A $2.7 MILLION malware problem

From the same government that can read the worlds emails and land an SUV on other planets, we have a situation that led to a total expenditure of over $2.7 MILLION to rid a few machines of malware.

Yes. That's right. Malware.

And, to be clear, they didn't rid the machines of malware. No. They rid the machines. Period. $175,000 worth of equipment such as mice, keyboards, monitors and cameras were destroyed because they had malware.

Yes, they paid a contractor over $820,000 to get rid of malware. This contractor was UNABLE to rid the system of malware. Money well spent! Classy contractin'.
I suspect it was the same contractor they gave the $688,000 to to come up with a better solution after their first one didn't work.

Worst part? The ONLY reason they stopped destroying equipment at $175,000? BECAUSE THEY RAN OUT OF MONEY! Their plan, was to continue destroying equipment as soon as they had money again.

THIS is whyipaytaxes.
read more: Government Destroys $170k of Hardware in Absurd Effort to Stop Malware(giz)

Salaries

That's a lot of cops!

$4.2 MILLION for some fine policing

'Cause, you know... Shoot first ask questions later.

THIS is whycalifornianspaytaxes.
read more:
Women's settlement with LAPD in Dorner case worth $4.2 million(LAT)

Tanks a million!

Was looking for the recent Daily Show clip of Al Madrigal doing a bit on a piece of legislation that is being forced through congress to buy more tanks, even though the Pentagon doesn't want them. It was a Facebook post, but when I saw the first comment at thedailyshow.com, I just HAD to share a fantastic image exemplifying wasteful government practices...

Root around this Google Maps' satellite imaged area for awhile. This is all the crap our military doesn't even know what to do with:

https://maps.google.com/?ll=40.201201,-120.135406&spn=0.000892,0.002064&t=h&z=20

The clip from The Daily Show I was looking for. Gives some good context to the overall story.
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-february-7-2013/tanks--but-no-tanks

Building tanks to put directly into storage...

THIS is whyipaytaxes.

You had ONE job!

And that job was to KEEP THE DAMN BOAT IN THE WATER!

I honestly would expect that by now, the U.S. Navy ought to be able to muddle around without running into 10 meters of a UNESCO world heritage coral reef. They're stuck so bad they had to abandon ship!

Navy's not alone though and they're in good company. Greenpeace took a run at the same reef in 2005 and racked up a $7,000 fine.

On the plus side, this gives the Navy something to do...

THIS is whyipaytaxes.

read more: All crew leave U.S. Navy ship stuck in Philippines (USAT)