Republicans in San Diego Going After Blackwater
By Julia Rosen Wednesday May 07, 2008 3:30pmfull disclosure: I work for the Courage Campaign
We may have a situation in San Diego where two Republicans running for mayor are fighting to win the "I hate Blackwater more" competition. Seriously. It is bizarre, but great to see.
Blackwater managed to use two shell companies to get permits for a "vocational training facility" three blocks from the Mexican border (border security contracts, anyone?). The Courage Campaign teamed up with the San Diego County Democratic Party and Francine Busby to pressure San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders to start an investigation into the duplicitous means they used to obtain the permits. 2,660 people, including nearly 1,800 San Diego area residents, signed our letter to the Mayor in just a few days, after we targeted an email to San Diego County.
It worked. Monday afternoon he announced that he ordered the city's COO to launch an investigation.
Today, we just asked all of our members to sign this letter to the mayor, to ensure that no matter the outcome of the investigation, the Mayor needs to show real leadership in opposing Blackwater. Please join the Courage Campaign in signing the letter and keep the pressure on the mayor.
Surprisingly, we were joined in our opposition to Blackwater today by Mayor Sander's main rival for his office -- wealthy conservative businessman Steve Francis -- who went right after Sanders on Blackwater. This is from his press release (via email):
Right now, the Blackwater permit issue raises more questions than it answers. In light of the Blackwater West controversy last year, the fact that permits were sought using the names of Blackwater affiliates and not the Blackwater name itself raises serious questions. Was this a deliberate deception? How was a permit for a "vocational training school" given to a paramilitary training facility? Why was this matter not handled in an open and transparent way with public hearings and public comment period?
Those are some damn good questions. Sanders can answer a lot of them by taking a firm stand against Blackwater, blocking them from building a base of operations just three blocks from the Mexican border. Simply initiating an investigation is not enough. He needs to make it his mission to keep them out of San Diego.
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Americans Awakening from their slumber?
♠Bangkok-Bob♠ @ 1:
You mean awakening from their coma?
Not quite
L.A. Confidential @ 2:
Damn, I keep hoping.
conservative = fascist (just more syllables)
CoIntelPro against "Boiled Frogs" @ 4:
And uh, different letters. Will somebody please look up the definition of "fascist", these days it seems like it has come to mean simply "anything bad".
Huh, being a merc starting to lose its lustre??? Hmmm, we'll see..JD
It's all for show. Once elected those Rethuglicans would kiss Blackwater's ass.
For more info on the dynamics of Blackwater and the SD Mayor's race see this post by Lucas over at Calitics.
Thanks to everyone for their support on this last week.
LindsayLohan'sButtFreckles @ 5:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism
Fuck Prince and his band of mercs!
loading and refreshing is quite a challenge today...
keep getting "ERROR" pages... besides the snail's pace...
C&L - check out the voter registration of your tech people!
just sayin'...
[We've been getting hacked- or at least someone's trying to hack us- pretty hard of late. It's been a giant pain in the butt for a while now. Hope you can be patient and ride it out with us! Site Monitor]
LindsayLohan'sButtFreckles @ 5:
Read this Freckles:
http://www.ellensplace.net/fascism.html
Woooooo! Let's kills us sum Mezzicans!!!
casper46 @ 10:
I think "waterboarding" is the fashionable thing to do at the moment .......
Ruthless People @ 7:
Cynical though unfortunately probably right. Even though the Repugs are a bunch of dogs and well suited to feasting on shit and each other, I don't believe the sincerity of it.
mudshark @ 9:
The point is the word is way too problematic now, it gets tossed around like the way O'Reilly uses the word "Nazi".
LindsayLohan'sButtFreckles @ 5:
fas•cism /ˈfæʃɪzəm/ Pronunciation[fash-iz-uhm]
–noun 1. (sometimes initial capital letter) a governmental system led by a dictator having complete power, forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism, regimenting all industry, commerce, etc., and emphasizing an aggressive nationalism and often racism.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/fascism
Saint Augustine @ 12:
That is helpful, and according to it conservatives do seem to espouse fascism.
Off Topic/sorry
Does anyone know if firedoglake.com has been hacked? I have been trying to get back onto their site since a few minutes past 4 PM. I get their February 13, 2008 page and not today's page.
Thanks all :)
***Did I get a virus or is there really a f*#king page ad before making a comment?
"Was this a deliberate deception?"
I see they aren't going to need Sherlock Holmes on this case...
