How To Ruin The Job Creators

The President-elect ran a campaign determined to mine enthusiasm for raising the top marginal tax rate from 35% to 39%.  The GOP has assured us that such behavior will mean economic Armageddon through the ruination of the people who "create" jobs.  Some sort of magic occurs at 35%.

I do not and no one I know hires a fourth person to do three people's work, that is just stupid.  Everyone I know of that hires people hires someone because three people can't do four people's work, which means that there is that much demand for the product.  If you're going to follow along on this "job creators" theme you're either telling people that rich people having some more money means they will gratuitously hire or that they spend enough money in the market place to drive that kind of demand.  I think we've dealt with the gratuitous hiring part but the demand part is ought to be as easy, 2% of the taxpayers do not buy all that much of anything (well, most yachts).

So what is the real impact?  Let's start with what marginal rate means - anything above an amount.  So, $250,000, after deductions, is taxed at the previous rates and anything above gets hit.  This would mean that of $260,000 after deductions $10,000 would be taxed at 39%.  Follow along, 10,000 x 0.39 is 3,900 and 10,000 x 0.35 is 3500 which is a grand total of another $400.  Holy shit, your taxes on Adjusted Gross Income of $260,000 will go up $400 and with that you will buy... what?  OK, sure we all know this is more about millionaires than than that 250K bunch so here's that number (assuming - ridiculously - that you somehow have $1M in ordinary income) $750,000.  Alrighty, more simple damn math: 750,000 x 0.39 is 292,500 and 750,000 x 0.35 is 262,500 so your 750K costs you $30,000 more.  That will buy one car that these people won't be seen driving or at the Federal Minimum Wage of $7.25 earning you $1580 at 40 hours for 52 weeks a whole $15,080, just less than two jobs washing the cars they actually would buy.  (no, we're not talking take-home pay)  Why does that millionaire need two additional minimum workers?  Nobody will tell you, they just squeal "job creators."

If people don't have goddam money they don't spend it on products and services.  Those people are called consumers and they produce jobs by consuming.  If 80% of the consumers are competing for 7% of the wealth there isn't going to be a lot of consuming going on out of that share.  What is actually the case is that the "job creators" are destroying jobs by sucking every last cent out of the economy.  It isn't the conservatives' bug-a-boo government that is sucking the life out of the economy, it is their protected class that is doing it.  It is real damn simple - the money is not moving around in the economy.

You can feel free to call it socialism, communism, or "punishing success" to advocate using the one tool the governement has at hand to change economic behavior, taxation, to address this concentration of wealth - but real simply, capitalism can't survive under the current conditions.  Most of the country can do pretty well under capitalism, those who can't can be addressed with an adequate safety-net, but we have today the Reaganism version of capitalism to live with and it ain't working.  Welcome to The Gilded Age aka Robber Baron Era.

People have serious doubts that the President can stick to his 39% rate which will do spit to address the problem and are worried about the safety-net...  Christ on a pogo stick.  Liberals seem to think this recent election did more than stave off absolute disaster.  Can this nation get any stupider about its plutocrat enabling?

The short answer, of course, is - Yes.

Stevens Is...Well....Free

US Attorney General Eric Holder has asked U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan to drop the case against former Senator Stevens (R-AK). Prosecutors did not turn all required evidence over to the defense team along with other miscues. Steven stated that he is "grateful that the new team of responsible prosecutors at the Department of Justice has acknowledged that I did not receive a fair trial and has dismissed all the charges against me."

This has led to some right wing crowing that Stevens is innocent and that a Senate seat was stolen by Democrats and even that this is somehow Obama's fault. Now what Holder has done is to give up on a case that is poisoned by prosecutorial behavior not to declare or represent any sort of innocence on Steven's part. As for this case having anything to do with Democrats or Obama ignores the time line, Obama was a Senator in the midst of and election campaign and the Justice Department is run under the Executive Branch - Bush/Cheney.

Holder finding that Stevens did not receive a fair trial is disturbing, and it is at least somewhat reassuring to see the DOJ go toward correcting it. Holder has established an internal investigation to find out who and what went wrong. Judge Sullivan is also wanting answers. This would be bad for some careers.

I do find it odd for Republicans to be getting all up in the air about a convicted felon getting off on technicalities - I thought that was liberal judges and Democrat territory...

So much for consistency.

Vitter's Whores?

You might be amused by UAW Shreveport Local Rep Morgan Johnson's
comment about Sen Vitter that

"He'd rather pay a prostitute than pay auto workers."

but there is all kinds of truth floating around in that statement. You need to take a look at his record on various topics to see exactly how true it is.

Try to keep a few real basic things in mind about economics, labor is a commodity like any other when it is not organized and ordinary commodity market outcomes happen. Illegal immigration happens almost entirely due to one factor, better paying jobs. It doesn't happen because English is such a wonderful language or because the US has universal health care or because we have such a great reputation for treatment of minorities, it happens because of money. Vitter is one of the proponents of fences, yes fences to keep those illegals out and - if you haven't noticed - to keep them illegal. A damn fence does nothing to address the problem other than make it somewhat inconvenient, so the flow will continue. That continuing flow feeds the flooding of the labor market so that the commodity labor like any other commodity becomes less valuable. Simply put wages decline.

Now the converse is true of organized labor. Unions raise wages, not only in the sector they have contracts but also in any nearby or related sectors. There is a reason for the concentration of foreign makers in Southern right to work states, there is a reason a right to work state like Idaho exports so many contractors across the Oregon border, contractors going broke in Idaho. There is a reason plutocrats and by extension Republicans detest unions and it ain't ideological, it's all about who gets how big a portion of the pie. There is in reality a limit to the size of the pie. At a point the plutocrats don't get incredibly wealthy if they pay labor much because there is a limit to what the consumer will pay for a particular item.

