Jesus died for somebody's sins but not mine - Patti Smith

Blackwater Worldwide created a web of more than 30 shell companies or subsidiaries in part to obtain millions of dollars in American government contracts after the security company came under intense criticism for reckless conduct in Iraq, according to Congressional investigators and former Blackwater officials...

The Senate Armed Services Committee this week released a chart that identified 31 affiliates of Blackwater, now known as Xe Services...

The network of companies -- which includes several businesses located in offshore tax havens -- allowed Blackwater to obscure its involvement in government work from contracting officials or the public, and to assure a low profile for any of its classified activities, said former Blackwater officials, who, like the government officials, spoke only on condition of anonymity.

Senator Carl Levin, the Michigan Democrat who is chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said in a statement that it was worth "looking into why Blackwater would need to create the dozens of other names" and said he had requested that the Justice Department investigate whether Blackwater officers misled the government when using subsidiaries to solicit contracts.

After nine years of work, $330 Billion in treasure, and nearly 1,300 American fatalities, bankers might ultimately do to Afghanistan what the Taliban could never accomplish......

Something in the neighborhood of $200 to $300 million in deposits have been withdrawn in just a couple days, about half of all the bank's assets. If the stampede continues for just a few more days the bank will fail.

 So why is this important? Because the Kabul Bank is what the government uses to pay its teachers, police, and soldiers.

Please go recommend this at Big Orange.  It's an important story, and it's slipping down the recent diaries column.

And I'll give my consent to any government that does not deny a man a living wage-Billy Bragg

(Who else saw Inception already, BTW?)

*Traitor*, n.
A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.

(note to Redstar: the building with the green roof and the two square spires is the Church of Saint-Vincent-de-Paul

Weather was gorgeous; hopefully it will be the same next Saturday. Forecast for the next couple of days here (in French).

Europeans think a hundred miles is a long way. Americans think a hundred years is a long time.

It was from the Intercontinental Bank, and it was in connection with my

"Scam Victims' Compensation Payment"....

Modern conservatives engage in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy: the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.Galbraith