Mercenary Jackpot - While the Bush Administration calls for the immediate disbanding of what it has labeled "private" and "illegal" militias in Lebanon and Iraq, it is pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into its own global private mercenary army tasked with protecting US officials and institutions overseas. The secretive program, which spans at least twenty-seven countries, has been an incredible jackpot for one heavily Republican-connected firm in particular: Blackwater USA.
Halliburton CEO's stock rises by $78 million since Iraq invasion - War and skyrocketing oil prices have been good to Halliburton's CEO David Lesar, whose stock in the company increased by an estimated $78 million since the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003, a HalliburtonWatch analysis reveals. - On September 1, three days after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, he sold stock pursuant to his stock option plan, earning a one-day profit of $720,100. One week later, on September 8, he similarly earned a one-day profit of $782,000 by selling stock.
The Spoils of War - Halliburton subsidiary KBR got $12 billion worth of exclusive contracts for work in Iraq. But even more shocking is how KBR spent some of the money. Former U.S. Army Corps of Engineers official Bunnatine Greenhouse is blowing the whistle on the Dick Cheney–linked company's profits of war - As for learning the real extent of malfeasance in Iraq, that may never happen. The Republican majority in both houses of Congress seems disinclined to hold more hearings—or to exercise the subpoena power that only the majority wields. All the Democrats can do is shake their fists.
Big money subverts democracy, Timken tells $2,000 donors - Hosting a $2,000-per-person event Monday featuring Vice President Dick Cheney, Timken told an audience of Cleveland's wealthiest business and civic leaders that such money was intended to "subvert democracy" and was an "attempt to buy democracy."
In Bed with Bush – The Bechtel Story - “A little research into the history of the Bechtel Corp reveals almost a 'classroom example' of how the links between big business and government work”
Well-connected and wealthy: Bechtel wins from Saddam's demise - Few companies represent the corporate face of the Bush administration quite like Bechtel of San Francisco. And few - Vice-President Dick Cheney's old company, Halliburton, is the only possible competitor - were quite so identified with the drive to overthrow Saddam Hussein, starting months before the US-led invasion began.
Halliburton deals on Iraq bigger than reported - Halliburton Co. has received more US government contracts in Iraq than earlier reported, including an "obscure but lucrative" deal with 425 million dollars, a US lawmaker says.
War Profiteering: Dick Cheney and Halliburton - This recent revelation raises questions about the motives of the Bush Administration in Iraq, especially given Vice President Dick Cheney’s past leadership of Halliburton.
Halliburton Iraq contract queried - Halliburton could have years of work in Iraq Halliburton, the oil services and construction group once led by US vice president Dick Cheney, is in the spotlight once again over its role in the reconstruction of Iraq
Rivals Say Halliburton Dominates Iraq Oil Work - Halliburton's role in the rebuilding has been under political scrutiny because the company was formerly headed by Vice President Dick Cheney.
Halliburton unit preferred for MoD bid - An arm of Halliburton, the controversial group led until 2000 by American vice-president Dick Cheney, yesterday emerged as the preferred bidder for a contract worth £350m over seven years to coordinate logistics support for British troops on overseas missions.
New Iraq Contracts Offer Just `Scraps' - Some of California's biggest engineering companies are submitting bids today to restart the Iraqi oil industry, but the Army Corps of Engineers warned that it might not award a new contract, instead relying on Halliburton Co. to complete the work it already has started.
NO-BID CONTRACTS - (Scroll down on page) - The contractor is Kellogg, Brown & Root, a subsidiary of Vice President Dick Cheney's former company, Texas-based Halliburton. The watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense says the subsidiary received $1.3 billion in government business last year -- much of it, like this, without having to enter a bid.
Bechtel gets bigger Iraq deal - $350M boost is sign that U.S. has underestimated Iraq costs; Halliburton also getting more. - The U.S. General Accounting Office has told aides to Rep. Henry Waxman, a California Democrat, that Halliburton subsidiary Brown and Root is likely to earn "several hundred million more dollars" from the no-bid Corps of Engineers contract to rehabilitate oil fields, The Post said.
Iraq: Halliburton Reaping Huge Profits - One in Three US Military Dollars Spent Goes to Contractors - Halliburton, the company formerly headed by Vice President Cheney, has won contracts worth more than $1.7 billion under Operation Iraqi Freedom and stands to make hundreds of millions more dollars under a no-bid contract awarded by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, according to newly available documents.
