60 SEIU workers protest at meeting where Carlyle head speaks

BALTIMORE - About 60 union workers protested Monday at a conference where the head of a private-equity firm spoke to business editors and reporters.

Workers from Manor Care (nyse: HCR - news - people ) nursing homes around the U.S. protested David Rubenstein’s speech, chanting and passing out flyers, said Julie Eisenhardt, a spokeswoman for the Service Employees International Union.  Read more 

Ahem. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: past all the foily, racist, oil-based, hubris driven, adventuristic, pro-hardliners in Israel, and Oedipal reasons that drive this war, one stands above all others. It’s the profit, stupid. No, really. Here is one surefire winner for the Dems. Fix this:

It is virtually impossible to assess the performance of any one company working in Iraq. Only one independent monitoring agency exists, the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction (SIGIR), a congressionally mandated office tasked with oversight of all U.S. spending on Iraq reconstruction. Of the 13,578 projects planned and paid for by the U.S. government for work in Iraq, SIGIR has assessed just 65.  Read more