Tuesday, January 24, 2006

GOP Fucks Up Two Car Funeral.


Film at Eleven..

These two stories beg to be read back-to-back…

First, this from the NYT detailing how this Administration has fucked up the Iraqi Rebuilding Program to the tune of $25 billion dollars (a figure which, in and of itself, is 25 times higher than Paul Wolfowitz told us would be the price tag for the entire war.)


January 24, 2006
Iraq Rebuilding Badly Hobbled, U.S. Report Finds
By JAMES GLANZ
The first official history of the $25 billion American reconstruction effort in Iraq depicts a program hobbled from the outset by gross understaffing, a lack of technical expertise, bureaucratic infighting, secrecy and constantly increasing security costs, according to a preliminary draft.

The document, which begins with the secret prewar planning for reconstruction and touches on nearly every phase of the program through 2005, was assembled by the office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction and debated last month in a closed forum by roughly two dozen experts from outside the office.



In the document, the paralyzing effect of staffing shortfalls and contracting battles between the State Department and the Pentagon, creating delays of months at a stretch, are described for the first time from inside the program.

The document also recounts concerns about writing contracts for an entity with the "ambiguous legal status" of the Coalition Provisional Authority, the question of whether it was an American entity or a multinational one like NATO.

Seemingly odd decisions on dividing the responsibility for various sectors of the reconstruction crop up repeatedly in the document. At one point, a planning team made the decision to put all reconstruction activities in Iraq under the Army Corps of Engineers, except anything to do with water, which would go to the Navy. At the time, a retired admiral, David Nash, was in charge of the rebuilding.

"It almost looks like a spoils system between various agencies," said Steve Ellis, a vice president and an authority on the Army corps at Taxpayers for Common Sense, an organization in Washington, who read a copy of the document. "You had various fiefdoms established in the contracting process."

One authority on reconstruction who attended the session last month, John J. Hamre, said the report was an unblinking and unbiased look at the program.

"It's gutsy and it's honest," said Mr. Hamre, president of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a public policy group based in Washington. He was not the source of the leaked document. Even in the early stages of writing the draft, Mr. Hamre said, one central message on the reconstruction program was already fairly clear, that "it didn't go particularly well."



It "almost" looks like a spoils system?

Jeez. No, this is nothing less that the after-action report of the sacking of the Iraqi Rebuilding fund. This is a snapshot of what happens when looting is Job One.

Then this from the WaPo about how the GOP excluded the Democrats and the public and disappeared behind closed-doors to take another whack at Medicare.

When they emerged from their secret conclave, the CBO tells us, the GOP had agreed on a change to the law to screw you the taxpayer out of $22 billion dollars in Medicare Savings and pass the profit along to their lobbyist friends.

Abramoff Lives!

Wheeee!
Closed-Door Deal Makes $22 Billion Difference
GOP Negotiators Criticized for Change In Measure on HMOs
By Jonathan Weisman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, January 24, 2006; A01
House and Senate GOP negotiators, meeting behind closed doors last month to complete a major budget-cutting bill, agreed on a change to Senate-passed Medicare legislation that would save the health insurance industry $22 billion over the next decade, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

The Senate version would have targeted private HMOs participating in Medicare by changing the formula that governs their reimbursement, lowering payments $26 billion over the next decade. But after lobbying by the health insurance industry, the final version made a critical change that had the effect of eliminating all but $4 billion of the projected savings, according to CBO and other health policy experts.

...
The change in the Medicare provision underscores a practice that growing numbers of lawmakers from both parties want addressed. More than ever, Republican congressional lawmakers and leaders are making vital decisions, involving far-reaching policies and billions of dollars, without the public -- or even congressional Democrats -- present.

...
"It happens in the dead of night when lobbyists get a [Republican lawmaker] in the corner and say, 'We've got to have this,' " said Rep. Fortney "Pete" Stark (Calif.), the Democrats' point man on Medicare issues. "It's a pattern that just goes on and on, and at some point the public's going to rise up."

...
But other lobbyists and aides said too much important work is being done in these closed-door conclaves. That is especially true with the budget-cutting bill containing the change in the Medicare reimbursement formula that is nearing final passage.

"I have worked many [budget] bills, and this was the most closed that I've ever seen," said one prominent Republican health care lobbyist, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of jeopardizing his access to Congress.
Another health care lobbyist, not involved with the issue, said the result was a major victory for health insurers: "That's a $22 billion difference; $22 billion is a lot of money."

If no one can say which lawmakers made the change, there is no doubt who instigated it. Last month, as House and Senate negotiators sat down to finalize the budget-cutting bill, the insurance industry moved to thwart the Senate's "risk adjustment" provision.

"It is our understanding that CBO is scoring significant savings from this new adjustment," officials from America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) wrote in urgent talking points sent to Capitol Hill. "The savings . . . are best viewed as a new and unanticipated payment reduction."
...


What more needs to be said?

Scratch out “Iraqi Rebuilding” and insert “The ginned-up predicate for this War”, and it reads the same.

