Tag Archives: Profiteering

Iraqi Oil for Beginners

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IRAQI OIL FOR BEGINNERS graphic novel by Jon Sack published by Voices in the Wilderness
Iraqi Oil for Beginners is artist-in-exile Jon Sack’s account of a century of Iraq history dominated by the fight over its oil. The 31-page comic can be ordered through the publisher Voices in the Wilderness UK or from Housmans.
 
Sack means his graphic novel to enlighten western readers about the real US and UK motives behind the occupation of Iraq, hopefully before Iraqi legislators are finally coerced into privatizing the oil industry and putting it all in US hands.

What do you say to a war profiteer?

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James Woolsey is not Mr. Green Jeans
“Are you opposed to letting him speak?”
 
No. (But it’s dangerous to let war-mongers speak unopposed.) Let Woolsey address the CC community about America opting for green energy sources. (Hopefully his motive isn’t for the oil companies to pick up the patents on alternative energy production and sit on them, as they’ve done for solar technology.)

No one’s even calling for Woolsey to be heckled. Let’s just let him know that CC students recognize him for what he is. He was one of the chief advocates for the war in Iraq, the so-called war on terror (WW4 he calls it, “I rather imagine it’s going to be measured, I’m afraid, in decades.”) and now he’s calling for us to attack Iran.

What a treat to see a leading PNAC Neocon face to face! So many things to ask: How long can America expect to hold itself exempt from the World Criminal Court? Why is war profiteering no longer considered illegal? If authorities decided YOU were a threat to national security, would it be alright to torture you?

US suppliers of prewar Iraqi WMDs

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Iraq was forced in 2002 to supply documentation of their weapons programs. They delivered a 12,000 page report to the UN Security Council, from which the US censored 8,000 pages. A Swiss reporter with Die Tageszeitung was able to obtain the missing pages which revealed who among US and European companies were responsible for building Saddam Hussein’s Nuclear, Biological and Chemical weapons programs. Parts of the UK press carried the story. Except for Democracy Now and an abridged mention in the AP, the story was buried in the US. Here is the list of 24 US companies (includes locals Hewlett-Packard).

Honeywell (rocket program, conventional weapons)
Spectra Physics (conventional weapons)
Semetex (rocket program)
TI Coating (nuclear weapon program, conventional weapons)
Unisys (nuclear weapon program, conventional weapons)
Sperry Corp. (rocket program, conventional weapons)
Tektronix (rocket program, nuclear weapon program)
Rockwell (conventional weapons)
Leybold Vacuum Systems (nuclear weapon program)
Finnigan-MAT-US (nuclear weapon program)
Hewlett-Packard (nuclear weapon program, rocket program, conventional weapons)
Dupont (nuclear weapon program)
Eastman Kodak (rocket program)
American Type Culture Collection (biological weapon program)
Alcolac International (chemical weapon program)
Consarc (nuclear weapon program)
Carl Zeiss – U.S (conventional weapons)
Cerberus (LTD) (nuclear weapon program)
Electronic Associates (rocket program)
International Computer Systems (nuclear weapon program, rocket program, conventional weapons)
Bechtel (conventional weapons)
EZ Logic Data Systems, Inc. (rocket program)
Canberra Industries Inc. (nuclear weapon program)
Axel Electronics Inc. (nuclear weapon program)

“In addition to these 24 companies home-based in the USA are 50 subsidiaries of foreign enterprises which conducted their arms business with Iraq from within the US. Also designated as suppliers for Iraq’s arms programs are the US Ministries of Defense, Energy, Trade and Agriculture as well as the Lawrence Livermore, Los Alamos and Sandia National Laboratories.”

’24’ and the high cost of idiocy

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Now I think we can begin to put a precise figure on the high cost of idiocy. Here is what it took the Australian government in OZ dollars to get Hicks back out of direct US hands. A mere 1/2 million dollars for one single one way flight!

I’m sure boondoggles like this one in the name of the so-called ‘War Against Terrorism’ are bound to continue to just really please the folk down under. Aw Hell! The tax payers don’t really need the money spent on reality anyway, do they? It’s just paper…. Who ever knew that torture would cost so much? Wonder if Fox’s hit show ’24’ ever mentions this sort of stuff on their ‘reality’ program?

Privatized war

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Jeremy Scahill testified before a Congressional panel about war sub-contracting by the Pentagon last week. It was pretty damning testimony and spreads the light about how so many private companies have no desire to see the endless war ever end, since their profit making is tied to continued hostilities. How many of these companies operate in Colorado Springs?

Artillery fodder, and cheap!

