Shareholders' Meeting at Bush & Company

Would you reelect these board members?

On Fridays the Bush administration are often announces all the bad news, hoping to avoid as much public scrutiny over the weekend. Our CEO-in-Chief seeks to bury bad news of his company's lack of success and/or shady dealings. Imagine, however, that Bush was forced to make a detailed progress report each week of the internal workings of the national company he runs.

Let's look at this week's report:

A $1 billion reading program that is a key part of the Bush administration's No Child Left Behind education law was mismanaged and rife with conflicts of interest, according to an internal audit released on Friday. Bush reading program blasted in internal audit

The toll among Iraqi civilians hit a record high in the summer, with 6,599 violent deaths reported in July and August alone, the United Nations said this week. War Price on U.S. Lives Equal to 9/11

More than 1,100 laptop computers have vanished from the Department of Commerce since 2001, including nearly 250 from the Census Bureau containing such personal information as names, incomes and Social Security numbers, federal officials said yesterday. 1,100 Laptops Missing From Commerce Dept.

An inspector general's report charges that top U.S. housing official Alphonso Jackson urged staff members to favor friends of President Bush when awarding Department of Housing and Urban Development contracts. Probe Finds Jackson Urged Favoritism in HUD Contracts: No Evidence That Staff Complied

The federal system for approving and regulating drugs is in serious disrepair, and a host of dramatic changes are needed to fix the problem, a blue-ribbon panel of government advisers concluded yesterday in a long-awaited report. FDA Told U.S. Drug System Is Broken

A Federal Aviation Administration contracting program, initially hailed as a way to make the agency more efficient, was so poorly managed that it cost the government millions of dollars in overruns, according to a govern. Probe of FAA Contracting Finds Waste

Seems to me to be a little insider trading before the November elections. The Bush administration is trying to hide the mess, hold on to power, and blame the next board for the mess.

By the way, I'm leaving for Paris tomorrow and will not be blogging for a week. Hope to make up for it when I get back.