HALLIBURTON FLEECING US TAXPAYERS - Lieberman, Dingell, & Waxman

The Charges that HALLIBURTON hoped would die
find some powerful support in Congress

Wed 26 November 2003, 23:54 GMT__ Halliburton, the Houston-based oil services and construction group once headed by US Vice President Dick Cheney, is again under fire. The energy giant and its subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root have been accused by three US lawmakers of fleecing ordinary American taxpayers by charging "inflated prices" for selling petrol to US troops in Iraq.

Senator Joseph Lieberman and Representatives John Dingell and Henry Waxman on Tuesday called for a US Defence Department investigation of the company. They said Halliburton was charging US taxpayers $2.65 per gallon to transport gasoline from Kuwait to Iraq, while the Iraqi state oil company paid only 96 cents per gallon. The Defence Department's own fuel distribution centre also paid considerably less, between $1.08 dollars and $1.19 per gallon.

In a letter to the Inspector General of the Defence Department, the three lawmakers have insisted "transparency and accountability are essential if the efforts to reconstruct Iraq are to succeed".

"We hope you will help restore transparency and accountability to this process by undertaking the important investigations described in this letter" "We hope you will help restore transparency and accountability to this process by undertaking the important investigations described in this letter," the trio said.

Alarmed that the company had cornered Iraqi reconstruction contracts worth $500 million, other congressmen have questioned why so much work had been given to Halliburton's subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR) without any competition.

Instead of asking for fresh bids, the Pentagon awarded Halliburton new contracts based on a 2001 contract it had won for supplies to US troops. This led to allegations Halliburton was being favoured for its ties to Cheney.

The three Democrat politicians also allege some of the fuel payments to Halliburton come out of the Development Fund for Iraq, which is meant to pay for humanitarian efforts in the occupied country. The Fund, some non-government agencies say, is being mismanaged and the latest furore over "inflated prices" is likely to fuel the charge further.

Democrats ask Pentagon to probe Iraq oil imports

WASHINGTON, Nov. 25 — Three U.S. Democratic lawmakers asked the Pentagon inspector general on Tuesday to investigate alleged overpricing of gasoline sent to Iraq by Halliburton, the firm once run by Vice President Dick Cheney.

Sen. Joseph Lieberman from Connecticut, Rep. Henry Waxman from California and Rep. John Dingell from Michigan, also urged the Pentagon to look into the use of money from a humanitarian account, the Development Fund for Iraq, to buy gasoline and possibly weapons.

''We hope you will help restore transparency and accountability to this process by undertaking the important investigations described in this letter,'' the lawmakers wrote. A subsidiary of Texas-based Halliburton has been importing gasoline into Iraq under a contract with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers until the oil-rich country's refineries are running at full capacity.

Halliburton, where Cheney served as chief executive from 1995 to 2000 when he left to become U.S. President George W. Bush's running mate, has denied claims of overbilling and says the dangerous security situation has elevated prices. The Corps of Engineers also said it has not found evidence of wrongdoing but is looking into cheaper ways of importing oil.

The lawmakers asked the Pentagon to look into why it cost as much as $2.65 a gallon to import gas from Kuwait when the Iraqi state oil company told them it paid less than a dollar a gallon. The Army says it costs an average of $1.60 a gallon. ''The price Halliburton has charged to import gasoline from Kuwait needs thorough investigation,'' the lawmakers wrote.

''Transparency and accountability are essential if the efforts to reconstruct Iraq are to succeed,'' they added. To date, the members of the U.S. Congress said Halliburton had been paid more than $380 million for all gasoline imports into Iraq and an additional $690 million has been approved for future fuel imports.

The lawmakers said that based on figures provided by the Iraqi state oil company, SOMO, Halliburton may have overcharged the U.S. government by about $150 million to date. The lawmakers asked who in the U.S. Defense Department had approved Halliburton's billing and whether the oil services company had violated any laws or regulations.

Referring to the Development Fund, the lawmakers said the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq was attempting to use the money to buy assault rifles and millions of boxes of ammunition. These funds were intended to ''meet the humanitarian needs of the Iraqi people,'' they said. The Pentagon's Inspector General's office said it had received the letter and was examining it.

From the Left:
SouthKnoxBubba __ another Mission Accomplished and the must read GOP Bizarro World Politics
Skippy the Bush Kangaroo ___ the CGI President and Culture Clashing with the Facts
Ruminate This ___ AARP; Just Another Insurance Agency and Another Vain and Vindictive Run

Damage: Global Warming Catastrophe - New Evidence

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Big Fish Set to Swallow Spoils of Iraq War

ALL PRETENSE ASIDE HALLIBURTON REMAINS BIG HOG AT THE TROUGH

Nov. 24 20:58 David Nash, head of the new Iraq Infrastructure Reconstruction Office (IIRO), appealed to businesses' patriotism last week at a conference designed to enlist them in the effort to rebuild the war-torn country. But Mr Nash, a retired rear admiral, must have felt as if he had walked into hostile fire when it came to question time. One by one, small businessmen aired concerns that they would be cut out of the process.

Sylvester Myers, an independent construction supervisor, appeared to sum up the mood when he asked Mr Nash whether Halliburton, the Houston oil-services giant, had an information booth at the conference. "These are the guys who are going to be running the show," Mr Myers said warily. "I know how it works."

Many procurement experts agree with that assessment - although they do not believe a conspiracy is to blame. The scale of the rebuilding effort is so vast, they say, and the timetable so ambitious that it seems all but guaranteed that the government will call on large, familiar companies such as Halliburton. The deteriorating security situation in Iraq should also tilt the competition in large companies' favour, they argue, as government agencies put more emphasis on bidders' ability to protect themselves.

"At the prime contractor level there are going to be a bunch of the usual suspects," predicted Steven Kelman, a professor of public administration at Harvard University. Peter Kant, a procurement specialist at Jefferson Consulting in Washington agreed. "You're definitely going to see the more traditional government contractors. If it's not Bechtel this time, it will be Fluor or Shaw," Mr Kant said.

That could prove embarrassing for the administration of President George W. Bush since the IIRO was created in part to meet criticism that large, well connected companies were cashing in while others were being shut out. Halliburton, for instance, which from 1995 to 2000 was headed by Dick Cheney, now US vice-president, was granted a contract to restore Iraq's oil fields - valued at up to $7bn - without competition.

But it looks as though Mr Nash and the IIRO will have to rely on such companies given the time constraints. The IIRO plans to award $18.7bn in new contracts for tasks - ranging from repairing Iraqi sewers and roads to refurbishing hospitals and training the new Iraqi Army - by early February. To place the mission in context, the federal government spent about a decade ramping up a similar-sized programme to provide food stamps to poor Americans.