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I’ve got an algebra problem for you. If there are approximately the same number of private contractors, which we’ll denote as (m) -for mercenaries, as there are reservists and active duty soldiers, which we’ll denote as (s), in Iraq; and if each mercenary (m) earns ten times as much per day as a soldier (s); how much of the supplemental war allocation is slated to “support the troops?”

Thus we have m = 10s and therefore s = $103,000,000,000 / 11

Except that it’s really 103,000,000,000 – p, where (p) is the amount of money going to the weapons industry to replace the missiles and bombs we are going through like potato chips. Not to mention minus (r) reconstruction, (a) administration and (g) graft.

If Bush is concerned that Congress is denying the soldiers their funding, in favor of earmarking the funds for pork, how much of Bush’s allocation is destined for his pork, and how much to the soldiers? It’s a COMPLETELY UNEDUCATED GUESS but I bet high tech weapons makers get $34 billion, administration and graft get another $33, leaving the mercenaries $33, and our troops $3.

The world’s top ten most polluted places

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The Blacksmith Institute’s top ten most polluted places tells an interesting story. One can’t help but note that five of the top ten worst spots are in regions of the former Soviet Union. The business community of the US and their conservative ideological supporters will certainly point the finger at ‘communism’ for this. But let’s take a closer look, too. Worldwide, what are the activities that most pollute our planet, no matter what kind of economy is involved? The answers would be; mining and war making.

Now, in the context of that information, what happened in the former Soviet Union that produced so much mining and war making? The 20th Century started out for Russia being in a war with Japan. Shortly after that war terminated, the Czarist government dragged Russia into World War 1 which led to terrible devastation and huinger, out of which came the Russian Revolution. World War 1 continued inside of Russia and in the surrounding territories, even as it ended elsewhere. The capitalist countries of the world did not want a non capitalist Russia, so they continued to supply their allies within Russia itself, continuing the bloodshed.

Even when peace finally came, it barely lasted over a decade, as capitalist and fascist Nazi Germany invaded Russia, causing a horrible devastation and destruction to that country, now called the Soviet Union. The Russians fought the foreign invaders,and eventually threw them back outside of Soviet boundaries. The Americans came in at the end and gave the knockout blow to an already knocked down Germany. Result, the Americans immediately began the misnamed Cold War against the Soviet Unon, with the powerful message delivered by 2 dropped atomic bombs.

The Soviet Union got no peace post their victory over the Nazis, but immediately began to have to defend themselves from the threat of an American instituted atomic attack. Trillions of dollars spent on this so-called Cold War later, the Soviet Union collapsed, defeated at last by its own party bureaucracy, and the imperialist capitalsit allies they began to court under the direction of Gorbachev. So what did decades of war and mining to support those wars leave behind? Part of the answer is, that it left behind 5 out of 10 of the world’s most polluted areas.

The top ten list by the Blacksmith Institute clearly shows the interconnection between war and mining, and how that makes for horrible toxic dumps. Capitalism aggravates industrial pollution by its constant surge to producing warfare for private profit. The military uses much of the chemicals and metals that contaminate our world. If you want a Green America, a Green Mother Earth, then you must work to help stop the rampant militarism that infects every facet of our current society. Until we do, the cesspool that is already made will just continue to keep getting nastier, nastier, and nastier. Until we kill ourselves.

From Dallas to Dubai, Oh Why?

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How was it that my former employer, Halliburton, has floated from Dallas to Houston to now, Dubai? JR, where are you? You left the ranch!

Youngsters might not have ever seen the US’s favorite soap opera of all time, ‘Dallas’, where JR Ewing was owner of Ewing Oil? For years fans made pilgrimage’s to the ranch, Southfork (read South forked tongue), where JR reigned supreme in this sappy TeleFantasy. JR is now our vice presdent (in real life) and his company is called Halliburton, a major source of corruption throughout the world as well as in the White House.

When Dick Cheney was getting his start, it consisted of buying up Dresser Industries in Dallas, where I worked as a production machinist way back in the early ’80s. The company made oil field equipment and used a lot of asbestos in its production. Cheney gobbled up the company for Halliburton at cut rate prices, thinking for sure that his high connections would get the company off very easy from all the workers and their families suing the outfit for exposing them to this deadly substance. He was right, the injured workers had to settle for pennies as they begin to die off. Halliburton had filed for bankruptcy!

As we all well know, this evil company headed by Satan (Dick Cheney) has risen from Hell to infect the world once again with its sin. Most notably in Iraq, where it has taken the US tax payer to the cleaners, as literally billions have disappeared under its watch. Might there be liability of some form ahead? Plus, the company has ripped off various cleanup funds for hurricane hit areas, most notably Katrina, but also including other storms. Halliburton is corruption personified.

