HoodaThunk?

The mental wanderings of a common man.

Government conracting, explained

Received from a friend today:

Three contractors are bidding to fix a broken fence at the White House in D.C.; One from Texas another from Tennessee and the third, from Kentucky. They all go with a White House official to examine the fence.

The Tennessee contractor takes out a tape measure and does some measuring, then works some figures with a pencil. ‘Well’, he says, ‘I figure the job will run about $900: $400 for materials, $400 for my crew and $100 profit for me.’

The Kentucky contractor also does some measuring and figuring, then says, ‘I can do this job for ! ! $700: $300 for materials, $300 for my crew and $100 profit for me.’

The Texas contractor doesn’t measure or figure, but leans over to the White House official and whispers, ‘$2,700.’

The official, incredulous, whispers back, ‘You didn’t even measure like the other guys! How did you come up with such a high figure?’

The Texas contractor whispers back, ‘$1000 for me, $1000 for you, and we hire that guy from Kentucky to fix the fence.’

‘Done!’ replies the government official.

And that my friends, is how it all works ! ! !

Heh. Reminds me of that line from the Jodie Foster movie, “Contact.” John Hurt’s character is giving hope to Jodie Foster’s that the project to travel to meet an extraterrestrial intelligence is not dead with the destruction of the first launch platform. Implying there’s another one being built he says, “First rule of government contracting: Why buy one when you can have two at twice the price?

November 25th, 2008 Posted by ricjames | Human Interest, Politics | no comments

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To Keep and Bear Arms…

Bob Owens (he of Confederate Yankee and Pajamas Media fame) has a fascinating article up over at Pajamas Media regarding a 6-month experiment he performed on the practical carriage of a concealed weapon by an armed citizen:

On May 13, I was awarded my concealed carry permit and decided to carry a handgun as often as I was legally allowed, where I was legally allowed, for as long as I felt like doing it. I was interested in finding out what it felt like to carry a gun, what was the best way to carry, and if the various legal hurdles would make it so impractical that I’d simply give up.

I was also curious about how carrying a gun might change the way I looked at the world. Did the mere act of carrying a gun mean I was paranoid? Would carrying a gun make me paranoid?

Owens’ article touches on a number of issues that one really needs to think about when making the decision to go about armed. There’s a patchwork of laws that make it OK to carry in 1 place, not OK in another. There are considerations of what weapon to carry and, most importantly where a concealed carry is concerned, how one actually carries. Interesting stuff.

November 25th, 2008 Posted by ricjames | 2nd Amendment, Human Interest | no comments

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Marines in Afghanistan proving once again America’s military is the finest in the world

From Michael Ledeen at The Corner:

In the city of Shewan, approximately 250 insurgents ambushed 30 Marines and paid a heavy price for it.



During the battle, the designated marksman single handedly thwarted a company-sized enemy RPG and machinegun ambush by reportedly killing 20 enemy fighters with his devastatingly accurate precision fire. He selflessly exposed himself time and again to intense enemy fire during a critical point in the eight-hour battle for Shewan in order to kill any enemy combatants who attempted to engage or maneuver on the Marines in the kill zone. What made his actions even more impressive was the fact that he didn’t miss any shots, despite the enemies’ rounds impacting within a foot of his fighting position.

Read the whole thing at The Corner (above) or at Military.com. I’m a civilian but please allow me to say: Oo-rah, boys. Oo-rah!

November 25th, 2008 Posted by ricjames | GWOT, Military | one comment

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Holy Land Foundation trial ends in guilty verdict for all 5 defendants

Pajamas Media has the story in this column by Phyllis Chesler:

On the very day, November 24, 2008, that the United Nations spent all day and countless sums of money “mourning” the alleged Palestinian catastrophe, a federal jury in Dallas found all five former officials of the Holy Land Foundation, guilty of having illegally raised money in the United States to assist the Palestinian terrorist group, Hamas, in its hot war against Israel.

According to terrorism expert, Steven Emerson, the defendants, “Shukri Abu-Baker, Ghassan Elashi, Mohamed El-Mezain, Mufid Abdulqader and Abdelrahman Odeh, could face up to 20 years in prison for their convictions on conspiracy counts, including conspiring to provide material support to terrorists. The verdicts, read Monday afternoon, ended a two-year saga in what is considered the largest terror financing case since the 9/11 attacks.”

Read the whole thing.

November 25th, 2008 Posted by ricjames | Crime & Punishment, GWOT, Politics | no comments

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