oversight

Sure - we can fork out all this money:

The U.S. government already has a courthouse at Guantanamo Bay, but the Pentagon isn't satisfied, CBS News correspondent Sharyl Attkisson reports. It plans to spend $100 million of your tax dollars to build a huge new facility just down the hill.

"This is very expensive for the number of cases, 60, which they anticipate trying," says Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.

That's right, a $100 million courthouse to try about 60 cases. That's $1.6 million per defendant ... just for the building. The trials will cost many millions more.

So let me guess - Halliburton is tapped for the contract, so Dick Cheney become even richer at the expense of America. Why can't they just use a tent, with some armed soldiers to make sure the defendants don't run? This is just another sign of pure government waste and taxpayer fraud at the behest of George W. Bush and company. Congress must hold serious oversights as soon as the Democrats take control and put an end to this. Furthermore, the companies who have become rich from this crap need to repay the money to the taxpayers. I want mine back - don't you?

Bush's biggest problem is he lives in the past. He doesn't realize this great new thing out there called the "internets" and exactly how powerful it is. Take for example when Bush tries to change his story and then lie about what he previously said:

Oops. Well I am sure that hasn't happened before.

Oh well I guess it has. Our President isn't just incompetent - he is a total moron. With someone this out of touch with reality and such an ambition to lie to the American people, don't we require a Congress that will exercise the Constitutional mandate of oversight? Every single American deserves it. Our forefathers deserve it. Our nation deserves it. In 13 days we can change the course in our Nation and hopefully hold Bush accountable for his (in)actions.

We are now reduced from being Americans to being a string of ones and zeros:

The Pentagon pays a private company to compile data on teenagers it can recruit to the military. The Homeland Security Department buys consumer information to help screen people at borders and detect immigration fraud.

As federal agencies delve into the vast commercial market for consumer information, such as buying habits and financial records, they are tapping into data that would be difficult for the government to accumulate but that has become a booming business for private companies.

Industry executives, analysts and watchdog groups say the federal government has significantly increased what it spends to buy personal data from the private sector, along with the software to make sense of it, since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. They expect the sums to keep rising far into the future.

So what protections are being put in place to make sure people don't misuse this information? With the growing number of "computer thefts" (like I believe they are really being stolen), more of our information can be made available for illegal activities.

Another protection that needs to be put in place is making sure this information is not made available to elected officials. It could quickly be abused by politicians hoping to gain the edge in targeting mailings and phone calls.

This is a program that needs very serious oversight by not only Congress but also the Judicial branch. It is the only way to protect our democracy from a sure demise.

Well it looks like the Pentagon has an excuse for spying on peace activists:

The Pentagon said on Wednesday a review launched after revelations that it had collected data on U.S. peace activists found that roughly 260 entries in a classified database of possible terrorist threats should not have been kept there.

But the review reaffirmed the value of the so-called Talon reporting system on potential threats to Pentagon personnel or facilities by international terrorists, said Bryan Whitman, a senior Pentagon spokesman. He said the Pentagon was putting in place new safeguards and oversight intended to prevent improper information from going in the database.

Whitman said "less than 2 percent" of the more than 13,000 database entries provided through the Talon system "should not have been there or should have been removed at a certain point in time."

So why were they listed in any database in the first place? Is our government now in a practice of keeping tabs on those who do not agree with their policies? If that is the case then every Republican should be listed in there from the Clinton years.

This is a problem with the cyber age - it is too damn easy to place blame on others. It can be a computer error or a data entry error. It doesn't matter which excuse they want to use the question still needs to be asked - If they were in the wrong database then what database should they have been in?

When it comes to either supporting our troops or Cheney's retirement then Cheney's retirement will always win:

Halliburton Co. failed to protect the water supply it is paid to purify for U.S. soldiers throughout Iraq, in one instance missing contamination that could have caused "mass sickness or death," an internal company report concluded.

