The inspector general at the National Science Foundation (NSF), which is a taxpayer funded foundation that provides billions of dollars in scientific research grants, was forced to cut back on its primary mission of investigation grant fraud and recovering misspent tax dollars to focus on the porn issue.

Amongst the offenders was one senior executive that spent at least some time looking at porn and chatting online with strippers on at least 331 days.  Assuming that’s over the course of the year, that means he was putting in some significant overtime.  The cost to the taxpayers?  Somewhere between $14,000 and $58,000 (way to narrow that down a bit, guys).

When caught, the official promptly retired–and offered up a humanitarian defense, claiming that he “frequented the porn sites to provide a living to the poor overseas women.”

Of 10 NSF employee misconduct cases closed in 2008, seven of them involved employees accessing porn online–and those numbers don’t include active cases.

One would have to wonder if similar investigations in other government offices would net similar results–although I would guess most politicians are far too busy to spend time looking at porn.

Flynt and Francis concede the industry itself is in no danger–while DVD sales have slipped over the past year, Web traffic has continued to grow.  But, they apparently beleive that Americans are depressed due to the economic news–and therefore, we need even more porn to cheer us up.

As of yet, there has been no response from the slackers in Congress.

Proposed by State Representative Charles Siler, the bill is aimed to recognize that KFC has brought worldwide attention and economic benefit to the state since first served by Colonel Harland Sanders in 1940. Today the chain has 11,000 restaurants in 80 countries.

The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals opposes the legislation, to no surprise (they also have tried to have a bust of Col. Sanders removed from the state capital). 

“If the state legislature moves forward with this one, then they should change Kentucky’s state bird from the cardinal to the debeaked, crippled, scalded, diseased, dead chicken,” said Bruce Friedrich, PETA vice president.

Personally, I’m not sure what the big hang up is–it’s not like treating the chickens more humanely (think about that word for a second…) is going to make the chicken taste any better (or worse, depending on your opinion). 

Maybe PETA would be happier if they were named the “Official Radical Animal Loving and Terrorist Group Supporting Organization with Questionable Marketing Techniques” of the state?  (by the way, that second link isn’t appropriate for work, or for kids under 18, because PETA is all about treating animals nicer, even if a few women have to degrade themselves along the way.  And if you’re going to watch it, you can turn the sound off, and ignore her comment about “being back with more”–she isn’t).

To be specific, they’re trying to make it a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $250 to hang a pair of fake nuts from your trailer hitch.

The idea and motivation, however, came from a constituent upset that his young daughter had caught sight of the facsimile sex organs and asked what they were.

“I didn’t know what to tell her,” Spruill said, quoting the constituent, whom he refused to identify.

“I said, ‘Sir, I’m going to be a laughing stock, but I’m going to do it,’” he said.

Well, at least he got one thing right that day.

Now, in reality, the Manlyweb Cruiser doesn’t have a nutsack hanging from the hitch (and we sure as hell ain’t forking over $50+ to get a pair in brass or chrome), nor do we live in Virginia, so the law wouldn’t really impact us here.  But it still seems absolutely ridiculous that people who are being elected to run a state spend time debating something like this.