misc. ramblings

MUZZLING CERBERUS

Yes, we of the middle class are in a generational war all right–against the industrial cartels.

The cartels are as big a menace now as trusts were at the dawn of the Twentieth Century. They and the plutocrats who own them are a far greater danger to democracy and prosperity than ten thousand terrorists: these cartelist vampires are battening upon the lifeblood of the republic.

The cartels game the political market to shape policy to grow pie. A cartel is mature when it dominates its policy area to the increasing detriment of the general welfare.

The only credible military threat to the U.S. is its own war cartel.

It has sown fear and war for generations to reap its grotesque and murderous profit.

By initiating the Iraq invasion in the absence of any actual threat, on the basis of calculated and malicious lies, solely to profit the war & oil cartels, the President and his co-conspirators have plotted and committed High Treason against the Republic.

Every murder of our soldiers–every burning, every maiming–is on their heads. The massacres of Iraqis by insurgencies and militias that did not exist prior to the illegal invasion–the people killed with electric drills and dumped in the Tigris, undocumented in the morgues and the Overtonian death counts; mass slaughter, mass exodus: for each of these crimes the President is responsible. To aggravate his war crimes he has authorized torture and secret prisons, suspending habeas corpus and violating the Geneva conventions. He and his co-conspirators must be impeached and tried for their High Crimes and Misdemeanors and their Treason and sentenced to life imprisonment without possibility of parole. Let their names be forever sullied with their infamy.

Right now our foreign policy is run by the Cerberus of war and oil.
We need to starve the beast and put it on a short chain with a muzzle.

Comment by Doc Twain — June 9, 2007 @ 12:37 pm

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/06/08/mullen-generational/#comment-3849201
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Outsourcing the Pentagon?

The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) recently released a report questioning the Defense Department's outsourcing of professional, administrative and management services, particularly focusing on whether the government was relying too heavily on the private sector, and as a result, eroding Pentagon expertise.

"Demands on government expand, the federal workforce shrinks, and the technical skills within the government atrophy," wrote the CSIS. "Examining the line of what is inherently government and articulating a clear policy that can be embraced by all the parties will be critical to maintain a healthy government-industry relationship."

The report also raises concerns over the increasing influence of companies worth over $1 billion. When examining the sustainability of the current structure of the services industrial base, CSIS found that the structure squeezes out the mid-tier companies that "traditionally...served as a conduit for new ideas and improved business practices." As a result, the purported benefits of private sector innovation cannot be fully realized.

POGO is also investigating the issues at stake with outsourcing and whether contractors are performing inherently governmental functions. The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal are also covering these issues closely. Many benefits can be accrued by utilizing the private sector, but the federal government needs to be wary of losing control of vital programs and policy determinations. Without adequate expertise, oversight, and competition, the government and taxpayers risk becoming prey to the private sector.

-- Mandy Smithberger

http://www.feedage.com/feeds.php?feed=379697

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got lawyers ??

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/06/20070608-6.html