Meet the New Boss same as...

[patsfan13]

The beat goes on, neet another member of the new ethical majority:

http://www.slate.com/id/2154965/

Virtual Fence = Virtual Corruption? Speaker Pelosi's post-Hastings fallback choice to head the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Silvestre Reyes, voted against building the 700 mile border fence. He prefers a system of video surveillance cameras, apparently. And gee, it seems that his daughter works for a firm that won a government contract to provide such surveillance services! What's more, according to WaPo's John Mintz (who broke the story) the firm did a really bad job. TPM Muckraker summarizes:

In 1999, IMC [the firm in question] won the contract, worth over $200 million. And at the advice of the Immigration and Naturalization Service official who was managing the operation, the company hired Reyes' daughter, Rebecca Reyes, to be his liaison at the company, the Post reported.

IMC's performance on the program was so bad it verged on criminal, according to later investigations. Millions of dollars in overcharges were alleged, installation was so bad that some cameras never worked properly, and the entire exercise wasted money and "placed. . . national security at risk," according to a GSA inspector general report. [E.A.]

Those who feel that a CW-endorsed "virtual fence" will be as effective a Bush-era bureaucratic initiative as, say, training a new Iraqi police force or providing Karina relief will not be encouraged by the history of Reyes' project. ... Doesn't an actual, non-virtual fence offer sufficient opportunities for sleazy contracting? Or is it too cheap and effective? It would seem distressingly easy (from an incompetent contractor's point of view) for the press and public to look and see what portions of a non-virtual fence have actually been built (as opposed to which high-tech surveillance devices are actually working). ... P.S.: It would be nice to have some Gates-like oversight hearings at which Reyes could be grilled about this video-surveillance debacle. But of course Reyes is the overseer, not the overseen. ...[via Influence Peddler] 2:02 P.M. link

Another great choice for Intel Cmte chairman.

[Pujo]

They're almost all corrupt, 534 of them for sure - congressman Ron Paul (R-TX) is my one exception. Hopefully the Dems will do good things for America, but eliminating corruption won't be one of them.

[Patters]

I know almost nothing about Reyes, but the article from Salon seems unfair. After all, Reyes is a former Border Control official, so it's not surprising that his daughter works in a related field. I don't see how you can prevent people from using the contacts they developed to legitimately help out their kids or how you can prevent kids from helping their employers any more than you can prevent political contributors from getting extra access to politicians. The question is: Were their bribes, inside deals, or other sorts of corruption. Is there a link between IMC's failures and Reyes? I don't know. This, from the Washington Post:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...42516-2005Apr1

"The investigation focuses in part on IMC's employment of the daughter of Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-Tex.), a former Border Patrol official and key backer of the system of 12,000 sensors and several hundred cameras installed for the Border Patrol between 1998 and last year, officials said. There is no indication that Reyes took part in any impropriety, they said."

...

"Officials at the Department of Homeland Security, now the parent of the Border Patrol, acknowledge that there were serious technical and oversight problems with the ISIS program."

...

"Rep. Reyes said that he never interceded with U.S. officials to help IMC win a contract and that he helped IMC retain congressional funding because he believes cameras 'are an important part of our ability to defend the borders.'"

[Harry Boy]

This guy also wants "More Troops" sent to Iraq

I love this sh!t

Auntie Pelosi isn't even warmed up yet, wait until January, no wonder Bush grins when they mention her name, Bush knows whats coming. Pelosi, Obama and Mother Hillary will help elect another Republican president.

[Pujo]

Originally Posted by Patters

I know almost nothing about Reyes, but the article from Salon seems unfair. After all, Reyes is a former Border Control official, so it's not surprising that his daughter works in a related field. I don't see how you can prevent people from using the contacts they developed to legitimately help out their kids or how you can prevent kids from helping their employers any more than you can prevent political contributors from getting extra access to politicians.

Doesn't seem much different to giving the Iraq contract to Haliburton.

[DarrylS]

Originally Posted by Pujo

Doesn't seem much different to giving the Iraq contract to Haliburton.

Bingo, except that this contract pales to anything Haliburton has gotten or stolen.

[Pujo]

Originally Posted by GJAJ15

Bingo, except that this contract pales to anything Haliburton has gotten or stolen.

Right, but the concept is the same. The Republicans have their Haliburton and the Democrats have their Bechtel Parsons.

[Harry Boy]

Originally Posted by GJAJ15

Bingo, except that this contract pales to anything Haliburton has gotten or stolen.

Halliburton started WWI, A CEO from Halliburton kidnapped the Lindberg Baby, then Halliburton started WWII, a CEO from Halliburton raped Eleanor Roosevelt at a Girl Scout meeting, Halliburton is now in the final stages of causing the end of the world.
Bill Clinton killed Kathleen Wileys Cat.

It is certainly true that during a two year period Halliburton’s revenue from Defense Department contracts doubled. However, that increase in revenue occurred from 1998 to 2000 - during the Clinton administration.

If Democrats want to investigate a scandal involving Iraq they should devote their efforts to the UN "Oil-for-Food" program instead of Halliburton.
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles...e.asp?ID=15426

[Pujo]

Originally Posted by Harry Boy

It is certainly true that during a two year period Halliburton’s revenue from Defense Department contracts doubled. However, that increase in revenue occurred from 1998 to 2000 - during the Clinton administration.

And what's happened in the six years since then, they've gone back down now that Clinton is gone? Of course not, they increased even more.

Originally Posted by Harry Boy

If Democrats want to investigate a scandal involving Iraq they should devote their efforts to the UN "Oil-for-Food" program instead of Halliburton.

Investigate them both. Haliburton doesn't excuse the sham that is the oil-for-food program, but neither do the UN's crimes excuse Haliburton. And while they're at it, they should investigate Bechtel Parsons for their Big Dig pork.

[Real World]

Originally Posted by Pujo

They're almost all corrupt, 534 of them for sure - congressman Ron Paul (R-TX) is my one exception. Hopefully the Dems will do good things for America, but eliminating corruption won't be one of them.

Ron Paul is very highly regarded by virtually all of the intelligent people that I know.