Halliburton Makes a Killing on Iraq War - Cheney's Former Company Profits from Supporting Troops - While recent news coverage has speculated on the post-war reconstruction gravy train that corporations like Halliburton stand to gain from, this latest information indicates that Halliburton is already profiting from war time contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
Cheney is still paid by Pentagon contractor - Halliburton, the Texas company which has been awarded the Pentagon's contract to put out potential oil-field fires in Iraq and which is bidding for postwar construction contracts, is still making annual payments to its former chief executive, the vice-president Dick Cheney. - The payments, which appear on Mr Cheney's 2001 financial disclosure statement, are in the form of "deferred compensation" of up to $1m (£600,000) a year.
All In The Family - Even before the first shots were fired in Iraq, the Pentagon had secretly awarded Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown & Root a two-year, no-bid contract to put out oil well fires and to handle other unspecified duties involving war damage to the country’s petroleum industry. It is worth up to $7 billion. - But does the fact that Cheney used to run Halliburton have any effect at all on the company getting government contracts?
The Iraq Reconstruction Bonanzanits. - The real problem is that without strong legislative safeguards and oversight, billions of taxpayer dollars are sure to be wasted through insufficiently competitive contracts to politically connected firms like Halliburton and Bechtel.
Spending on Iraq sets off gold rush - Lawmakers fear U.S. is losing control of funds - The Iraqi gold rush has raised concerns on Capitol Hill that the administration may be losing control of the taxpayers’ money. - “What we’re seeing is waste and gold-plating that’s enriching Halliburton and Bechtel while costing taxpayers billions of dollars and actually holding back the pace of reconstruction in Iraq,” said Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), a leading critic of the administration’s handling of Iraq.
French sleaze inquiry targets US oil subsidiary - The public prosecutor's office in Paris said yesterday it was opening a formal judicial inquiry into alleged corruption by a French engineering firm and the American oil services giant Halliburton, which was headed until two years ago by Dick Cheney, the vice-president of the United States. - The financial crimes squad in Paris believes a French oil and gas engineering firm, Technip, and particularly the Halliburton subsidiary KBR were jointly involved during the 1990s in the payment of up to $200-million of under-the-counter "commissions" in relation to a huge gas contract in Nigeria.
Cheney, Halliburton ties facing more questions - Between 1995 and 2000, while Democrat Bill Clinton ran the country and Republican Dick Cheney ran Halliburton, there was no talk of favoritism or political ties as the Houston-based company billed the government $2.2 billion for its work in Kosovo. - And a September 2000 report by the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, found that Brown & Root, the subsidiary, had overbilled the government millions of dollars for excessive electric-ity, overstaffing and unnecessary furniture in Kosovo.
Price of Gasoline for Iraq Questioned - Two senior House Democrats charged yesterday that the Bush administration was paying Halliburton Inc. "extraordinarily high prices" to import gasoline into Iraq. - Citing Army Corps numbers, they calculated that the per-gallon cost of the gas would be $1.62 to $1.70 after Halliburton's fee. The gasoline is being sold to Iraqis for 4 to 15 cents per gallon, they said, citing news reports.
Bechtel Gets G.O.P. Support for a Potential Tax Break - The tax break, which will be taken up on Tuesday by the House Ways and Means Committee, was originally intended to help shore up factory jobs in the United States by reducing the corporate tax rate for domestic manufacturers to 32 percent from 35 percent. - But the bill now includes a provision sought by Bechtel, an engineering conglomerate that is also one of the biggest recipients of government contracts for Iraqi reconstruction, that would reduce taxes on "architectural and engineering services." - The new provision would also benefit the Halliburton Company, whose previous chief executive was Vice President Dick Cheney and which now has a Pentagon contract to repair the Iraqi oil infrastructure. The Fluor Corporation, which recently won a $102 million contract to work on Iraq's electrical system, would receive a tax reduction as well.
Halliburton Contract Extended in Iraq - Vice President Dick Cheney's former company will retain a no-bid contract in Iraq longer than expected, the Bush administration said Wednesday, blaming sabotage of oil facilities for delays in replacement contracts. - Halliburton's contract, worth $1.59 billion so far, will be extended until December or January while the government receives and evaluates revised bids for replacement work that could total $2 billion. - TVNL Comment: Un-Fu%$ing believable!
