"Bits & Pieces" - Commentary by Tony Seton

Bits & Pieces

Bits and pieces from this reporter’s notebook.

Da-deet-da-deet-da-deet-deet....The highest-ranking defector from North Korea gave an earful to Congress. He called the rulers of his former country "profoundly unstable" and said they couldn’t be trusted to adhere to a new deal on nuclear weapons. Of course, anyone who didn’t know the Kim Il Jong regime was either fruit-loops or implausibly clever hasn’t been paying attention. Of course, a defector -- especially a very public one -- is likely to say what will please his new hosts.

Da-deet-da-deet-da-deet-deet....Anyone surprised that cronyism has surfaced in the awarding of contracts for rebuilding Iraq must have their head in the desert sands. A new report out by the Center for Public Integrity says that most of the firms slurping at the trough de largesse have been major campaign contributors to George Bush and the Republicans. Said the executive director of the Center, "There is a stench of political favoritism and cronyism surrounding the contracting process in both Iraq and Afghanistan." Some 60% of the slurpers had employees or board members who served in previous administrations, for members of Congress and at the highest level of the military.

Da-deet-da-deet-da-deet-deet....Ya gotta wonder how worried are the people on Capitol Hill about security. A staffer on his way to a Halloween gig set off alarms and a lockdown of a House office building because he carried a gun as part of his costume. It was plastic, probably like his brain. But when the bosses are committing criminally tragic acts every day, what’s a plastic gun?

Da-deet-da-deet-da-deet-deet....Out again in his doom-buggy, military superchief Donald Rumsfeld announced that there is no quick fix to stop Baghdad attacks. Nothing gets past our eagle-eye SecDef. He said aid organizations would have to decide for themselves whether the capital of the defeated enemy is safe for the delivery of humanitarian assistance. Um, probably not.

Da-deet-da-deet-da-deet-deet....Rummy’s boss is taking credit for a jump in the GDP. In a speech before potential voters in the critical state of Ohio, The Bush Boy says it was his brilliant strategy that has put the zing in our economy. However, recognizing that the tax cut for the wealthy bought the boost, he warned that it might not continue so rosily. At least not for anyone else. After his hoo-hah before factory workers, the president attended two campaign fund-raisers where he picked up more than $2.5 million.

And that’s SetonnoteS...I’m Tony Seton.