Your Endless Tax Dollars NOT At Work In Iraq

Bechtel’s Projects Lacking In Iraq

Less Than Half Of Jobs Complete, Report Concludes

A government oversight agency has found that Bechtel National successfully completed less than half of the reconstruction jobs that the government hired it to perform in Iraq.

In a report released yesterday, the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction analyzed 24 job orders that Bechtel contracted to perform at a total direct cost of $761.2 million. Of those, 11 were successfully completed, 10 were incomplete, canceled or transferred to someone else, and the final status of 3 could not be determined.

“This is emblematic of the problem that contractors have experienced in Iraq reconstruction,” said Stuart W. Bowen Jr., the inspector general for Iraq. He said his office has found that 40 percent of projects in Iraq were in danger of not being completed under the original contract.

When Bechtal got scared of the locations for projects it was assigned, it walked away and left the equipment behind.

Bechtel started work on a new $24.4 million water-treatment plant in Baghdad’s volatile Sadr City district but did not finish the job. The company turned the project over to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers after completing 88 percent of the work.

OK, things are too dangerous, but Bechtel was given a $2 Billion contract. Did they even bid on it? Did they have NO idea they were going to a war zone where “progress” is always improving and the poor restless natives love us? Shouldn’t that money be given back? What are we paying for anyway? Funerals, lies and bogus projects seem to be the only legacy I pay for from each miserable paycheck.

Army Major Faces Bribery Charges

An Army major is facing federal charges that in 2005 he accepted millions of dollars in bribes from contractors doing business with the Pentagon in Iraq and Kuwait.

The Justice Department said yesterday that the major, John Cockerham, 41, of San Antonio, either awarded or controlled the contracts. He has been charged with bribery, money laundering and conspiracy.     He and his wife, Melissa, were charged Sunday. His sister Carolyn Blake, 44, of Sunnyvale, Tex., was charged Tuesday. His wife and his sister were charged with conspiracy.

Maybe I should bid on something undoable, show up, then change my mind and walk away with millions of your dollars. After all, our great executive complained it is “hard” to make important decisions. His imaginary friends tell him he is the chosen one and that he and god are making progress in Iraq and Afghanistan. That’s good enough for me. We’re already eating shit, I mean second hand groceries …

Immediate Release: Crawford Texas

CRAWFORD, TX:
A tragic flood this morning destroyed the personal library of President George W. Bush.

The flood began in the presidential bathroom where both of the books were kept.
Both books have been completely destroyed.

A presidential spokesman said the president was devastated as he had almost finished

coloring the second one.

The White House tried to call FEMA but there was no answer.

 

Spector To Probe Supreme Court Decisions

Is there anyone that Bush nominates, is associated with or appoints who doesn’t come under investigation or question? I think not. Arlen Spector, former chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, plans to review the confirmation testimony of Supreme Court Justices John Roberts and Samuel Alito. It appears that after both nominees gave their assurances to uphold stare decisis, they swiftly moved in the opposite direction. Bravo Spector.

Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) plans to review the Senate testimony of U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel A. Alito to determine if their reversal of several long-standing opinions conflicts with promises they made to senators to win confirmation.

Specter, who championed their confirmation, said Tuesday he will personally re-examine the testimony to see if their actions in court match what they told the Senate.

“There are things he has said, and I want to see how well he has complied with it,” Specter said, singling out Roberts.

The Specter inquiry poses a potential political problem for the GOP and future nominees because Democrats are increasingly complaining that the Supreme Court moved quicker and more dramatically than advertised to overturn or chip away at prior decisions.

Specter, the ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee, who served as chairman during the hearings, said he wants to examine whether Roberts and Alito have “lived up” to their assurances that they would respect legal precedents.

Judicial independence is “so important,” Specter said, but an examination could help with future nominations. “I have done a lot of analyzing and have come to the conclusion that these nominees answer just as many questions as they have to.”

“Certainly Justice Roberts left a distinct impression of his service as chief justice. And his performance on the court since, I think, has been in conflict with many of the statements he has made privately, as well as to the committee,” said Durbin, who was unaware of Specter’s idea.

“They are off to a very disturbing start, these two new justices. I am afraid before long they will call into question some of the most established laws and precedents in our nation.”

Breyer, an appointee of President Bill Clinton, drew attention last month for suggesting that Roberts and the conservative majority were flouting stare decisis, the legal doctrine that, for the sake of stability, courts should generally leave past decisions undisturbed.

“It is not often in the law that so few have so quickly changed so much,” Breyer said, reading his dissent from the bench to a 5-4 ruling that overturned school desegregation policies in two cities.

Roberts has defended his rulings as applications of “existing precedent.”

Specter, however, said Breyer’s statement was “an especially forceful criticism of the Roberts court.”

Like other Republicans and many Democrats, Specter grilled the nominees on their approach to precedent, often as a way to discern their thoughts on Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court ruling establishing abortion rights. And Specter repeatedly sought assurances that Roberts and Alito would respect what the senator considered settled law.

Before voting to confirm Roberts and Alito, Specter cited their statements on precedent as reason enough to put them on the high court.  

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said the testimony from Roberts and Alito was misleading in light of their rulings.

“I very much got the idea, the strong chain of reasoning, that they had great respect for stare decisis and they didn’t want to be activist judges,” said Feinstein, who voted against both nominees. “As you know, some of these latest cases have pretty much shattered precedent.”

A review could put “judges on notice that they can’t come in front of the Judiciary Committee, say one thing and leave one impression, and then go out and do another,” she added.

Democrats Seek Perjury Investigation Of Gonzales

Some day’s life is exceptionally good.

I’m sure Bush will order the independent counsel not to do his or her job.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A special counsel should be named to investigate possible perjury by U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales in sworn testimony to Congress, four U.S. Senate Democrats wrote in a letter on Thursday.

The senators wrote U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement asking that he appoint an independent counsel to investigate Gonzales’ testimony to Congress regarding the firing of prosecutors and President George W. Bush’s warrantless domestic spying program.

(Art: Mike Luckovich / The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)