Somebody in the Democratic Party really ought to read Josh Marshall:
A few things Democrats should stand for and stand up for now.An independent commission to investigate the preparations for and response to hurricane Katrina at all levels of government. Anything else is just an elaborate cover-up.
An independent, time-limited, publicly-chartered corporation to oversee the reconstruction of the Katrina-devastated regions. Secrecy is an invitation to cronyism and public corruption. Only openness and transparency can prevent the theft and waste of public money on a massive scale.
We've spent the first half of this decade awash in a bath of ideological zeal and public corruption. Democrats say they're for reform, so be for reform. Competent, professional management; hiring and contracting on the basis of expertise and value; openness to public scrutiny at all levels.
Amen, brother. Halliburton already has a contract, Joe Allbaugh is circling, and Blackwater is on the ground in New Orleans. (In case you've forgotten, Allbaugh, now a lobbyist, was Bush's first FEMA director, hired because he was GWB's 2000 campaign manager; Blackwater USA is the security firm which had four employees hanged from a bridge in Fallujah. Do I need to explain what Halliburton is?)
I had a fraternity brother who went to work for Brown & Root when it was an independent engineering firm, long before it was subsumed by Halliburton. I haven't heard from him in years, but I wonder what it's like being employed by one of these outfits nowadays. Can you imagine the cocktail party conversation?
"Who do you work for?"
"Halliburton."
"Ah. Overbilled any good contracts lately?"
Posted by Linkmeister at September 9, 2005 12:01 AM | TrackBack