TIME Mag.- Exposes More Mike Browns...FDA, Homeland Sec and many more

[demo dutch]

How Many More Mike Browns Are Out There?
A TIME inquiry finds that at top positions in some vital government agencies, the Bush Administration is putting connections before experience
By MARK THOMPSON, KAREN TUMULTY, MIKE ALLEN / WASHINGTON

Posted Sunday, Sep. 25, 2005
In presidential politics, the victor always gets the spoils, and chief among them is the vast warren of offices that make up the federal bureaucracy. Historically, the U.S. public has never paid much attention to the people the President chooses to sit behind those thousands of desks. A benign cronyism is more or less presumed, with old friends and big donors getting comfortable positions and impressive titles, and with few real consequences for the nation.

snip
Internal e-mail messages obtained by TIME show that scientists' drug-safety decisions at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are being second-guessed by a 33-year-old doctor turned stock picker.

At the Office of Management and Budget, an ex-lobbyist with minimal purchasing experience oversaw $300 billion in spending, until his arrest last week.

At the Department of Homeland Security, an agency the Administration initially resisted, a well-connected White House aide with minimal experience is poised to take over what many consider the single most crucial post in ensuring that terrorists do not enter the country again.

And who is acting as watchdog at every federal agency? A corps of inspectors general who may be increasingly chosen more for their political credentials than their investigative ones.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1109345,00.html

[htuttle]

1. While Caligula once appointed a horse to the Senate...

...Bush has apparently appointed a bunch of horse's asses.

[zalinda]

2. Now, why wasn't all this stuff

brought out BEFORE the election?

I know, complaint, complaints, at least they're doing their job, now. But for how long. And can we ever trust them again?

zalinda

[electropop]

3. The patronage extends out to the media.

But now that Bush is a lame duck, they aren't so concerned with his orders.

[ToolTex]

4. It was. But some chose not to listen.

n/t