Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Why I Will Be Maximizing My Tax Deductions This Year

This article in the New York Times today about an audit of American financial practices in Iraq turned my stomach and made me stark-raving mad (and I don't get mad very easily).

Agents from the inspector general's office found that the living and working quarters of American occupation officials were awash in shrink-wrapped stacks of $100 bills, colloquially known as bricks.

One official kept $2 million in a bathroom safe, another more than half a million dollars in an unlocked footlocker. One contractor received more than $100,000 to completely refurbish an Olympic pool but only polished the pumps; even so, local American officials certified the work as completed.

What the f**k?

Here I am, chugging bravely along, working honestly, paying my bills, and just trying to make a living as good as I can. While at the same time the government thinks it's ok to take my tax money and have some greedy government minion steal it and hide it in a footlocker in Iraq somewhere?

This is quite possibly the worst abuse of taxpayer money I've ever heard of. And this just makes it worse:

"It does not surprise me at all," said a Defense Department official who worked in Hilla and other parts of the country, who spoke anonymously because he said he feared retribution from the Bush administration.

Go figure.

My big question is: why are regular tax-paying people still supporting Bush and his administration? Haven't you heard enough, people? How much further does he have to go for you to say "NO MORE"?

And why isn't the Bulletin carrying this story? Was the death of a horse in a backyard somewhere (sorry, no link here due to the Bulletin's brain-dead subscription model) seriously more newsworthy than a story about governmental tax money abuse of such monumental proportions?
posted by Simone at 9:58 AM | link | 2 comments