn't cheap!!!
So - in conclusion - it seems the blame is at the feet of the American people - most who feel they have done their part by showing up to a voting booth once every 4 years. They don't want to be involved as they just have soooo much going on in their lives - yet they will sit at their computers and howl at anything "government". Give me a damned break.
OH - here's a little bit of info. Check out how many of these companies are "contractors" with OUR government. And who do you think is paying these CEO's??? Don't you just know every one of them is a flag-waving, all-american, honest and ethical business guy.
247wallst.com/2011/10/20/america%E2%80%99s-most-overpaid-ceos/
Misappropriation, nice word. Kind of like I misplaced my gloves. Like they are still here, I just can't find them. Why don't they try calling it like it is, stealing!