You guys are gonna want to see my latest video...ok, my
third youtube upload. This one is the longest by far at 50
seconds. Got a minute to waste?
Hillary - Going Out of Business
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XH0oJzT9WIg
Enjoy.
LindsayLohan'sButtFreckles @ 15:
Oh, I agree. but it does describe the GOP rather well.
Ruthless People @ 7:
if elected the democrats will to, chapstick should be a standard issue !
California Republicans have realized that the Green Revolution is going to be a gold mine for them. Most of them are businessmen. They see this new technology as a way to rejuvenate the economy of California. The Bush Administration is standing in the way of the Federal Legislation and Regulations that are needed to push green technology. It is not surprising that a California GOP member would push a company associated with the Bush Administration under the bus.
I'm glad that California is able to have some rare bi partisanship. Maybe it takes a progressive state like California for this to happen, either way, people there can obviously see how ugly it will be to have a bunch of mercernaries running around firing their guns in your backyard.
These Republicans would much rather these thugs stay in Iraq.
Hold me, I'm having a Scooby Doo moment: "huuuuh?"
Saint Augustine @ 12:
You could get those to apply to fucking Somalia without trying. It has all of them, including the last. So, that list is almost gerrymandered. If America's fascist, may I ask, why have you people posted this again and again without getting hauled off into the work camps? The stuff you types post again and again wouldn't have been allowed if we were like Napoleonic France, much less Mussolini's Italy, Hitler's Germany, or Franco's Spain.
This sort of ignorance is what you expect from Right-Wing True Believers, not the reality-based community.
General_Rennenkampf @ 26:
\
Good point, General. Except we were all talking about the GOP, not America in general. I agree with you, our system, and citizens like you and I, would never allow fascism to truly gain control of the country. But our discussion was about how Republican principles seem to align with fascism.
I look forward to Blackwater's announcement of hundreds of strategically located "training facilities" around the US to better serve the government's needs.
LindsayLohan'sButtFreckles @ 27:
Peter G @ 28:
They'll have do the cremation of care ceremony at Bohemian Grove this July before they kick that "product" off.
Well, they gotta do something if they want to stay electable.
LindsayLohan'sButtFreckles @ 27:
You're right, a lot of the Republican (and Democratic politicians) party's principles since the fall of the USSR resemble what an American fascism would look like. The Religious Right, in particular has no difference in rhetoric on most areas from the Nazis. The secular conservatives resemble Mussolini's version more.
Fascism is reaction on the march, but it has to be specific to each culture. I understand full well that Republican Party ideas are more and more resembling the fascists of the 1930s. However, despite a core commonality between all variations on fascism, owing to fascism's key principle: nationalism (as opposed to Soviet and Maoist internationalism) the fascist movements must adapt to the local customs.
A full-blown American fascism, instead of the larval stage the Republican Party is, would be scary indeed. All it takes is for the nastier Jack Chick-types and the Militia types (despite some similarities, the Christofascists and the militia types are not always overlapping) to realize that it would better serve the agenda of destroying the Constitution to work together. William Buckley, damn him to Hell, got the moderates of both movements to work together, and created modern conservatism from scratch.
If a Christofascist, Plutocratic and Militia merger like Buckley comes along, we. are. boned. I will admit, now, that the Republicans are proto-fascist. We've (fortunately) not yet hit the full thing in movement form, much less institutionalized form. Dave Neiwert's blog is a useful source for stuff like this.
Oh check this one out.
WASHINGTON - Cindy McCain says she will never make her tax returns public even if her husband wins the White House and she becomes the first lady.
"You know, my husband and I have been married 28 years and we have filed separate tax returns for 28 years. This is a privacy issue. My husband is the candidate," Cindy McCain, wife of Republican presidential nominee-in-waiting John McCain, said in an interview aired on NBC's "Today" on Thursday.
Asked if she would release her tax returns if she was first lady, Cindy McCain said: "No."
General_Rennenkampf @ 26:
Try this page General, same 14 points with links to examples that have occured under the name of republicans:
http://www.oldamericancentury.org/14pts.htm
“When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag, carrying the cross and enforced by Blackwater.”
There's some controversy surrounding that actually having been writtern by Sinclair but I suspect he wouldn't mind having it attributed to him and I doubt he'd mind my addition.
tyree @ 22:
Not if it will get them thrown out of office.
LindsayLohan'sButtFreckles @ 15:
The sine qua non of fascism is the marriage of the state with the corporations, modern heirs to the 12th century Italian princes who started the factories and pushed out the tradesmen.
