MLK jr. helps Obama from beyond the grave
-Headline of the day-
"Obama inauguration gets bigger."
While it was originally estimated that 1.5 million people would be in Washington to attend the Obama inauguration, that estimate has since been revised -- drastically.
According to the report, "city officials are preparing for 3 to 4 million visitors, many of whom they expect will want to camp overnight on the National Mall to get the best seats possible." Part of the increase is credited to the Martin Luther King jr. holiday on the 19th, which "sets up a three-day weekend for travel."
Savor the intersection of shit-luck and appropriateness there. (McClatchy)
-They learned from the worst-
One of the biggest stumbling blocks to creating a free and democratic nation in Iraq is the fact that the guys telling them how to go about it aren't exactly big fans of freedom or democracy. When all your advice comes from the Bush administration, the results are bound to be just a little iffy.
Case in point; corruption and fraud in Iraq. Seems there's a lot of it. According to the report, "One Iraqi former chief investigator recently testified before Congress that $13 billion in reconstruction funds from the United States had been lost to fraud, embezzlement, theft and waste by Iraqi government officials." And that's just one example.
The solution? Fire the investigators. No investigations, no fraud. Because if watching the Bush administration teaches anything, it's that it's only a crime if you're caught. Iraq originally had one fraud monitor for each of their 30 cabinet ministries and has reportedly fired "a handful to as many as 17." That's what you call yer "American-style democracy" -- at least, as defined by Bushies. (New York Times)
-Penny wise, pound foolish-
Eileen Wilbur owes the city of South Attleboro, MA money. And they want it. So they sent her a letter informing her that if her debt isn't paid, "the city will assess a lien of up to $48 on Wilbur's next property tax bill." She shouldn't have any problem scaring up the money, though. She owes exactly one penny.
"They wasted taxpayer money on the letter," Wilbur said, pointing out the 42-cent stamp on the envelope. City Collector Debora Marcoccio defends the letter, however.
"It would be fiscally irresponsible for me to have staff weed through the bills and pull out any below a certain amount," she said. Ok, so far, so good. That makes sense. But then Marcoccio blew it by going further.
"And what would that [certain] amount be?" she asked.
I don't know, genius. How about 42 cents? (Boing Boing)
