What's In A Name? Blackwater Changes Name To Escape Brutal Reputation
Blackwater Worldwide is still protecting U.S. diplomats in Iraq, but executives at the beleaguered security firm are taking their biggest step yet to put that work and the ugly reputation it earned the company behind them.
Blackwater said Friday it will no longer operate under the name that came to be known worldwide as a caustic moniker for private security, dropping the tarnished brand for a disarming and simple identity: Xe, which is pronounced like the letter "z."
It's a rare surrender for a company that cherished a brand name inspired by the dark-water swamps of northeastern North Carolina, one that survived another rebranding effort about a year ago, following a deadly shooting in Baghdad's Nisoor Square. The decision to give it up underscores how badly the Moyock-based company's brand was damaged by that incident and other security work in Iraq.[..]
Blackwater acknowledged last year in an interview with the The Associated Press the damage to its reputation had persuaded the company to focus on lines of business other than private security contracting.
... to say "mercenary."
Corruption favors the wealthy.
Real tough guys. Can you say "overcompensation"? See each...
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thum...
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons...
I rest my case!
The second picture is of a Gay Bears Flag...
... NOT Blackwater.
Starve the WAR Beast...
... Save the World.
He's trying to make a point here, hence "overcompensation."
I was wondering how to set Embittered straight as to what I meant without starting World War Three
yeah but does this mean that the us criminals who pay them will have to make the checks out with a differnt name ? like sunshine incorporated or happy days are here again company!
... what town do you live in in indiana? and is there a denny's?
here in urbana, illinois, we don't got one. they keep airing these commercials on t.v., and the new recipes look delicious, but i don't know where to go to sample the goods.
when i get my girl back i'm gonna come visit. can you still ski? paoli peaks...
hell froggy we got 3 dennys , here in evansville , on the banks of the ohio river, and i cant tell yah about the skieing never been to paoli peaks, love the grand slam , its where i had my second heart attack at enjoying the mixed sausage and bacon, come on down, i still got one attack left in me!
THERE YA ARE.
... what are you doing later tonight? i was thinking 'bout hoppin' a plane to italy and lootin' the vatican...
... will you be available?
sorry froggy im still counting my loot from the fools gold convention in las vagas!
I vote for "Puppy Cuddling Inc."
...is the bit about how Blackwater won't be doing more security work, and instead will concentrate on their "training operations".
GREAT. So instead of running around the world committing heinous crimes and massacres, they'll just make their money teaching other people how to commit them. Yeah, that'll help.
WHY the hell don't companies like this have their assets stripped from them? What does it take to convince our government that some companies do not deserve to exist AT ALL?
There's always free cheddar in the mousetrap, baby. - Tom Waits
What other lines of business can a company like "the company formerly known as Blackwater" do?
In the bigger picture - when security is turned into a commodity, insecurity is needed to make a profit. As you said, some companies don't deserve to exist.
Hopefully humanity will one day learn to be humane.
The US Constitution expressly prohibits private mercenary armies. They are illegal and are not allowed to exist. I just wonder what Secretary of State is going to wake up to the idea that they cannot legally incorporate in their State.
hey, amigo... pretty soon you're going to have to wear a mask like snake eyes from g.i. joe just to go out in public.
and good luck squeezin' that jar-shaped head through the eye of the needle...
GODSPEED, AMIGO.
Zee. It has a that, je ne sais quoi ... French sound to it.
aka, nutcake fruitball, except that Christmas is over now ...
.
or maybe 'accessories to mass murder evil fruitcake nutballs' ...
Or, just simply, 'Evil'. Or perhaps 'Devil'.
Yeah, that covers it!
.
By any other name, a rose is still a rose...
... Feather Bunny Protection Specialists.
.
Starve the WAR Beast...
... Save the World.
They can change their name to Flowers & Puppy Kisses, they're still jack booted murderous thugs.
So they're now the National Socialist Republican Party?
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
who now have to go to the country coub with a "tarnished" reputation while their twenty-five-hundred-dollar-a-night hookers light their fifty-dollar Havanas with perpetually-burning-C-notes (a little trick they learned in the Green Zone.)
How much of the NINE BILLION DOLLARS that Brenner "lost" in Baghdad came home in the pockets of these war criminals?
two interesting facts that have not been reported in the US. First, a lot of guns and armaments have gone missing in Afghanistan, and, surprise, surprise, the US military has been losing about one-half (50%) of its supplies to militants in Pakistan! Well, maybe if the media had reported this, they could have begun to explain why so many billions of dollars and weapons have gone missing over the years - because the US military was losing one-half of its supplies. This is such a great war. I hope Obama continues it another 10 years so all those weapons contractors can profit and sell our congressmen on further weapons contracts.
but it's pronounced throatwarbler mangrove.
Smirk, giggle... awesome M.P. reference.
It may also be prounounced: Shar-Day!
always has excellent sketches of ridiculous behavior.
Pronounced like Tse
As in Mao Tse Tung?
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
or zee as in "xenophobic mass murderers".
Or maybe it's Dutch, like the Zuider Zee?
...when they plug a dyke it's with lead?
Sleep with the fishes, fascists...
to cancel all contracts with these murderers and thieves
...companies should not be allowed to change their names to escape whatever horrible connotations their names develop.
I wonder what State accepted Blackwater's incorporation papers, and said, uhm, sure you can operate, and proudly advertise, a private mercenary army out of the great state of (fill in the blank), but, remember, you can't do it here.
... have you ever wondered why catholics have such bad karma on friday the 13th?
Blackwater could change its name to Philis Morris and that would still be an improvement.
ALMOST LOST MY COFFEE.......................
have to have a credit check when they apply for the company under the new name?
I guess the name: "Thoughtless cretins with small penises, Inc." was taken.
