Bushocracy Bumblings

Homeland Security:

U.S. Is Given Failing Grades By 9/11 Panel

Stupidity:

Do These Two Have Anything in Common? By Zbigniew Brzezinski:

BRZEZINSKI: "President Bush has equated Islamic radicalism with communism....[I]s Bush smart to be making this comparison?"

THE UNKNOWN CANDIDATE: Personally, I'd stop at: "Is Bush smart?" The answer to both questions, obviously, is "No."

9/11 Investigation:

Open and Shut
By Jarrett Murphy
The Village Voice

Four years later, we still have ten big questions about what happened on 9/11.

Aids

Broken Promises
By David Bryden
TomPaine.com

"AIDS presents the greatest challenge to our common humanity in modern history. [...] But the United States' preference for a unilateral approach to AIDS— and the confusion it has helped sow in countries about HIV prevention—is extremely undermining to global momentum. It has the potential to sabotage the promises of 2001. Unless we can find a way to get the largest actor on the stage back to reading from the same script, we may not be able to revive the spirit of that year. And we will have no hope of reaching universal access to treatment by 2010, and reaching the Millennium Development Goals."

Cronyism

TomPaine.com - Bush's Newest Crusader

"Washington is a town where the best and the brightest usually coexist with well-connected political hacks. However, the Bush administration has taken promotion of the latter to embarrassing extremes, selecting unqualified people for posts because of their political loyalty and ideological persuasion. [One] recent example of this was the appointment of Paul Bonicelli to be deputy director of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which is in charge of all programs to promote democracy and good governance overseas."

Healthcare

Report Questions Medicare Drug Benefit Oversight
Reuters & t r u t h o u t

"Medicare has received thousands of complaints about its temporary drug discount card, according to a congressional report released on Wednesday as the agency grapples with new gripes about the card's replacement program."

United Nations Reform

Blocking Reform at the U.N.
The New York Times

"Muscular diplomacy is one thing. But John Bolton has been all muscle and no diplomacy as the United States ambassador to the United Nations. Now he's threatening to hold up its entire two-year operating budget unless his demands for major reforms are met almost immediately."