.. God has subcontracted the fashioning of reality to the spirits of Mark Twain and Franz Kafka, who are sitting around in heaven like a couple of coked up screenwriters, dreaming up ever more ridiculous characters and swapping increasingly absurd story lines.
Back to Main
September 20, 2005
WB: Beyond Satire
Comments
Kafka: How about hundreds of prisoners held, tortured and interrogated, but never charged with a crime and never given the evidence against them?
Twain: You can get away with that if it’s one person, Franz, but hundreds? No one would take that seriously.
Posted by: steve expat | Sep 20 2005 6:01 utc | 1
Now I’m fucking pissed with you knee jerk liberals.
“Shrub’s Gulf Coast pork palace” How the hell did “pork” get into this name? How will W ever get the King of All Saudis or any self-respecting Saudi to this place with “pork” in the name? You all are always going with cultural sensitivity and then stick “pork” in this important boon-doogle. While the official name hasn’t been decided yet, I think the name is going to be along “Shrub’s Gulf Coast White Man Golf Junket & Private Club.” Sorry for this crude and oily initial attempt at namation. Shssh.
Posted by: christofay | Sep 20 2005 6:06 utc | 2
I’m spending far too much time on my computer these days reading about the outrage d’jour. And most days I’m leaving completely stuffed, having consumed several outrages too many.
P.S. Some of them take a long time to digest. Others never quite digest properly, but I’ve taken this metaphor too far. The rest is up to you.
Billmon’s update is on an incredible story:
Immigration Nominee’s Credentials Questioned
After working as a federal prosecutor in Brooklyn, N.Y., for two years, Myers held a variety of jobs over the past four years at the White House and at the departments of Commerce, Justice and Treasury, though none involved managing a large bureaucracy. Myers worked briefly as chief of staff to Michael Chertoff when he led the Justice Department’s criminal division before he became Homeland Security secretary.
Myers also was an associate under independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr for about 16 months and has most recently served as a special assistant to President Bush handling personnel issues.
Her uncle is Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers, the departing chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. She married Chertoff’s current chief of staff, John F. Wood, on Saturday.
In written answers to questions from Congress, Myers highlighted her year-long job as assistant secretary for export enforcement at Commerce, where she said she supervised 170 employees and a $25 million budget. ICE has more than 20,000 employees and a budget of approximately $4 billion. Its personnel investigate immigrant, drug and weapon smuggling, and illegal exports, among other responsibilities.
special assistant to President Bush handling personnel issues
Did she have the White House slot that once was occupied by that Lewinsky gal?
Days of Our Lives will continue after this short break
Posted by: anna missed | Sep 20 2005 8:49 utc | 5
If people realized that Katrina could be paid for *entirely*
by the egregious theft going on in Federal procurement, most
especially in Defense, but really across the board, they’d
be a lot more outraged when Republican’s chant their mantra
of No New Taxes out one pie-hole, and sing their chorus of
More Deficit Spending out the other, (reminding me of that
“public art” concert in Europe by a fart-symphony quartet).
They should have titled it “Ever Vigilant”. Google “SPS”.
Strategic Procurement Services Inc. West Caldwell, NJ
Strategic Procurement Services Inc.(SPS) provides MRO and other integrated supply solutions, including customer-specific catalogs
and our unique specialty in **non-contract** procurement support.
These guys came in on Bush’s coat-tails, and before the ink
had even dried, they were pushed down through the entire Fed
procurement system to handle (and replace) DoD procurements.
They rapined for four years and took your $100B’s with them,
leaving no trace. Ask yourself, how could a *private* company
*pushed by OMB* take over Fed Defense procurement overnight,
then disappear without a trace, (or issue of warrants), after?
“Your search – John Verlangieri – did not match any documents”
They were just the advance guard of a legion of rapine artists:
http://www.dla.mil/Dimensions/Nov%20Dec%2099/DCMC.htm
http://www.caci.com/business/systems/con_mgt/sps/sps_prog.shtml
CUT US DEFENSE R&D PROGRAMS AND YOU WILL PAY FOR KATRINA. PERIOD.
Posted by: Telly Longerford | Sep 20 2005 14:56 utc | 6
Read it, and howl….
http://www.caci.com/investor/investor_update_files/slide0163.htm
http://www.defenselink.mil/contracts/2005/
Posted by: Lash Marks | Sep 20 2005 14:59 utc | 7
have you considered she may have all the qualifications for the job??
The focus of Smith’s memo, addressed to “Hon. Karl Rove,” is on immigration politics.
“Immigration needs to be considered in the context of: (1). Media Bias, (2). Animosity toward the president and (3) the feelings of the Republican base,”
Posted by: annie | Sep 20 2005 15:37 utc | 8
http://schema-root.org/commerce/corporations/military/
Posted by: tante aime | Sep 20 2005 16:01 utc | 10
Volz, along with two of the congressman’s current aides, took Abramoff’s chartered jet on the same trip. They were joined by Christian Coalition wunderkind Ralph Reed and Ney contributor Adam Kidan.
Kidan bought the Florida-based gambling cruise line Suncruz, in 2000, after Ney inserted statements critical of the line’s previous owner into the congressional record. The previous owner was later killed in a gangland-style murder while driving through a quiet Fort Lauderdale street in his BMW.
Posted by: annie | Sep 20 2005 18:46 utc | 11
EXCLUSIVE REPORT: THE DEMISE OF GLOBAL COMMUNICATIONS SECURITY ?
The Neo-Cons’ Unfettered Access to America’s Secrets
By Wayne Madsen
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Sep 21 2005 4:46 utc | 12
Nice link to Madsen, Uncle.
Reminds me of the story about an Isreali firm that supplied secure telephone equipment to the US establishment in Washington DC.
Apparently they had access to internal communications which were routed overseas.
Sorry I don’t have links and don’t remember the company name, but it fits the pattern.
Reminds me of when I worked for big companies in New York City — a small entity (me, Israel) has access to some information that is private to a bigger entity (Wall Street firms I worked for, US government). In both cases it is impossible for the bigger entity to even attempt to hide its imformation from the little employees.
What is a little different is that I had no ambition or ability to exploit the information I was privy to.
Keep up the good work!
Posted by: jonku | Sep 23 2005 7:42 utc | 13