Out, out damn spot.
these stubborn moral stains!!! How do you get those out????
Maybe X.E. stands for
- Xenophobes, Etc.
- Xenophobic Evil
- Xenophobic Eff-Ups
That "Xe" crap sounds just as bad as Blackwater.
Well at least now they don't have to be thrown out of Iraq - 'cause the Iraqis want Blackwater out, not Xe. That'll work out for our defenseless embassy employees since there aren't any Marines over there.
Diebold, Blackwater...I'm gonna miss the oughts when they're done...
After all, what's the difference, really, between 'Schicklgruber' and 'Hitler'?
Is it supposed to be a cleansing ritual?
So who are the guys raking in the dough at Black-Ops-Water anyway? Maybe everyone should know what their names are. Who cares what they call their rape machine.
"Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob"
-= Franklin Delano Roosevelt =-
I've just noticed that in the truncated titles on the posts, it says that Blackwater has changed its name to "Escape Brutal".
I think Escape Brutal has quite a ring to it.
Snip - "Given that the Iraqi government recently kicked Blackwater out of the country and BW subsequently lost that portion of a larger State Department security contract, the move is most likely to distance itself from this past so closely associated with the Bush Administration's questionable Iraq policies and to make contracting with it more palatable for government organizations and private entities." [THE-SHELL-GAME]!
> http://www.thespywhobilledme.com/the_spy_who_...
> Bank of America organization that exists today is the successor to North Carolina National Bank:
NationsBank acquired BankAmerica and adopted the name of the acquired bank, renaming the corporation "Bank of America", and retaining Charlotte, North Carolina as its headquarters
Bank of Italy was founded in San Francisco by Amadeo Giannini in 1904
In 1922, Giannini established Bank of America and Italy in Italy by buying Banca dell'Italia Meridionale, itself only established in 1918.
In the late 1920s, Giannini approached Orra E. Monnette, President and founder of Bank of America, Los Angeles, about a merger between the two entities.
The merger was completed in early 1929 and took the name Bank of America.
Growth in California > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_of_America
In 1958, the bank introduced the BankAmericard, which changed its name to VISA in 1975.
A consortium of other California banks came up with Master Charge (now MasterCard) in order to compete with BankAmericard.
In 1997, BankAmerica lent D. E. Shaw & Co., a large hedge fund, $1.4bn so that the hedge fund would run various businesses for the bank. However, D.E. Shaw suffered significant loss after the 1998 Russia bond default. BankAmerica was acquired by NationsBank later that year in October.
What's in a name?
Study the symptoms not the virus...
A mercenary thug army by any other name is still a mercenary thug army.
We'll still end up fighting these buys before it's over.
As in:
Not-ze?
So when a company wants to escape their reputation as jack-booted thugs, they say we are "Xe" pronounced like "Ze," as in, "We are 'Not-Ze" Blackwater that you speak of; we are 'Not-ze,' we are Not-ze, (arm raising ever so slightly in indignation...) You're a witty man, Dr. Mitchell.
Zee Blackwater company will not escape justice.
was advised of the possible connection to Germany and Nazism, but probably chuckled.
Yer Blackwater memorabilia now people! Vision of Blackwater snort on Antiques Roadshow.
Severed heads, shriveled nutsacks, t-shirts, barjars of pickled eyeballs.
let's keep up with Ebay too. Hey, this could be a trip...C&L'ers greatest blackwater collector's contest/
OMG omg omg omg omg...Ebay has TONS of blackwater gear.
Escape Brutal Reputation? They changed their name to 'Escape Brutal Reputation'? Is that like Escape Brutal Reputation Inc. or something. I would've suggested something like Evil Asshole Buddyroos. Or maybe Oops-A-Kill.
They should be referred to that as they are marched off to prison.
In what state is Blackwater/Xe incorporated in? And, what exactly did they state was their mission? If you ask me, America has enough laws on the books to prohibit the incorporation of private mercenaries. If you ask me, the US Constitution prohibits the operation, thus the incorporation, of private mercenaries in America. If they want to operate outside the US, fine, but they are not be allowed to exist in America. In fact, its leaders should be arrested and prosecuted for extra-judicial killings regardless of Bush's phony State Dept. immunity.
Xe corporation formerly known as Blackwater.
They named themselves the contraction for Xenon? I submit they should be the Sodium Xenon company: NaXe
Didn't the company that built voting machine change their name?
So the Republican party have sunk so low, that they might consider changing their name as well. The third party that many have been harping for may be the new Republican base party in the making.
Name will change but the game stay the same!
What Swamp? The name relates to the sump tank in a travel trailer or motor home where the Sh!t goes.
The smell is the same.
Donaldd
The Associated Press the damage to its reputation had persuaded the company to focus on lines of business other than private security contracting.
Oh, oh. What could that mean?
That's a gender neutral reference. As in: Sam was confronted by two douchebags about whether xe was a girl or a guy, xe just wryly responded "you choose".
What Blackwater is saying is a diversion. Blackwater is a privately owned mercenary army supporting the Bush takeover plan. They are "rebranding" for an inner attack on America within the next 640 days. They cannot be trusted. They stold American miltary weapons and sold these weapons to the Afghan black market, profiting billions, and arming Americas enemies with American made artillary and they are sanctioned by the last administration. They are trouble. They are working as an internal militia for the rich Americans who sold America out. See the information on the other network. Warning..Blackwater cannot be trusted. The rebranding is a HOAX! The "name change is a DIVERSION". This is the internal rumors.
Nostradamus
Actually, Xe won't do it. I think that we should take a page from Bill Maher, and have them change their name to Toll House Cookies. Hey, it worked for the Altrea Company!
Same deadly company, new logo and name.
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