whoop there it is

way before acorn, BLACKWATER OUT
that's what i say


Scandal exposer calls on Congress to defund Blackwater
-- David Edwards
The House and Senate voted to end funding for ACORN in the wake of a video sting. Now some are asking why the same treatment isn't being given to corrupt defense contractors.

Huffington Post's Ryan Grim noted that attempts to defund ACORN were worded so broadly that it could do the same for defense contractors charged with fraud.

"The amount of money that ACORN has received in the past 20 years altogether is roughly equal to what the taxpayer paid to Halliburton each day during the war in Iraq," Rep. Alan Grayson told Salon's Glenn Greenwald. Halliburton is alleged to have misused millions of dollars in over-charges for food and services in Iraq.........

Whoops: Anti-ACORN Bill Ropes In Defense Contractors, Others Charged With Fraud

-Ryan Grim

Going after ACORN may be like shooting fish in a barrel lately -- but jumpy lawmakers used a bazooka to do it last week and may have blown up some of their longtime allies in the process.

The congressional legislation intended to defund ACORN, passed with broad bipartisan support, is written so broadly that it applies to "any organization" that has been charged with breaking federal or state election laws, lobbying disclosure laws, campaign finance laws or filing fraudulent paperwork with any federal or state agency. It also applies to any of the employees, contractors or other folks affiliated with a group charged with any of those things.

In other words, the bill could plausibly defund the entire military-industrial complex. Whoops.

Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) picked up on the legislative overreach and asked the Project on Government Oversight (POGO) to sift through its database to find which contractors might be caught in the ACORN net.

Lockheed Martin and Northrop Gumman both popped up quickly, with 20 fraud cases between them, and the longer list is a Who's Who of weapons manufacturers and defense contractors...

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/22/whoops-anti-acorn-bill-ro_n_294949.html..

go kick some halliburton/kbr ass jamie!

there IS a goddess! thank you for being strong and for continuing to fight FOR YOUR RIGHTS

(which the big dick attempted to take away)

Court Okays Halliburton Rape Trial
By Stephanie Mencimer

Remember Jamie Leigh Jones, the Halliburton/KBR contractor who alleged she was gang raped by her co-workers in Iraq and then imprisoned in a shipping container after she reported the attack to the company? Well, it looks like she's finally get to sue the company, in a real courthouse, over her ordeal.

Her legal saga started after Halliburton failed to take any action against her alleged attackers, and the Justice Department and military also failed to prosecute. Jones then tried to sue the company for failing to protect her. But thanks to an employment contract created during the tenure of former Halliburton CEO Dick Cheney, Jones was forced into mandatory binding arbitration, a private forum where Halliburton would hire the arbitrator, all the proceedings would be secret, and she'd have no right to appeal if she lost........

a sunday morning smile (at least for ME)

Halliburton shareholders sue to ‘punish’ company directors

By Stephen C. Webster
To settle charges that its agents bribed Nigerian officials in order to obtain billions of dollars in contracts in the country, Halliburton Co. and KBR agreed in February to pay a combined total of $579 million to the U.S. government. And if that did not sting the company coffers enough, a group of shareholders is now suing the company in Harris County District Court, seeking to “punish” officials who allowed such lax standards that millions of dollars could be spirited away to Nigerian bureaucrats, incurring massive fines and harming shareholders’ profits.

“According to the lawsuit, ‘the defendants caused Halliburton to maintain internal controls that were so deficient that Halliburton insiders were able to divert millions of dollars of company funds to pay illegal bribes to various foreign officials in direct violation of the [Foreign Corrupt Practices Act]. Defendant’s failure in this regard has caused substantial damage to Halliburton,’” Houston Press reports.

Nearly $150 million of the $180 million given was later discovered in a Swiss bank account.............

because we can't forget iraq

and we sure as shite can't forget we still have people there AND we have veterans and civilian contractors back home who were effected by being in iraq.

and unlike the previous story i posted the link to, i sure as shite am NOT surprised to find the name kbr (or halliburton) bandied about

Did toxic chemical in Iraq cause GIs' illnesses?

