9/10/01

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  • El_Kabong
    El_Kabong Posts: 4,141
    inmytree wrote:
    if I read the story right, rummy was simply pointing out the fact 2.3 was unaccounted for, I missed the part about curbing spending, anyhoo...here is some praise: oh...woo hoo...after 8 months on the job, he made a statement that 2.3 trillion was missing...good for rummy...

    I have to wonder, could rummy multi-task, you know, do two things at once...? perhaps he could direct someone to look into the matter...perhaps that person could do the work and report back to rummy...

    what do you think...? does that sound like something rummy could do...?


    i think ppl are missing the point that this was only brought up b/c of a whistle blower stepped up...this was his defense saying he'd look into it...if it was such a priority was has been found out, i'd be real curious to see how far this 'investigation' went

    "We know it's gone. But we don't know what they spent it on," said Jim Minnery, Defense Finance and Accounting Service.

    Minnery, a former Marine turned whistle-blower, is risking his job by speaking out for the first time about the millions he noticed were missing from one defense agency's balance sheets. Minnery tried to follow the money trail, even crisscrossing the country looking for records.

    "The director looked at me and said 'Why do you care about this stuff?' It took me aback, you know? My supervisor asking me why I care about doing a good job," said Minnery.

    He was reassigned and says officials then covered up the problem by just writing it off.

    "They have to cover it up," he said. "That's where the corruption comes in. They have to cover up the fact that they can't do the job."

    The Pentagon's Inspector General "partially substantiated" several of Minnery's allegations but could not prove officials tried "to manipulate the financial statements."

    Twenty years ago, Department of Defense Analyst Franklin C. Spinney made headlines exposing what he calls the "accounting games." He's still there, and although he does not speak for the Pentagon, he believes the problem has gotten worse.

    "Those numbers are pie in the sky. The books are cooked routinely year after year," he said.

    Another critic of Pentagon waste, Retired Vice Admiral Jack Shanahan, commanded the Navy's 2nd Fleet the first time Donald Rumsfeld served as Defense Secretary, in 1976.

    In his opinion, "With good financial oversight we could find $48 billion in loose change in that building, without having to hit the taxpayers."
    standin above the crowd
    he had a voice that was strong and loud and
    i swallowed his facade cos i'm so
    eager to identify with
    someone above the crowd
    someone who seemed to feel the same
    someone prepared to lead the way
  • El_Kabong
    El_Kabong Posts: 4,141
    El_Kabong wrote:
    i think ppl are missing the point that this was only brought up b/c of a whistle blower stepped up...this was his defense saying he'd look into it...if it was such a priority was has been found out, i'd be real curious to see how far this 'investigation' went

    "We know it's gone. But we don't know what they spent it on," said Jim Minnery, Defense Finance and Accounting Service.

    Minnery, a former Marine turned whistle-blower, is risking his job by speaking out for the first time about the millions he noticed were missing from one defense agency's balance sheets. Minnery tried to follow the money trail, even crisscrossing the country looking for records.

    "The director looked at me and said 'Why do you care about this stuff?' It took me aback, you know? My supervisor asking me why I care about doing a good job," said Minnery.

    He was reassigned and says officials then covered up the problem by just writing it off.

    "They have to cover it up," he said. "That's where the corruption comes in. They have to cover up the fact that they can't do the job."

    The Pentagon's Inspector General "partially substantiated" several of Minnery's allegations but could not prove officials tried "to manipulate the financial statements."

    Twenty years ago, Department of Defense Analyst Franklin C. Spinney made headlines exposing what he calls the "accounting games." He's still there, and although he does not speak for the Pentagon, he believes the problem has gotten worse.

    "Those numbers are pie in the sky. The books are cooked routinely year after year," he said.

    Another critic of Pentagon waste, Retired Vice Admiral Jack Shanahan, commanded the Navy's 2nd Fleet the first time Donald Rumsfeld served as Defense Secretary, in 1976.

    In his opinion, "With good financial oversight we could find $48 billion in loose change in that building, without having to hit the taxpayers."


    was it something i said?
    standin above the crowd
    he had a voice that was strong and loud and
    i swallowed his facade cos i'm so
    eager to identify with
    someone above the crowd
    someone who seemed to feel the same
    someone prepared to lead the way
  • eden
    eden Posts: 407
    El_Kabong wrote:
    what happened the day before 9/11?

    http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/01/29/eveningnews/main325985.shtml


    "We know it's gone. But we don't know what they spent it on," .


    This is exactly what I have to sit and listen to my boss say to his boss every day in our closed door meetings regarding the Company's accounts payable. UGH!! Its utter hilarity.
  • El_Kabong
    El_Kabong Posts: 4,141
    El_Kabong wrote:
    what happened the day before 9/11?

    http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/01/29/eveningnews/main325985.shtml

    More money for the Pentagon, CBS News Correspondent Vince Gonzales reports, while its own auditors admit the military cannot account for 25 percent of what it spends.

    "According to some estimates we cannot track $2.3 trillion in transactions," Rumsfeld admitted.

