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Politics : Bush Administration's Media Manipulation--MediaGate? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Proud_Infidel who wrote (2833)	5/10/2005 10:20:41 AM
From: Rock_nj	Respond to of 9838

Why didn't the "world community" (whatever that actually means, western-style democracies, the UN?) step in and stop the slaughter of over 3 Million IndoChinese (many women and children) by American and Western forces during the decade long Viet Nam War? That was a large scale human crises that could have been prevented. Why was the same "world community" behind the needless deaths of 1,000,000+ Iraqis during the decade long sanctions on that country during the 1990s? The world economic system is not set up in a manner that it tries to appease human suffering. In fact, in many respects the world economic system forced upon us by the "world community", is responsible either directly or indirectly for much of the war and suffering ongoing in this world. Viet Nam is an excellent example. The Iran/Iraq War could never have continued so long and caused so much death and suffering, without the good old world economic system that is based purely on profit motive and the "world community" feeding both sides of that conflict weapons. Without the extreme profit motive, why would there have ever been sanctions against Iraq in the 1990s? Millions would have lived if the "world community" wasn't interested in their resources. Isreal/Palestine, same story ("world community" feeds both sides). Africa and many 3rd world countries, in economic ruin, partly because "world community" organizations like the World Bank keep them in an economic bind and ensure easy access to their natural resources by outside speculators who take the country's wealth out of the countries in which they originate. I could go on forever. For better or worse, our current economic system is extremely titled towards the profit mechanism, and away from appeasing human suffering. We even suffer here in the U.S. from this extreme focus on the international profit system, which is why our country suffers from so much domestic neglect, as our money is spent elsewhere on profit making schemes. There's not a whole lot of money in building and fixing domestic infrastructure. Sudan is just another in a long legacy of human priorities that are tilted away from resolving problems and appeasing human suffering. I'm not sure why it should stand out above any other preventable human calamity over the past Century?

To: Proud_Infidel who wrote (2833)	5/11/2005 3:45:43 AM
From: Skywatcher	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 9838

this government has NO interest in ANYTHING BUT PAYING IT"S WHORES don't eat that cookie!!!! Halliburton gets $72 mln bonus for work in Iraq By Sue PlemingTue May 10, 6:57 PM ET The U.S. Army said on Tuesday it had awarded $72 million in bonuses to Halliburton Co. for logistics work in Iraq but had not decided whether to give the Texas company bonuses for disputed dining services to troops. Army Field Support Command in Rock Island, Illinois, said in a statement it had given Halliburton unit Kellogg Brown & Root ratings from "excellent" to "very good" for six task orders for work supporting U.S. troops in Iraq. The Army said its Award Fee Board in Iraq had met in March and had agreed to pay KBR bonuses for work it did in support of U.S. forces there. The Army said in a statement later that while it had given the company an additional $72 million, it had denied KBR $10.1 million in bonuses and not paid the maximum allowed on any of the task orders. "We have protected the taxpayer FIRST," said the Army in a statement released later, pointing out this paragraph had been "inadvertently left off" the original news release. The Army said dining facility costs questioned by auditors from the Defense Contract Audit Agency had not yet been considered by the military's Award Fee Board. No details were available as to when this dining fee bonus would be resolved. Much of Halliburton's work for the U.S. military, ranging from building bases to delivering mail, is on a cost-plus basis, which means the company can earn up to 2 percent extra depending on its performance. Bonuses are awarded based on, among other factors, how efficient and responsible the company is to requests from the Army and is an indicator of how the Army views KBR's performance in the field. New Jersey Democratic Sen. Frank Lautenberg (news, bio, voting record), a vocal critic of Halliburton's performance in Iraq, said Halliburton did not deserve a bonus. "It is outrageous that the Bush Administration would give Halliburton a bonus after we have seen its overcharges, sloppy accounting and kick-back schemes in Iraq," Lautenberg said. "Giving Halliburton a bonus is like giving your worst employee a raise." KBR's logistics deal with the U.S. military has been in the spotlight from the outset in Iraq, with allegations by auditors that they overcharged for some work, including dining services. In addition, investigators are looking into whether the Texas-based firm charged too much to supply fuel to Iraqi civilians, a claim the firm says is not justified. Halliburton, which was run by Vice President Dick Cheney until he joined the 2000 race for the White House, has earned more than $7 billion under its 2001 logistics contract with the U.S. military. I told you not to eat that cookie, Alice