The Insanity of What We Let Corporations Get Away With

Dan Price @DanPriceSeattle Amazon, Delta, JetBlue, Alaska, Starbucks, Chevron, GM, FedEx, IBM, Netflix, Halliburton, Deere, Prudential, Coors, Salesforce, Olive Garden, MGM, Eli Lilly, Whirlpool, Goodyear, U.S. Steel, Levi's, Avis. Sorry, just listing a small sample of companies that pay $0 income tax.

The Iraq War, By the Numbers

From the article of the same name from  the Business Insider:

BY THE NUMBERS: The Staggering Cost Of The Iraq War

The Iraq War was so messy and costly that the best attempt to assess the sheer damage is through numbers.

We drew from sources including various news reports, The Brookings Institute 's Iraq Index, and the Costs of War Project to document money and blood spent on the war. 

189,000: Direct war deaths, which doesn't include the hundreds of thousands more that died due to war-related hardships.

4,488: U.S. service personnel killed directly.

32,223: Troops injured (not including PTSD).

134,000: Civilians killed directly.

655,000: Persons who have died in Iraq since the invasion that would not have died if the invasion had not occurred.

150: Reporters killed.

2.8 million: Persons who remain either internally displaced or have fled the country.

$1.7 trillion: Amount in war expenses spent by the U.S. Treasury Department as through Fiscal Year 2013.

$5,000: Amount spent per second.

$350,000: Cost to deploy one American military member.

$490 billion: Amount in war benefits owed to war veterans.

$7 trillion: Projected interest payments due by 2053 (because the war was paid for with borrowed money).

$20 billion: Amount paid to KBR, contractor responsible for equipment and services.

$3 billion: Amount of KBR payments Pentagon auditors considered "questionable."

$60 billion: Amount paid for reconstruction, (which was ruled largely a waste due to corruption and shoddy work.)

$4 billion: Amount owed to the U.S. by Iraq before the invasion.

1.6 million: Gallons of oil used by U.S. forces each day in Iraq (at $127.68 a barrel).

$12 billion: Cost per month of the war by 2008.

$7 billion: Amount owed to Iraq by the U.S. after the war (mostly due to fraud).

$20 billion: Annual air conditioning cost.

Missing: $546 million in spare parts; 190,000 guns, including 110,000 AK-47s.

40 percent: Increase in Iraqi oil production.

$5 billion: Revenue from Iraqi oil in 2003.

$85 billion: Revenue from Iraqi oil in 2011.

$150 billion: Amount oil companies are expected to invest in oil development over the next decade.

$75 billion: Approximate amount expected to go to American subcontracting companies, largest of all Halliburton.

0: Nuclear Weapons of Mass Destruction found (though a bunch of chems were discovered).

Perhaps most importantly, this list doesn't account for the emotional damage caused to service members and their families as well as the destruction to the homes, social fabric, and psyche of the Iraqi people. 

For some visual accounts, check out Buzzfeed's Iraq war in front pages and Time's Iraq war in images.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/iraq-war-facts-numbers-stats-total-2013-3#ixzz3bm3Zc9mJ

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So yes, next time someone says "You're still blaming George W. Bush", be sure to tell them they're right. We sure as hell are.

Quote of the Day

"War: A wretched debasement of all the pretenses of civilization."

~General Omar N. Bradley

Republicans want SMALL GOVERNMENT, dammit!!!!

They want small government.

Well, unless it's about abortion.

And unless it's about women's reproductive rights.

And unless it's about 2 people of the same sex loving one another.

And unless it's about a new, upcoming car company, challenging the status quo.

And unless it's about tax cuts for "Big Oil."

And unless it's about creating a wholly unnecessary, new agency called "Homeland Security" that happens to make lots of money for the sitting Vice President's multi-million (billion?) dollar company.

And unless it's about gerrymandering district borders for votes for themselves.

And unless it's about tax cuts to offshore manufacturing.

And unless it's about tax breaks for fossil fuels.

Other than that, yeah, they want "small government."

I'm glad we could clear this up.

Our Obscene, Huge, Immoral Defense Spending

Think our government spends too much? 

Sure you do.

So let's cut the spending that is the biggest, most wasteful, most irresponsible segment of all that spending. 

Fight to cut funding for the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD). It's absurdly bloated, it's immoral, it's obscene, it isn't even accounted for, they get so much money. They cannot and do not even account for all they get and spend.

Like

Halliburton, Iraq and the fact that it still matters

George Orwell had it more right than we knew

"The leader needed a permanent war." --"1984"

And he certainly found it. In fact, he "found it" with a few wars--terrorism, Iraq, Afghanistan and the Middle East, for the oil we want and need.

Nice, huh? Crazy thing is, we all went along for the ride, too.

What the US Military is and does, among the good work

Nine minutes and 54 seconds of details from the Iraq War the government and military don't really want us to pay attention to. This includes information on Pfc Lavena Johnson from right here in Missouri--Florissant--who was killed by "friendly fire". According to Wikipedia, " She was the first female soldier from Missouri to die in Iraq." We owe Pfc Johnson and all the soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan far more than what they're getting. We need to know what our government and military is doing, all in our name. We need to bring them home. Links: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaVena_Johnson; http://lavenajohnson.com/; http://lavenajohnson.com/2009/05/sbs-dateline-on-lavena-johnson/; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zr1iOxS2T7w

A little current American history, folks

Ever heard of the CIA's "Operation Northwoods"?

