Hey, lurcking media folks, anyone interested in a Pulitzer?

[Sperk]

How about an expose on the Fematization of the Federal Gov't? I'd start with all the qualified people who have either resigned in protest or have been forced out for challenging the * Administration.

Only this type of story will give the American people a true picture of what this Administration is all about. You can start with the infamous Norquist quote about shrinking the gov't down to where you can "drown" it in the bathtub.

How about the general who was forced out for saying we needed many hundreds of thousands of troops for Iraq, EPA officials who have quit because they can't do their jobs, justice dept. officials who have quit in disgust, the treasury guy (forget his name) who was replaced because he told the truth about the cost of the war and the lady who was demoted for challenging no bid contracts. That ought to get you started.

:mad:

Oh yeah, and don't forget the purging of all qualified CIA agents. Feel safer yet?

[OneGrassRoot]

1. YES!!!! Pay attention media.......please n/t

[applegrove]

2. Paul Khrugman wrote about that yesterday. He itemized a whole host

of federal agencies who had been destroyed from the inside out. We discuss stuff on the boards. Most of us do not have the sources or the education to suss out stories. When we call for something it is invariably already been written about or done by the media.

Great minds think alike.

And fortunately - the media sees things or is waking up. So if we sound alike it is because we all witnessed the same stuff. And is obvious. And for once - the MSM is reporting the obvious. Been a while.

But FEMA being gutted was talked about from day one. Only a matter of time till we hear more. Actually they have been writing about the EPA and others. Also how hard it has been for Bush to staff some positions since the culture of each organization is afraid and disheartened by Bush.

[Divernan]

3. Another HUGE story - the number of unfilled fed agency jobs (900/FEMA)

People on the inside of these agencies know how many empty slots there are - but would get fired for publicly complaining about it. This is an undercover way of downsizing government - if you can't publicly eviscerate an agency, do it through driving professional, competent civil servants into early retirement or leaving to find work elsewhere. Allbaugh was great at this, and the other political hacks and inexperienced adult children of political hacks, starting out at GS 12/13 level jobs,
whom he brought into FEMA have continued Allbaugh's tradition.

When you look at how the FBI let Brown get by with his bogus resume with a ten year employment gap immediately prior to joining FEMA, it's a pretty safe bet that the FBI, under that jerk Ashcroft, let a lot of other political hacks get by with padding/outright lying on their job applications in order to claim the necessary level of experience to qualify for the high GS ratings of the jobs they were GIVEN.

[brainshrub]

4. Start with Ann Wright

Just in case you forgot, Ann Wright was the diplomat who resigned in protest over the Iraqi war. Here is letter of resignation.

More than anyone else in Crawford, Ann Wright was the most incredible person I met at Camp Casey in Crawford, Texas. The spot-light was on Cindy Sheehan, but it was Ann's leadership that kept it all together. The people of the United States lost one of it's best minds when Ms. Wright left.

ON EDIT: Excerpt from her resignation letter:

When I last saw you in Kabul in January, 2002 you arrived to officially open the US Embassy that I had helped reestablish in December, 2001 as the first political officer. At that time I could not have imagined that I would be writing a year later to resign from the Foreign Service because of US policies. All my adult life I have been in service to the United States. I have been a diplomat for fifteen years and the Deputy Chief of Mission in our Embassies in Sierra Leone, Micronesia, Afghanistan (briefly) and Mongolia. I have also had assignments in Somalia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Grenada and Nicaragua. I received the State Department's Award for Heroism as Charge d'Affaires during the evacuation of Sierra Leone in 1997. I was 26 years in the US Army/Army Reserves and participated in civil reconstruction projects after military operations in Grenada, Panama and Somalia. I attained the rank of Colonel during my military service.

[Catchawave]

5. Great idea !

Wonder why none of these feds have spoken out? Fear of being unemployable for being a "troublemaker" ?

[Skidmore]

6. Dont forget Bunnie, who called the military on no bid contracts and

today on AAR's Morning Sedition there was a whistleblower from the EPA who talked about the toxic water and air in NOLA and how the workers down there are being asked to rescue and cleanup with no protective gear. He also said that the test results of the water from NO posted on the EPAs are false; that the posted results indicate that the water is less toxic than it is. He also said this was done in NYC after 9/11 as well concerning air quality there. That the govt hired many illegal aliens for submarket wages and who could not speak English. He said that people will DIE from exposure to the heavy carcinogens in the air and water there. That in NYC there have been many deaths within a short period of time from aggressive cancers. You media people have been wading in that stew and breathing that air. It will harm you just like it does the citizenry. Please expose the profiteering liars who are willing to kill others so casually, whether actively through lying to get us into a war or negelecting the safety and welfare of the people through budget cuts or discrediting people who try to do their jobs to protect the public. If one media person is fearful of doing this alone, see if you can get your bosses to work together and divide the story between different organizations. It's a HUGE story that needs to be told for the good of the nation. There is safety in numbers, as we have learned here. We will support you, however many of you want to tackle this. Help us stop the selling and killing of the nation.

[in_cog_ni_to]

7. Paul O'Neill was Sec of Treasury and don't forget Richard Clarke

:hi: