It would be funny if it wasn’t so pathetic. For years the U.S. boycotted the U.N. Human Rights Council over the membership of the world’s worst human rights violators, but President Obama joined in 2009. This week the U.S. signed up for another three-year term on the panel, which includes renowned human rights violators like China, Cuba, Russia and Saudi Arabia.

The world body also added more than a dozen new members this week, including several countries that are known for trampling on human rights. Among them are Venezuela, Pakistan and Kazakhstan. The U.N. welcomed them even though two vetting groups determined they were not qualified to serve based on the U.N.’s own voting records and domestic rights protections.

None of this seems to matter to the Obama Administration, which has kept a generous flow of taxpayer dollars into U.N. coffers. The famously leftist world body is primarily funded by Uncle Sam to the tune of 7-plus billion dollars a year, even though some members of Congress have called for an end to the madness. In fact, last year the Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, introduced legislation to reform U.N. funding.

“We need a UN which will advance the noble goals for which it was founded,” the Florida congresswoman said when she introduced the bill. “Unfortunately, the current UN continues to be plagued by scandal, mismanagement, and inaction, and its agenda is frequently hijacked by rogue regimes which protect each other while targeting free democracies like the U.S. and Israel.”

Laughable human rights council aside, the U.N. has long been a pillar of corruption, fraud and mismanagement. Yet the U.S. gives the world body significantly more than any other nation—nearly $8 billion in 2010 alone—and there is no transparency, accountability or follow-up of any sort on how the cash is spent.

Who could forget the U.N.’s shameful oil-for-food program with Iraq? It was supposed to help the Iraqi people by allowing Saddam Hussein to sell oil on the world market in exchange for humanitarian goods, such as food and medicine. Instead, Hussein exploited the $64 billion program as thousands of companies paid the dictator illegal surcharges and kickbacks while the U.N. stood by. Read all about that from the independent committee assigned to investigate the oil-for-food scandal.

The U.N.’s fraud-infested contract division has also made headlines over the years for its shady deals. In fact, a few years ago the U.N. chief (Sanjaya Bahel of India) responsible for awarding billions of dollars in contracts to companies around the world, was sentenced to eight years in prison for accepting cash, real estate, wild parties and hookers as bribes.

The worst part is that this madness is funded by Americans to the tune of 7-plus billion dollars a year. The American cash keeps pouring in even though the U.N. is pillar of corruption, fraud and mismanagement. Its so-called human rights council is a huge joke with members that are famous for oppressing their citizens and, in many cases, committing atrocious human rights violations. Cuba, Iran and Venezuela are among the offenders.

Now the U.N. is allowing Sudan’s Omar Al-Bashir, the last person on earth you would go to for anything related to human rights, have a seat on its human rights council. Here is a little background on the ruthless African dictator; He has been charged by the International Criminal Court of war crimes in Darfur and is responsible for killing thousands of his own citizens.

A renowned international human rights organization reminds that the Sudanese government has violently dispersed youth-led protests and that security forces have arrested and detained scores of perceived opponents. The Al-Bashir regime mistreats and tortures detainees and censors the media, the group, Human Rights Watch, writes in its assessment of the north African country. Additionally, Sudan’s indiscriminate bombing in civilian-populated areas has displaced hundreds of thousands of people.

Letting Sudan’s genocidal dictator take a spot on the human rights panel is like putting “Jack the Ripper in charge of a women’s shelter,” according to a Geneva-based human rights advocate quoted by a national news outlet. The same story quotes a spokesman for the United States Mission to the United Nations saying that “Sudan, a consistent human rights violator, does not meet the Council’s own standards for membership.”

So why are Americans forced by their government to keep funding this pathetic world body? The U.S. gives the U.N. significantly more than any other nation—nearly $8 billion in 2010 alone—and there is no transparency, accountability or follow-up of any sort on how the cash is spent. U.S. tax dollars just keep pouring into the U.N. coffers, even though the world body is rife with fraud and corruption.

