For the team

Another Bush official bites the dust, this time it is Lurita Doan from the GSA. The thrill is slightly gone when corrupt Bush appointees resign now that his time in office is coming to an end, but still it is good to see that the corruption the administration can get away with is lower since Congress became majority Democratic. Mucht of the credit for the shift should go to Henry Waxman.

Abbreviated for brevity

I could probably go on for a few pages on these, but in the interest of keeping things short I won't.

Update on Waxman's Blackwater investigating

Laws schmaws, we've got a fence to build!

To get your law degree you have to take the bar exam, which I've hard is tough. To become attorney general, I guess all you have to do is agree that torture is illegal.

More acid please, carbonic.

3 strikes (wax on, wax off)

The bad news has been coming more and more frequently this summer, with three rather significant events happening this week. Yesterday was Alberto Gonzales' last day at the justice department (please hold your applause till the end). Then later in the day yesterday the Iraqi govt. rejected Blackwater Inc.'s right to operate in Iraq due to an incident in Baghdad where quite a few Iraqis were killed. For the cherry on top, it was announced that the inspector genereal of the State Dept. is under investigation for fraud, abuse, profiteering, and basically doing a shitty job. The man behind it all is Rep. Henry A. Waxman, (D-Calif.)

It just came out the Waxman is going to hold hearings about Blackwater. Though the facts are not yet completely clear, Iraq's govt. is trying to get Blackwater out of the country after a Baghdad incident where between 8 and 20 people were killed by its employees. It's not publicized (or even publically available) how many Blackwater and other mercenaries are in Iraq, Afghanistan, who knows where else, but many estimates have put it near or greater then the number of actual US combat troops. Our wars and occupations are being fought by private soldiers of fortune almost as much as by the military. With huge no-bid contracts, no oversight, no accountability, supposed immunity from any criminal prosecution, and an overstretched US military, Blackwater was living the dream. Little mention was made concerning the wisdom of committing so largely to soldiers-for-hire. Eisenhower talked about the military-industrial complex, and the danger of having such a large permanent group with a large profit motive to fight wars. The same can be said about private warfighting companies...profits will motivate then to fight, start, and prolong conflicts. The Blackwater CEO has certainly made back the money he spent helping Bush get elected.

Three cheers for Bush's privatization of every and all things possible.