In Focus: Soldiers of Fortune
Since the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the market has been flooded with soldiers. As countries slimmed down their forces, an enormous number of people with military skills entered the market. They needed something to make money and the only way they could was to sell the skills they had. As a result the private military contract industry exploded. Currently these organizations consult, train and support many of the world’s armies. The new film Shadow Company explores this world.

http://foreignexchange.tv/?q=node/1588

Rep. Conyers, as a member of the the Majority Party – Dems- will have subpeona power to look into the blackwater halliburton mess which is only one of the bush treasons.

Rep. Conyers has a book about the need for an Impeachment Inquiry and he is chomping at the bit to begin – even if your dem is corrupt, we can get rid of them later. Gen. Batiste said voting this November is CRUCIAL.

I am glad my Rep. Chris Van Hollen is courageously investigating this massive bush crony corruption but even if my reps were of the Feinstein ilk, I would vote to let Rep. Conyers at the bush corruption as HEAD OF THE JUDICIARY instead of that (deleted) Sensenbrenner corruption.

Richard @6 see this too re: your previous link and you will see that anyone can be labeled a terrorist. As a matter of fact it appears anyone who shares information may be one-maybe one of us????????

I bet you don’t know Sherrod Brown from a hole in the ground.

That yahoo, damn the torpedoes attitude in 2000 allowed 3rd party nonsense to hand the election to the republicans on a silver platter. Nice work, as long as you don’t have to clean up after.

Given your attitude, you better grab a mop and be ready to help us clean up come Nov. This is not a kids’ game of dodgeball…

I’m guessing that the White House knows. Let’s keep in mind that Bush’s bud from his days in Texas, Joe Allbaugh, left FEMA before the start of the war to start his own consulting firm–specifically to aid firms in gaining contracts. If one looks at the way FEMA was stripped and privatized during Allbaugh’s tenure (and at the way the same contract larding was done after Katrina), I suspect that this scheme was in the planning stages before the 2000 election.

Moreover, much of the means by which they could do it was instituted by one Richard Bruce Cheney in 1991, during his tenure as Secretary of Defense as part of the LOGCAP program.

They’re fuckups, but they sure know how to create far-sighted programs to fleece the public.

And they were’nt allowed to be armed in New Orleans either.

From what my medic friends repored over the months they were there, this would have been news to the Blacksewer goons there. Armed, paunchy, and abusive.

Wonder what a comparison of suspected welfare fraud from, say 1980 through 2000 and the waste and fraud in Iraq in the last few years would find?

My husband taught one of the Blackwater contractors some basic rafting moves for one of those eco-challenge races a while back. he was ex-Navy Seal. THe revolving door never stops anymore, does it?

Apropos of not much, Marcia Muller writes mysteries about Sharon McCone, ace SF PI. Her boyfriend, Hy Rapinski, works for a global security outfit called something like BlackRain or RainWater or some such. I’ve long suspected it is Blackwater, thinly disguised. They’re slimy but the pay’s great. He’s alwasy having to dash off to some world hotspot just when she needs him. Ain’t it the way?

I just read that he was a GOP–its funny, but I met Mahoney about a month ago and the first thing I thought after shaking his hand was this: There is no way that this guy is a Democrat. He, like George Bush, claims he is a rancher.

From http://www.940news.com/nouvell…..p;id=93077

Mahoney on Saturday criticized Republican leaders for not fully investigating Foley when e-mails to the 16-year-old page were brought to their attention about a year ago. Pages are high school students who attend classes under congressional supervision and work as messengers.

“It looks to me that it was more important to hold onto a seat and to hold onto power than to take care of our children,” Mahoney said. “I think that’s wrong. I think that’s what’s wrong with Washington.”

Mahoney, a millionaire financial services executive who switched parties last year before entering the race, campaigned Saturday with Sen. John Kerry.