I liked Morgan's comment but it doesn't go nearly far enough, we are his whores - any of us who work with our hands for a living. The dirty skanky whores are the illegals, bottom of the barrel easily dismissed and derogated and truly subject to police action if they get uppity. A bit more difficult are the ordinary whores, the unorganized labor, not so easily denigrated and not nearly as subject to policing, the simplest method is to replace them with the skanks and by association drive down their appeal. The high class hookers are a real problem, they have connections and an exclusivity so targeting them is a matter of opportunity, such as when their owners are having problems and would like some help.

You find something unhappy in the comparison of labor to prostitutes? Why? The most common rationalization for falling incomes and failing prospects is that laborers made unfortunate life choices, they could all have gone to colleges and been billionaires if only they'd chosen properly. Just like those hookers, bad choices made and the derogation of society for doing something unattractive. You like that less? Labor sells its body for a dime, these jobs eat the physique for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and some of them eat the mind. Enough years of construction will destroy joints and beat the cardiac system to pieces, line work does most of that and further grinds with mindlessness and repetition. Then add in that what is done is not respectable, the hands get dirty and calloused rather than paper cuts and it isn't carpal tunnel syndrome it's blown knees and shoulders and backs. There is no on paper product that generates money on the back of other paper generated money, there is some distastefully concrete item. Bend over son, you're getting screwed.

Vitter is a whoremonger and tool of the pimps and his incidental connection to the DC Madame is only instructive, not definitive because you can replace his unfortunate self with Corker or McConnell or any other of Southern Republican Senators with Labor in their cross hairs. McCain was crucified by that bunch for proposing to do something counter to the plutocratic interest with illegal immigrants. You have some idea it was low class rednecks? It was the plutocratic power structure that sank him using its tools of racism and class fear. Certainly, they played the losing end of the bargain against illegal immigrants, they've done it for years with the same tools. They and everyone with two live brain cells that talk to each other knows that to do something meaningful to curb illegal immigration the job magnet has to be removed - but that involves the other end of the scale, employers, people with actual money who support the Republican corruption machine.

No this isn't the corruption of selling a Senate seat, this is the basic corruption of the fabric of American life and values. It is the permanent creation of an illegal disenfranchised serf class. It is the absolute devaluation of labor, the creation of the perception of a monkey class of knuckle draggers unworthy of real compensation and a chance at a stable life. It is part and parcel of the fiction of trickle down economics or more sinisterly mislabeled supply side economics. It is a deliberate return to the Robber Baron Era, the very best model for it. If it means the destruction of the economy for the foreseeable future it is worth it to break unions and let the plutocrats pick up the broken pieces at fire sale prices. Who exactly do you think will own the broken factories and foreclosed houses? People with money? Well, of course people with money and who exactly will that be? Certainly not Toyota line workers whose pay will go into the toilet the second there is no union to keep away from the doors.

Does Vitter have enough brainpower to figure out whose tune he's playing on the whorehouse piano? If you've listened to him it is very doubtful you believe it and I certainly don't. He's the nickle's worth whore monger playing for the real Madame. Most of these dolts are just dancing at the ends of the money strings of their Madames, they're almost pimps, wanna be's jerking around without a real cut of the graft and profits thinking they're somebodies because they can fool people into voting for something they don't even believe. Oh yeah, when wishes are fishes we'll all be billionaires and they'll be an honest bunch. When wishes are fishes.

Chicago, Chicago, Chicago...

After years of being the BushCo lapdog the media has apparently discovered the role of watchdog, sort of. Gov. Blagojevitch may epitomize stupidly incompetent criminality and as a colorful character meet the criteria of interesting media but he is also an individual. The media doesn't seem to be able to separate the individual from the collective and this is important. In any milieu there are individuals of varying character and ideas and when that is not recognized all kinds of fallacious statements become currency. Democrats are anti-gun is an example, the fact that it is a well financed and noisy segment rather than an entirety seems to be beyond their ability to report and has come to the point of it being a man bite dog story when a Democrat openly supports the 2nd Amendment.



There is a noisome segment of Illinois and particularly Chicago politics that is dirty handed and this isn't in debate - anywhere responsible. The piece of that with importance is "segment." The fact that the segment exists says nothing about any particular individual. All Republicans are not Jack Abromoffs and neither are all Illinois Democrats dirty handed Blagojevitchs. Here is where the guilt by association becomes so nasty, people with no record or accusation of misbehavior are required to prove that something doesn't exist. Have you ever watched arguments about the existence of God? You are put in the position of trying to rationally prove something that is taken as an article of faith. The current argument of faith is either than Obama is a good man or that all Chicago pols are de-facto crooked until proven otherwise.



That becomes an entire mess. If Obama produces what 'he says' are records of transition contacts with the crooked Governor it will still only be his assertion that the records are accurate. The immediate response is, "why are we to believe you?" since all Chicago pols are crooked and liars. Obama is in the position of proving a negative that has no direct factual evidence supporting the accusation.



The media has kept pointing out that Fitzgerald stated there was no Obama connection and then kept asking for it to be proven. It is easy enough to prove that such a thing did occur if there are verifiable tapes or photos, but how to document that no such thing occurred? Apparently the Governor referring in taped comments to the "son of a bitch" only willing to give "appreciation" has little or no meaning in the theme of "crooked Chicago pol." It is easy enough to recognize that there is an opposition in existence to Obama who will take any excuse and run with it, the question is why the media participates. Now the metric seems to be that Obama's transparency is threatened because he didn't...well apparently prove he didn't...who the hell actually knows what he did or didn't do that is a threat to his transparency. The media asks questions based on their speculation and is disappointed when the response doesn't match their speculation and so the transition team is guilty of something, even if it only not meeting their speculation. No one has managed to make an accusation of misbehavior, the questions amount to, "Did you misbehave?" and the answer, "No," lacks transparency. It lacks transparency because the answer is not, "Yes," when everyone knows Chicago pols are corrupt.

