For the first time in American history, the federal government is run by a nationwide political machine. Instead of ward heelers we have Diebold, instead of crooked local conractors seeling a city "pie crust" cement, we hhave Hiliburton. You can almost draw an organization chart at this point, the parrallels are getting so easy to see. Tammany was a model of efficency and accountability compaired to this.
Posted by rlp at September 28, 2005 05:19 AMSorry for the misspellings, it's still early.
Posted by rlp at September 28, 2005 05:21 AMThese two hurricanes represent nothing more than open ended, no limit ATM cards for a long list of Bush/Rove/DeLay/Hastert/Barbour/Cheney/Frist cronies, bagmen, relatives, lobbyists and former-current-future business partners. Mere pennies on the dollar will make their way to the displaced, unemployed and injured. The worst part is the majority of Americans will heartily agree with the looting, figuring the money is better in the pockets of patriotic/paternal protector Bushco henchmen than Democrats, whom Fox has successfuuly pegged as fellow travelers and al Qaida sympathizers. This is a safer bet for all the looters than even Iraq. At least stateside they’re not getting shot at. Yet.
Posted by steve duncan at September 28, 2005 06:04 AMToon O' the Day: Neo-Conservation
Posted by jjoats at September 28, 2005 06:06 AMjjoats, good toon.
Posted by Judith at September 28, 2005 06:18 AMSteve, Your on the mark!
Interesting that the pay scale disparity is so outlandish if you work in Iraq. While here in the states they won't even pay Davis-Bacon wages. They'll pay for you to risk your neck, but not live in peace. Are they all some sort of mercenaries over in Iraq?
The "disasters" are indeed silver lined for the Crony Co. insiders. The Washington Post has an article this morning about the corporate frogs excitedly seething in a blubbery frenzy to snap up all the delicious opportunities flying around their pond.
"As fiscal hawks surrendered, would-be government contractors were meeting in the Hart Senate Office Building to figure out how to get a share of the money. A "Katrina Reconstruction Summit," hosted by Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.) and sponsored by Halliburton, among others, brought some 200 lobbyists, corporate representatives and government staffers to a room overlooking the Capitol for a five-hour conference that included time for a "networking break" and advice on "opportunities for private sector involvement."
"Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) sent his budget director, Bill Hoagland, who cautioned that federal Katrina spending might not exceed $100 billion. But John Clerici, from a law firm that helped sponsor the event, told the group that spending would "probably be larger" than $200 billion. "It's going to be spent in a fast and furious way," Clerici said."
My greatest hope is that Jack Abramoff, who might be facing murder charges, will be shaken enough to start spilling some secrets. He is as inside and corrupt as it's possible to be, but I don't think even he will face the idea of hard time for a murder rap without some real incentive to sing, "Let's make a deal!" His entire operation is beginning to be exposed, FINALLY. Maybe it's finally time for the rats to swarm down the mooring ropes and scatter to the dark corners of the docks.
Another hopeful sign, the Grand Jury in Texas has re-indicted two of DeLay's cronies with conspiracy charges. That puts the bug man in serious jeapordy for the first time. Since the Republicans werre forced to backtrack on their plan to immunize their leaders from anything short of conviction (if even then), "Majority Leader" Hastert may be having to select a new guy for his "assistant". Now if the SEC could actually indict Frist on insider trading, that would be a trifecta I could live with.
Posted by DeminNewJ at September 28, 2005 07:17 AMNASA Admin Says Shuttle and ISS are Mistakes via Slashdot reposting.
I'm posting the articles because of two reasons. 1) The USA Today article is politically interesting as Michael Griffin is a Bush appointee. He's not an unqualified Bushie hack, ala Brown, but I think he's certainly following the typical administration script in promoting Bush's programs by discrediting the last 30 years of space exploration. The next rhetorical step would be, IMO, "liberal policies and goals gave us the Space Shuittle and cost us the lives of several astronauts and squandered billions of dollars."
2) A commentor has an interesting presepective on the SSME's - the Space Shuttle Main Engines - that was part of Robert Feynman's Appendix to the Challenger Distaster Report. In it Feynman cited that the SSME, while complex and efficent, is not necessarily well-built and could be prone to failure. In fact, a documentary filmed just prior to Columbia's loss in 2003, spent a great deal of time showing the refurbishment of the liquid fuel motors on all the Shuttles because they require a much higher level of maintenance than originally planned for. The engines are essentially replaced after every flight.
NASA plans to use the SSME design on the next generation of rockets for their return to the moon intiative. The SSME will however be used in a disposable, not reusable role.
Posted by idiosynchronic at September 28, 2005 07:58 AMAnd I almost forgot - who else watched Commander in Chief last night?
Posted by idiosynchronic at September 28, 2005 08:54 AMCheney was on TV?
Posted by tempus at September 28, 2005 02:11 PM