Slog - Comments on The Morning News http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/the_morning_news_292 Taliban Offensive: Suicide bomber hits Kabul for second deadly strike in four days. Blackwater: Congressional report says wayward military contractor used bribes to cover up reckless killings. Global Warming: Receding North Pole ice cap alarms scientists. North Korea: South Korean President visits North Korea to meet bizarre fascist Kim Jong-Il and offer historic initiative for reunification. Pakistan: 85 opposition party members resign seats in parliament in effort to undermine legitimacy of President Musharraf's pending re-election. Myanmar: U.N. envoy meets junta leader. Democratic Presidential Candidates: Third-quarter fundraising reports show Democratic candidates far outpacing GOP counterparts. And Hillary Clinton raises the most... Copyright 2008 Tue, 02 Oct 2007 06:00:52 -0800 Tue, 02 Oct 2007 13:22:48 -0800 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.34 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Comment by Phil M Didn't the Iraqi government ban Blackwater USA from operating in Iraq after the last high-profile incident in which Blackwater murdered at least eight Iraqi civilians? Is Iraq an independent nation, or not?

This passage from the article Josh cited caught my attention:

In the case of the Christmas Eve killing [in which someone from Blackwater, while drunk, killed a bodyguard for one of Iraq’s two vice presidents], the [House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform] report says that an official of the United States Embassy in Iraq suggested paying the slain bodyguard’s family $250,000, but a lower-ranking official said that such a high payment “could cause incidents with people trying to get killed by our guys to financially guarantee their family’s future.” Blackwater ultimately paid the dead man’s family $15,000.

It's good to know the U.S. Embassy in Iraq is watching out for the profit margins of our mercenaries.

]]> Phil M http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/the_morning_news_292#c816244 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/the_morning_news_292#c816244 News Tue, 02 Oct 2007 06:53:36 -0800 Comment by Fnarf How much was the Blackwater guy who killed him paid? A lot more than $15,000, I'll bet. This company is a black mark on this country. Soldiers should be soldiers, in the Army, not paid assassins in an unaccountable private hit squad.

]]> Fnarf http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/the_morning_news_292#c816248 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/the_morning_news_292#c816248 News Tue, 02 Oct 2007 07:36:06 -0800 Comment by paid assassin Hey!

]]> paid assassin http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/the_morning_news_292#c816251 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/the_morning_news_292#c816251 News Tue, 02 Oct 2007 07:39:52 -0800 Comment by Cato the Younger Younger YEAH for the lady who did not back down in Ballard!! Our grandparent's generation did not take no shit from no one!!!

The rest of us would have rolled over in a heartbeat. Way to go Granny!!!

Maybe we can get her to run for Mayor? sounds like she has the balls that Nickels never thought of having?

]]> Cato the Younger Younger http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/the_morning_news_292#c816252 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/the_morning_news_292#c816252 News Tue, 02 Oct 2007 07:41:40 -0800 Comment by Gabriel The best thing about the Blackwater story is that the State Department's initial report on the incident was subcontracted out to...Blackwater. That's right, Blackwater gets hired to investigate themselves.

]]> Gabriel http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/the_morning_news_292#c816254 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/the_morning_news_292#c816254 News Tue, 02 Oct 2007 07:48:49 -0800 Comment by Original Andrew


Re: Senate approves $150 billion to continue wars forever and ever and ever

It's the No Iraqi Left Alive Act

Can someone please push the Senate's self-destruct button?


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071002/ap_on_go_co/us_iraq;_ylt=Aonjf1Nh1IDV0r6kWAPi3Y.s0NUE

]]> Original Andrew http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/the_morning_news_292#c816266 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/the_morning_news_292#c816266 News Tue, 02 Oct 2007 08:25:22 -0800 Comment by Phil M Fnarf wrote:

How much was the Blackwater guy who killed him paid? A lot more than $15,000, I'll bet.

No, he only earned about $500 - $600 that day. It would take him 25 to 30 days of working as a mercenary in Iraq to earn the $15,000 Blackwater paid the family of the man he murdered.

]]> Phil M http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/the_morning_news_292#c816271 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/the_morning_news_292#c816271 News Tue, 02 Oct 2007 08:27:58 -0800 Comment by Fnarf Yeah, Phil, but being a hired gun is like being a sports star -- you're not just being paid to play the game, but to train for it. A month's wages, sure, but he earns it every time he gets fucked up and wastes some random civilians for us.

]]> Fnarf http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/the_morning_news_292#c816276 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/the_morning_news_292#c816276 News Tue, 02 Oct 2007 08:41:31 -0800 Comment by Phil M Fnarf, for once we agree. How much do you think that guy will make in endorsements?