I am a great fan of keeping politicians and officials accountable, whatever the Party or ideology. I don't care about that part, I care that they are entrusted with power and the exercise of that power needs to be monitored. I may support or oppose an ideology or policy but that doesn't mean I don't want to keep an eye on its exercise. The egregious failures of BushCo aren't just about their incompetence, it is about no one keeping an eye on them and jumping when evidence surfaced. Evidence. Virtually every foul-up by the Bush Administration had early warning signs in nature of actual evidence, not speculation. For the most part neither the media, the Congress nor the public demanded answers to facts and that was the failure. The failure was not a lack of speculation, it was cowering under cover of Wartime President that was the failure.

Calling for a cessation of speculation about "popular" President-elect Obama is not the same thing as asking for a blank check. The Blogojevitch mess needs to be looked at and watched closely. If there is anything regarding Obama it will come out under close attention. People don't keep secrets well and particularly not where power and popularity are the stakes. That is the point, how about a piece of evidence before beating a drum of corruption or cooperation with corruption? How about one person in a position to know actually making an accusation or bringing forth a single piece of fact, first? Oh sure, there are ratings to consider...

McMavericky Alaskan Corrution Fighter...

We all know that Sarah Palin made her bones in Alaska fightin' against corruption. With Alaska sucking furiously on the Federal teat and awash in oil money there's been an awful lot of money floating around in a pretty small pond. Some fair sized frogs have been caught out and now the big daddy bullfrog himself has been gigged. A federal court jury found Sen Ted Stevens guilty of all seven felonies he was charged with, lying on a gift disclosure form.

Whether Alaskans gave a damn or not, this isn't exactly a newsflash that Ted was dirty. A forty year veteran Senator is a big frog in any pond and big Alaska with its tiny population spread all over the place makes him a monster. If you want to sit on one of the lily pads you'd best see Ted. A moderate sized city in most of the other states would make up Ted's voters, that isn't much of a pond. So maybe it really isn't much of a surprise that an ambitious Republican woman would hitch up with the big croaker.

Clear back on September 1st WaPo's Matthew Mosk covered the Palin coziness with Ted.

Palin's name is listed on 2003 incorporation papers of the "Ted Stevens Excellence in Public Service, Inc.," a 527 group that could raise unlimited funds from corporate donors. The group was designed to serve as a political boot camp for Republican women in the state. She served as one of three directors until June 2005, when her name was replaced on state filings.

Such a position might have come in pretty handy in the small world of Alaskan politics as long as Ted was a force to be reckoned with. In 2005, with a Republican Congress and President, Ted was the king of Alaskan pork - a veritable fount of Federal largess - and that equates to serious swat. With the 2006 Governor's election in the works Sarah could always use some more help, and she got it.

Stevens had been helpful to Palin during her run for governor, swooping in with a last moment endorsement. And the two filmed a campaign commercial together to highlight Stevens's endorsement of Palin during the 2006 race.

Sarah's elevation to the original McMaverick's VP slot and Ted's problems becoming public in a national sort of way that became a bit of an embarrassment.

Shortly after Palin was announced as McCain's vice presidential pick, the ad was removed from her gubernatorial campaign web site. It remains available on YouTube.

Damned internet is almost as inconvenient as filmed statements she made touting that Bridge she was for before she was against it after Congress cut that project. So I guess Sarah has been pallin' around not only with witch doctors and violent secessionists but also a convicted felonious public servant. Kind of makes you go, "hmmmm," about her inability to call abortion clinic bombers terrorists doesn't it?

You can put a Palin in a $10K dress and spray paint a tan on it, but it is still a Palin. I sure the hell hope the Republicans decide she's their future... Johnny McPOW is of limited potential for real fun.

Republicans Don't Understand What Corruption Is

After almost 8 years of corrupt behavior at the top of the government by Republicans you'd think the Party would begin to understand what defines it. But noooooo. 8 years of cronyism no-bid contracts, religious/political tested hirings and firings, political destruction of a CIA operative, fictitious war intelligence, un-Civil Rights DOJ actions, illegal destruction of the 4th Amendment, etc ad nauseum and they don't get it exactly this much - Sarah Palin.

No, this isn't ideology, it is about the use of a high public office to interfere in a personal/familial relationship. It is about firing the head of Public Safety in Alaska for not firing Palin's ex-brother in law for allegations in a custodial suit. Palin, as Governor of Alaska fired a public official for personal reasons, she used her office for personal ends to the possible deficit of her citizenry - a law suit. This isn't a left wing joke, it is really serious business, it is exactly as corrupt as government gets.

I don't care if the allegations against her sister's ex-husband are true or not, there is a process for determining that and it must be followed. She broke that rule for her reasons. She stinks to high heaven as a VP candidate. My bet is that the bipartisan committee in the Alaskan legislature is going to find against her and that will cause deserved heart burn for the McCain campaign. POW or otherwise this is inexcusable, a demonstration that the rule of law is suspended if you are Republican.

Possibly you haven't understood why I am so dead set against John McCain and why I keep bringing up Chuck Keating - the man is corrupt to his core. He believes in it, this Palin story didn't just break. Considering the norm of corruption in Alaska it was scarcely a national story until he took that Alaskan corruption into the national scene. He calls Palin a reformer, this reform would just barely pass as sufficient governance in most of the other 49 states. As an Oregonian I am offended that he makes a case that this is bringing reform anywhere other than Alaska, in this state her idea of reform would result in the bunch being run out of town on a rail. Ted Stevens was her pal until he was indicted, well actually, per her website, until McCain announced her. Ted Steven was known crooked long before she was elected Governor and she liked him fine until...the FBI raided his offices and home last year, well before she disowned him - and his Bridge. She'll fit in fine with the McCain, Gramm, Black, Scheunemann, Rove bunch, Americans not so well - I hope.

