"The State Department certainly had its priorities straight in the weeks leading up to the government shutdown: In September, the last month of the fiscal year, it spent $180,000 ... on booze. That includes $11,550 on "gratuity whiskey" and "gratuity wine" at the embassy in Rio, $22,416 in wine for the embassy in Tokyo, and $15,900 worth of bourbon and whiskey in Moscow, The Washington Times reports. The president of a watchdog group explains that toward the end of the fiscal year, departments "have a 'use-it-or-lose-it' mentality," trying to use up the money in their budgets so as not to invite congressional cuts the following year. More here. [BJS] [ECS]