"This is an adventure with no comparison anywhere else in the world," said Andrew Bearpark, the Coalition Provisional Authority's director of operations in Iraq and a veteran of several post-war rebuilding exercises. "The sums are absolutely staggering."

The IIRO's central strategy, however, appears to be "bundling". It plans to divide the funds into 25 enormous contracts that will each be overseen by a prime contractor who will then carry out some of the work themselves but also subcontract much of it. "A lot of what the primes are going to be doing is managing a system of subcontracting," Mr Kelman explained.

The small business community objects to bundling because it puts the resulting prime contracts - typically the most lucrative ones - out of their reach. In the case of Iraq, each averages about $750m. "We feel frustrated in the process because the government bundles these large contracts," one small businessman complained to Mr Nash last week. "I doubt we'll see one penny from helping to rebuild Iraq."

Even companies with the capacity for such large assignments are unlikely to win unless they have worked for the government before. The shortened time scale means rounds of vetting, bidding and rebidding that might have proved their credentials will have to be condensed. Competition for the first round of contracts may not be as level as many hoped, but it seems to be following the natural law of government contracting.

"During Desert Storm a huge number of contracts were awarded very quickly and there wasn't even a pretence of full and open competition," said Jim Nagle, a Seattle lawyer and author of the book History of Government Contracting. "What you gain in efficiency, you sacrifice in fairness."

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Required Reading from the Mahablog The Fog

MYSTERY SURROUNDS DEATH of STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL

November 22, 2003 (FTW), WASHINGTON -- In a case eerily reminiscent of the death of British Ministry of Defense bio-weapons expert, Dr. David Kelly, an official of the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research Near East and South Asian division (INR/NESA), John J. Kokal, 58, was found dead in the late afternoon of November 7. Police indicated he may have jumped from the roof of the State Department. Kokal's body was found at the bottom of a 20 foot window well, 8 floors below the roof of the State Department headquarters near the 23rd and D Street location. Kokal's death was briefly mentioned in a FOX News website story on November 8 but has been virtually overlooked by the major media.

Interestingly, the FOX report states that State Department officials confirmed Kokal's death to The Washington Post yet the Post - according to an archive search - has published nothing at all about Kokal's death.

Kokal's INR bureau was at the forefront of confronting claims that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. Washington police have not ruled out homicide as the cause of his death. Kokal was not wearing either a jacket or shoes when his body was found. He lived in Arlington, Virginia.

However, a colleague of Kokal's told this writer that the Iraq analyst was despondent over "problems" with his security clearance. Kokal reportedly climbed out of a window and threw himself out in such a manner so that he would "land on his head." At the time Kokal fell from either the roof or a window, his wife Pamela, a public affairs specialist in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, was waiting for him in the parking garage. Mrs. Kokal had previously worked in Consular Affairs where she was involved in the stricter vetting of visa applicants from mainly Muslim countries after the Sept. 11 attacks.

State Department officials dispute official State Department communiqués that said Kokal was not an analyst at INR. People who know Kokal told the French publication Geopolitique that Kokal was involved in the analysis of intelligence about Iraq prior to and during the war against Saddam Hussein.

Another INR official, weapons expert Greg Thielmann, said he and INR were largely ignored by Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security John Bolton and his deputy, David Wurmser, a pro-Likud neo-conservative who recently became Vice President Dick Cheney's Middle East adviser. Kokal's former boss, the recently retired chief of INR, Carl W. Ford, recently said that Bolton often exaggerated information to steer people in the wrong directions.

A former INR employee revealed that some one-third to one-half of INR officials are either former intelligence agents with the CIA or are detailed from the agency. He also revealed it would have been impossible for Kokal to have gained entry to the roof on his own. INR occupies both a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF) on the sixth floor that has no windows and a windowless structure on the roof that has neither windows nor access to the roof, according to the former official. The other windows at the State Department have been engineered to be shatter proof from terrorist bomb attacks and cannot be opened.

INR and other State Department officials report that a "chill" has set in at the State Department following Kokal's defenestration. A number of employees are afraid to talk about the suspicious death. It also unusual that The Northern Virginia Journal, a local Arlington newspaper, has not published an obituary notice on Kokal.

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Ink from the Squid on Medicare
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Left is Right _ Abandoning the Drug Free America Myth and An Apology
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Exxon Mobil Claims $2.2 Billion Tax Benefit $5 Billion Court Victory - BIG OIL EVEN BEATS THE IRS

November 2003 - 7.2 Billion Dollar Benefit Month for Exxon-Mobile

Nov 20, 2003 IRVING, Texas (AP) - Exxon Mobil Corp. has settled a long-running battle with the Internal Revenue Service and said it will get a refund and interest worth about $2.2 billion. The oil giant said it would report the after-tax benefit in its fourth-quarter results. The refund and interest will be worth more than half of Exxon Mobil's profit in last year's fourth quarter.

Under a tax break called the percentage depletion allowance, oil companies are allowed to deduct some of the value of their production from income in computing their taxes. The IRS challenged Exxon's application of the allowance on some sales. Exxon went to trial three times in federal district court in Dallas and a federal appeals court in Washington, beginning in 1989, and won, the company said.

The company won decisions in 1996 and 2001 over its deductions for tax years 1974 and 1975 and was reimbursed by the government for the taxes it had paid. Earlier this year, the company won a third court ruling and the IRS and Justice Department agreed that Exxon Mobil was entitled to the deductions for 1976 to 1990, the company said.

The company said the decision to settle the case was reviewed by the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation. Under federal law, the committee can review any refund above a certain amount, currently about $2 million. It was unclear where the Exxon Mobil refund would rank on the scale of large taxpayer victories.

A committee official declined to discuss the review and said the proceedings were confidential unless the taxpayer wanted to discuss the case. "We are taking what we and the IRS agreed was a fair refund plus interest," said Tom Cirigliano, a spokesman for Irving-based Exxon Mobil. The interest will be paid at rates set by the IRS, he said.

Exxon Mobil did not disclose the tax case in its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Cirigliano said the company was waiting until it had an agreement with the IRS. Exxon Mobil, the world's largest publicly traded oil company, earned $11.46 billion last year on revenue of $204.5 billion.

So if you are the World's largest Oil Company you can beat the Bush Government on Taxes - refuse to pay the Exxon Valdese settlement and have it overturned (see below), and give massive amounts to the Bush/Cheney campaign. Any questions?

