US Weapons 'full of fake Chinese parts'

Damned good question, alexandrek! They are basically making threats and holding us hostage: give us what we want, or the workers get it. While more and more of 'the workers' are in a nation that is pretty hostile.

Wasting the money is bad enough, but the corporations they deal with sell out the nation's security. THAT is the big problem. The corporations are setting us up to be hacked in all the defense systems.

I think that we can find rent a buyer to do a better job of screwing us with more pleasure than foux news

NPR discussion I listened to went further than fret about inferior product. They addressed outright hacking built right into systems.

Possibly that, or worse.

It is that "worse" that is really troubling ...

That was the opinion of several people on that NPR discussion too. That was about hacking into systems and the possibility of things being under the control of some other government or group.

I figured they meant 'some other country or corporation'. Xe with all the DOD toys under their control would not make the world a better place.

Pretty awful . The people of the United States get the bill , for what they were never allowed to vote on !

I agree, but won't hold my breath. Corporations don't get held accountable. Nor do the pols who enable them

Beatchifyed & Bangin' Does she book appearances at Boy Scout
Corn ventions ? If so, there're a few merit badges I forgot to receive.
Heh. Nothin' says home like snow on the roof, & fire in the furnace.

rude. And on a day when we are discussing inappropriate sexual advances, rather boorish too.

Well golly gee, saaar gent ! Ya' know I got me a system. I classify
everything as animal, vegetable, or mineral ! Uh Huh. And tell me
Gomer Pyle, which category do you fall into ? I dunno. I did fall into
the creek once though ...And as they say, the rest is History.

LOL!!!! =)

Shoulda been a clue when troops in Iraq ended up with raw sewage in their drinking water sources thanks to Halliburton subsidiary contractors. Stuff the military used to do well for its self now outsources, up to and including food/water for the troops.

Supporting the MIC with more and more no bid contracts for basic services and goods is NOT a good way to support the troops.

The repugnants have show over and over that they only care about the troops when they have to as when the armor they were given was too thin or not enough protection. They certainly don't care about vets (like me! ;-) who return to no jobs and limited UIB. Where is the "patriotism" and "care for the troops" now? How many jobs bills for vet has the House or the Senate passed? Just how much do they "support the troops" when it means that they have to tax the 1%? Whose side are they on? Care to guess??? ;-)

First, thank you for your service.

Second, thank you for that righteous rant!

Thank you for your service Dan and welcome home.
My son has been home for almost two years and still can not find a job that would support a household. He is fortunate to have parents that are able to help support him while he goes to school. It is not fare, not every Vet has the support of a family. It really pisses me off that for the past decade we have sent our sons and daughters off to war to give the biggest sacrifice and when its time for them to come home we let them down. It makes me ashamed to be an American!

I am Proud to be an American and I support those that went to war for my country
But I will not condone those warmongers that profit from my friends sacrifice
I only have blood guts and tears to offer in their Remembrance ...

Halliburton moved their Headquarters to Dubai
no law or taxes on profits

I feel ashamed too! The guys I fought with who died believing in an America that greeted all with ""Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" I am sad when I think of their ultimate sacrifice and how the pols,bought and paid for by the rich, spit on them and say the country can't afford to help them find work now and if they can't find work they are lazy and wanting to live on the dole! Now that they have returned from war, they are to be "put away" at minimum expense, until they are needed for the next time!

Still a punishment too good for them. Besides, if they're as twisted
as I believe them to be, they'd probably enjoy a beating, as much
as, and even more, if they were the ones getting battered..

No extradition either, I assume?

we don't have a treaty with them
we just fight their rebellions for them
and pay rent for their landing field

it has.. check your own submissions under the view profile tab and see if you can find it. Sometimes they disappear if you don't make a comment yourself, or send it to friends...they actually don't disappear, they just get buried under the rest of the posts.

I guess it's lost forever. Oh well, it was a good rant though. Also, sometimes it takes 5+ minutes for current to log me in even with broadband connection, doesn't happen at other sites.

Have had it happen a couple of times. Suggestion: Write post on a word program then copy/paste. If it goes into the mystery ether, you can try again off you original.

FWIW

weird....

yep it timed out and didn't post

there are 15 nations that has faster broadband than ours

I'm not sure there is a workable way around for profits and defense, however, I think Bernie nailed the real problem when he said, "The numbers become increasingly shocking if you look at company affiliations."

It is this good ol boy network of affiliations that is killing this nation...on so many levels. Yes, they are solely motivated by profit, AND, they operate under a veil of cronyism that none of them will openly acknowledge.

