Plumbing
There has been a history of ‘plumbing’ in American politics. I put it down the reality that Washington DC used lead piping in its water system which has led to a lot of erratic thinking in the Village.
Of course, Tricky Dick’s merry band of mischief makers were known as ‘the Plumbers’, which was probably because they worked in the sewer of his paranoia.
Then in recent times there was another Republican icon, “Joe the Plumber”, who wasn’t actually named Joe, and wasn’t really a plumber, but Republicans aren’t really conservatives, so it all worked in their reality.
There was a real plumber named Joe, Joe Caldart, who showed BP how to cap the Well from Hell, but BP refuses to admit it, despite overwhelming evidence.
The latest mess is all about leaks, which is a major concern for plumbers. The government built this huge system to siphon off information from the “Tubes” and didn’t realize how easy it was for people inside their ‘sewage treatment plant’ to tap into the system.
When the government decided to privatize this collection process they guaranteed that there would be leaks. Every corporation involved is a new connection that will provide a new opportunity for leaks. When NSA was a true military/civil service operation, almost no one knew it even existed, much less what it did.
