HA-HA. HA-...HA?
It turns out yesterday's "Sheryl Crow toilet paper revolution" was just a joke on her part. Ohhhh, that wily Sheryl Crow, what won't she think of next? I'm just glad she's not insane.
While I was chasing that story down like a journalistic jungle cat, Slacktivist reminded us that yesterday was the 4 year anniversary of Andrew Natsios, former director of the U.S. Agency of International Development, appearing on Nightline with Ted Koppel.
Slacktivist is nice enough to have the important part of the interview transcripted on his page, but you can watch the full interview here. Koppel and Natsios speak about the total cost for America in rebuilding Iraq from the 2:15 mark until about 3:20. Natsios is adamant that it will cost American tax payers only $1.7 billion. If he were any more adamant Wolverine's claws would be made out of him.
Before serving as the director of the AID, Natsios was also manager of Boston's Big Dig. The Big Dig is remembered by many (or at least myself) as not only having a cool rhyming name, but for also going well over budget. Wikipedia, for what it's worth, states that the project was original budgeted to cost $2.8 billion but by 2006 had cost over $14.6 billion. So, knowing that Natsios had a hand in the Big Dig it should not come as a huge surprise that his estimating skills are a little off. To err is human, as the saying goes.
But to err is one thing, to be off by (so far) over $400,000,000,000 is something else. That's $5.67 per American versus $1,333.34 per American. If I buy something at $10 and I get a bill for $15 I'm ticked enough. That's five dollars. This is an itsy-bitsy bit more.
I'm all for democratic elections. I'm all for catching the people that masterminded 9/11 and seeing them tried in a global court. I'm all for getting Saddam out of power (not the same thing as number two). I'm all for supporting our troops. But what I am not all for is this operation being running by a bunch of people that appear to have just stepped out of their bubble worlds yesterday. Cor. At least Sheryl Crow's horrible miscalculation of real life was an intentional joke. The same can't be said for this.
While I was chasing that story down like a journalistic jungle cat, Slacktivist reminded us that yesterday was the 4 year anniversary of Andrew Natsios, former director of the U.S. Agency of International Development, appearing on Nightline with Ted Koppel.
Slacktivist is nice enough to have the important part of the interview transcripted on his page, but you can watch the full interview here. Koppel and Natsios speak about the total cost for America in rebuilding Iraq from the 2:15 mark until about 3:20. Natsios is adamant that it will cost American tax payers only $1.7 billion. If he were any more adamant Wolverine's claws would be made out of him.
Before serving as the director of the AID, Natsios was also manager of Boston's Big Dig. The Big Dig is remembered by many (or at least myself) as not only having a cool rhyming name, but for also going well over budget. Wikipedia, for what it's worth, states that the project was original budgeted to cost $2.8 billion but by 2006 had cost over $14.6 billion. So, knowing that Natsios had a hand in the Big Dig it should not come as a huge surprise that his estimating skills are a little off. To err is human, as the saying goes.
But to err is one thing, to be off by (so far) over $400,000,000,000 is something else. That's $5.67 per American versus $1,333.34 per American. If I buy something at $10 and I get a bill for $15 I'm ticked enough. That's five dollars. This is an itsy-bitsy bit more.
I'm all for democratic elections. I'm all for catching the people that masterminded 9/11 and seeing them tried in a global court. I'm all for getting Saddam out of power (not the same thing as number two). I'm all for supporting our troops. But what I am not all for is this operation being running by a bunch of people that appear to have just stepped out of their bubble worlds yesterday. Cor. At least Sheryl Crow's horrible miscalculation of real life was an intentional joke. The same can't be said for this.
posted by Matt Worzala at
3:02 PM
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