And applying the term "fascist" to the Bush Crime Family is not only 100% appropriate as their behavior fits the definition, but it is historically accurate. GW's grandfather Prescott Bush and Prescott's father-in-law George Herbert Walker were the Wall Street consultants who handled the financing of Hitler's rise to power and profitted from the labor and death camps at Auschwitz.
LindsayLohan'sButtFreckles @ 5:
perhaps if you are confused, it has a definite meaning and the bush administration
is totally fascist and the gop reichwingneocons are in there with bush/cheney.
and if you mean "anything bad" = bushco, then you are correct.
L.A. Confidential @ 33:
"This is a privacy issue."
Right!!!!
We didn't elect them. We can't throw them out. And they're getting more powerful every day.
http://tinyurl.com/47osop
Tim Fuller @ 20:
Enjoyed!! thanks for sharing!!
Also I'm pretty happy that Blackwater has been found out AGAIN for what they are... liars, cheaters, and immoral ba$tards at the public trough. Kick the effers outta business!
anyone watch the tv series "Jerico"? it deals with mercenaries like blackwater.
it's like a light version of "1984" and where bastards like bush and cheney
would like to take this country.
L.A. Confidential @ 33:
is this b*tch related to cheney?
we don't need anymore arrogant whores in the whitehouse.
You guys don't have to be so shocked every time a republican comes to the same conclusion as you.
Saint Augustine @ 34:
The GOP is protofascist. Unless the Watchmen on the Walls are planned for something (those Russian stormtrooper nuts on the West Coast), there's no street enforcers, and Presidents can be dictatorial all they wish, but if they lack a loyal enforcement squad, they're boned. Sufficiently wealthy leftists could buy the loyalty of Blackwater mercenaries from the GOP and give them an unpleasant surprise. So, from the perspective of whatever member of the Administration would be the power behind the throne (Cheney will probably keel over from a heart attack soon, so he ain't it), a mercenary force is distrusted. Now, put in foreigners who would be the perfect cover, OTOH.....
That's why I keep more tabs on those Russians. Mercenaries in general have suspect loyalty, as Roman Caesars found out when they lost the favor of the Praetorian Guard...
dadams @ 42:
Their all from the same blood line.
Violent men, hard headed women, unloved children.
Chicken "Hussein" Little - Not!! @ 35:
From a strictly despotical position, a mercenary enforcer squad is dangerous. Paid to fight, so they could be bought by enemies. They are also capable of realizing how much power they have and deposing the dictator to put their own man on the throne. It happened to numerous Roman Emperors in the West (not so sure about the Byzantines) and to several Russian Tsars. A mercenary group is too dangerous, at least to whoever would be genius enough to try to transform the USA into Imperial Russia or the Roman Empire, whether the Classical Age version, or the Medieval version that was destroyed in 1453.
No, the Russian loonies on the West Coast are likely to be accorded the dubious honor of being the stormtroopers or Praetorians of the future Greater American Empire.
L.A. Confidential @ 45:
Must be a garden somewhere
Keeps on sending them down
Big eyes, big teeth, big hair
Ready to breed with the nearest clown
L.A. Confidential @ 39:
If you have any spare capital L.A. now would probably be a good time to invest in companies that manufacture razor wire.
Peter G @ 48:
Yeah I've been wondering lately if I am going to have to completely about face, liquidate my portfolio, and start investing in the death and suffering game.
That seems to be the road to riches these days.
L.A. Confidential @ 39:
You know, in the early 19th Century, the same was said about the aristocracy and the Romanov dynasty in Russia. Nobody expected the Romanovs to fall, they expected the Tsardom to last until the species went extinct.
You know what?
They were wrong, as a cursory glance of Russian history post-1914 can tell you. Though, maybe not really. The families and ideologies may have changed, but even under Putin, Russia still resembles the old Tsardom.
The point is that nothing lasts forever, and even the seemingly indestructable (like the Tsarist empire) can be destroyed. As to what replaces it, that's a whole different ball game.
General_Rennenkampf @ 50:
Don't ever forget that the only reason the "elite" remain in power is the lickspittles and toadies that suck up to them and do their will. Eliminate that class and the "elites" lose their ability to make life a living hell for the rest of us.
General_Rennenkampf @ 50:
Your an intelligent guy General. Ahead of your age and time.
