http://www.halliburtonwatch.orgAs Cheney stands and discusses the monies authorized by the government for the clean-up of Katrina, his bank account grows....
Urban Warfare is beginning...or has begun. The La National Guard would not force the New Orleans citizens out of their homes but you can bet the 82nd Airborne WILL. We may not hear about it, input is needed from the New Orleans network NOW before it is too late.
Time for the REVOLUTION!!!
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HALLIBURTON'S NEW CONTRACTS:
Halliburton awarded Katrina contract
juiceenewsdaily, AL - 5 hours ago
(JND) - Halliburton Co.'s ... been awarded a half billion dollar repair contract for US Navy facilities damaged by natural disasters, including Hurricane Katrina. ...
Halliburton's KBR unit gets contract to repair Gulf Coast ... Houston Business Journal
Halliburton gets hurricane reconstruction contract World War 4 Report
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Bush details long-term aid to evacuees
WASHINGTON - Congress hastened to approve $51.8 billion in emergency relief and recovery aid for victims of Hurricane Katrina on Thursday as President Bush announced a plan to make sure those uprooted by the storm receive a range of services from the ...
Debit Cards Delayed; Congress Divided Over $51.8B Aid Package MTV.com
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Woe to whistleblowers
Boston Globe, United States - 12 hours ago
... And just as Katrina was bearing down on the coast on that fateful Sunday ... more than two years ago under shady circumstances to a subsidiary of Halliburton Co. ...
Woe to the whistleblowers Boston Globe
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Woe to whistleblowers
By Thomas Oliphant | September 8, 2005
WASHINGTON
SUSAN WOOD and Bunnatine Greenhouse, senior government officials, had nothing to do with Hurricane Katrina or the government's disgraceful, tardy response to its horrid aftermath.
But just as civic collapse produces price gougers and looters, these gutsy women are examples of what can go on when the nation's attention is diverted by catastrophe: Bad people behave really badly, taking cowardly cover behind the explosion of other news.
Just as Katrina was being upgraded to a dangerous hurricane headed straight at the Gulf Coast, Dr. Wood's political bosses at the Food and Drug Administration decided to circumvent procedure and probably law to block approval of over-the-counter sales of the birth control medicine known as the morning-after pill. Their circumvention of process made the position of the widely respected public health official untenable and, in an act of commendable integrity, she resigned last week.
And just as Katrina was bearing down on the coast on that fateful Sunday, Greenhouse's bosses at the Army Corps of Engineers, with Donald Rumsfeld ultimately responsible, demoted her for following procedure strictly and raising detailed objections to contracts awarded more than two years ago under shady circumstances to a subsidiary of Halliburton Co. The obvious, underhanded retaliation against Greenhouse occurred even as the Corps's inspector general, together with officials from the Justice Department, was continuing an investigation into the contracts based on the information supplied by the very same Greenhouse.
As the aftermath of Katrina unfolds, President Bush's habit of not only avoiding responsibility but also attacking other government officials who tell the truth or object to irregularities is worth keeping in mind. The habit was formed early. Indeed, the first victim was none other than Mike Parker, a former Mississippi congressman who was abruptly fired from his senior position in the Army Corps after he had the guts to object in public to cutbacks in, of all things, flood control projects in his native region.
The abuse of Wood and Greenhouse was particularly ugly. In the former case, top FDA officials were following a time-dishonored cover-up ritual -- do a dirty deed on a Friday afternoon when it is least likely to get extensive news coverage, but do a really dirty deed when much bigger news is likely to provide weekend cover.
The dirty deed was by FDA boss Lester Crawford, who went back on the word he gave during a controversial Senate confirmation that a decision on the pill would issue by this month. Instead, under political pressure, he put it off for at least two months.
There is no scientific or regulatory basis whatsoever for his decision. As Wood has noted in e-mails to colleagues, it came out of Crawford's office with no professional participation. Science says the pill is safe, and drug stores do a very efficient job already carding teenagers trying to buy cigarettes. The so-called morning-after pill (as in after unprotected sex) is a brilliant and safe means of dealing with up to half the 3 million unexpected pregnancies that occur in this country annually. The plan Crawford has blocked to appease antiabortion activists would make it available over the counter to girls above the age of 16 and by prescription to younger girls.
Hopefully, Crawford's move will backfire now that he has circumvented a renowned biologist whose 15 or so years at the embattled agency have been dedicated to informing a range of public health policies affecting women with science, not sectarian religious dogma. But he made his move in the political equivalent of the dead of night.
If anything, Rumsfeld and his Pentagon gang were more flagrant. Greenhouse, a veteran, by-the-book contracting official with 20 years on the job and membership in an elite corps of top-ranked career civil servants called the Senior Executive Service, simply did her tough job.
Two years ago she objected in private to improper procedures she saw in the awarding of a $10 billion contract to the Halliburton unit for the rebuilding of Iraq's still un-rebuilt oil infrastructure. Among other things, she cited political interference, the participation of Halliburton officials in meetings about the project, as well as the specifics of the no-bid, sole-source, five-year deal. Her additional, detailed objections were referred to the inspector general last fall. She then had the temerity to answer factual questions this summer at a meeting called by congressional Democrats on Capitol Hill -- one of several such meetings that substitute for the legislative oversight of the executive branch that the Republican leadership refuses to conduct.
For telling the truth, Greenhouse was demoted. In order to tell the truth, Dr. Wood resigned. The initial reaction in Congress has been intensely negative. Here's hoping that Katrina gave Bush and his henchmen only temporary cover.
Thomas Oliphant's e-mail address is oliphant@globe.com .
© Copyright 2005 Globe Newspaper Company.
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DICK CHENEY LIES ON ALL THREE CABLE NETWORKS!
Hours earlier, Bush had dispatched Vice President Dick Cheney
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