Recently in Military contractors Category

I am all for transparency. So, when I read this post over at Ms Sparky, I could not help but think this will eliminate some waste and fraud in our industrial/military complex.

Rep. Robert Andrews, D-N.J., said the public can judge whether mentors have conflicts of interest only by seeing whether they work for defense contractors that benefit from decisions such as the awarding of contracts.

Also, if someone if afraid to acknowledge who pays them, than I question whether they even believe in the systems, weapons, and services they are mentoring. If they are willing to disclose their financial supports, and still will mentor, I might actually be inclined to support whatever it is they support.

If a retired military person truly is dedicated to the security of the United States, they will be mentoring what they believe will be in the best interests of that security. However, if they bow out due to such things as required transparency, I have to question both their support for the security of our country and their belief in the legitimacy of what they were mentoring.

Besides, balking at the onerous demands of capping their pay at $179,000 when I am going to be lucky to make $35,000 this year is rather galling.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates required last year that mentors disclose their assets and business ties as a condition of employment, and also capped their pay at $179,000. This month, President Obama made that policy law when he signed the defense authorization act.

I guess they will just have to stop buy those T-bone steaks........

Blue Girl, Red State

Four and a half years into Iraq, and six years into Afghanistan, they have decided it’s time to determine what, exactly, to do with mercenaries who attack and murder civilians without provocation, or otherwise commit actions that undermine the efforts of the United States to salvage something – anything – from this clusterfuck so we can claim some sort of semblance of a shadow of a specter of a pale imitation of victory™ and get the hell out of there.

Sometimes, you just need to duck when she gets her grove on.