Scientists Gone Wild?

From A Yacht Club Event To Cigars And Expensive Wine, Are Your Tax Dollars Going To Lavish "Research" Parties

(CBS)  Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee is a center for federal research. It also sponsors conferences that attract bright scientific minds.

Too bad the bosses running the meetings aren't so smart when it comes to spending your tax dollars, CBS News investigative correspondent Sharyl Attkisson reports.

It seems they've been exploring a lot more than plasma microturbulence at their scientific get-togethers - sometimes breaking the rules.

Conference registration fees are supposed to be used to defray taxpayer costs. Instead, the Inspector General found they've been diverted for unallowed items like alcohol, parties, cigars, gifts and entertainment.

Attkisson asked Gerald Boyd, head of Oak Ridge operations: "$27,000 for a yacht club event; $13,000 for alcohol and food at a social event; $650 on cigars and wine. That sounds frivolous."

"Yes, it is," Boyd said.

If it sounds like "Scientists Gone Wild," Boyd, admits it looks bad.

"We can't allow these kinds of things to continue, and we think we've taken the steps we need to prevent that from happening," he said.

Some of the worst violations involve meals, which the inspector general called unreasonably "upscale and elaborate." At a four-day conference in Boston, they ran up a $236,000 tab to feed 318 hungry scientists.

The limit was supposed to be $61 reach. But the actual bill came to more than $230 dollars per person per day. That's almost 400 percent over budget.

When organizers were asked why they ran up such a tab, they used fuzzy math: They spent $61 on each meal - breakfast, lunch, and dinner - and don't forget the snacks.

On top of that, some attendees "claimed and were reimbursed for meals" they got for free.

All that, at taxpayer expense.

"That seems inappropriate on so many levels," Attkisson said.

"It is," Boyd responded. "We believe that when that does happen, it is incumbent on management and leaders of the department to go to those employees and say, 'you made a mistake. Don't do it again.'"

"But no discipline?" Attkisson asked. "No punishment for people who misused taxpayer money?"

"There wasn't any criminal activity that was pointed out," Boyd said. "What was pointed out was inappropriate use of funds, and that is being fixed."

Something else is being fixed: All this time, Oak Ridge had been skirting federal requirements that call for advance approval of conference plans.

Now the bosses have agreed to a more scientific approach: They'll actually follow the rules.

[jerr11]

assisting the fairy tale teachings of Darwinian evolution in the "science" classroom.

www.expelledthemovie.com


Posted by notaliberal4 at 07:09 PM : Jun 07, 2008

I totally agree.

Posted by soldat44 at 08:21 PM : Jun 07, 2008



It''s amazing how selective these religious nutcases can be when it comes to science.

They have no problems using the "internet" (or "internets" as the Liar-in-Chief calls it), to express their ignorance but they would not believe in any science that do not support their "religious" beliefs.

In this regard, they are no different from their Al Qaeda counterparts in Afghanistan who trash everything Western and yet have no difficulty using a cellphone or the internet (or "internets" as the Coward of Crawford calls it.)

[jerr11]

assisting the fairy tale teachings of Darwinian evolution in the "science" classroom.

www.expelledthemovie.com

Posted by notaliberal4 at 07:09 PM : Jun 07, 2008

I totally agree.

Posted by soldat44 at 08:21 PM : Jun 07, 2008




Me too.

And shooting all those fake Apollo lunar landings in a parking lot in Hollywood.

And how about those atom bombs in Japan?

Never happened, The guys who made those old King Kong movies shot those mushroom clouds too.

And yes, if you sailed deep into the Pacific, you''ll drop over the edge and land in Hell!

LOL

DUMB NEOCONS!

[displeased]

Mere chickenfeed compared to what Congress does to the taxpayer every day.
Posted by robes39

You mean the president.

[robes39]

Mere chickenfeed compared to what Congress does to the taxpayer every day.

[displeased]

Our tax dollars have been wasted for decades now anyhow, assisting the fairy tale teachings of Darwinian evolution in the "science" classroom.
Posted by notaliberal4

Science is based on studying objects that are real. Your religion comes from a book written by man at a time when they had very little understanding of existence. It''s obvious which one is the fairy tale.

[jerr11]

Scientists Gone Wild?



Nothing compared to neocons gone wild.

A war based on 935 lies, fake intel.

Killed 4090 Americans so far.

Cost the country $3 trillion.

What''s a couple thousand buck compared to the $12 billion we''re wasting in Iraq!

