...spelling? How about reading?
The reason I posted this ?stupid,? ?sintialting? (sic) topic, which has people on the ?edge of [their] seat over here[,]? was to see the reaction from the Conservatives out there. A true "Conservative" should have acknowledged the efforts of our Government to curb possible contract abuses.
...And this was not a leftie article from Mother Jones, or The Nation, either...it was from the AP.
Where are the fiscally conservative ones out there? You know, the Howard Baker's, the Dwight Eisenhower's...or...Ronald Reagan, anyone?
The gist of the article was to highlight the fact that the US Government is watching some of these open ended contracts for abuses, based on past track records of KBR and others. To quote from the article, a US Government official stated:
"We've been looking at all the contracts from day one," said Richard Skinner, the Homeland Security Department's inspector general. "One concern is whether you are getting the fair market value. The second is whether the people we are giving contracts to are the best qualified."
The Government is concerned that these open-ended contracts invite abuse. The article states:
?Previous government audits have cited these type of contracts as highly vulnerable to abuse because government officials and companies can exploit their terms, which tend to be broadly defined, such as services for ?management improvement.??
The article does tacitly acknowledge that Halliburton/KBR and Bechtel are awarded these type of contracts because they are qualified to do the work, as Marine correctly indicated in our exchange. In other words, these companies have a ?long and established history of emergency response,? to quote Bechtel?s Howard Menacker.
And before you say it is only Democratic, toady bureaucrats in the government that are proposing closer scrutiny of these contracts, read the last paragraph of the article again; the part that states that a Republican is concerned about abuses, too:
One [bill], proposed by Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine, would expand Bowen's authority to review Katrina spending.? (Note: That?s Stuart Bowen, the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction).
Personal Commentary:
As a concerned tax payer, I salute Bowen?s efforts. He?s watching out for our Government tax dollars (something about which the Republicans used to have a fettish. What happened to you guys?) I would like to say that Ronald Reagan or Dwight D. Eisenhower would be turning over in their grave if they heard about this stuff, but I won't because it will inflame too many people.
