Not Ike's Military Industrial Complex

So says one of the authors of "Top Secret America," The Washington Post series about the sprawling defense apparatus that has mushroomed since 9/11.

Kafka could have only dreamed of such bureaucratic inefficiency. Of course, that's absolutely false: he wrote about it. (Actually, just re-reading The Castle; a translation put out in the past decade that is much closer to what he left behind than what was originally published, and finished, after his death by his friend.)

[Lovin' that -do.]

Finally, perhaps, the always-expanding defense complex, which includes the military and all the intelligence agencies, will become part of the deficit debate. It will be interesting to see how the deficit-hawks, typically some of the strongest supporters of defense spending (of course, this crosses the aisle), will react to this indictment of the community, which includes the Congressional role of funding of the whole thing.

This was the thread picked up most by the former head of the 9/11 Commission that recommended the creation of the DNI position, the ostensible head of this ungainly beast, in the first place. On PBS News Hour, he said that no matter how well coordinated the agencies are, redundancies and inefficiencies will remain, if the funding process in Congress remains fragmented. Uh, great.

I like numbers; what do you like?

1.75 trillion - budget deficit, 1/2 of which will be reduced over the next 4 years.

0 - how many subsidies farmers making over 1/2 million will receive. (Yay!)

5 vs 95 - (annual income of less-than vs. more-than $250,000) percentages of the Obama-designated class divide.

2011 - year tax increases (or, really, just rescinded tax breaks from Bush 2 that will help rich people pay their share--see 4.6 below) take effect on the above %5.

4.6 - the percentage of the increase. Seriously? Everybody (of the 5%; i.e., individuals making 200,000 and household making more than $250,000 a year) needs to stop being such dicks. C'mon, really? That's $9,200 more a year for a single person making over 2 hundred thousand. Really, you're going to bitch about that when we're supposed to be concerned our whole society might be falling a part? Get a grip.

For someone making $1 million, 4 times the lowest in the percentile, that's $46,ooo--enough for an education at a decent school and good health insurance. Oh please, Mr. Millionaire, send a poor kid to college; especially if you don't have your own. Won't that make you feel good?

Well, honestly, I don't really care if it does, but you owe us, man. Since the time of Regan, you've had tax cuts and loopholes and tort reform and a sharp decline in crime (and yet somehow, an ever growing prison population--hm, failed War on Drugs, anyone?) and high-end condos and Trader Joe's in cool neighborhoods (see decline in crime) and cocaine and the BlackBerry, nay iPhone.

x>0 - pictures taken of returning war dead.

2 new members (possibly) of Congress = DC + Utah

100 - the % of existing-home sales in CA increased in the past year. That's kind of good news, right?

Curiouser & Curiouser

Wanted to share this really cool site, Curious Expeditions, for those of you who into all things interesting and a bit weird--historically, anthropologically, etc. You know, those of us who get off on museums and dusty books, filled with the minutia of worlds past.

I was drawn to the place by a post about a once hidden tunnel running along a good length of Atlantic Ave. One of the first major commercial hubs in the bustling city (later turned borough) of Brooklyn in the mid to late 1800's, just past the courts and politicos of Downtown and what was once the New York's main waterfront, in DUMBO and the Navy Yard, it remains so today (and finally with our very own Trade Joe's). Just beneath the surface, apparently, is what was for a short time the worlds first underground subway tunnel. Less built to save the Irish immigrants of the neighborhood that were being mowed down by the senior Vanderbilt's trains fairly regularly--interestingly, the story goes that originally the famous baseball team's full name was the the "Brooklyn Trolley-Dodgers," which were as much a hazard throughout the city--and more to avoid the costly delays resulting from the accidents.

Pictured here, from the site as well, this curiosity rather strikes me somehow as pertaining to the dance now engaged in by government and the economy and, of course, the rest of us. I'm not sure if what the fox represents is big finance or perhaps the new fangs barred by Congress and the Administration's new legislation to get a hold on things. But, I must admit, these days I think we're all feeling a bit like the duckling, no?