Pentagon Delays Award of Iraq Oil Contracts Again - The U.S. military said on Tuesday it had again extended a deadline for awarding two new contracts to repair Iraq's oil fields, giving Vice President Dick Cheney's old firm Halliburton more time under its no-competition deal.
Iraq delays hand Cheney firm $1bn - - Halliburton, the engineering group formerly run by US vice-president Dick Cheney, has been given $1 billion worth of reconstruction work in Iraq by the - US government without having to compete for it, thanks to repeated delays in opening up a key contract to competition.
US finds Halliburton overcharged - An oil services firm substantially overcharged US forces for petrol in Iraq, a Pentagon audit has found - But an anonymous Pentagon official says that KBR charged inflated prices for fuel and other items - and that the problems go beyond pricing, AP reports. - TVNL Comment; Overcharging the government during war time. Now that’s patriotic! That’s Dick Cheney’s former company! Remember what TVNL said aboutDick Cheney!
Pentagon launches Halliburton inquiry - The Pentagon has begun an extensive inquiry into Halliburton's activities in Iraq after evidence emerged that the oil services company, which was formerly run by the US vice president, Dick Cheney, overcharged the US government by as much as $120m
Halliburton Gets More Business in Iraq - The U.S. military said on Monday Vice President Dick Cheney's former company Halliburton was allocated $222 million more last week for work in Iraq, at the same time as a Pentagon audit found the firm may have overbilled for some services there. - Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root has now clocked up $2.26 billion under its March no-bid contract with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to rebuild Iraq's oil sector.
War profiteers Shell, Bechtel, Fluor take record of terror from Africa to Iraq - As Bush creates a corporate protectorate in Iraq, many companies who stand to benefit from reconstruction and oil exploration there are familiar to Africans. Shell, Bechtel and Fluor are all associated with massacres and crimes against humanity in Africa.
Bipartisan Call to Expand Inquiry Into Occupation - Senior Republican and Democratic lawmakers asked today that a Congressional investigation into how federal contracts were awarded for the reconstruction of Iraq be expanded to include nearly every aspect of the American occupation.
Oil, gas industry gets two-year break from storm water permits - A Clinton administration regulation went into effect on Monday, expanding the storm water permitting program to construction sites that disturb 1 to 5 acres. - But the Environmental Protection Agency said it was postponing the requirements for oil and gas construction until March 2005 because it wants more time to evaluate the impacts on the industry. - TVNL comment: As we have said before, all the good that had been done by prior administrations has been undermined by the Bush administration. No where is the more pronounced than with environmental policy.
Bush not waging war on corruption - The single-mindedness that the president exhibited in the war on Iraq doesn't appear evident in the war on corporate scandals
Beware the military-industrial complex - Halliburton, Vinnell and other corporations in the oil bidness signed no-bid, secret contracts before the invasion of Iraq. It was coincidence, the administration said.
Bush, the rainforest and a gas pipeline to enrich his friends - President George Bush is seeking funds for a controversial project to drive gas pipelines from pristine rainforests in the Peruvian Amazon to the coast. - The plan will enrich some of Mr Bush's closest corporate campaign contributors while risking the destruction of rainforest, threatening its indigenous peoples and endangering rare species on the coast.
Connections Helped United Defense Business - Carlyle Group Inc., a private equity firm whose senior executives include former U.S. cabinet members and ex-President George H.W. Bush, has turned a $180-million 1997 investment in United Defense Industries Inc. into $1.2 billion.
Bush Misuses Science, Report Says - Democrats Say Data Are Distorted to Boost Conservative Policies - The Bush administration has repeatedly mischaracterized scientific facts to bolster its political agenda in areas ranging from abstinence education and condom use to missile defense, according to a detailed report - "The Administration's political interference with science has led to misleading statements by the President, inaccurate responses to Congress, altered web sites, suppressed agency reports, erroneous international communications, and the gagging of scientists," according to the report, posted yesterday at www.politicsandscience.org. "The subjects involved span a broad range, but they share a common attribute: the beneficiaries of the scientific distortions are important supporters of the President, including social conservatives and powerful industry groups." - TVNL Comment: This is called outrageous lying. Simple fact.
