U.S. Fears Iraq Won't Keep Up Rebuilt Projects

Nov 21, 2009 - BAGHDAD — In its largest reconstruction effort since the Marshall Plan, the United States government has spent $53 billion for relief and reconstruction in Iraq since the 2003 invasion, building tens of thousands of hospitals, water treatment plants, electricity substations, schools and bridges. But there are growing concerns among American officials that Iraq will not be able to adequately maintain the facilities once the Americans have left, potentially wasting hundreds of millions of dollars and jeopardizing Iraq’s ability to provide basic services to its people. The projects run the gamut — from a cutting-edge, $270 million water treatment plant in Nasiriya that works at a fraction of its intended capacity because it is too sophisticated for Iraqi workers to operate, to a farmers’ market that farmers cannot decide how to share, to a large American hospital closed immediately after it was handed over to Iraq because the government was unable to supply it with equipment, a medical staff or electricity. - 11 Comments

Why Socialism Failed

Mar 10, 2009 - http://spruce.flint.umich.edu/~mjperry/socialism.htm emphasis added is mine* by Mark J. Perry, Ph.D. Socialism is the Big Lie of the twentieth century. - 7 Comments

Army Corps of Engineers Blamed for Katrina Flooding

Nov 19, 2009 - Corps' operation of MR-GO doomed homes in St. Bernard, Lower 9th Ward, judge rules By Mark Schleifstein, The Times-Picayune November 19, 2009, 6:00AM   Source       In a groundbreaking decision, a federal judge ruled late Wednesday that the Army Corps of Engineers' mismanagement of maintenance at the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet was directly responsible for flood damage in St. Bernard Parish and the Lower 9th Ward after Hurricane Katrina. - 12 Comments

Federal regulators ignored problems at IndyMac, report finds

Feb 26, 2009 - The Treasury Department's inspector general says regulators missed key signals pointing to bad loans and the bank's failure cost the FDIC $10.7 billion. By William Heisel 1:11 PM PST, February 26, 2009 Federal regulators ignored repeated warning signs about Pasadena's IndyMac Bancorp., and their failure to prevent the mortgage lender's collapse last year cost the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. $10.7 billion -- nearly $2 billion more than previous estimates, according to a new report. - 20 Comments

The American People Return to Personal Responsibility and Honesty

Nov 18, 2009 - by Newt Gingrich Posted 11/18/2009   As the Senate prepares to take up health reform, senators should take note of the tremendous shift underway in the thinking of the American people.Historians may record that the Obama Administration and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi were the wake-up call which led Americans to recommit themselves to the core values of American civilization. The net result of the Obama presidential campaign and a ten month campaign for government control of health care has been a decisive shift away from reliance on government and toward personal responsibility. A Stunning 22-Point Shift Away From Government Responsibilty for Health Care Polling data released last week by Gallup show a startling shift in public opinion:  President Obama and Speaker Pelosi are actually convincing the country to rethink their attitudes and move toward the right and away from government solutions in health care (the same seems to be happening on spending, taxes, and how to create jobs, but that will be a future newsletter). - 3 Comments

Why Fort Hood Really Happened

Nov 18, 2009 -

• OPINION: WONDER LAND
• NOVEMBER 12, 2009

• By DANIEL HENNINGER

The only good news out of the Fort Hood massacre is that U.S. electronic surveillance technology was able to pick up Major Hasan's phone calls to an al Qaeda-loving imam in Yemen. The bad news is the people and agencies listening to Hasan didn't know what to do about it. - 55 Comments