Who Is Profiting From New Orleans Cleanup?

The Baton Rouge-based Shaw Group, CNN tells us, is a major corporate client of Joe Allbaugh, President Bush's former campaign manager and a former head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Among its Katrina-related contracts are this one valued up to $100 million from FEMA; and this one also valued up to $100 million from the Army Corps of Engineers.

But in their zeal to embarrass the Bush administration, CNN overlooks one very fat and inconvenient fact--and embarrasses only itself.

The Shaw Group, a multi-billion-dollar conglomerate, is headed by Jim Bernhard, the current chairman of the Louisiana Democratic Party. Bernhard worked tirelessly for Democrat Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco's runoff campaign and served as co-chair of her transition team. Another Shaw executive was Blanco's campaign manager. Bernhard is back-scratching chums with Blanco, whom he has lent/offered the Shaw Group's corporate jets to on numerous occasions.


Fortunately for CNN, they weren't the only ones guilty of this glaring omission:

UPI.

The London Observer.

And Reuters/MSNBC. And the CBC.

And the NYTimes (reprinted in the Minnesota Star Tribune, the Houston Chronicle, the Scotsman, and scores of media outlets around the world).

Mistake or.... michellemalkin.com...

Great find Psychomike

If i had any way above votes left I would give it to you.

[edit on 12-9-2005 by Muaddib]

Is CNN full of liberal hacks, incompetent, or both?

I can't believe some people still claim there's no bias in the media.

[edit on 9/12/2005 by djohnsto77]

If there's any bias in the media it's pro-government, pro-White House.

At any rate:

Wait a moment, you are making a big deal because in a blog by MICHELLE MALKIN BRINGS THE FACT THAT IS TIES BETWEEN THE Shaw Group and headed by Jim Bernhard, the current chairman of the Louisiana Democratic Party.

Well I guess the littler people is given the chance to get something out of what will left to profit after the big guys in the big Bechtel National Inc, Halliburton Co. subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root get first serve.

It so bad for some other people none members of the Cheney elite to profit?

I have to said is not justice in this world. Some will get Billions other only millions, is not justice in this corporate American.

Experts say it has been common practice in both Republican and Democratic administrations for policy makers to take lobbying jobs once they leave office, and many of the same companies seeking contracts in the wake of Hurricane Katrina have already received billions of dollars for work in Iraq.

The media is so bias. He,he,

www.cnn.com...

Michelle Malkin's blog, from what I can tell, serves no purpose whatsoever, in general. Fox News , Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and other media boot-lickers of the administration reach a much wider audience than she does, and she really only parrots things they are saying. American neo-cons have a steady diet now, it seems---they can read trhe Washington Times in the morning, turn on right-wing talk radio all day at work, read neocon blogs while they are supposed to be working, then watch FoxNews all night when they get home. It's really no wonder so many of these people seem brain-dead, since they just feed themselves a steady diet of the same opinions all day, every day, delivered in the same blustering style. If right-wingers were truly secure and confident in their opinions, it seems to me that they would not spend so much of their time attacking their critics ans being unpatriotic and unamerican, and they would also be willing to admit that Bush is a fallible human being that occasionally makes mistakes. The fact that they are unable or unwilling to do either strikes me as being very insecure and immature. If I say'Bush sucks" to a conservative, the typical response I will get it not "no he doesn't," it's "why do you hate America?" As if Bush and America are one and the same thing. If you ask a neocon to name anything bad Bush has done, most of them will tell you "nothing." It's not that they just like the guy---they literally almost worship him, he is their living hero much the same way Reagan was. Tell them Bush is a drunk, coked-out idiot who has been having a long-running homsexual affair with the mayor of Knoxville,Tennesse (admittedly all rumors, but much more provable rumors than the ruors that he aactually has a brain) , and you will be in for a fight. I am not against these people having their opinions, they are entitled to be as dim-witted as they like, but please---learn to separate love for your country from love for Bush, and learn to see that he is a human being, not a god---unless David Icke is right and he's a lizard, which kinda makes sense, now that I think about it.
---Ryan

Hey RyanC maybe the neocons would be a little less sensitive about your attacks on Bush if they were based more on fact and less on the parroted lines fed to YOU by the LEFTWING media!! How is it that any Republican in office is trounced in the vast leftwing media as an "idiot" and a "nazi" "hypocrite"or many more leftist catch words. Those of us who are conservative (or Libertarian in my case) have heard this bilge all before and we know where it comes from. We are tired of the Leftwing media driven PR game and from all of the polls SO IS MOST OF AMERICA!! Balanced media or as you like to lable it "rightwing media" is so successful because the people want to hear both sides of the story and get news without opinion or at least with a stated up front opinion. When someone tunes into Hanity or Rush they know what they are getting. Turn on ABC and you thought you were getting objective jounalism but instead were being injected with far left liberal media spin!
Conservatives are very willing to openly discuss what Bush has done wrong but we are not willing to sit and put up with the personal attacks on his character and his past. Discuss facts and actions in a logical manor and you will get the conversation you say you want. But you demonstrate you are not willing to listen to logic ( and may not be capable of it) by your adolescent "Bush Sucks" opening argument!

