From TPM, we get this little tidbit of news concerning Blackwater, a corporation so tarnished with corruption, gun running, muder, prostitution and rape of minors and other legal issues that they changed their name to Xe to try and dump the image they had built for themselves and other mercenary groups:

A lawsuit filed by two former employees of Blackwater charges that
the controversial security contractor defrauded the U.S. government,
including charging it for strippers and prostitutes, the New York Times reports.

Perhaps the most explosive charge in the lawsuit -- filed by a
married couple, Brad and Melan Davis, is that the company put a
Filipino prostitute in Afghanistan on its payroll under the "Morale
Welfare Recreation" category, then billed the government for her salary
and plane tickets.

I think TPM gets this story mostly right... But it seems that Blackwater/Xe may have actually been double billing for the prostitues' flights, as well as pretty much anyone else they could book on their privatized fraudulent err farce:

Originally posted on January 10, but it got stuck in the spam filter. So now, without further delay... -- GH

Preface: This note was originally a post in response to a fed-up independent expressing her distaste for any political propaganda, even if apparently evidence-based as Rachel Maddow recently blogged.  My connection to the writer is through our recently shared understanding that the time is overripe for Nader's thinking, that he'd be a perfect opponent to lobbyist-in-residence Senator Joe Lieberman..

...
Nader's one of the few who speaks to the corporatist agenda that is evident behind the scenes of most American politics and in exactly the right terms. It's clearly the dominant driver of our collective political agenda.

And it's been the belief that I understand that problem which led me to finally understand and to rationalize (what people have called) his spoiler effect as serving to hasten the_only_thing_that_can_fix_the_problem_with_our_political_system.

How's
that?!

I figured Nader knew that the system will only (--actually NEVER--) fix itself when it becomes utterly broken and completely unable to function.

[Possibly more precisely what I mean is that I believe the political system no longer works.]

In response to a dailykos diary by Michael Stark "I blame you for this "

The front page tells the story:  MA-Sen: PPP Has Brown (R) Up One Point.

Need I remind you that this is Ted Kennedy's seat?

The Republican leads the race and has the momentum.  And I blame y'all.

Alright, not everyone of you... but the Obama fan club that's been so willing to shout down anyone that expected something different...  you know...  those of us that expected (and yearned for) change.

another kossack answered with a comment I've reproduced here and taken liberty to use its title as my own (it's important to remember that a key mission of dailykos is to elect more Democrats). I've done so because it echoes a recent comment concerning my rising hope of the last couple years.

I've concluded that we may be near what I consider is an inevitable political pivot. The destruction wreaked upon this country (...this world) particularly in this last of a couple decades of corrupt bipartisan politics is immense.

I think it's evidence of what Ralph Nader has always known, what will happen to an exclusionary bipolar political system that progressively 'reforms' American government into a process that 'democratically elects corporate representatives to govern us'.

The process is a form of suicide, that's like designing an ecosystem that will end up containing only carnivores because it's designed with increasingly fewer natural limits and they're nearly done eating the rest of us, the herbivores.

NBBooks' comment has been surprisingly well received on dailykos. I may excerpt and repost my own later.

----------

My anger has morphed into sadness, heartbreak actually. As the decade of zeros ends I see nothing but a tragic, historic and deadening American Disappointment, a terrible replacement for a once noble American Dream. The Great Recession was merely one symptom of the nation’s slide into slime, a quicksand created by the two-party plutocracy.

Forty-six years ago today, on 22 November 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, TX.

In an effort to show that they want to achieve full status as domestic terrorists, the right wing -- with the full faith and promise of the GOP and its media propaganda machine -- is escalating ongoing efforts to incite violence, foment revolution and trigger assassination attempts on the current President and his Administration.

The levels of inappropriate political discourse are increasing almost exponentially, as the GOP does everything possible to prevent the Obama Administration and current Democratic majorities in Congress from achieving any measure of success in cleaning up the mess caused by 8+ years of GOP dominance, incompetence and corruption.

My question is simple, really: why can't these people be called out for their willful ignorance, their unAmerican and treasonous terrorist activities and their perpetual, intentional instigation of ongoing threats against our government?

Millions of Americans are politically informed, smart, active and angry. They see many wrongs in our political and government system. They are fed up with politics as usual, meaning corrosive corruption of politicians by corporate and other special interests. They see little good in either the Democrat or Republican parties. And they almost always share a common bond: They love and honor the US Constitution, even though they may see some flaws in it. Yet they are also constitutional hypocrites.

Please read the rest of my article at:

http://www.nolanchart.com/article6955.html

BENEATH THE SPIN • ERIC L. WATTREE

While viewing America's solemn commemoration of the eighth anniversary of 911, I began to reflect upon its many ironies. The very first thing that came to mind was Dick Cheney's claim that Bush administration policies have kept us safe. My second thought was he must think we're crazy - and too many of us are.

When one looks upon the trauma, anger, and pain still etched upon the face of America eight years after the loss of 3000 of its citizens, one can only imagine what the Iraqi people are feeling after the documented murder, by name, of over 101,552 innocent men, women, and Iraqi children. Only after we begin to recognize the gravity of the atrocity that we committed in Iraq will America begin to understand that we will never be safe until we make the people responsible for that carnage accountable for their actions.

