DemonKnight Posted August 6, 2007 Share Posted August 6, 2007 I saw this movie over the weekend and was appalled. The ammount of waste and corporate profit generated by these "no-bid" logistic contracts awarded to Haliburton, CACI and Blackwater is downright scary. These companies have no motivation to be effiicent and in fact are rewarded more money the next year based on how much they wasted this year. This is leading these companies to drive EMPTY cargo trucks back and forth across the desert to run up the bill. Instead of doing maintainance on $75,000 trucks that are owned by these contractors, when one breaks down, these workers are instructed to blow up the truck! Meanwhile our dedicated enlisted men and women are forced to drive WW2 era deuce and a halfs. This topic really hit home since I drove those exact trucks when I was in. You would not believe the state of the vehicles we were forced to drive. And for all this waste the CEO's of these contract companies are rewarded very healthily WITH YOUR TAX DOLLARS! For example, the CEO of Haliburton earned $24,000,000+ in 2004. And the money isnt even the worst of it. The conditions that our soldiers are forced to inhabit compared to the opulence of thease contract workers is disgusting. Our boys are living and working in canvas tents with zero air conditioning and a dirt floor. Meanwhile Haliburton, Titan and CACI contractors can afford to stay in luxury hotels with catered meals, swimming pools and air conditioning. I think the outcry against this injustice should supercede party lines (but I know it wont). This is our money at work and anyone that choses to bury thier head in the sand is either in cahoots with the profiteers or are blindly partisan. And for those of you who think this isnt a conspiracy, I'll leave you with some facts: Cheney earned forty-four million dollars during his tenure at Halliburton. Although he has said that he “severed all my ties with the company,” he continues to collect deferred compensation worth approximately a hundred and fifty thousand dollars a year, and he retains stock options worth more than eighteen million dollars. He has announced that he will donate proceeds from the stock options to charity. Keep your eyes peeled for these donations from our favorite warmhearted philanthropist, Darth Cheney. Halliburton has been accused of exploiting its privileged status. Last year, a division of the company overcharged the government by as much as sixty-one million dollars in the course of buying and transporting fuel from Kuwait into Iraq. Halliburton charged the United States as much as $2.38 per gallon, an amount that a Pentagon audit determined to be about a dollar per gallon too high. Although Halliburton has denied any criminal wrongdoing, the inspector general for the Department of Defense is considering an investigation. And on another note, the film points out we are paying $75 for a 6 pack of Cola made in Iraq with arabic on the can! Halliburton, meanwhile, is contending with two new scandals. Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that the company had overcharged the government by sixteen million dollars on a bill for the cost of feeding troops at a military base in Kuwait. And last month the company made an astonishing confession: two of its employees, it said, had taken kickbacks resulting in overcharges of $6.3 million, in return for hiring a different Kuwaiti subcontractor in Iraq. Meanwhile, tests were run on drinking water our soldiers were consuming that was provided by contractors and found that like 80% of the tested water wasnt even potable. Halliburton has no such constraints. The company made political contributions of more than seven hundred thousand dollars between 1999 and 2002, almost always to Republican candidates or causes. In 2000, it donated $17,677 to the Bush-Cheney campaign. Indeed, the seventy or so companies that have Iraq contracts have contributed more money to President Bush than they did to any other candidate during the past twelve years. We are being raped! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Holy Roller Posted August 6, 2007 Share Posted August 6, 2007 War is always about the money. I'm nowhere near being astounded. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H8tank Posted August 6, 2007 Share Posted August 6, 2007 In one of the largest sums ever donated to charity by a U.S. public official, Vice President Dick Cheney and his wife Lynne gave away nearly $7 million last year to help the poor and to medical research. According to income tax information released by the White House on Friday, the Cheneys' adjusted gross income in 2005 was $8,819,006. The sum was largely the result of Mr. Cheney's stock options from Halliburton and royalties from three books written by Mrs. Cheney. The Cheneys gave more than three-quarters of their income - $6,869,655 - to several charities, including George Washington University's Cardiothoracic Institute and a charity for low-income high school students in the Washington, D.C. area, Capital Partners for Education. