by cameron | Sep 24, 2007 | Iraq, Uncategorized
I just finished reading William Gibson’s latest novel SPOOK COUNTRY today (it’s a great read btw) and it reminded me of the whole issue of the missing money that went from New York in Iraq from 2003 – 2004 and then disappeared…. $9 Billion out of $12 Billion in cash that was sent to Iraq cannot be accounted for. So I googled it and found this recent interview on Democracy Now with two investigative journalists who have dug further into the story and uncovered some amazing facts.
With this much cash up for grabs, it’s easy to see why war is good for business… for some.
| Billions Over Baghdad: How Did $9B in Cash Airlifted From the Fed to Iraq Go Missing? |
|
|
by cameron | Aug 21, 2007 | Iraq, Uncategorized
From the most excellent Sox First blog comes news that PwC and IBM say that claims they used bribes to win government contracts is just STUPID! FOOLISH! PREPOSTEROUS! And they completely deny the basis of the allegations!
But they have agreed to pay $5.2 million to make those untrue, ridiculous allegations go away. And they also want you to know that Michael Jackson didn’t touch little boys either. Oh and the Iraq invasion has NOTHING to do with oil.
|
PricewaterhouseCoopers and IBM have settled allegations that the companies were involved in graft over government contracts.
|
According to the Department of Justice press release, the firms had agreed to pay $5.2 million to settle the allegations. IBM has agreed to pay close to $3 million and PricewaterhouseCoopers just over $2.3 million. Not good news for Accenture, Hewlett-Packard, and Sun Microsystems because allegations have been made against those companies, according to the release. |
|
|
by cameron | Aug 8, 2007 | Iraq, Podcast
My guest today is a G’Day World listener from Paris, Bernard Malige. Bernard, who works as an engineer with Renault, helped me better understand the French system of taxation and social services. If you’ve seen Michael Moore’s latest film SICKO, you already know that in France, pretty much all health care (except high end elective procedures) is paid for by the Government out of your taxes. When I saw the film, I wasn’t sure how high the taxes were in France and Bernard offered to help out. Turns out, they are quite low. If you’re an American, you probably don’t want to listen to this show. It’ll just depress you. We also talk a little bit about the French public’s view on Iraq, the USA, Libya and Napoleon.
Bernard is now our official “European Correspondent”.
Become part of the G’Day World conversation.
I’ve created a couple of groups inside Second Life. You can now add yourself to the following groups:
Friends Of G’Day World
MODM
The Podcast Network
If I knew how to link directly to those groups from here, I would. But I don’t. So for now you just need to search for them in-world. Or you can add “Cameron Switchblade” to your friends and check out the groups I belong to.
If you’re a member of Facebook, you can ADD ME AS A FRIEND and then ADD YOURSELF TO THE G’DAY WORLD GROUP.
Add me to your Twitter account.
Do me a solid and digg the show.
Get the TPN version of Particls.
Don’t forget to make use of my new comments line – +613 9016 9699.
You can now buy transcripts of this podcast from Pods In Print.
If you enjoyed this podcast, make sure you don’t miss future episodes by subscribing to our feed and leave us a voice comment!
The G’Day World Theme Song is “Save Me†by The Napoleon Blown Aparts.
<img src="http://www.addthis.com/images/button2-bm.png" alt="AddThis Social Bookmark Button" border="0"
by cameron | Aug 2, 2007 | Iran, Iraq, Uncategorized
Paul Spoerry has some great visual aids to help us understand the motivations behind the US’s middle east policies. Like this:
******
Meanwhile, you have to love the pure frakking BALLS on the Bush administration. Who else could spin the sale of $70 Billion of weapons to the Middle East as “ensuring peace”?!!! Rice sez:
“We are helping to strengthen the defensive capabilities of our partners,” Rice said in a statement. “We plan to initiate discussions with Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf states on a proposed package of military technologies that will help support their ability to secure peace and stability in the Gulf region.”
Let’s look at the track record of the countries they have sold weapons to over the last 20 years… Iraq. Afghanistan. Iran. Israel. Saudi Arabia. How’s the peace strategy working so far, Condi?
The amount of money that the US itself spends on weapons every year is just insane.
The world spends US$780 billion every year on maintaining its military and buying new weapons —that’s $2.1 billion every day. Dr Oscar Arias estimates that if just 5% ($40 billion) of that annual $780 billion were channeled into anti-poverty programmes over the next decade, the whole world could have basic social services. A further 5% over ten years could provide everybody on the planet with an income above the poverty line. UNICEF estimates that spending just $7 billion a year for the next decade could educate every child on Earth.
(source)
******
Laurel Papworth accuses my 2Web colleagues and myself of being sexist because there aren’t any women in our 2Web group!
Hey I, for one, am a HUGE supporter of the meme that we need more women in tech/web. Lots and lots. I’m sick to death of going to tech events and being surrounded by blokes. AFAIK, the 2Web group has never turned down an application for membership from a lady. If there is passive sexism involved here, it’s you girls being too passive about getting involved! Hike up your skirts girls! 🙂
******
Telstra put GPS trackers into the cars of their technicians then informed them that if they had a problem with it, “they would face a review of employment.” Classy. According to The Age:
Victoria’s Workplace Rights Advocate Tony Lawrence investigated initial reports of the tracking devices and told The Australian newspaper he had referred what he believed to be a criminal matter to police.