By SHARON COHEN
AP National Writer

Larry Roberta's every breath is a painful reminder of his time in Iraq. He can't walk a block without gasping for air. His chest hurts, his migraines sometimes persist for days and he needs pills to help him sleep.

James Gentry came home with rashes, ear troubles and a shortness of breath. Later, things got much worse: He developed lung cancer, which spread to his spine, ribs and one of his thighs; he must often use a cane, and no longer rides his beloved Harley.

David Moore's postwar life turned into a harrowing medical mystery: nosebleeds and labored breathing that made it impossible to work, much less speak. His desperate search for answers ended last year when he died of lung disease at age 42.

What these three men - one sick, one dying, one dead - had in common is they were National Guard soldiers on the same stretch of wind-swept desert in Iraq during the early months of the war in 2003.

These soldiers and hundreds of other Guard members from Indiana, Oregon and West Virginia were protecting workers hired by a subsidiary of the giant contractor, KBR Inc., to rebuild an Iraqi water treatment plant. The area, as it turned out, was contaminated with hexavalent chromium, a potent, sometimes deadly chemical linked to cancer and other devastating diseases.............

how much more

are our men and women going to be forced to bear?

we cannot allow this to continue. IF we have to leave them there, let's make sure they have ALL the protection AND shelter AND nurishment they need. they are heroes and we MUST take care of them there and more importantly upon their return here

Undersupplied US soldiers forced to steal water in Iraq

By David Edwards and John Byrne
You thought the lack of armor-plated Humvees was bad.

US soldiers are now being forced to steal water in Iraq. With supplies tight, and the number of trucks carrying potable water even tighter, troops have resorted to stealing water from civilian contractors. Many have also reportedly suffered from dysentery because they were forced to drink untreated water from Iraqi wells.

The shocking news aired Wednesday on Houston-based CBS affiliate KHOU.

It gets worse. Soldiers say the situation has become so dire they were forced to raid the United States’ own airbase in Baghdad for bottled water. They found the water stored in pallets held by civilian contractors, who were supposed to be distributing it.

“It really hit me the day I was with my commander and we’re stealing water,” Army Staff Sgt. Dustin Robey told the station, describing his mission to collect water at the Baghdad International Airport. A second soldier said he’d also stolen water from civilian contractors: “We’d just run out and start grabbing cases of water and start throwing them in the gunner’s hatch,” Private Bryan Hannah quipped.

Soldiers averred that they’d been given two to three liters of water per day by their commanders. But according to the Army’s own field manual, the human body can lose as much as four gallons of water daily in the desert.

Two to three liters isn’t enough, Robey said. “You’ll see guys throw up, you’ll see them pass out.”..........

listen and learn

it's good to know

(AND it gives me the warm and fuzzies) our government has no issues with, and forgives all of their trespasses. who? the good ol' boyz of kbr / halliburton of course! why just the other day kbr was awarded a BRAND SPANKING NEW CONTRACT by the pentagon. and believe me, the accusation of bribery was the LEAST of their (kbr/halliburton) worries. (try accusations of rape and murder). so again, i say, it's so wonderful our government can see past all of that turn a blind eye to all of that and HIRE KBR once again. isn't america grand my peeps?


Halliburton, KBR Settle Bribery Allegations
By Zachary A. Goldfarb
Washington Post Staff Writer
Halliburton and Kellogg Brown & Root have agreed to pay $579 million in fines related to allegations of foreign bribery, the biggest fines ever paid by U.S. companies in a foreign corruption case, federal authorities and the companies said yesterday.

The Securities and Exchange Commission and Department of Justice alleged that Houston-based Halliburton and KBR were part of a joint venture that spent $182 million to bribe Nigerian government officials over a 10-year period to win more than $6 billion in construction contracts.

Halliburton, which owned KBR during the time of the alleged actions and spun it off in April 2007, will be responsible for paying all but $20 million of the penalty.

