We all know that companies like Halliburton and its subsidiary, KBR, routinely overcharge the US government for services they render, and stories like this document the practice:

"There was no regard for spending limits," says former [KBR] employee Marie DeYoung.

She recently told Congress that while troops rough it in tents, hundreds of preferred Halliburton KBR employees reside in five-star hotels like the Kempinski in Kuwait with fruit baskets and pressed laundry delivered daily.

"It costs $110 to house one KBR employee per day at the Kempinski, while it costs the Army $1.39 per day to bunk a soldier in a leased tent," DeYoung said.

That article dates back to 2004. Almost 4 years ago. So you'd figure that by now, we've tightened it up a little. Right? Naw - you know better. Seems like there's been no change at all. Meet me over the fold for the story of a $500,000-dollar washer. That's "washer" as in "cheap little round circle of metal."

Recent diaries like this one, and this one, and OPOL's rant all have something in common: The writer is probably feeling the same way I am - it's time for a showdown!

What we need is a gunfighter tough enough to face Bush down and make him blink. We're looking for champions who will get up and in his face and make him piss his pants and beshit his trousers. Someone with the guts to tell him the one word he has never heard before in his life: No.
 

 
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A few months ago, my assistant picked up two DVD collections, 50 Horror Classics, and 50 Chilling Classics. That's about 200 hours of spine tingling good times to be enjoyed with popcorn on lazy evenings - although the distinction between a "horror" movie and a "chiller" still escapes me.

And in these films - heavy on the Bela Legosi and mostly B-grade and lower - I noticed something rather interesting. For more, flipside.

Nick Danger: "What kind of chump do you take me for?"

Rocky Rococo: "First class."

- Firesign Theater

They take us for idiots. And for the most part, they play the winning bet. You've heard the "man on the street" interviews where most people have no idea where the US is on a world map, but can tell you some bit of entertainment trivia. It's a trope, but a truism. H.L. Mencken said over 50 years ago that "No one in this world has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people. Nor has anyone ever lost public office thereby."

It's true. We're stupid. We read less in favor of more TV. We write less in favor of IMs and text messaging. We seem, like lemmings, to be inherently hurtling toward illiteracy and ignorance and we pay handsome salaries to those who would accelerate the process. Listen to right-wing hate radio and you weep for the total destruction of our national discourse. We've been successfully dumbed down.

To a degree.

More on the flip...

We interrupt political chat to bring you this good news!

NASA to Send Shuttle to Repair Hubble in 2008

Brightens my entire day. My screensaver is a string of Hubble's best and it inspires me every time. Back to the WaPo story:

NASA has decided to send a rescue and servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope in May, 2008 -- an announcement that was met with an explosion of joy at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt.

More, over...

A frequent question asked around here is, "Can you name one single thing the Bush administration has done that's good for Americans?" Well, a couple of days ago, I thought I spotted one:

Extend 'Payday Loan' Protections to All Borrowers

WaPo's Michelle Singletary lays out the need for Congress to do for regular Americans what they just did for members of the Armed Forces, namely, protect them from predatory payday lenders - you know, the guys who charge 900% annual interest. Turns out, the story might be just a bit more interesting. Stay with me and I'll explain why...

I figure I'd make good on my promise to give the Senator my thoughts on his vote yesterday. Also, I was hopeful that his staffer might have some kind of rational explanation, some possible angle on this that would make what he did noble and virtuous - and not, say, the craven, weaseling bit of Constitutional and Democratic Party back-stabbing bullshit it looked like.

His Washington line was busy all morning. Very busy. Took me about 20 tries, then I got through.

We converse over the fold...

This was my first opportunity to see Russ Feingold in person and the venue couldn't have been better - a small auditorium at the Fine Arts Complex of the University of North Florida. I'd like to share with you my impressions of the man and his ideas as he presented them.

More on the flip...

Always nice to win one. We've been so battered by this administration over the past 6 years that it's easy to forget what a victory feels like. The Lamont miracle was a glimpse of daylight. Scarborough's "Is Bush an idiot?" was a breath of fresh air. Here's something new to feel good about:

A paper trail for your vote

More, flipside...

As human beings, we are gifted with the ability to spot patterns and draw connections - often between widely divergent items. Often, the least obvious connections are the most important.

In the area of political discourse, we look for clues and relationships between people, between what they say and do, between facts. As readers, we assemble narratives of reality that are often drawn from multiple sources. And the amazing thing is that we tend to do all of this reflexively, as naturally as breathing.

An interesting example of the above can be found in today's NYT, which I'll present beneath the fold.