Court overturns $5 billion Exxon Valdez award

November 7, 2001, 5:56 PM EST The $5 billion punitive damages award against Exxon Mobil Corp. in the 1989 Valdez oil spill is excessive, a federal appeals court ruled today. The court ordered a judge to determine a lesser amount. A jury in Anchorage, Alaska, had ordered the oil giant in 1994 to pay the sum to thousands of commercial fisherman, Alaska natives, property owners and others harmed by the nation's worst oil spill.

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New Blog Showcase contestant Anarchy Zero is the latest addition to the League. Another Cat Blogger is always welcome and keeping with the Open for Change full acceptance policy of the League an Anarchist will fit right in:
Britain Welcomes "President" Bush as Perle Tells Truth and the World Reacts in Shock as 1,000's Dance At the FTAA and 27 are Killed By Truck Bombs in Instanbul
Is it the End of The World or will the "Irrelevant" United Nations Rescue America from Bush the Madman who sent London into Literal Martial Law

IRAQ = DEATH is Anarchy Xero's entry in the New Blog Showcase and The League of Liberals has a new member in the race. Cast your votes and update your blogrolls accordingly.
Welcome Anarchy Xero.

25 More Dead 400 Wounded - Who is Winning the War on Terror?

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Explosions Hit British Consulate and London-Based Bank, Killing at Least 25 People and Wounding Nearly 400

Nov 20, 2003 ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) - Trucks packed with explosives blew up near the high-rise headquarters of the London-based HSBC bank and the British consulate on Thursday, killing at least 25 people and wounding nearly 400, officials said.

The bombings, which occurred five minutes apart, at about 11 a.m., came days after two synagogue suicide bombings and coincided with the visit of President Bush to London. They were blamed on al-Qaida.

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He Loved the Rush - William Bennett replaces Rush Rush is Back Rush is a Money Launderer Liar Liar Pants on Fire Liberal Radio Network Greatest Threat to Life on the Planet ? Bush or just Stupid and Incoherent?

New York Taxpayers Pick up the Tab for Cheney

(Buffalo-AP) -- New York taxpayers will wind up picking up the tab for the beef-up security measures provided for Vice President Dick Cheney's campaign swing across upstate New York.
Law enforcement agencies in the Syracuse, Rochester and Buffalo areas devoted hundreds of officers and thousands of dollars to ensure the vice president's safety during Monday's appearances.In Buffalo, police officers on motorcycles, on foot and in cars and helicopters guarded Cheney's route to and from a Buffalo restaurant where a fund-raiser was held.
Cheney also had breakfast in suburban Syracuse and lunched in Rochester, collecting at least $700,000 for the Bush-Cheney re-election warchest.

In Buffalo alone, the cost of the extra security is estimated at ten-thousand dollars.

Such expenses are typically paid for by the host cities -- not the president's campaign or the White House.


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Natural Resource Giveaway GOP's Inhofe approves of torture Clap for the Pigboy's Money Laundry and Tennessee GOP Rep in a perp-walk.
Is Dawn Wierd? a Woman of Color or a Lawyer? have Pedro Martinez feelings? Well Hooray join the Conspiracy
Difficult Days during the Illegal Invasion and the Rape of the Earth where Protests and Whistleblowers are Patriots not Traitors
A Periodic Check of the League show better planning than the Military and certainly for "wirehead" BJ. Shades of the Solviets A Matrix Score No News Here hardly.
Just a Bump in the Beltway Too Sweet Yer Cadillac Pissed Off 1 and 2 Sick F#@K$ like Gunny and more at the Mudshark

Dollar Near All-Time Low Against Euro

Nov 19, 2003 LONDON (AP) - The U.S. dollar hovered near an all-time low against the euro and was mixed against other major currencies Wednesday in European trading. Gold prices rose.

The euro was trading at $1.1929 in late morning trading Wednesday in Europe, up from $1.1896 Tuesday. It had reached $1.1973 in late trading Tuesday in New York - the highest level since the euro was introduced in 1999.

Traders began selling dollars following news that the Bush administration has granted U.S. industry requests to impose temporary quotas on some imports of Chinese textiles. That fed concern about trade wars developing between the United States and key trading partners.

What the Average, Educated Iraqi thinks - Is Very Bad News for American Soldiers in IRAQ

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The Anglo-American presence in Iraq is not considered one of liberation, but one of occupation
As US Casualties Mount, Iraqis Vow More Attacks -

A series of interviews with prominent Iraqi thinkers, university professors, historians and artists revealed that none believe that Iraq is about to become a democracy. In fact, many believe that Iraq is more likely to become a moderate Islamic state, very dissimilar to the Islamic Republic of Iran. Iraqis today, seven months after Saddam’s ouster, have differing opinions on how to create a stable, prosperous civil society, but they do agree on a number of things:

1) The Anglo-American presence in Iraq is not considered one of liberation, but one of occupation: The lessons of the British occupation of Iraq in the period 1921-1958 (1958 was the year the British-enforced monarchy was overthrown in a bloody, vicious revolution), and particularly the British-orchestrated coup in 1941 against the government of Rashid Aali (Arab nationalism was the government’s platform) are not lost on the middle-class Iraqi today. Some Iraqis suspect that the only way the US can consider their invasion a success is to install some puppet government, a Saddam clone who is rather keen on pleasing Washington.

2) The Iraqi Governing Council is considered a cruel joke at best and a foreign weapon of domination - a proxy legate - at worst. A prominent University of Mustansiriyah professor warned that the violence in Iraq will not subside but rather increase several-fold in the weeks and months to come. He suggested that the American public exercise some wisdom and compassion for “their young boys and girls who are caught in this mess,” and that the American government transfers power over to the Iraqis as soon as possible. He called for “an Iraq ruled by the will of the legitimate Iraqis.”

3) The country is being robbed blind by US conglomerates and a White House that cares only to cement its financial ties with special interest groups. Several weeks before the invasion of Iraq, I had a phone conversation with a prominent Iraqi-American bio-medical engineer in Maine. He was furious over reports that Iraqi companies would be shut out from the reconstruction process. “We have many skilled and educated professionals in Iraq. Why are they shutting us out?” The Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) in Iraq says that foreign companies doing reconstruction business in Iraq employ thousands of Iraqis. However, there are no Iraqi companies that have been awarded independent contracts. Iraqi companies that are given a portion of reconstruction responsibilities usually do so under Halliburton or Bechtel proxy.

4) Iraqi Resistance will likely grow and become deadlier. Iraqis know they are in for a difficult time ahead. Last week, White House officials privately hoped that the suicide attacks on the Red Cross (ICRC) and previously on the United Nations compound would convince Iraqis that the resistance was barbarous and against their best interests. The hope fizzled as Iraqis took to the streets not only blaming the CPA for lack of security, but also blaming Israel for orchestrating the attacks “to undermine security and stability in Iraq and pit one side (Shiite and Sunni) against another.”