Bush Team Makes Federal Lands More Open to Oil, Gas Drilling - Oil industry representatives applauded the policy changes, which they say will streamline the bureaucracy involved in energy production on federal lands. - But environmental groups accused the Bush administration of sacrificing environmental quality in its effort to boost energy production in government-managed areas.
Bush blamed for chaos which led to blackouts - "Just two years ago, [President Bush] and his allies in Congress blocked a Democratic proposal to invest $350m in upgrading America's electrical grid system," said the Florida Senator Bob Graham. "The blackout is further evidence that America needs to invest in its infrastructure." - In California, affected by rolling blackouts a couple of years ago, public utility regulators went so far as to accuse private-sector companies of artificially engineering a crisis for financial gain. That charge was directed at the White House, because many of the companies involved had close ties to the Bush administration, and because federal regulators did little to relieve the pressure on Californian consumers. Enron was a key player, both as an energy supplier and as one of the architects of California's ill-conceived energy deregulation.
Bill exempts disputed drilling process - Despite water-pollution fears, technique would not be regulated by feds - Tucked inside an 800-page energy bill winding its way through Congress is a short section that would exempt from federal regulation a lucrative gas-drilling process perfected by the energy company Vice President Dick Cheney once ran. - The exemption, while it likely wouldn't benefit Cheney financially, is testament to the support that the oil and gas industry enjoys in the White House and the Republican-controlled Congress. - Environmentalists say that could put drinking water at risk, and they want federal officials to have regulatory power to prevent problems and step in if water is contaminated. Alabama residents say the technique, called hydraulic fracturing, fouled drinking-water wells and unleashed a stench in homes.
America's richest get richer - America's richest tycoons increased their personal wealth over the past 12 months, partly reversing a two-year decline, according to Forbes magazine's annual snapshot of America's super-wealthy. - The total net worth of the 400 wealthiest people in the US rose by 10% over the year to $955bn
Energy Bill's Tax Breaks Weighed on Hill - Benefits to Industries Could Add $19 Billion to Budget Deficit in Next Decade - The provisions would allow faster write-offs for domestic oil and gas exploration and for natural gas pipelines. Electric utilities could save $3.5 billion through 2008 by delaying the payment of taxes on the sale of transmission lines. Other provisions would benefit railroads, the coal industry, waste disposal companies, corn growers and makers of renewable-fuel technologies.
Washington Insiders' New Firm Consults on Contracts in Iraq - A group of businessmen linked by their close ties to President Bush, his family and his administration have set up a consulting firm to advise companies that want to do business in Iraq, including those seeking pieces of taxpayer-financed reconstruction projects. - The firm, New Bridge Strategies, is headed by Joe M. Allbaugh, Mr. Bush's campaign manager in 2000 and the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency until March. Other directors include Edward M. Rogers Jr., vice chairman, and Lanny Griffith, lobbyists who were assistants to the first President George Bush and now have close ties to the White House.
GOP lobbyists hope their ties pay off in Iraq - Some of Washington's top Republican lobbyists are counting on ties to the Bush administration, the congressional leadership and the Iraqi provisional government to turn the embattled country into a major new profit center.
Secrecy over Iraq contracts criticized - Profits earned by U.S. companies engaged in the multibillion-dollar reconstruction of Iraq are being kept secret from taxpayers and Congress, raising questions of potential waste. - Fees and bonuses, industry officials say, are awarded to contractors who complete the work on time under difficult and often dangerous conditions. Fees generally run between 1 percent and 2 percent of costs, while bonuses can reach as high as 8 percent, they said.
Thanks From Corporate Tax Dodgers - Dear Mr. President, You’re truly the gift that keeps on giving. Faced with a record deficit and $87 billion more for Iraq, another president might think of raising taxes on corporations. Not you...
Study: Bush backers land Iraq deals - Campaign donors garner $8 billion in reconstruction projects - Companies awarded $8 billion in contracts to rebuild Iraq and Afghanistan have been major campaign donors to President Bush, and their executives have had important political and military connections, according to a study released Thursday. - TVNL Commen: Nothing fishy about this;-) Outrageous!
