[fraud and abuse] former halliburton unit on the ropes

A small excerpt [unabridged] from the congressional report:

U.S. lawmakers on Thursday railed against defense contractor KBR Inc. for a string of fraud and contract abuses on a multibillion-dollar contract that provides food and shelter to U.S. troops in Iraq.

"I think profiteering during wartime is inexcusable," said Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing. "We've got a very serious problem. This is the most significant waste, fraud and abuse we have ever seen in this country."

KBR is currently the Army's sole contractor for providing food and shelter to the military in Iraq and Afghanistan under the Logistics Civil Augmentation Program, or Logcap. More than $20 billion has awarded by the Pentagon over the last five years for the services contract.

It goes on and on. Dick Cheney did well to disassociate hmself from the conglomerate, on the surface that is. The real head of the US government has other fish to fry these days.

[russia's richest] no great changes

From Mosnews [unabridged]:

According to the Forbes magazine’s annual survey of the wealthiest 100 Russians, which was published on Thursday, April 19, Roman Abramovich is still Russia’s richest citizen. He has a fortune of $19.2 billion.

Abramovich’s No.1 spot was untroubled by his divorce earlier this year, which under Russian law could have cost him half his fortune and left both him and his ex-wife Irina in equal 11th place in the rankings.

Behind the 40-year-old soccer patron was a chasing pack of oil and metals magnates led by aluminium tycoon Oleg Deripaska with $16.8 billion, mainly the beneficiaries of Russia’s swift privatization of its huge natural resources in the 1990s.

In 55th place, with $1.1 billion, was Boris Berezovsky, a Kremlin power-broker under President Boris Yeltsin who fell foul of his successor, Vladimir Putin, and now lives in political asylum in London.

Berezovsky said he had sold all his former Russian assets and now kept his money in bank accounts and liquid assets.

Names from outside the natural resources sectors still made up only a smattering of entries on the list, showing that Russia has a mountain to climb if it wants to achieve Putin’s dream of diversifying the economy away from oil and metals.

As in previous years only one woman made the top 100 — Yelena Baturina, the wife of Moscow’s mayor. Her wealth, based on the Inteko construction company, is now $3.1 billion, Forbes said.

Forbes said the list included people who had accumulated most of their money through business and were not in government service. It did not elaborate.

[worstall watch 2] we all should watch this issue

Yikes! Sedition. You know what it means, of course. Interms of what they can do to you, I men?

How quite delightful. Our Masters in Brussels have decided that sedition should be re-introduced into English law. How kind of them, don't you think?

[T]he latest draft on the idea [is] that there should be a new pan-European criminal offense of denying the holocaust and also dealing with incitement to violence on racial, national and religious grounds.

And further on:

Because you fear those Frogs who will insist on smuggling garlic into your roast beef, you are therefore a criminal. Aren't we lucky that our law is being written by those who do not in fact understand our language?

Isn't it good that the 'full harmonisation of criminal laws is currently not possible' [EU]?

[How do I choose my victims for the 'Watch' series? He or she needs to:

1] be posting two or three times a day;

2] posting on a variety of subjects, not just parliamentary politics;

3] have a witty way of putting things.

That's all.

[blogfocus thursday] strong opinions, mildly expresed

When bloggers are forthright and support their views, the results are usually more than readable.

1 Matt Murrell reviews the battle royal over the Virginia shooter:

Although the motivation of the Virginia shooter remain murky, with the initial reports of a single, emotionally-unbalanced killer, Scot Atram’s presentation on the consequences of group-dynamics (as reported by ‘Atheist Ethicist’) seems relevant to this type of situation.

And finally, Blogpower bloggers 'The Thunderdragon' and 'Lord Nazh' offer conflicting views on the solution to this type of problem. To restrict, or not to restrict.

2 Ian Appleby is the only blogger to notice this and therefore takes the prize:

I doubt I'll be the only blogger to note it's ninety-five years today since the Titanic went down. Although our collective memory has been cheapened by the sentimental manipulation of the Cameron film - tens of millions spent, and yet they couldn't find a few dollars to spend on a decent script - it remains an extraordinarily evocative myth. I don't know, for example, if I would be so fond of the tune "Nearer, My God, to Thee", were it not for the legend that the ship's orchestra played the hymn in the last moments of the stricken vessel.

3 Guthrum reflects on his son's opinion of living in the UK:

Went out for Beer last night with said son - he has decided there is no future in the UK and intends to go abroad to live and work. Feel partly responsible for the mess we expect our children and grand-children to sort out. A good few have decided that they are not going to sort it out, and are voting with their feet. Still he goes abroad with Republican sympathies intact.

