Berkeley CSUA MOTD:Entry 51481
Berkeley CSUA MOTD
 
WIKI | FAQ | Tech FAQ
http://csua.com/feed/
2025/07/09 [General] UID:1000 Activity:popular
7/9     

2008/10/12-15 [Politics/Domestic/Crime, Politics/Domestic/President/Reagan] UID:51481 Activity:nil
10/12   How the GOP used "Star Wars" to rip off the taxpayer:
        http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/12/washington/12missile.htm
2025/07/09 [General] UID:1000 Activity:popular
7/9     

You may also be interested in these entries...
2013/5/28-7/2 [Politics/Foreign/Asia/China] UID:54683 Activity:nil
5/28    WTF??? Even the Defense Contractors can't do cybersecurity right?
        http://preview.tinyurl.com/o6kc3yu
	...
2013/4/18-5/18 [Politics/Domestic/911, Politics/Domestic/SIG] UID:54660 Activity:nil
4/18    "MSNBC Host Blames NRA for 'Slow' Boston Investigation: 'In the
        Business of Helping Bombers Get Away With Their Crimes'"
        http://www.csua.org/u/zwf
        \_ The NRA has a lot to answer for.
        \_ Oh, for fuck's sake.  We don't put taggants in gunpowder because it
           interferes with the proper functioning of a round of ammuntion.
	...
2011/5/27-7/30 [Politics/Domestic/Crime] UID:54121 Activity:nil
5/27    Pharamcist convicted of first-degree murder for shooting at armed
        robberers:
        http://www.csua.org/u/tfk (news.yahoo.com)
        What the f**k!!??
        \_ Shooting the robber and leaving him on the floor unconscious was
           obviously self-defense.  Calmly returning to the store afterwards
	...
2009/5/23-6/1 [Politics/Domestic/California, Politics/Domestic/SocialSecurity] UID:53038 Activity:low
5/23    Public opinion is basically pathological
        http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/05/everything-is-unpopular.php
        \_ Yeah, voters are stupid.
        \_ I'm disheartened that the most popular program to cut is the
           space program. I think most people assume it gets a lot more
           money than it does. As this article says, its budget is tiny
	...
2009/5/1-6 [Politics/Domestic/Election] UID:52932 Activity:kinda low
5/1     http://tinyurl.com/c83tl4         (link fixed, sorry. forbes)
        Obama administration screws DC school kids. (in his defense, it is
        not clear that he really knows what the Sec. of Edu is doing, that
        he had anything to do with holding up study till after the vote, etc.
        Still, it seems that my hope that Obama may pull an "Only Nixon can
        go to China" on our broken EDU system, is way in vain.
	...
2009/1/28-2/6 [Politics/Domestic/911] UID:52481 Activity:low
1/28    One of the criticisms of the Patriot Act was that it was rammed
        through without any time for legislators to properly review
        it.  Isn't that the same problem with this $800B bill?
        \_ Is this $800B bill hundreds upon hundreds of pages long? It's not
           coming off the heels of a crisis in national defense; rather, it's
           attempting to fix a spiraling economy. Plus it seems that the
	...
2013/2/10-3/19 [Politics/Domestic/President/Bush, Uncategorized/Profanity] UID:54603 Activity:nil
2/10    I like Woz, and I like iWoz, but let me tell ya, no one worships
        him because he has the charisma of an highly functioning
        Autistic person. Meanwhile, everyone worships Jobs because
        he's better looking and does an amazing job promoting himself
        as God. I guess this is not the first time in history. Case in
        point, Caesar, Napolean, GWB, etc. Why is it that people
	...
2011/10/14-30 [Politics/Domestic/President/Reagan, Reference/Tax] UID:54197 Activity:nil
10/14   "SimCain?  Herman Cain's 9-9-9 plan resembles the tax code in SimCity"
        http://www.csua.org/u/uh9
        \_ "The Tax Reform Act of 1986: Should We Do It Again?"
           http://www.csua.org/u/uiu
           "Reagan built on their efforts and put forward a very detailed plan
           for tax reform in May 1985, based on several years of work by the
	...
2010/11/2-2011/1/13 [Politics/Domestic/California, Politics/Domestic/President/Reagan] UID:54001 Activity:nil
11/2    California Uber Alles is such a great song
        \_ Yes, and it was written about Jerry Brown. I was thinking this
           as I cast my vote for Meg Whitman. I am independent, but I
           typically vote Democrat (e.g., I voted for Boxer). However, I
           can't believe we elected this retread.
           \_ You voted for the billionaire that ran HP into the ground
	...
2010/1/20-29 [Science, Politics/Domestic/President/Reagan] UID:53645 Activity:nil
1/20    Food for thought: kids today are more responsible and less selfish
        than kids from 80s... the REAGAN era.
        http://news.cnet.com/8301-19518_3-10434969-238.html
        \_ As a parent of a kindergartener, I don't think so.
	...
2009/12/25-2010/1/19 [Politics/Domestic/California, Politics/Domestic/President/Bush] UID:53603 Activity:nil
12/24   Why San Francisco and union and government suck:
        http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2009/12/unions-graft-stunning-incompetence-make.html
        \_ http://www.burbed.com/2010/01/03/san-francisco-richer-and-richer-and-richer
           San Francisco to become richer and richer and richer. It's
           Disneyland for adults! YAY!!!
        \_ No doubt that there is plenty of corruption in San Francisco that
	...
2009/9/25-10/8 [Politics/Domestic/President/Reagan] UID:53402 Activity:nil
