Friday, April 18, 2008
Your Morning News: 4.18.08
Posted by Josh in Air Force, Baseball, Iraq, President Bush, recession, Thunderbirds are go!
The New York Times leads with a great story on the fact that workers across the country are working fewer hours. For blue-coller workers, this means a lack of overtime pay that has traditionally been a staple of their salaries. Since talk of the recession has mostly focused on stock prices, I would say that this is today’s must-read. All the people involved in the wall street stories are still making more than $450 a week – trust me.
The Air Force spent $50 million through a blatantly corrupt process on a company to “jazz up” the Thunderbirds air show. That bid was more than twice the next lowest bid and the company barely exists. The whole thing was apparently designed to reward a former Air Force General and senior-level Air Force personelle were involved. It is a small amount of money (for the Pentagon), but the real news behind this story is buried in the 5th paragraph:
According to the report, Goldfein even arranged for President Bush to record a video testimonial in the White House Map Room that was included in the SMS contract proposal, demonstrating the company’s credibility and access.
I am pretty sure the President isn’t supposed to do that. Here’s hoping the video hits Youtube.
Iraq and baseball (not related) after the jump
A bombing in Iraq yesterday killed 55 people at a Sunni funeral. The attack has been attributed to a Sunni insurgent group. This highlights the splintered nature of the conflict in Iraq. It is not as simple as Sunni vs. Shiite vs. Kurds (Or, as some would suggest, the United States vs. Terrorists). There are numerous factions and associations within each group, each with its own agenda.
Don’t worry about Iraq though, because the US is building a wall. That always works.
In the world of sports, the Rockies beat the Padres 2-1 after 22 innings. The game ran for more than 6 hours. Troy Tulowitzki, who drove in the winning run, summed up the night when he said, “‘It’s definitely better to win in a 22-inning game than lose, I’ll tell you that.”