White House goes solar

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20101005/D9ILGAR04.html

Be the ball kids, Heads up, where do you think this is going?
It's an awful lot of money to be implementing this now with the speed in which they're doing it in.
The White House looks to be making sure it can run itself off the grid.


Solar power is coming to President Barack Obama's house.

The most famous residence in America, which has already boosted its green credentials by planting a garden, plans to install solar panels atop the White House's living quarters. The solar panels are to be installed by spring 2011, and will heat water for the first family and supply some electricity.

U.S. Military Orders Less Dependence on Fossil Fuels
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/05/science/earth/05fossil.html?_r=2&partner=MYWAY&ei=5065

With insurgents increasingly attacking the American fuel supply convoys that lumber across the Khyber Pass into Afghanistan, the military is pushing aggressively to develop, test and deploy renewable energy to decrease its need to transport fossil fuels.

Solar power was tested in May in Morocco. A Marine company brought some renewable energy equipment to Afghanistan.
Last week, a Marine company from California arrived in the rugged outback of Helmand Province bearing novel equipment: portable solar panels that fold up into boxes; energy-conserving lights; solar tent shields that provide shade and electricity; solar chargers for computers and communications equipment.

The 150 Marines of Company I, Third Battalion, Fifth Marines, will be the first to take renewable technology into a battle zone, where the new equipment will replace diesel and kerosene-based fuels that would ordinarily generate power to run their encampment.

More contractors than troops killed in war zones this year

http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/WTARC/2010/me_iraq0953_09_29.asp

Sounds bizarre doesn't it, but it also tells the truth of the American war tale. The taxpayer is footing the bill not so much for our own troops but for the private payment of the corporate foot soldier.
It's definitely time to see a break down on where all the money is going for the DoD.
Never before have our troops received the maid service that corporate America has so kindly been contracted to provide.
The big what if: if the perks of having the security provided by the corporate foot soldier were rescinded, would our military still know how to function?

WASHINGTON — U.S. private contractors have been killed at a faster rate than American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.


A report said the deaths of private contractors in Afghanistan and Iraq have exceeded those of American soldiers in 2010. The report by ProPublica said this marked the first time in history that private employees have been dying at a faster rate than the soldiers of the U.S. military that contracted the civilians

Military Helps Fund Congressional Trips

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...067824382.html

Your tax dollars are paying not once but twice to serve the elite, in the manors that they have become so richly accustom to.
It would seem to ply them, there must be a tad bit of padding going on in the defence budget to fit things like this in, wouldn't you say?

Military officials bought thousands of dollars worth of alcohol, food and other amenities for the U.S. lawmakers they accompanied on trips overseas, travel records viewed by The Wall Street Journal show.

The documents don't show these outlays have secured any favors or favoritism from lawmakers. And the funds spent by military personnel—which ran about $4,300 per trip for the 43 trips examined by the Journal—usually account for only a small portion of the total lawmakers spend on overseas travel.

Instead, the records shed light for the first time on how the military exploits its official escort role on these trips to foster relationships with lawmakers who approve departmental budgets and top appointments. The disclosures also underscore the military's pervasive pursuit of congressional access.

House speaker Nancy Pelosi with the Dalai Lama during a March 2008 trip to India.
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Documents show that military liaisons who travel with U.S. lawmakers overseas often pick up the costs for food, alcohol and other expenses. The same military officials are also in charge of lobbying Congress.

Military aides bought hundreds of dollars in alcohol and snacks for a delegation of ten lawmakers that Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) led to England, India and Spain in March 2008.
The military paid $8.68 for a bottle opener and a corkscrew for a December 2008 trip to Egypt, Jordan, Iraq and Spain led by Sen. Byron Dorgan (D., N.D.).
Lawmakers on a trip to Kuwait, Iraq, Afghanistan and Hungary requested a bottle of Bailey's Irish Cream
An internal military email shows that the Army was hoping to "establish a personal connection" with Sen. Chris Dodd (D., Conn.) and get his support for a weapons program.
.Indeed, the military aides who accompany lawmakers overseas are usually the same people who lobby Congress at home; their offices are in buildings shared with lawmakers.

Joel Johnson, a defense-industry analyst with the TEAL Group Corp. who once worked on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, described the situation as the equivalent of

The Evil Empire By Paul Craig Roberts

http://www.rense.com/general88/evil.htm


The US government is now so totally under the thumbs of organized interest groups that "our" government can no longer respond to the concerns of the American people who elect the president and the members of the House and Senate. Voters will vent their frustrations over their impotence on the president, which implies a future of one-term presidents. Soon our presidents will be as ineffective as Roman emperors in the final days of that empire.

Obama is already set on the course to a one-term presidency. He promised change, but has delivered none. His health care bill is held hostage by the private insurance companies seeking greater profits. The most likely outcome will be cuts in Medicare and Medicaid in order to help fund wars that enrich the military/security complex and the many companies created by privatizing services that the military once provided for itself at far lower costs. It would be interesting to know the percentage of the $700+ billion "defense" spending that goes to private companies. In American "capitalism," an amazing amount of taxpayers' earnings go to private firms via the government. Yet, Republicans scream about "socializing" health care.

Republicans and Democrats saw opportunities to create new sources of campaign contributions by privatizing as many military functions as possible. There are now a large number of private companies that have never made a dollar in the market, feeding instead at the public trough that drains taxpayers of dollars while loading Americans with debt service obligations.

Military to get mandatory swine flu shots soon

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g928uDiWtcnBFT28j5UfIeUXXuMQD9B1838G2


U.S. military troops will begin getting required swine flu shots in the next week to 10 days, with active duty forces deploying to war zones and other critical areas going to the front of the vaccine line, a top military commander said Tuesday.

Air Force Gen. Gene Renuart also told The Associated Press that as many as 400 troops are ready to go to five regional headquarters around the country to assist federal health and emergency management officials if needed as the flu season heats up.

The Pentagon has bought 2.7 million vaccines, and 1.4 million of those will go to active duty military. National Guard troops on active duty are also required to receive the vaccine, as are civilian Defense Department employees who are in critical jobs.

As a result, the military is expected to provide health officials with an early assessment of the vaccine.

"Because I can compel people to get the shots, larger numbers will have the vaccine," said Renuart, commander of U.S. Northern Command. "They will, as a percentage of the population, be vaccinated more rapidly than many of us. So we may see some objective results, good or not, of the vaccinations."

Shots will be doled out on a priority basis, with troops preparing to deploy first, followed by other active duty forces, particularly any who might be needed to quickly respond to a hurricane or other emergency.