War Profiteering.....sonofabitchTWO

This text, while a little long, is some great detail on the allegations against Halliburton and Cheney's continued and obvious ties. The information is from John Kerry's media corps website. Since the items are footnoted, I have posted them as written with the qualification that I haven't vetted the sources.

Last week reports confirmed, once again, that the Bush administration has not been telling us the truth about how Halliburton has spent our tax dollars. A House Committee found that Halliburton has wasted at least $1 billion in tax payer money on military contracts in Iraq, due to poor planning and oversight. [Detroit Free Press, 6/16/04]

Cheney's History of Employment at Halliburton

Vice President Dick Cheney was CEO of Halliburton from 1995-2000.

Halliburton's board of directors voted to give Cheney a $20 million retirement package when he resigned, in addition to providing him with a massive salary and a bonus for just eight months of work in 2000.

Following his departure from Halliburton, Cheney retained possession of 433,333 options of Halliburton stock.

Although Cheney insisted that he severed his financial ties to Halliburton, the Congressional Research Service recently released a report saying that federal ethics laws consider both Cheney's deferred compensation and his stock options as lingering financial interest in the company.

Halliburton's Contract with the Federal Government

The Pentagon knew it would need help after the war rebuilding Iraqi oil fields and putting out oil field fires. Rather than following normal procedure and asking companies to bid on the job, the Pentagon turned the entire project over to Cheney's former firm, Halliburton. The Army Corps of Engineers said that Halliburton's compensation for rejuvenating Iraq's oil industry could be up to $7 billion. In postwar Iraq, Halliburton is the largest private contractor, with potential deals totaling over $11 billion.

Last September, Cheney said that he did not influence the decision to award Halliburton a no-bid contract: "I have absolutely no influence of, involvement of, knowledge of in any way, shape or form of contracts led by the [Army] Corps of Engineers or anybody else in the federal government." Since then, we have learned that Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, received a Pentagon briefing in October 2002, one month prior to directing Halliburton to develop a secret plan for restoring and operating Iraq's oil infrastructure. The vice president's office was also made aware of a second contract worth up to $7 billion awarded to Halliburton four months later for implementing this plan.

Time Magazine uncovered an e-mail indicating that the $7 billion contract awarded to Halliburton was "coordinated" with Cheney's office.

Halliburton's Waste

Waste Due to Bush Administration's Lack of Oversight. David M. Walker, head of the General Accounting Office, testified that Defense Department planners had failed to adequately determine the needs of U.S. soldiers in Iraq and to effectively oversee the billions of dollars' worth of contracts issued. [Los Angeles Times, 6/16/04]
Halliburton Wasted $186 Million on Meals Never Delivered. Halliburton billed the government for 36 percent more meals than were served, overcharging $186 million. [Detroit Free Press, 6/16/04]

Lavish Hotels, Abandoned Trucks, Inflated Gas Prices. A Halliburton's subsidiary was also criticized for abandoning $85,000 trucks with flat tires, housing company officials in a five-star Kuwaiti hotel, overcharging for gas it imported into Iraq from Kuwait, and ordering empty trucks to crisscross the country. [Detroit Free Press, 6/16/04]

Halliburton Reaped Profits While Forcing Troops To Eat In Filthy Conditions. According to NBC News, "Pentagon inspections of mess halls run by KBR are finding a mess in some of them... In the main Baghdad dining facility where President Bush surprised the troops on Thanksgiving, inspectors found filthy kitchen conditions in each of the three previous months. Complaints filed in August, September and again October report problems. Blood all over the floor of the refrigerators, dirty pans, dirty grills, dirty salad bars, rotting meats and vegetables. In October, the inspector writes that Halliburton's previous promises to fix the problems have not been followed through and warns the company serious repercussions may result, due to improper handling and serving of food." [NBC News, 12/12/03]

Now I mean come ON, how long are we going to stand for this? Stockholders in any other company, and citizens of the USA, should be outraged at the crass, in our face robbery that is being perpetrated here.

Corporate Greed: Personal and Institutional

Corporate greed...as if we weren't being robbed already by our politicians through the federal tax system on behalf of their business buddies, in the recent double week New Yorker James Surowiecki talks about corporate perks:

"At most large American companies, rank still has its privileges; the big shots need not trouble themselves with paying for the things that their immense salaries are supposed to enable them to afford."

While that seems to me to speak for itself, Surowiecki goes on to review economic literature showing how firms that still offer perks substantially underperform their peers... (duh!!) He closes with the following:

"Why do perks endure?....it's largely beause most C.E.O's will take whatever they can get. It is hard for them to say no when their boards of directors keep saying yes."

SO, once you have the CEOs, their board, AND the political establishment all getting together on their own greedy behalf, is it any surprise that the rest of us are working our tails off just trying to keep afloat.

