Why are those Democrats so wrong on everything

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Wade Icey

Trad climber

www.alohashirtrescue.com

Jul 27, 2010 - 12:58pm PT

Experience demands that man is the only animal which devours his own kind, for I can apply no milder term to the general prey of the rich on the poor.
Thomas Jefferson

dirtbag

climber

Jul 27, 2010 - 01:04pm PT

I'm going to have the overseer whip your ass and sell your children if you don't get to work!

apogee

climber

Jul 27, 2010 - 01:07pm PT

apogee

climber

Jul 27, 2010 - 01:18pm PT

Oooo, a menage a trois, with fattrad in the middle!

Post up the pics!

Karl Baba

Trad climber

Yosemite, Ca

Jul 27, 2010 - 01:32pm PT

We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security.
Dwight D. Eisenhower

There are a couple of interesting unspoken aspects to the the story below. One is that, out of hundreds and hundreds of billions spent on Iraq, only 10 billion went to reconstruction and we can't account for much of it. So much for hearts and minds. Even less spent in Afghanistan. How scandalous is it that the military still doesn't practice even the most minimal financial accountability, even after admitting not knowing where 2.3 trillion dollars went (announced the day before 9-11-2001) That's 8000 a person in the country? why Doesn't the GOP (or the DEMs) care where military money goes?

From http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-10774002 7/27/2010.
US 'fails to account' for Iraq reconstruction billions
(BBC NEWS July 27th, 2010)

By Gabriel GatehouseBBC News, Baghdad
Billions have gone to rebuild Iraq but much of the money is impossible to trace, says a US audit

A US federal watchdog has criticised the US military for failing to account properly for billions of dollars it received to help rebuild Iraq.

The Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction says the US Department of Defence is unable to account properly for 96% of the money.

Out of just over $9bn (£5.8bn), $8.7bn is unaccounted for, the inspector says.

The US military said the funds were not necessarily missing, but that spending records might have been archived.

In a response attached to the report, it said attempting to account for the money might require "significant archival retrieval efforts".
Reconstruction money

Much of the money came from the sale of Iraqi oil and gas.

Some frozen Saddam Hussein-era assets were also sold off.

The funds in question were administered by the US Department of Defence between 2004 and 2007, and were earmarked for reconstruction projects.

But, the report says, a lack of proper accounting makes it impossible to say exactly what happened to most of the money.

This is not the first time that allegations of missing billions have surfaced in relation to the US-led invasion of Iraq and its aftermath.

No-one from the Iraqi government was immediately available for comment.

an old one but related.... Fool me once, shame on you. fool me twice....don't be fooled again

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 29, 2002

The War On Waste
Defense Department Cannot Account For 25% Of Funds – $2.3 Trillion

(CBS) On Sept. 10, (THAT'S 2001-SAM The day before 9/11) Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld declared war. Not on foreign terrorists, "the adversary's closer to home. It's the Pentagon bureaucracy," he said.

He said money wasted by the military poses a serious threat.

"In fact, it could be said it's a matter of life and death," he said.

Rumsfeld promised change but the next day ˆ Sept. 11-- the world changed and in the rush to fund the war on terrorism, the war on waste seems to have been forgotten.

Just last week President Bush announced, "my 2003 budget calls for more than $48 billion in new defense spending."

More money for the Pentagon, CBS News Correspondent Vince Gonzales reports, while its own auditors admit the military cannot account for 25 percent of what it spends.

"According to some estimates we cannot track $2.3 trillion in transactions," Rumsfeld admitted.

$2.3 trillion – that's $8,000 for every man, woman and child in America. To understand how the Pentagon can lose track of trillions, consider the case of one military accountant who tried to find out what happened to a mere $300 million.

"We know it's gone. But we don't know what they spent it on," said Jim Minnery, Defense Finance and Accounting Service.

Minnery, a former Marine turned whistle-blower, is risking his job by speaking out for the first time about the millions he noticed were missing from one defense agency's balance sheets. Minnery tried to follow the money trail, even crisscrossing the country looking for records.

"The director looked at me and said 'Why do you care about this stuff?' It took me aback, you know? My supervisor asking me why I care about doing a good job," said Minnery.

He was reassigned and says officials then covered up the problem by just writing it off.

"They have to cover it up," he said. "That's where the corruption comes in. They have to cover up the fact that they can't do the job."

The Pentagon's Inspector General "partially substantiated" several of Minnery's allegations but could not prove officials tried "to manipulate the financial statements."

Twenty years ago, Department of Defense Analyst Franklin C. Spinney made headlines exposing what he calls the "accounting games." He's still there, and although he does not speak for the Pentagon, he believes the problem has gotten worse.

"Those numbers are pie in the sky. The books are cooked routinely year after year," he said.

Another critic of Pentagon waste, Retired Vice Admiral Jack Shanahan, commanded the Navy's 2nd Fleet the first time Donald Rumsfeld served as Defense Secretary, in 1976.

In his opinion, "With good financial oversight we could find $48 billion in loose change in that building, without having to hit the taxpayers."

corniss chopper

Mountain climber

san jose, ca

Jul 27, 2010 - 01:35pm PT

Dirtbag - inferring you would enjoy owning and whipping slaves to get more
work done reveals how desperately you need an intervention. "

"He's 5150. Approach with caution."

Reilly

Mountain climber

The Other Monrovia- CA

Jul 27, 2010 - 01:38pm PT

The US military said the funds were not necessarily missing, but that spending records might have been archived.

Yeah, I'm gonna tell the IRS that the next time I'm audited.

Daniel Eubank

Sport climber

Woodbridge, VA

Topic Author's Reply - Jul 27, 2010 - 02:02pm PT

My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.

Thomas Jefferson

apogee

climber

Jul 27, 2010 - 02:03pm PT

WandaFuca

Social climber

From the gettin place

Jul 27, 2010 - 02:23pm PT

"The punishment which the wise suffer who refuse to take part in the government, is to live under the government of worse men."

Plato

WandaFuca

Social climber

From the gettin place

Jul 27, 2010 - 02:23pm PT

"Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters."

Benjamin Franklin

WandaFuca

Social climber

From the gettin place

Jul 27, 2010 - 02:23pm PT

That'd be up the butt, Bob.

Daniel Eubank

Sport climber

Woodbridge, VA

Topic Author's Reply - Jul 27, 2010 - 02:44pm PT

Hope you enjoyed it WandaFuca.

Daniel Eubank

Sport climber

Woodbridge, VA

Topic Author's Reply - Jul 27, 2010 - 04:32pm PT

It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes.
A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world.

Thomas Jefferson

apogee

climber

Jul 27, 2010 - 04:38pm PT

dirtbag

climber

Jul 27, 2010 - 04:46pm PT

Eubanks, you are a delusion dupe for all the evil in this country

Questions?
Why don't the Rpublicans ever pay for their debt

Yeah, no sh#t.

Karl Baba

Trad climber

Yosemite, Ca

Jul 27, 2010 - 05:04pm PT

My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much Military and corporate power.

Karl Baba

Economic Meltdown in recent years = Corporate Abuse

Iraq and failed Afghan war = Influence of war for oil, military industrial complex

Killing and destruction have become indispensable for our economy. This must change

Peace

Karl