North American media pundits have seen fit to give very little room to Iraqi voices of dissent; Iraqi opinions of the reconstruction effort, or lack thereof, are drowned out by the number of proponents of the Iraqi war - Friedman, Krauthammer, Gaffney, Rice - who repeatedly cite the number of free newspapers that have blossomed in Iraq recently, some 300 newspapers and magazines. However, a number of these newspapers have been closed by US forces raising concerns that the press in Iraq is not that free and can only print news US forces found acceptable.

The situation in Iraq for the Iraqis themselves is so hopeless that many are finding renewed strength and hope in the Iraqi resistance, according to a CIA report released last week. The report cites the lack of faith in the US forces and the lack of progress in infrastructure development as two reasons why many Iraqis are increasingly supporting the resistance movement.

At press time, violence and attacks had spread far beyond the “Sunni Triangle.”

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Legal fees for Enron 'shocking' in stature

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By Enron's own reckoning, the legal and accounting costs of its bankruptcy will exceed $1 billion in 2006. Typically, legal fees in a bankruptcy drop off dramatically after a company gains approval for a plan of reorganization -- a road map for its exit from bankruptcy -- which Enron expects to do early next year. But the company's budget through 2006 estimates more than $300 million will be spent after Enron confirms its plan. That's more than any company has ever spent confirming a Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan.

"It's shocking," said Lynn Lopucki, a law professor at the University of California at Los Angeles law school who studies bankruptcy professional fees. The largest amount of professional fees on record is the Luxembourg-based case of Saudi Arabian Bank of Credit and Commerce International, with $200 million in fees, although WorldCom may meet or exceed this total.

Sometime this summer, Enron surpassed $500 million in legal and accounting fees billed by more than three dozen law firms and a handful of accounting and consulting firms since the company filed for bankruptcy Dec. 2, 2001. According to Enron's budget estimates, it will spend $156 million in the second half of 2003 on professional fees. It projects professional fees of $229 million in 2004, $112 million in 2005 and $68 million in 2006.

The budget estimate is located in one of 18 appendices and more than 1,000 pages of amended documents Enron submitted to its bankruptcy court Thursday in support of its plan of reorganization. This is the third version of the plan and disclosure statement prepared by Enron. The modifications to the disclosure statement, which provides financial information and legal framework supporting the plan, came in advance of a hearing next Tuesday when Enron will ask Judge Arthur Gonzalez to approve the massive document, a key step toward confirming the plan.

Creditors have urged Enron to move quickly in developing a compromise plan of reorganization in large part because of a legal fee burn rate that exceeds $25 million a month. A lawyer for some creditors of Enron Corp.'s Enron North America unit that have closely followed professional fees said the future fee estimates are disturbing. "Obviously, that's of concern to our constituency," Judith Ross, of Thompson & Knight, said. "The whole point of a compromise was to move quickly."

Enron's legal expenses are notable both in gross and as a percentage of assets. Based upon estimates of about $12 billion in cash and stock to distribute among creditors, and an estimated cost of $700 million in legal fees before confirming its plan, Enron should expend about 6 percent of its assets for plan approval. By contrast, Kmart, with assets of about $11 billion and legal fees of about $138 million, spent just over 1 percent of its assets to confirm a plan. That's a more typical expenditure in a large bankruptcy, Lopucki said.

Enron, its bankruptcy lawyers and some bankruptcy professors have defended the company's expenditures by noting it is easily the most complex bankruptcy ever. The money in coming years will be spent to wind down outstanding issues and on litigation, Enron spokeswoman Karen Denne said. Legal battles include settling billions of dollars in claims and the dozens of lawsuits filed by Enron against former partners, including banks and other energy companies, seeking the return of millions and, in some cases, billions of dollars.

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Study the Myths of the War on Terrorism and Iraq, travel around the world in 80 days with Nellie Bly, or learn how to shake hands with the president. While you're welcoming Pip and the Blogmanac to the League of Liberals, you'll be thinking universally and acting terrestrially. Just wait--it will all become clear!

The League of Liberals is PROUD dismayed to WELCOME tolerate the inclusion of AYN CLOUTER just to keep an eye on her. AYN is the infamous author of THE BLOGFATHER review and the shrill twisted diatribe "How I Came To Hate Liberals" Ayn's work like CANONIZE BUSH and RENAME THE DEMOCRATS has caused speculation about her possible membership in The Landover Baptist Church There should be no question now that The League of Liberals is unbearably Liberal. We are truly the "party of inclusion" and we may see applications from LITTLE BROWN POOHBALLS and the INSTYPOOHBAH.

NOTE: If any of the membership wishes to call into question the leadership that has allowed inclusion of Ayn Clouter and The Politburo Diktat to the League now is the time to speak your piece. Welcome to "The Big Tent"

2 Tits Up Bush Brit Tabloid Growth Industry Here's shocking proof that US takes hostages and buys votes dying for Halliburton with the pilgrim Jihadist

Halliburton Reaches Agreement in Principle to Limit Cash Required for Asbestos Settlement to $2.775 Billion

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Halliburton plan a precursor to bankruptcy re-organization

Nov. 14, 2003 HOUSTON, 8:30pm-- Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) and the asbestos claimants committee with whom it has been negotiating a proposed asbestos settlement for its DII Industries, Kellogg Brown & Root and other subsidiaries jointly announced today that they have reached an agreement in principle to limit the cash required to settle pending asbestos and silica claimants currently subject to definitive agreements to $2.775 billion. The proposed debtor entities currently are parties to such definitive agreements with attorneys representing more than 95% of the current asbestos and silica claimants.

The company and the representatives of current claimants have agreed that if, at the completion of medical due diligence for current claims, the cash amounts provided in the current settlement agreements is greater than $2.775 billion, the total cash payment to each claimant would be reduced pro rata so that the aggregate of payments would not exceed $2.775 billion.

The terms of this revised settlement still must be approved by 75% of known present asbestos claimants. Despite reaching the agreement in principal, there can be no assurance that such approval will be obtained, that all members of the asbestos claimants committee and other lawyers representing affected claimants will support the revised settlement or that claimants represented by members of the asbestos claimants committee and other affected claimants will vote in favor of the revised plan of reorganization.

Contractors' Deaths Add to Iraq Toll

Haliburton Subsidiary Describes 3 Fatalities

November 14 NEW YORK -- Although the total number of American troops killed in Iraq is 397, as of Nov. 13, the overall American death count is higher. One group whose deaths often go unreported are independent contractors from American corporations working in the war-torn country. These fatalities, often from mines and ambushes, are rarely reported by newspapers and are not listed in the Pentagon's official death toll.