Yep. They talk up patriotism to keep the taxpayers forking over the dough, but country is NOT where THEIR loyalties lie.

Oversight USED to be applied. Now, not so much. Not much bidding either.

Cheney. Hang cheney and the rest might get the message.

Exactly.

why kill dead meat
try Paul Wolfowitz taste better

the plot is thicker and sicker than just shopping on e-bay.

understood just being a smart ass, but I wonder what they are using to build the new Oakland Bay Bridge? Irradiated metals recycled from old nuke plants? You have to wonder how they can outbid every other contractor when they have to ship the thing across the Pacific.

Hope the barge sinks!

I suspect it has something to do with the tariff law changes instituted by the Bush administration...couple that with cheap labor, and you have a ripe playing field for exactly what we are dealing with.

Kinda like the difference between getting a burger a McD's or trying to cook one for the same price?

What do you expect when you buy from a wal mart clone ?

Don't use a Geiger Counter on your stainless steel kitchen in the US

I think the barge has arrived

again understood...just making a point friend

I'll have to try that if I can ever afford one. According to Japan's gov't the $500 ones aren't accurate.

Thanks for the bad news C! At my age, its hard to keep up! BTW, did I miss the grand openning? Heard they were serving Chinese food!

I think it might be repossessed before they finish building it

and in Bernie's own words for those who don't want to click the link....

In this country, our national debt is almost $15 trillion, and we are consistently running deficits of over $1 trillion. Our Republican friends want to solve this problem by cutting programs that the most vulnerable in our society rely on, like Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security. The fact of the matter, however, is that we will never get our debt under control without looking at the Department of Defense. Since 1997, our defense budget, including the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan has tripled from $254 billion to over $700 billion.

We've seen time and time again that much of this money is handed out to contractors that do not spend it efficiently and, in some cases, steal it. Why?
* Part of the reason is that DOD awards more contracts than it has the capacity to oversee, and, as a result, it is unable to effectively manage its contractors.
* The other part of the reason is that DOD is not careful about which companies it awards contracts to begin with.

The overall number from today's report: 1.1 trillion

As to the second point, I had DOD look at the amount of money it awards to contractors with a well-documented history of fraud. Specifically, I had DOD report on the amount it awards to companies that have been convicted, found liable of, or settled charges of fraud against DOD at some point in the last ten years.

Since 2001, DOD has awarded almost $1.1 trillion to these companies and their affiliates. To me, this is shocking. Once a company has ripped off DOD, and been caught for it, why would DOD then go back to that company with more taxpayer money?

Over the past ten years, DOD awarded $254,564,581 to companies that were convicted of a crime in connection with a DOD contract during that same period of time. To make matters worse, DOD awarded $33,079,743 of that to convicted companies after they had been convicted.

Over the past ten years, DOD awarded $573,693,095,938 to companies that were found liable or settle charges of a civil wrong in connection with a DOD contract during that same period of time. To make matters worse, DOD awarded $398,081,775,397 of that to those companies after they settled the charges or were found liable. The numbers become increasingly shocking if you look at company affiliations.

Over the past ten years, DOD awarded $1,104,423,438,564.10 to entities affiliated with companies that have a history of fraud.

The numbers become increasingly shocking if you look at company affiliations.

The numbers become increasingly shocking if you look at company affiliations.

The numbers become increasingly shocking if you look at company affiliations.

That tells the tale! The system is not about defense. The system is just a high tech feudal system, complete with self anointed kings, princes, lesser dukes, and warlords.

Thanks for throwing that in here. It is an essential component to understanding the whole monster.

What is really sad, is to contemplate the danger that defense contractors like Lockheed Martin are willing to put the sons and daughters of American taxpayers in, by cutting corners to increase their own profit. It is mind boggling to try and rationalize the greed that just keeps on giving, isn't it?

Yep. US military personnel are just a means to an end for them. The end being $$.

Even the bloody maniac Napoleon hanged profiteers.

Seems so. But then, corporations have no national loyalties.

What is so horrible is how they use defense as the golden calf to keep We The People from actually whittling DOD budget down to sane levels. There is no reason for us to be spending many times more than the combined budgets of the next big spending nations on defense. To do so on defense that is illusion and worse while people go hungry and homeless is indefensible.

That correct, attila. I've always said cut the defense spending and end the wars. It's time we heal our own country and it's people.

and our 'leaders' all too often insist on hardware the military really doesn't need or want.

Agreed! The War Machine is BIG Money!

I have a few in my state

And it is Corruption which is the real threat to our nation and the world.

there is no Corruption it is call Bonus and there is no law against it
corporations are men and has a right to buy votes and live forever or be sold to another corporation.