First off, you're judging a lot by assuming that I use a "bush sucks" opening argument. I was speaking hypthetically, although it maybe my fault for not amking myself clear , in which case the misunderstanding is my responsibility ( there, I can accept responsibility for something I either did wrong or may have done wonr---has Bush ever done that?), and while you are right that people know exactly what they are getting by turning into administration boot-lickers like Hannity or Rush and they certainly make their biases known, I would like for you to please point out one---just one---concrete example of a liberal bias on ABC or NBC news or CNN---or, even as you say, a "far-left" bias. From what I can tell, although this is certainly only my own opinion, Bush gets a pretty free ride from these guys. "Far-kleft" opinion gets almost zero representation in the mainstream media---ever seen a socialist or Green party member interviewed about anything? Ever seen their views presented as legitimate? The last "far" left person I can remember getting any minstream media airtime is Ralph Nader in 2000. Other than that, the dull, mainstream pseudo-"left" of the Democratic Party is all we are fed. As a libertarian yourself, you should also be appalled that Libertarians never get much press attention, even though Ron Paul is an excellent congressman, one of the few good people in Washington.
As for concrete examples of Bush's terrible incompetence or idiocy, the list is endless: The Patriot Act (as a Libertarian this legislation should appall you), mishandling of almost every aspect of teh Iraq war, which looks liek an absolute quagmire, the medicare prescription drug bill that will cost tens of billions and is a free handout to drug companies, the appointment of the incompetent and unqualified Michael Brown to head FEMA, the creation of the Department of Homeland "security" (another development that I would guess to be appalling to a Libertarian), staying on vacation until the third day of Hurricane katrina---the list of legitimate,policy-difference gripes I and many others have with this guy is endless. You're absolutely right, though, it's better to lay out all those arguments from the get-go and then say, "those are the reasons I think Bush sucks." Now, like I say, if you have time, I would love to see a recent concrete example of a leftist bias in the media, particularly a "far-left" bias.
---Ryan

Well we are hi-jacking this thread but here goes!!
First off I will avoid the overall issue of the war in Iraq. I consider opposition to this war as far left and to avoid a long sidetracked debate I will stick to a specific details only.
1. Ideas I consider far left:
A. will be followed by media examples:

1. Refusing to call "terrorist" terrorist!
A This idea runs through so many leftist media outlets but is most common place in Reuters, The BBC and, The NYT! I am not speaking so much as to the lableing as much as giving legitamacy to the idea that terrorist activities are perfectly normal means of acheiving a political goal!

2. Global warming.
B This pseudo scientific theory is excepted fact among media elite. Countless scientist are brought before the camera to profess all kinds of enviromental ills that can be atributed to "global warming". Never is the growing alternative view given air time. No rebutal is given for what is presented as scientific fact that is in fact a theory based on little physical evidence and computer models. The most recent example is the amount of airtime given to the idea that Hurricans have grown in intensity because of Global Warming. Only on Fox or the Weather channel have we seen any meteorologist (sp) explain the cycle of storms which goes back many many years.

Those are 2 biggies lets get to general bias!

3. Always calling a Republican a "Conservative" or "right wing" but never calling a Democrat a "liberal" or "left wing".
C. Just watch tonights coverage of the John Roberts hearings and see how the members are identified!

4. The total ignorance of the religious far left.
D Plenty of air time is given to the religious right (who are nuts) but no time is given to investigating or bringing to light the political activities of the far left religious nuts like the "Council of Churches". Think back to the Ellian Gonzoles affair and look for any mention as to which group was largly responsible for deporting that boy back to Commie Cuba!

5 Gun Control
E I do not know even where to begin!! Just watch the next time someone uses a gun for self defense and see how it plays on your local news if it plays at all! A perfect example was the shooting at a Texas community college ( IIRC) which was ended by students. In the press the Students "detained" the shooter. What got no mention was just how they "detained" him!! They went to their cars and got THEIR guns and held the shooter until police could arrive! This is systimatic of the liberal belief that you have no RIGHT to defend yourself or your property. The liberal line is that the job of defending you is the sole responsibility of the government. Recent events in LA prove that to depend on any level of government for your protection is suicide!

