Halliburton Loopholes: Solving Challenges with Crony Capitalism (g1a2d0044c1)
HALLIBURTON LOOPHOLES: SOLVING CHALLENGES WITH CRONY CAPITALISM
Global Revolution 1: American Revolution 2: Day 44: Communication 1
IronBoltBruce's Kleptocracy Chronicles for 30 Oct 2011 (g1a2d0044c1)
How many examples of greed and corruption must you see before you act?
"Halliburton Company is an oilfield services company. The
Company's two
business segments are the Completion and Production segment and the
Drilling
and Evaluation segment. The Company provides a range of services and
products for the exploration, development, and production of oil and
natural
gas around the world. It conducts business in approximately 80
countries.
The business operations of its divisions are around four primary
geographic
regions: North America, Latin America, Europe/Africa/CIS, and Middle
East/Asia. During the year ended December 31, 2010, based on the
location of
services provided and products sold, 46% of the revenue was from the
United
States. It has 170 international and 109 United States field camps,
from
which it delivers its services and products. In October 2011, the
Company
acquired Multi-Chem Group LLC."
"Halliburton has become the object of several controversies
involving the
2003 Iraq War and the company's ties to former U.S. Vice President
Dick
Cheney. Cheney retired from the company during the 2000 U.S.
presidential
election campaign with a severance package worth $36 million. As of
2004,
he had received $398,548 in deferred compensation from Halliburton
while
Vice President. Cheney was chairman and CEO of Halliburton Company
from
1995 to 2000 and has received stock options from Halliburton... In
the
run-up to the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded a $7 billion contract
for
which 'unusually' only Halliburton was allowed to bid. Bunnatine
Greenhouse, a civil servant with 20 years of contracting experience,
had
complained to Army officials on numerous occasions that Halliburton
had been
unlawfully receiving special treatment for work in Iraq, Kuwait and
the
Balkans. Criminal investigations were opened by the U.S. Justice
Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the
Pentagon's
inspector general. In one of Greenhouse's claims, she said that
military
auditors caught Halliburton overcharging the Pentagon for fuel
deliveries
into Iraq. She also complained that Defense Secretary Donald
Rumsfeld's
office took control of every aspect of Halliburton's $7 billion Iraqi
oil/infrastructure contract. After her testimony, Greenhouse was
demoted
for poor performance. Greenhouse's attorney, Michael Kohn, stated in
The
New York Times that "she is being demoted because of her strict
adherence to
procurement requirements and the Army's preference to sidestep them
when it
suits their needs."
When Halliburton came under investigation by the Justice Department
Securities and Exchange Commission over allegations of improper
dealings in
Iraq, Kuwait and Nigeria in 2007, it opened a second corporate
headquarters
in the United Arab Emirates city of Dubai and moved its chairman and
chief
executive, David J. Lesar, there... Halliburton remains a US company
subject to US laws, but Dubai has no extradition agreement with the
United
States, meaning that Mr. Lesar could not be compelled to return to the
US to
testify, stand trial or serve any sentence related to any Halliburton
activities under investigation... According to a 2004 GAO report, the
company is incorporated in Delaware, but had 17 subsidiaries in
tax-haven
countries... In February 2007 Whitley Strieber wrote "Congress
was told
that $2.7 billion paid to Halliburton and its subsidiaries and
subcontractors for work done in Iraq was either excessive or
unsupported.
Another upcoming investigation that affects Halliburton is the [then]
current scandal at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The Washington
Post
reported that the Army agreed to privatize the operation of Walter
Reed by
awarding a $120 million contract to IAP Worldwide Services, a
contractor
with connections to KBR, [at that time] a Halliburton
subsidiary."
In February 2011, Desmogblog.com outed Halliburton and other oil and
gas
companies who together set up "Energy in Depth", an industry
front group
that claims to represent "small and independent" operators.