Explaining 8 years

Unless we remember we cannot understand.
--E. M. Forster 

Keeping in mind, of course, that if you never "knew", you can't remember.

To any and all of those who voted, even once, for this man, we thank you.

Actually, scratch that, we blame you.

The sham that was the Iraq War

"Anonymous" posted a link to this video yesterday and I thought it too important not to put up for a post.

The man is George Galloway, a member of the British Parliament (House of Commons) who was asked to testify before the US Senate.

It's sad this wasn't covered well in our own media.  It's more than sad.

What he says alone is a huge indictment of our government and this Iraq War they created.

He had been called to give testimony in the Senate investigation of the "oil for food" program.  The Senate and Senators got far more than they bargained for.

It seems clear that Mr. Galloway's testimony points to the facts that our government played us, ladies and gentlemen, and most of us followed right along.

My thanks to "Anonymous."

The complete testimony is here--there are 5 parts posted at You Tube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyyGoPerzWc&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyyGoPerzWc&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLT47_H2gb4&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9MG7giLiM8&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHVNxwmeC4k&feature=related

Additionally, here is a link to Mr. Galloway's background information at Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Galloway

Five facts about Congressman Roy Blunt

1) He accepted a $1,000 contribution from Halliburton's PAC after the Gulf of Mexico oil spill began--even though, as the second-highest-ranking Republican on the Energy and Commerce Committee, he is responsible for regulating the company; 2) He's been named as one of "the 13 Most Corrupt Members of Congress" in a report by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington; 3) Challenged by his opponent to return more than $25,000 in big oil donations, he refused -- and has said in the past that he "doesn't know" how much he's pulled in from oil and energy interests; 4) He has received almost $3.6 million from banking, securities, and other financial special interests in his career -- and opposed Wall Street reform legislation that will help protect consumers from these industries' risky practices; 5) He said it would have been "best" if the federal government had never gotten "into the health care business" by providing Medicare, Medicaid and coverage for veterans -- programs upon which hundreds of thousands of Missourians rely. Back to me: No matter your political party, Roy Blunt is not fit for this office. Let's vote him out, at last. Have a great day, y'all.

Everyone's going to want a piece of this

I've said several times that at least I should have been cynical enough to see what was coming in 2000, with the election of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney stealing the White House election.

Face it, we all should have bought oil stocks.

Oil and Halliburton--all we could have gotten our hands on, absolutely.

So now? Now that everyone thinks we may have hit the bottom of the market?

A couple of things are going to happen, here, folks.

First, there is going to be, as my partner, Michael said, some very real "irrational exuberance" that's going to kick in.

Everyone's going to want to make up in profits what they lost in the last few years, with this down, bear market.

And second, a whole bunch of people are going to get on that band wagon and buy oil stocks like crazy.

Today it was up to $53.00 a barrel.

That will look like such a bargain in no time, it won't be funny.

Really, it won't be funny.

Every household and speculator--everyone--is going to want to buy in to the roaring oil markets.

Congress should shut this down now by regulating the speculation markets for oil.

But they won't.

Hang on to your seats, folks, it's gonna be a bumpy ride.

Link to markets story today:
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/energy-stocks-join-rally-petro-canada/story.aspx?guid={81E7937A-5152-44A8-A238-BFD96B830764}&siteid=yhoof

It's a small window, and it's closing

We've all watched the price for gasoline--both the price per gallon and per barrel, on the world markets.

We know it's gone from too high to ridiculous. The ridiculous part was when it hit $147.00 per barrel on those world markets, due mostly to speculation and people successfully, unfortunately, making a killing in the market.

Well, it fell to a bit less than $35.00 per barrel at one point and now it's back up to around $43.00 per barrel.

I have said several times that I should have--heck, we all should have--been very sarcastic, cynical and opportunistic back in 2000, when "W" and his cabal were about to take over, and invested heavily in oil and Halliburton stocks.

It only made sense.

We would have made a TON of money.

Of course, it would have been on the backs of the American people and the world but then we could have done some good with it.

So anyway, now, here we are, back in about the same situation.

If and when the world economy turns back around and people sense a "bottom" to the markets and economies start coming back, you can be sure people will start speculating--and speculating wildly--on oil, the price of oil and the oil markets.

There are a whole lotta' people out there who would like to make at least some of the money back that they've lost in these last months.

And that's where our government's plan to add $1.00 in tax or fee or whatever you want to call it comes in.

This should happen and it should happen now. It should happen right away.

It won't but it should.

This $1.00 per gallon could, would and should, then, be put to use getting us freer from Middle East oil. Parts of it could and again, would be given back to the American consumer but the rest would be used to get us onto renewable energy sources and so, again, out of the Middle East.

