corrente

Remember how long it took to get body armor for every soldier in Iraq? (I think it was last week that some general schmuck proudly announced that all were so outfitted.)

But see, sometimes the government is right on the ball:

(via "Fighting All who Rob or Plunder" NYT)

WASHINGTON, June 12 - The Bush administration said Saturday that it would rescind a federal policy that threatened to cut food stamp benefits for several million low-income elderly and disabled people who save money on their medicines by using the new Medicare drug discount cards.

Medicare officials said on Tuesday that they were unaware of the Agriculture Department policy and were surprised to learn about the imminent cuts in food stamps.

Dr. Mark B. McClellan, administrator of the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said the drug card, which carries a $600 subsidy for low-income people, was not supposed to "take away any existing federal benefits."

The Senate Democratic leader, Tom Daschle of South Dakota, said he received a telephone call this week from a constituent stating that her food stamp benefits were being cut because of the savings she would get with her discount card.

We do not know for a fact that Sweet Polly Pureheart lives in South Dakota, but maybe she retired there after leaving show biz, moved into an old missle silo and is now heavily armed and into the survivalist movement.