It puts turning off Facebook into perspective.
******
The Edinburgh Fringe Festival is back on and TPN’s man on the scene, Ewan Spence, is spending the next month chatting with the performers, audience and promoters! Catch it almost-live on TPN’s EFF show!
******
Just for something a little bit different, I’m a guest today on Rod’s Atomic Show. He wanted to talk to me about how the nuclear industry might be able to use new media to change the perception of nuclear with the general public, bypassing the not-always-independent mainstream media. Did anyone else see that show on Frontline last night about the nuclear industry in France and Canada? I saw some of it. Fascinating.
*****
John Howard and his government never cease to amaze me with how much they have become the white, straight, Christian party. Today Howard announced legislation which will overturn State legislation which allows gay couples to adopt children from overseas. We need a Bill of Rights in this country. Badly.
by cameron | Aug 1, 2007 | Iraq, Uncategorized
From the Washington Post:
… The key to boosting the image and effectiveness of U.S. military operations around the world involves “shaping” both the product and the marketplace, and then establishing a brand identity that places what you are selling in a positive light, said clinical psychologist Todd C. Helmus, the author of “Enlisting Madison Avenue: The Marketing Approach to Earning Popular Support in Theaters of Operation.” The 211-page study, for which the U.S. Joint Forces Command paid the Rand Corp. $400,000, was released this week.
Helmus and his co-authors concluded that the “force” brand, which the United States peddled for the first few years of the occupation, was doomed from the start and lost ground to enemies’ competing brands. While not abandoning the more aggressive elements of warfare, the report suggested, a more attractive brand for the Iraqi people might have been “We will help you.” …
Since I know you will want to read the whole study, it is here.
More:
… In an urban insurgency, for example, civilians can help identify enemy infiltrators and otherwise assist U.S. forces. They are less likely to help, the study says, when they become “collateral damage” in U.S. attacks, have their doors broken down or are shot at checkpoints because they do not speak English. …
(via Marc Andreessen)
******
Richard Giles is on BoingBoing! Well done mate! With friends in high places, who needs Cam???
******
More from the RAND report:
Public opinion polls suggest that much of the anti-Americanism observed in the Muslim world today is attributable to U.S. policies rather than to U.S. culture, values, or people. In a 2004 poll, for example, Zogby International found that residents of most Arab countries had positive opinions about “American services and technology,†“American freedom and democracy,†“American people,†“American education,†“American products,†and the like. But many of those same respondents held negative opinions about U.S. policies toward the Palestinian conflict and Iraq.
******
Anil Dash links to a fascinating 1995 doco by Brian Springer called SPIN, about how the media was used for, and itself used, spin during the 1992 US Presidential elections. The most fascinating part for me was about 18 minutes in where they discuss a Demoractic candidate Larry Agran. For some reason Agran, although running third in the early polling, was totally ignored by the media. He was cut out of photos carried in newspapers and refused access to televised debates involving the other candidates. He was eventually imprisoned for interrupting a televised debate demanding he be heard, and was released from jail after the Democratic National Congress had already started. Another example of how you need to have access to media in order to participate in the political process and how the mainstream media interferes with politics when they want to. To suggest they just “report the facts” is a joke and a bad one at that.
by cameron | Jul 21, 2007 | Iraq, Uncategorized
Bundaberg. Cold. Slow. No 3G. Using my mum’s PC. She’s on some bullshit BigPond DSL plan where she only gets 400Mb a month for $40!! And it’s nearly used up, so I’m moving her to Dodo this morning. Screw Telstra BigPond and their bullshit data plans. Everyone – make sure your parents are getting screwed by their ISP. Have spent the last day cleaning up mum’s PC – swapping out Norton for AVG Free, moving her data over to an external drive, implementing a backup system, installing a new DVD drive, etc. Other sons mow the lawn. Just call us the Tech Support Generation.
 ******
 Have to drive five minutes down to Bargara Beach to find a semi-decent coffee. Ugh.
******
 According to some larrikin editing my Wikipedia entry:
“Some times uses the alias “Tony Harris” to backup his own arguements.” (sic)
******
Love this story on BoingBoing:
Four federal inmates were indicted Tuesday on allegations that they copyrighted their names, then demanded millions of dollars from prison officials for using the names without authorization.The inmates sent demand notices for payment to the warden of the El Reno federal prison and filed liens against his property. They then hired someone to seize his vehicles, freeze his bank accounts and change the locks on his house. Unfortunately, the person they hired turned out to be an FBI agent.
******
I have been reading up on Bush’s new Executive Order where he “directed the Treasury Department to block the U.S.-based financial assets of anyone deemed to have threatened “the peace or stability of Iraq or the Government of Iraq” or who “undermin(e) efforts to promote economic reconstruction and political reform in Iraq.” The order also enables Treasury to target those individuals who prevent “humanitarian assistance to the Iraqi people”. As Bush and Friends have been responsible for 700,000+ civilian deaths in Iraq, I’m wondering if this EO means Treasury will block HIS assets.
Read the Executive Order or read an analysis of it by some experts.
******
Neet and I cracked up this morning over this clip of prisoners in the Phillipines performing “Thriller”.
