not in the news
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i guess a MONOPOLY is only a MONOPOLY when it ISNT government authorized. huh?
7.30.2008
7.26.2008
7.18.2008
“ABOVE ALL”
The Air Force brass is pushing lush travel accommodations for themselves while troops put up with mangled seats on cargo aircraft, the Washington Post revealed this morning. A cache of internal Air Force documents and emails show that Air Force generals frivolously blew hundreds of thousands in taxpayer dollars because they didn’t like the color of seat belts, carpet, leather and wood used in work and living space units being developed for use on cargo planes.
The two little-known programs are called the Senior Leader In-transit Conference Capsule (SLICC) and the Senior Leader In-transit Pallet (SLIP). Earlier, SLICC was called Senior Leader In-transit Comfort Capsules, with the “Comfort” being dropped in favor of “Conference” at one point in late 2006 (pdf). SLICCs are two connected chambers with first class amenities on a pallet that can be loaded onto a C-17, KC-10, C-130 and KC-X aircraft. These SLICCs are modeled on two existing “Steel Eagles” which are currently used for the most senior Pentagon officials (and are replacing the previous two “Silver Bullets” which are customized Airstream trailers). Each SLIP is made up of four leather business class chairs with tables that fit on a pallet that can be loaded on a cargo plane.
Slicc_12 The program began under General Duncan McNabb’s tenure as commander of Air Mobility Command, a part of the Air Force that is responsible for air transport. General McNabb originally sought ten SLICCs and was involved in choosing the original color and material choices for the SLICC and SLIP leather, wood and carpet, which General Robert H. McMahon later changed at the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Disgust towards the generals’ requests grew inside the Air Force, leading the acquisition effort to be moved when one part of Air Mobility Command refused to make some of the costly changes.
“In Mar 07, Gen McMahon requested A4 [Air Mobility Command’s Logistics Directorate] take over the acquisition effort when he could not get support from A5 [AMC’s Plans and Programs Directorate] for updates and cooperation on making the equipment ‘world class’ which was one of his goals,” according to an Air Force email.
In one email it states, “Gen McMahon’s concern is so significant that we need assurance by the end of the week from AFRL [Air Force Research Laboratory] that the SLICC will be ‘World class’ inside. While we know the requirements document says ‘business class’, we all know there are levels of that.”
The “world class” emphasis entailed the costly aesthetic redesign of the interior of an already existing system known as Steel Eagle. After the first SLIP was procured, General McMahon expressed dissatisfaction with the color of the seat leather and type of wood used. He directed that the leather be reupholstered from brown to Air Force blue leather and to replace the wood originally used to cherry.
The cost alone to reupholster the seats on the first SLIP is about $21,000 – one estimate of the total cost of wood and leather changes to all the first four SLIPs (16 chairs total) was about $113,000. The cost was so appalling to General Kenneth Merchant that he wrote, “How’d we get to $113K for 4 pallets? Pls tell me this is for all 4 pallets…I could carpet and upholster a couple of houses for $113K…” (ellipses in original)
As of March this year, the total cost increase for retrofit and further customization –which goes beyond wood and leather – for the SLIPs, directed by Air Mobility Command headquarters, is $493,000.
The current dollar figure for the four SLIPs and one SLICC is approximately $4.4 million. The estimated cost of the first prototype SLICC is currently $2.735 million – and it is based on the already existing Steel Eagle design. Originally the SLICC was estimated to cost $1.743 million in November of 2006. There has been about 64% cost growth in less than two years. The four SLIPs are currently estimated to cost $1.66 million, up from the original cost estimate of $1.1 million in March of 2007 – a 66% increase.
Cost increases in the program “have virtually all been in the area of materials and other non-labor costs due to the expense of SLICC/SLIP components and costs incurred by changing design details that were previously finalized” such as the leather and wood, according to an Air Force financial update.
is it any wonder the new tagline in U.S. Air Force advertizing is UBER ALLES.
elevated above the ‘mortal’ human..the lowly CIVILIAN..
they’re Christian..they are Apocalypse fanatics with Atomic weapons..they are…
ENTITLED to a little COMFORT!!!
dammit!
do you want to know more?
see STARSHIP TROOPERS 3:MARAUDER
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7.15.2008
7.14.2008
Americas Finest
is it REALLY hard to imagine these fine young examples of American youth
murdering..raping and brutalizing Iraqi..Afghani or JAPANESE(for that matter) citizens..
when THIS is how they treat their own ‘loved ones’?
how many RAPES of US Servicewomen do you think occur and then go UNREPORTED?
how about MURDERS?
well..THIS makes three ‘CONFIRMED KILLS’ for our brave sons here on US soil..in the last 6 months.
we are MONSTERS.
the UNITED STATES is morally and ethically bankrupt.
