We are losing one of our engineers to the Veterans Business Enterprise racket. For anyone who is not familiar, the Department of Defense (and possibly other Federal agencies) has a set-aside program similar to the Disadvantage Business Enterprise (DBE) program administered by many states and cities to assure women and minorities in small businesses have a fair shot at procurement contracts. This set-aside, however, targets service veterans -- or is supposed to, only like anything else in Washington, there are those who have learned how to game the system. They set up a shell corporation fronted by a willing ex-service member and bid on the contracts that are part of the set-aside. The Pentagon seems none the wiser...and probably won't be for as long as George Bush remains president. That blind eye may change in about nine months, as the next president may decide to reform the VBE program, presumably to make sure veterans with small businesses actually benefit from it. Till then, the shell game continues...

Through professional connections, I shared a few drinks today with three corporate attorneys for Enron. Two years ago, they were facing 1,400 lawsuits. Through out-of-court settlements, they've reduced that humber to less than 100; and the Chapter 11 bankruptcy trustee is holding $8 billion in assets, waiting for an order to start distributing. When that happens, they convert the Chapter 11 to a Chapter 7 and it will finally all be over.