Corruption Update

Will it never end?

• Mises Institute: The Living Reality of Military-Economic Fascism:

  "In countries such as the United States, whose economies are commonly, though inaccurately, described as 'capitalist' or 'free-market,' war and preparation for war systematically corrupt both parties to the state-private transactions by which the government obtains the bulk of its military goods and services...." (MUST READ)

• Kerr-McGee Is Found Liable in Lawsuit Over Oil Royalties:

  "A federal jury in Denver agreed Tuesday with a former top auditor for the Interior Department that the Kerr-McGee Corporation had cheated the government out of millions of dollars in royalties on oil it produced in publicly owned coastal waters...."

• Prosecutor Seeks Conspiracy Charge Against DeLay

  "The prosecution of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay could be stalled for weeks or even months while Texas's highest criminal court decides whether a dismissed conspiracy charge against him should be reinstated...."

• Henry Pelifian | The Iraq War and Crony Democracy:

  Henry Pelifian asks: "Is it plausible for Americans to ask, 'Were the corporations that Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld had close relationships with a factor in the decision-making process to attack Iraq, since many of these companies secured multimillion or multibillion-dollar government contracts as a result of the Iraq War? Were government contracts directly relating to the Iraq War signed with companies with Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld connections prior to the attack on Iraq, and is this a conflict of interest?'"

• WaPo: Military Surplus Parts Illegally Find Their Way to Iran, U.S. Officials Say:

  "Fighter-jet parts and other sensitive U.S. military gear seized from front companies for Iran and brokers for China have been traced in criminal cases to a surprising source: the Pentagon.
  
  In one case, federal investigators said, contraband purchased in Defense Department surplus auctions was delivered to Iran, a country President Bush has branded part of an 'axis of evil.'..."

• Laura MacCleery: Big Oil Gets To Keep Its Loot

  Without Congressional action, a billion-dollar handout will soon begin flowing to the Research Partnership to Secure Energy for America, a 501(c)(3) formed in 2002 by the Gas Technology Institute. The consortium includes publicly traded companies that reaped $100 billion in profits in 2005.

Technorati tags: U.S. Government Corruption, Military, Fascism, Kerr-McGee, Lawsuits, Oil Royalties, Tom DeLay, Cronyism, Iraq War, Military Surplus Parts, US Defense Department, news, commentary