Pump bid for New Orleans may have been rigged.
When the Army Corps of Engineers solicited bids for drainage pumps for New Orleans, “it copied the specifications — typos and all — from the catalog of the manufacturer that ultimately won the $32 million contract.” That manufacturer: MWI. “MWI employed former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, President George W. Bush’s brother, to market its pumps during the 1980s, and top MWI officials have been major contributors to the Republican Party.”
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OMFG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Impeach these mother fu*kers already. Is there anything they don’t have their corrupt claws dug into?
April 30th, 2007 at 9:03 pm…typos and all….
The crooks don’t even feel like they have to put in any effort these days.
Lock ‘em up.
April 30th, 2007 at 9:06 pmI am shocked, shocked, shocked. They all seem like such nice decent Christians.
April 30th, 2007 at 9:11 pmNow, who in the Army Corps of Engineers is responsible for the spec writing and bid calls? Let’s have a name! and nail these nepotists! I wouldn’t be surprised how interconnected these people are. Is anyone keeping a “family tree” of accountability? I am sure it’s small and has few branches…I thought capitalism was supposed to be open and fair market, not nepotistic.
April 30th, 2007 at 9:15 pmWe have become a third world country. :-(
I am getting really, really pi$$ed.
April 30th, 2007 at 9:24 pm#5 I am feeling duped as well as p.o’d. This country I was brought up to believe as a land of the free is turning out to be pure façaderie—looks good on the outside, but is something totally different on the inside. It’s the irony of “democracy”. I feel we’re being mad to think we have a choice, but really…
April 30th, 2007 at 9:33 pmoops “made” not mad.
April 30th, 2007 at 9:35 pmDefective pumps used to protect New Orleans
“each of the 34 MWI pumps was to be “load tested†— made to pump water — but that requirement for all the pumps was dropped.
Of eight pumps that were load tested, one was turned on for a few minutes and another was run at one-third of operating pressure, the memo said. Three of the other load-tested pumps experienced catastrophic failure.”
April 30th, 2007 at 9:38 pm“oops “made†not mad.”
Actually, it works both ways. :-)
April 30th, 2007 at 9:38 pmthe vandals took the handles
April 30th, 2007 at 9:40 pmBah. The ACE is crap anyway. They are basically the reason for the lousy New Orleans dikes’ failure in the first place, not to mention several grand scale economic and ecological catastrophes. They like to pour cheap cement too much.
Google is better than the Neocon Post’s own search engine:
Par for the Corps: A Flood of Bad Projects
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ wp-dyn/ content/ article/ 2006/ 05/ 13/ AR2006051300037.html
April 30th, 2007 at 9:42 pmI would say he is talking about reports or should I say ex-reports like Ashleigh Banfield. “You didn’t see where those bullets landed. You didn’t see what happened when the mortar landed. A puff of smoke is not what a mortar looks like when it explodes, believe me. There are horrors that were completely left out of this war. So was this journalism or was this coverage-? There is a grand difference between journalism and coverage, and getting access does not mean you’re getting the story, it just means you’re getting one more arm or leg of the story.”
April 30th, 2007 at 9:46 pmhttp://www.alternet.org/story/15778/
What a surprise! And Neil Bush is profitting mightily from the “No Child Left Behind” policy through his educational publishing company.
The Bushes are a cancer on society. They need to be kept away from politics for the rest of the century.
April 30th, 2007 at 10:09 pmNix: http://www.alternet.org/story/15778/
That was about the Inhofe flap, right?
Still, a darn good read. Shows where the country has been pulled by controlled media.
“Again, most of them are so uneducated and they have such little access to media, what they do get is a very bad story, and there’s no reason why they shouldn’t be afraid as they are. You know, they just don’t have the luck that we do of open information.”
April 30th, 2007 at 10:18 pm“The pump don’t work ’cause the vandals took the handles.”
April 30th, 2007 at 10:24 pmAnd do they think they can get away with it if NOLA gets hit by another Katrina in 2007-8? Do you think Americans will stand by twice?
April 30th, 2007 at 10:42 pmThe list of incidents of corruption is unending. The Bush family is as unethical as they come. What in the hell is it going to take for this unendlig litany of offenses to make the daily press and 6PM news. Everyday there is another incident!
April 30th, 2007 at 10:48 pmProblem here, beyond the obvious malfeasance, is that we no longer have those with sufficient engineering knowledge and fabrication skills to build equipment like this, at least not in the USA.
April 30th, 2007 at 11:05 pmWTF?!
April 30th, 2007 at 11:06 pmThe Bushes are a cancer on society. They need to be kept away from politics for the rest of the century.
Comment by Devil’s Advocate #13
…but FIRST!
…confiscate EVERY DIME they owe the people…
…whose lives they’ve destroyed in Iraq, AND America…
…including the poor and middle class taxpayers…
April 30th, 2007 at 11:24 pmThis tactic (the pump specs in the RFQ [Request For Quote]) is referred to as using an Exclusionary Specification. It is obviously used to insure that a pre-selected manufacturer will get the contract.