A Short Sighted Energy Policy: Halliburton, Oil, and the Need for a New Energy and Jobs Strategy - Once again, the Bush Administration has chosen to mislead the American People. The latest outrage involves inflated oil prices and no-bid contracts in Iraq for Dick Cheney’s Halliburton Company, a give-a-way that leaves American taxpayers and desperate Iraqi civilians footing the bill. This Administration’s allegiance to corporate interests has distorted the direction of US policies both at home and abroad.
Special deals in rebuilding Iraq? - But critics say this is part of a larger problem — that so far, only well-connected companies like Bechtel and Halliburton have been invited to bid, with limited competition. - “The argument that there are only two companies on the planet that know about these matters is incredibly pretentious and absurd,” said Charles Lewis of the Center for Public Interest.
Arrested Russian Businessman Is Carlyle Group Adviser - The arrest of two of Russia's top businessmen in recent months was more than a distant headline for Washington's well-connected private equity firm, Carlyle Group. - Meanwhile, the firm has lost the services of its most prominent associate: former president George H.W. Bush, who was senior adviser for Carlyle's Asia funds, retired last month, shortly after serving as the main draw at a dinner in Moscow to woo investors.
2 Bills Would Benefit Top Bush Fundraisers - Executives' Companies Could Get Billions - More than three dozen of President Bush's major fundraisers are affiliated with companies that stand to benefit from the passage of two central pieces of the administration's legislative agenda: the energy and Medicare bills.
Michael Leavitt's Baptism - The White House called the shots when Christie Whitman was running the Environmental Protection Agency, and from the looks of things, the White House is still calling the shots. Michael Leavitt's first major action as E.P.A. administrator last week was to rescind a Clinton-era proposal to reduce mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants. The reversal came right out of the Karl Rove playbook, a long-promised payoff to President Bush's big contributors in the utility industry.
The privatisation of war - Private corporations have penetrated western warfare so deeply that they are now the second biggest contributor to coalition forces in Iraq after the Pentagon, a Guardian investigation has established. - The investigation has also discovered that the proportion of contracted security personnel in the firing line is 10 times greater than during the first Gulf war. I- TVNL Comment: It is called the military industrial complex. It is no longer a consipracy theory; it is reality.
It's greed, not ideology, that rules the White House - Why the US wants Iraq's debts cancelled - and Argentina's paid in full - The US position has been that wiping out debts would be a dangerous precedent (and rob Washington of the leverage it needs to push for investor-friendly economic reforms). So why is Bush so concerned that "the future of the Iraqi people should not be mortgaged to the enormous burden of debt"? Because it is taking money from "reconstruction", which could go to Halliburton, Bechtel, Exxon and Boeing.
Baker's business ties raise questions on his envoy role - When President Bush tapped longtime family adviser James A. Baker III to try to persuade U.S. allies to forgive Iraq's crushing $127 billion foreign debt, he summoned one of the country's most well-connected former officials for a difficult task. - "The problem," said Judicial Watch's Fitton, "is that a year and a half from now, James Baker goes back and can use these contacts for Carlyle's benefit."
USAID Awards Bechtel Iraq Contract Worth $1.8B - The contract follows a deal the privately held, San Francisco-based Bechtel signed with USAID last April to rebuild Iraq's shattered infrastructure. So far that contract has clocked up about $1 billion and will run until December.
Industry Hopes Soar With Space Plan - Energy and Aerospace Firms Have Long Lobbied NASA - Among the companies that could profit from the plan are Bethesda-based Lockheed Martin Corp., Boeing Co. and Halliburton Co., which Vice President Cheney headed before he joined Bush's ticket. - TVNL Comment: Let’s repeat that: Halliburton Co., which Vice President Cheney headed before he joined Bush's ticket. Again: Halliburton Co., which Vice President Cheney headed before he joined Bush's ticket One more time: Halliburton Co., which Vice President Cheney headed before he joined Bush's ticket
Government By & For Halliburton - The Center for American Progress traced all of the favors the Bush Administration has granted to Halliburton, the oil company formerly run by Vice President Dick Cheney.
Despite probe, Cheney's former firm gets Iraq oil contract - espite a Pentagon probe into alleged overcharging for fuel delivered to Iraq, the Army awarded Vice President Dick Cheney's former company a contract Friday to rebuild Iraq's oil industry. - TVNL Comment: That sounds logical. Nothing suspicious there;-)
Halliburton wins Iraq deal despite price gouging - The Bush administration knew that Halliburton had overcharged the US government on an Iraq reconstruction contract before it awarded the company a separate lucrative contract last week to repair Iraqi oilfields. - TVNL Comment: Clinton would have been imprisoned by now.
