The nature of the problem -- What is the problem? -- Ego is at the heart of the trouble -- Pork : it's worse than you've been told -- War is not hell : it's an opportunity -- Mr. Smith is dead -- Confessions of a pork processor -- Pork lows and highs -- How the system operates, or doesn't -- Oversight : the triumph of appearances over reality -- Watchdogs, lapdogs, and distorted lenses -- Beyond nonfeasance : the utility of distortion -- The engine of congressional good and evil : the staff -- Hill life and death -- The right and wrong way to go to war -- Politicians at their best -- Congress on its knees -- The week of shame -- Conclusion.