Hi, Ted - Love Ya, Sarah

Freshly scrubbed from Palin's Website...

Bus, Ted, Under, Thrown, Straight Talk Express

What? It's a news flash that Ted Stevens is corrupt in Alaska? Even in 2006?

Scared Of Lead Toys, How About Your Medicine Chest

You're unhappy about lead paint and other contaminants in toys your children might stick in their mouth, that's understandable. Media is all over the question raising fear levels so it is reasonable that people are scared of the idea. You may be testing toys or checking for recalls, but I'll bet you're not looking into your medicine chest.

McClatchy Papers takes a look at your medicine, not your patent medicines, your prescription drugs. The stuff that is supposed to be so safe because it's made in the US. Well sort of made in the USA.

China's booming pharmaceutical industry has doubled exports to the United States in the past five years, undercutting competitors and making American consumers reliant on the safety of Chinese factories and captive to any disruptions in Sino-U.S. commerce.

There might be an end to outsourcing and in sourcing, there might be but don't hold your breath. You might think with the number of drugs and precursors and other components that there would be some FDA involvement, you'd be wrong.

The Chinese and Indian companies are all but exempt from oversight by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

"Only 13 inspections were conducted in China in 2007," Rep. John Dingell, a Michigan Democrat who chairs the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, said at a hearing Nov. 1. "At this rate, it would take the FDA 55 years just to clear this backlog."

The Chinese took some action after it was revealed that the head of the drug agency was taking kickbacks resulting in a counterfeit drug that cost 13 lives. This was supposed to reassure the global market. So all is well?

Although Chinese authorities warn against foreign finger-pointing, the government's own reaction to the scandal over bogus and substandard drugs earlier this year was extremely harsh.

After drug chief Zheng Xiaoyu's execution, the state began a vast housecleaning. This week, it said it had shut down 300 drug and medical-device makers, convicted 279 people of irregularities and prompted drug companies to withdraw 7,300 applications for drug approval, indicating more rigor in the approval process.

Seems to be a bit of an ongoing problem. Now your kids might stick that toy in their mouths, but I will guarantee that you will swallow that Chinese drug. Good luck with that.

Corruption Destroying What's Left Of Iraq

You probably are thinking that a little corruption is to be expected in an Arab nation, you also may be a little jaded by Halliburton, KBR, Parsons, Blackwater, and other assorted US corruption, but Iraq has passed what levels may be sustainable. If you think maybe BushCo has really lowered the bar for Iraq's government by putting it at passing a budget, you don't understand the depths of their tolerance. If you'd like a taste for just how tolerant of corruption this Administration is you could re-visit this October post and see that they not only don't want to hear about it, they want to bury it. And from the looks of it, bury anybody who talks.

Nonstop Theft and Bribery Stagger Iraq is how a NYT report describes the situation. Now bearing in mind that Radhi al-Radhi the ex-head of governmental corruption investigation lost 31 staff members to killings, you can understand that folks aren't real hot on talking and being identified but what NYT reports is horrific. Some will talk:

“Everyone is stealing from the state,” said Adel Adel al-Subihawi, a prominent Shiite tribal leader in Sadr City, throwing up his hands in disgust. “It’s a very large meal, and everyone wants to eat.”

He's not kidding around, police applicants pay from $400 to $800 to have their applications taken and approved, one stated that not one of his class of 850 did not pay a bribe and that his commanders collect the salaries of recruits who quit. So you commit a crime to become a policeman. Everyone is stealing? Estimates run to $18 billion in Iraqi government money that has been lost to corruption since 2004, some American officials estimate that a third of what they spend on Iraqi contracts or grants winds up stolen or unaccounted for.

Cash is also often what leads to promotions — with the help of a fake college degree, purchased for about $40 — and theft is no less common. One government worker, who goes by the name Abu Muhammad, said a senior administrator at the ministry where he worked recently sold off computers, laser printers, office furniture and other supplies that appeared to have been paid for with American aid. The official was never caught or prosecuted, he said.

It is not just a matter of getting rich, it involves schemes as simple as hand washing cars for survival money. Abbas Wadi Kadhim, 42, takes water from a broken water pipe to earn $4 per car - the water is "stolen" and he pays no rent on the abandoned government building he uses to house his operation. He is ashamed to violate the Koran's prohibition on corruption but avoids more forbidden acts which rescues some of his pride.

Maybe the mess would be tolerable in a war torn chaotic nation, Iraq rates as the 3rd most corrupt in the world, if there seemed to be some form of pushback by anyone, there isn't. Consider the government's stance on corruption investigations:

Stuart W. Bowen Jr., who runs the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, said Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki actually undercut anticorruption efforts this year by requiring that investigators get permission from his office before pursuing ministers or former ministers on corruption charges.

Mr. Maliki has also not rescinded a law, opposed by the Americans, that lets ministers exempt their employees from investigation. “Those two legal positions within the fledgling Iraqi government are incompatible with democracy,” Mr. Bowen said in an interview. “My concerns about the corruption problem have risen.”

Does anyone think that maybe this might rank right up there with passing a budget with BushCo? Well, in a reasonable world maybe, but it sounds an awful lot like the Administration's policy with our own Inspector Generals. In fact, in the US it is starting to look as though if it isn't nailed down it's for sale or stolen. You could almost make a case that we blew up a country so favored contractors could make a buck - well, billions or so. Stop and consider that Halliburton was seriously looking at bankruptcy before Cheney et al got the reins of power and others were just ordinarily profitable operations, now it sure is a different picture.