The Halliburton Shuffle - War-torn Iraq has been a gold mine for Halliburton, yet another treasure trove of U.S. taxpayer dollars for a company that has no peer in the fine art of extracting riches from the government.
Poland, Spain Up in Arms Over Loss of Iraq Contract - The allies ask why their weapons suppliers were passed over for an inexperienced U.S. firm. - The $327-million contract to supply everything from canteens to AK-47s was awarded in January to Nour USA, a Virginia-based company whose president is A. Huda Farouki. Farouki is a close friend of Ahmad Chalabi, a controversial member of the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council who has close ties with some Pentagon officials.
Criminal probe into Halliburton - The Pentagon has begun a criminal investigation into claims a US company overcharged the military for oil delivered to Iraq. - Halliburton's activities in Iraq have attracted intense scrutiny from critics of the Iraq war on the look out for any signs of corporate favouritism from the Bush administration. - Mr Cheney was in charge of the company until 2000.
Politics Questioned in Hospital Plan - Proposed children's facility in Iraq is backed by first lady and linked to a Bush family friend - Earlier this year, First Lady Laura Bush formed an unusual alliance with the White House National Security Council to fund a new state-of-the-art children's hospital in Iraq. - The hospital would be operated under the guidance of Project Hope, a charity whose president is a Bush family acquaintance from Texas.
Israeli firm awarded oil tender in Iraq - One of Israel's largest oil marketing firms has won a multi-million dollar tender to supply fuel to US troops in Iraq. - According to a IsraelNationalNews.com report, the tender awarded to Sonol gasoline company, along with its foreign partner Morgantown International, is valued at $70-80 million.
U.S. Scientist Tells of Pressure to Lift Bans on Food Imports - A senior scientist at the Department of Agriculture says its scientific experts have been pressured by top officials to approve products for Americans to eat before their safety can be confirmed. - The scientist's concerns were echoed by several scientific groups, including the Union of Concerned Scientists and the Government Accountability Project, which say the Agriculture Department has pressured scientists to protect industries or countries favored by the Bush administration.
GOP Contributor in New Mexico Gets Leeway for Oil Drilling - The government has eased Clinton-era oil and gas drilling restrictions on a large tract of desert grassland in New Mexico in a decision that benefits a large Republican donor in the state.
Interior Dept. Is Denounced - Investigator of Indian Funds Resigns, Alleges Obstruction - A court-appointed investigator has resigned from his job probing the federal government's management of hundreds of millions of dollars owed Native Americans, and charged that the Department of the Interior blocked his work in a bid to conceal its deals to enrich energy companies and cheat American Indians. - TVNL Comment: How much has to happen before we impeach the entire Bush/PNAC administration?
All in the (Profiteering) First Family - Close relatives of President George W. Bush continue to benefit financially from the Iraq invasion, as revealed by sources including regulatory filings.
Iraq war boosts Halliburton profits - Controversial US oil and services group Halliburton has said that its contracts in Iraq had helped boost its turnover by about 80% in the first three months of the year.
Bullet maker can't meet Army demand - Here's a new measure of the intensity of the fighting by the U.S. military. - Alliant Techsystems Inc., the Edina-based munitions maker that is the U.S. Army's sole supplier of bullets, said Thursday it can't keep up with demand from the Army, which is rising to its highest level since the Vietnam War. - Alliant's ammunition group "last year achieved the largest sales in its history,"
THE BUSH MONEY MACHINE : Fundraising's Rewards - Pioneers Fill War Chest, Then Capitalize - Of the 246 fundraisers identified by The Post as Pioneers in the 2000 campaign, 104 -- or slightly more than 40 percent -- ended up in a job or an appointment. - For about one-fifth of the 2000 Pioneers, this is their business -- they are lobbyists whose livelihoods depend on the perception that they can get things done in the government.
