I have, sadly, been avoiding my blog since I seem to have totally messed up the template I love by adding a Flickr badge. My knowledge of html is quite limited, but apparently enough to be able to do some damage. It is in abyssmal state, but I don't want to wreck it any worse than it already is at this point.
My intent on Tuesday night was to meet like-minded people at the NBC affiliate in Tulsa at 7:30 to drown out in protest Mr. Bush's speech. After much internal conflict I opted to take the safe route and avoid any possibility of being shown with the group I thoroughly support. I am in critical need of employment and don't want to risk any possible repercussions for exercising my 1st amendment rights that are currently included in our bill of rights. I understand that economics are a valuable tool to those demagogues that seek to instill their will on the masses, and blacklisting is not beneath them or their sheeple.
I did not watch the SOTU on Tuesday, but I did spend Wednesday reading various articles on buzzflash.com, my lifeline to the news. Of the many enlightening articles I read, I was totally flabbergasted at one from a San Antonio station. The lead to the link implied that Halliburton (via KBR) had gotten another sweetheart deal much like the ones in the many theaters of the US military. Upon reading it I realized that it was much more sinister than the lead stated and what it said really hit home. The INS, a division under the so-called Homeland Security, has contracted with KBR (on a contingency basis) to build large processing/detention/deportation centers in the US.
This article was jaw dropping, so just for posterity I am going to commit an illegal act and include it below. I wish blogger allowed us mac users to to the many lovely things to highlight specific passages, but that is not possible. What really is striking is that it talks about building these centers (which may never be built) for OTHER GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS that might arise. I firmly believe that this is paving the way for the new US style concentration camps for dissenters, homosexuals, liberals, intelligentia, non-believers, etc. I have often wondered how the Nazis managed to do this very thing, and it was because the educated, thinking people did not accept the fact it could happen and the masses couldn't care less.
I wish I was wrong, but I fear I am connecting the dots and yelling "the sky is falling." I guess this makes me a wacko conspiracy theorist out of touch with reality. So much to be fearful of, and it is not foreign terrorists!!
Halliburton unit's immigration contract is repeat deal
LAST UPDATE: 1/31/2006 5:10:48 AM
DALLAS - When the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was picking someone to plan and perhaps build centers to handle a crush of immigrants, it turned to a familiar name.
The Corps last week awarded a contract worth up to $385 million to KBR, a subsidiary of engineering and defense contractor Halliburton Co. KBR held a similar contract from 2000 through 2005.
The contract calls on KBR to set up temporary processing, detention and deportation facilities in case of a surge of people trying to enter the country, according to immigration officials.
"It's part of (the government's) planning should there be some sort of emergency, say some sort of upheaval in Latin America, that would cause a mass migration," said Jamie Zuieback, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, part of the Department of Homeland Security.
Zuieback called it a "contingency contract" and that the Halliburton unit might never be asked to build any such centers.
Halliburton said KBR might also be used to open more detention centers if they were needed for new government programs.
The Army Corps issued an open call for contractors, but only KBR bid for the work, said Clay Church, a Corps spokesman.
KBR has been paid just $5.9 million so far under the 2000-2005 contract, although up to several million dollars in additional claims from last year are awaiting routine auditing, Church said. That contract, like the new one, included a one-year base period and four one-year options.
Halliburton announced last week that it will sell a minority stake in KBR through an initial public offering of stock.
Houston-based Halliburton, which was led by Vice President Dick Cheney from 1995-2000, is the largest government contractor in Iraq. It recently passed $10 billion in orders to provide housing, meals and other services for U.S. troops and to rebuild Iraq's oil industry.
Several military audits have questioned Halliburton's work in Iraq, and some congressional Democrats have accused the Bush administration of favoring the company with noncompetitive contracts. The Justice Department is considering whether to investigate how the Army Corps gave Halliburton a no-bid contract for restoring Iraq's oil fields.
Charlie Cray, who helps run HalliburtonWatch.org, a group critical of the company's government contracts, said Halliburton should be barred from new government contracts until all investigations into its work in Iraq are finished.
Halliburton officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The company has denied receiving favored treatment because of its political connections.
