1. Song FOR #OWS Like /Favorite/embed/mirror
Last Christmas (I Gave You My Cash)
Uploaded by TakeAimAAA on Nov 26, 2011
Hear more at: http://thetriangulators.bandcamp.com/album/introducing
2. -a bizarre story out of the Occupy Movement in Montreal Canada.
and if true the story is rather disturbing. It seems there are allegations that the Montreal Police branded Occupy protesters after being arrested with numbers on their hands which can only be seen under ultraviolet lights so that if they return to the Occupy Site they can be rearrested??? Shades of NAZIS and the Jews . Is it a sign of a coming police state or will it end up being just a matter of really bad PR for the Montreal Police??? Are they stunned or what???
Occupy Montreal protesters were tagged by police with numbers only seen under a UV light. (Photo Courtesy: Nina Haigh/Facebook)
Occupy Montreal Protesters Branded by Police CTV Montreal, December 1, 2011
Some members of the Occupy Montreal movement are considering legal action against the Montreal police after they were branded without their consent
Police expelled the group of protesters from Victoria Square last Friday, as part of the group handcuffed themselves to the outdoor kitchen.
"The police asked us to move and we did not comply," said activist Bed Godin. "They removed us by using force."
Protesters were taken to a bus, where officers processed them, and marked some with an ink that could only be seen under a UV light.
"They took pictures and then they wrote one number. I got the number 5 in black marker," he said.
Police say it was to identify the demonstrators, and described it as the best technique to prevent the group from returning to Victoria Square.
They also said it's a technique long used by clubs and bars.
Constitutional lawyer Julius Grey, however, said protesters weren't in a bar and that the police violated the activists' civil rights.
"If the police said, ‘May we do this?' and the person said, ‘Yes,' then I don't think there would be any problem… You can't do something physically to somebody. You can't brand them, mark them, touch them, cut their head… physical acts," he said.
Ben Godin and others are now considering a civil suit against police.
Meanwhile, the Occupy movement has now moved to the gazebo on Mount Royal.
The overarching insidious influence of the big corporations and the superwealthy .
Today's story of Big Business dictating to the U.S. government concerns the possible fraud and other alleged criminal activities including criminal negligence causing bodily harm of Blackwater.inc aka XEservices.inc
.
The story has taken a bizarre twist as Erik Prince the CEO of Blackwater threatens legal action against Representative Schakowsky (D-Illinois)if she continues with investigation into the conduct of the Blackwater.ink CEO and of individuals who were working for Blackwater while on contract to the U.S. government.
But first I would like to put in perspective how difficult it has become especially in the U.S. to investigate any allegations made about any corporation whether or not contracted out by the government.
Firstly Corporations are now to be treated as "persons" according to the decision in the case of Citizens United by Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) and therefore these corporate entities have the same rights as a citizen of the United States.
Corporations are therefore protected by the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights and its amendments and other relevant statutes.
So to make allegations publicly against a corporation we could assume that said corporation could indeed file a suit for defamation of character or slander or damage to it's livelihood ie its contracts and profits.
Anyway here's another twist on the ongoing saga of corruption and criminal activity of the various corporations the U.S. government contracted out to in America's ongoing Global War on Terror begun by Bush and Cheney and now continued under President Obama. We know now that Billions of dollars disappeared down the black Hole as it were of the American misguided mishandled disastrous Global War On Terror. At time it does almost appear as if the whole project has in great part been a way for a number of corporations to make a shit load of money.
Part of the government's role is toinvestigate any possible wrongdoing or criminal activity. This would include fraud of various sorts such as over billing the government for contracts or for breaking various laws such as labor laws, environmental . When it comes to some contracting out by the US government the actions of the private contractor can have consequences which can cost lives if the private contractor has not been completely forthright about the limitations of hardware sold to the government .
For instance in a military contract the government purchases equipment which must be up to certain standards as in hardware such as tanks or troop carriers or body armor for American troops. If in the field these items perform poorly as compared to what the military the pentagon or the White House has been told and what the troops have been told this is of course fraud but it has a more serious and criminal side to it since in this case poor performance can mean personnel being physically injured or wounded or killed.