"I know contractors are not reported there," Pentagon spokesperson Maj. Joe Yoswa said about the official Operation Iraqi Freedom death toll. "I can tell you the contractors' names are not listed in the roll-up."

As of Thursday afternoon, for example, three employees of Kellogg, Brown & Root (KBR), a subsidiary of Houston-based Halliburton and the largest military contractor in Iraq, have been killed in Iraq since the war began. The contractor deaths were the results of a vehicle accident, an anti-tank mine, and a gunshot wound.

"On 10 July 2003 a KBR employee died as a result of injuries sustained in a single-vehicle accident near the city of Basra in southern Iraq," Halliburton spokesperson Patrice Mingo told E&P Online via e-mail.

The second KBR death occurred on Aug. 5 "as a result of injuries sustained when his truck hit an anti-tank mine," Mingo said. The third KBR employee died on Sept. 3 after being "fatally shot in Baghdad while driving a vehicle that was escorted by military personnel."

"KBR's primary concern is for the safety and security of all personnel, especially those working in such challenging environments and conditions," Mingo said. "We are proud of our many employees who are currently working in the Middle East in support of the U.S. military. These men and women are working hard in the midst of a difficult situation, and are doing a great job."

As a result of cutbacks in personnel, the military has increasingly relied on contractors to perform a wide range of tasks. The size of the United States standing army has shrunk from 2.1 million in 1990 to 1.4 million in 2003, according to an Oct. 30 Associated Press report. In an effort to free up more troops for combat, the military hires independent contractors for just about every other imaginable task.

The total number of contractors killed in Iraq is not known, nor is the number of contractors currently working in Iraq, according to the Oct. 30 AP article. "Estimates range from under 10,000 to more than 20,000 -- which could make private contractors the largest U.S. coalition partner ahead of Britain's 11,000 troops,"

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Cheney Hurts Bush's Chances for Re-Election

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Dump Cheney Movement Under Way - Started in State Department

Nov 13, 2003 -- Is Vice President Dick Cheney an electoral liability for President Bush? Some top Republicans are reportedly worried that Cheney's actions might threaten Bush's bid for re-election in 2004. The dump-Cheney talk probably originated with disgruntled State Department folks, who would like nothing better than to undermine the neocon foreign-policy cabal headed by Cheney and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. The movement's underlying premise is that the vice president's hawkish positions and statements related to terrorism, Iraq and foreign policy have put Bush at risk.

But even as more Republicans criticize the handling of postwar Iraq, international issues are only half the story. Another problem is Cheney's failed stewardship of the administration's domestic agenda in Congress, which also leaves the president vulnerable next year. Cheney is the administration's chief legislative officer, responsible for shepherding its priorities through Congress. He's a regular presence at the weekly Senate Republican policy lunches. He also is the first vice president to maintain offices in both chambers. As a former House minority whip, Cheney is surpassed by few in knowing what makes the institution run.

Despite Cheney's unprecedented ties to the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, Congress has publicly rebuffed the administration on a series of legislative matters. Barring late reversals, the White House defeats will include changes in overtime regulations, the Federal Communications Commission's ruling on media consolidation and the end of the ban on travel to Cuba, despite veto threats from the president.

Other bills, such as school vouchers for Washington, D.C., and funding for Head Start, have passed the House by a single vote. Several judicial nominees, such as Charles Pickering, have yet to win Senate confirmation. Cheney's role in pushing the administration's agenda isn't likely to get any easier. As Cheney's batting average on Capitol Hill drops, moderate Republicans are straying from the White House line. Even reliable members of the GOP caucus are abandoning ship on issues such as the Cuba bill. When that happens, the White House knows it's in trouble. Of course, not all of the fault lies with Cheney. The White House dispatches other advisers to make its case on Capitol Hill. Party leaders such as Bill Frist in the Senate and Tom DeLay in the House share the blame.

But Cheney's own actions have made him an unusually inviting target. He snubbed Congress and the General Accounting Office by refusing to answer questions about his energy task force. The panel, which came under fire for meeting with industry groups, helped shape the administration's energy agenda. The uncontested bid by Cheney's former employer, Halliburton, to restore Iraq's oil industry left a bad taste in the mouths of lawmakers whose districts contained other energy companies. Democrats have attacked Cheney's nearly $500,000 in deferred compensation from Halliburton.

The vice president's experience in Washington was supposed to balance Bush's lack of expertise in that area. If Cheney, who was elected six times to Congress, can't hold together a GOP Congress for a Republican president, perhaps Bush needs to tap someone else for the job.

In the campaign, Bush needs to be able to point to accomplishments other than his management of Iraq, especially if the death toll continues to rise and his approval ratings continue to drop. With Cheney focusing so much of his attention on terrorism and Iraq, perhaps the vice president has lost sight of Bush's legislative agenda. If so, Cheney may prove to be a bigger domestic liability to Bush than he is a foreign-policy burden. Bush will have to decide whether he can afford both worries.

Mary Lynn F. Jones covers Congress for the Hill newspaper in Washington; Thomas Schaller is a political scientist at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

WHAT REALLY HAPPENED the best source for NEWS Oh. the Irony - Bush "welcoming" protests in Britain? He doesn't expect everybody in the world to agree with him except the US Senate on his reactionary Judges Next He'll nominate Judge NO Moore Accept Natalie's "birthday gift" to us "The Speech Bush Did Not Give" and wish Natalie "Happy Birthday" (a few hours late) while you are there.
Cast your vote for the latest plan cause you are either with us or against us Flashback on the stepped up strategy and stage the news one more time. SouthKnoxBubba has the plan.

And Then's Late Night With Majority Leader Frist

League of Liberals member And Then..'s entry in the New Blog Showcase is Late Night With Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist
And Then... takes on Tennessee Senator, the Shame of Rocky Top, Majority Leader Bill Frist.

Hell for Halliburton is proud to link to Rush Limbaughtomy's Bill Frist "Republican Role Model of the Day" in support of And Then.... and urges everyone to consider And Then...... and to vote by placing a link to "Late Night With Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist" in their blogs.

Halliburton Hangover

In terms of sheer size, the $87 billion Iraq spending bill recently approved by Congress is the nation’s largest ever for war, bigger than the budgets of the Homeland Security and Education Departments combined. With so much at stake, you would think that Congress would have done all it could to ensure that these tens of billions of dollars are scrupulously monitored and wisely spent, with no opportunity for waste, fraud or abuse.