KBR, one of the top U.S. government contractors, pleaded guilty to violating the federal law banning companies from paying bribes to get business in foreign countries. Halliburton did not admit or deny wrongdoing. ......

559 million is NOTHING

to the good ol' boyz at halliburton. money well spent to make this go away (i won't forget though)

oh and i won't forget all the OTHER allegations against them either

Halliburton to pay $559 million to settle bribery probe
By Anna Driver

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Halliburton Co will pay a $559 million fine to end an investigation of its former KBR Inc unit if the U.S. government approves the settlement, the largest penalty against a U.S. company for charges of bribery under federal law.

Halliburton, once headed by former Vice President Dick Cheney, said it was awaiting final approval from the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission to settle claims that KBR violated anti-bribery laws by paying kickbacks to Nigerian officials.

Under the settlement, Halliburton would pay $382 million to the Department of Justice and $177 million to the Securities and Exchange Commission in "disgorgement."

KBR did not comment on the proposed settlement. Halliburton said in regulatory filings last July that it was in settlement talks with the government..............

this too makes me happy

no, not the gang rapes, the torture, the kidnapping, the murders, the electrocutions

THE START OF WHAT APPEARS TO BE ACCOUNTABILITY.

i want justice for our men and women and for all of the innocent men and women in iraq (and elsewhere) as well.

i demand justice. my voice wasn't being heard until january 20th 2009. now, i think it just may be

Army accuses KBR contractors of 'negligent homicide' for electrocution

Stephen C. Webster
United States Army investigation has accused former Halliburton subsidiary KBR, along with contractors the company used and two of the firm's supervisors, of 'negligent homicide' in the electrocution of a soldier, according to a published report.

"[A]n Army criminal investigator says the manner of death for Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth, 24, has been changed from accidental to negligent homicide because the contractor failed to ensure that 'qualified electricians and plumbers' worked on the barracks where Maseth died," reports the Associated Press.

"Maseth, 24, of Shaler, Pa., outside Pittsburgh, was electrocuted on Jan. 2 when an improperly grounded electric water pump short-circuited and flowed through the pipes," reported ABC in March 2008. "Since the coiled hose was touching his arm, he was hit with an electrical jolt and went into cardiac arrest and died.".................

unlike da liebs

i KNOW what a pdf is (Lieberman doesn’t know what a PDF is?, hat tip to colin mcenroe for that one. i would have NEVER known that about da liebs otherwise)

but this isn't really about da liebs (steamin' pile o' shite that he is). it's about ANOTHER giant steamin' pile o' shite (well two of 'em; king george and kbr)

a handful of men get brought to trial for (allegedly) killing civilians in iraq. what about all of the (alleged) rapes and OTHER (alleged) murders and (alleged) corruption and (alleged) horrid operational procedures?

hmmmmmmmmm

we'll never know. the big boyz at the top are NEVER going to be held accountable. only a few lowly pawns get thrown under the bus (to appease the masses ?????????????? well I'M NOT appeased)

ACLU: 'Secret courts' conceal fraud by military contractors
Muriel Kane
A law originally intended to encourage whistleblowers may have been used by the Bush Justice Department to cover up allegations of fraud by contractors such as Halliburton spin-off KBR.

In 2007, David Rose's "The People vs. the Profiteers" described a "scandal of epic proportions" involving the alleged suppression of dozens of lawsuits against KBR for alleged massive fraud in Iraq.

Those and similar charges are the basis for a complaint (pdf) filed on Thursday by the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Virginia, which alleges that secrecy provisions added to the False Claims Act (FCA) in 1986 have been used to keep complaints under seal indefinitely and gag whistleblowers who might otherwise speak out.
.......................

this is only the tip of the iceberg

i do not understand why men and women continue to enlist. after what happened to the vietnam vets (the medical troubles they've had AND the problems with the military and va saying those medical issues were service related) and what happened in desert storm and what is happening now. our men and women's lives, it would seem, are worthless (to some, NOT to me)

Soldiers sue Iraq contractor over toxic, cancer-causing dust
Nick Cargo

Sixteen soldiers are suing former Halliburton unit KBR, charging that its employees knowingly exposed them to a carcinogenic chemical in the course of their duties.

