Tell me about it, they lack training to go against them

Use it to investigate any fishy behavior.

In order to save money you must increase spending.

/haveigotthisrightyet?

david_gaithersburg: In order to save money you must increase spending.

/haveigotthisrightyet?

0/10. Man you're not even trying anymore.

I don't know. $21 for a fish tank is actually a good deal depending on the size.

Well, water is known to help stop/slow down the speed of a bullet, so it COULD be useful!

Right? Right?

But spending money on defence and security automatically makes us safer!

You could always bonk a terrorist on the noggin with it. That counts, sorta.

Xai: But spending money on defence and security automatically makes us safer!

As surely as spending on education automatically makes us smarter...

In before "but but but REPUBLICANS spent money on stuff, so this is okay"

hotlink

This is the training ground for a squad of bird catching catfish.

As long there's some ill-tempered Sea Bass in there I think we're good.

Quick, someone call Adam and Jamie!

If they would just re-label all the wasteful spending as "stimulus" then it would add to the economy instead of draining it.

DrPainMD
If they would just re-label all the wasteful spending as "stimulus" then it would add to the economy instead of draining it.

I am not sure spending $200,000 on armored vehicles and hardening stadiums is the best way get money to cascade down.

/$100,000 on food stamps trickles down much nicer then $100,00 on a luxury boat.

HOMER: Relax, Marge, if someone tries to get in here, my burglar alarm will let us know.
Homer indicates a contraption by the front door. A fishing line attached to the door holds an alarm clock above a goldfish bowl. Somebody tries the door handle. Marge gasps.
HOMER (relaxed): Watch the fish, Marge.
A hand reaches through the mail slot and grabs the fish.
MARGE: D'oh...

It was for a Betta they named George Herbert Marion Francesca Ulysses Carolyn Kevin Yolanda Oscar Ursula Walker Bush.

So it's fine.

It's where you put the heads during the zombie apocalypse.

abhorrent1: I don't know. $21 for a fish tank is actually a good deal depending on the size.

At $21, I wonder if it's more intended for being part of some water monitoring program, or as a prop in some training class about the possible hazards of water contamination as a terrorist act. I actually find the 'latrine on wheels' or underwater robot with no real need for one a bigger waste. Though even the latrine might be something special to justify it's existence, much like the ultra-expensive toilet seat that turned out to be an entire toilet system, on a submarine(IE piping can't operate solely through gravity).

Enemabag Jones: /$100,000 on food stamps trickles down much nicer then $100,00 on a luxury boat.

Why? In either case you have workers making the product(s), marketing, and selling it. Armored vehicles are likely at least made in the USA with non-minimum wage labor, which is part of why they're so expensive, and should have about equal benefit as welfare as long as the executives aren't taking insane profit(and most of them are fairly small businesses, where even the 'CEO' gets his hands dirty helping at times).

That being said, I'd prefer they were buying infrastructure - stuff that will help productivity in the future, and of course I'd always like to see money spent more efficiently, but I know that totally eliminating fraud, waste, and abuse is effectively impossible, so the best we can hope for is to keep a lid on it. If a $21 fish bowl is capable of making the 'short list' of examples of FW&A in a multi-billion plan, you're doing pretty good.

Those SOB's bought a fish tank for their office!? Do they expect us to buy the fish and fish food too!?

I'd need more info on the underwater robot, what exactly it was and why they wanted it. There are small ones you can get for less than $500, and Columbus does have a river running through the middle of town as well as a couple of nearby reservoirs. I could imagine a scenario in which someone would have a need to have an underwater video camera to examine something underwater.

I take that back-- that's a pretty expensive underwater robot for Columbus. I can't imagine what that would even be that they bought for $90,000.

Ethan Hunt might beg to differ............

Red light......green light!

FSTFKL: I can't imagine what that would even be that they bought for $90,000.

"Schieß dem fenster!" 

FSTFKL: I'd need more info on the underwater robot, what exactly it was and why they wanted it. There are small ones you can get for less than $500, and Columbus does have a river running through the middle of town as well as a couple of nearby reservoirs. I could imagine a scenario in which someone would have a need to have an underwater video camera to examine something underwater.

$500 is worth having it on hand. At $98k you might as well rent it and have it flown in if necessary. They get points back if the robot is intended to be more regional than just Columbus. Still, you have the Hoover Reservoir and state parks alum creek, buckeye lake, buck creek, and deer creek all within 50 miles, and they look to be fairly big bodies of water on the map

I'll note that keeping a couple of certified divers on the payroll to handle things like drowning probably costs more money per year, even if they're dual purpose. In my area there's a few that are also firefighters and police as their main jobs, but the state still picks up their equipment and continuing training.