Blog Jambalaya

First ingredient:

The wagons are being drawn into a tight circle and the Shrub is puffing out his chest like we've seldom seen before to declare his omnipotent, omniscient power to resist any and all efforts to call his administration to account in the latest of what is sure to become many scandals that will now be pursued to the fullest as opposed to being ignored with a mere "oh, it's alright, I'm sure they bent/broke/ignored (insert law here) in the interest of national security or the pursuance of the War on Terror or blah, blah, blah"... He's offered up an alternative that the Congress is sure to laugh at before issuing subpoenas to Harriet Miers and the Cranium...

Meanwhile, the folks over at the Justice department are literally paralyzed by the prospect of any communication being snatched and used in an investigation into the workings of the department. This begs the painfully obvious question: If they're afraid to talk or communicate about anything, have they been doing anything on the straight and narrow over there, and if not, how long have things been seriously out of whack and partisan at DOJ? Since Gonzo took over? Highly unlikely--Ashcroft was about as non-partisan as Miers...

Second ingredient:

The Democratic Primary race is not even officially kicked off and it's already more interesting than any other one that I can remember (even the one with the Gary Hart boondoggle). Barack Obama has pledged to refrain from engaging in personal attacks in his campaign, but has already made some curious remarks concerning his opponent John Edwards (which Arthur had a thing or two to say about) , and a very slick redux of the classic Apple Computer Super Bowl commercial from 1984 (pay close attention to what the hammer slinger is wearing to bring it up to date in a very subtle way...) has popped up on YouTube in support of his campaign (which the campaign denied any connection to). Interesting way of not engaging in personal attacks on his opponents...

Third Ingredient:

A new report on Walter Reed shows that the military is continuing a long standing tradition of class discrimination between the enlisted ranks and the officers that goes back hundreds of years...

Fourth Ingredient:

More and more is coming out about the Shrub's administration's skewing of information from credible sources attributing numerous observable climate changes and anomalies to global warming and connecting said global warming to the activities of man and the byproducts of those activities. To quote Dead or Alive: "You Spin Me Round Baby (Like a record baby right round)"...

Fifth Ingredient:

While the fourth anniversary of the onset of the Iraq War is being marked by protests and demonstrations this week, another event's third anniversary is fast approaching: the killing of four security contractors in Fallujah in March of 2004. I've been writing about the plight of the men and women serving in the Middle East in the Military, and while their plight is harrowing while they are there and when they return, the contractors' situation is much worse.

Their personal safety is addressed in a bare minimum fashion by the huge corporations whose only concern, it would seem, is the securing of the multi million dollar no bid contracts from the US government. From the KBR website employment page (italics are mine):

It should be understood that employment may be located in potentially dangerous areas, including combat or war zones. This might involve the possibility of suffering harm by dangerous forces or friendly fire. These dangers are inherent to working conditions in a dangerous environment.

This is the standard language that is listed at the end of any job posting in Iraq and Afghanistan. It seems to be all they think they need to tell you to absolve themselves of any culpability even when they fail to take the precautions they say they will in a signed contract(italics mine again):

But the Blackwater men were uneasy. One team member, former Army Ranger Wes Batalona, complained to a friend that the team had never worked together before. And contractually, Blackwater was to supply two SUVs with three guards per vehicle. Instead, the men set out that morning with just two men per car, each short a rear gunner.

And this is only the beginning. The contractors lucky (?) enough to make it back home alive are likely to suffer from the same ailments, both physical, mental, and emotional, as their counterparts in the armed forces, but they, being independent contractors, have no support system, however ineffective and dysfunctional, to turn to for treatment of any kind. The mounds of cash they made working under those harrowing conditions will, if not having been previously committed to previous crushing debts, melt away like a snowball on a hot stove going towards healthcare to address their post Gulf region employment ailments. Another feather in the cap of the corporate giants reaping as much in profit from no bid military and government contracts--no money poured down the drain that is employee benefits!

The disparity between the regular military personnel and the contractors is highlighted repeatedly in the Frontline Special--the fact that the contractors are a good thing, because there's no sense in having a soldier do menial tasks like KP duty, latrine patrol and the like; contrasted with the fact that they can be a liability when a camp or base where military personnel and contractors are stationed comes under fire: there's xx,000 personnel on the grounds, but only 2/3 of them are combat trained to defend the facility, what do the other 1/3 do in a combat situation to help and or stay out of the way? Another huge source of friction is the gulf (pun definitely intended...)between the pay that the armed forces personnel are receiving compared to the contractors (it's significantly lower) and the fact that the contractors are just that--contractors, who can opt out of their contract for what ever reason, as opposed to military personnel, who are committed for a fixed length of time (and sometimes longer, depending on what the Surger has been told by his advisors on any given day)

Combine ingredients in a Cranium with 1 cup of Cerebrospinal fluid and the Brain.

Mix well.

DO SOMETHING..

This is what our country is being outsourced and relegislated to...