Warning: Boondoggles Ahead!

Nothing like a good boondoggle to get your day off to an infuriating start. Over at our sibling blog, Primary Source, Phil Hirschkorn reports the following:

Representative Anthony Weiner, a New York Democrat, and Jeff Flake, an Arizona Republican, are teaming up to call for public disclosure of all counter-terrorism spending. Their sponsorship of the Homeland Security Transparency Act comes as the Department of Homeland Security is reviewing applications for the nearly $2 billion it will allocate to states and cities in 2007.

A few examples in the past couple years raising the congressmen's ire:

$202,000 spent by Alaska on a security camera system for a fishing village 300 miles from Anchorage where only 2,400 people live.

$36,000 spent by Kentucky to prevent terrorists from trying to raise money at bingo halls.

$30,000 spent by Texas on an emergency trailer stationed at one town's annual mushroom festival.

$8,000 spent by Wisconsin for one fire department's clown and puppet shows to educate kids about public safety.

$7,000 spent by Ohio on bullet proof vests for Columbus police and fire department dogs.

"It is an ongoing battle to keep New York and other large cities safe," said Weiner, who ran for mayor of Gotham in 2005 and may do so again. "We've got to fight for every homeland security dollar or we'll lose to bulletproof vests for Fido."