War Profiteers And Local Elections

Have you heard of the group "All Children Matter?" They were pretty active in the 2004 elections in Wisconsin. It sounds like a wonderful organization, doesn't it? I only wish it were true. Here's a brief write up by the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign on there activities in '04.

http://www.wisdc.org/ind04issueads.php

Of particular interest is the family behind the group.

This group is headed by Michigan multimillionaire Dick DeVos, whose family
is connected to Amway Corporation. DeVos' wife Betsy served for several years as
the chair of the Michigan Republican Party. Her brother, Erik
Prince, is the founder and owner of Blackwater Security Consulting, the
private tactical training facility providing security forces in
Baghdad. School choice advocate George Mitchell represents the group in
Wisconsin, and has said ACM spent more than $500,000 to influence state
legislative elections in 2004.

DeVos is running for governor in Michigan, so I don't know how active All Children Matter will be this year.

I put in bold the more interesting part dealing with Blackwater security. They have been doing very well for themselves in the Iraq War.

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060828/scahill

Government records recently obtained by The Nation reveal that the Bush
Administration has paid Blackwater more than $320 million since June 2004 to
provide "diplomatic security" services globally. The massive contract is the
largest known to have been awarded to Blackwater to date and reveals how the
Administration has elevated a once-fledgling security firm into a major
profiteer in the "war on terror."

But I'm sure they are an honest company doing an honest day's work, right? Ummm...not so much.

A heavily redacted 2005 government audit of Blackwater's WPPS contract proposal,
obtained by The Nation, reveals that Blackwater included profit in its overhead
and its total costs, which would result "not only in a duplication of profit but
a pyramiding of profit since in effect Blackwater is applying profit to profit."
The audit also found that the company tried to inflate its profits by
representing different Blackwater divisions as wholly separate companies.

Surely the government will provide some oversight and get things straightened out, right? Ummm.....not so much.

The WPPS contract awarded in 2004 was divided among a handful of companies,
among them DynCorp and Triple Canopy. Blackwater was originally slated to be
paid $229.5 million for five years, according to a State Department contract
list. Yet as of June 30, just two years into the program, it had been paid a
total of $321,715,794. When confronted with this apparent $100 million
discrepancy, the State Department could not readily explain it. Blackwater's two
years of WPPS earnings exceed many estimates of the company's total government
contracts, which the Virginian-Pilot recently put at $290 million combined since
2000. Six years ago the government paid Blackwater less than $250,000.

Read the article. You'll feel disgusted and ashamed of your government and people like Blackwater Security and "All Children Matter"