Shall I go on Ryan?
I have no love of many of the components of the Patriot act. I have no love for the big spending of the Bush Administration. I do however support the president in the war because I believe it is the right thing to do. I believe that we can all as Americans sit around and debate Taxes and government programs till we are blue in the face. None of these debates need to resort to personal attacks. But for Liberals to seek attention in the world media and drag the US through the mud because we choose to excercise our right to defend our interest or to defend our friend Israel that is treacherous and seditious. I am a libertarian but I am not a pacifist nor do I think those ideas are incompatable. I am a Patriot and I believe that to defame the US in the court of world opinion is the same as letting someone beat your brother to a pulp and not raising a finger to help! Blood is thicker than EuroTrash approval!

Well, you have strong opinions, and I have to give you credit for knowing your mind, but needless to say I don't agree with anything you say, and we could go back and forth for ages and neither of us would budge an inch, nor should we, since everyone is entitled to their opinion. That being said, I do have one comment in all due respect, which is that your opinion of what consitutes "far left" is pretty far to the right, if you consider opposition to the Iraq war debacle to be far left. Here in Minneapolis, I would guess that support for the war is probably---no kidding---in the neighborhood of 10 percent. For the state of Minnesota as a whole, it might be in the 30 percent range at this point. By current logic, that would make war opposition "mainstream" at this point. Also, global warming theories are more or less mainstream accepted scientific opinion, as well, and it is the far right---at this point the far , way far, intergalactic right---that holds onto hope that it's not true, and that's about it.
I agree with your points on gun control, I guess we have one area where we can philosophically get along. I think if cops or homeland security agents are breaking into your home, they should be nervous! In my opinion if guns are outlawed we will have to worry a hell of a lot more about cops than about criminals, and I am as stridently oppsed to gun control as any right-winger you will meet.
The religious left point----man, I dunno, I have to disagree, the Elian Gonzalez case was really a bad example from all sides of the issue---it turned out that the family was being paid something like two thousand bucks a week in cash in brown paper bags from anti-Castro groups, then the cash dried up the second the kid left, and come on---like "commie Cuba" or not, the kid was basically kidnapped by his mother, who did not have elgal custody of him , and when she died, it only made sense to give him back to his dad---you would think a conservative person would believe in keeping the family together when possible. Oh, and that photo with the FBI guy pointing his gun at them in the closet---plenty of reports that photo was staged. Love or hate Cuba, it does make sense for Elian Gonzalez to be with his surviving relative now that his mother is dead---and even if she were alive, the dad would have pretty solid grounds to file an international kidnapping claim.
This could go on forever, and like I said we both have strong opinions that won't be budging, but I'm happy to debate you on good honest terms like those you have abided by here anytime, and maybe prove to you someday that anti-war is not the same as being anti-American ( and it's not at all treasonous to disagree with TeamBush or any US administration, or to oppose the apartheid-genocidal government of Israel ) , so I'm sure our paths will cross again, but out of respect we had probably let this thread go back to its original intent for the time being. Thansk for stating your points clearly and with a minimum of hyperbole.
---Ryan

Yes I do not want to hijack this thread. My beliefs are what they are and yours are yours. I beleive the media is dominated by far left journalist who pusha leftist agenda and the original point of this thread is another example. Making every effort to link the Katrina clean-up contract awarded to KBR (haliburton) seem to be nefarious and pointing out that the Shaw group is linked to former Bush officials. But then making no mention of the Shaw groups links to the Democratic Machine in LA/NO. I think this is a clear cut example of what I am speaking of. ANYWAY lets move on.

Does anyone have a problem with someone making a profit for providing clean up services? I for one do not as you may guess I have a problem with companies over charging the US government but with the amount of regulations and hoops and red tape you have to jump through to even get a government contract maybe it does cost them a lot to do the work? Provided there is sufficient cost analysis and budget oversite I guess its no a big deal. Lets just see how much they waste! I personally would like to get Haliburton to pay back funds it overcharged for gas delivery during the invasion but hey!

Originally posted by marg6043
Wait a moment, you are making a big deal because in a blog by MICHELLE MALKIN BRINGS THE FACT THAT IS TIES BETWEEN THE Shaw Group and headed by Jim Bernhard, the current chairman of the Louisiana Democratic Party.

Well I guess the littler people is given the chance to get something out of what will left to profit after the big guys in the big Bechtel National Inc, Halliburton Co. subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root get first serve.

It so bad for some other people none members of the Cheney elite to profit?

I have to said is not justice in this world. Some will get Billions other only millions, is not justice in this corporate American.

The media is so bias. He,he,

www.cnn.com...

So bias media am in NO for contracts to benefit the rich, as usual. Bushies and Halliburton getting gazillions and millions while corporate America not justice gives nothing. Unbelievable! How many people not seeing justice for Bushies and corprporate contracts because Cheney said so? It's about time that neocons give back justice halliburton stold with Cheney and Bushie and there little corporate justice for the poor! Like said I, unbelievable.

Hehe bias I so am in media taking.

WTF