McManaway v. KBR, filed Wednesday at the U.S. District Court (Southern District of Indiana, Evansville), seeks to recover medical costs, along with monetary damages and monitoring for health problems including cancer, for sixteen Indiana National Guardsmen based in Tell City who were posted at a water treatment plant that KBR was commissioned to repair shortly after the American invasion, from April to September 2003. The Guardsmen charge that KBR was aware of dangerous levels of sodium dichromate on the premises, used to remove corrosion from pipes. Part of its chemical makeup is hexavalent chromium, which is known to cause lung cancer and birth defects. Sergeant First Class David Moore of Dubois, Indiana, was among those said to be affected: he died this year of chronic interstitial lung disease. His death was ruled service-related...........

it speaks for itself

all i have to add is; how many more instances of evil (much less illegalities) are we going to allow? are we not human any more? have we lost our souls? they'll weasel out of this the way they weasel out of everything else they've (allegedly) done wrong (rape, murder and the like)

Halliburton sued for human trafficking
John Byrne

Twelve men recruited in Nepal died after forced transfer to Iraq, lawfirm says

Thirteen Nepali men were recruited and held against their will for thirteen months in a human trafficking scheme engineered and perpetrated by Halliburton and its Jordanian contractor, according to a lawsuit filed yesterday in California federal court.

The Nepali men, each between the ages of 18 and 27, were allegedly hired as kitchen staff by the then-Halliburton subsidiary KBR and its Jordanian subcontractor, Daoud & Partners. Once they arrived in Jordan, however, their passports were seized and they were dispatched to Iraq.

"Tragically, as the men were being transported to Iraq, a car containing twelve of the men was stopped by members of the Ansar al-Sunna Army, an insurgent group," the Washington lawfirm Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll writes. "The 12 men in the car were taken hostage and executed by the insurgents. The executions were filmed and posted on the Internet. The Inspector General for the United States Department of Defense investigated and confirmed the facts related to the fate of the 12 men, which led to increased enforcement of anti-trafficking measures by the United States.......................

blackwater, halliburton, kbr

they have all been accused of horrible crimes. from rape to murder to NOT PROTECTING our troops (by allowing things such as shoddy electrical work to occur in iraq --where some of our troops have been electrocuted) to overcharging for services provided in iraq (water, food, etc).

six letters to six of the men who (allegedly) MURDERED (i think i have to say allegedly although there is a great deal of evidence in this case. no one has been brought to trial so i must say allegedly. same with the rapes and shoddy construction). it's a start. it's the same thing with lynndie england though. sure the subhumans who (allegedly) committed these crimes may indeed be guilty but the people who are REALLY guilty and who will NEVER BE BROUGHT TO TRIAL OR NEVER MADE TO PAY are the people RUNNING HALLIBURTON, KBR AND BLACKWATER AND OUR KING AND HIS COURT. they are the ones who really should be brought to trial and made accountable.

Justice Dept. Moves Toward Charges Against Contractors in Iraq Shooting

By Del Quentin Wilber and Karen DeYoung

Washington Post Staff Writers

Federal prosecutors have sent target letters to six Blackwater Worldwide security guards involved in a September shooting that left 17 Iraqi civilians dead, indicating a high likelihood the Justice Department will seek to indict at least some of the men, according to three sources close to the case.

The guards, all former U.S. military personnel, were working as security contractors for the State Department, assigned to protect U.S. diplomats and other non-military officials in Iraq. The shooting occurred when their convoy arrived at a busy square in central Baghdad and guards tried to stop traffic.