The report, obtained by The Associated Press, said the company failed to assemble and use its own water purification equipment, allowing contaminated water directly from the Euphrates River to be used for washing and laundry at Camp Ar Ramadi in Ramadi, Iraq.

The problems discovered last year at that site — poor training, miscommunication and lax record keeping — occurred at Halliburton's other operations throughout Iraq, the report said.

So now we can add contaminated water to the list of ways Halliburton has shown their support for our troops. That list also contains items like serving food over a year out of date and over billing our government. The worst part is Republicans refuse to hold any kind of oversight hearing into these matters. Sounds to me like the Republicans are more interested in profits than the welfare of our troops also.

Can you imagine if Halliburton was some big blue company that miraculously got this contract and did these things? The right would be calling them traitors for their negligence saying it is helping our enemies. Well since they are not that big blue company, their actions are appropriate in the eyes of Republican leadership. The fact is they are helping our enemies out. Sick soldiers can not fight and serving them tainted water and food will guarantee they become sick. Sounds to me like the Republicans are the ones now supporting our enemy.

From Reuters:

The secretive U.S. government foreign investment review process that approved an Arab company's deal to assume management of terminals at six U.S. ports is "deeply flawed" and should be revamped, a leading lawmaker said on Sunday.

Senate Homeland Security Chairman Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, said she and the panel's top Democrat, Sen. Joseph Lieberman (news, bio, voting record) of Connecticut, will introduce legislation next week to overhaul the process and give the lead to the Department of Homeland Security.

I don't think the problem is the program being just flawed. The problem lies much deeper. It lies within an administration that has gone unchecked for so long that they feel they can do whatever they want. They are like kids - if you let them continue to misbehave then they start believing it is ok.

This problem has been created by the Republican party. It doesn't matter if the White House is the same party as the party which controls Congress. As matter of fact, yes it does. When the same party in the White House is the same that controls Congress then a need for greater oversight is a must. It puts the White House in a dangerous "comfort zone" because they don't have to worry as much about being questioned. If current times teaches us anything its that party loyalty can be a devastating factor on a nation.

Now Bush didn't know about the port deal?

President Bush was unaware of the pending sale of shipping operations at
six major U.S. seaports to a state-owned business in the United Arab
Emirates until the deal already had been approved by his administration, the
White House said Wednesday.

Defending the deal anew, the administration also said that it should have
briefed Congress sooner about the transaction, which has triggered a major
political backlash among both Republicans and Democrats.

Bush on Tuesday brushed aside objections by leaders in the Senate and
House that the $6.8 billion sale could raise risks of terrorism at American
ports. In a forceful defense of his administration's earlier approval of the
deal, he pledged to veto any bill Congress might approve to block the
agreement involving the sale of a British company to the Arab firm.

Article continues

here.

Ok Congress didn't know, Bush didn't know, the Joint Chiefs didn't know,
Rumsfeld didn't know. Who the hell is running our government? This is a total
lack of oversight or a major lie. The

GOP congressional hearings on this subject should get really interesting.

The Government Accounting Office (GAO) released a report today showing that
the recruitment levels of our military are worse than we had actually been told.
The following is a highlight of the shortfalls as described in this

New York Times article.

• Army, National Guard, Marines  - Signed up 1/3 of special forces,
  translators and intelligence specialists it aimed for
• Army and Marines - 20% shortfall in roadside bomb defusers over the last
  two years
• Military overall has failed to fill 41% of its combat and non-combat
  positions
• Marines only reached 75% of Middle East linguist goal last year

According to the report, if this trend continues it could lead to serious
troubles for our military in the long term range. Over all the report shows that
Congress and the American people have been mislead by the Pentagon when it comes
to our military. It calls for greater oversight by Congress who sets personnel
budgets for the Pentagon.

Most importantly, this report gives a clear sense that if we engage in
anymore military actions then we will most likely be facing a draft.

There is a silver lining to this cloud. It should really up the great
recruiting efforts of
Operation Yellow Elephant.