First Blackwater attacks Air Force Officers. Next, they lie about “returning fire” in Iraq. Then, they lie about what kind of money they’re making undermining the US Military abroad. From a Dkos Diary on Prince’s testimony, Tennessee Congressman John Duncan reveals the escalation in costs of Blackwater’s services during the past three fiscal years:

“Our committee memorandum says using Blackwater instead of U.S. troops to protect embassy officials is expensive.

That’s putting it lightly; Blackwater charges the government $1,222 per day for the services of a private military contractor. This is equivalent to $445,000 per year - over 6 times more than the cost of an equivalent U.S. soldier.

This war has produced some of the most lavish, most fiscally excessive, most exorbitantly profitable contracts in the history of the world. And it seems to me that fiscal conservatives should be under no, feel no obligation to defend this type of contract.

In fact, it seems to me that fiscal conservatives should be the ones most horrified by this. And I notice in the table that Blackwater’s contracting has gone from 25 million in 2003 to 48 million 2004, to 593 million in 2006.

If we are going to be there another 10 years, as some have said, I surely hope that we’re not going to continue to see these types of ridiculously excessive increases in the contracts that are being handed out.”

Yeah, Duncan’s a Republican (as opposed to, at least in this instance, a GOP shill). He goes on:

“I also notice that Blackwater is a subsidiary of the Prince Group, of Prince Group Holdings, and that another one of the holdings of that firm is Presidential Airways, an aviation company that has held a contract with the U.S. Air Force Air Mobility Command. Mr. Prince, can you tell me what percentage of Prince Group Holdings comes from federal contracts of all or any types?”

Prince asks him to repeat the question.

Rep. John Duncan: “Can you tell me…I don’t know what all companies are in…I don’t know all the companies that are in your Prince Group Holdings. Apparently, there is a Presidential Airways. I don’t know how many other companies there are. What I’m wondering about is how much of Prince Group Holdings comes from federal contracts of any and all types.”

Prince: Most of Prince Group Holdings come from federal contracts. blather blather blather

Rep. John Duncan: When you said most; does that mean 100%? Rough guess: what percentage?

Prince: Rough guess? 90%  Read more 

Stolen from Atrios’s place, where he posted a link to Open Left:

( - promoted by Matt Stoller)

I just got word from the ACLU that a new and bad FISA bill is about to be unveiled tomorrow at 1:30pm by Steny Hoyer in a press-only briefing. Telecom immunity is not in the bill, but the Senate is pressing hard for that to be included.

The dynamic in the House is really odd. Hoyer and Emanuel seem to be pushing for a FISA capitulation to ’protect the freshmen’, even though the freshmen understand their constituents don’t want a FISA capitulation. No one will go on the record on any of this, and Emanuel and Hoyer aren’t voting for the capitulation, only orchestrating its passage.

This is not a surprise, though it is amusing that Pelosi’s promises to ’fix’ the temporary FISA bill passed in August are as worthless  Read more 

Traveling?  Read more 

Paul Kanjorski, D-Pennsyltucky Stupidified, denounced the cost of repairs to the I-35W Bridge which fell into the Mississippi river as “ballooning.” “They discovered they were going to get all the money from the federal government and they were taking all they could get,” he said. In essence they took the opportunity “to screw us,” he said of  Read more