Food for thought?

**The Wastrel** · Posted On: 3/19/2003 7:43am

Sent to me by an army buddy. Originally published in the SF Chronicle.

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0308-05.htm

**The most miraculous power that can verifiably be attributed to "chi" is its ability to be all things to virtually all people, depending on what version of the superstition they are attempting to defend at any given moment.**

**SamHarber** · Posted On: 3/19/2003 8:21am

Good grief....

On a slightly related note - Has anyone in the US administration resigned on principle yet?

**noodles** · Posted On: 3/19/2003 8:56am

Sam, you have to have principles before you can resign on them. (Duh.)

I like that. Maybe I'll make "Duh" my signature.

**SamHarber** · Posted On: 3/19/2003 10:04am

Amusingly, the one of the few principled ministers in the UK government backed down from her threat to resign, yet the person responsible for the UKs "Ethical Foriegn Policy" did resign.
Go figure.

**Freddy** · Posted On: 3/19/2003 4:43pm

And I thought Kellog was just a breakfast cereal!

(Yes! I'm joking here!)

"Do what thou wilt is the whole of the Law"

**noodles** · Posted On: 3/19/2003 6:01pm

I work in a room half-full of British guys and it seems like every fifteen minutes for the last couple of days they talk about one minister or other resigning or threatening to. Can you deputize people from the House of Lords if you start to run short?

**Vargas** · Posted On: 3/19/2003 6:34pm

Uh, you do realize that Brown and Root builds just about every damn thing in the military, don't you? Christ, even the chow hall in Djibouti was Brown and Root. Camp Bondsteel in Bosnia, and just about all of the new installations in the Middle East, were built from the ground up by Brown and Root, so this story really doesn't blow my skirt up. Now, a story about MPRI or DynCorp training and equipping foreign militaries (ie. Croatia), as well as having their own 'operational units' (also known as mercenaries)? That would be an entertaining read.

"Go cry about it Vargas. Aren't you late for your shift at McDonald's?"

**gong sau** · Posted On: 3/19/2003 6:40pm

Doesn't the phrase "conflict of interest" mean anything in Ameerican politics, or is it more a blind eye thing? That's pretty blatant. I don't think this conclusively points to any premeditated motivation, but it's no less sick for that. Just my O.

**The Wastrel** · Posted On: 3/19/2003 6:44pm

I didn't know that, until I read this article. I have some vague awareness of how it works, but never any specifics. Anyway, as is my habit, I refrained from making any snap judgements, and noted the origin of publication. I still think it seems...unseemly.

**The most miraculous power that can verifiably be attributed to "chi" is its ability to be all things to virtually all people, depending on what version of the superstition they are attempting to defend at any given moment.**

**noodles** · Posted On: 3/19/2003 7:23pm

I didn't know KBR did that much for the military until I saw Vargas' post, but I wasn't about to assume anything more-than-usually sinister based on that article. When you deal with corporations as massive and diverse as Haliburton and KBR, tangled relationships are inevitable. Not to say there isn't something fishy going on, but there's not any real evidence to go on here.