As an engineer and former contractor I have seen the use of this practice many times. A manufacturer will get the ear of a contracting officer and convince (bribe?) him their product/equipment is the very best and it will be written into the specifications.
If any contractor bidding on said contract notices the exclusionary nature of the spec and protests it, it will usually be removed. However there is normally a set (short) period of time to do this.
I agree it certainly looks suspect in a contract of this nature and especially with the players involved, but it happens in all levels- private, municipal, county, state, and federal.
April 30th, 2007 at 11:52 pmHas ANYBODY seen or heard this story…
…in the msm?
April 30th, 2007 at 11:55 pmIf George W. Bush and his criminal cabal…
…can’t be AREN’T) IMPEACHED AND PROSECUTED…
…NO administration will EVER…
…be subject to same in the future…
May 1st, 2007 at 12:05 amHmmm pattern?
http://www.sptimes.com/ 2002/ 05/ 22/ news_pf/ State/ Primed_for_success.shtml
May 1st, 2007 at 12:45 amI bet the pumps are worthless crap that malfunction.
May 1st, 2007 at 2:42 amThe way the people of New Orleans have been treated seems like a form of genocide.
May 1st, 2007 at 3:17 amIt really slays me that conspiracy nuts think these incompetents could have brought off 9/11 as an inside job. If the Bush Administration had planned 9/11, 9/11 would never have happened.
http://www.911myths.com/
May 1st, 2007 at 6:45 amhttp://www.debunking911.com/
http://internetdetectives.biz/case/loose-change
Kurds To Oppose Draft Oil Law
In a surprise move, Kurdish lawmakers have announced that they plan to oppose Iraq’s controversial US-backed oil law.
Back in February, the Kurds had agreed to support the draft law, which has been heavily criticised as giving too much control to foreign oil companies.
Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani had predicted the draft law would be approved by parliament in April, but it has yet to be debated.
Kurds hold 58 of the 275 parliament seats _ not enough to defeat the measure on their own. But Kurdish objections could delay passage of the bill, whose ratification has been strongly urged by the White House.
But Kurdish spokesman Khalid Saleh has said: “We are not going to support†the provisions in the bill. Some Sunni legislators have also raised now objections, saying the oil law would give foreign oil companies too much power.
So the draft oil law could be in for a tough time before it becomes law. They will be sweating in Houston.
http://www.priceofoil.org/
YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
May 1st, 2007 at 7:24 amIt gets worse - much worse.
http://creoleneworleans.typepad.com/ creole_folks/ 2007/ 03/ mary_landrieu_o.html
Read here where they sold us defective pumps on purpose hoping to drown New Orleans for good to open-up the lands for oil drilling.
May 1st, 2007 at 9:05 amI’m surprised they even pretended to take bids. It’s a fact that a majority of the contracts they gave were no bid contracts to their friends. The Republics must have begun salivating when they saw the devastation that Katrina was causing. My favorite no bid contract was the contract they gave to a company in Alaska to provide portable buildings. There was a company in Louisiana that made portable buildings but the company in Alaska (the company was owned by a Bush Neocon friend) got the bid and then they sub-contracted with the company in Louisiana to make and deliver the buildings. Added cost to the taxpayer? $100,000 a building.
May 1st, 2007 at 10:26 amHere ’tis! Yep…the AP reported this today! No wonder Pappy Bush was downplaying Jebbie’s potential run for the presidency, eh??
No damn wonder. Jeb Bush was a horrendous Governor in Florida and was known to have been involved with computer programmers in Winter Park to see if they could devise vote rigging software prior to the 2000 election. Just google it and see for yourself.
This is just another black mark on Jebbie’s dossier - he’s already got plenty of them and hell will freeze over before this guy is EVER elected to any office in this country ever again.
The Bush Crime Family has destroyed this country so there’s no need to destroy it further by having Jeb Bush in any office.
May 1st, 2007 at 11:57 amWho is the Head of the Army Corp of Engineers anyway? Another neophite twentysomething fall guy perhaps???? Seems to be the Bushevite MO, doesn’t it? Could the scandal du jour be “JebGate” or should it be dubbed “PumpGate”??
May 1st, 2007 at 11:58 amIs there literally any SECOND of ANY Bush’s life that is not completely enshrouded in corruption?
May 1st, 2007 at 12:22 pmComment by veritas — May 1, 2007 @ 11:58 am
I don’t think either of these guys is crooked. “Just following orders, sir!”
This is the top guy.
http://www.hqda.army.mil/daen/chief_of_engineers.html
LIEUTENANT GENERAL CARL A. STROCK
Chief of Engineers and Commanding General
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
If his testimony before Congress is any measure, he’s a doubletalking asscoverer just like the rest of them.
