Stupid Things That Make Me Crazy

Military Funerals. Paul Fusco, a great photographer, was appalled by the war--how the government lied to start it, how the dead were being hidden. So he started going to the funerals of soldiers. And, discreetly, photographing them. If you have tears left, you'll shed some here. And you'll want to hold this number in mind--2,000--and remember where you were when we reached that number of American casualties. Because we reached it... today, Tuesday, October 25.

And hold that memory. Later, we'll hear the trumpets blow taps for 3,000. And 4,000. And 5,000. Because once you start wasting lives, it gets to be a bad habit. And of course, if you're stupid, you can't admit you made a mistake around about death #100.

A million dollars for seven vehicles in Iraq. The newest model was from 1996; the oldest was from 1994. Someone made some money on these. Wasn't me. Wasn't you. We just pay for these screw-ups.

George Bush's Texas gubernatorial campaigns paid Harriet Miers a total of $163,000 in legal fees, most of it for work done during his 1998 re-election bid. That's a great deal of money. And Bush was leading by about 30 points. Do you not wonder: What did you do to earn it? Or maybe this: What, as head of the lottery commission, did she not do?

Texas officials paid Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers' family more than $100,000 for a small piece of land in 2000--10 times the land's worth--despite the state's objections to the way the price was determined. And you wonder why she reveres Bush.

There's so much more--I've got an inbox full of mail that tells the same story. But you get it, don't you? The CEO is an incompetent. And values filter down. Given enough time, we'll all lose ten or twenty IQ points.