John Dingell: Hypocritical robber baron

The Washington Times reports that Rep. John Dingell, chairman of the House Commerce and Energy Committee, along with organizations like the National Taxpayers Union, is protesting a Dept. of Homeland Security "boondoggle" conference this week in Hawaii that will reportedly run taxpayers $44,000.

I agree that this trip is a boondoggle, much like the vast majority of government conferences sponsored by American taxpayers. In fact, I say abolish the DHS immediately!

But if I'm reading this story correctly, it's costing taxpayers 44 grand to send 20 DHS employees to Hawaii. That's a whopping $2,200 per person -- to attend a conference in Hawaii? Hell, the plane ticket alone will run you about two grand. So either all 20 attendees are sleeping on the street and foraging for berries in the rain forest while they're there, or this trip will be much more than $44,000 once you factor in per diem and hotel costs.

The point is, $44,000 for 20 people for any trip is peanuts, much less one that finds you legging it cross-country and halfway across an ocean. But for all I know, international governments are subsidizing some of the costs for these American officials, too.

What I find really fresh, however, is that John Dingell has the temerity to complain about a government boondoggle to the tropics valued at $44,000 -- a veritable pittance in the grand scheme of federal spending -- when just last week he himself was complicit in the theft of $700 billion from American taxpayers when he voted for the bailout bill. See for yourself.

This criminal and others like him should be in prison, not walking the halls of Congress and popping off to reporters.