Taxpayers get the bill for zombie invasion preparation

There's "ridiculous" government spending, like the so-called bridge to nowhere. And then there's this:

Zombie Apocalypse Training: Grant funds were approved to pay the $1,000 fee for a week-long conference at Paradise Point Resort and Spa in San Diego. The marquee event over the summit, was its highly-promoted “zombie apocalypse” demonstration. Strategic Operations, a tactical training firm, was hired to put on a “zombie-driven show” designed to simulate a real-life terrorism event. The firm performed two shows on Halloween, which featured 40 actors dressed as zombies getting gunned down by a military tactical unit.

Yep, your tax dollars at work, folks:

Or how about this?:

Seattle’s Remote-Control Helicopter (for Traffic Accident Surveillance): The Seattle Police Department used $41,000 in UASI funds to purchase a DraganFlyer X6 helicopter, though it insists it is not a drone. In fact, the Seattle Police Department has described the remote-control helicopter in a manner that raises questions about its utility (particularly for counter-terrorism), since they claim it can only fly 400 feet, it must not be flown above crowds, and can mainly be used for traffic accidents.

Both of these security projects are mentioned in a new report from Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma.  "Safety at Any Price: Assessing the Impact of Homeland Security Spending in U.S. Cities" examines federal grants from the Department of Homeland Security which Coburn says have been "directing scarce dollars to low-priority and low-risk areas."

"We cannot secure liberty and guarantee security simply by spending more and more money in the name of security. Every dollar misspent in the name of security weakens our already precarious economic condition, indebts us to foreign nations, and shackles the future of our children and grandchildren," Coburn says in the report.  "We can only defend our freedoms by ensuring the dollars we spend on security are done so in a fiscally responsible manner, meet real needs, and respect the very rights we are aiming to preserve and protect."

Click here to see Coburn's full report.