by Jim Hightower & r & CHENEY'S XMAS BONUS & r & All hail Halliburton! Emperor of pork-barrel spending. Render unto Halliburton what is Halliburton's! All kneel!
Good grief, is there no end to how cozy the Bushite regime will get with this avaricious military mooch? We know that Dick Cheney's former company is getting fat on special, insider, no-bid contracts from the BushCheney government, including sweetheart deals that reach from Iraq to New Orleans. And we've learned that Halliburton, which continues to pay Cheney more than $150,000 a year in compensation, has been caught overcharging American taxpayers on oil contracts in Iraq, as well as caught serving spoiled food to our soldiers there.
But hasn't the BushCheneyHalliburton coziness reached a level of perverse discomfort when the corporation demands -- and is given by our government -- a bonus of $38 million on its overcharges to us taxpayers? Yes, bonus!
One of Halliburton's no-bid contracts with the Pentagon goes by the code name of RIO -- "Restore Iraqi Oil." It turned out to be a river of ill-gotten gain for the corporation. The Pentagon's own auditors reviewed the work and declared that $169 million of the costs billed by Halliburton to Uncle Sam were either "unreasonable" or "unsupported." Despite this official finding of corporate gouging, Pentagon higher-ups nevertheless paid the bulk of the company's unreasonable and unsupported billings, including $38 million in bonus payments to the shifty contractor.
The Bushites have offered no explanation for their decision to shower such generosity on their favorite corporation. This is the same administration demanding that Congress "get serious" about cutting "unnecessary" spending -- a challenge being met by cuts in food stamps, health care, child care and other programs to help poor people.
For a summary of the Pentagon's unceasing (and expensive) favoritism toward Halliburton, check www.halliburtonwach.com.
& lt;i & For more nuggets of wisdom from America's No. 1 populist, check out & lt;a href="http://www.jimhightower.com" & his website & lt;/a & & lt;/i & .
Good grief, is there no end to how cozy the Bushite regime will get with this avaricious military mooch? We know that Dick Cheney's former company is getting fat on special, insider, no-bid contracts from the BushCheney government, including sweetheart deals that reach from Iraq to New Orleans. And we've learned that Halliburton, which continues to pay Cheney more than $150,000 a year in compensation, has been caught overcharging American taxpayers on oil contracts in Iraq, as well as caught serving spoiled food to our soldiers there.
But hasn't the BushCheneyHalliburton coziness reached a level of perverse discomfort when the corporation demands -- and is given by our government -- a bonus of $38 million on its overcharges to us taxpayers? Yes, bonus!
One of Halliburton's no-bid contracts with the Pentagon goes by the code name of RIO -- "Restore Iraqi Oil." It turned out to be a river of ill-gotten gain for the corporation. The Pentagon's own auditors reviewed the work and declared that $169 million of the costs billed by Halliburton to Uncle Sam were either "unreasonable" or "unsupported." Despite this official finding of corporate gouging, Pentagon higher-ups nevertheless paid the bulk of the company's unreasonable and unsupported billings, including $38 million in bonus payments to the shifty contractor.
The Bushites have offered no explanation for their decision to shower such generosity on their favorite corporation. This is the same administration demanding that Congress "get serious" about cutting "unnecessary" spending -- a challenge being met by cuts in food stamps, health care, child care and other programs to help poor people.
For a summary of the Pentagon's unceasing (and expensive) favoritism toward Halliburton, check www.halliburtonwach.com.
& lt;i & For more nuggets of wisdom from America's No. 1 populist, check out & lt;a href="http://www.jimhightower.com" & his website & lt;/a & & lt;/i & .
