Don't steal (you). The government hates competition."

~Ron Paul had on his desk while he was in Congress:

Congress gets all sorts of perks the avg. American doesn't get! They are immune from certain insider trading restrictions, get free airport parking and some of their airline travel is free, something like 240 paid days of vacation ea. yr., death benefits that, if they die while in office, their family gets nearly twice the sum our combat troop's families get, plus hundreds of thousands to millions for their personal staffs. That's not even mentioning the free gym and other exercise facilities, plus salon, barber shop, free cars to use and while they DO have to pay for their meals, the prices are not in line with private restaurants, and of course, the cooks, wait staff, equipment, etc. are all paid for by the taxpayer.

I voted for the good doctor, Ron Paul, every chance I got and he's one of the very few I ever donated to, even though he wasn't my representative here in Texas. I would avoid saying I supported him b/c of the vitriol I received from both Republicans and Democrats, but finally realized I was right in my support and those who opposed him were wrong. (I didn't agree with him on EVERY issue, but he was right on most!) I have a t-shirt with his likeness and the caption "Don't Blame Me! I Voted For Ron Paul".

Trump would have been well served to have appointed Ron Paul as Sec. of the Treasury. Not sure he would have accepted the job, but if he had, at least we would have had the Fed audited and a peek inside Ft. Knox, see if there's any gold in there.

Thank you Mike for throwing more light on the hidden Congressional Swamp freebies charged to the American taxpayer!

Ron Paul is one of my patriotic heroes

Another, was the late William Proxmire, Senator of Wisconsin Who Abhored Waste, .like spending $20 for a hammer, etc
https://www.nytimes.com/2005/.../william-proxmire-senator-who-abhored-waste- The longtime gadfly of the Senate dispensed
Golden Fleece Award annually to bring the unseen cost practices to light :-)

And term limits and no lobbying for 15 years post govt. employment.

I remember Proxmire and his Golden Fleece awards. While I don't remember/don't know about any of his other accomplishments, I liked his pit bull approach to being a Congressional watchdog.

If Paul had got the nod instead of McCain, it would be a much different, a much BETTER America today. His appeal went across all age groups and the support and enthusiasm from the young folks would have had him beating Obama handily, I think. The sad thing was he had a squeaky voice and none of the false charisma that many politicians such as Obama possessed. Still, he was one of the most honest people in Congress and one of the smartest. He was a veteran and a doctor and had some really good ideas. He was practically crucified by not only the left, but his own party for some "racist" statements in his newsletter...which weren't racist at all, but true. He said he didn't write them, but took full responsibility for them. (and having read most of his writing, it really didn't fit his style of prose, but....)

I also believe he was one of, if not the only one, who returned a good bit of his Congressional office's budget back to the Treasury ea. year.   Many people took his foreign policy as isolationism, but it wasn't that, not at all...it was non-interventionism, simple as that. I agreed with that 100% and it would have saved thousands of American military lives and billions of dollars. He voted to go after Bin Laden, but against the Iraq War, something else I agreed with.   

Many conservatives mistook him for an anti-Semite, due to his wanting to do away with foreign aid to Israel (not to mention many actual racists and anti-Semites who professed support for him) but as he rightfully pointed out, we gave 4 times the aid to Israel's enemies as we did to Israel...not much sense in that, is there? He was a strict Constitutionalist and even abstained from the non-essential votes of resolution in the House honoring this person or that one. If he was so anti-Israel, then why did he come out in support for them attacking Iraq's nuclear facilities back in '81?

Oh well, woulda, coulda, shoulda. I lost what little shred of respect I had left for the Republican Party when they treated him so shabbily, criticized him from their ignorant and short-sided viewpoint. Funny enough, many of the last clown car of Republican candidates started parroting much of the good doctor's platform.

EXACTLY, Will share this.

State Department Spent $52,700 On Curtains For UN Ambassador Residence

I heard something on the radio earlier about that, but was preoccupied with the local village idiots,so I didn't catch it all. What I DID hear is that the NYT was trying to blame that on Nikki Haley and the Trump administration (with her picture above the article about the extravagant expense), but that purchase actually was made during the last administration.

That said, I'm sure the Democrats will launch a full blown investigation as to why Haley's office did not cancel the order, try to deflect the fact of just who authorized the purchase.

Interesting they said the LAST administration, how about what it is, the Obama Administration? Play on words to avoid direct accusation of him. Minor issue? No it is not.