If it were just the horror of Iraq, or the sickening bad joke of Alberto Gonzalez' Justice Department, or the Office of the Vice-President doing everything imaginable to smack down other members of the bureaucracy in order to remain top dog, or the President looking horribly discombobulated during a town hall meeting, perhaps the dwindling supporters of the Bush Administration would have a point in their arguments that their is no evidence of systemic corruption or incompetence. Then, a story
like this one from the Washington Post comes along and one wonders why, exactly anyone would want to defend even the janitor who sweeps the floor at the Pentagon, because you just know he's on the take, too:
The Justice Department is conducting a probe of a $6 billion reading initiative at the center of President Bush's No Child Left Behind law, another blow to a program besieged by allegations of financial conflicts of interest and cronyism, people familiar with the matter said yesterday.
The disclosure came as a congressional hearing revealed how people implementing the $1 billion-a-year Reading First program made at least $1 million off textbooks and tests toward which the federal government steered states.
George Miller, Democratic Representative from California is quoted in the article as calling this a "criminal enterprise". Couldn't agree more.
