The real reasons for the Wilson/Plame affair

The entire affair smacks of the kind of discrediting midlevel operatives once did under the previous administration. This thing looks more and more like an underhanded smear to get at White House staff.

It's an open secret that entrenched (read that tenured) careerists did not like the idea of a Bush presidency. It was, or is, the identical situation at State. How better to lock down an effective administration than to discredit a top and valuable advisor?

If the idea seems implausible, cast an eye toward the recent "fuzzy face" interviews currently floating in local media. Under the guise of self protection, unidentified desk personnel regret they cannot tell their names, but two in the last few days surfaced with tap lines so similar they appear to have come from the same laptop user. Since the Wilson/Plame affair didn't gain traction, it is believed an undercover and intense "concern for the agency" might not skid.

These people are not kidding. They may be operating out of real concern, but a more accurate appraisal might be that they are just angry at the loss of a corporate ideology that no longer works. Whether it's one or the other, or something more malevolent, the situation imperils all of us.

The idea that the same old ways and same old people were good enough was disproven on a bright September day in 2001. It is said that "some of the best and brightest" have left Langley because politics have entered into the way business is done, but a clearer picture might be that the politics were always there, as was hubris.

Too bad the press isn't up to speed on it.

California Dreams On

When California became the "Mommie State," it ceased to be a market for free ideas, and worse, the state murdered its own free enterprise system on a slow drip of counter-productive regulatory measures.

It didn't happen overnight. I was here. I witnessed the death of a thousand cuts.

It started with the constant hand-out attitude in education, and we citizens of the Golden State, figured "what the hell, it's for the kids and for the future," so we said "okay" and let education milk off money for infrastructure. But that wasn't the end. Nope. The next venue was welfare. They said "hey, we can't let people walk around poor, for goodness' sake," and we said "y'know? You're right. We can't let people walk around poor," and a little more money was drained off like fat in a pot of gravy.

Then, medical care popped up its ugly little head. and they said "look, we can't let people walk around sick, for God's sake," and we said "right you are, we can't let people walk around sick," and a little more money got siphoned off.

It was actually all right with us, and it might have worked really well, but a curious thing happened on the way to a terrific system: somebody went to court and complained that the screening process that limited access to the programs to state residents was declared unfair, and voila' the system went to overload with out of staters.

Not only that, somebody else went to court and got a declaration that allowed illegal aliens access to the same privileges as residents. Funding then became a matter of deciding which of the three privileges got more, which got less.

Concurrent with the aforementioned moves, the political community had not ignored business, they simply milked the cow with a stronger hand, all in the name of the future and the kids...and objectors were shouted down, or worse, were ignored by power brokers and the news media. There was not one voice of reasoned objection and intelligently couched opposition. It just sort of seeped in like a slow motion mudslide.

This is not a rant against illegal aliens, I interpose, but it is a description of how we let the system fail.

If we look at the system as an economic model without the money clouding our view, we find California population in a condition of inflation....too many people seeking too few services that have no chance of funding.

Dr. Hansen is astute in his observations on the California decline, but his prescription is not wholistic in approach. Arnold notwithstanding, the corpus is close to dilecti, and this one needs heroic measures to bring it back to life.

Two of the problems can be solved at one time if the Governor issues simultaneously a directive and a challenge, and it will take ninety days to get it moving. The directive should order immediate higher fees to out of state, out of country applicants. It should order immediate study to build a total of three more medical schools with an educational capacity equal to UCLA's. The effect of more doctors, nurses and staff would be immediate. Even the prospect would be of value.

There are many qualified teachers for these institutions, but should there not be as many applicants as jobs, the out of staters and out of country-ers could be offered a trade of tuition decreases for service guarantees of six months' teaching per year of studentship. This could end up being the paradigm for the nation.

The co-ordinated challenge he might offer could be to a partnership of insurance companies and philanthropic bodies to come up with ways to produce tiered medical care facilities in a consortium of privately and publicly entities.

Adding this structure to the existing health care outlets would drive costs down and would enhance care.

If there are not enough hospials and care givers, then produce more. It's called free market mentality.

In re: welfare. This will take political and visceral courage, but it has to be done. The Governor should make it known that out of state, out of country applicants will be unable to apply after ninety days from his declaration. The words should be "don't even bother," but in this case, as well, he should issue a challenge to NGOs to prepare to take up the slack. He should work quickly to improve tax credits for donations to said NGOs.

Then, he should get out of the way.

As for infrastructure, the State should establish an open forum, staffed from the Governor's office, and start taking ideas and tossing meritable concepts back out to the public. The folks would dump the dumb ones and promote the good ones.

California, Los Angeles and San Francisco, in particular, are about as corrupt as they've been in sixty years. Apparently, this is the cycle of west coast life, but it doesn't have to be. Throw the doors and windows wide open, let the sunshine in to clean up the mold.

And by the way, it wouldn't hurt to have a less lazy press to ferret out the good guys, bad guys, good ideas, bad ideas, and provoke some discussion....or even down and dirty argument.

Pain is the only way out of this one.

Rethinker

CIA wonks on the offensive

Just a note to let you know that the inept middle management, dismissed or frozen out with the advent of Porter Goss, is on the move in an ill advised attempt to denigrate Bush and current American policy in Iran.

Last night on KNBC 4 News Colleen Williams did a "fuzzy face" interview with a supposed ex section chief on the Iran desk at Langley who trashed the administration on intelligence from that country. The interview was followed up with a review of the vitaes of the case worker who apparently served with the spot's producer at the agency. She was not identified by name or image.

Over the weekend, a twenty-something caseworker ran on Booknotes, or its equivalent, on CSPAN.

Curiously, both women said exactly the same sentence which described the situation, saying that some of the best case workers had left the agency lately in disagreement with new policy.

Here's what I believe is happening:

The disgruntled, and probably, inept ex-agents are being managed. They are starting small and local to see if they can get traction ala the Swiftees.

If they get non skid, they'll go larger.

In a response to an Online Journal column, I called for a top to bottom clean out at CIA. Apparently, Goss and the Prez were way out front on the issue, and it is happening, but it ain't gonna be easy because of the egos and reps involved. It's a huge game of CYA at CIA that's being played out in local press.

I further believe these people are in on the Negroponte put downs.

Expect this one to go incredibly nasty in a week or so.

Prescience is usually based on history....these guys are good at it, and their learning curve is steep.

Rethinker