We have become accustomed to reports of unimaginable corruption and waste in Afghanistan from bags of money delivered to President Karzai to constructing huge buildings to be immediately torn down to buying aircraft that cannot be used. The common element to the stories is the absence of any reported prosecution or even discipline for those responsible. You can simply waste hundreds of millions of dollars and continue in your government position. This week’s outrage comes from a report of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR). Among huge examples of waste and delay is this little ditty: USAid paid a $300,000 charge for 600 gallons of diesel fuel. That is $500/gallon to a contractor.
International Organization for Migration paid the contractor the $500 per gallon at a time when the market price in Afghanistan for diesel fuel was less than $5.00 per gallon. The invoice should have demanded $3,000 instead of $300,000. No one was prosecuted for the payment. Likewise, the IOM paid $220,000 for an automatic temperature control device that should have cost between $2,000 and $10,000. Again, no prosecution and no record of any discipline against those signing off on the payment.
We put people in jail for snatching a purse, but a contractor can charge $500 per gallon of gas and neither the contractor nor the government official responsible face any reported sanctions. It appears all “self-serve” at the U.S. Treasury based on the honor system.
Its like you read my mind! You seem to know so much approximately this, such as you wrote the
guide in it or something. I feel that you could do with some p.c.
to power the message home a bit, however instead of that, this is great blog.
A great read. I’ll definitely be back.
A few hundred comments ago, Justice Holmes hit the nail on the head: our government makes wars to keep the military-industrial complex (of which Eisenhower warned us in 1961) fat and happy. The atomic bomb made all-out, traditional war a thing of the past; hence this succession of un-winnable, abandoned wars, from Korea on.
that would be because putting them in jail would begin other investigations and then the sheeple would find out. that the corporation actually has a over abundance of diesel fuel and natural oil. but of course we are not supposed to have that information…. because then we would then begin asking questions… i must say the criminal cabal of bankers did a great job for the last couple hundred of years… they have humanity drugged up to non compliance. un educated worse then before schools truly began and those not drugged up and uneducated are dead or soon will be………. because they will never if they can help it allow the people to find out that the corporation (u.s.a) actually had and has its own bank which is structured on credit and not usury which is illegal. the people would also realize that its thru the irs that the bankers have become billionaires but hey dont let me tell it.. im just a cancer filled uneducated black woman and the diploma and certifcates i have mean little to nothing. since their story is all a lie to keep humanity dumbed down………..
roflmao@ anyone who still believes there are 2 different parties demorats and repubkes!!! wow at that one… there has not been 2 parties since eisenhower but of course the corporation wont admit that. i mean they have to keep the people distracted. they have to allow them to believe their votes count. they have to keep them from thinking for themselves. because if the sheeple are allowed to put two and two together they might get four and that is not acceptable……… its a wonder to me that the people are well aware that the corporation keeps claiming to be broke.. yet every billionaire and multi millionaire has tripled their incomes. while everyone elses has dwindled. if they have a income at all……and the people refuse to accept the knowledge. so of course they feel the world is theirs… one set of laws for us and none for them….
ha its even been reported right here in this blog that the big banks are now snatching the peoples bank accounts and giving them stock which has no worth at all. but have the people begun fighting back?? HELL NO!!
lets go down the line..
1. if the majority of the people refuse to file for taxes the irs couldnt and wouldnt do chyt. there arent that many prison cells in the world
2. stop buying name brand things and making them richer. start shopping at the mom and pop stores
3. give up some of the toys ex iphone5, ipads, etc
4. cut off the cable tv
5. take your money out of the big banks and put them in municipals or credit unions
6. throw out all medications, microwave ovens, debit and credit cards., etc
these are the things they dont want us to understand and put into place so they keep the people drugged up, uneducated, and addicted to one thing or another
7. dont vote and watch who gets into that office it doesnt matter who you vote for. the corporations own anyone running for the big offices.
8.grow your own food and vegatables.. and FOR THE LOVE OF SPIRITUAL GUIDES do not buy anything seeds for the above from monsanto.
even George Tenet said the nation’s intelligence was in disarray.
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http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/013/593daqmw.asp
even bill kristols “the weekly standard” says tenent lies.
Seem to me that David 2575 is on a roll tonight but he’s unable to come up with some convincing sources for his allegations. I am with rafflaw. Bonsoir.