9/25    Reagan's Legacy on the UC:
        http://www.newfoundations.com/Clabaugh/CuttingEdge/Reagan.html
	...
2009/9/15-24 [Politics/Domestic/President/Reagan] UID:53369 Activity:nil
9/15    WORST PRESIDENT EVER: Ronald Reagan. The president
        of GREED.  http://www.consortiumnews.com/2009/060309.html
        \_ You and Michael Moore are in agreement.
	...
2009/8/12-9/1 [Politics/Domestic/California/Arnold, Politics/Domestic/California/Prop] UID:53268 Activity:moderate
8/12    Thanks for destroying the world's finest public University!
        http://tinyurl.com/kr92ob (The Economist)
        \_ Why not raise tuition? At private universities, students generate
           revenue. Students should not be seen as an expense. UC has
           been a tremendous bargain for most of its existence. It's time
           to raise tuition to match the perceived quality of the
	...
2009/2/25-3/3 [Politics/Domestic/President/Reagan] UID:52635 Activity:nil
2/25    Thank you Obama for pledging to reverse much of Reagan's economic
        mess. Thank you!
        http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/02/24/analysis.obama.reagan
        http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-219640
        \_ About time. The last 25 years have been a disaster for the middle
           class.
	...
2008/11/7-13 [Politics/Domestic/Election] UID:51881 Activity:very high
11/7    Obama's draft goes down the memory hole
        http://tinyurl.com/63mbfa (LGF)
        \_ Oh please, let me quote the GOP from when that pompous cybersec guy
           came to ask cs studentds help in 02.  "GET OVER IT."
        \_ You guys are irrelevant. No one cares what you think anymore.
           Shut up and eat your Freedom Fries.
	...
Cache (3649 bytes)
www.nytimes.com/2008/10/12/washington/12missile.htm
Enlarge This Image Michael Cantrell and Doug Ennis, second and third from left, on a fishing trip with contractors and Congressional aides while pitching a project. Enlarge This Image Michael Cantrell's photograph of himself with three congressmen and others at a missile testing center in Buffalo, which Congress financed despite the objections of the Pentagon. "The contractors are making a killing," Mr Cantrell recalled thinking at the meeting, in 2000. "The lobbyists are getting their fees, and the contractors and lobbyists are writing out campaign checks to the politicians. Within months, Mr Cantrell began getting personal checks from contractors and later returned to the airport with Mr Ennis to pick up a briefcase stuffed with $75,000. But what has drawn little scrutiny are his activities leading up to it. Thanks to important allies in Congress, he extracted nearly $350 million for projects the Pentagon did not want, wasting taxpayer money on what would become dead-end ventures. Jack Abramoff, both now in prison, provided a glimpse into how special interests manipulate the federal government. Mr Cantrell's story, by contrast, pieced together from federal documents and dozens of interviews, is a remarkable account of how a little-known, midlevel Defense Department insider who spent his entire career in Alabama skillfully gamed the system. Mr Cantrell worked in a division that was a small part of the national missile defense program. Determined to save his job, he often bypassed his bosses and broke department rules to make his case on Capitol Hill. He enlisted contractors to pitch projects that would keep the dollars flowing and paid lobbyists to ease them through. He cultivated lawmakers, who were eager to send money back home or to favored contractors and did not ask many questions. And when he ran into trouble, he could count on his powerful friends for protection from Pentagon officials who provided little oversight and were afraid of alienating lawmakers. Trent Lott, Republican of Mississippi, intervened when the Pentagon threatened to discipline Mr Cantrell for lobbying, a banned activity for civil servants. "I could go over to the Hill and put pressure on people above me and get something done," Mr Cantrell explained about his success in Washington. "With the Army, as long as the senator is not calling over and complaining, everything is OK And the senator will not call over and complain unless the contractor you're working with does not get his money. So you just have to keep the players happy and it works." The national missile defense program has cost the United States more than $110 billion since President Ronald Reagan unveiled his Star Wars plan 25 years ago. Today, the missile defense effort is the Pentagon's single biggest procurement program. The Army declined to discuss the Cantrell case, other than to say it had taken steps to try to prevent similar crimes from happening again. But some current and former Defense Department officials say the exploiting of the system that preceded Mr Cantrell's kickback scheme has had a damaging impact, slowing progress toward building a viable missile defense system by diverting money to unnecessary or wasteful endeavors. That pattern of larding up the defense budget with pet projects pushed by lawmakers and lobbyists is a familiar one. "What they did may have been a scandal," said Walter E Braswell, Mr Ennis's lawyer, referring to the actions of his client and Mr Cantrell. "But even more grotesque is the way defense procurement has disintegrated into an incestuous relationship between the military, politicians and contractors."