Government Waste

A highly incomplete, but still infuriating, list of government waste in 2011.

Some examples:

Republican and Democratic Party conventions: $17.7 million (each) 

A mango-production program for Pakistani farmers that was abandoned after one year and caused many farmers to default on loans taken out in anticipation of increased productivity: $30 million 

A project to convert three Air Force radar stations from diesel to wind energy that has since been abandoned: $14 million

The construction of an IHOP in the up-and-coming neighborhood of Columbia Heights (which Coburn refers to as "pancakes for yuppies"): $800,000

A promotional video for an Alaskan bridge that very well might not get built, titled 'The Knik Arm Crossing, Bridge to Our Future": $57,390 (out of $15.3 million spent this year on the bridge) 

Pension payments to dead federal employees: $120 million

A fourth visitors center on the 54-mile Talimena Scenic Drive that runs between Talihina, Oklahoma (Pop. 2,522) to Mena, Arkansas (Pop. 5,637): $529,689

Funding for video game preservation at the International Center for the History of Electronic Games: $100,000

Aid to China, the U.S.'s biggest lender, for social and environmental programs: $17.8 million

Seed money for the "drug-themed" Mellow Mushroom Pizza Bakery in Austin: $484,000

"Celebrity Chef Fruit Promotion Road Show in Indonesia": $100,000

Funding for Pakistan's Rafi Peer Theatre Workshop to create "130 episodes of an indigenously produced Sesame Street": $10 million 

Research funding for the American Museum of Magic to "better understand its various audiences and their potential interest in the history of magic entertainment": $147,138

Energy efficient home improvement tax credits for children, prisoners, and other people who do not own homes: $1 billion

Research funding for a study to determine if cocaine makes Japanese quail engage in sexually risky behavior: $175,587

(h/t Reason)