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Dr. Tom Coburn released his report on wasteful government spending today. The report is entitled “Wastebook 2011.”

Here are some of the highlights:

• $75,000 to promote awareness about the role Michigan plays in producing Christmas trees & poinsettias.

 • $15.3 million for one of the infamous Bridges to Nowhere in Alaska.

 • $113,227 for video game preservation center in New York.

 • $550,000 for a documentary about how rock music contributed to the collapse of the Soviet Union.

 • $48,700 for 2nd annual Hawaii Chocolate Festival, to promote Hawaii’s chocolate industry.

 • $350,000 to support an International Art Exhibition in Venice, Italy.

 • $10 million for a remake of “Sesame Street” for Pakistan.

 • $35 million allocated for political party conventions in 2012.

 • $765,828 to subsidize “pancakes for yuppies” in the nation’s capital.

 • $764,825 to study how college students use mobile devices for social networking.

We need to elect people to Congress who will stop the wasteful spending. The problem is on both sides of the aisle. There is a Washington political establishment that believes spending is power and will continue to wildly spend until they are voted out of office. All Americans need to pay attention during the next year to see who the spenders are and who is trying to shrink the government and its spending. Then we need to vote accordingly.