"The Cookie and Buzzy Show" Moves To Another Channel

State Department Inspector General Howard "Cookie" Krongard has resigned from the State Department. Several weeks ago, Cookie was testifying before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on his Department's failure to properly manage their contractors, specifically the Blackwater mercenaries. When Committee Chairman Waxman noted that Cookie's brother, Alvin "Buzzy" Krongrad was on Blackwater's advisory board, Cookie claimed ignorance. During a break in the hearing, Cookie was told by Buzzy that he was connected to Blackwater. Oops. Buzzy later said that he had informed Cookie of his status with Blackwater weeks before the hearing. Cookie's testimony is being examined for possible perjury. Nicely played.

We will miss the further adventures of Cookie and Buzzy, although family dinners at the Krongards' house should be most exciting.

"The Cookie and Buzzy Show"

(Note: the nicknames in this account are hard to believe, but real . . .and strangely appropriate)

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has been curious as to why the State Department's Inspector General Howard "Cookie" Krongard hasn't been cooperating with the Justice Department in their probe of the trigger happy Blackwater outfit's abuses in Iraq. Yesterday's hearing before that committee shed some light on the mystery: Cookie's brother, Alvin "Buzzy" Krongard, is a member of the "Blackwater Worldwide Advisory Board." A testy Cookie told the Committee, "one thing just came up [in the questioning] that really does bother me, and that was an allegation concerning my brother. . .I do not believe it is true that he is a member of the advisory board." Later, after a recess, Cookie backed down, and said brother Buzzy never told him about the conflict of interest. But Buzzy later told the blog site TPM Muckraker that "I had told my brother I was going on the advisory board", and he has been on that board since September 5. It looks like Cookie intended to give false testimony about the conflict of interest. This will only get better.

(illustration: The Simpsons' Itchy & Scratchy, role models for Cookie and Buzzy)