EID's website
was registered by a PR firm experienced in working for companies
engaged in
scientific deception (e.g. Big Tobacco). EID was set up to fight back
after
investigative journalists began to expose problems with hydraulic
fracturing
("fracking") - notably ProPublica.org and the producers of
the
Oscar-nominated documentary "Gasland".
'It was reported that Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission
(EFCC) filed charges against former U.S. Vice-President and
Halliburton CEO
Dick Cheney and officials from five companies, including Halliburton
and
KBR, over a bribery scheme involving the construction of a liquefied
natural
gas (LNG) facility in Nigeria (see pending KBR and Halliburton
instances,
"Nigeria LNG Contracts Bribery (UK Prosecution)"). In
December 2010, EFCC
agreed to drop the charges against Cheney. News accounts reported
Halliburton agreed to pay $250 million in fines; however, Halliburton
stated
in a press release that the amount was $35 million ("$32.5
million to the
FGN [Federal Government of Nigeria] and an additional $2.5 million for
FGN's
attorneys' fees and other expenses.")'
On 12 October 2011 the U.S. Interior Department formally cited BP and
its
two chief contractors - Halliburton and Transocean - for numerous
safety and
environmental violations in the operation of the doomed Deepwater
Horizon
well. The citations, which could lead to millions of dollars in
fines,
arose from an investigation of the April 2010 explosion that killed 11
workers and led to the worst offshore oil spill in American history.
The
department and the Coast Guard found in a report issued last month
that BP,
Transocean and Halliburton had failed to operate the Gulf of Mexico
drilling
rig in a safe and responsible manner, had heedlessly endangered their
workers, had not followed proper well control procedures and had not
properly maintained safety equipment, including the blowout preventer.
The
actions against Transocean, which operated the drilling rig, and
Halliburton, which performed the well cementing job, are the first
time that
the government has cited contractors rather than just a well's
principal
owner, in this case BP, for safety violations.
"Corporate insiders peddling the claim that drilling for methane
gas will
solve America's energy needs just scored big in Washington - and for
these
insiders fracking for gas is very lucrative business. House
Resolution
1380, given the feel-good moniker of the 'New Alternative
Transportation to
Give Americans Solutions Act' or 'NAT GAS Act', was announced on
Wednesday,
April 6 [2011], in the U. S. House of Representatives. The bill is
24-pages
long and rewards the fracking industry with tax credits and products
to help
"drive" consumption. The bigger the vehicle, the more tax
credits given.
This initiative to expand the controversial fracking process - which
has
already resulted in contaminated wells and rivers and even ignitable
tap
water for some - is being spearheaded in Congress by Reps. John
Sullivan
(R-Oklahoma), Dan Boren (D-Oklahoma), John Larson (D-Connecticut), and
Kevin
Brady (R-Texas). The bill has 77 co-sponsors, with 40 Democrats in
support
and 37 Republicans, from 33 different states. But, perhaps its most
powerful supporter or potential supporter is President Barack Obama...
Though hailed by [T. Boone Pickens] and other uncritical observers as
an
"energy efficient solution" and a "clean" energy
resource, this PR spin
ignores the true dangers and consequences of fracking and of the
methane
distribution and consumption process. Fracking - using a drilling
technique
pioneered by Halliburton that forces a concoction of hazardous
chemicals and
drinkable water into shale - has been well-documented in movies like
Gasland, as well as by the Center for Media and Democracy's Water
Portal, as
a dangerous and destructive process that shortchanges land owners,
enriches
drillers, and spoils land and water."
"Public fears are growing about contamination of drinking-water
supplies
from the chemicals used in fracking and from the methane gas itself.
