Going through the Google Reader feeds this morning I stumbled over Dick Cavett at the Times. If you need a review of his column take this into consideration…I read all the wy to the end to get these final lines to drop quote here.

Witness for theWho, Exactly? – Dick Cavett – Opinion – New York Times Blog
To those who feel I am too hard on Mr. Nixon, yes, I willingly acknowledge his many gifts, his intellect and his great accomplishments.

Of course I have not forgotten his remarkable feat of “opening up” China.

Without him, what would we have done for poisoned toys?

I have to admit, not having made it a habit to watch his show, I always seemed to enjoy the ones I did watch. I think I can see why…

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Thank you New York Times. I have missed the pithy writings of Paul Krugman for the past few years.

I find myself in total agreement with him on the privatization issue. The driving force in the Bush Administration has been the privatization of very nearly everything. From my personal experience no matter how bad government bureaucracies may become, they are never as bad as the incompetently run for profit company that replaces them.

Hired Gun Fetish – New York Times
Sometimes it seems that the only way to make sense of the Bush administration is to imagine that it’s a vast experiment concocted by mad political scientists who want to see what happens if a nation systematically ignores everything we’ve learned over the past few centuries about how to make a modern government work.

Paul’s take away quote is quite a insight though…

But it’s also worth noting that the Bush administration has tried to privatize every aspect of the U.S. government it can, using taxpayers’ money to give lucrative contracts to its friends — people like Erik Prince, the owner of Blackwater, who has strong Republican connections. You might think that national security would take precedence over the fetish for privatization — but remember, President Bush tried to keep airport security in private hands, even after 9/11.

So the privatization of war — no matter how badly it works — is just part of the pattern.

It’s really too bad my personal creed doesn’t allow me to screw the American people that thoroughly…I really could use the retirement benefit that comes with being that complete of a…hell I can’t even come up with a description I’ll publish.

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It’s that time again and there are still emails and news to read…Gotta run anyway.

Later