No David, you can’t get off by just making more unsubstantiated claims. Clinton didn’t gut the CIA. Check your facts again and report back tomorrow. Check the 9/11 Commission report while you are at it. Buenos noches.
rafflaw wrote: “No David, you can’t get off by just making more unsubstantiated claims. Clinton didn’t gut the CIA. Check your facts again and report back tomorrow. Check the 9/11 Commission report while you are at it.”
I hope you understand that I am not trying to win an argument about this here. My point is simply that some people are of the opinion that the additional cuts in defense spending during the Clinton years led to defects in intelligence that allowed the 9/11 attack to happen. It is true that some people have this perspective. So Murray might credit Clinton with balancing the budget by defense spending cuts, but we should perhaps consider the flip side of that as pointed to by some military people who feel that defense spending hurt our ability to know what our enemies were planning for us.
George Tenet was CIA director during the Clinton years. Following is a link to part of his testimony before the 911 Commission in 2004. It pretty much confirms what I said previously about the cuts to the CIA hurting our ability to know our enemies.
https://www.cia.gov/news-information/speeches-testimony/2004/tenet_testimony_04142004.html
George Tenet
Director of Central Intelligence
April 14, 2004
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By the mid-1990s the Intelligence Community was operating with significant erosion in resources and people and was unable to keep pace with technological change. When I became DCI, I found a Community and a CIA whose dollars were declining and whose expertise was ebbing.
We lost close to 25 percent of our people and billions of dollars in capital investment.
The pace of technological change and a $3 trillion telecommunications revolution challenged the National Security Agency’s ability to keep up with the increasing volume and velocity of modern communications.
The infrastructure to recruit, train, and sustain officers for our clandestine services—the nation’s human intelligence capability—was in disarray.
We were not hiring new analysts, emphasizing the importance of expertise, or giving analysts the tools they needed.
I also found that the threats to the nation had not declined or even stabilized, but had grown more complex and dangerous.
David,
The debt tripled under Reagan. That alleged prosperity tripled the debt. He lowered the income tax brackets for the wealthy and we have not yet recovered from that mistake. No one held the government hostage when the debt ceiling had to be raised during the Reagan years or the Bush years, but for some reason the Obama Administration is handled differently by many of these same congressmen. Over one hundred Congressman who voted several times to raise the debt ceiling during the Bush years while Bush was almost doubling the debt, voted against raising it during this last debacle. Tell me why that is not hypocritical?
David,
once again, Obama care was a bill that was passed and approved by the Supreme Court. The attempt by the Tea Party was to hold the government hostage in a juvenile attempt to throw out a valid and legal bill. There was nothing to negotiate because it was already the law. This shutdown was planned months ago and for some reason they did not learn from the fiasco during Newt’s time. Even Cruz himself admitted that he was doing it to get donations and email addresses for his run for the White House. The same guy who held a fake filibuster and then voted himself to end the filibuster.
The florida story evidences that Obamacare is good for the system because it is making the insurance companies provide a better product for all of us. Those policies weren’t dropped because of obamacare, obamacare raised the standards for all policies and that company has to provide a better product.
The Florida story you linked admits that they are transitioning to ACA policies and no one is losing coverage!
The experts tell me that Obamacare doesn’t even do anything about the one issue you bring up.
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the experts at fox news?
having a couple of ex-congress critters on the payroll just pay for themselves.
and remember to click your heels together three times and say “they hate us for our freedom”
david,
now please provide your evidence and support that Clinton was responsible for 9/11 due to the reduction of our military. You are making a lot of claims tonight with no evidence. Please fill in the blanks for me.
rafflaw wrote: “now please provide your evidence and support that Clinton was responsible for 9/11 due to the reduction of our military. ”
This was not MY viewpoint. I have heard several military intelligence officers present that argument. Clinton gutted the CIA by some 25% and even George Tenet said the nation’s intelligence was in disarray. It is late right now and so I can’t research this for you, but it shouldn’t be too hard to find information on it. Somebody wrote a book that puts forward the view, but I just can’t remember what it was right now. it is nothing provable, just a concept that our intelligence community might have been able to know about the 9/11 attack if we didn’t get rid of all our intelligence guys on the ground (we got rid of our 007 spy types from what I understand) and if we put more money into high tech surveillance. Nobody can prove that such measures would have stopped it. We only have evidence that Clinton had huge military intelligence reforms that severely reduced our intelligence capabilities.