An Iraqi government investigation concluded that the security contractors fired without provocation. Blackwater has said its personnel acted in self-defense.............

i would like to understand why anyone would

work for halliburton or kbr. why would someone? money? adrenaline? guns? torture? adventure? mercenaries? excitement? (R A P E???)

why are we allowing military contractors to be above the law? i don't know if they're guilty or not. i cannot say. THEY HAVE NOT BEEN BROUGHT TO TRIAL. that's INSANE.

Alleged KBR Rape Victim Sues the U.S.

There’s a new lawsuit in the sad and sordid saga of Jamie Leigh Jones.

A former KBR employee who made national headlines with her heart-wrenching account of being raped while working at Camp Hope in Baghdad, Jones filed a lawsuit several days ago in Houston federal court against the United States of America. She filed a lawsuit against her former employer more than a year ago.

The Houston woman is suing the government for negligent supervision and hiring of its contractors and for failing to provide a safe living and working environment.

Jones claims that in July 2005, she was living in a two-story barracks with 420 men and only 20 other women, and that the facility was under the “direct control and supervision” of the U.S. government and its employees. Jones complained about constant sexual harassment and asked to be moved to a safer location, but her superiors did not transfer her.

Instead, later that same evening, according to the lawsuit, Jones was drugged and “brutally raped” in her room by several Halliburton/KBR firefighters............

the rich just get right on richer

and the evil ones go right on getting more and more evil. what is most horrible about this is, these people are charged with PROTECTING AMERICAN LIVES (at the very least). they've effed up way more than once and NOT by a little smidge either. yet we keep pouring money down their throats and lying for them (and about them). i want justice and i want the truth

Halliburton's Hidden Treuhand
by: Shelley Stark, t r u t h o u t
Halliburton takes advantage of a European loophole that lets corporations hide beneficiaries and assets.

Little is known of a customary European legal practice that offers corporations and individuals an opportunity to profit from assets while maintaining complete anonymity of the beneficiary's identity. This practice is referred to as "Hidden Treuhand" in the English language. The practice of Hidden Treuhand submits to legal local customs in Austria, Germany, Liechtenstein, Luxemburg and Switzerland, but due to globalization, has moved beyond European borders via corporations and individuals, who put it to personal use...........

...........Given these attributes, it is alarming when a Hidden Treuhand is discovered in a subsidiary that is fully owned by Halliburton USA. Halliburton's Hidden Treuhand is evident in the firm's corporate records. Halliburton International GmbH was created in Austria in June of 1992, although another subsidiary, at the same address, was in existence in Austria since 1958. The new subsidiary, Halliburton International GmbH, has no apparent reasons for existing other than to house a Hidden Treuhand in its corporate structure, receive dividends from other subsidiaries and acquire other subsidiaries. This firm has no employees. It creates no income. Another company, Halliburton Company Austria GmbH, at the same address, could have equally performed whatever function this subsidiary has, but it has no Hidden Treuhand. The obvious conclusion is Halliburton USA needed a subsidiary with a Hidden Treuhand.........

a shout out to U.S. District Judge Keith P. Ellison

f**k kbr and f**k halliburton. when someone signs an agreement with you and that agreement says they won't bring you to court, i KNOW they don't believe being raped is part of the deal.
Judge: Woman's rape case against Halliburton can go to trial
Judge: Lawsuit against Halliburton by woman claiming rape in Iraq can go to trial
Staff
A woman who said she was raped by co-workers while employed by a contractor in Iraq can take her claims to trial, a federal judge ruled Friday

Jamie Leigh Jones filed a federal lawsuit last year, saying she was attacked while working for a Halliburton Co. subsidiary at Camp Hope, Baghdad, in 2005. Her lawsuit claims that after she endured harassment from some of the men where she lived in coed barracks, she was drugged and raped by Halliburton and KBR firefighters.
Jones, a former Conroe resident, said a KBR representative imprisoned her in a shipping container for a day so she wouldn't report the assault.
Attorneys for Halliburton, KBR and other subsidiaries that have been sued have disputed Jones' allegations. KBR split from Halliburton last year.
Washington-based attorney Stephanie Morris said her client is pleased that she will have the opportunity to bring attention to the case........

