(2004-10-29) Winslow Wastrels Defense

Winslow Wheeler (aka "Spartacus") has a book called The Wastrels Of Defense about Defense Department waste. Blurbage by James Fallows. The publishers write a veteran senate defense advisor argues that since Sept. 11, 2001 (World Trade Center), the conduct of the US Congress has sunk to new depths and endangered the nation's security. Winslow Wheeler draws on three decades of work with four prominent senators to tell in lively detail how members of Congress divert money from essential warfighting accounts to pay for pork (Pork Barrel) in their home states, cook the budget books to pursue personal agendas, and run for cover when confronted with tough defense issues. With meticulous documentation to support his claims, he contends that this behavior is not confined to one party or one political philosophy. He further contends that senators who sell themselves as reformers and journalists covering Capitol Hill are simply not doing their jobs.

Here's a key essay "Mr. Smith is Dead" that Winslow wrote.

Nov25: review by Chet Richards. "DavidMacaulay has made a career from books on The Way Things Work that explain everything from dental drills to computer chips. Now veteran Senate staffer Winslow Wheeler joins him with a book that could be The Way Your Government (Really) Works... By the end of the book, you will be mad as hell. What can you do? Honestly, nothing. Wheeler provides a list of 12 eminently reasonable suggestions that might work - he is after all the expert. Implementing them, however, will require legislative jihadists willing to martyr themselves and their districts - fundingwise - to force change, perhaps."