| False Claims Act is
also called the “Lincoln Law.” It was enacted during the Civil War to
deal with unscrupulous defense contractors who sold defective equipment
to the Union Army. |
| contract to install armored plates in Black Hawk helicopters. The
government alleged that f |
| from 1991 to 2006, Sikorsky knowingly installed
armored plates that had not been ballistically tested as required under
the contract |
A bill to extend the temporary suspension of duty on butanedioic acid, dimethyl ester, polymer with 4-hydroxy-2,2,6,6,-tetramethyl-1-piperidineethanol. |
This is one to follow up on for sure - $400/gal for fuel. Is that adding up all the $$ for private guards who pose for dumb photographs of their being stupid, or just more money for… $400 a gallon! - how do I get that franchise? The Pentagon pays an average of $400 to put a gallon of fuel into a combat vehicle or aircraft in Afghanistan. |
Maybe we can make change but the US Senate is slow to change when it comes to pocket change for campaign coffers and paybacks by the millions to contributor companies for goods no one in Department of Defense wants. Add to this that troops sometimes have to get relatives and friends to buy body armor for them that the DOD can’t “afford” to supply them with and it makes you wonder how some of these out of touch US Senators sleep well at night. POGO and Taxpayers for Common Sense just sent a letter to members of the Senate Appropriations Committee urging them to support the Department of Defense’s priorities and to stop earmarking funds for the C-17 Airlifter program. From the letter:
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Senators often like to brag how much they support the military but what they are actually doing is supporting companies that produce military hardware and services by taking money away from needed defense spending and support of troops and giving it to stockholders of profiteering companies and in a number of cases to their own former employees. Defense Bill, Lauded by White House, Contains Billions in Earmarks |
In total, the spending bill for 2010 includes $132 million for Cochran’s campaign donors, helping to make him the sponsor of more earmarked military spending than any other senator this year, according to an analysis by the nonprofit group Taxpayers for Common Sense.
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| The proposed $636 billion Senate bill includes $2.65 billion in earmarks.
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| The bill, however, would add $1.7 billion for an extra destroyer the Defense Department did not request and $2.5 billion for 10 C-17 cargo planes it did not want, at the behest of lawmakers representing the states where those items would be built.Read more at www.washingtonpost.com |
OK, so it’s a dream that I see the head of DOD standing at Pennsylvania Avenue - Gates - asking people walking by for spare change to fund the wars, buying and building weapons, feathering his nest for retirement. And I say: “Sorry, I only have fare for a bus ride to Kabul and back - maybe later. Say, didn’t you used to be famous? Why don’t you get a job? I say.
He get angry and starts yelling, “I only asked ya for a billion! Everyone has a billion!” It was embarrassing - there was some white spit on his chin. Ask Congress to Stop Spending $2.7 Billion Per Day on War |
Every day the United States spends $2.7 billion on war. That’s $2.7 billion tax dollars that we can’t spend on health care, education, economic development, energy independence, or caring for our seniors. |
Today you can tell your our leaders in Washington that you think the time has come to reduce our spending on war and instead fund the things we really need - like functioning schools, healthy communities, good jobs, and an end to the recession. All it would take is a slight shift in our priorities, and a slight change in our spending, to have a big impact. Read more at www.change.org |
Human trafficking is as much about child labor slavery, as it is about sex.
Something that you already own was probably made by a child slave. Find out what is is so you don’t support slavery any more! Made By Slaves: Do you know who makes the goods you buy? |
It’s sad, enraging, bizarre, ugly, understandable, mysterious - what is it? War and warrior for hire. We don’t need to aid and abet this anymore - bring them all home! Steroids, drink and paranoia: the murky world of the private security contractor |
Terri Judd on the guns for hire fighting for business in Iraq and Afghanistan |
It was the world to which Danny Fitzsimons, a 29-year-old former soldier suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and paranoia, and with an extensive criminal past, returned three weeks ago. |
Despite rules against alcohol, his ArmorGroup colleagues welcomed him with a drinking session. A fight broke out and he shot and killed two of them – a Briton, Paul McGuigan, and an Australian, Darren Hoare – then wounded an Iraqi, Arkhan Mahdi. He faces a premeditated murder charge and execution if found guilty. Read more at www.independent.co.uk |
Shoddy was a term that entered the language to describe uniforms sold to Union troops during the civil war. The uniforms literally disolved when they got wet. Profiteering is a better understood term that came out of the same era. Now it is part of the revolving door syndrome in Washington DC. Retire or resign from your politically appointed job or high military post and go to work for a government contractor to be sure you get contracts for work you may or may not do or do well but get because of old “relationships”
Stinks doesn’t it - no matter what party does it. It has been reason so many companies now have offices and divisions near Washington. Make me mad as hell. Blackwater USA, the world’s largest private security firm (recently renamed Xe), is the subject of much public concern about the outsourcing of security to private companies because of the murders of 17 unarmed Iraqi civilians by its mercenaries. |
One of the companies that has benefited from this privatization of intelligence is CACI International, a major defense contractor, which is also a major homeland security and intelligence contractor. CACI recently was in the business press because of its latest revolving door success. It has brought former U.S. Navy Secretary and former DOD deputy defense secretary in the Bush administration into the folds of its board of directors. (See: Pentagon Official Returns) |
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Why are Healthcare and Military Costs So High? Theft!
