Slashdot Mirror

It seems they've got their hands into many of the things that concern slashdotters, including the Diebold voting machine debacle. They are the "independent" company Diebold hired to investigate after the Johns Hopkins report was issued. More scary stuff follows:

The Associated Press describes Science Applications International Inc. (SAIC) as "the most influential company most people have never heard of." The Asia Times calls it "the most mysterious and feared of the big 10 defense giants."

SAIC ranks among the top ten companies receiving defense contracts. Founded in 1969 by former Los Alamos physicist, Dr. J.R. Beyster, the company is the largest employeeowned company in the nation. The company boasts in excess of $6 billion in annual revenues and 30,000 employees worldwide. Employees are encouraged to buy shares in the company and are allowed to sell them to one another once a year at prices set by the company's auditor. If they leave the company they are required to sell their shares back to the company.

SAIC might best be described as "the-company-of-what's-happening-now" in defense and intelligence. If it's important and it's happening, it's likely that SAIC has piece of the action. The company's ranks overflow with former or retired government personnel, many from the military and intelligence agencies. Much of SAIC's work is highly classified.

At any given point in time, SAIC's board of directors represents a Who's Who of former military and intelligence officials. Retired Admiral Bobby Inman has been a fixture on SAIC's board of directors for years. Inman served as Director of Naval Intelligence, Vice Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, Director of the National Security Agency, and finally Deputy Director of Central Intelligence.

SAIC's board changes to reflect the politics of the time. Gone from SAIC's board are directors with expertise in Cold War and Iran/Contra eras, like former Nixon Defense Secretary Melvin Laird, ex-CIA Director Robert Gates, Secretary of Defense William Perry, and former CIA Director John Deutch.

They have been replaced by people with more timely contacts, such as SAIC director Gen. Wayne Downing (US Army retired). Before the war, Downing served as a lobbyist for the US-backed Iraqi National Congress and its head, Ahmad Chalabi. Downing (along with Bechtel director George Shultz) also served on the board of the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq.

Long before the shooting even began, SAIC was already at work on Iraq. The trail of contracts begin with William Owens, another former high-level military officer who sits on the boards of five companies that received millions in defense contracts last year. Owens also served as president, chief operating officer and vice chair of SAIC. And, Owens is a member of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's internal think-tank, the Defense Policy Board.

• Noteworthy: In 1995 the company was ordered to pay a $2.5 million fine after a whistleblower charged SAIC had cheated the Air Force on a contract to develop jet fighter cockpit displays. (Hollis v SAIC, #93-CV-390)

To say that the Defense Policy Board's membership tips to the right would not be an overstatement. Among its members: Ken Adelman (who made the rounds of network talk shows, assuring Americans a war in Iraq would be "a cake walk"); Newt Gingrich; Richard Perle; Dan Quayle; and Bechtel senior vice president, retired Army General Jack Sheehan. The Center for Public Integrity reports that, of the 30 DPB members, nine have ties to companies that won more than $76 billion in defense contracts last year.

SAIC's Iraq contacts (at least those not classified) appear to begin sometime in February 2003, nearly two months before the war, when the Pentagon formed the Iraqi Recons

It's documented in many places that this administration & his Gang-o-thugs have wanted to go into Iraq for quite some time.

For example, just recently:
Info from Bush Ghost Writer (misleader.org)
Other articles to look at:

in 2000, Bush wanted to invade Iraq if elected
Neoconservative plan for global dominance
US Dollar vs the Euro: Another reason for the invasion of Iraq
US Rejected Peace offerings from Iraq and Afghanistan
Report Proves Bush Knew He Was Lying About Iraq

There are more, you just have to go look, and look beyond the distortion of facts that gets in the media and in the ads. (Neither party seems to care about real facts this election).

It's documented in many places that this administration & his Gang-o-thugs have wanted to go into Iraq for quite some time.

For example, just recently:
Info from Bush Ghost Writer (misleader.org)
Other articles to look at:

in 2000, Bush wanted to invade Iraq if elected
Neoconservative plan for global dominance
US Dollar vs the Euro: Another reason for the invasion of Iraq
US Rejected Peace offerings from Iraq and Afghanistan
Report Proves Bush Knew He Was Lying About Iraq

There are more, you just have to go look, and look beyond the distortion of facts that gets in the media and in the ads. (Neither party seems to care about real facts this election).

The information is clear cut. ABC was at the site in April of 2004, after the US led invasion and military personnel showed them some of the explosives. Furthermore, the Iraqi's at the site asked the US forces to guard the site to which our troops responded that it wasn't their job. Not that I blame the troops, they just didn't get orders to guard it from those that know better. http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1161072&l=655 09/ Here is a link to the video of the ABC news team.

Here's another one.
Misleader

"You can thank the voucher opponents for this, while saying that the payment is not enough they actually fight to reduce it."

By phrasing it like that, you make it sound like it's established that vouchers are a good thing and anti-voucher groups want to gut voucher amount. It is not, however, established that vouchers are a good thing. The desire is not to give vouchers worth less money; actually, anti-voucher people fight to avoid vouchers altogether and find an alternative to fixing public education.

"One infamous case is where the NEA fought against teachers in Syracuse who took the iniative themselves to tutor students on the weekends."

I couldn't find this anywhere...got a link?

"Do you happen to have something that shows...Before$ > After$"

No, I don't have an analysis to prove or disprove that, except this article is pretty good: http://misleader.org/daily_mislead/Read.asp?fn=df0 5122004.html. My point was that he campaigned on certain amounts, then across the board provided less than he promised. Then he still demanded all the changes that were originally to be funded with the original amounts, but now won't pay for them. How does he expect that to work?

"the NEA which opposes them solely because private school teachers are not forced into the NEA."

Many organizations have multiple reasons for doing things, and I'm sure the point that private school teachers aren't forced to join the NEA is one small concern. But there's an entire list of their completely valid arguments against vouchers here, so don't let a little politics void a whole bunch of good reasons. Not to mention that the NEA is not the only group with good arguments against vouchers.

"I have no respect for political organizations whose power lies in coercion and theft (forced political contributions by members"

No one's forced to contribute to the political side of NEA, the legally distinct, separately budgeted NEA PAC. So stop believing those lies about forced political contributions.

From Misleader.org

In a move designed to blur the issue, the Administration today said it was revising its previous effort to terminate overtime protections for 8 million workers. But even by the Bush Administration's own admission, the "new" regulations will mean that tens of thousands of lower-income workers will be cut off. Opponents of the Administration's plan say that the revisions would still cause problems for mean millions. The regulations are so bad for workers that some state legislatures have even rushed through legislation to block them.

or perhaps he also took inspriation when... Bush Markets Burmese Products; Evades Own Trade Ban

there's no end to the fun in catching Dubya in his lies.

CBS

Bush Education Law Not Adequately Funded, States Claim

if the Hubble isn't a good example of how NASA just got hamstringed, i'm sure another will turn up.

And then when we don't find WMD there, we'll change it so that we think they had "weapons of mass destruction-related program activities."

Bush Changes His WMD Claims

Liar, Liar, pants on fire.

CB

http://www.misleader.org/daily_mislead/Read.asp?fn =df12032003.html

Here's one.
Show him this one, too.