4 Paul Linford puts the Lizard King under the microsope:

Over the years, a myth has grown up that if only Portillo had had the balls to challenge Major himself instead of letting John Redwood run as a stalking horse, he would have succeeded in dislodging the Prime Minister in the first ballot and gone on to defeat all-comers in the second.

It's a seductive theory, but it's not how I remember things. I recall a Tory Party that was split moreorless three ways - between those who wanted Michael Portillo to be Prime Minister, those who wanted Michael Heseltine to be, and those who couldn't care less who it was so long as it wasn't either of those two.

5 Shuggy makes some good points on freedom of choice in religion … or not:

Ian McEwan in his novel Saturday referred to the 'accidental nature' of the views we hold. How much more so when it comes to religion, or the lack of it, when people's identities are inextricably bound up with a belief system? The position I take, for example, surely owes no small part to the fact that I was raised by two strongly secular socialists.

This is not to suggest that there is no element of choice but the will is much more likely to be active when a man or a woman breaks from the faith of their parents and their community.

6 Cassandra gets stuck into Marxists in no uncertain fashion:

Education simply belóngs to the Left. In The Netherlands the Ministry of Education is where Socialists spend their hay-days - they go to die at the U.N., the World Bank or some other international forum which has been bribed for the privilege, years in advance.

Subjectivity is therefore a riot in education! Anyone who thinks that children get the grades they deserve, had better think again! There's an awful lot of proportional compensating for unequal difference being done there.

7 Wolfie has an intriguing tale of just how nice [or not] Kate Middleton is:

We bumped into Kate and Wills over dinner way back in 2005, just before their relationship was made public. I was of the opinion that she was a good catch for William but my wife (then my fiancée) disagreed, and to be honest I tend to listen to her on these matters because she has this amazing built-in bitch detector which never seems to fail in its accuracy. Apparently on a trip to the bathroom during the evening there was one of those “women sizing each other up”/”evil eye” moments between Miss Middleton and my somewhat amused wife, which seems quite bizarre considering she was clearly romantically involved with me and seven years her senior.

8 And finally - strong opinions, not by Bonnie herself but by Squirt:

And why do I bring up all this ancient history? Because Hubby thinks that on this blog, Squirt should no longer be called Squirt. He thinks I should refer to our youngest son as “Rock Star” because the boy currently hopes to become an professional rock guitarist.

Of course, “Squirt” is not his REAL name. And I do wish I had picked a name other than “Squirt,” because you should see the odd and somewhat disturbing search terms that bring people to this site.

Hope you enjoyed these. See you Saturday, yes?

[worstall watch] one worstallism a day examined

An exciting new series where one blogger is put under the microscope all week and one post is examined each day. Then another victim is selected and so on. First up - the Portugese Practitioner of Prose* on gender pay equality:

Err, helloo? If you leave one job for another, you are, presumably, doing so because that second job is more desirable. It might be location, or vacation, but who doubts that it's usually about more money?

So, the fact that men move jobs more often to go to other ones is actually one of the explanations for the gender pay gap, not something to be equated with taking a several year career break to have children. No?

The corollary presumably being that it's the onwards and upwards man who pushes the salary above the base level of the woman. At least, that's my reading of it. What you think yourself?

* Of course Tim would point out that he's not, in fact, Portugese but how else could I get the alliteration working?

[flowers] a language all their own

A Banksy pic with Higham embellishments

It's an ancient art which has almost died and if I hadn't been reading Miss Marple's Four Suspects, I should have missed it. Like hand-torn paper and quill pens, it's a joy we can always rediscover.

A small selection [more next time]:

1 Azalea - Take care of yourself for me

2 Bouquet of withered flowers - Rejected love

3 Carnation (pink) - I'll never forget you

4 Carnation (striped)- sorry I can't be with you

5 Dahlia - Treachery and misrepresentation

6 Hyacinth ( purple) - I'm sorry; please forgive me

7 Hyacinth (white)- I'll pray for you

8 Jonquil - Desire for a return of affection

9 Lily (general) - Keeps unwanted visitors away

10 Monkshood - Beware, a deadly foe is near

11 Orchid [purple] - I await your favours

12 Peony - Aphrodisiac

13 Rose(Black) -Death

14 Tulip(yellow) - Hopeless love

15 Viscaria - Will you dance with me?

You can speak to someone with flowers tomorrow.