Upper Left

John Cole...

Claiming the tea party is taking over the Republican party is like claiming Xe took over Blackwater or that KFC took over Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Brad DeLong...

America has no chance of being great again until this current Republican Party is gone, and its memory has vanished from the earth. Just saying.

Kaili Joy Gray...

Maybe Romney's problem isn't that he's a perpetual flip-flopper. Maybe his real problem is that he's completely amoral.

Darryl...

The Republican agenda includes elimination of Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, welfare, the insurance and security components of social security, public education, student loan and financial aid programs, abortion, environmental protections, food protections, safety standards, and, of course, unions.

Oh yeah…and the middle class.

Labels: Blackwater, Great Society, Middle Class, Mitt Romney, New Deal, Republicans, Tea Party, Xe

'Progressive thinking equity firm' buys Blackwater

Here's a progressive thought - close it down.

Labels: Blackwater, Mercenaries, Xe

Blackwater/Xe founder, owner and now seller Erik Prince...

"Performance doesn't matter in Washington, just politics."

He should know. On a performance basis, he'd be doing 20 to life.

Hat tip to Zandar.

Labels: Blackwater, Erik Prince, Quote of the Day, Xe

...but WIIIAI is right.

Employing a prostitute, and charging the US for her, isn’t among the 10 or even the 100 worst things Blackwater has ever done.

Or 1000. Seems to offend some folks more than murder and mayhem, though, so whatever helps bring down the mercs works for me.

Labels: Blackwater, Fraud, Mercenaries, Murder, Xe

...about Blackwater.

Bunch of other stuff, too, of course, but he's got those cowboys nailed.

Labels: Blackwater, Bribery, Corruption, Darryl, Hominid Views, Iraq, Mercenaries, Xe

Yeah, yeah, stopped clocks twice a day and all that, but when he's right, he's right, even when the he in question is John McCain...

During a visit to Iraq, Republican Senator John McCain called on the US Justice Department to appeal the dismissal of all charges against the five Blackwater operatives accused of being the shooters at the Nisour Square massacre in Baghdad in 2007.

File an appeal and find a path to prosecution that hasn't been poisoned by the Bushco™ Justice Department's pattern of prosecutorial misconduct that has proven suspiciously helpful to their allies in the criminal class.

Then put an end to the unconscionable use of these mercenary cowboys and crusaders once and for all.

Labels: Blackwater, Bushco™, Credit Where It's Due, John McCain, Justice, Xe

From the NYT...

Iraqis Angered as Blackwater Charges Are Dropped

Duh.

Some Americans - or should I say real Americans - too.

Banning the use of mercenary armies belongs on the national resolution list.

Labels: Blackwater, Duh, Iraq, Mercenaries, Xe

Richard Allen Smith at VetVoice...

Blackwater Xe is not a private security contracting firm. Call them what they are: mercenaries.

Well, that, and a national disgrace. Even with the back door draft and inadequate dwell times, we can't raise and sustain sufficient forces to pursue our so-called "necessary" war without mercs.

Another reason that I hate what they've done to my Army.

Labels: Blackwater, Mercenaries, Stop Loss, US Military, VetVoice, Xe