Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Sioux Nation -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Rock_nj who wrote (160697)	2/14/2009 4:08:25 PM
From: SiouxPal	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 361979

Blackwater: A Smell by Any Other Name? Patt Morrison Posted February 14, 2009 \| 12:21 AM (EST) Some of your employees are facing manslaughter charges. Your biggest customers just yanked your contracts. How do you repair your image and your reputation? Simple: Change your name. The Outfit Formerly Known as Blackwater, the huge military contracting and consulting firm, made its bones and its less than salubrious name in Iraq. And now it wants to unmake its notoriety. It is changing its name to Xe. Pronounced Z. Or maybe "zed," depending on what part of the world you're in. Blackwater: from the unspeakable to the unpronounceable. In a memo to employees, Blackwater/Xe president Gary Jackson says the switch "reflects the change in company focus away from the business of providing private security." To providing what now, exactly? Frosted cupcakes? Xe is on the periodic charts at atomic number 54; it stands for xenon, a "noble gas" like fellow elements krypton and neon. The Outfit Formerly Known as Blackwater now joins the ranks of the rebranded, along with Altria, a bland, content-free name meant to make people forget that its original name and mission was Philip Morris, cigarette maker. Whatever they choose to call it, for an awful lot of people, here and in Iraq, Blackwater's name will always be mud. huffingtonpost.com