Who could forget the U.N.’s shameful oil-for-food program with Iraq? It was supposed to help the Iraqi people by allowing Saddam Hussein to sell oil on the world market in exchange for humanitarian goods, such as food and medicine. Instead, Hussein exploited the $64 billion program as thousands of companies paid the dictator illegal surcharges and kickbacks while the U.N. stood by. Read all about that from the independent committee assigned to investigate the oil-for-food scandal.

The U.N.’s fraud-infested contract division has also made headlines over the years for its shady deals. In fact, a few years ago the U.N. chief (Sanjaya Bahel of India) responsible for awarding billions of dollars in contracts to companies around the world, was sentenced to eight years in prison for accepting cash, real estate, wild parties and hookers as bribes.

At least one lawmaker, Florida Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, is trying to set limits on the U.N’s cash cow. Last year Ros-Lehtinen, a Republican who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee, introduced legislation (United Nations Transparency Accountability and Reform Act) that seems like a common-sense approach to the U.N. fiasco but has met powerful resistance from Democrats.

The measure calls for transparency and accountability relating to United States contributions to the United Nations and budget justification rather than automatically doling out billions. It also calls for independent and objective audits and investigations relating to the U.S. contributions and annual reports that reveal what the money is being used for. The U.N. would also have to provide annual financial disclosures if it wants to continue getting American dollars.

Rewarding Sudan with a seat on the human rights council is a new low that, once again, illustrates the need for reform, according to Ros-Lehtinen. “Allowing this genocidal dictatorship, which has killed thousands of its citizens, to serve on such a body is beyond hypocrisy, it is callous, dangerous, and tragic,” the congresswoman says in a written statement, adding that “it is beyond apparent that the UN is broken.”

The allocation comes less than two years after the administration dedicated $50 million to replace “inefficient cook stoves” contributing to climate change and deforestation in developing countries. Under that brilliant plan, villages in Africa, Asia and South America got 100 million clean burning stoves in the name of saving the planet.

In both cases—the African green energy and clean burning stove project—the cash is being handled by the famously corrupt United Nations as part of costly plan to conquer global warming. The latest Africa green venture is part of a broader sustainable energy project launched last year. In all, 50 countries have pledged $50 billion to the effort which is supposed to double the share of renewable energy worldwide by 2030.

As always, the biggest contributor to these outrageous, leftist global experiments is Uncle Sam. In this particular case, the goal is a formidable one; to boost clean energy projects in African nations. A mere $20 million will hardly get the job started, but the U.S. believes it will lead to hundreds of millions of dollars from the private sector for projects that otherwise would never get off the drawing board.

At least that’s how Secretary of State Hillary Clinton explained it at a huge U.N. powwow (Rio+20) held in Brazil this month to reduce poverty, advance social equity and ensure environmental protection on an ever more crowded planet. The conference focused on two themes; a green economy in the context of sustainable development poverty eradication and the institutional framework for sustainable development.

Clinton’s generous multi-million-dollar pledge was undoubtedly the highlight of the event or, at least it received the largest amount of media attention. During her speech at the Riocentro Convention Center in Rio de Janeiro Clinton asserted that clean energy will bring Africans new jobs, create new livelihoods, support education, new businesses, healthier and more productive lives. Though Africa is blessed with vast geothermal resources, only one in four households has access to electricity, Clinton said. “That is 600 million men, women, and children living without power that can’t turn on the lights, can’t use a machine in a factory.”

The gap is not attributed to a technological hurdle, Madam Secretary clarified, but rather a fear among investors who often see obstacles and risks that stop them from investing in clean energy in Africa. Here is the key phrase: “So if we can remove some of the risk and cover some of the costs of preparing a project, we believe we can spur significant new private investments in clean energy,” Clinton said. This, of course, means Uncle Sam must whip out his check book.