To knowingly sell such goods to the military to be used on the battle field is not just fraud but can be construed as at the least criminalnegligence causing bodily harm. Such cases should be pursued and investigated by the Department of Justice
The information made available to those with the authority to pursue such cases may initially come from whistleblowers who are willing to cooperate with the DOJ or whatever relevant government body. This becomes an unlikely occurrence in the U.S. the last ten years or so since President Bush and President Obama perceive anyone leaking information or documents even in cases of criminal actions as being enemies of the state as in the case of alleged whistleblower Bradley manning.
So a member of the U.S. military discovers a case of fraud but also discovers thatthe cover up for this fraud involves superior officers and or people of higher ranks or upper echelion bureaucrats who are seen as unassailable.
So to whom should the concerned soldiers or lower echelon bureaucrat turn to to have these allegations investigated honestly and without prejudice.
As mentioned one way of getting around the problem of whom to trust is to leak the information to the press to then put pressure on the government to take action. What mostly happens is a toothless investigation by some sub-committee or what have you which only does a superficial investigation in a relatively short period of time or becomes entangled in the legal processes and bureaucratic procedures so that the issue gets burried in an avalanche of bureaucratic Kafkaesque meaningless maneuvers based in essence in cowardice. That is if the allegations point to certain pwerful individuals who could destroy the careers of those involved in the investigation then these legislators and bureaucrats are going to essentially drag their feet but in a manner which gives the public the impression of action taking place.
In the case of investigations into Blackwater aka XEServices which had been given over a billion doallars worth of contracts by the U.S. government we have the CEO of the company Erik Prince threatening an elected official Rep. Jan Schakowsky if she dares to pursue allegations made against him and his company.
If it is seen as legal and even ethical that Erik Prince has the right to intimidate and to have a cease and desist order filed against Rep. Jan Schakowsky for performing her duties then the take over of the US government and its military by privateinterest is a fait accomli.
" Representative Schakowsky Receives Letter of Intimidation From Former Blackwater CEO" by: Yana Kunichoff, Truthout | Report , December 1, 2011
Rep. Jan Schakowsky's (D-Illinois) attempt to end the multimillion dollar business of outsourcing in Iraq and Afghanistan doesn't sit well with the former CEO of the notorious Blackwater company, Erik Prince, who sent a hand-delivered cease-and-desist letter to the Congresswoman threatening legal action if she continued to make "false and defamatory" statements about him.
The Stop Outsourcing Security Act, introduced in 2007 by Schakowsky, would target numerous companies like the former Blackwater, now XE Services, to be eventually phased out to end the misappropriation of government functions and unaccountable abuses by contractors.
Though Schakowsky recognizes that this decision would impact numerous companies, she singled out Blackwater's bloody record as a "company that has become synonymous with misconduct" in a speech on the House floor Wednesday, and said that the letter constituted "attempted intimidation" by Prince.
The letter from Prince's attorney cited a September 8 article for the Independent UK in which Schakowsky said, "If Mr. Prince had not emigrated to the United Arab Emirates, which does not have an extradition agreement with the US, he too would now be facing prosecution."
In response, the letter said: "Your statement to [the Independent], which imputes commission of a crime, is per se libelous ... Your malice cannot be questioned. You have a multi-year history of making derogatory comments about Mr. Prince and his former company, Blackwater. You have abused your Congressional power to request that Mr. Prince be investigated."
With Price as CEO, Blackwater was the recipient of more than $1 billion in federal contracts to work in countries including Iraq and Afghanistan. At the same time, it was responsible for the death of more than 200 Iraqis, including the infamous shooting of 17 civilians by four Blackwater employees in 2007.
Schakowsky does not support war contractors in any function; she told Truthout in an in-depth interview: "There's going to be a report coming out pretty soon dealing with what is inherently a government function, and I'm looking forward to that. I absolutely would not [support war contractors in any position]. We cannot outsource war."
Nor does she plan to let the letter from Prince's attorney derail her plans: "I want to make it clear to Mr. Prince that I will not stop working to end our reliance on private security contractors and to investigate any and all allegations of misconduct," Schakowsky said.
No comments:
Post a Comment