You are likely a shareholder....you are surely a voter. YOU MUST TAKE ACTION NOW!!!! Soon, there will be nothing left for us.

War Profiteering......sonofabitch

This text is at the top of Sen. Leahy's fact page on his War Profiteering Amendment:

"[The Leahy Amendment, now pending to the Defense Authorization bill on the Senate Floor, is similar to the Leahy anti-war profiteering legislation approved last year by the Senate as a provision of the $87 billion Iraq war supplemental appropriations bill. The White House prevailed on House conferees to strip the Leahy amendment from the final version of the Iraq spending bill. The Leahy Amendment may come to a vote on Wednesday, June 16. Contact: David Carle, 202-224-3693.]"

This amendment DID come to a vote and was defeated 52-46 along partisan lines. Norm Coleman (you can contact him here to tell him what you think) voted against the amendment.

Check out the amendment page (link above.) In addition to the fact that the Senate defeated it this time, it was PASSED by the Senate last time but was stripped under intense pressure from the WHITE HOUSE.

Just because they're not stepping out of an alley with a gun in your face DOESN'T MEAN THEY AREN'T CROOKS.....THEY ARE STEALING OUR MONEY and we are letting them.

Another from Teddy Roosevelt.....

This quote also seemed instructive (see earlier Roosevelt quote below):

"'Men with the muckrake are often indispensable to the well-being of society, but only if they know when to stop raking the muck.' 'An epidemic in indiscriminate assault upon character does not good, but very great harm.' 'There should be relentless exposure of and attack upon every evil practice, whether in politics, in business, or in social life. I hail as a benefactor every writer or speaker, every man who, on the platform, or in book, magazine or newspaper, with merciless severity makes such attack, provided always that he in his turn remembers that the attack is of use only if it is absolutely truthful.'
Washington, DC, April 14, 1906"

So, the truthful part seems to have been missed by the Bush administration AND re-election campaign completely. However, I do note that the internet, 24 hour news cycle and similar tools of information velocity make knowing what is true and what is SPIN more and more difficult. One either ducks it all and remains uninformed, or one must commit oneself to digging for the truth. Unfortunately, I expect most people are caught in the flooded torrent of this river of information, holding for dear life onto a branch or stump of personal principle with which to pull themselves from the water. We have to help.

Patriotism: to criticize the President

From Theodore Roosevelt :

"'The President is merely the most important among a large number of public servants. He should be supported or opposed exactly to the degree which is warranted by his good conduct or bad conduct, his efficiency or inefficiency in rendering loyal, able, and disinterested service to the Nation as a whole. Therefore it is absolutely necessary that there should be full liberty to tell the truth about his acts, and this means that it is exactly necessary to blame him when he does wrong as to praise him when he does right. Any other attitude in an American citizen is both base and servile. To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. Nothing but the truth should be spoken about him or any one else. But it is even more important to tell the truth, pleasant or unpleasant, about him than about any one else.'
'Roosevelt in the Kansas City Star', 149
May 7, 1918"

Of course, he also said things that can loosely be translated as "stay the course" so one has to be careful, but I certainly liked this sentiment. Without going on at length here today (it is a beautiful Sunday after all and I have to talk with my FATHER), between being PC and being a patriot, one might as well have just worn a muzzle for the last 15 years. This is not how to run a democracy. Hope you are all talking straight to someone.

Church and State: what?.......separation?!

This article from the New York Times is very disturbing:

"President Bush's re-election campaign took its effort to enlist churches in turning out conservative voters to the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention this week, urging pastors to do everything short of risking their churches' tax-exempt status to support the president's re-election."

You'll see an earlier post from me on this page discussing Dennis Hastert's attempts to broaden the rhetorical space in which the clergy can participate in overtly partisan politics without risking their 501(C)3 tax-exempt status (which Hastert tried to do by tacking the provision onto the end of a JOBS bill.) We have to understand how important this is.

The federal tax-exemption saves the operation over 30% (assuming an average tax bracket); this in and of itself could be considered a breach of the separation of church and state as foregone federal income can easily be seen as federal dollars supporting religious institutions. It is CRUCIAL, then, that the rules governing how and whether such entities participate in politics require non-partisanship, be strict, clear and sufficient to maintain this constitutionally guaranteed separation of church and state.

I have participated in numerous voter registration initiatives in the past few months, most sponsored by non-religiously affiliated non-profits (also benefitting from 501(C)3 status.) These organizations are bending over backward to be nonpartisan, so as not to attract the criticism of....you guessed it, the Republicans. How more duplicitous can the neocons be....I ask you.

More quotes from the same story....how can the two following this be adequately resolved in terms of separation of church and state....anybody?(my emphasis added in the following)...