David,
do you know how many times taxes were raised during the Reagan administration? Do you know that he tripled the debt?
rafflaw – yes, I know that about Reagan, but you have to look at the whole picture and what happened to tax revenues when his policies had time to take effect. People can nitpick certain specifics while overlooking all the loopholes he did away with under the Tax Reform Act. Tax revenues were highest following Reagan’s policies. Businesses grew. Employment increased. Times of prosperity followed.
david,
I have to ask what your source is for your claim that over 300,000 health insurance policies have been cancelled due to Obamacare. Please let me know where you learned that. Thank you.
By the way, check you facts again on the shutdown. The health care law is already funded and the shutdown does not impact it. It was the Republicans who orchestrated that mess and now they have to live with their mistake.
rafflaw wrote: “I have to ask what your source is for your claim that over 300,000 health insurance policies have been cancelled due to Obamacare.”
Fox News and CNN. Heard a Congressman say it in the hearings too. Google 300,000 insurance policies cancelled in Florida and you will find lots of hits. Here’s one:
http://jacksonville.com/business/2013-10-22/story/florida-blue-policies-transition-not-being-dropped
The plans do not measure up to the Obamacare standard, so they have to be dropped and the people are expected to sign up for a policy that qualifies under Obamacare. I read 279,000 cancelled in California.
rafflaw wrote: “By the way, check you facts again on the shutdown. The health care law is already funded and the shutdown does not impact it.”
The original House bill that was passed was to fund everything except Obamacare. The Senate rejected it and the President objected. That’s what started the shutdown. Next the bill wanted a 1 year delay in the individual mandate. President said no, he would not negotiate. Next they wanted to fund various parts of government without addressing Obamacare either way. President said no, Senate said no. Eventually the Senate provided a bill that included funding for Obamacare and also provided for income verification of those who apply for subsidies. That bill passed both houses and the shutdown was over.
Yes, the healthcare law is funded for a little while longer and the primary impact of the shutdown was to get income verification for subsidies because previously there was no income verification.
Don’t ask me I don’t give a damn
Next stop is Viet Nam!
And its five, six, seven, open up the Pearly Gates..
—
[interruption]
Wait, Country Joe, stop. Five hundred dollars a gallon?
Jeso, smeezo.
Like Obamacare!
“The government has no business doing health care at all.”
Ah, but the govt isn’t doing health care, David. The ACA merely requires us to either have health insurance or pay a tax, the assumption being that if you don’t have health insurance and you become critically sick or injured you’ll wind up in the emergency room on the taxpayers dime. By reducing the number of uninsured, the taxpayers will be footing the bill for fewer of those emergency room visits. That’s what I call debt reduction. And the insurance companies will be crying all the way to the bank.
The govt should be doing health care. What better way to promote the general welfare
Actually, government does many things well. Enjoy your internet, your military superiority, and your freedom from dirty water and rotten food. It’s when government contracts those duties to the private sector that it gets messed up. It need to be public or private; a melding of the two seems to bring out the worst in both.
RTC wrote: “Ah, but the govt isn’t doing health care, David. The ACA merely requires us to either have health insurance or pay a tax, the assumption being that if you don’t have health insurance and you become critically sick or injured you’ll wind up in the emergency room on the taxpayers dime.”
ROTFLOL! The govt isn’t doing health care you say? The ACA is more than 900 pages long, and the government regulations based upon it are over 30 times that length. Very few people in the country have even read it. I doubt you have read it.
The experts tell me that Obamacare doesn’t even do anything about the one issue you bring up. What happens to someone who doesn’t have insurance and they go to the emergency room? NOTHING. No, the ACA does not provide any kind of compensation for that situation. They collect a penalty from that person, but do not give anything to the medical providers if they provide care for the uninsured. It changes NOTHING in regard to the one thing you bring up that makes sense to you about why we might need Obamacare.
The ACA has provided a lot of stipulations about what kind of health care you are allowed to buy. I don’t have health insurance and I don’t want it, but if I did, I would choose a catastrophic plan. Sorry. Too late. The ACA has forbidden me from buying that kind of health insurance. There is one catastrophic plan that allowed 3 doctor visits a year. Obamacare says no, that plan is not good enough for you. More than 300,000 health insurance policies have been cancelled in Florida alone because of the Obamacare law. And you stand up on your soapbox and tell us govt isn’t doing health care? Get real. The govt just went thru a shutdown because President Obama and the Democrats of the Senate refused to allow Congress to fund the govt if they did not also fund the federal health care law. Sorry, but you fell asleep or something if you think the govt isn’t doing health care. The federal govt is definitely in the business of health care.
We need more choices than 2, NOT LESSI
Murray wants a monopoly, the duopoly isn’t good enough. Worked great for the Soviet Union!