Of nepots, cronies, and volunteers

Cliff Kincaid is such a tease: holding out the tantalizing notion to the inhabitants of wingnutlandia that Plame and Wilson can be indicted on violations of "federal nepotism laws." And he's done the nepotism routine before, here; it's pretty stale material.

Guess the Republicans must be practically spun out on the Plame-Name-Game if at this date Cliff Kincaid is recycling his old federal nepotism bit.

Admittedly, I'm not up to date on federal nepotism laws. Curiously, Cliff and his believers on the right-wing blogs are unwilling to address whether a high-level, unpaid, one-off trip qualifies as a "job." Typically, unpaid work is called volunteer work, or slavery. But, remember, I'm no authority on the subject.

Anyway, Clifford did get me to thinking about all those wonderful career opportunities that opened up when Bremer touched down in Baghdad with billions of dollars (some of which seemed to have fallen out of carelessly unlocked suitcases), a pep squad of young conservative youth, and seasoned team players -- all known collectively as the Coalition Provisional Authority.

You think any federal nepotism laws were violated there? Some of the names on the Team CPA roster do sound awfully familiar, like "McClellan." And when the blood connections thin out, the business and political connections still run thick. You think any federal cronyism laws were violated there?

Well, apparently Cliff Kincaid doesn't think that's as important as getting to the bottom of this outrageous one-time, unpaid trip to Niger.

What's it like in Niger? Is it as close to paradise as they say it is?

[NOTE: For an excellent overview of CPA hiring atrocities, check out Total Information Awareness.]