Will the GOP have a cross on the podium this year?

overbilling, fraud and shoddy and unsafe work that has endangered and even killed American troops.

But, but, but, didn't Fox News tell me dubya supports the troops?

Will the GOP have a cross on the podium this year?

McClatchy already covered contractors' outrageous drain on the occupation budget and how impossible it is to fully account for expenses in their online Q&A with the authors of The Three Trillion Dollar War

Q: How much money could we have saved if we did not have "contractors" doing the jobs that used to be done by our military? (i.e. security, food & laundry services, construction, etc.)

Submitted by dave from anaheim, ca

A: It is hard to get a precise number. It appears that, at least in many case, using contractors at least doubles the cost. Part of the reason that it is difficult to get a precise number is explained in the book: the government appears to be financing both the insurance premia for death and disability and much of the benefits (as strange as that may seem.) There is no full accounting. The overall cost of using the contractors is, however, far greater. We have created competition for our military--contractors doing the same work as soldiers are paid far more. This is bad for morale, but it also means that when their service time is over, many leave to work for the better paying contractors. In response, the military is force to pay big re-enlistment bonuses. But the contractors have cost us in other ways: they focus on minimizing costs and maximizing profits, and those objectives are often not consistent with our broader strategic objectives, as we explain in our book.

Ya think? Even Lucifer Herself noticed.

Why did we invade Iraq? Follow the money. Why are we still there? Follow the money. Why do we have a "Medicare" prescription drug benefit? Follow the money. Katrina "victim" support and rebuilding? Follow the money. Tax cuts? Follow the money.

Shall I go on?

In the guise of incompetence, and in magnitudes previously unimaginable, this administration has redistributed more of everyday Americans' hard earned pay and productivity (and that of their children and grandchildren, too) to its friends, cronies, contributors, loyalists (fill in your euphemism here) with mind-boggling effectiveness.

Of what importance are the lives of a few hundred thousand heathens, already damned to hell because they don't believe in our god? Of what concern are the savings and financial security of everyday Americans and their children and grandchildren? What huge cajones they must have to accuse others of not supporting our troops while they abuse our soldiers with irresponsibly long tours of duty, followed by stop/loss, in conjuction with ignoring and mistreating our veterans and cutting their benefits.

Nothing so trivial as morality or justice can be permitted to impede the flow of our funds to their friends.

One has to suspect that it's all intentional, when even their incompetence results in huge transfers of taxpayers money to their "supporters"....and without even a paper trail!

The only consolation is that they will someday be held to account for their rape of the citizenry, the military and the "enemy"; if not by the spineless ones in Congress, then by the Supreme Being who's name they use in vain.