And now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine...
Yee-Haw
The Sewer and Water Department in Detroit pays $56,000 in salary and benefits per year for a farrier.
That's a horse-shoer. But the department doesn't have any horses.
The Michigan Capitol Confidential reports that while the horse-shoer's job description has not been updated since 1967, the local union contends that it's not possible to eliminate positions from the debt-ridden department.
A water department official says the horse-shoer works at a department blacksmith shop which repairs equipment and does metal and welding work.
Lights Out
When solar panel maker Solyndra filed for bankruptcy, it left its employees without jobs and taxpayers on the hook for its $535 million government-guaranteed loan.
Solyndra also left behind millions upon millions of glass tubes many of which will be destroyed.
However, nearly 1,400 of them went to college.
The University of California, Berkeley is using the tubes for an art exhibit called natural discourse.
It uses the tubes to transmit light and cool air into this cabin-like structure.
Presidential Pilsner
And finally, last week we learned that President Obama travels with his own White House-brewed beer.
An online petition requesting the recipe has less than 300 signatures so a member of the user-generated content site Reddit went a step further and submitted a Freedom of Information Act -- or FOIA request.
Along with asking for the necessary ingredients the inquiry ends with this -– quote-- "If you could send me a copy autographed by the president, you'd be the coolest FOIA officer in the whole federal government, and who could resist that title?"
We'll have to wait and see if that tactic works.
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