Say Anything Blog

And some people want these guys to run our health care?!

"These” guys are a for profit company.

“These” guys are a for profit company.

There’s nothing wrong with SMC being for-profit.  What’s wrong is that they’re getting $74 million to manufacture replacements for faulty products they already sold the taxpayers once.

Rob’s recently listened-to songs:

What’s wrong is they put profit above the safety of our troops.

If even one soldier died, or was injured, because of a faulty helmet the cost was too high, and while the Defense Department has no information of such things happening that doesn’t mean they haven’t happened.

Interesting.  So what is your position on sending troops in harms way unnecessarily?  How about the trillion dollars and lives that cost?  How about sending them in harms way without adequate armor? 

Of course it only matters when it makes your enemies look bad, right?  Otherwise, you don’t really care about Halliburton, Blackwater or any other outrageous misappropriation of funds.  What matters to you is picking on those darn injuns.  Right?

And some people want these guys to run our health care?!

Great point Likwid.  I mean, can you imagine the incompetence?  Imagine them running Fema, or the military, or the FBI, or the Government.  Ohhhh....the irony.

How long before we see another ad “praising” Dorgan for helpling them get the new contract?

Interesting.  So what is your position on sending troops in harms way unnecessarily?  How about the trillion dollars and lives that cost?  How about sending them in harms way without adequate armor?

The decision to go to war in Iraq is a much different thing than the decision to knowingly sell the federal government faulty body armor.

I mean, can you imagine the incompetence?  Imagine them running Fema, or the military, or the FBI, or the Government.  Ohhhh....the irony.

Government is a necessary evil that should be limited to only the most necessary functions.

Infrastructure.  National security.  Currency.  A certain level of law enforcement.  These are necessary functions.

Health care, which can be provided in a less costly and more efficient manner by private enterprise, is not.

Rob’s recently listened-to songs:

Anyone know whether employees, owners/investors, or others on the Spirit Lake tribal payrol have been donating to Dorgan/Conrad/Pomeroy in the past decade?  Any interesting money trails?  Can’t imagine any other reason for their silence on this one, although, it does appear no soldiers were endangered.  Still, follow the money.

WOOF - “These” guys are a for profit company.

No. I was talking about the government there WOOF.

Way to keep up.

What matters to you is picking on those darn injuns.  Right?

H,

Was this meant to be funny?  Sure sounds like a racist pejorative to me.  You really should learn to do a better job controling your indignation.

“Poverty of goods is easily cured; poverty of the mind is irreparable.”

You often miss the salient points.

Lik:

I was talking about the government there WOOF.

I think the use of “Sioux” in the company’s name is hostile and abusive.

Insert (clever) signature here:

I think the use of “Sioux” in the company’s name is hostile and abusive.

LOL, a hositle abusive company, where is Myles Brand when we need him.

Check out:
Goon’s North Dakota Red Neck
Goon’s World

WOOF - You often miss the salient points.

Lik:

What?

A company screws up for whatever reason, they pay 2 million dollars for that screwup, and is then rewarded with a 74 million dollar contract to correct the problem that they created.

And people on your side of the ideological aisle want to give those who rewarded failure control of my health care.

What “salient points” were missed, WOOF?

You up to speed yet?

You know, the fact that I have to explain this simple shit to you is enough of a reason to keep you and your kind as far away from my health care as possible. You guys aren’t too damn bright.

Nothing different from how the government deals with all defense contractors. A little fine and than buisiness as usual. IMO y’all have an ax to grind with the Sioux.

IMO y’all have an ax to grind with the Sioux.

You’re poison, ellinas.

It’s not about Race, and not about “for profit” and it is not ignoring Haliburton and the rest of them.  It is about corruption, lies, and inferior, unsafe “safety” gear being thrown at our troops, who don’t have a choice in this. 

Injecting racism into this or to try and dilute it with other corrupt vendors is a distraction.  If we were to list every corrupt vendor, just to the military alone, it would be an epic.  To ignore this kind of corruption because tribes are involved is to equate Indians with Corruption as one the same.  I find that to be very racist. 

Using tribal sovereignty to escape the laws that would govern over such corruption, serves no one except those who profit from the corruption. And, BTW, Federal Contracts are the exception to that sovereignty, and the laws could be enforced if there was not such a mad rush of everyone who gets money from this arrangement, to cover their butts.

Stay focused.  Demand answers and demand better. 

The reason they can say they don’t know of any deaths or injuries attributable to these inferior weaves is because they WON’T look. 