The Surge that was supposed to give Iraqis a breathing space to get their act together seems to have done that,

The collective filching undermines Iraq’s ability to provide essential services, a key to sustaining recent security gains, according to American military commanders. It also sows a corrosive distrust of democracy and hinders reconciliation as entrenched groups in the Shiite-led government resist reforms that would cut into reliable cash flows.

So who is it that is supposed to have an incentive to get this war over with? The war profiteers in Washington or maybe the Iraqis who gain to the tune of billions would want to cut the spigot off? Maybe the right who insist that it's all about terrorism could take a look at who benefits and wonder if the blood and treasure really needs to be spent for this cause - theft.

How To Profit From War, Parsons Corp

Maybe you remember a slight difficulty in Iraq with a Police Academy, one that had crumbling walls and sewage running from the ceilings and walls? The name of the US contractor who had charge of that $72 million project was Parsons Corporation. The NYT reported 11/06/07 that the 'problems' had yet to be rectified. Parsons seems entirely overwrought with remorse:

A company spokeswoman, Erin Kuhlman, said that Parsons, which is based in Pasadena, Calif., had strictly abided by the terms of the contract it had received from the United States Army Corps of Engineers to do the work at the academy.

“Parsons completed its work at the Baghdad Police College in the spring of 2006,” Ms. Kuhlman said, adding that the Army Corps accepted the work as completed at about the same time.

It seems that in July of '06 the Army wasn't happy with sewage running out the ceilings. Parsons put them in contact with the Iraqi subcontractor. In July and August of '06 the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, an independent agency led by Stuart W. Bowen Jr. took a look and was distinctly unhappy, finding “indications of potential fraud” and oversight by the Army Corp and Parsons to have virtually nonexistent.

Folks, I'm a contractor, nowhere in Parson's universe, and I know that you almost have to try to make this big a mess. This is a training academy not a 5 star hotel or mansion, it is not that difficult. There are ways screw it up this bad and they generally involve cheating.

On Sept. 28, 2006, as the inspector general’s report was released, Earnest O. Robbins II, a senior vice president at Parsons, testified before the House Government Reform Committee that the company would fix the problems at no extra charge. “We are repairing it at no cost to the government,” Mr. Robbins said in response to questions by Representative Chris Van Hollen, Democrat of Maryland.

On the Sunday previous to this 11/6/07 news report :

the American officer affiliated with the new project to repair the problems described an elaborate and costly effort to tear out and replace the plumbing on entire floors. The problems were so severe, the officer said, that the military had also been obliged to build new latrines outside and demolish some structures entirely and start over.

“These buildings are all Parsons-built,” said the officer. “The piping is bad. It really is. To be honest with you, it’s raw sewage, raw fecal matter coming out of the walls.”

Now if you've started to wonder if war is good for business and if they think it is there are some clues available as to their thinking, little deals like FEC filings, say Parsons starting in 2000 when there was no war to profit from

All Federal Candidates:
2000 $75,250 (38% to Democrats, 60% to Republicans)
2002 $130,500 (43% to Democrats, 57% to Republicans)
2004 $270,500 (50% to Democrats, 50% to Republicans)
2006 $417,050 (49% to Democrats, 50% to Republicans)
2008 $209,000 (61% to Democrats, 39% to Republicans) to date
Numbers courtesy Open Secrets

Now it seems that not too long after the BushCo started to make it clear that they'd like to outsource government it became important to influence thinking as much as possible. Now '04 was a Presidential cycle, but it sure seemed awfully important, not to mention that the war started in '03. The '06 cycle didn't involve any Presidential campaigns ( in '04 $0 went to Democratic Presidential) but there sure was profit to be made from death and destruction and governmental largess with the kind of oversight that Stuart Bowen found so "useful."

There's a $45 billion reconstruction project turkey to cut up in Iraq, in '04 Parsons had contracts worth up to $800 million. By 6/06 the Army Corp had cancelled a $99.1 million contract for a prison that was 1 year behind schedule, weeks after a $300 million contract to build clinics and hospitals was canceled for non-performance.

So, it's worth pretty big bucks to candidates to get work worth a lot of money but the doing of it seems not quite as worthwhile. We need some more of this, let's be sure to elect the same mindset to Congress and President, Parsons would be appreciative...

Even More Blackwater?

If you thought shooting up a traffic circle and killing an Iraqi official's staff member would cost Blackwater much of anything you probably forgot to factor in BushCo cronyism and theocratic favoritism. Maybe a company that engages in murder and other corruptions ought to be barred from the federal bid process, or maybe the federal bid process ought not include items of a military action nature and national security actions, but under BushCo that is the case.

Blackwater (WSJ) is in the running for a federal contract to provide anti-drug training for the Defense Department. "Companies competing for the work might be called on to develop detection or surveillance technology; train U.S. and foreign forces; or provide logistics, communications and information-technology systems, among other areas." I'm astonished that it seems even remotely possible that Blackwater would get such a job. Well, truthfully, I can't see why the federal government would outsource such a mission to private contractors, there are all sorts of legal issues involved in such activities...oh, I forgot, private companies are more likely than the feds to respect law and order.

At what point does the contempt of BushCo for the division of government and business end? What levels of corruption and mismanagement will it take to drive home the message that there are things the government ought to actually run? One of the brags the Mussolini Fascistic blending of government and business could make was "that at least the trains run on time." In this version the only train running on time is the one carrying bags of taxpayer's money out of town. BushCo and the neocons call it the privatization of government, it is no such thing, if it were private in any sense of the word it would be competing in the open market to deliver services to the public, it is not. Does anybody buy the idea that Blackwater is not a wholly owned subsidiary of BushCo? If this were not so, then Blackwater could exist without the taxpayer largess heaped upon it. I will stop short of using the Nazi fascist model, the Fuhrer cult of personality is missing beyond the deadend 28%, but it is a perverted sort of Italian Fasciti operation.