But you would be wrong. While the Iraq spending bill makes some modest progress on accountability, House and Senate leaders who negotiated the final bill eliminated or weakened more stringent reform measures passed by their colleagues in both chambers. And given the influence of the White House on the final bill, one could reasonably conclude that the Bush administration was wary of many of the accountability measures that Congress originally intended to require.

This spending plan has too little accountability and too few financial controls.

Stripped From The Bill

Consider the reform measures that never made it into the final bill:

GAO audits. The Senate originally voted 97 to 0 to have the General Accounting Office (GAO)— Congress’ investigative arm—conduct audits of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) in Iraq. The CPA oversees the entire rebuilding effort in Iraq, and is in charge of dispensing billions of dollars in reconstruction contracts. That audit provision was stripped in the conference committee on a party line vote. Another provision that would have required the GAO to look at the profits made by U.S. contractors in Iraq was accepted by the Senate, but also never made it into the final bill.

Competitive bidding on oil contracts. Responding to the uproar about non-competitive bidding in Iraq, the House passed an amendment requiring competitive bidding on all oil contracts. The provision eliminated exceptions for emergencies and other extenuating circumstances, such as national security, that might make competitive bidding prohibitive. Every Democrat, plus 47 Republicans, supported it. Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.), who sponsored the amendment, said that it was necessary because “Democrats and many Republicans do not trust the administration to use the government contracting exceptions rarely and fairly.” Still, the Sherman provision was removed during a conference committee vote.

Penalties for war profiteers. Perhaps most astounding, Congress in its final Iraq spending bill did not even include language to penalize war profiteers for defrauding American taxpayers. The Senate Appropriations Committee unanimously approved the provision, sponsored by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), to ensure that contractors who cheated the American taxpayer would face fines of up to $1 million and jail time of up to 20 years. Senators of both parties supported it, but Republican House negotiators refused to include it in the final bill. “Congress is about to send billions and billions of dollars to a place where there is no functioning government, under a plan with too little accountability and too few financial controls,” Sen. Leahy said after his provision was stripped from the final bill. “That’s a formula for mischief. We need strong disincentives for those who would defraud taxpayers. It baffles me why House members would not want to provide this protection to taxpayers.” The inspector general would be appointed by the secretary of defense and would not have to be confirmed by the Senate.

Lax Oversight

And even when House and Senate negotiators did see their way clear to approving reform provisions, what they approved was often flawed. For example, the final bill provides for a much needed inspector general to monitor the Coalition Provisional Authority. But that inspector general would be appointed by the secretary of defense and would not have to be confirmed by the Senate—which has historically used the confirmation process to assure the American public of a nominee’s integrity and credentials.

“I am dismayed that this individual is not subject to Senate confirmation,” Sen. Robert Byrd said. Byrd also noted that the bill’s congressional negotiators rejected his amendment that would have required the inspector general to testify before Congress when requested. “Could it be that the president’s supporters in Congress are afraid to hear what the inspector general might tell them?” Byrd asked. And while the inspector general would be required to submit periodic reports to Congress, the President would have the right to waive those reporting requirements for certain reasons, such as national security.

Why the White House and key Republican leaders would be opposed to more accountability for this huge spending bill is hard to understand. But we at Common Cause will continue to monitor the spending in Iraq, to work in coalition with other groups to press the government to report what it is doing fully and completely. We will watch to see if the inspector general named to monitor spending in Iraq is well qualified for the job, and we will keep track of how well or poorly government officials report on the progress of Iraq reconstruction to Congress and the American people. Too much is at stake for us to do any less.

Hell on the Bush Admin all over the Blogosphere

Franken ponders a run for the Senate in his Native Minnesota at Speedkill
Is Gephart the tortoise gonna catch Dean the hare? BYTE BACK is excited.
Mad Kane has the humor round up and St. Reagan's song I am waiting for "Why Can't the American's Teach Their Leader How To Speak" and "All I Want is a War Somewhere", from the same musical.
The latest "Where will you be" picture is up at Hammerdown. There is a whole series of pained expressions.
Chinese food on the Moon - only from The Poison Kitchen
Origination of Denomination and Anti-American Asshats on Parade will Shock and Awe you.
It is Officially Unofficial - Celine Dion is destitute check your sitemeters
ACT now the Shrub is not welcome at this Coffee Break
Rick's response to the Truth Laid Bear has drawn 147 Responses _ some of them are worth the time _ As is Bush honoring the veternarians at Arlington National Cemetary
Bush tells the British what to do and Flint has Jessica in the nude
With us or Against Us Clear Skies and More Lies and they are Coming to take you away It is always a strong signal to noise ratio at SouthKnoxBubba
216 Days have passed in the search is it Time to Evolve? The Sesquipedalian is no Incipient Ass
He is For God and Country and "pretty much a shot in the dark most days..."

We Alway's Knew They'd Come Around and make Bush fear for his re-selection with More Lost Heart's and Minds Losing Faith with the Occupation.
So enters Stageleft like the Freeway Blogger

GOP Sleepover at the Crybaby Party where Mr. Smartass and Mr. High horse were seen begging a Cup O Joe at the LoL Roundup

Michael Moore: Quote of the Day for Halliburton

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Nov. 12, 2003 When most authors do a reading they get a few dozen devotees in a chilly bookshop. Michael Moore, the American filmmaker turned best-selling polemicist (of Bowling for Columbine and Stupid White Men fame), is so huge that, when he promotes a book in Britain, he needs consecutive sittings at the London Palladium - and even they don't leave a spare seat in the house.

Moore does very little performance: just him, a shlubby guy in baseball hat standing by the microphone. He riffs on a few themes, reads a chapter of his book and then takes a lot of questions.

He does pack a few great lines. He urges Britons to be brave enough to sack Tony Blair: the left has nothing to fear from the Tories, who are deader than dinosaurs. "Come on, buck up here. You used to be brave and bold and send Australians into battle."

He notes that United States Vice-President Dick Cheney's former company, Halliburton, has won several contracts to rebuild Iraq. If American and British soldiers are dying for Halliburton, "then it's only fair that for every kid that dies, Halliburton has to slay a mid-level executive".

Visit Rush Limbaughtomy for a new 12 Step Recovery Program by Thom Hartmann And listen to the Tom Hartmann Radio Program

He hits all the buttons his audience want pressed: Tony Blair must go, George Bush is evil, Rupert Murdoch should be struck down by a thunderbolt.

