Chuck Spinney had it right.

Yesterday the Congressional/Senatorial Military Industrial Complex announced the plans to add ten more ships to the Navy's fleet over the next four years to help keep fighting the good fight on behalf of the "global force for good ". The DOD will commission someone to build these ships and is currently "vetting" the potential shipbuilders. The odds on favorite to "win the bid" is Bath Iron Works out of Maine, a subsidiary of General Dynamics. But I thought it was Mittens Romney that was going to be the new savior for the Navy and the Military Industrial Congressional Complex?

General Dynamics, is one of the largest defense contractors in the world. This is the same General Dynamics that was in the news about a month ago for an "accounting glitch" involving 900 million dollars worth of Stryker replacement parts. This doesnt include the no-bid $1.5 billion Stryker maintenance contract the Army has with General Dynamics that has the Army over-spending by some 300+ million dollars.

But, hey, welcome to the Iron Triangle.

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/03/31/187297/dod-inspector-general-finds-900.html#.UYgBZ8prjfa#storylink=cpy

This 2:27 minute local Bath, Maine news report, back from February of this year, gives a great example of how the Iron Triangle works and it pertains to this topic. Here you have both Senators, a Republican (Susan Collins) and Independent (Angus King) from the state of Maine, "working hand in glove" to get congress to pass a new defense budget. Here you also have union leadership talking about preserving jobs, hoping for a new defense budget. You have the president of BIW, proclaiming: "if nothing changes, it could lead to more job layoffs in the years ahead".

What you have here is organized labor and industry in unison with elected bureaucrats, all with one voice. That voice is clearly aimed at congress. Could it be because of the 5000+ jobs at stake in their districts/town? Or could it be all of them having their pockets lined with the billions at stake with the Department of Defense? General Dyanmics will surly profit from building ten new destroyers. Organized labor gets to keep their scalps. Last but not least, Susan Collins gets to keep her whore-master, General Dynamic, fat and happy, for ther investment into her campaign.

Here is a little something about Susan Collins we should know first:

Voted NO on investigating contract awards in Iraq & Afghanistan. (Nov 2005)



Interesting? You would assume someone who is on both Senate committees of Appropriations and Armed Forces, would want some type of transparency into contract/rewards, wouldn't you? Now, here are some of her earmarks...

$20,000,000

High-Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle Repair

$6,000,000

General Dynamics/Saco Defense: MK47 Mod 0 Advanced Lightweight Grenade Launcher

   $3,200,000    General Dynamics/Saco Defense (Collins) General Dynamics Armaments and Technical Products (Leahy, Snowe): Lightweight Caliber .50 Machine Gun 

Care to guess her top fundraiser over the last six years? 

Contributor	Total	Indivs	PACs
General Dynamics	$89,750	$48,250	$41,500
Raytheon Co	$65,801	$16,801	$49,000
Blue Cross/Blue Shield	$52,000	$3,000	$49,000
Marriott International	$51,500	$36,500	$15,000
National Assn of Postmasters	$49,000	$0	$49,000

Maybe its just all a coincidence? Maybe a unicorn will ride in and butter my ass and feed my lollipops in a sea of poppies? One thing that stood out to me in that video was a statement by Angus King:

"Its embarrassing..... ah... that or government has put people in this position because of the inability of people to work together."

Its embarrassing we have put a defense contractor in this position because the Iron Triangle's red tape isn't moving fast enough? Insert hilarious laughter here. I'm not pointing out anything that isn't obvious. Sure, we have corruption. We all know that but this isn't corruption as much as it is everyday business in the US of A. Where common sense and the statesmen has been assassinated and replaced by pimps with out of touch - bloated budgets (read Defense) who are running nothing more than a jobs program for the public while sanctioning nothing short of mercenary work to its soldiers. All the while the "elected" officials play the part of Mary Magdalan... nothing but a whore hiding behind an illusion.

Deafening silence

I seen the movie '42' last night. Very well done. Just a damn good movie, all across the board. Before bed, I started the tedious task of organizing the accumulated bookmarks on my Firefox browser. I like to to do this at least a few times a month just to keep things from getting out of hand and overwhelming. Being it was from the comfort of my bed, I knew I could muster every last ounce of energy out of myself before it was vanquished by the sandman. When I woke up and as I sat down at the table, I immediately came across this article.

Being it was early, without my bearings yet or maybe it was the coffee that wasn't even 1/3 of the way into the brewing process, I was really caught off guard. It was from March 22nd. This article was about the murder of a 13-month old baby-boy form Georgia inside his stroller.  


De'Marquise Elkins, a 17-year old black male along with another minor accomplice attempted what was said to be a random robbery. Getting nothing from the woman, they shot her and then turned the .22 caliber pistol on and shot her baby in the face, as he lay sleeping in his stroller just a few blocks from their home. This was AFTER telling the woman beforehand that they were going to kill her son.

Mr Elkins, with his "Thug Life" tattoo across his chest and a tear-drop tattooed in the corner of his eye (usually a gang symbol for a completed murder) awaits his fate in a jail cell in Georgia. The 13 month old, who never got to spoke his first words has no luxury of awaiting a trial. His parents, meanwhile, will live in some sort of a prison for the rest of their lives. His mother, second guessing what she could have done differently. Maybe if she only had some money? His father, what if he was there? What if he didn't go to work that day? 

So, as little Antonio Santiago rest in peace, where's the outcry been? Where is the Rainbow Push Coalition? Where is Jesse Jackson? A minority, a 13- month old boy gunned down in his stroller while he slept at point blank range by a couple of self-described "thugs" or at least those are the words one chose to brand his body with. Its been 42 days since the 21st of March. Not a peep.

Could it be because he has a white mother? Or because he has a Spanish last name and a Latino for a father? If it was a black baby, it would be a crime that these guns are on the street. It would be the gun makers fault. Or the states fault for not having tougher gun laws, I see you Chicago!! Because I'm 100% sure a background check could keep a gun out of these kids hands. Oh wait, they didn't buy the gun? Well, pull me up a chair!

Had this been reversed? And the thugs where white and the baby black? Well hell, you would have seen Jesse and Co do everything in their power to bring attention to the, his situation. The collective re-parting of the Red sea wouldn't be enough

Forty-two days and crickets from the race hustling pimps that call themselves the "black leadership". I know I have had plenty to say about this racist pig, Jesse Jackson. Am I beating a dead horse with this issue of hypocrisy? You bet your ass I am. Until this liar is called out for what he is and dismissed from the public lexicon by the black community, he claims to represent; I'm going to keep on pointing out their double standard - PC- hogwash every chance I get.

Jackie Robinson is a hero for all people but for black folks in particular and rightfully so. What he did was groundbreaking and uplifting. What Jesse Jackson does now is stale, contrived, racist and divisive. If we are to be asphyxiated by political correctness then its high time this man is stripped of his sub-prime fifteen- minutes and breathe the pillow himself.