before he was an evil man,

he was an evil man

Cheney Opposed Chemical Weapons Convention
By Noah Shachtman

Vice President Dick Cheney opposed the signing ratification of a treaty banning the use chemical weapons, a recently unearthed letter shows.
183 countries pledged never to "develop, produce, otherwise acquire, stockpile or retain chemical weapons, or transfer, directly or indirectly, chemical weapons to anyone" under the Chemical Weapons Convention, put into effect in 1997.
But in a letter dated April 8, 1997, then Halliburton-CEO Cheney told Sen. Jesse Helms, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, that it would be a mistake for America to join the Convention. "Those nations most likely to comply with the Chemical Weapons Convention are not likely to ever constitute a military threat to the United States. The governments we should be concerned about are likely to cheat on the CWC, even if they do participate," reads the letter, published by the Federation of American Scientists.
The CWC was ratified by the Senate that same month. And since then, Albania, Libya, Russia, the United States, and India have declared over 71,000 metric tons of chemical weapon stockpiles, and destroyed about a third of them. Under the terms of the agreement, the United States and Russia are supposed to eliminate the rest of their supplies of chemical weapons by 2012. But that looks unlikely -- the U.S. government figures it will get the job done by 2017.......

who needs FOREIGN terrorists

when we have our OWN kbr? (rep sally kern should be MORE concerned with organizations such as kbr INSTEAD of being homophobic and saying gay people are worse than terrorists, no?)
Halliburton managers told workers carcinogen was 'mild irritant,' workers say
Hallburton subsidiary KBR told employees at a water injection plant in Iraq a sand-like substance scattered around the plant was just a "mild irritant," workers recall.
It turns out to be sodium dichromate -- a highly toxic chemical which can lead to cancer even with limited exposure.
Now nine Americans are suing KBR, according to a report in Tuesday's Boston Globe. They say they spent 2 1/2 months covered in the substance as they rushed to get the plant online, a key component in Iraq's oil infrastructure.
"Many of the 22 Americans and 100-plus Iraqis began to complain of nosebleeds, ulcers, and shortness of breath," the Globe's Farah Stockman writes. "Within weeks, nearly 60 percent exhibited symptoms of exposure, according to the minutes of a meeting of project managers from KBR, the Houston-based construction company in charge of the repairs.".......

wow

another one left the darkside and came into the light!
Dick Cheney's Error
It's Government By the People
By Mickey Edwards
For at least six years, as I've become increasingly frustrated by the Bush administration's repeated betrayal of constitutional -- and conservative -- principles, I have defended Vice President Cheney, a man I've known for decades and with whom I served and made common cause in Congress. No longer.
I do not blame Dick Cheney for George W. Bush's transgressions; the president needs no prompting to wrap himself in the cloak of a modern-day king. Nor do I believe that the vice president so enthusiastically supports the Iraq war out of a loyalty to the oil industry that his former employer serves. By all accounts, Cheney's belief in "the military option" and the principle of president-as-decider predates his affiliation with Halliburton.
What, then, is the straw that causes me to finally consign a man I served with in the House Republican leadership to the category of "those about whom we should be greatly concerned"? .......

well it appears king george may be right (see prior posting)

SOME of us may NOT be in a recession
(the rich just keep getting richer)
Former Halliburton subsidiary KBR's 4th quarter profits up 65%
HOUSTON (AP) -- Former Halliburton subsidiary KBR Inc. said Tuesday fourth-quarter profit rose 65 percent, lifted by contributions from natural-gas projects, work in Iraq and a tax benefit related to a 2006 asset sale.
The Houston-based military contractor and engineering and construction firm said profit for the October-December period was $71 million, or 42 cents a share, up from $43 million, or 28 cents a share, in the prior-year period.
The most-recent quarter included income from discontinued operations of $23 million, or 14 cents a share, due to tax benefits from the 2006 sale of its production services group.
The prior-year period included a loss from discontinued operations of $2 million, or 1 cent a share.........