Tricare officials have worried in private meetings about the high cost of cognitive rehabilitation, which can cost $15,000 to $50,000 per soldier.
••• In public, the US military insurance program cites bogus “studies,” not cost, to justify its failure to cover brain injury treatment for “nearly 4 million active-duty military and retirees.”
In deference to rising public concern about government spending, the bill reduced next year’s pay increase for military personnel from the 1.9 percent lawmakers approved in the summer to 1.4 percent…
••• Don’t worry, there’s still plenty of money for contractors in this year’s Pentagon budget.
The top 100 government contractors have paid more than $19 billion in cases of fraud, bribery, falsifying records and other violations over the past 15 years, but only four of them have been suspended, and none have been debarred…
••• In fairness, that’s only $1.3 billion for fraud, bribery and lies every year, not counting all the times they didn’t get caught.
My extended family owns a share of a major defense contractor. Many times I have asked: Why can’t this great technology company shift gears to become a leader in high-speed rail or other green technologies that might some day save our economy or even the planet? Answer: There is no business more profitable than war.
••• Also, high-speed rail doesn’t make a satisfying “boom.”
“Whenever people think of contractors now, they think of Blackwater…Well, if you hire a cheap plumber, don’t be surprised when the plumbing breaks.”
••• War Is Business advisory board member Tim Shorrock on “America’s New Mercenaries.”
••• Contrast Japan’s attitude to that of Rahm Emanuel and the National Rifle Association, in regards to the southward flow of assault rifles to Mexico and its drug cartels.
Former President George H.W. Bush and ex-Secretary of State James Baker were part of a negotiating team that convinced Nigerian government officials to drop bribery charges against Dick Cheney and Halliburton, the oil services firm he led prior to becoming vice president.
••• Dude, let’s get the old band back together. [visitor]
HELP RESEARCH KBR. ACCESS MORE OF THIS SITE. BANISH THESE BANNERS.
[/visitor]
Hundreds of military tanks equipped with rocket launching systems developed by China have been offloaded at a Rangoon port owned by a crony of the Burmese junta, eye-witnesses claim.
••• The crony in question is Stephen Law. The state-owned Myanma Five Star Lin delivered the freight. Book your cruise today!
Former Army chief, General Deepak Kapoor, was allotted a plot in Gurgaon in 2009 for just Rs 35 lakh. It was from your preferential quota and much below the market price. What do you have to say about that?
••• An Indian minister becomes a target for shoes and a few tough questions.