These blue-blooded chumps are laughing at us

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When Robert Stein was hired to serve as a key administrator in Iraq for the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority, apparently no one noticed he'd had a 1996 conviction for credit card fraud. And so Stein was assigned to dole out lucrative government contracts as part of the reconstruction meant to help bring democracy to Iraq and let U.S. troops come home quickly.

But Stein's interests lay elsewhere, specifically his bank account. According to a guilty plea he entered in federal court in February, Stein stole at least $2 million and bought (or accepted as bribes) luxury items like a Porsche, a Lexus, a Cessna airplane, and even diamond rings. Stein also admitted that he took sexual favors from women provided by Philip Bloom, a U.S. businessman to whom Stein funneled more than $8.6 million in contracts through a rigged bidding process. According to federal auditors, Bloom was paid to renovate a library and a police academy, but the work was either shoddy or not done at all."

We all heard about how people were given jobs in the big bro 43 administration if they loved W. this guy Stein seems like W's industrious, intelligent brother as he emulates big bro 43 so completely. He must have done well in his "Ministry of Truth" sessions.

In the recent election there wasn't a word said about the Iraqi reconstruction. Why not-where was our vaunted main-stream media?

This Stein wasn't an isolated incident as the article continues "It's sickening to know that someone would put profit and pleasure ahead of the war effort while our troops and Iraqis are dying. But what's even more infuriating is the lack of oversight of a multibillion-dollar commitment. According to a 2005 report, there was no accurate accounting for about $9 billion spent early in the occupation. U.S. officials in Iraq have done a terrible job of auditing reconstruction dollars, the lion's share of which comes from taxpayers like you and me. And it's not just scheming contractors; Iraqis are skimming big bucks too. There are even reports that money is being diverted to fund the insurgency."

I remember isolated articles dealing with Stuart Bowen, the inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, but why wasn't this covered by the US main-stream media?

In that aforementioned interview Paul Krugman, New York Times Columnist and Author of "The Great Unraveling: Losing Our Way in the New Century" said ""Well, a couple of things. The first is that a good part of the media are essentially part of the machine. If you work for any Murdoch publication or network, or if you work for the Rev. Moon's empire, you're really not a journalist in the way that we used to think. You're basically just part of a propaganda machine. And that's a pretty large segment of the media.

As for the rest, certainly being critical at the level I've been critical –- basically saying that these guys are lying, even if it's staring you in the face –- is a very unpleasant experience. You get a lot of heat from people who should be on your side, because they accuse you of being shrill, which is everybody's favorite word for me. And you become a personal target."

His book is, as the article continues "unforgiving in his exposure of the insidious financial incompetence and calculated deception of the current administration. Because of his academic background, he has the heft to back up his trenchant perspective with the "bonafides."

Big bro 43 will hope he can recuse himself from investigation into the economic crisis. Maybe the Democrats will give him that, but failing that big bro 43 next move would be to pawn off some minion as Reagan gleefully offered up Ollie North-probably Paulson. If that doesn't work W will be forced to beg for immunity for his crimes for in exchange for his allocution. He doesn't realize that in the latter scenario on "Law and Order" a lackey gives up someone higher up the food chain. W's most likely defense will but that of Reagan of claiming no knowledge of the crimes as who knows less than W about any activity within his administration. Just like "Teflon Ronnie" W will only take credit for his policies as he trumpets how the "buck stop here" propaganda.

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Winston is an ex-Social Worker, burnt out by too much indifference regarding our weak and weary. I had little interest in politics until the illegal Iraq War started.

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