Take a look at the prime contractors for the Fed and their political entanglements and influence, and see which would survive without Federal tax dollars and which are so intimate with the Feds that they are insulated from the consequences of their incompetence and corruption. The results of Dick Cheney's administration of Halliburton was to leave the company on the verge of bankruptcy - hardly so today - despite cheating on no-bid contracts serving US combat troops. Mercenary Blackwater thrives, contributes redistributed tax dollars right back into BushCo, while it murders and steals. GE thrives on government military contracts and runs mass media. I could go on and on, but why? Congress will do nothing and George II has another year and couple months to continue to rape the Treasury for his favorites and from the looks of it enough people seem to think Hillary is different. ahahahahah

BAE Corrupts, McConnell Earmarks

BAE, a British military contractor, is under investigation by the Justice Department and in trouble in Britain so it would seem only right that Senate Minority Leader McConnell would earmark $25 million for them. It probably helps do the right thing when the company donates $500,000 to the McConnell Center at U. of Louisville and contributes $53,000 to his campaign since his 2002 re-election. Just to connect the dots, BAE is under investigation for bribery in Suadi Arabia, apparently the Arabs just aren't as sophisticated as Republican Senators.

Values Voter Summit Vote Cheating ?

Ahahahahaha, you've got to love it, the Republicans are accusing the Republicans of vote fraud and at, no less, the Values Voter Summit. Get this, there were 5775 votes cast, and despite the summit thing being this last weekend, people who donated a bit could vote online (so much for the value of speechifying) any time between August and Saturday. Mitt just edged out Huckabee despite Huckabee taking 51% of the in person vote versus Mitt's 10%.

Now I can't think of any reason the participants might think there was room for chicanery. You don't suppose any of these hambones have watched news over the last 6 years? They ought to give a call to the DOJ's Voter's Rights Dept, those folks would fall all over themselves - laughing as they ran as fast as they could, there weren't any black faux felons or liberal activists involved. These people play politics as dirty as it can be played without going to jail (sure, sure) and then they get all het up when it goes just exactly the way they do it.

I'll admit it, I feel kind of sorry for Mike Huckabee, he's a decent sort of theocrat, but that's his problem, he's decent sort, and he's playing with the Mitt. You can't blame the way Mitt is on Mormonism, I know a bunch of real upstanding kind people who are Mormons, nope, I think maybe the greed and plutocratic thinking of his business ventures just sort of aggravated a natural character defect. So far in his career he's managed to hold just about every politically useful policy possible what ever contradictions involved. I wouldn't buy a used vacuum cleaner from that guy.

It is just too apropos for these folks to fall into the corruption swamp of their Party's making to feel very bad for any of them. It might be of real benefit to the Republican Party to find out just how nasty the Republican Party has become. Don't hold your breath...

Radhi al-Radhi, Hero - Versus - Darn Near Everybody

Maybe a hick from Baker City, Oregon is easily impressed...I don't think so. How was it going in Iraq for Judge al-Radhi head of the Commission on Public Integrity? Kinda rough, 31 employees killed and 12 family members killed, serving the interest of the Maliki government, which wasn't very enthusiastic. Unenthusiastic enough to fire Radhi while he and some of his staff were in the US for US sponsored training last month, and cut him off monetarily. It seems this guy made some pretty serious enemies. Just for good measure add in the State Department, yup, US State Department under Condi's direction. Yeah, that historically challenged factually deficient, Condi Rice, promoter of global democratization and BushCo ethics. (cough, cough - I put those two words next to each other??)

This is quite honestly such a mess that I'm torn on which part leads to the next and what's more disturbing. OK, my post in September gave some detail to corruption in Iraq and Radhi's difficulties engaging it, his efforts show the Maliki government to be nearly paralyzed by corruption, something inconvenient for BushCo at this point. Thursday he testified before Henry Waxman's committee, detailing what's been going on. Within minutes Republicans were on the attack:

"Corruption is not a new phenomenon," remarked Representative Tom Davis, the senior GOPer on the panel.

Republican, Representative Darrell Issa, "We're not surprised a country that was run by a corrupt dictator…would have a pattern of corruption."

Republican Representative John Mica noted that corruption plagues many democratic countries, including the United States. Mica cited Watergate and the prosecution of Reagan administration officials, and he claimed that the Clinton administration had "the most number of witnesses to die suddenly."

I'm not going to re-write this AlterNet story, there are a lot more details, not nice details, but we start to get to some of the salient points when Waxman wants to see the State Department report on Iraqi government corruption - it's classified. The 70 page draft was "Sensitive, Not Classified;" the 80 page version is now off limits.

Writing to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Waxman contended that this was absurd and outrageous. He argued it was ridiculous for the State Department to claim it could not answer even general questions about Iraqi corruption within a public setting. At the hearing, Waxman hurled a series of queries at Butler. What effect does corruption have on the Iraqi government's ability to achieve political reconciliation? Has Maliki obstructed any corruption investigations? Does the Maliki government have the political will and capability to root out corruption? Is corruption funding the insurgency? Again and again, Butler replied that he would be delighted to answer these questions in the proper setting: a classified hearing behind closed doors. This information, he explained, was secret because its disclosure would "endanger" U.S.-Iraqi relations.

