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POPSSix Blackwater Guards 'May' Be Charged in Iraq Massacre Immunity and impunity have gone hand in hand. Representative Jim McDermott. "The private contracting thing is the most erosive thing that this administration has done. You look at all the things that are being run by private contractors, you simply cannot be handing money to a private contractor who is not under the law of that country or the law of this country and can do anything they want. They're really -- they're rogue outfits." Blackwater and at least 300 other companies have been hired by the US government for privatized armed services in Iraq to the tune of about $6 billion in taxpayer money..
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POPSHow DID Obama get Change.gov set up so quickly, huh? I've seen a lot of people asking (in tones ranging from concerned to accusing to borderline paranoid) how Obama got Change.gov set up so quickly. I mean, how DID a .gov domain get given to someone non-governmental, huh? Kinda suspicious, don't you think? As a matter of fact, no, I don't think it's suspicious. Change.gov was set up by the General Services Administration as part of their charge to facilitate the transition from the outgoing President to the incoming President-elect. Furthermore, In addition, GSA provides a full suite of services to the outgoing President and former Vice-President as they transition from office. These responsibilities include… (click through to the original for the rest)
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POPSLess Biz for Contractors Under Obama? Washington Post story, by Robert O'Harrow, also notes that slimming down federal procurement at the clip Obama proposes would require "a huge cultural change inside the government." Huge cultural changes don't come easily in Washington. For anyone wondering, 19 large U.S. technology services firms, all publicly-held and catering to the public sector, show a 52-week stock decline of 25%. The market's drop over that period: 37%.
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POPSBanks “We have better things to do with that money you gave us than lend it out”
The US has shoved 5 trillion dollars at this problem since the crisis started last year. Enough is enough. Money alone is clearly not sufficient, and that means more stern measures need to be taken. The financial industry, whose hubris is so great they just announced 70 billion of bonuses for themselves after getting a taxpayer bailout, needs to learn that they exist for the purpose of serving the overall economy, not themselves. This is especially true of banks, whose entire business model relies on the government giving them the right to create money, to borrow money at concessionary rates that no one else receives, and so on. Banks are entirely creatures of the government who exist because the government gives them what amounts to a license to print money under certain circumstances. They are in no way a "naturally free market". So if they won't do what they have to do, if they won't responsibly execute their duties to the country, then they will have to be made to do so, and it
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POPSDown For The Count "The whole system is contracting" Last week, banks borrowed a record $437 billion per day, topping the previous week's $420 billion per day a week earlier. Hundreds of banks cannot meet their capital requirements without regular low interest loans from the Federal Reserve. The banking system is in shambles. The FDIC needs to determine which banks can be saved and which need to be shut down, otherwise the insolvent banks will use the money they get from the Treasury on risky bets to dig their way out of bankruptcy. Without restrictions on how they can issue credit, many of the banks will engage in the same reckless behavior and speculation that brought on the current calamity.
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POPSNo Friend To Small Business! (Hey Joe!)
At the same time that President Bush backed the $700 billion dollar Wall Street bailout, he continued to dismantle existing federal programs designed to assist American small businesses. During his two terms, President Bush has systematically dismantled each and every program established under the Small Business Act to assist American small businesses, especially those firms owned by women, minorities and veterans. President Bush's anti-small business policies began during his first week as president. The first thing he did to dismantle America's small business programs was to remove the Administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA) from the President's Cabinet. Then he began to cut the SBA's budget and staffing more than any other federal agency. Since 2003, over a dozen federal investigations have been released, which have all found rampant and government-wide fraud, abuse, loopholes and a blatant lack of proper oversight in federal small business contracting program.
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POPSMySpace and ad-adware -malware Sometimes my page loses focus - a box pops up that say I have been infected and then my Norton quarantines a file seconds after that. When you close the pop-up a window is there for some Antispyware tool that I cannot help is being hawked to find the bait file sent to the computer. WTF!!!
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POPSFlu Shots Do Not Prevent Getting the Flu If you think they do here is why you are mistaken. But of course your local and MSM news parrot whatever the CDC says while this is a multi-million dollar industry that cannot prevent you from getting the flu. The logic in this article is plain enough. Notice the emotionally charged, fear-mongering messages and ads used to press people into lining up, including many messages that say "they could save your life, or the life of your children or loved one". What absolute hype that plays on fear, when the shot cannot prevent getting the flu! To see how profitable an industry this is read about Donald Rumsfeld and Tamiflu. People feel safer with their placebo-type flu shot that cannot and will not prevent them from contracting the flu. The statements made by government and media on the subject are irresponsible hype and absolutely misleading about its effectiveness.
