More government failure

We now have one more example of the failure of the federal government to function in even a modestly competent fashion. First FEMA could not put put some food and water on a truck and drive to the Super Dome on the same roads you could drive out of. Then the State Department could not issue passports to citizens who were forced to get them with new rules of travel, and now we learn that $1.1 billion in farm subsidies is being paid to dead farmers. These are examples of simple incompetence. Fraud is another matter and that is why we need to keep a close eye on the earmark usage by our elected officials. The latest example I have read about is an earmark put in the defense authorizing bill by Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska which would be given to a company which is wholly dependent on earmarks and which also just happens to employ Senator Nelson's son. What a mess.