Friday, April 21, 2006

The One Certainty About Iraq: Spiraling Costs for Americans

Folks, I read this today and wept. Many of us are already barely making it as it is, and now we have to pay for the death and destruction being rained upon the poor souls of Iraq. We have to pay for Halliburton's profiteering. We are slaves. We cannot even house, feed, and educate our children properly.

WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU THINKING, AMERIKAN GOVERNMENT???

Anyone reading this blog is a slave to the amerikan government. I am a slave. Your children are slaves. The only elites are the legislators with their lies..... oh, fuck me very much, I think they call it 'spin' instead of lying. They don't fucking care about anything but money and they nickel and dime us to death with their taxes. We can't eat taxes; hasn't anyone figured that out yet??? We've got to do something, and we've got to do it now.

Princesses and Princes Dumbfuck, the revolution will not be televised...... Here's what your kids are learning, besides how to drink Diet Coke and smoke Marlboros!

The Adventures of Dollar Bill

Hi, I’m Dollar Bill and I’m here to tell you about saving your money. Some people save their money at home. Some people save their money at the bank. Saving money is important. You shouldn’t always spend all the money that you get. Let’s go to KidsBank.com™. I’ll tell you how to save money!





Well, I guess we should get on to the main attraction:

By KEITH GARVIN

(The Old AngryWoofDog copied this shit shamelessly from abc.com in the interest of public education and your right to know just how seriously fucked up amerika really is. Thanks king gorge the secund.....)

April 20, 2006 — There are many uncertainties about the progress made by coalition forces and the future prospects for stability and democracy in Iraq, but there is at least one indisputable fact: The Bush administration vastly underestimated the costs of the Iraq war.

Not only in human lives, but in monetary terms as well, the costs of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq far exceed the administration's initial projection of a $50 billion tab. While the number of American casualties in Iraq has declined this year, the amount of money spent to fight the war and rebuild the country has spiralled upward.

The price is expected to almost double after lawmakers return to Capitol Hill next week when the Senate takes up a record $106.5 billion emergency spending bill that includes $72.4 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The House passed a $92 billion version of the bill last month that included $68 billion in war funding. That comes on top of $50 billion already allocated for the war this fiscal year.

Poor Planning Could Push War Costs to $1 Trillion

ABC analyst Tony Cordesman, who also holds the Arleigh A. Burke Chair in Strategy for the Center for Strategic and International Studies, says the exorbitant costs come down to poor planning.

"When the administration submitted its original budget for the Iraq war, it didn't provide money for continuing the war this year or any other. We could end up spending up to $1 trillion in supplemental budgets for this war."

According to the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, the United States spent $48 billion for Iraq in 2003, $59 billion in 2004, and $81 billion in 2005. The center predicts the figure will balloon to $94 billion for 2006. That equates to a $1,205 bill for each of America's 78 million families, on top of taxes they already pay.

Bill Will Linger Long After Withdrawal

Analysts say the increases can be blamed on the rising cost of maintaining military equipment and developing new equipment. As the cost of military equipment escalates, the cost of the war escalates. In fact, developing state-of-the-art weapons to defeat insurgents and their roadside bombs will hit the wallets of American taxpayers for years to come.

"The Department of Defense has increased its investment in new equipment from $700 billion to $1.4 trillion in the coming years," Cordesman said.

Army Chief of Staff Peter Schoomaker recently warned lawmakers that the cost of upkeep and replacement of military equipment would continue even after U.S. forces withdrew from Iraq. To fully reequip and upgrade the U.S. Army after the war ends will cost $36 billion over six years, and that figure assumes U.S. forces will start withdrawing from Iraq in July, and be completely out of the country by the end of 2008.

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Halliburton's Immigrant Detention Centers



Here, I present for your 'net consumption, an article that appeared in the Progressive. I copied it from commondreams.org, a news center that you should become familiar with. If you didn't think we were moving toward a police state in amerika, then just check out Halliburton's latest government contract.....

The above image is from the Village Voice. While you're at it, check them out, too.....