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POPSObama Takes Careful Aim at Contractors Government Executive story covers a recent Obama speech on his approach to government contracting. Further down in the story, there's cautious approval from trade groups representing government contractors. "It's certainly not a harsh assault on the public-private relationship," said one. Welcome words, no doubt, to many companies on our Forbes Beltway Index http://www.forbes.com/fdc/beltway/fbi.html.
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POPSWorking night shifts raises cancer risk The report refers specifically to individuals who work nights in the fields of health care, security, transportation, media and the military. Some 10 percent of the population consistently works night shifts, according to the report, and 25 percent work such shifts occasionally.
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POPSWelcome to the new corrupt South Africa Oh, and add to that our future president, Jacob Zuma, who is still facing bribery and corruption charges and was found not guilty of raping an AIDS-infected lesbian. (he assured all South Africans that he was in no danger of contracting HIV because he had immediately afterwards taken a shower) Life in South Africa is about as surreal as it gets.
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POPSStorage building dealer in Orange County Quality Sheds serves Southern California as a storage building dealer in Orange County. They provide custom storage buildings, garages, pool houses, and more that match your home.
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POPSAre you paying to stay safe online? Ran across this guys website this morning and I like it! Check out the link to Consumer Reports 2008 State of the Net report. His site has some great info worth purusing.
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POPSFollow This Dime How are we to dissect a deluge like this one? We might begin by categorizing the earmarks handed out by Congress, sorting the foolish earmarks from the costly earmarks from the earmarks made strictly on a cash basis. We could try a similar approach to government contracting: the no-bid contracts, the no-oversight contracts, the no-experience contracts, the contracts handed out to friends of the vice president. We might consider the shoplifting career of one of the president's former domestic policy advisers or the habitual plagiarism of the president's liaison to the Christian right. And we would certainly have to find some way to parse the extraordinary incompetence of the executive branch, incompetence so fulsome and steady and reliable that at some point Americans stopped being surprised and began simply to count on it, to think of incompetence as the way government works.
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POPSU.S. Military Hoped for Virtually Unlimited Freedom of Action in Iraq This was reported in June... According to Cockburn's reporting, "President Bush wants to push through by the end of so he can declare a military victory and claim his 2003 invasion has been vindicated." (Note 13) A prime beneficiary of the acceptance of a military agreement that the Iraqi people do not believe respects their rights or serves their interests would probably be the vast, privatized U.S. military/intelligence complex, positioned to profit from repressing the resistance sure to follow. If the Bush administration's goal is achieved through secret deals and pressure tactics it would only confirm the widespread view that its commitment to democracy is primarily self-serving. In Iraq as elsewhere there are many who would welcome a genuine American commitment to liberty and human rights but believe that U.S. actions contradict its rhetoric. So much to decipher here!
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POPSYou May Be A Racist If You...........
If you're appalled that Obama voted against treating infants born after an abortion attempt the same medically as other infants born alive you... If you were proud of your country even before Obama's candidacy you If you oppose racial preferences in employment, school admissions and contracting you... If you think "we are the change we've been waiting for" is a line from a Monty Python skit you... If your grandmother isn't a "typical white person" you... If you're not sure invading Pakistan is a particularly good idea—what with their nuclear weapons and all— you... The tendency of Obama supporters to see racist impulses behind every criticism of their candidate has evolved into absurdity. Now even the first black president feels compelled to declare he's not a racist. By this measure, nearly every American is at risk of being branded a racist at some point in the campaign. To assess whether you're at risk just consult the list below ( apologies to Jeff Foxworthy
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POPSIslamic Iran's Effort To Wipe Out Dissent - Twenty-Nine Executed In One Day IRAN HIDING UNCONTROLLED AIDS EPIDEMIC, WHILE EXECUTING DOZENS AT A TIME. Societal structure and conditions lead to incredibly greater infection by AIDS in the Islamic Iran population (similar to some African nations) because one third of Islamic Iran's population is drug addicted and shares needles. A far higher statistic than the government wants to admit and is (as usual) suppressing the information and the reliable source the two medical brothers provided in their expert and experienced capacity. Remember, one third of 70 million residents in Islamic Iran means OVER 20 MILLION addicted people, who for whatever reasons are vulnerable to contracting and transmitting AIDS and other infectious diseases. Islamic Iran has the highest proportion of Heroin addicts to population of any country in the world. pederasty definition ▸ noun: sexual relations between a man and a boy (usually anal intercourse with the boy as a passive partner)
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POPSIf you can't play- outsource it. In fact, the trading of virtual property is so lucrative that some big online gaming companies have jumped into the business, creating their own online marketplaces. Other start-up companies are also rushing in, acting as international brokers to match buyers and sellers in different countries, and contracting out business to Chinese gold-farming factories. "We're like a stock exchange. You can buy and sell with us," says Alan Qiu, a founder of the Shanghai-based Ucdao.com. "We farm out the different jobs. Some people say, 'I want to get from Level 1 to 60,' so we find someone to do that."
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