Is your head spinning? Yet? Waxman evidently was, he noted that Condi had recently praised the Maliki efforts against corruption - very publicly - but now the not so positive was classified. The pattern of embarrassing documents finding their way into classification continues. Henry got wound up enough to say, "Secretary Rice is going to have a confrontation with this committee….The executive branch must answer the questions of the legislative branch." Knock yourself out, Henry, Condi luuuuuvs George II much more than she fears you.

According to a Radhi associate, Radhi left the committee room believing he had done the right thing. Even as he was depending on the U.S. government to process his asylum request, he had delivered Congress a straight message that happened to be rather inconvenient for the Bush administration. Then hours later, he received disturbing news: his son, who had been trying to obtain political asylum in England, was ordered by the British government to return to Baghdad. That's where people connected to Radhi have been kidnapped, tortured and killed. "For Judge Radhi," the Radhi associate said, "this put his day on Capitol Hill in a very different light."

That's right Rep Mica, there's corruption in DC, rather inconvenient of your Republican self to bring it up. Radhi battles it in Bhagdad, loses friends and family, and finally his position and economic well-being and you thugs belittle him in your smug little BushCo world of cronyism and corruption. The man is a hero and you and your's are scum sucking bottom feeders and you will exact your revenge for him making George II's surge look pointless.

Just exactly how ignored has this story been? Bet you knew nothing of it from the MSM. Yep, that leftist elite media the wing nuts are always railing against... Follow those links and see what it really is that's got me going, I'll be damned if I'll sit still for this crap out of those weasels.

Here's a little PostScript for you:

"No U.S. government agency has provided him any help to date," says a Radhi associate. On Monday morning, I asked Nicole Thompson, a State Department spokesperson, if this is true. She promised a quick answer. No reply came quickly. When I called again, she told me she had to check with Bureau of Near East Affairs and the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs. On Wednesday afternoon, Thompson called with an official response:

State Department officials have met with Judge Radhi and are aware of his situation. As a standard practice, we do not comment on private conversations.

The Nation

What Have Republicans Wrought?

A comment I saw posted got me to thinking (sometimes pointless and sometimes dangerous) about what the Republicans have wrought over the past dozen years. Never mind the odd Democratic skid mark - Jefferson comes to mind - just what have the Republicans been up
to? Please forgive my overloaded synapses if I miss one of your favorites.

Impeachment of WJC
NAFTA, CAFTA
Rampant illegal immigration (certainly a joint R/D consideration)
K St project
Voter disenfranchisement
War under false pretenses
Media concentration
Media intimidation
No bid contractual malfeasance
Establishment of government by contractor
End of DOJ independence
Burying the Hatch Act
First Amendment subsidization of religion
Abrogation of the 4th
Destruction of Habeas Corpus
Torture
Illegal confinement
Criminal conviction of VP's chief of staff
Unimaginable deficit
Pervert house member
Bribes and corruption on a huge scale in Congress
Interference in brain dead woman's death - by fiat
Secrecy in government on an unprecedented scale
Abandoning a drowned city
Breaking the military
Ignoring terrorism, other than as campaign rhetoric
Setting large parts of the sympathetic world against us
Crushing blue collar wages
Patronage
Nepotism
Cronyism
Lying at the least provocation
***per promise;
Denying SCHIP under false pretences
could add a collapsing dollar and massive debt,
the sale of infrastructure to foreign interests
a planned north American highway and north American state
the end of America as we knew it and a wide open border
the surpluses on the farms have turned into importing over half of our food
97 percent of our clothes are imports


Add in your own in comments, I know I've missed a batch, I'll move them up...

Iraq US Embassy, Junk?

I'll preface this with a disclosure, I am a construction contractor, I do not do large commercial projects, nor do I install plumbing or electrical. I understand bid processes and I understand end products and I understand sub-contractors. They turned on the fire sprinkler system in the new Bhagdad Embassy and...it's junk. Joints burst, McClatchy's story takes us downhill from there. This $592 million dollar project is a disaster, it's on time (or was) and on budget (or was) and nobody is investigating.

State Dept Inspector General Howard Krongard refused to aggressively investigate according to former top investigators including former Asst Inspector General for Investigations John DeDona. Problems with this mess include having the wiring melt down, failure to install a blast proof wall, and allegations of near slavery hiring practices. You might be wondering what US company could possibly make such a mess, well, the builder is First Kuwaiti General Trade and Contracting Co. There is a bit of a story there as well; ah geeze, there's a bit of a story with everything involving Iraq it seems. I'm sure you remember something about emergency no bid contracts, here's another one.

Quite a few US contractors were interested in building this embassy, in fact it was put up for bid three times, with specifications changes each time, and finally issued to First Kuwaiti making a number of contractors unhappy, David Phinney in a Special to CorpWatch, got comments from contractors like:
“It's stunning what First Kuwaiti has been able to get from the State Department..."
“It was political..."

Several other contractors that competed for the embassy contracts shared similar reactions and believe that a high-level decision at the State Department was made to favor a Kuwait-based firm in appreciation for Kuwait's support of the invasion and occupation of Iraq.

Everybody needs to make money, right? Well, somebody sure is, Mohammad I. H. Marafie, chairman and co-owner of FKTC, is a member of one of the most powerful mercantile families in Kuwait.

The company boasted of having $35 million in assets less than three years ago. Today, the firm has racked up hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. contracts in Iraq, pushing the company well past the $1 billion mark. With 7,000 employees in Iraq, the company claims to be holding $800 million in construction and supply contracts directly with the Army for military camps, plus more than $300 million under Halliburton 's multibillion dollar contract to perform military logistics for the occupation forces in Iraq.

Here's the real rub, some of the US firms had lower bids, $60-70 million lower and experience in such construction projects. I suppose you'd think there would be a limit to the cronyism in BushCo, though apparently Condi's patience with the schedule is wearing thin, not thin enough to actually do something, see Krongard...