Published on Tuesday, April 18, 2006 by the Progressive
Halliburton's Immigrant Detention Centers
by Ruth Conniff


While thousands of people were celebrating the contribution America's undocumented immigrants make to our economy, and demanding justice and recognition for workers who are denied basic rights, the government was making plans for large-scale detention centers in case of an "emergency influx" of immigrants.

KBR, the Halliburton subsidiary recently reprimanded for gross overcharging in its military contracts in Iraq, won a $385 million contract to build the centers. According to the Halliburton website--www.Halliburton.com--"the contract, which is effective immediately, provides for establishing temporary detention and processing capabilities to augment existing ICE Detention and Removal Operations Program facilities in the event of an emergency influx of immigrants into the U.S., or to support the rapid development of new programs."

What new programs might those be?

The web was abuzz with speculation after the contract was awarded on January 24. Pacific News Service gave the most detailed analysis.

It connected the new "immigration emergency" plans with older plans that involved imposing martial law.

Certainly the detention centers raise the specter of WW II Japanese internment camps.

The new facilities could be used for round-ups of Muslim Americans or other American citizens tagged as "enemy combatants.”

The use of military personnel and military contractors in the event of a Katrina-like disaster, which the Halliburton contract provides for, brings us closer to martial law, whether it is officially declared or not.

It also means record profits for Halliburton, which declared 2005 "the best in our 86-year history." David Lesar, Halliburton's chairman, president and CEO, declares on the company website, "For the full year 2005 we set a record for revenue and achieved net income of $2.4 billion with each of our six divisions posting record results."

Not bad for a company that has been repeatedly cited for inflating charges and wasting taxpayer money in Iraq.

The immigration detention centers ought to raise a red flag, not just about nepotism and waste among military contractors, but about what our government has in store for us.

Perhaps the same energy that propelled immigrant rights into the national headlines could be harnessed to demand an explanation for what, exactly, Halliburton is helping to prepare for with this latest big chunk of taxpayer largess.

Ruth Conniff covers national politics for The Progressive and is a voice of The Progressive on many TV and radio programs.

© 2006 the Progressive

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Taggin' Big Birds Is Fun.


I just watched a video of Air Force One being tagged by a graffiti artist. This gives me hope..... If this is something that you'd like to see, check out StillFree.com. I think that you'll like what you see..... Also, I'd recommend watching Marc's video about why he tagged Air Force One; it's for the same reasons that the AngryWoofDog puts words on this blog and why I believe that we can make a better country and planet.

Ciao for now, babies.....

Thursday, April 13, 2006

WarMongering Shame

George W. Bush, November 12, 2002:

"We don't know how close he is today, but a Saddam Hussein with a nuclear weapon is a grave, grave threat to America and our friends and allies.

George W. Bush, January 16, 2006:

"Iran armed with a nuclear weapon poses a grave threat to the security of the world."

Donald Rumsfeld, September 19, 2002:

". . . No terrorist state poses a greater or more immediate threat to the security of our people than the regime of Saddam Hussein in Iraq."

George W. Bush, March 16, 2006:

"We may face no greater challenge from a single country than from Iran."

Do you see what they are saying? It's the same rhetoric, over and over and over and over. If we fuck with Iran, we will get what is coming to us. Stirring up dissent and civil wars is not the answer. If we are leaders of peace, then we should act like it.

Folks, two wars under Dubya. Two. Afghanistan and Iraq. No one talks about Afghanistan anymore. Yet we still are fighting a war over there. I daresay that all of the people with yellow "support our troops" stickers can even spell Afghanistan. Okay, okay, that's not fair and a bit underhanded, but, in all fairness, I am becoming overwhelmed with the state of our planet.....

What if we didn't "support our troops"? What if every soldier laid down guns and bombs and refused to be a patsy for the sheiks and presidents? What if we walked away from the battlefields and threw our landmines and our IEDs to the ether? What if every person that really believes in freedom would stop being a part of the systematic destruction fueled by power, greed, and money? What would happen if every soldier on the planet became a conscienous objector and sat down to have a meal with the alleged enemy and learned that we are the same?

They can't make wars without people to sacrifice. If you really have a dream and really want to see something changed about the way you live, you can't make it happen by killing people. That's what the rich and powerful want- to control you, muslim, jew, xtian, pagan, whatever.

No Soldier = No War