[Vision2020] Fighting Government Waste: An Act Of Terrorism?

[Tom Hansen]

>From Bob Schieffer's commentary on today's (December 3, 2006) "Face the
Nation" -

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Fighting Gov't Waste: An Act Of Terrorism?
By Bob Schieffer

Are you tired of all those stories we hear on a daily basis about government
waste, fraud and corruption? 

Well, the Washington Post has discovered that the new head of the General
Services Administration - a political appointee named Lurita Alexis Doan -
has found a way to insure we get more pleasant news. 

She is trying to rein in her agency's independent inspector general Brian
Miller, who's tough audits produced those reports of government waste. She
is trying to cut his budget by five million dollars. Mind you, he's watching
over the 56 billion dollars in government contracts that the agency manages.


But you gotta love her reasoning. She claims Miller's tough reports are
intimidating government workers. I can imagine! - especially the lazy ones
who don't care where our money goes, and the occasional few who may be
dishonest. 

Ronald Reagan said in dealing with the Russians, "Trust but verify." Why
shouldn't we be keeping tabs when billions are at stake here at home? 

Ms. Doan seems to worry more about the auditors being disruptive. According
to the Post, she told a staff meeting, "There are two kinds of terrorism in
the United States - the external kind, and internally, the Inspector
Generals." 

For the record, she denies the quote, but as we put all this into our "You
can't make this stuff up" file, we note highlights from her biography and
that of her Inspector General. 

Before going into public service, she was a government contractor. 

And, Inspector General Miller did have a connection to terrorism: He was
once a federal prosecutor who helped bring the case against terrorist
Zacarias Moussaoui.

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Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

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"In America, anybody can become president.  
That's one of the risks you take . . ."

- Adlai Stevenson

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