Promoted. Originally posted 2009-06-25 15:51:21 -0400. -- GH

Ms. Gabriel,

I’m writing in response to your June 23rd request for an immediate correction to a statement made regarding the Halliburton Corp. in my June 20th article, Healthcare: Why Can't We Get the Congressional Option? Your communication reads as follows:

FOR YOUR IMMEDIATE ATTENTION

The article, “Healthcare: Why Can't We Get the Congressional Option?” posted Saturday, June 20, on The Wattree Chronicle contains information about Halliburton that is completely misleading and incorrect.

Halliburton is not a military contractor. Halliburton is one of the world’s largest providers of products and services to the energy industry, and serves the upstream oil and gas industry throughout the lifecycle of the reservoir – from locating hydrocarbons and managing geological data, to drilling and formation evaluation, well construction and completion, and optimizing production through the life of the field.

You will note that all of the government services and engineering and construction businesses have been and remain with KBR. To confirm, KBR and Halliburton are completely separate and independent of each other. Halliburton separated KBR from the company in April 2007 (http://www.halliburton.com/public/news/pubsdata/press_release/2007/corpnws_040507a.html.

We respectfully request you make this correction immediately.
Kind regards,

Diana Gabriel
Senior Manager, Public Relations
Halliburton

diana.gabriel@halliburton.com
Office: 713.759.2608
Cell: [Redacted]
Fax: 281.575.5790

While I am always careful to obtain multiple sources for any assertions that I make in my articles, nevertheless, I went back to objectively revisit the facts just in case it was necessary to accommodate your request.

The question above is asked on the site of the Commission on Wartime Contracting as to their recently released report. Remember the meme at the beginning of the War Drum Beating and the easy certain Corporate "No Bid Contracts" in support of the Wars and Occupations: "They're the only ones in the World who can do the organizing and work needed in support of our Military and the Coalition of Willing!" Never mind they were connected by the hips to those beating the drums, never mind they were only paper pushers tens of thousands of miles away and sub-contracting out all the work, never mind the many issues of lost billions, shoddy work, bonuses, waste and corruption that almost instantly started coming to light and even with that they were given more, not even handshakes, just here ya go Pallets with Shrink wrapped Blocks of Cash, Millions and Billions, freshly printed and minted!! I had similar questions as this LTE writer asks, well before the report was issued the other day and this posted today, but than again many of us have had the questions of Defense Spending for years, with extremely little questioning from the greater masses. Especially us Veterans of our previous failed policies as we've watched our brothers and sisters being short changed for their service, short changed and no questions or willingness from the greater masses who don't serve!

No tea parties over billions lost in Iraq? Where are the tea parties? Where is the outrage from the purveyors of the vaunted, unregulated “free market?” The Wartime Contracting Commission reports that tens of billions have been wasted on private sector contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan, due to “poorly defined work orders, inadequate oversight and contractor inefficiencies.”...........

The following was released a few days ago, yet I've heard very little talk from the talking heads, Especially the opinionated right wing spinmeisters, they have alot to say about everything else, in this country or so called libertarians and very little from the left, All War Drum Beating Supporters Of, remember there was some seventy five plus percent in favor of destroying an innocent country and many still in favor of occupying two countries while bombing another! Commission on Wartime Contracting

According to the NY Times, the first of UBS' tax evading client list is being charged:

The client, Steven Michael Rubinstein, an accountant, was arrested in Boca Raton, Fla., and charged with one criminal count of filing a false and fraudulent tax return, according to court papers unsealed on Thursday.

The arrest is the first of a major American client of UBS, which has been under criminal investigation for helping scores of wealthy Americans evade taxes through secret offshore accounts that went unreported to the Internal Revenue Service. It signals that federal authorities are making good on a promise to pursue American clients suspected of tax evasion, and in some cases to make indictments.

The money hidden away for him by UBS? Around $6,000,000.00:

Wikileaks servers are overloaded and cannot operate. They recently posted a secret list of a proposed banned sites.

According to Forbes, the scope of Australia's internet censorship has developed far beyond its initial aim to block child pornography and web pages associated with terrorism. Free speech advocates fear it could be used to block legitimate activity.

Wikileaks recently published a complete list of the proposed blacklist sites currently under review in Australia, under the guise of protecting the people of Australia from child pornography.  The Australian government has issued a statement calling the list a fake and threatening action against Wikileaks.  Wikileaks is standing behind the list's authenticity and has issued a statement informing the Australian government of their full rights to publish the list as well as a promise to pursue legal action against anyone attempting to censor Wikileaks.

Originally posted 2009-03-19 12:57:22 -0500. Bumped by carol

BENEATH THE SPIN ERIC L. WATTREE

From this point on I pledge to stop using the terms "conservative" and "Republican" interchangeably. I'm beginning to realize there's a big difference between the two. Conservatives are loyal and well-meaning Americans of good faith who just happen not to share my opinion of what's in the best interest of America. On the other hand, it has become clear that the Republican Party has crossed the line between the loyal opposition, and subversion.

Am I indulging in radical hyperbole? I don't think so. The American Heritage Dictionary defines subversive as "Intended or serving to subvert, especially intended to overthrow or undermine an established government" (emphasis added).

I am an alcoholic.

I got sober almost 20 years ago.  Before that, I abused alcohol, drugs, sex and money in order to ignore the damage I had done to my life, deluding myself .  I crawled through life in a cycle of being drunk or not yet drunk, making more mistakes that would need more drinking to erase.  I am nobody special.  Absolutely nobody.  Everyone on this planet has problems and I have mine.  I chose to deal with them by 'feeling better', one glass at a time.  All day.  Each and every day...week...month and year - until I turned to someone for help.