And speaking of Bush administration incompetence, don't forget the Medicare prescription-drug debacle

While we're on the subject of the calculated incompetence of the Bush administration, we should take note of the passing of yesterday's deadline for signing up for one of the insurance-company scams masquerading as "Medicare Part D."

Fortunately, once again Paul Krugman was on the case. (And once again, I'll post the full column text as a comment.)

"It appears that millions of Americans, confused by the array of competing plans or simply unaware of the cutoff date, will miss the deadline," he wrote. "This will leave them without drug coverage for the rest of the year, and subject to financial penalties for the rest of their lives."

As I've mentioned, this affects me personally, since, as I've mentioned before, I've had to figure out what to do for my nearly 87-year-old mother. In the end, we have officially joined the ranks of Krugman's "confused."

"D for Debacle" is how Krugman graded this particular fiasco, pointing out once again that little else was to be expected from a gang that doesn't believe in government, except as an instrument to enrich its cronies. In this instance, our elderly have been used to suck out a welfare program for the insurance and drug industries.

Is there anyone connected to this administration who even has the gumption to be ashamed?