This would also, as I've written before, help clean up our environment, since it would be based on clean fuel and would help reduce the carbon dioxide being fed into our atmosphere so less climate change, God willing.


This, then, is what should happen, in a smart world--a perfect world.

It won't, though.

Not in a million years.

We haven't got the political fortitude to do it.

We haven't got the guts.

The politicians haven't got the guts.

In the first place, they'd all say it would just keep us in a recession--or worse. And actually, I'll admit, given that we're in financial and economic territory we've never been in before, it may even be true. (It shouldn't be, however, because of the returning of a good protion of the $1.00 per gallon to American consumers).

So the price of oil was outrageously high.

It came down.

And now it's creeping back up.

If and when the economy comes back, hold onto your hats.

It's gonna get ugly.

And expensive.

On a brighter note, if/when you see the bottom of the market, this time, buy lots and lots of oil stocks.

It starts to come out now

Now that W and the Dick are no longer able to keep the lid on all their shenanigans--and that of Halliburton and KBR--the information and truth starts slowly coming out.

It's being reported just now that the Army has officially declared that "An Army investigation calls the electrocution death of a U.S. soldier in Iraq 'negligent homicide' caused by military contractor KBR Inc. and two of its supervisors."

More: "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."

I'm thinking there was a high likelihood that there were orders from the White House or the Vice President's mansion or somewhere that said this kind of thing was to be referred to as "accidental", as long as the Bush Cabal was in power.

So this is how it starts.

I think there is going to be a great deal more information coming out about our government and what was--and was not--done and by and to whom in the next several months.

It's not going to be pretty for the clowns who were in power, either.

You might want to sell that Halliburton stock about now.


Link to original story online here:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090122/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/iraq_contractors_electrocutions

The thinking man (comes to a conclusion)

This just in (from The Onion)--and don't you frequently feel like this?

Middle East Conflict Intensifies As Blah Blah Blah, Etc. Etc.

April 26, 2007 | Issue 43•17

June 9, 2007

MIDDLE EAST—With the Iraq war in its fifth year, the war in Afghanistan in its sixth, and conflict between Israel and the rest of the region continuing unabated for more than half a century, intelligence sources are warning that a new wave of violence in the Middle East may soon blah blah blah, etc. etc., you know the rest.

Yet another act of violence in response to something else terrible that occurred in, oh, let's say Basra.
"Tensions in the region are extremely high," said U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker, who added the same old same old while answering reporters' questions. "We're disappointed by the events of the last few months, but we're confident that we're about to [yakety yakety yak]."

The U.N. has issued a strongly worded whatever denouncing someone or something presumably having to do with the vicious explosive things that raged across this, or shattered the predawn calm of that, or ripped suddenly through the other, killing umpteen innocent civilians in a Jerusalem bus or Beirut discotheque or Fallujah mosque or whatever it was this time.

Either a car bomb killed people or a car hit a roadside bomb, killing people.
In the aftermath of a whole series of incidents, there have also been troubling reports of just fill in the blanks. Middle East experts say the still somehow worsening situation has inflamed age-old sectarian tensions between the Sunnis, Shiites, Semites, Kurds, Turks, Saudis, Persians, Wahhabis, radicals, extremists, Baathists, mullahs, clerics, et al, which is likely to lead to more gurgle-gurgle over the coming weeks and months.

A certain number of U.S. troops were also killed somewhere in some tragic fashion, while a much greater number were wounded. Meanwhile, impoverished or oppressed supporters of whichever faction carried out the attack or ambush probably celebrated, angering an angry U.S. public that is already angry. Locals are calling for an investigation into excessive force or outright corruption by military or political officials on one of the 15 sides of the various conflicts, although the implicated party has categorically denied wrongdoing, just like they always do, without fail, every time this happens, which is daily, it seems.

And in Afghanistan, the Taliban.

In Israel, Palestinians and Israelis escalated tensions and so on and so on ad infinitum, ad eternum, and some say, ad absurdum, and although Hamas released a statement condemning Israeli forces for the resulting civilian deaths, Israeli officials say the teens were armed with rocket launchers, though it doesn't really matter.

Also, Ahmadinejad, Iran's nuclear program, bin Laden at large, Moqtada al-Sadr, Moqtada al-Sadr's militia, Fallujah, renegade mullahs, embedded and/or beheaded journalists, oil revenues, stockpiles of former Soviet armaments, freedom, racism, Halliburton, women's role in Islamic society, the Quran, withdrawing troops, economic disparities, Sikhs, Pakistanis, oil, rebuilding, stories of hope, the Saudi royal family, the Holy Land, insurgents, and the tragedy of Sept. 11th.

In an attempt to increase public support of whatever the fuck it is he thinks he's doing, President Bush trotted out the same old whoop-de-do you've heard over and over at a solemn-yet-resolute speech attended by soldiers, or religious leaders, or firemen, or some mix of ethnic-looking people from one of those countries.

"We have to give this plan time to wop bop a loo bop, a wop bam boom, ah ah ting tang walla walla bing bang," President Bush may as well have said. "May God [help/bless/save] the United States of America."

(Back to yours truly: So the question is, how many hundreds of years are we supposed to give a damn?)