And who''s the main beneficiary?

Bush and his Halliburton buddies.

BLOOD MONEY.

George W Bush - Son of Satan

Damned for all time!

[soldat44]

Our tax dollars have been wasted for decades now anyhow, assisting the fairy tale teachings of Darwinian evolution in the "science" classroom.

www.expelledthemovie.com

Posted by notaliberal4 at 07:09 PM : Jun 07, 2008

I totally agree.

[creeper00]

As if scientists don''t have enough trouble with the know-nothing in the White House, they bring even more grief upon themselves through their own greed and arrogance.

[coco0331]

Our porker incumbents politicians in Pa, travel the world on a regular basis. They can say its benefiting to the country. I say its traveling the world at tax payer expense. When Bill Shuster isn''t posing for a photo opp with his smiling face, he''s putting in his brownie points giving our money away for votes, or taking an adventure trip around the world. You don''t think the scientist know what they are doing?

[gkc99]

Dianne Feinstein is already rubber stamping all the green cards for foreign imports to replace these disgraces who pay as much as $62 (gasp!) for a dinner.

[gkc99]

No problem. Just import a lot of Asian scientists, give them a bowl of rice and a straw mat, and fire all the Americans. Then the Asians can take all Oak Ridge''s secrets back to their own countries--OH WAIT--they''ve done that already!

[fstop100]

Stealing is a crime, lets do theright thing and punish them like common thiefs!

[mcv57]

Posted by hypnotoad72

Civil Service science staff are not scientist; they are organized college science rejects buearcrats, who do nothing more than create war games and weapons of mass destruction - that is when they feel like working.

[hypnotoad72]

Uh-oh. Attacking and disgracing scientists. Are big green lizards wearing human skin suits trying to take over _again_?

:)

[mcv57]

Government White Collar crime syndicate. Their motto, "Milk the Cow very, very, slowly, and don''t let the system know what your doing."

[extremophil]

Scientists can be wild and crazy alright. I remember Professor Brainerd (the guy who invented flubber) and boy could he play a mean saxaphone! Then he flew his Model-T around town at night and then he made the basketball team jump real high....what a scamp.......

[blazercoach1]

I love how you libs see boogey-men EVERYWHERE. It''s so cute....and so dumb.

So let me get this straight, in a world in which Bush has a "war on science" you think the scientists are alo neo-cons? And you also tend to the think the media is a conservative cover-up machine.....so who wrote this story?

Is it POSSIBLE, that the scientists and government officials are of BOTH parties...and that this has nothing to do with politics? Could it be that in order to attract the top minds in the business, you have to compete in wooing them at the same level as the private sector and foreign companies? Is it POSSIBLE that THAT''S what''s going on? Of course, you''ll also be the first to whine about the brain-drain in America while decrying this use of tax-payer funds.

By the way....did any of you hypocrits check out Hillary''s extravaggant campaign food-expenses? And now she wants Obama, public funds, or kids selling their bicycles and contributing to her campaign to fund it!

[l8c6]

Some of the worst violations involve meals, which the inspector general called unreasonably "upscale and elaborate." At a four-day conference in Boston, they ran up a $236,000 tab to feed 318 hungry scientists


That would be 62 dollars per meal, breakfast, lunch and dinner which means they had some big dinners with appetizers and drinks. Excessive yes. Good that this is the public sector and we can complain. Remember folks, the neo con republicons have loved to point these things out but we all pay for the profits of large corporations who produce greater excesses this this by a GAPING WIDE MARGIN, and we all pay for it and in the long run end up with no innovation. The developments of these scientists at taxpayer expense gets turned over to the private companies where they pay CFOs, CEOs etc huge salaries and send them off to $500 a plate and up dinners and resorts for conferences and the public is left with less and less as innovation and research is left behind. No one complains about the private sector. The neo cons have warned, hands off the their private corporate government.

[drivelphobe]

rudy654...

What gave you the clue? The $230/day or the invasive, parasitic, scamming illegals reference? You can''t help yourself can you!

[l8c6]

Can anyone imagine the excesses if research were taken from the public sector and moved to the private sector? CBS news would have nothing to work the public up over because the public would have no say. The public would be taxed by the color of a different horse. Blackwater doesn''t call their "taxing" "taxes" , they call them profits and they would come from the "peasant''s" wallets and purses based on what few corporations would be in power says the market determines. People could complain but it would fall on deaf ears. Private companies are accountable to no one once the government is privatized and under their control.