Efforts to Prosecute Blackwater Are Collapsing

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/21/world/21contractors.html

WASHINGTON — Nearly four years after the federal government began a string of investigations and criminal prosecutions against Blackwater Worldwide personnel accused of murder and other violent crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan, the cases are beginning to fall apart, burdened by a legal obstacle of the government’s own making.

In the most recent and closely watched case, the Justice Department on Monday said that it would not seek murder charges against Andrew J. Moonen, a Blackwater armorer accused of killing a guard assigned to an Iraqi vice president on Dec. 24, 2006. Justice officials said that they were abandoning the case after an investigation that began in early 2007, and included trips to Baghdad by federal prosecutors and F.B.I. agents to interview Iraqi witnesses.

The government’s decision to drop the Moonen case follows a series of failures by prosecutors around the country in cases aimed at former personnel of Blackwater, which is now known as Xe Services. In September, a Virginia jury was unable to reach a verdict in the murder trial of two former Blackwater guards accused of killing two Afghan civilians. Late last year, charges were dismissed against five former Blackwater guards who had been indicted on manslaughter and related weapons charges in a September 2007 shooting incident in Nisour Square in Baghdad, in which 17 Iraqi civilians were killed.



Keep it Slick: Infiltrating Capitalism With The Yes Men

September 7 – October 23, 2010

Reception: Thursday, September 23, 5-8pm
The Yes Men will present at 6:30pm in the Conaway
Center adjacent to the Glass Curtain Gallery

Glass Curtain Gallery, Columbia College Chicago
1104 S Wabash Avenue, 1st floor, Chicago, IL 60605
http://www.colum.edu/deps

Gallery Hours: Mon-Wed, Fri, 9-5pm, Thurs 9-7pm, Sat Noon-5pm

Considered among the most important political artists of this decade, The Yes Men (Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno) are a group of culture-jamming activists who practice what they call “Identity Correction.” By posing as spokespersons for prominent organizations and powerful entities, The Yes Men create spoof websites and appear in conferences and TV shows to highlight how corporations and government organizations often act in dehumanizing ways toward the public.

The first-ever traveling solo exhibition of The Yes Men, KEEP IT SLICK presents The Yes Men’s body of work including their elaborate costumes fabricated for their bold interventions, slapstick videos and PowerPoint presentations at business conferences, outrageous posters and props, scripts, sketches, research materials and selected publications and ephemera from their personal collections.

KEEP IT SLICK, Infiltrating Capitalism with The Yes Men is curated by Astria Suparak, organized by the Feldman Gallery at Pacific Northwest College of the Arts and the Miller Gallery at Carnegie Mellon University. The KEEP IT SLICK Exhibition Catalogue and Activity Book is for sale at Glass Curtain Gallery and ShopColumbia.

Military Subcontractors Bribing U.S. Personnel With Prostitutes? The Shady World of War Contracting in Afghanistan and Iraq

Taxpayer cash is flowing to subcontractors in Iraq and Afghanistan, who engage in shady, illegal practices with few repercussions.

The Huffington Post Investigative Fund / By Nick Schwellenbach and Lagan Sebert

GASLAND

Just finished watching this documentary. It is amazing as it is scary. If you get a chance please check it out, and watch for the map that shows how almost all of our water is connected. As we corrupt and pollute all creeks, streams, rivers, and lakes, will we all need bottled water from Fiji just to take a bath? Be concerned.

GASLAND

The 'Cost of War' sign in Binghamton, NY came down after 2 months

No worries, it moves on to Syracuse, NY.

Some background information.....

Congress passes law to end secrecy in oil, gas, and mining industry

What?!? I wonder if this will affect business as usual. I wonder if this law will even be noticed. It is still amazing and should be celebrated.

But here is the article,

Congress passes law to end secrecy in oil, gas, and mining industry

Washington, DC - International humanitarian organization Oxfam America commends the US Congress for making disclosure of payments from oil and mining companies to governments around the world a legal requirement. Included as part of the Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation passed by the House and Senate, this historic measure will increase financial transparency in the oil, gas, and mining industry and help reduce the corruption, mismanagement, and conflict that are too often associated with natural resource extraction booms.
 
"Congress has made an unprecedented commitment to financial transparency and good governance in a sector that not only affects American wallets, but also some of the most vulnerable communities around the world," said Raymond C. Offenheiser, president of Oxfam America. "Secrecy of oil, gas and mining company payments to governments fosters government corruption and violent conflict in resource-rich countries that are home to more than half of the world's poorest people. Instability in these regions poses a long-term threat to national security, foreign policy, and economic interests in the United States."......