Dr. PZ Myers of pharyngula is new League of Liberals member 5 in the past 6 hours.
Appropriate since our embryonic League has possibly reached the pharyngula stage in it's rapid growth.
Godless Sunday, about pharyngula, Tim Berglund Still Doesn't Get It, FOOM!, and my favorite: The Crayola Strategy about Texas textbooks, make for great reading at pharyngula.
You will also find interesting pictures
Please offer an educated welcome to the insightful intelligent pharyngula
and update those blogrolls.
Haunting Bush from the Grave
The Rush Addiction Trifecta and Parsing Rush
School Boards & the Most Patronizing Deception Just a few of the offerings at The Huck Upchuck
Ask Me NO Questions, I'll Tell You NO Lies
A Squid Down in Texas' Pop Quiz
He's not "Changin Tactics"
These Cliff Notes are His
Get a Rope he'll help Bush with "good-byes"

Ornicus sez Left IS Right and it's true
Our "focus" is slightly askew
Praise be to George Soros Want to marry Kucinich?
Read GORE and there's more
Here that's NEW.

Please welcome these new members to the League of Liberals despite the bad poetry.
And don't forget to update those blogrolls.
If it aint broke, don't Frist it.
Shoshana Johnson is a Wonderful American
Bush can be insulting
Soilders, White House and Media Agree, Andrew of BYTE BACK is What Bush is Afraid Of
Please welcome BYTE BACK to the League of Liberals

Cheney Evacuated from White House ___________ Too Bad it's not Permanent

FAMOUS CHICKENHAWK SCARED AWAY BY SMALL PLANE

AFP - US Vice President Dick Cheney and White House chief of staff Andrew Card were briefly evacuated from the White House after a tourist plane violated an aerial security zone over the residence. "A small private plane violated the TFR (Temporary Flight Restricted) zone," put in place after September 11, 2001, around 11:15pm (0315 Tuesday AEDT), Secret Service spokeswoman Ann Roman said.

"It was intercepted and escorted out of the zone," by military jets a few moments after it had broached the secure zone, Roman explained adding that the tourist plane's pilot had fully cooperated with the authorities. The security scare sparked an emergency evacuation within the White House forcing the evacuation of Cheney and Card, Roman said. The tourist's aircraft was tracked by the authorities until it had safely landed.

There is no 18 Minute Gap in the blog of the same name. It is all good.
A nice chart on campaign contributions The can't dance puppets of the Iraqi Council - another miserable failure of the Bush Admin.
Webster's introduces McJob The latest plug for the Freeway Blogger and committing crime for Healthcare
Class War you bet says The Estimated Prophet and sobering news in We're Watching You

Iraq contracts ‘for select few’ - So what else is new

Nation building: The burden - and profits - to fall on 'few shoulders'

Monday 10 Nov 2003 As few as three main contractors will be chosen by February to handle as much as $15 billion of public works projects in Iraq. The contracts would be funded through the $87.5 billion spending package US President George Bush signed last week and overseen by a new Pentagon-run Iraq Infrastructure Reconstruction Office, the Wall Street Journal said on Monday.

The move will be closely watched by critics of the Bush administration, which has been accused of trying to farm out contracts to companies with links to the White House, notably Halliburton and Bechtel. Halliburton has been given the task of restoring and operating Iraqi oilfields. The contract is officially temporary but could be worth $7 billion over two years. Bechtel has been awarded contracts to rebuild the port of Umm Qasr, including the water supply, 12 electrical power stations and 1200 schools. The contracts are worth more than a billion dollars.

Get Headlines at What Really Happened

US bungling in Baghdad

The cost in taxpayer dollars and frustration on the part of allies and Iraqis grows as Halliburton lines it's pockets. The administration seems immune to the price gouging of Halliburton that costs American's millions. Is this any way to run a reconstruction for 20 Billion of your dollars? Why aren't Americans outraged?

Frustrations growing as Iraqis are locked out of their own reconstruction work

Sunday November 9, 2003 Anwar Diab is a frustrated man. As an Iraqi who has recently returned to his homeland from America to participate in its reconstruction, his description of winning a contract from the American authorities in Baghdad is reminiscent of K's struggles with the powers-that-be in Kafka's The Castle.
Speaking on a satellite phone from the Iraqi capital, he outlines the problems in getting any work out of the Americans - and as an English-speaker who lived in the US for 23 years, he will have had it relatively easy.

'There is no system or procedure on how to reach the Americans,' he says. 'Every ministry has an American co-ordinator, but it is very difficult for ordinary Iraqis to reach them. The system is not transparent to Iraqis.' Diab, who started a technology company in Baghdad three months ago, says increasing numbers of small contracts are being handled by Iraqi authorities, where there is openness. But dealing with the US Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) or any of the other government agencies is truly Kafkaesque.

'They have two offices, but the one where the real work is done is in the old palace of Saddam. You cannot go there unless you are invited and you have to be met at the door.' The contacts needed for such an invitation elude most Iraqi would-be businessmen. Diab, who secured a small contract to supply IT equipment for an internet cafe, says: 'I had to use all my personal contacts and knock on the door like a hard-nosed salesman.'

A CPA website now lists contracts for everything from installing valves and switches on power stations to providing policing equipment. But it is criticised for having very short tender periods - sometimes less than a week - which effectively rule out those Iraqis who are aware of it in the first place.

'Those who get the contracts are lucky,' says Diab, 'and it is large American companies that get the big ones. The awarding of contracts to [Halliburton subsidiary] Kellogg Brown and Root and Bechtel [two companies with controversial links to the Bush administration] is above and beyond what is happening in Iraq. But Iraqis are very suspicious of this. And the problem is increased because these companies are not open either, just like the CPA.'

It is not just Iraqis who are suspicious of America in general and Halliburton in particular. President Bush's opponents have lambasted the administration for its award of con tracts to the Texas company. California Democratic congressman Henry Waxman has recently accused Halliburton of profiteering from importing petrol from Kuwait. Waxman is also concerned about the contract, awarded without competitive bidding and before the war started, to KBR for emergency services work on oil infrastructure.

That contract was to be replaced in the summer with two new ones, split into north and south, worth a total of $1bn. On 29 October, the US Army Corps of Engineers, the agency 'letting' the work, delayed the award for a second time, until December, citing increased sabotage and the poor state of infrastructure, and doubling its total value to $2bn.

Halliburton - whose third-quarter revenues rose 39 per cent thanks to Iraq-related work - continues to benefit from the original deal. Waxman says: 'The administration took only nine days to enter into a sole-source contract worth up to $7bn with Halliburton. Yet it now says that rebidding the contracts is so complex that it can't be done in less than nine months.'

Waxman's staff confirm that he is concerned that the administration is not being as expeditious as it might be because Halliburton is involved and gains by any delay. It is not simply political opponents who make the point. One competitor of Halliburton says: 'The longer the contract takes to re-let, the more by definition KBR benefit because they are paid by the man-hour.'

