8 Ways to Sunday

As if the news of nearly 400 tons of lost high explosives in Iraq weren’t already enough, the Bush Administration has received another unpleasant October surprise this week in the form of Bunnatine “Bunny” Greenhouse. The chief contracts and procurement officer for the Army Corps of Engineers, Greenhouse has come forward as a whistle blower to expose the law-breaking favoritism given to Halliburton in the Iraq reconstruction gold rush.

Greenhouse, a high-ranking civilian Army employee in a unique position for “inside” information, renews allegations that the no-bid contracts originally awarded to Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root for reconstruction projects in Iraq were granted not because of KBR’s unique qualifications but for “political reasons.” Greenhouse further charges that when she raised objections to the contracts and the selection process on procedural and ethical grounds — objections that it is her job to raise — she was cut out of the decision making process by her superiors and eventually threatened with demotion. The contracts, she says, were never even signed off on by her; instead they were signed by her assistant when she refused to grant her authorization.

A registered Independent, Greenhouse denies any political motivation in the timing of her announcement days before the November 2nd elections. Going public with her claims was, she says, a last resort after being threatened with demotion for trying to fix the problems internally. Greenhouse has requested official whistle-blower protection, and according to the Seattle Times she has received it. Reuters reports that the FBI, already investigating allegations that Halliburton overcharged U.S. taxpayers for fuel used in Iraq, has requested an interview with Greenhouse regarding her claims.

The letter informing her of the demotion cited poor job performance, which has raised questions about the real reason for her announcement. While Greenhouse has had her detractors on the job, MSNBC quotes a former supervisor as blaming most disagreements on her great integrity and insistence on following the rules to the letter:

“There were those that wanted to take short cuts in the contracting process, she didn’t allow short cuts,” says Ret. Commanding General Joseph Ballard, who served in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from 1996-2000.

Sounds like perfect whistle blower material to me.

The New York City subway system, one of the largest in the world, turned 100 on Wednesday. The city’s first official subway opened October 27, 1904.

WordPress project head Matt Mullenweg will be working directly with my web host, TextDrive, to help ensure full support for current and future versions of WordPress.

As someone who uses both WordPress and TextDrive, this makes me very happy.

(Hat tip: Photo Matt, TextDrive Weblog)

Mark Pilgrim is leaving blogging behind.

In what appears to be a terse final post on Dive into Mark, he says “It’s time for me to find a new hobby.” All of his RSS and Atom feeds are now returning HTTP error 410: gone.

Mark’s posting frequency has declined since the birth of his child and his move to a new job at IBM. Benjamin Reitzammer of Things to Write Home About found some clues in Mark’s recent posts about how these and other changes may have influenced his decision to stop blogging.

In a way, it’s nobody’s business but Mark’s why he quit. On the other hand, when someone who’s achieved the level of A-list visibility he has in the blogosphere quits one can’t help but speculate. While I respect his decision, I’m sad to see him go. Mark has a dry wit and way with words that have made him one of the best writers — professional or amateur — on the Web today. Dive into Mark was one of the first blogs I added to my blogroll, and was the very first I subscribed to when I installed my first feed reader.

I have a hunch that, deep down, Mark is too much a writer to leave the public sphere of the Net all together. I don’t blame him, though, for wanting to step back from the weblog format when there is so much new and wonderful to experience in his life right now.

Ta ta for now, Mark. We’ll miss you. Do pop back in occasionally.

The National Crime Prevention Council (the McGruff® people) has an online store where you can buy your own crime scene tape and tamper-evident biohazard and evidence bags.

You just know there’s a cozy suburban neighborhood somewhere in Idaho with a crazy Neighborhood Watch fanatic who actually owns all this stuff. And deploys it at the slightest provocation. I pity his neighbors.