Weekend Open Thread

It’s a holiday weekend and it’s time for an open thread. The holiday I’m talking about, of course, is iPad launch day. If my Twitter feed is correct it’s the biggest thing happening in the world this weekend. There’s also some holiday called Easter.

The headline of this article says it all “Not satisfied with U.S. history, some conservatives are rewriting it”

The most ballyhooed effort is under way in Texas, where conservatives have pushed the state school board to rewrite guidelines, downplaying Thomas Jefferson in one high school course, playing up such conservatives as Phyllis Schlafly and the Heritage Foundation and challenging the idea that the Founding Fathers wanted to separate church and state.

The effort reaches far beyond one state, however.

In articles and speeches, on radio and TV, conservatives are working to redefine major turning points and influential figures in American history, often to slam liberals, promote Republicans and reinforce their positions in today’s politics.

The Jamestown settlers? Socialists. Founding Father Alexander Hamilton? Ill-informed professors made up all that bunk about him advocating a strong central government.

Theodore Roosevelt? Another socialist. Franklin D. Roosevelt? Not only did he not end the Great Depression, he also created it.

We see this with modern history. The recession started on January 20, 2009 as did the deficit. Saddam wasn’t cooperating with the U.N. and that’s why we invaded. Now more than ever it’s easy for conservatives to stay in their own bubble – they have their own news channels and schools.

The U.S. Justice Department is suing KBR for improper charges to the government:

The U.S. Justice Department said on Thursday it sued the Houston-based military contractor KBR Inc (KBR.N) for alleged false claims act violations over improper costs for private security in Iraq.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., alleged that KBR knowingly included impermissible costs for private armed security in billings to the U.S. Army covering the 2003-2006 time period, the department said.

KBR has been the U.S. military’s largest private contractor in Iraq and Afghanistan. It has been criticized for cost overruns in Iraq, and lawmakers in Congress last month questioned the Army’s continued use of KBR for logistics work.

The company said it had to hire private security because the government failed to protect its employees, and added that it believed the government filed the lawsuit to avoid reimbursing it for security costs.

If the deficit peacocks were really worried about “waste, fraud and abuse” of taxpayer money, government contractors is where they should turn their attention.