It's not like this monster isn't the largest and most secure Embassy the US has or proposes, it's not like Iraq hasn't swallowed money like quicksand, it's not like everything BushCo does in that country with money doesn't have a political connection, damn, it's not even as though their favorite crony, Halliburton , Cheney's employer, hasn't shown the corruption of no-bid........

And the Republicans have the nerve to talk about and campaign on taxes and spending responsibility? In Japan they'd shut up and commit Hari Kari, here they run for President.

Corruption in Iraq, Following BushCo's Example

The rule of law is essential to business and everyday life under any government and it seems another failure of the Iraqi government involves corruption and not only an inability to address it, but a complete disinclination to do so. The Nation has gotten its hands on a working draft of a secret US Bhagdad Embassy report 70 pages long that reviews the work of the Commission on Public Integrity, an independent Iraqi agency, and other anti-corruption programs.

The report details a government riddled with corruption beyond the reach of investigators threatening public support for the government and supplying materials and money to insurgents. The Ministry of Health is bad enough to threaten its ability to deliver services, the Oil Ministry has no accurate accounting of production and transportation because organized criminal gangs are stealing the place blind. The Ministries of Education, Water Resources, and Labor and Social Affairs are hostile to anti-corruption investigations and even make no effort to address it. The militia of Moqtada al Sadr have made the Ministry of Transportation immune from investigation and riddled with wholesale corruption. Several Ministries are so controlled by militias or criminal gangs that it is impossible for corruption investigators operate without security forces to protect the investigators. There is no apparent concern at the Defense Ministry over the theft of $850 million.

The CPI has little in staff or funding, 120 investigators for 34 Ministries, of 455 investigations only 15 have reached trial stage. Many of the investigators are described as little more than clerks and they are faced by the hostility of powers up to and including Maliki. Earlier this year he ordered the CPI not to forward any cases to court involving the President, Prime Minister, or any current or past Ministers without his permission. (George, you jealous? Nah, playing the same game) I'd say the reason you hear nothing about this is that BushCo really can't see the difference between their business as usual and Iraq.

To attempt to detail the level of corruption would take an article as long as The Nation's so if you're now curious, go see them.

Bush "Pioneer" Indicted, Romney Guy Now

Back in July I noted that there are natural consequences of the Republican stance regarding success. Seems the latest example of the outcome of greed as morality is Alan Fabian, Bush Pioneer and Romney fundraiser who has been indicted for 23 felonies including fraud, money laundering, bankruptcy perjury, and on and on. Thirty two million dollars was the basis of contention.

Things like pools, private jet, real estate purchases, the kinds of things $32 million might buy. This doesn't look much like an accident since it included things like leasing non-existent computers from one company to another sister company and obligating another independent company for debts. While one cannot blame these actions on the candidates that are supported by this sort of person, it is interesting and instructive to note what sorts they attract.

Christian fundamentalists are fond of saying and writing that one cannot have a moral compass without religion. I don't agree with that particularly, but what I do know is that one's personal philosophy tends to drive action and if that philosophy is "greed is good" one will get this sort of outcome. An underlying tenet, sometimes even spoken, of the right is that greed is good for the system. Since I make clear that I am of the Left persuasion it is obvious that I do not agree.

I do agree that hard work should be rewarded, I do agree that hard smart work should be rewarded, I also state that the system is rigged to work best for the wealthy and that there needs to be a counter-balance to power and wealth. You don't suppose George II will pardon him? Nah, $100,000 only buys just so much influence...and Alan isn't nearly as silly and Waspish a name as Scooter.

Chinese Regulator Crackdown - Yawn

China announces crackdowns on piracy and tainted foods and the NYT almost manages to sound sceptical, almost.

“There’s no quick fix,” says Henk Bekedam, the World Health Organization’s top representative in China. “China has perhaps been cutting some corners..." and

“The issue is not whether Chinese businesses are regulated; they are,” says Yasheng Huang, an associate professor at the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “The issue is that the regulators themselves are unable to be impartial in the enforcement of the laws. Those laws are meaningless in a system that does not even pretend to have judicial independence, media freedom and legislative oversight.” and

“The problem is these are campaigns and they tend to be turned off at some point,” says Mr. Moses, the analyst in Beijing.

This is out of two pages with expressions like:

"China is taking extraordinary steps to change its image."
“This is a very concerted effort to show they are doing something,”
"Still, even critics of China’s policies have been impressed"
" The bold actions,"
"Still, many experts say China has also become more candid"

This almost sounds like their editorial on trade I picked at previously with little substance and a lot of "hope." If I had to compare their government statements to something it would be BushCo pronouncements on Iraq. While the US government is filled with cronyism, corruption, and political double dealing the communist Chinese government is a typical dictatorship composed not of law but of personality. The effect permeates a system, every little bureaucrat sees himself as powerful and entitled, just as the leadership is. At some point BushCo's lies come back to haunt them, in China if you haunt you do become a ghost. They can lie with impunity and do. GWB is probably terminally jealous.

Sometimes I can't avoid the "made in China" label, but I sure try to. I won't put it in my body or on it if I know about it. I search out tool products to see where they're made. I'm as careful as possible. The COOL label (country of origin label) will be of real assistance if certain powers don't manage to water it down. This isn't about xenophobia or protectionism, beyond protecting myself, it is about not supporting serfdom and corruption and a dedicated enemy.

No, China is not a friend. They are quite capable of taking our money and supporting our debts; just as long as there is a advantage for them in doing so. They may actually fear bans and embargoes from the US and EU, but they also are not going to institute a government of law. That is not happening in a dictatorship - it simply, by definition, cannot.

I used to do the "Buy American" boosterism, now I just want you to be careful.