US justice department paid $16 for muffins

Where does one find those muffins that are so costly? Could this be code for something else? Like coke or hookers?

Senator Chuck Grassley said such spending was why US taxpayers were cynical about government

Muffins costing $16 (£10) and biscuits at $10 were among the "extravagant and wasteful" conference spending by the US justice department, a report has found.

Critics voiced outrage at the spending shown in the internal audit, including $8 coffees and $32-per-person snacks.
The justice department said it accepted the findings, adding that it had taken steps since 2009 "to ensure that these problems do not occur again".
The US owes more than $14tn and has an annual budget deficit topping $1.4tn.
The report found that the justice department had spent $4,200 on 250 muffins at an August 2009 legal conference at a hotel near the White House.
A justice department spokeswoman told reporters that took place at a time when there were no strict limits on food and beverage spending.
The department spent $121m on more than 1,800 conferences in 2008 and 2009 - exceeding its own spending limits, according to the audit.
It spent $600,000 just on planning for five conferences.
The department said it had already taken action to reduce conference spending, which it said had fallen the first six months of this year.
But Republican Senate Judiciary Committee member Chuck Grassley said in a statement: "People are outraged, and rightly so."
He said the report showed a congressional "super committee", charged with cutting at least $1.2tn in federal spending, where the axe should fall. 

We surfs have to live on a budget....I JUST DON'T GET IT....

Billie Flynn Ate My Gum

We met on a late Summer's afternoon. The sun warmed our faces as we sat silently enjoying the closeness. The sky was blue and cloudless. He looked at me with large brown eyes and I could deny him no longer. From behind my back I took what he had been waiting for. He stood anticipating and then he was off running to catch the ball. Jumping in the air it was easy and just as fast he returned dropping it at my feet.

Billie was a stray dog  found a few counties away at the side of a road. The shelter policy was notify area shelters, supplying a photo of animal and waiting 5 days before it could be available for adoption. He was extremely well behaved, they said, but the best news for any dog owner "house broken." I made several visits to the shelter before deciding to bring him home. After all it would effect both of us. A friend's daughter suggested I name him Billie Flynn because I loved the movie "Chicago".

He is even tempered, takes abuse from the cat, does not suffer from separation anxiety, never gets into the garbage and sheds so much its hard to keep up with it. The  jet black fur  easy to see for daily vacuuming. The noise drives him out of the room. Billy is afraid of loud noises.

The only complaint, if that even is the proper word, he eats my gum. Not used gum, oh no fresh out of the pack. To be more accurate its the whole pack. As evidence of his thievery the wet paper container is left on the floor for me to find. Apparently the paper is too much fiber. Yesterday I went out briefly, forgetting to put the pack of gum out of reach. On the bedroom floor was wet wrappers that once held the gum. When I looked at him the wagging tail stopped and drooped. He left not looking back and sat on the floor at my daughter's feet.

Dogs are like kids and X's. They know what they are doing will get them into trouble but do it anyway.

I JUST DON'T GET IT does not apply here..Billie loves gum. It's up to me to keep it away from him or learn to share...