Mr. [Ralph] Reed delivered his remarks at a Bush-Cheney "pastors reception," paid for by the Bush campaign. The hosts were the departing president of the Southern Baptists and three other prominent leaders, and the reception was in a conference room of a hotel adjacent to the convention. As the pastors came in, a campaign aide collected about 100 signatures and addresses from ministers pledging to endorse Mr. Bush's re-election publicly, to "host a citizenship Sunday for voter registration," to "identify someone who will help in voter registration and outreach" and to organize a " 'party for the president' with other pastors" on specific dates closer to the election.

As the pastors mingled around fountains of soft drinks and trays of cubed cheese, Mr. Reed urged, "Without advocating on behalf of any candidate or political party, you can make sure that everyone in your circle of influence is registered to vote."

a break from the madness.....

I HIGHLY recommend the following radio station to anyone who has a heartbeat:

WWOZ New Orleans

Lies

Lies, lies, and more fucking lies

It defies the imagination.

more corporate welfare.....THIS is the welfare to get upset about

"'It stinks to high heaven,' said Representative Charles B. Rangel of New York, the ranking Democrat on the committee. 'You decided to do it the old-fashioned way - just how many votes could we buy?'"

that pretty much sums up the whole picture. and what a self-reinforceing cycle it is, more money buys more votes, which results in laws that provide more money to those buying the votes. And when it gets really big (and really blatant though we are all blind) we call it war profiteering.

Reagan Revisited....for real

As my good friend put it most eloquently:

".........yet another example of selective Reagan memorializing. As the bloggers have so eloquently pointed out, Ronald "Ray Gun" Reagan presided over some of the largest tax increases in U.S. history a few years after his initial tax cut (a move that was largely necessary due to massive budget shortfalls). In addition, Reagan's policies caused massive deficits and strain on the financial markets years afterward. On side note, despite the rash of ill-advised political commentary as of late, Reagan did not, by any objective measure, "preside over the largest period of U.S. growth in history." I won't even go into the Star Wars defense system, the October surprise, his ignorance of the growing AIDS epidemic or the Iran Contra scandal. In short, Reagan was the best president in the history of the Universe...just like George Bush."

"No question: John Ashcroft is the worst attorney general in history. "

....the quote is from Paul Krugman in the Times, as if we really needed to be reminded; but if you're looking for a quick synopsis of the top few reasons, this will do it for you.

"No question: John Ashcroft is the worst attorney general in history. "

Scapegoats for WMD

Not that I don't think George Tenent should resign....clearly a number of things got past him, notably in this article from News Informant the issue of nuclear proliferation in India and Pakistan. However, read this quote:....

"Tenet is blamed for exaggerated claims that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction (WMD). He has been especially taken to task for a comment in the Presidents 2003 State of the Union address, vetted by the CIA, in which Bush stated, erroneously, that Saddam?s government had purchased uranium from an African country. "

and tell me how heavy the pressure was from W. himself and his war-profiteering partner Dick Cheney to find the pretense for war.

Tenent may not have been fully capable as CIA director, and not to have resigned in protest for staging an illegitimate war is an error on his part, but to exonerate the "President" and his cabinet from primary responsibility would make us all complicit in this international crime.

The New Yorker: The Talk of the Town

Hendrick Hertzberg, in the The Talk of the Town, says the following:

"The President will still outspend Kerry by something in the neighborhood of two to one, which may or may not be enough. Republicans will probably always have more money than Democrats, no matter how many reforms are introduced into the system, because Republican policies (in general, broadly speaking, with exceptions and caveats) favor large agglomerations of money. Democratic policies (in general, broadly speaking, with exceptions and caveats) favor large agglomerations of people. That’s why Democrats, though they have fewer dollars, are sometimes able to get more people to vote for them, and sometimes (the last Presidential election being a conspicuous exception) getting more votes enables you to win. Dollars don’t always trump people. That’s the beauty of democracy, when it works."

This is why voter registration matters. It's like the way Clinton attacked racial equality....helping the economically disadvantaged also helps a strong majority of people of color. Getting new people registered will get democrats elected.

truth and respect.....is what this election is about

This from Krugman in the Times today:

"It's a measure of how desperate the faithful are to believe in the Reagan legend that one often reads conservative commentators claiming that the Clinton-era miracle was the result of Mr. Reagan's policies, and indeed vindicated them. Think about it: Mr. Reagan passed his big tax cut right at the beginning of his presidency, and mainly raised taxes thereafter. So we're supposed to believe that a tax cut passed in 1981 was somehow responsible for an economic miracle that didn't materialize until around 1997. Apply the same timing to the good things that happened on Mr. Reagan's watch, and you'll discover that Lyndon Johnson deserves the credit for "Morning in America."

