Wednesday, September 21, 2005

Who needs a hammer?

First things first: Pia at CourtingDestiny.com was kind enough to include some information from my 9/17/2005 post, on her post at Bring It On.

It was announced today that 2 subsidiaries of Halliburton have been marked to start the recovery work in the Gulf Coast. Remember, I mentioned this a few posts ago?
This shouldn't come as a surprise to Americans, as this administration has been stuffing their pockets, hiring friends and friends of friends, ever since their inception. And don't forget, Karl Rove is in charge of the Gulf Coast Reconstruction Plan.

As always, everybody is welcome to comment. Please limit your comments to this topic and be respectful of others. Inappropriate comments will be removed.

There's a time when we just need to leave well enough alone, such is the case with this post. If I could have written anything better & more informative, I would have.
CNN is reporting FACTS, Americans, just facts:

CNN says: Firms with White House ties get Katrina contracts.
FEMA taps Halliburton subsidiary, Shaw Group, Bechtel for cleanup.

Companies with ties to the Bush White House and the former head of FEMA are clinching some of the administration's first disaster relief and reconstruction contracts in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

At least two major corporate clients of lobbyist Joe Allbaugh, President Bush's former campaign manager and a former head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, have already been tapped to start recovery work along the battered Gulf Coast.

One is Shaw Group Inc. and the other is Halliburton Co. subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root. Vice President Dick Cheney is a former head of Halliburton.

Bechtel National Inc., a unit of San Francisco-based Bechtel Corp., has also been selected by FEMA to provide short-term housing for people displaced by the hurricane. Bush named Bechtel's CEO to his Export Council and put the former CEO of Bechtel Energy in charge of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation

Halliburton alone has earned more than $9 billion. Pentagon audits released by Democrats in June showed $1.03 billion in "questioned" costs and $422 million in "unsupported" costs for Halliburton's work in Iraq.

Watchdog groups take notice

But the web of Bush administration connections is attracting renewed attention from watchdog groups in the post-Katrina reconstruction rush. Congress has already appropriated more than $60 billion in emergency funding as a down payment on recovery efforts projected to cost well over $100 billion.

"The government has got to stop stacking senior positions with people who are repeatedly cashing in on the public trust in order to further private commercial interests," said Danielle Brian, executive director of the Project on Government Oversight.

Bush appointees at Halliburton
Allbaugh formally registered as a lobbyist for Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root in February.

Allbaugh is also a friend of Michael Brown, director of FEMA who was removed as head of Katrina disaster relief and sent back to Washington amid allegations he had padded his resume -- which he denies.

A few months after Allbaugh was hired by Halliburton, the company retained another high-level Bush appointee, Kirk Van Tine

Van Tine registered as a lobbyist for Halliburton six months after resigning as deputy transportation secretary, a position he held from December 2003 to December 2004.

On Friday, Kellogg Brown & Root received $29.8 million in Pentagon contracts to begin rebuilding Navy bases in Louisiana and Mississippi. Norcross said the work was covered under a contract that the company negotiated before Allbaugh was hired.

Cheney's relationship with Halliburton:
Halliburton continues to be a source of income for Cheney, who served as its chief executive officer from 1995 until 2000 when he joined the Republican ticket for the White House. According to tax filings released in April, Cheney's income included $194,852 in deferred pay from the company, which has also won billion-dollar government contracts in Iraq.

Cheney's office said the amount of deferred compensation is fixed and is not affected by Halliburton's current economic performance or earnings.

Allbaugh's other major client, Baton Rouge-based Shaw Group, has updated its Web site to say: "Hurricane Recovery Projects -- Apply Here!"

Shaw said on Thursday it has received a $100 million emergency FEMA contract for housing management and construction. Shaw also clinched a $100 million order on Friday from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Shaw Group spokesman Chris Sammons said Allbaugh was providing the company with "general consulting on business matters," and would not say whether he played a direct role in any of the Katrina deals. "We don't comment on specific consulting activities," he said.

If you think for one minute this administration gives one hoot about you, your well-being, or the well being of the hurricane victims, YOU'RE STUPID! If you are so stupid to still believe in Bush, then do as I said in my previous post: Go & get a hammer, then bang yourself on the head repeatedly!

WHEN IS ENOUGH, ENOUGH?

* 1 comment mentioned that the government has bids for contracts. I found numerous links about these companies getting the Katrina contracts, here are just a few:

US: No-Bid Contracts Win Katrina Work

Watch Who's Cleaning Up

Cash and 'Cat 5' Chaos


Technorati tags: cnn, bush, cheney, rove, michael brown, allbaugh,van tine, halliburton, bechtel,kellogg, brown and root, shaw group, fema

posted by jane at 11:20 PM