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brewer Posted August 6, 2007 Share Posted August 6, 2007 Not to belittle Mr. Cheny's kind heart, but I"m sure that they wrote it off on their taxes as well. And while it is nice to help the poor, he sould have donated to several hunter safety organizations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savage Beatings Posted August 6, 2007 Share Posted August 6, 2007 Why not write to your Senators and Congressmen and ask them to change it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmarc117 Posted August 6, 2007 Share Posted August 6, 2007 havent they been paying $100 for toilet seats for years Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ursa Majoris Posted August 6, 2007 Share Posted August 6, 2007 $100 per bag of laundry. I suppose I should be amazed when the usual suspects that drone on and on about gubment waste, high taxes blah blah when they're talking about Democrats stay completely silent when waste and corruption of this magnitude is uncovered - but I'm not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brewer Posted August 6, 2007 Share Posted August 6, 2007 havent they been paying $100 for toilet seats for years Yes, but now they have figured out how to take screwing the American taxpayer to all new levels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WaterMan Posted August 6, 2007 Share Posted August 6, 2007 I'll let Bush and his supporters pay my taxes once the next Democrat president is forced to raise taxes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Perchoutofwater Posted August 6, 2007 Share Posted August 6, 2007 I hate waste. If we can find someone to do it cheaper, and they are qualified, I say let's do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whosyourdaddy Posted August 6, 2007 Share Posted August 6, 2007 I'll let Bush and his supporters pay my taxes once the next Democrat president is forced to raise taxes. why would they be forced to raise taxes? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ill Nuts Posted August 6, 2007 Share Posted August 6, 2007 Why do you hate your country? <---------sarcasam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bushwacked Posted August 6, 2007 Share Posted August 6, 2007 (edited) why would they be forced to raise taxes? So you can make minimum wage to supersize my fries and get me extra tartar. Edited August 6, 2007 by bushwacked Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whosyourdaddy Posted August 6, 2007 Share Posted August 6, 2007 So you can make minimum wage to supersize my fries and get me extra tartar. shoo punk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whosyourdaddy Posted August 6, 2007 Share Posted August 6, 2007 So you can make minimum wage to supersize my fries and get me extra tartar. You know the irony of your juvenile posts is priceless. I am sure I make five times what you do. Probably more than that. You might want to try a new routine. Loser. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evil_gop_liars Posted August 6, 2007 Share Posted August 6, 2007 You know the irony of your juvenile posts is priceless. I am sure I make five times what you do. Probably more than that. You might want to try a new routine. Loser. I'm sure your paper route is gold mine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bushwacked Posted August 6, 2007 Share Posted August 6, 2007 You can make a lot of money planting two lips. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whosyourdaddy Posted August 6, 2007 Share Posted August 6, 2007 You can make a lot of money planting two lips. I am sure you know about that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whosyourdaddy Posted August 6, 2007 Share Posted August 6, 2007 I'm sure your paper route is gold mine. another twit is heard from. When will your mom learn to keep you off the PC? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bushwacked Posted August 6, 2007 Share Posted August 6, 2007 Does your job have something to do with an ability to make quick minded witty comebacks? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savage Beatings Posted August 6, 2007 Share Posted August 6, 2007 So I think what this helps to point out is that spending is totally out of control. Its out of control in the public sector in general, and its out of control in the incestuous world of private government contracts. So, I guess we can all agree that its time to reign in the spending... right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ursa Majoris Posted August 6, 2007 Share Posted August 6, 2007 So I think what this helps to point out is that spending is totally out of control. Its out of control in the public sector in general, and its out of control in the incestuous world of private government contracts. So, I guess we can all agree that its time to reign in the spending... right? This isn't just spending out of control, this is corruption and fraud. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bushwacked Posted August 6, 2007 Share Posted August 6, 2007 This isn't just spending out of control, this is corruption and fraud. Add historical incompetence to that list also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evil_gop_liars Posted August 7, 2007 Share Posted August 7, 2007 Add historical incompetence to that list also. Add blind followers that make 5 times more money than you... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WaterMan Posted August 7, 2007 Share Posted August 7, 2007 Add blind followers that make 5 times more money than you... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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