So here's my plea: let's honor Mr. Reagan for his real achievements, not dishonor him — and mislead the nation — with false claims about his economic record."

now, the nexus of marketing, spin, exaggeration, selective information etc. is not new, nor is it the blight of any one political party or group; as a nexus it is also large, nebulous and grey, subject to exploitation of our trust in and respect for one another.

This administration, with Reagan as its homepage, Clean Skies Initiatives, and claims of WMD has clearly, consistently and deliberatly crossed even this vast grey area to abuse the trust of the American people. We have also lost the trust of the world, along with their sympathy following 9/11.

Trust and respect among us. Let's at least get back into the grey area.

George on Ronald

This according to NPR a few days ago:

Reagan dies; Bush is asked to comment at 5 PM, but they can't get a statement out until after midnight.

BECAUSE THE GUY CAN'T THINK!! and, with that, the gall they have to use Reagan as their homepage. I don't even like Reagan, but he had class that George can't even conceive of. The Bush campaign's tactics are so distasteful I can't believe anybody is still considering a vote for him. But they are.

a poem from george....

This is a short poem made up entirely of actual quotations from George
W. Bush. These have been arranged, only for aesthetic purposes, by
Washington Post writer, Richard Thompson. A wonderful Haiku
poem like this is too good not to share.

MAKE THE PIE HIGHER

I think we all agree, the past is over.
This is still a dangerous world.
It's a world of madmen and uncertainty
And potential mental losses.

Rarely is the question asked
Is our children learning?
Will the highways of the Internet
Become more few?

How many hands have I shaked?
They misunderestimate me.
I am a pitbull on the pantleg of opportunity.

I know that the human being
And the fish can coexist.
Families is where our nation finds hope,
Where our wings take dream.

Put food on your family!
Knock down the tollbooth!
Vulcanize society!
Make the pie higher!
Make the pie higher!

(Pass this on. Help cure mad Cowboy disease in the next
election!)

Comedian Campaign Commentary

From Capitol Hill Blue this quote from Jay Leno recently:

"'President Bush is back after remembering D-Day. Or, as known in his house, report card day.'"

there's more where it came from. it's easy, but amusing and we do need humor (or as one person I know might say, yumah!)

this one proves that in every joke is a little grain of truth, also from Leno:

"The Washington Post revealed that in 2002, the Justice Department sent a memo to the White House justifying the use of torture. Torture - that's our Department of 'Justice' - they say `It's OK to torture people.' What's the Department of Education doing? Burning books?"

and from Jon Stewart, some of the best stuff:

"Still, as tough as the week off will be on Kerry's campaign, the hiatus will be hardest on presidential hatchet man Karl Rove, who will be spending the week kicking puppies and tripping blind kids in order to, quote, `Stay sharp.'"

Church and State....the first

I have been thinking and talking more and more about of church and state. I will have to ponder it on this page for a few days at least to get some grip, but bear with me. From Josh Marshall this quote from the washington post:

"House Republican leaders have tacked on to a major jobs bill a provision that would give religious leaders more freedom to engage in partisan politics without endangering the tax-exempt status of their churches"

now i understand better Hastert's card in the Bush House of Cards deck that I have. The ways in which the conservative right is leveraging their belief system to impose their belief system through the political system is blatant, yet insidious. I can't even get a grip on the number of things that this administration has done administratively, i.e. through rule changes, etc., to dismantle so many systemic protections, environmental for example, and to construct so many more barriers to the fair and free participation of our citizenry in a secular society. we need to be VERY concerned about this.

our last chance...

from Krugman in today's NYTimes:

"...the leaked memo points us to a larger truth: whatever they may say in public, administration officials know that sustaining Mr. Bush's tax cuts will require large cuts in popular government programs. And for the vast majority of Americans, the losses from these cuts will outweigh any gains from lower taxes."

i also understand that aside from the disastrous effect on our domestic programs and social and economic justice, there is no precedent in human civilization for a tax break while at war.

and, yes, AGAIN, dishonesty as a central theme (same article):

"For most families, the losses from these cuts will far outweigh any gain from lower taxes. My back-of-the-envelope calculation suggests that 80 percent of all families will end up worse off; the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities will soon come out with a more careful, detailed analysis that arrives at a similar conclusion. And the only really big beneficiaries will be the wealthiest few percent of the population.

Does Mr. Bush understand that the end result of his policies will be to make most Americans worse off, while enriching the already affluent? Who knows? But the ideologues and political operatives behind his agenda know exactly what they're doing.

Of course, voters would never support this agenda if they understood it. That's why dishonesty — as illustrated by the administration's consistent reliance on phony accounting, and now by the business with the budget cut memo — is such a central feature of the White House political strategy."

Dishonesty is now an official political strategy. Are we all completely asleep? Do we really have that little respect for ourselves and each other?