Scratch out “Medicare Cost Containment” and insert “Letting Petroleum Industry lobbyists rewrite scientific papers on Global Warming”, ditto.

Scratch out “Iraqi Rebuilding” and insert “The fatally fucked up execution of this War”, ditto.

Scratch out “Medicare Cost Containment” and insert “Social Security”.

Insert “Katrina and Michael Brown”.

Insert “Vehicle Armor”.

Insert “Body Armor”.

Insert “Treatment of wounded veterans”.

Insert “Clear Skies”.

And that's just an off-the-cuff partial list of the Greatest Hits.

Over and over and over again, the Bush Administration has shown that Republicans push the theoretical upper-limit of just how utterly one gang of hacks and hucksters can fuck up everything they touch.

Everything.

Every single God Damned thing they lay their stinking paws on they fuck sideways. Fuck pan-dimensionally. Fuck them at the quantum level, so hard their superstrings unravel.

Having said that, in the interest of full disclosure, one must admit that they are preternaturally gifted at five things:

1. Letting their friends strip-mine the US Treasury.
2. Scaring the crap outta soccer moms that Liberals wanna let Osama bin Laden kill their children..
3. Convincing inbred gasoline-sippers that Liberals wanna come down and fag-up their web-toed whelplings.
4. Lying.
5. Making Baby Jesus cry.

If they called themselves the “Terri Schiavo Martyr Brigade”, hid out in Carlsebad Caverns and plotted the destruction of America, this Administration could not do more long-term damage to everything that makes our nation magnificent than they do every single fucking day just by being who they are.

35 comments:

Len said...

To translate a fine Australian idiom for 'murrcan ears/eyes: the GOP couldn't organize a drinking party in a brewery without fucking it up.

Anonymous said...

hobbled from the outset by gross understaffing, a lack of technical expertise, bureaucratic infighting, secrecy and constantly increasing security costs

No mention of THEFT?! People have died because of it.

We're told that Col. Ted Westhusing killed himself after complaining about it.

A businessman named Dale Stoffel was murdered after complaining about it. How many more met this fate?

Anonymous said...

the “Terri Schiavo Martyr Brigade"
Lol.

Anonymous said...

Superstrings unravelling? Man, that's gawdamned serious!! Fuck with the fabric of the universe at your peril, Shrub.

Anonymous said...

Dude, that is a righteous photo! Where did you find it?

Anonymous said...

Col.Ted Westhusing didn't kill himself. Check Wayne Madsen's report

Anonymous said...

Welcome to post-democratic America. Don't look for the coup. You can only see it through your rear view mirror. Democracy died in Florida in GWBI (really in Washington with the Supremes). When round 2 occurred in Ohio in 2004, it hardly caused a yawn.

driftglass said...

beq,
yeah, I kinda liked that one.

us blues,
Just googled two car collision and viola.

anonymous,
Obviously I believe outrage is fine...as long at the end of the day it is constructively focused. And despair is something that everyone feel, and when it comes, rest, recreate and find solace and comfort where you can. In the arms of a lover or in the pages of a book or crying on the shoulder of a friend; they all heal and from the vantage point of Heaven they look much the same.

But I have no time for hopelessness, or for giving up. Not time at all.

Anonymous said...

us blues,
Just googled two car collision and viola.


I have to look again and see if I can find that viola. ;-)

merlallen said...

If you want a Bush lover to stop speaking to you, ask him to name one thing that bush has done right or one thing that bush has done to benefit the average American.
I'm still waiting for a reply after almost 3 years. At least I've been removed from the wingnut mailing list.

BadTux said...

Gus, I asked that question of a Bush lover. Asked him one thing Bush has done right: "Removed Saddam Hussein from power" was his answer. (Doesn't want to hear that the Ayatollahs are now in power in Iraq, sticks fingers in ears and says "nyah nyah nyah I can't hear you!"). Asked him one thing that Bush has done to benefit him personally, "I got a $100 tax cut!" (Doesn't want to hear that state and local governments had to raise his taxes by $150 in order to make up for the money the Feds are no longer sending down the pike, i.e. he's actually paying *more* taxes than when Bush took office, he sticks fingers in years and says "nyah nyah nyah I can't hear you!").

The thing about wingnuts is that if you ask them a question, they just make shit up. Nobody got a tax cut except the rich -- the rest of us are paying more taxes -- but gosh darn it the Bush lovers will still toss out those tax cuts as if they were real instead of made-up shit. Overthrowing Saddam Hussein in order to put Iranian ayatollahs in power is hardly "freedom" for the Iraqi people... but gosh darn it the Bush lovers will still shout "we freed the Iraqi people!" at the same time that the Iranian ayatollahs who run Iraq are burning women as witches for the crime of not wearing a hijab (head covering). They just make shit up, and don't give a shit what reality is -- more taxes, and less freedom for women in Iraq. They just stick their hands over their ears and say "lalalala I can't hear you!" and that's that.

Reality, in the end, is something Bush lovers simply aren't acquainted with...

