Orwell's 1984

Currently reading Orwell's 1984. I haven't read it since I was in high school, and it's not really what I remember. Oddly enough, it's really hitting some strange chords with me:

In it is the idea that the purpose of war is to use up excess supplies (food, medicine, machinery, etc.) at a sufficiently high rate to keep the masses impoverished. Healthy, well educated masses have the ability to say no to the government, which cannot be allowed. Reduce education, specifically get rid of science. Make the political leader a quasi-religious figurehead, and the "enemy" is villified to a point of extreme hatred. Furthermore, make these changes in such a way that people think you are improving their lives, or at least tell them repeatedly that they are living better now than ever, and they will believe you, especially if you denounce and/or remove anybody who speaks otherwise.

Another Bush-friend gets the contract?

Services Corporation Internation (SCI) has a record of law-breaking and using political influence to avoid charges and fines, according to this Federal News Radio article. Specifically, when their actions in Texas were brought to light, the whistleblower was fired, and subsequently filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against the state of Texas. The suit that she was fired for investigating a powerful patron of the governor, G.W.Bush.

Now SCI, still considered a suspect and run-around-the-law company, has a subsidary which got the contract for gathering and disposing of bodies in the Katrina disaster.

Based on the numbers in this story, Kenyon (the subsidiary) will provide 150 workers for more than $700 each per day for up to 30 days to do the job (more than 3million total). For that kind of money (which they call a discounted rate), they better not be dumping bodies in the woods (SCI was caught doing just that in southern Florida in a previous lawsuit).

FEMA hired them (sans bidding?) because they were already there, and to allow bids would have caused more delay. (Um, I thought delay was FEMA's middle name?)

Maybe this is just business, maybe Kenyon is more legit than their parent company. Maybe.