Chicken "Hussein" Little - Not!! @ 51:
And even a formidable bunch like today's aristocracies forget that even in today's Internet age, three missed meals and its 1917-1918 all over again. Why do you think many Third World despotisms import food? Why do you think that the Russians in the Soviet age kept importing food from us like they did? The Soviet leaders were only too aware that if too many Soviet citizens starved, the Politburo would be dealt the hand Nicholas II was. Not even the most formidable groups can resist starving hordes, and trust me, the Army won't end up too much better off. Even with Blackwater and the Russians together, the Army bones both of them. That's the lesson the Elite will forget one time too many...
I'm a San Diegan and a Democrat (we're like Unicorns in San Diego), and am against Blackwater being here. They were definitely sneaky about this and I'm sure the City Council gave them their blessing.
Most of our Mayors are Republicans, but don't seem to show that heavy conservative side until there are big business contracts. We are in the middle of a heated mayoral race between 2 Republican candidates, one the current mayor (and ex-police chief) and one (Francis) that has funded his own campaign with over 4 million dollars from his own pocket.
The political climate in San Diego for years has been a good-ole-boys club for both Republicans and Democrats who join the city council. We have a Strong Mayor policy that citizens implemented, but whenever it's used, the City Council finds a way to block it. If Blackwater made it into the county, it's because of the Council.
They are without a doubt, the most corrupt, lazy, shiftless, stupid and arrogant politicians in southern california.
They care nothing that San Diego can't afford to fix its streets, 40-year old plus drains, nor can the city borrow federal funds because of its bad credit, die to the 5-billion dollar deficit in the city's pension fund that no one took the heat for.
2 weeks ago the council voted themselves a pay raise in the midst of all this.
ZappaFrank @ 54:
Wasn't Skip Frye's wife robbed in an election there not long ago?
General_Rennenkampf @ 53:
When people are forced into in a life survival state and they will be very surprised to see how quickly the thin veneer of civilization disappears.
L.A. Confidential @ 39:
And there is nothing you can do about it.
General_Rennenkampf @ 50:
China.
Jerry @ 57:
Well their are things people can do to be a "master" of all this nonsense but joining the rich boys club isn't an option for most people. Or getting in I should say.
L.A. Confidential @ 59:
Excuse my slop. I meant "there".
Jerry @ 58:
L.A. Confidential @ 56:
L.A.: Yes, indeed. Our minds haven't truly evolved from the Stone Age yet. As recently as 11,000 years ago, people everywhere were hunter-gatherers. Not anymore, obviously, but the legacy and genes are still here, and Mr. Natural Selection's gonna reactivate them soon if all continues on this track.
Jerry: I can see what you're getting at, but the comparison's flawed. China went from hunter-gatherers to divided states to empire later than the rest of the world did, but has lasted longer continuously. 1911 changed China to the point that the institutions of the Imperial era are practically non-existent. The PRC is a very different place from the China of Emperor Shi Huang or Yongle. China as a united entity has endured, yes. My example of somebody that's lasted forever are the Australian aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders, who lasted for some 40-60,000 years nonstop. That beats civilization and even Chinese civilization by some 34-54,000 years. And they're still here.
Blackwater = Brownshirts
Jaycubed @ 62:
Again, you can't trust a mercenary bodyguard/enforcer group without watching the watchmen, and those watchers requiring watchers in turn until the situation is 5th Century Constantinople. Watch for news involving the "Watchmen on the Walls." Foreigners are much better to use as brutes for the government. Hell, even Al Capone made sure his killers were out-of-towners.
mudshark @ 55:
Bingo. She was. I suspect she gave up because of what she was up against.
ZappaFrank @ 64:
Donna Frye had run late in the election as a write-in candidate and actually won. I believe that her win was invalidated because most of the people who voted for her didn't check the box after writing in her name, believing that just writing the name counted, or so the story goes. In any case, if I remember correctly, she sued to get those ballots counted, which would have given her a win, but the case was defeated or thrown out (I don't remember).
In any case, these are the kinds of things that happen down here...and nationwide in 2000.
ZappaFrank @ 65:
yeah, I remember all that stuff now. Thanks for reminding me(us).
SD and OC are the stongest areas for the GOP in Calif. Why? I have no idea. All Hail FZ
L.A. Confidential @ 47:
in mcfuckheads case, someone in the family mated with
the garden gnome.
CoIntelPro against "Boiled Frogs" @ 4:
Okay, again, for the zillionith time..........THESE ARE REPUBLICANS. THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICAN..........THEY are financing an entire INVASION on our CREDIT CARD.
