Private contractors have been relied on by the armed forces since the end of the Vietnam war when the United States decided on an all-volunteer military. With an estimated 160,000 private contractors working in Iraq now, some 50,000 of them operatives, or fighters, it is impossible to question the necessity of their numbers if we are to sustain the “war on terror.” However, it appears as if Blackwater USA is doing more to inhibit success in Iraq than to aid it…or at least it was back in 2007.

While escorting a convoy of U.S. State Department vehicles to Baghdad, Blackwater guards opened fire without provocation, according to U.S. military reports, killing 17 Iraqis.

Iraqi authorities, at the time, demanded that all contracts with Blackwater be severed by the U.S. government within six months, and that $8 million in compensation be paid to each of the 17 people killed in this apparent slaughter.

Iraqis were incensed by these killings, speaking of haughty, trigger-happy guards terrorizing ordinary citizens.
Of course, this little incident only further strained Iraqi sentiment toward American intervention in Iraq, and also set up a more dangerous work environment for our American soldiers.

Since 2004, private contractors in Iraq have been granted immunity under Iraqi law by U.S. authorities. Not until this incident did the Iraqi government speak up, hitting on the fact that Blackwater’s license to operate in Iraq expired in June 2006, and that only through Iraqi courts should charges against these operatives be reviewed.

The year 2007 saw 56 shooting incidents, alone, involving Blackwater, and another report accounted for 27 deaths and 21 wounded Iraqi civilians. With that in mind, surely, American authorities went ahead and passed an amendment to the defense authorization bill last November, which places private contractors under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, exposing them to a court martial just like any other American solider.

Although these privately subcontracted military companies supply much of the man-power required to fight such a large-scale war, it only takes a small portion to shift progress and provide hugely damaging set-backs.

Okay, so this is all well and good, right? It’s so funny that just two years ago, when Blackwater was in just about every daily newspaper that the group’s gone completely out of the news as of late. What happened to Blackwater? Let me tell you.

It was announced in back in February of this year that the company would change its name to “Xe.” (Kind of interesting, or funny, depending on your perspective, that this new name shares the same characters with a popular foreign exchange site.) The company’s president, Gary Jackson, wrote in a memo to employees that the new name “reflects the change in company focus away from the business of providing private security.” Translation: We’re changing the name to shed some of that bad rap from the incident that brought so much controversy two years ago.

Currently, Blackwater, ahem, Xe, no longer has a license to operate in Iraq, seeing as how the new Iraqi government made several attempts to get them out of their country, and denied its application for an operating license back in January of this year. BUT, the company is still under contract with the State Department and some of the company personnel will likely remain in Iraq at least until September.

I say that these private contractors, essentially, serve a purpose in war time, such as it is. Just as long as they keep things quiet.

Sportsmanship.  It’s what all little kids are taught when they start playing sports for the first time, learning the rules of the game and the behavioral conduct at which they are supposed to adhere.  The whole point is to uphold the spirit of the game and keep it as a game; not some televised form of war or a street fight.  The rules of the game are set to outline how the game is played, and most players and coaches follow the rules (while some act unethically in their attempts at skirting the rules, sometimes successful but only for a short while).  Behavioral conduct that makes up the ‘unwritten’ rules regard sportsmanship.  

Terrell Owens, being a drama queen for all his seasons, is highly regarded as unsportsmanlike in his diva-like calls for attention. From bashing his teammates, creating hostile environments within the locker room, to calling a press conference while on suspension to televise a workout.

(more…)

Bernie Madoff played uncle to the world’s rich.  He comforted those who had family struggles, promised great things to the Hollywood elite, and controlled a mass of wealth at $171 billion.  And all he asked for in return was your trust.

That’s when Uncle Bernie slid the knife into his clients’ backs.

(more…)

Though the world saw very little of the little Jackson crew – Michael Joseph Jackson Jr., 12, Paris Michael Katherine Jackson, 11, and Prince Michael Jackson II, 7 – the world seems to be just a bit worried and is certainly wondering about what’s going to happen to Jackson babes now that King Michael is gone.

In an article published by USA Today, it was confirmed (at least until the family’s hearing scheduled for Aug. 3) that M.J.’s mother, Katherine, will care for the kids, since it appears that Jackson departed without a valid will.