Gasoline surges under Bush following refinery mergers - President Bush allowed an increase in oil refinery mergers to go unchecked since he took office and may have contributed to the highest gasoline prices in 20 years as the November election approaches. - The Bush administration approved 33 takeovers totaling $19.5 billion, on top of 21 deals worth $7.3 billion under President Clinton, Bloomberg data shows. Reduced supplies were already pushing up gas prices in Clinton's term, according to a Federal Trade Commission study conducted after pump prices rose to more than $2 a gallon in Milwaukee and Chicago in 2000.
Douglas Feith: Portrait of a Neoconservative - Douglas Feith serves as the number three civilian in the George W. Bush administration's Defense Department, under Donald Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz. - Feith's private business dealings raised eyebrows in Washington. In 1999, his firm Feith & Zell formed an alliance with the Israel-based Zell, Goldberg & Co., which resulted in the creation of the Fandz International Law Group. According to Fandz's web site, the law group "has recently established a task force dealing with issues and opportunities relating to the recently ended war with Iraq, and is assisting regional construction and logistics firms to collaborate with contractors from the United States and other coalition countries in implementing infrastructure and other reconstruction projects in Iraq."
Rumsfeld Sold Stakes in Pentagon Contractors - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld sold stakes this summer in at least five companies after they were identified as doing business with the Pentagon, according to his latest financial disclosure form, made available on Wednesday. - Sold were all his shares in Millennium Chemicals Inc., St Paul Companies Inc., Sonoco Products Co., VF Corp. and Zebra Technologies Corp., according to an aide's handwritten note on the disclosure report.
Halliburton's Interests Assisted by White House - Over the last four years, the Bush administration and Vice President Dick Cheney's office have backed a series of measures favoring a drilling technique developed by Halliburton Co., Cheney's former employer.
Record pay-outs from Carlyle and KKR - Carlyle and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts have returned a combined $15.6bn of cash to investors in the past 18 months, two of the biggest pay-outs in the history of private equity. - In a wide-ranging interview Mr Conway addressed Carlyle's business model as well as its growing recognition outside the private equity world because of references in recent films such as Fahrenheit 9/11 and The Manchurian Candidate re-make.
Energy Companies Step Up With Major Donations for Bush Inauguration - The energy industry and some of its executives have contributed over a million dollars to President Bush's inauguration fund, the committee handling the festivities reported Friday. - Outside the energy sector, New Orleans Saints football team owner Tom Benson gave $50,000 and his companies gave $200,000. - Northrop Grumman Corp., the world's largest shipbuilder and second-largest U.S. defense contractor, gave $100,000. - Michael Dell, chairman of Dell Inc., the world's largest personal computer maker, gave $250,000.
Execs from banned firm still getting Iraq deals - Former executives of Custer Battles — an American firm accused of stealing millions from Iraq reconstruction projects and banned from further government contracts — have continued doing contracting work and have formed new companies to bid on such projects - Meanwhile, Custer Battles’ former chief financial officer Joseph Morris, accused of submitting fake invoices to the government, has been working for another American contractor in Iraq, according to interviews.
Cheney's Halliburton Helped Saddam Siphon UN $Bns - But the one company that helped Saddam exploit the oil-for-food program in the mid-1990s that wasn't identified in Duelfer's report was Halliburton, and the person at the helm of Halliburton at the time of the scheme was Vice President Dick Cheney.
Grants Flow To Bush Allies On Social Issues - In the Bush administration, conservatives are discovering that turnabout is fair play: Millions of dollars in taxpayer funds have flowed to groups that support President Bush's agenda on abortion and other social issues.
MoJo Blog Uncle Bucky makes out like a...Bush - George W. Bush's Uncle Bucky (William H.T. Bush), brother of George H.W. Bush, has collected about $1.9 million in cash, plus $800,000 in stocks, from the recent sale of Engineered Support Systems, Inc. ESSI, of which Bush was a director, was sold to DRS Technologies for $1.7 billion at the end of January, after the company experienced record growth from expanded military contracts, most related to activity in Iraq and Afghanistan. - The contracts, some awarded on a no-bid basis, include a $77-million deal to refit military vehicles with armor for use in Iraq.
Oil Giants Continue to Benefit From U.S. Energy Policy;Consumers Pay Price - One year after the Administration's energy policy was signed into law, consumers are paying record high prices for gas and the majority of the cost increases have turned into profits for domestic oil companies. - Comparing oil industry profits to the Standard and Poors Industrial, the industry will have $120 billion in excess profits in the 2001 - 2006 period.