- Badtux the Reality-based Penguin

Anonymous said...

Badtux, I know right-wingers who react the same way. Their heads would explode if they ever acknowledged the truth.

Isn't it amazing that EVERYTHING Bush-Nero touches turns to shit?

Mr. Natural said...

ACTUALLY, Gay Veteran it is NOT amazing. You have heard of the Midas touch? Bush has the shit-touch. Always has.

Anonymous said...

Hi,
I found reading your blog interesting and well done, I do like what you have done with your site but it is not really the information I was after about breast cancer site . Keep up the good work and hopefully I will visit again sometime and also find the information on breast cancer site that I was looking for in my travels.
Regards,

Anonymous said...

I was just searching blogs,and I found your site, Friend! I like it!
Please accept my compliments and wishes for your happiness and success.
If you have a moment, please take a look at my site:
wells fargo online banking
It pretty much covers wells fargo online banking related issues.
All the best!

Rob said...

Cool blog you have here. I was blogging and came across yours. Keep up the good blogging!

regards,
best company health insurance life

Anonymous said...

Searching around bloggers can get adictive and every once and a while you stumble into a blog thats quite interresting, like this one =) . thats all i have to say for now , keep blogging.

health insurance quote georgia

Anonymous said...

Thanks for all the great comments and insights..By the way, are you looking for more information on Exclusive Kitchen Design ..If so here is a fantastic resource for everything related to flowers and Exclusive Kitchen Design with information, products, articles and more..Check it out here...http://www.floridakitchendesigns.com

Anonymous said...


home interior design Interior Design - Do You Love Decorating Your Own House? Get Paid!
Are You Ready To Start Your Career In The Interior Design Industry?

A Designer creates, organizes and designs commercial and residential properties. A designer works with the interior of a particular space and various internal spaces.

How To Break Into The Design Industry is a thoroughly researched report on how to take your interest and turn it into a full fledged career. It takes you from the beginning - helping you figure out if this is really for you - all the way to finding clientele for your new business. Interior Design home interior design

Anonymous said...

I have been following a site now for almost 2 years and I have found it to be both reliable and profitable. They post daily and their stock trades have been beating
the indexes easily.

Take a look at Wallstreetwinnersonline.com

RickJ

Anonymous said...

Hey Fellow, you have a top-notch blog here!
If you have a moment, please have a look at my amazon as employer blog site.
Good luck!

Anonymous said...

Hey Fellow, you have a top-notch blog here!
If you have a moment, please have a look at my allinsurance job sites only site.
Good luck!

Anonymous said...

Your blog I found to be very interesting!
I just came across your blog and wanted to
drop you a note telling you how impressed I was with
the information you have posted here.
I have a auto insurance pa
site.
Come and check it out if you get time :-)
Best regards!

Anonymous said...

Your blog I found to be very interesting!
I just came across your blog and wanted to
drop you a note telling you how impressed I was with
the information you have posted here.
I have a auto insurance pa
site.
Come and check it out if you get time :-)
Best regards!

Anonymous said...

Hey Fellow, you have a top-notch blog here!
If you have a moment, please have a look at my auto insurance quote on line site.
Good luck!

Anonymous said...

This is an excellent blog. Keep it going.You are providing
a great resource on the Internet here!
If you have a moment, please take a look at my automobile insurance rate site.
Have a great week!

Anonymous said...

Cool Blog! If you get a chance I would like to invite you to visit the following truck blog, it is cool to!

Anonymous said...

Cool Blog! If you get a chance I would like to invite you to visit the following truck blog, it is cool to!

Anonymous said...

Hi Fellow! I was just searching blogs,and I found yours! I like it!
If you have a moment, please visit my best homeowners insurance companies site.
Good luck!

Anonymous said...

Hello Friend! I just came across your blog and wanted to
drop you a note telling you how impressed I was with
the information you have posted here.
Keep up the great work, you are providing a great resource on the Internet here!
If you have a moment, please make a visit to my broker car insurance online site.
Good luck in your endeavors!

Anonymous said...

Hi Fellow! I was just searching blogs,and I found yours! I like it!
If you have a moment, please visit my used car sell in montreal site.
Good luck!

Anonymous said...

Check it ou homes vinyl siding pricing

Anonymous said...

Yes, this is interesting. I have been looking for free love advice sites such as http://single-dating-service.org

Anonymous said...

Enjoyed a lot! » »

Anonymous said...

Where did you find it? Interesting read Air force ionic air cleaner Building plans for sewing machine cabinets http://www.bextra-and-side-effects.info/Keyword_bextra_vs_celebrex_boards_ppc_se.html humidifier sonic Tenuate pregnancy Drug store cornelia georgia klonopin halflife zyban and zoloft naked teens ftp How to play russian roulette klonopin brand name capitalize Decks patios driveways clarks louisiana Cheapest travel insurance to america us 94 isuzu problems Vanagon awnings Order klonopins with no perscription guide zoloft child Klonopin order online Hentai machines