Balance Sheet

Jeff Taylor from the December 2005 issue

(Page 2 of 2)

Liabilities

Bunker Hill

The Capitol's underground Visitor's Center--in reality an anti-terror bunker for Congress--has a price tag nudging $300 million and counting. The three-level, 580,000-square-foot complex is not expected to open until mid-2007.

Snoop Ware

The Federal Communications Commission unilaterally declares that "consumers are entitled to run applications and use services of their choice, subject to the needs of law enforcement." Translation: For wiretap purposes, the FBI decides what software you can use.

Big Really Easy

Around 250 New Orleans police officers went AWOL in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, says the NOPD. The "good news" may be that hundreds of the officers were ghost employees on the payroll.

Mitt Fit

Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney kicks off the tough-on-terror segment of his campaign for the 2008 GOP presidential nod with a call for wiretapping mosques. "How about people who are in settings --mosques, for instance--that may be teaching doctrines of hate and terror?" he asks. "Are we monitoring that? Are we wiretapping?"

Cold Logic

Faced with a surplus of ice along the Gulf Coast, the Federal Emergency Management Agency sends 200 truckloads to Portland, Maine, for storage. The ice cost 26 cents a pound.

Drinking Problem

Officials at Albany's Siena University outlaw drinking beverages outside dorms. Any beverage, not just alcoholic ones. Water, Kool-Aid--anything. "Safety first, that's what it's all about," a spokeswoman explains.