What I’m wondering, and I’m sure you all are too, is where in the world is Ms. Debbie Rowe, Jackson’s strange (rather than estranged) ex-wife in all this? She is, in fact, the mother of the oldest of Jackson’s children.

(more…)

As a great friend of mine once said, “Love is weird sometimes.” The following two stories are proof.

Our first story starts on a dark summer’s night in May. Twenty-one-year-old Richard McTear Jr. was with the woman he loved, 17-year-old Jasmine Bedwell and her adorable 3-month-old son. As Richard looked at Jasmine, he was overwhelmed by her beauty and could do nothing but…attack her.

To further prove his love to her, he took her baby, Emanuel Wesley Murray and threw him onto the concrete. When he saw this wasn’t enough, McTear drove off with Jasmine’s baby and threw him from a car window while driving on the highway.

Baby Emanuel died.

(more…)

It’s been more than 50 years since the start of the Civil Rights Movement. So much has taken place in those short decades, but it’s hard to imagine, for me, a world much different than today, with so many opportunities for so many different people. I was born in the ’80s, so I really have no perspective on what took place in those crucial years. I thought it might be interesting to take a look back and interview some people who actually experienced the movement to see what they have to say after all these years, paying particular attention to the the black movement and the idea of racism.

(What I found may surprise you. I know it did me.)

(more…)

It’s not been an easy year for any of the world’s economies.  The housing market crumbled and took down banks and brokerages left and right, destroyed the American auto industry, which was once regarded too big to fail, and sapped the U.S. economy alone for over $1 trillion in stimulus money attempting to slow the free fall and break us out from the worst economic situation we’ve had in most of our lifetimes.

Unemployment has shot up, with the national average nearing 10 percent, while some metropolitan areas, such as El Centro, Calif., are looking at upwards of 26.9 percent unemployment.  

Jobs are hard to come by, and to make matters worse, jobs that pay enough to make ends meet are even more scarce.

There is, however, one group of people that the media keeps claiming are the beneficiaries of the moment: college students.  Student loans, scholarships, grants and cheap living make lives for these individuals easier, according to the news outlets and general consensus.  

I beg to differ on the matter.

(more…)

Americans have what must be the shortest memory of any modern society, eagerly placing the blame on the nearest figurehead available, failing to use reason and rational thinking to seek the root of any problem.  Our society has long relied on storytellers to give us the details on a platter, and for us to follow blindly without looking into history and precedent set to determine where the truth may be hidden behind a veil of lies and misdirection.

Take the economy for instance.  America blames Bush for our economic turmoil, much to the public’s own ignorance.  He provided a convenient scapegoat for all the troubles in foreign policy with the wars around the world to our dismay at our economic stability on the domestic front.  His goofy grin and poor public speaking ability allowed the populace to mock him at will, believing him to be incompetent.  Unfortunately, competence does not always come hand in hand with charisma, otherwise Obama would be the savior a blind America has hoped for and yet has not seen.

The root of our economic problems sits before our former President Bush.  Our problem rests in a man known for his fiasco in Yugoslavia, his bombing of the no-fly zone in Iraq, and the military SNAFU he caused in Somalia.  Oh, and he is also known for not knowing the definition of the word ‘is’ and of ‘not’ having sexual relations with one Monica Lewinsky.

Yes, America’s herpes has come out of remission once again: Bill Clinton.

(more…)

As his blue eyes peer out from behind no-frame glasses, 71-year-old inventor Bob Rigby sits drinking his second coffee of the morning. Born and raised in Venice, Fla., Rigby is familiar with the area and smiles at each person walking by.

Rigby has experienced all that comes with growing up on the Gulf Coast of Florida, including red tide. After seeing some of its terrible affects, he decided to take matters into his own hands, and in 1992, he began research to find a cure.

Nine years later, Rigby found it.

(more…)

The King of Pop, the Man in the Mirror, the Moonwalker…is dead at age 50, the result of cardiac arrest, according to various news reports.

Of course, this isn’t news to you. The headline’s been running nonstop since word first surfaced around 12:30 p.m. PST, yesterday, June 25, that Michael Jackson has left the building for the last time. But can you believe it? Has it sunk in yet?

(more…)