Wordplay at play on their denials when they say they tested material from the factory.  They did not say they tested the faulty material, now did they.  They took no chances.  They tested what they knew would pass in a way that it could not fail.

Because so many political payoffs are handled via lobbying firms, and they are not forthcoming with their accounting, following the money trail requires Federal Subpoenas.  Demand your government investigate your government.  Sadly, it is the best we can do. 

I am sure someone in the Justice Department is listening.  After all, they put together a case, staged a raid, and then were thrown to the sharks by politically connected, powerful people. 

I know families who are burying their sons, daughters, mothers and fathers from this war. 

When it is this obviously wrong, we should not just let it go by and fade away because some political bean bag says “go to sleep.  Everything is okay.”

Twist all you want, the facts are out there.  Ignore them at great peril. 

I find it odd that because we are aware of so much corruption, so many choose to do nothing about any of it. 

Gee, how did it get to be so bad with so many doing nothing?

I am not asking to anyone to ignore anything. Simply show the same outrage and demand the same for others guilty of the same.
Truth is this is how our govt handles these cases: A little fine and than buisiness as usual.

Simply show the same outrage and demand the same for others guilty of the same.

Instead of showing “the same outrage”, you questioned it.

Take your own advice ellinas.

Am I suppose to show mine before I question yours?

What I want to know is why all the MSM reports about the massive numbers of injuries and deaths from inferior and inadequate bodyarmor and helmets have suddenly vanished? Especially when there is such an egregious case of malfeasance by a company which has received so much preferential treatment from 3 Admins?

Where is the outrage? Where are the calls for Grand Jury and Congressional investigations? Is the Stupor Bowl really more important than troops safety?

Una Salus Victus Nullam Sperare Salutem

Where is the outrage? Where are the calls for Grand Jury and Congressional investigations? Is the Stupor Bowl really more important than troops safety?
2Hotel9 on February 8, 2008 at 05:43 am

There are never any Grand Jury investigations on defrauding the government on military contracts.
As far as congressional investigations go, you only hear calls for one only when it is for partisan advantage. Otherwords they are a joke.
May I suggest you call your local congressmans office and see what is his/her position on the issue?
And on a unrelated note, did you start raising chickens again?

There are never any Grand Jury investigations on defrauding the government on military contracts.

Duh. 

I guess you weren’t paying attention to the investigations into Fraud, Waste and Abuse by the Beltway Bandits during the late 1980’s and early 1990’s?  Remember the outrage over $700 hammers and $2000 toilet seats?

Just because you don’t know about it, doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. 

Silly rodent.

...for great justice

Obviously this issue doesn’t rise to the level of whether or not Chuck Knoblock, a lifetime .289 hitter, used steroids or HGH back when he was playing Major League Baseball six or more years ago.  Still, I think it deserves a Congressional investigation.  Heaven knows the US Congress hasn’t done anything especially meaningful in the last year, despite a change in leadership.  In fact, other than raising the minimum wage, something that both parties had agreed to nearly a year and a half ago, its hard to find anything that Congress has accomplished, despite all that high flying rhetoric from Speaker Pelosi and Harry Reid and Dick Durbin about all the many great things they were going to do on behalf of the American people.

So, by all means, let’s have a congressional investigation.  They’re certainly not doing much of anything else.

“Poverty of goods is easily cured; poverty of the mind is irreparable.”

Move_Zig If you were to actualy read what I wrote you would see this: “As far as congressional investigations go, you only hear calls for one only when it is for partisan advantage. Otherwords they are a joke.”

Damn blind mole rat

ellinas - Am I suppose to show mine before I question yours?

You get testy when your hypocrisy is pointed out.

If congress is not looking into it surely our Attorney General mr Mukasey would and should look into it. I wonder why he hasn’t yet!

Lik not realy. I despise anyone that is cheating our troops and us the taxpayers. It just appears to me that the outrage is selective.

Pretty disturbing story.  I agree that if even one soldier was hurt or killed, then the cost was too high.  Unfortunately, in a civil suit at least, damages are only measured in terms of what actually happened, not what could’ve happened. Given that, I don’t see why criminal charges weren’t filed by the government. 

Besides, are there so few helmet manufacturers that the government had to give a contract to the same company again?

At any rate, this isn’t necessarily over.  I assume the family of a soldier hurt or killed by one of the helmets could easily find a lawyer and file suit.

Great. Now we have lawyerscum spambots.

Una Salus Victus Nullam Sperare Salutem