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7.12.2008
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7.11.2008
7.10.2008
trading with the enemy
a specialty of the Bush dynasty.
Iran may be part of the “axis of evil,” but it is good enough to be able to buy increasing amounts of American products — including bull semen, brassieres and possibly even weapons — despite U.S. sanctions that have been in place for decades.
An analysis of seven years of U.S. trade statistics done by the Associated Press shows that exports from the United States to Iran grew more than tenfold during President George W. Bush's years in office, even as he accused the Mideast country of having nuclear ambitions and helping terrorists.
Cigarettes were Iran’s favorite U.S. import, the statistics said, with the Islamic republic’s smokers going through more than $169 million worth of popular U.S. brands since 2001.
Other surprising shipments to Iran during the Bush administration have included fur coats, sculptures, perfume and musical instruments.
Despite increasingly tough rhetoric toward Iran, and reports of U.S. or Israeli plans for a military strike, trade in a range of goods has survived on-again, off-again sanctions originally imposed nearly three decades ago.
Sanctions target ‘regime, not people’
Theoretically, the U.S. government-imposed rules allow only sales of agricultural commodities, medicine and a few other types of goods. What exemptions exist are aimed at helping Iranian families, officials said.
“Our sanctions are targeted against the regime, not the people,” said Adam Szubin, director of the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, which enforces the country’s sanctions against foreign nations, including Cuba.
The U.S. and Europe recently agreed on a new round of financial sanctions against one of Iran’s leading banks, as part of international efforts to discourage Tehran from enriching uranium.
Washington also moved Tuesday to impose targeted sanctions on certain Iranian companies and individuals suspected of funding Islamic militant groups and nuclear weapons development.
Economic embargoes and sanctions are intended in part to frustrate Iran’s efforts to build its military, but the U.S. government’s own figures show that hundreds of thousands of dollars in unspecified weapons, rifle parts and other military gear were exported from the U.S. to Iran during Bush’s time in office.
Szubin said it was unlikely that exports of military gear occurred, but he added that the government was looking into the matter.
The United States sent Iran about $546 million in goods from 2001 through last year, government figures show. It exported roughly $146 million last year, compared with just under $9 million in 2001, Bush’s first year in office. Even adjusted for inflation, that is more than a tenfold increase.
Top U.S. exports to Iran over Bush’s years in office include agricultural products such as corn and soybeans, vaccines, blood products, chemicals, wood pulp, medical equipment, vitamins, bull semen and vegetable seeds, according to the AP’s analysis of government trade data compiled by the World Institute for Strategic Economic Research in Holyoke, Mass.
Iran is listed as a top customer of Alta Genetics Inc., a Canadian company with an office in Watertown, Wis., that sells bull semen, used to produce healthier, more profitable cattle.
“The animals we’re working with are genetically superior to those in many parts of the world,” said Kevin Muxlow, Alta’s global marketing manager.
The trade statistics also show that Iran has purchased several thousand dollars’ worth of snowmobiles and golf carts from U.S. suppliers.
all work and no play……you know!
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7.9.2008
7.6.2008
7.5.2008
agent provocateurs plan violence…
citx-when i saw that name REcreate68..i knew these were clowns.
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7.4.2008
7.3.2008
bOINGbOING betrays bLOGosphere
this is very interesting to me..it relates to what is happening to Obama
it validates my theorem..
EVERYONE is a FASCIST..when you hit the right combination of buttons..in the magic rhythm.
huh cory?
but BETRAYAL it is..of the most profound kind.
it in fact REDEFINES the concept of BETRAYAL for the 21st century.
but for both Violet Blue and the founder/operators of BoingBoing this should teach them..
you can say..and often DO whatever you like up until the point…
that a critical mass of people are ACTUALLY paying attention to what you are doing
and at that point your actions may have consequences that if considered BEFOREHAND
might just MODIFY how one might act..
when lets say..you are setting an example.
EXEMPLARY behavior is called for.
uwillbejudged.
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7.2.2008
HACK THE PLANET
looks like the “good ‘ole days” of the internet are fading into the shadows
like a vampire up past his bedtime..
and your name has been turned over to a toxic media conglomerate that is hellbent on jailing teenage websurfers
(dont think that because YOU are thirty-something that mercy will be shown)
shit even the HACKERS are folding up their tents and calling it a day
but WAIT…there is still HOPE
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