He’s retiring.
http://www.hq.usace.army.mil/cepa/pubs/sep06/story2.htm
This poor slob is in “charge” in New Orleans.
http://www.mvn.usace.army.mil/pao/whoweare/orgstruct1.asp
http://www.mvn.usace.army.mil/ hps/ pdf/ Biography-COL%20Wagenaar%20%2007-05.pdf
Col. Richard P. Wagenaar, New Orleans District’s commander and district engineer
He took over about 5 minutes before Katrina hit and he had no idea of what to do or how. I pity him. His Army career was just screwed by poor timing.
May 1st, 2007 at 12:25 pmHe’s retiring, too.
http://www.cbsnews.com/ stories/ 2006/ 12/ 26/ ap/ national/ mainD8M8E5J00.shtml
Well golly, it’s just terrible to see people pick on the administration and all its good Christian compadres. Perhaps someday we can elect people who do more THINKING than BELIEVING, at least with regard to the state of affairs in this world. Oh well, I guess there’s no reason to worry that we have a man in office that believes he deserves to (and eventually will) live forever in peace and splendor once he leaves this world that is, apparently, just not good enough compared to Heaven. Oh, and at least he’s killing all those ‘radical’ terrorist extremists. Hey, it just occurred to me - I might be pissed too if another country, as a matter of course, came into my country (just one of dozens over the past five decades) and helped to destabilize an INDEPENDENT nation.
May 1st, 2007 at 1:59 pmNew Orleans has been flooding for years - I lived there. At least once a year the pumps failed (1990-1998 was when I was there - look it up) and it flooded. It was a surprise to no one that Katrina devastated the city with flooding. They have known since the 1940’s that a hurricane could potentially destroy the city and nothing was ever done about it. Anyone claiming to be shocked either didn’t live there or was utterly removed from reality. When it flooded once a year from a bad rainstorm, what did anyone think would be the end result from a hurricane? Oh, a flood - I’m shocked. Awed even.
May 1st, 2007 at 2:04 pm“Is there literally any SECOND of ANY Bush’s life that is not completely enshrouded in corruption?”
Yes - those are the moments when they are completely incompetent. I’m at a loss one some days to tell which is the worst - the things they intentionally screw up or the accidental ones.
May 1st, 2007 at 2:07 pmComment by Equinox — May 1, 2007 @ 2:04 pm
You’re wrong on almost every one of your points.
1. “At least once a year the pumps failed.” I’ll give you this one. I haven’t lived there year-round since 1985, so I couldn’t say whether the pumps failed while I was away or not.
May 1st, 2007 at 4:04 pm2. “They have known since the 1940’s that a hurricane could potentially destroy the city and nothing was ever done about it.” Evidently you didn’t notice the levees that were built around the City, and that were improved during your stay there. I would hardly call those efforts “nothing.”
4. “It was a surprise to no one that Katrina devastated the city with flooding.” “Anyone claiming to be shocked either didn’t live there or was utterly removed from reality.” I was both shocked and surprised that the levees were so poorly designed and built. I expected the levees to be overtopped before they failed. Engineers can’t be blamed for conditions that exceed those for which they have designed. But, when levees are said to be designed for Category 3 conditions and fail under Category 1 stresses, we can say that the engineers failed. Very shoddy design and construction, that surprises me and every civil engineer I know, was the cause of the flooding.
5. “When it flooded once a year from a bad rainstorm, what did anyone think would be the end result from a hurricane?” Katrina did not flood New Orleans with rainfall. Perhaps you missed the television coverage. Levees failed and Lake Ponchartrain and the Gulf Of Mexico flooded New Orleans. Metairie was flooded by rainfall, but that was due to human error, not the failure of the pumps or of the levees. After the pumping resumed, Metairie was emptied quickly because the levees held, as it always has.
Comment by Equinox — May 1, 2007 @ 2:04 pm
The people of New Orleans have had the experience of levees protecting them for generations. They know what to expect from hurricanes. Your measure of that is the 85+% who evacuated. What shocks and surprises us is two things: 1) how inadequate the levees turned out to be, and 2) how little responsibility the United States of America, the builder and designer of those levees, is willing to accept for its part in that inadequacy.
May 1st, 2007 at 4:21 pmYou people act like this sort of corruption is a surprise. Does your news in the US not tell you what your Republican Party has done since gaining office. To those of us outside the US, who regularly hear about the corrupt activities of the Bush administration, this is just par for the course. When Dubya gets up and talks about freedom and democracy, the rest of the world just chuckles to itself. Your country has neither of those things and no other sane country in the free world would try to emulate the type of “democracy” your country has.
US Democracy == “rules don’t apply to those with money”.
If you think that is just and fair, then continue to believe the hype. If you think that is a load of hypocritical BS, then stop posting on web sites and take action at a local level to make the reality match the rhetoric.
The rest of the world will thank you for it.
May 1st, 2007 at 11:44 pmHalliburton must’ve been too busy counting their money.
May 2nd, 2007 at 10:15 am