Field
tests show that those worries are not unfounded. A Duke University
study
published in May found that methane levels in dozens of drinking-water
wells
within a kilometer (3,280 feet) of new fracking sites were 17 times
higher
than in wells farther away. Yet states have let companies proceed
without
adequate regulations. They must begin to provide more effective
oversight,
and the federal government should step in, too... In 2005 Congress -
at the
behest of then Vice President Dick Cheney, a former CEO of gas driller
Halliburton - exempted fracking from regulation under the Safe
Drinking
Water Act. Congress needs to close this so-called 'Halliburton
loophole',
as a bill co-sponsored by New York State Representative Maurice
Hinchey
would do. The FRAC Act would also mandate public disclosure of all
chemicals used in fracking across the nation."
Related Image:
ldrlongdistancerider.com/images/Halliburton_Loophole_Frac...
.jpg
Related Videos:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2Nc-kxWfmc
gaslandthemovie.com/about-the-film/synopsis
This document contains links shortened using tinyurl.com to
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###
IT IS NO COINCIDENCE THAT OF THE LAST 14 U.S. PRESIDENTS, 7 HAVE BEEN
DEMOCRATS AND 7 HAVE BEEN REPUBLICANS.
Our Kleptocracy-controlled media focuses on America's two-year
election
cycles as if who wins or loses in the swinging of the pendulum was a
matter
of life or death, when in fact even at the Presidential level it makes
no
more difference than the outcomes of Monday Night Football, American
Idol,
Dancing With The Stars, Hillbilly Handfishing or the trial of Michael
Jackson's doctor. U.S. elections are staged primarily to give Sheeple
the
illusion of control so they will (a) vent their frustrations and
expend
their energy, emotions and resources supporting or attacking the
Puppet on
the Left hand or the Puppet on the Right, and consequently (b) never
recognize and challenge the common omnipotent Puppetmaster.
There was no real change in 2008. There was no real change in 2010.
There
WILL be real change in 2012, but it won't be coming from
tele-brainwashed
couch potatoes, manipulated voter lists, rigged voting machines or
predetermined ballot counts. It will be coming from us...
The 99 Percent
###
I AM NOT ANONYMOUS. I AM AN AMERICAN.
I am not just a Consumer. I am a Citizen.
I will no longer be labeled Left or Right, Liberal or Conservative,
Demopublican or Republocrat.
I will no longer follow Puppets labeled Left or Right, Liberal or
Conservative, Demopublican or Republocrat.
I am the People. And I am coming for the Puppetmasters.
I am part of the 99 Percent. And I demand the following:
1. End the Fed.
2. Reverse Citizens United.
3. Repeal PATRIOT Act.
4. Expose 9/11 Truth.
5. End Profit Wars.
6. Refund Taxpayer Trillions.
7. Imprison the Kleptocrats.
8. Single Term Limits.
Or, if these demands are not addressed promptly:
1. Regime Change.
###
LABELS (A POEM OF PROTEST)
"Democrat", "Republican",
The parties of the system;
Puppets both, for sale their votes,
No character or wisdom.
"Liberal", "Conservative",
For change or status quo?
Pick either one, the change is none,
All charlatans and whores.
Far "Left" we place the Anarchists,
Libertarians claim far "Right";
Yet both decry the government:
False continuum brought to light.
For oil, "We" bomb their mud huts,
Strip them bare, then offer "Aid";
And fake their retribution as
Pretext - a false flag raised.
Unarmed hundred thousands killed
By weapons of "Defense",
While rights are lost for "Freedom" sake -
On profit, all depends.
With stroke of pen, the "Patriot" Act,
And patriots' gifts are taken;
Then "Citizens United" leaves
Our citizens forsaken.
We protest loss of liberties,
Put "World Wide Web" to use;
Cloudmark Authority censors us
For "messaging abuse".
They label us to finger-point,
With labels, "They" deride us;
Their labels keep us all at bay,
For with labels, "They" divide us.
###
JOIN THE GLOBAL REVOLUTION!
Occupy Wall Street/OWS:
Occupy DC/Stop the Machine:
Occupy Together:
Watch these Videos:
tinyurl.com/kleptocracytutorial
Take this Pledge:
How many examples of greed and corruption must you see before you act?
###
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