But wait! This All American company has just relocated to Dubai, one of the 9 emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates. You might think this all logical, as so the company maintians due to Dubai being the center of the world’s major oil producing region? But only about 7% of the economic activity of Dubai is related to oil. The main source of income is from tourism! Yes, tourism.

I know, I know. You are probably sick of visitng Disneyland and Las Vegas, and have suggested to yoour husband or wife or Significant Other,

‘Hey, why don’t we vacation in Dubai this year?’

And they might have whined n response. ‘Dubai?’

Yes, Dubai. Let us tell you why, Dubai!

You see, Dubai is about 1 million population, making it 1/3 of the population of the UAE’s 9 emirates. But there are 3 times more men than women living there. What gives? And who are these folk?

Well, only less than 20% of them have citizenship. Huh? Well, basically Dubai’s small citizenry live in a gated community like those gated communities found in upper class enclaves in Dallas and Houston. The 80% plus of other residents are ‘servants’. Or to be more exact, many of them are basically slaves. It’s kind of like Texas, but even more Texas than the original.

Dick Cheney and his cohorts at Halliburton will feel just fine there. English is the language of the schools, and also the language of business. It’s a dictatorship, theocracy, and a Kingdom. Plus, the banking laws are just right! What liability?

But most of all, it is the sex capital of the region! Non citizen ‘guest workers’ automatically have their passports confiscated by the police upon entering The Emirate. That includes female ‘guest workers’ especially. That’s what makes tourism supreem in Dubai! ‘Businessmen’ come from worldwide for Dubai’s beaches and its uh?, nightlife. Got the picture?

Check out this documentary on Dubai’s trade in slave flesh. Made by concerned Armenians, no less.
‘Desert Nights‘. It is 45 minutes long, more or less, and gets more interesting as it goes. Perhaps you wanted to visit Bangcock? But why not follow the Halliburton executive crowd and get to know the slaves of Dubai instead?

New Iraqi oil laws made in USA

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There is since the days of legal slavery, probably no worse example of theft written into law than the proposed new Iraqi oil laws will be when passed. Written first in English by the US oil companies and their US government co-conspirators, they were recently re-translated back into our home tongue from Arabic by an Iraqi blogger, Raed Jarrar. Key word here is PRIVATIZATION, and it won’t be for the benefit of any minuscule Iraqi companies still in existence.

To the hundreds of billions of tax payer dollars already robbed from the US treasury for the benefit of the US armament crowd, like CS homey company Lockheed et al, now will be added hundreds of billions of dollars to be robbed by corporations like Halliburton and Exxon-Mobil from the decimated people of Iraq. A perfect picture of modern predatory capitalism in action. Sick. See Democracy Now- New Iraqi Oil Law to Open Iraq’s Oil Reserves to Western Companies

Dept. of Homeland Stupidity to play again in Super Bowl this weekend

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How many American clowns does it take to screw on a light bulb? Heck, I don’t know, but I do know part of the answer to how many police/military agencies it takes to play Homeland Stupidity at the Super Bowl this weekend!

I’ve been making up some stuff recently but this one is for real. According to the US Customs and Border Protection, they will be one of 30 federal agencies there, but they did not state the number of state and local uniformed clowns that will show up. We can only guess? No naked breasts this year though, so you might want to rent a tape in that Department, or you women/ your women will just be watching the tight ends.

Conspicuous accountancy

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The General Accounting Office says they don’t have enough manpower to audit the Iraq reconstruction contracts. So much money has been spent, and so much of it has vaporized, that there isn’t staff enough to follow it.
 
I ask you, imagine the white-collar power to abscond with that loot!

Granted it takes less effort to bury a needle in a haystack than it takes to find it, but we are not talking about needles. If so much money missing, let’s look for contractors with accountancy muscle enough to have hauled it off. Like a polar bear gone missing at the zoo, at first it’s inexplicable, but we know it would take a pretty conspicuous baby stroller.

If you don’t have the accountants to trace billions of diverted funds, hire them from the contractors who have them. Lots of accountants were needed to devise, execute and cover-up the heist. Where are they?

When David Copperfield made the Statue of Liberty disappear, with mirrors it’s said, he didn’t do it alone. You and I could say we didn’t have the staff to go out there in the grass and find his un-magical cohorts. But Mr. Copperfield has the staff. Their resumes probably laud their skills for mirror holding.

Lockheed and Bush are LunarTicks

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I just love this new Bush plan to militarize green cheese! It’s all very Ray Bradbury even. Let’s put the Pentagon on the moon!
 
The way this is announced is to try to convince people that all their tax payer money is not going for warfare from way up high, but will just be an innocent little moon rock expedition. Of course, none of this will actually go as scheduled. By the time 2020 Space Odyssey roles around, the US will have a national debt of about a google’s google of dollars.