AGAIN..........Republicans= G(reedy) O(btuse) P(erverts) Spendthrifts. There, feeling mucho better having clarified this.
mudshark @ 66:
Dude, seriously. I think it has to do with San Diego having the military in town, North Island in Coronado, Marines in Pt. Loma, Miramar and Camp Pendleton. I've lived here all my life, and everyone's pretty cool, regardless of politics/party, etc. There are a few wingnuts here and there, but no one pays much attention to them.
I have to admit, though, it was hard being a liberal post-911 down here. Some nuts asking me why I didn't have a flag on my car. Wasn't I a patriot? I remember some guy had his tires slashed for having a John Kerry sticker on his bumper. They left him a note, too!
FZ actually lived in SD while growing up. I miss him. We need more like Zappa.
General_Rennenkampf @ 54:
i know that there is some comfort in looking at history as some sort of pendulum that sometimes swings to its extremes before finding a middle ground, but as an individual living through one of those extremes, i refuse to accept the inevitability of the many being crushed by the few . . . being on the receiving end of historical precedent, why haven't we masses figured out the dangers of a full belly?
i say, let's spend our tax rebate checks, en masse, on tickets to washington!
innocent bystander @ 71:
The thing is that, right now, your average American, even the poor are at a higher standard of living than most of the world. When we get even to Europe's standards, the rumblings will begin. The more we have to live like the rest of the planet, the more it will be likely that Americans will realize they're selling their souls to the devil.
General_Rennenkampf @ 72:
but, surely, there is more to us than just our animal appetites . . . we crave freedom and dignity, not just comfort and security, and most of us feel pangs of empathy when we see others suffer
even if the current threats to our liberty are invisible to most mainstream americans, you'd have to be blind not to see that others are suffering by the thousands because of our collective consumer-minded complacency!
innocent bystander @ 73:
Not by the thousands, by the billions. And those are just the humans...
General_Rennenkampf @ 74:
my "thousands" was tactical . . . "millions" and "billions" tend to inspire paralysis, not action . . . one child down a well and whole towns are mobilized, but a billion children down a well and the same folks are home watching "american idol", or whatever dreck is on thursday nights
Should be interesting because, Rep. Duncan Hunter is Blackwater's savior.
This is beyond hilarious!
Even Republicans are sick of Blackwater! This company has tagged itself with the Scarlett Letter or Mark of the Beast or whatever.
Who could blame 'em? Who wants a known murderous organization (besides a police dept) in their city?
AgentX @ 77:
Who wants a known murderous organization (besides a police dept) in their city? those who think that they will never, ever be the victims of that murderous organization, i.e., white, european-americans with wealth . . . i.e. republicans!
The San Diegan Republicans are probably investigating BlackWater to make certain any evidence of the fires (which made the land sell for cheap for their new headquarters) could not be traced back to them or their henchman.
I know this sounds like I am wearing a tin-foil hat- however, I have learned a lesson from Auchem's Razor Theory.
So have most of the American Public. The fires and Blackwater's land grab are one in the same and its a little to convienient to be a coincidence. Eric Prince should have waited longer before making his real estate bid!
......Oooops!
Somebody in this campaign needs to connect with activists in Coure dElaine Idaho, where Blackwater is trying to set up shop there too. They need to be run out of the NATION, not just a state.
Blackwater needs to be outlawed. In fact we need to get on our new government first thing when they come into office and get rid of the CIA, THE NSA, and all forms of secret government along with their MERCENARY ARMIES.
KICK THEM ALL OUT OF THE COUNTRY.
THEY'RE TRAITORS.
What's the matter Blackwater? Penny-wise and Pound-foolish?
With all the money you make off of us taxpayers you certainly could have bought off those local Republican politicians in San Diego.
So not only are you a fascist para-military organization; you're an incompetent one due to your essential cheapness, and a cowardly one due to your hiding behind fake subsidiaries.
Even criminal gang members will proudly signify their affiliation to their enemies, whether police or rivals. It is a matter of pride to them. Your cowardly actions show your true face.
Your web site states:
"Our corporate leadership and dedicated family of exceptional employees adhere to essential core values- chief among these are integrity, innovation, excellence, respect, accountability, and teamwork."
You have no integrity, but lies; no accountability, but secrecy; no respect, but contempt for others & the law; no excellence, but gross incompetence; no teamwork, but contempt for your own employees.
These Blackwater executives belong in jail. Period.
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