]]> Phil M http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/the_morning_news_292#c816295 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/the_morning_news_292#c816295 News Tue, 02 Oct 2007 09:15:41 -0800 Comment by Fnarf I don't know, do shooters need special gloves or anything? Iridescent black and green fingerless gloves with just the one finger for the trigger finger, with no-slip dots on it, all the gangbangers in South Central LA will want them. Nike, are you interested?

]]> Fnarf http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/the_morning_news_292#c816301 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/the_morning_news_292#c816301 News Tue, 02 Oct 2007 09:24:37 -0800 Comment by losing it listening to the house inquiry into black water is killing me. on the one hand you've got mr. prince of black water and everything that goes with that--shootings, money making, rambo shit. And on the onther hand you've got the idiot politicians in washington who hired him. I don't know who is worse. there should be a third party investigation that exposes the idiots who hired blackwater.

]]> losing it http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/the_morning_news_292#c816303 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/the_morning_news_292#c816303 News Tue, 02 Oct 2007 09:26:06 -0800 Comment by Chip The Blackwater report makes no mention of bribes. Giving compensation to people for a shooting -- even with the goal of placating them -- is not a bribe.

A "bribe to cover up" implies a payment to a person with an agreement to not speak about an issue. These were not bribes; just sleazy payouts.

]]> Chip http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/the_morning_news_292#c816311 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/the_morning_news_292#c816311 News Tue, 02 Oct 2007 09:36:21 -0800 Comment by ellarosa ms. macefield has a challenge if she wants to leave the land to someone who won't sell it. i don't give tha house good odds of lasting much longer than she does.

]]> ellarosa http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/the_morning_news_292#c816334 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/the_morning_news_292#c816334 News Tue, 02 Oct 2007 10:14:34 -0800 Comment by raindrop Rush makes me ill, but it has to be acknowledged that the democrats are smearing him with an out-of-context extrapolation. He was referring to imposter soldiers with an agenda -- not actual soldiers against the war.

]]> raindrop http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/the_morning_news_292#c816389 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/the_morning_news_292#c816389 News Tue, 02 Oct 2007 11:09:20 -0800 Comment by COMTE Bullshit raindrop.

If you go to mediamatters.com and listen to the ENTIRE segment Rush originally aired, it's unambiguously clear he was referring to any currently-serving U.S. soldier in Iraq who expressed opposition to the war.

The fact that he tried to backpedal on his statement by replaying an obviously edited version of his original broadcast is just a tactic to lure gullible wingnuts into defending his own execrable, hate-filled blatherings.

]]> COMTE http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/the_morning_news_292#c816413 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/the_morning_news_292#c816413 News Tue, 02 Oct 2007 11:28:07 -0800 Comment by frederick r Meanwhile, the new lane configuration on Stone Way is a worst-case scenario for drivers and bikers. Go get 'em, protesters.

]]> frederick r http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/the_morning_news_292#c816415 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/the_morning_news_292#c816415 News Tue, 02 Oct 2007 11:29:51 -0800 Comment by isabelita #14, Ah, like all the "101st Fighting Keyboard" neocon Iraq invasion supporters! Like Cheney, who had many draft deferrments; like Bush, who weaseled out of his military service; like several men I know who protested the Vietnam War, and are now howling "Never forget!" at the anniversary of Pearl Harbor, as if they were great patriots, all the while making money from their investments in Haliburton. Those are the phony soldiers, and they love Limbaugh.

]]> isabelita http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/the_morning_news_292#c816416 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/the_morning_news_292#c816416 News Tue, 02 Oct 2007 11:30:33 -0800 Comment by K X One

Some shooters do wear gloves, you do have a market there.

Trigger finger blister is a biatch yo!

Although I have only gotten the trigger finger blister from arcade video games, never from real guns, go figure.


]]> K X One http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/the_morning_news_292#c816431 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/the_morning_news_292#c816431 News Tue, 02 Oct 2007 11:58:01 -0800 Comment by QuimbyMcF Here's a second "Yeah!" for Edith in Ballard. She loves her house, doesn't need the money, and wants to stay put. I, on the otherhand, would have been out of there in a heartbeat for a cool mil...but then, I'm shallow. And slightly greedy.

]]> QuimbyMcF http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/the_morning_news_292#c816467 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/the_morning_news_292#c816467 News Tue, 02 Oct 2007 12:37:35 -0800 Comment by Will in Seattle @18 - gloves are more a matter of personal preference - I never used them unless it was too cold. But the blisters are no fun.

]]> Will in Seattle http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/the_morning_news_292#c816531 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/the_morning_news_292#c816531 News Tue, 02 Oct 2007 13:22:48 -0800