    $2.3 trillion — that's $8,000 for every man, woman and child in America. To understand how the Pentagon can lose track of trillions, consider the case of one military accountant who tried to find out what happened to a mere $300 million.

    "We know it's gone. But we don't know what they spent it on," said Jim Minnery, Defense Finance and Accounting Service.


    I wonder if part of Obama's 'modernization' of the military will look into this missing money and fix this corrupt sector?
    standin above the crowd
    he had a voice that was strong and loud and
    i swallowed his facade cos i'm so
    eager to identify with
    someone above the crowd
    someone who seemed to feel the same
    someone prepared to lead the way
  • El_Kabong
    El_Kabong Posts: 4,141
    and, btw, i didn't ask if mccain would b/c i don't think he would. but so far, at least a month or 2 ago, it didn't look like obama got very much money from the defense industry, tho he did seem supportive of private companies like blackwater
    standin above the crowd
    he had a voice that was strong and loud and
    i swallowed his facade cos i'm so
    eager to identify with
    someone above the crowd
    someone who seemed to feel the same
    someone prepared to lead the way
  • DriftingByTheStorm
    DriftingByTheStorm Posts: 8,684
    jlew24asu wrote:
    I'm glad I came over from the porch. this is much more entertaining

    Oh my sweet sweet Jlew.
    How i long for the days of yore.

    HOW I WISH FOR YOU TODAY.
    :(

    :sniff sniff:
    If I was to smile and I held out my hand
    If I opened it now would you not understand?
  • dangerboy
    dangerboy Posts: 1,569
    ok, the article doesn't say, but is the implication here that rumsfeld/DOD spent and lost 2.3 trillion dollars between feb 1 and sept 1 of 2001? why do i find that hard to believe? sounds more like he'd been trying to get a handle on the accounting from a time period that included a good portion of clinton's admin....


    ebay isn't evil people are


    The South is Much Obliged
  • LikeAnOpeningBandForTheSun
    LikeAnOpeningBandForTheSun Posts: 6,097
    this is an oOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooold muthafucking thread.
  • El_Kabong
    El_Kabong Posts: 4,141
    dangerboy wrote:
    ok, the article doesn't say, but is the implication here that rumsfeld/DOD spent and lost 2.3 trillion dollars between feb 1 and sept 1 of 2001? why do i find that hard to believe? sounds more like he'd been trying to get a handle on the accounting from a time period that included a good portion of clinton's admin....

    i don't think the article portrays it as JUST this/that administration.

    what's so hard to believe? seems like??? how did he get a handle on it? what's been done? this is the point!

    all these issues are just something to make a movie about and shake our heads and say 'that's fucked up' or something for a comedian or tv show to make fun of and us all laugh at...but what the fuck are we actually gonna do about it?

    $2.3 TRILLION unaccounted for! and they say we don't have the money for universal health care or a lot of other things??

    so that was my question the other day: will obama do anything to stop this abuse and waste and theft of our tax money? i'm pretty sure mccain wouldn't do jack shit but talk (like rumsfeld did)

    and it makes me wonder w/ obama's talk of 'modernizing' the military b/c look at all the money wasted on that useless missile shield and other failed programs we pay for
    standin above the crowd
    he had a voice that was strong and loud and
    i swallowed his facade cos i'm so
    eager to identify with
    someone above the crowd
    someone who seemed to feel the same
    someone prepared to lead the way
  • Abookamongstthemany
    Abookamongstthemany Posts: 8,209
    El_Kabong wrote:
    and, btw, i didn't ask if mccain would b/c i don't think he would. but so far, at least a month or 2 ago, it didn't look like obama got very much money from the defense industry, tho he did seem supportive of private companies like blackwater


    http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/sectors.php?sector=D

    http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/indus.php?ind=D
    If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they'll kill you.

    Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.
    -Oscar Wilde
  • dangerboy
    dangerboy Posts: 1,569
    El_Kabong wrote:
    i don't think the article portrays it as JUST this/that administration.

    what's so hard to believe? seems like??? how did he get a handle on it? what's been done? this is the point!

    all these issues are just something to make a movie about and shake our heads and say 'that's fucked up' or something for a comedian or tv show to make fun of and us all laugh at...but what the fuck are we actually gonna do about it?

    $2.3 TRILLION unaccounted for! and they say we don't have the money for universal health care or a lot of other things??

    so that was my question the other day: will obama do anything to stop this abuse and waste and theft of our tax money? i'm pretty sure mccain wouldn't do jack shit but talk (like rumsfeld did)

    and it makes me wonder w/ obama's talk of 'modernizing' the military b/c look at all the money wasted on that useless missile shield and other failed programs we pay for

    i'd have to agree that if it was an issue, then it was an issue after 9.11. what's hard to believe is that the bush admin would have spent and lost 2.3 trillion just in the dept of defense in only 7 months. and yes, it seems like it was an issue they were trying to get a handle on. whether they ever actually did or not is another issue. regardless of 9.11 or me being conservative, i'd love to know where that 2.3 trillion went, too....


    ebay isn't evil people are


    The South is Much Obliged

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