Radical Failure Puppet Liar Thief these are the Screaming Points. Please welcome our newest member and add Screaming Points to your blogrolls.

HOW I BECAME THE KNOXVILLE 22ND

Picture on left: Observers across the road from the Admin building. I'm the guy below the red line with a raised hand.

HOW I BECAME the KNOXVILLE 22nd

In late January 1970 I got a visit from my father's law partner at my apartment on the UT Campus. It came as quite a surprise. Jim Jones was a young lawyer in Dad's law firm and he said he was sent because they thought he could 'relate' to me better. His message was that I had been indicted by a grand jury on the Felony charge of INCITING A RIOT for my participation in a demonstration on January 15th. To say I was shocked is considerable understatement and this is why.
I had traveled to Miami with my younger brother's band over the Christmas and New Year's holiday to assist the band as a manager/sound mixer. My brother and I returned to Knoxville in early January and I decided to enroll at UT to finish up a couple of courses required to complete my degree. On Jan 15 I had gone up to the Hill to register for classes and there encountered a small group of students listening to speeches by guys I later came to know as Peter Kami, Gus Hadorn, and Carroll Bible. They were protesting the decision by a committee to name Dr Edward J. Boling as the next UT President.
I knew Dr Boling quite well because I worked for him as the student in charge of the Alumni Giving program and my family were friends with the Boling family. I understood that the students and some faculty were upset with the choice because they had been named to the selection committee and they wanted an academic person to be President. Boling was a development person who mainly raised money and helped build the physical part of the university.
The speeches were not too exciting until Peter Kami a very anemic looking guy with a Brazilian accent challenged Dr. Boling to an arm wrestling match for the office. It was funny because Peter's arm was pencil like and his lack of muscle was quite apparent.
The "crowd" (small group) grew weary and began to drift away until a long haired fellow jumped on the stump and suggested that the participants enter the admin building and "gum up the works" by standing in the Drop and Add lines. This suggestion failed to rally the troops and they continued to drift toward the stairs leading down the Hill. Then two amazing things occurred.
First the bells rang marking an end to that period of classes and several hundred student poured out of nearby classroom buildings causing a temporary increase of people in the area, and 2) there appeared on the Hill a phalanx of UT Police in full riot gear - White storm trooper helmets, clear acrylic shields, and large riot batons. The 30 men marched in a V formation toward the administration building from the south with shield and helmets glistening in the bright Winter sun. What the speeches failed to do - inspire the interest of the students - the storm troopers managed in an instant. Now the students were very interested although only a few had any idea what was going on.
Over the next 30 minutes about 50 students gathered at the door to the admin building demanding to be admitted and a couple of hundred more stood around waiting to see what would happen next. An announcement over a loudspeaker demanding everyone clear the area was met with derision as student insisted they had the right to free assembly. A couple of the guys nearest the door were pushed an a single diamond shaped pane in a window broke. The troops formed a semicircle around the walkway and front door but people came and went in and out of that with no resistance. Finally an ultimatum and deadline were given and we got to wait and watch the clock tick down.

When the appointed time was reached the front doors to the building opened and out poured some 200 Knoxville Police in full riot gear with gas masks and dogs. We now had over 200 cops for around 150 students. The cops grabbed 15 or 20 of the closest people and everyone else headed off the hill in a hurry.

While I was on the Hill that Jan afternoon I spoke to several fraternity brothers and a number of other students I knew. I had been President of Phi Sigma Kappa Fraternity, An elected representative from the liberal arts college in the student government, a member of the student tribunal, and President of the Freshman Class during the previous 5 years. In 1968 I had been selected as a national student field secretary for my Fraternity and had then gone to the Law School for one year before deciding that law was not for me.

The year working for the fraternity had taken me to UC Berkeley and Stanford in the west where student activists were prevalent and relatively powerful. I had been to universities in New York, Pennsylvania, and New England in the East and the student demonstrators there were quite active as well. One thing I knew beyond all doubt was that there was no hope that that kind of student activism would thrive at the University of Tennessee.

I really was shocked at the police response. What were 200 city police officers in riot gear doing inside the administration building? I know for certain they had to be there prior to the start of the gathering. It would have been impossible for them to arrive later because there was no way inside that would not have revealed their entry. Why would the administration decide on such a massive police response to such a small gathering of students making speeches about their discontent with the selection of a President?

In the days that followed the event I began to spend some time trying to help raise money for the defense of those students who had been arrested. Among them were two fraternity brothers who also had nothing to do with the demonstration. They like me had watched the events out of curiosity. One of them is now a staunch Republican - a stance I find difficult to believe given his experience. The other passed away some time ago. Both were mild mannered southern guys who definitely did not fit the "radical" mode or mindset. Both were shocked, chagrined, and rather embarrassed by their arrests. All of the then KNOXVILLE 21 were charged with FELONY "INCITING TO RIOT" for an event that bore no earthly resemblance to a riot even after the UT cops made their dramatic entrance or the mass of KPD officers poured out of the administration building.

So here it was a few weeks later and I was being driven downtown and booked as the 22 person arrested for the events of Jan 15. The question is why? The answer is simple.
Knoxville Tennessee is a part of the Second Congressional District and that District has never had a Democrat in the seat. The County had been solidly Republican until 1948 when my father became the County Judge (equivalent of Mayor of the City) to fill out the last two years of the CJ who resigned to become Mayor of Knoxville. Dad was then elected to two full 8 year terms in 1950 and 1958 serving for 20 years and he had made one run for the Congressional seat in 1956 coming closer than any Democrat in history in a race against Howard Baker Sr.
The District Attorney of Knox County was a staunch Republican. The picture you see shows that I was present on the hill that day and that is all they required to get an indictment. Their logic was clear - indict the Judge's son and harm him politically.

Eventually all of the charges were reduced from felonies to the misdemeanor of Obstructing the Entrance to a Public Doorway on every participant except Peter Kami the frail Brazilian who challenged Ed Boling to an arm wrestling match. Poor Peter was forced to flea the country over this event His life was put in peril over a harmless bit of theater because he dared to register his protest and speak his mind here at the largest University in the South.
I have little to complain about because I'm still here and I didn't even pay the $25 fine imposed for my non-infraction. But the events of Jan 1970 made me a radical in a land where 'freedom of speech and assembly' are empty and hollow terms even on the campus of a University. The FEAR and PARANOIA of local Republicans shown in their massing of hundreds of cops to quell a small protest rally is in a large part responsible for what happened in the 70's all over the country. The high minded idea of FREEDOM wasn't really enjoyed in AMERICA when those people were in control.



There is a "COLLECTION" in the Hoskins Library downtown consisting of an exhibit about the KNOXVILLE 22