Evidently
this as been under my radar...but I read it this morning and was almost giddy at the prospect that Joe "You Lie" Wilson might get busted for lying and spending taxpayer's money on bullshit for himself. From the McClatchy link:
The congressional ethics investigation of Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., is broader than previously disclosed and goes well beyond his use of $12 in per diem expense money to buy six decorative goblets in Afghanistan last year.
Congressional staff members with detailed knowledge of the probe said ethics investigators are examining Wilson's unusually high number of foreign trips — at least 30 in the past eight years — and his use of per diem expense money while traveling abroad.
And then there is this part of the article where they give you Wilson's travling dog and pony show:
"I do not remember which trips they spoke about," Wilson told McClatchy. "I don't remember specifically."
Since he joined Congress after a December 2001 special election, Wilson's overseas travel has cost taxpayers about $100,000 all told in itemized expenses, including roughly $38,000 in per diem money intended to cover only meals and lodging.
That total puts Wilson at No. 29 among the 435 members of the House — and at No. 39 among 730 members who've served since 1994, according to data published in the Congressional Record, the official proceedings of the House and Senate and analyzed by Congressional Quarterly.
Because most of Wilson's trips have been to visit U.S. troops around the world, they've entailed significant additional costs beyond the $100,000 — including large sums of non-itemized, taxpayer-covered funds to pay for U.S. Air Force planes used to transport him and other lawmakers.
Don't you love the Reagan-esque "I do not recall" bullshit? Ah...the Rethugs sure know how to spend taxpayers money don't they? Yet, they scream and holler about the deficit and big government and how unemployment payments are a perk.... Fucking two-faced bags of batshit are a sorry-assed lot aren't they?
