A Match Made In Heaven

Blackwater is joining the War on Drugs.  Nope, absolutely no chance anything could go wrong here.

Blackwater’s Iraq contract was extended in April, but the company is by no means betting the house on its long-term presence there. While the firm is quietly maintaining its Iraq work, it is aggressively pursuing other business opportunities.

In September it was revealed that Blackwater had been “tapped” by the Pentagon’s Counter Narcoterrorism Technology Program Office to compete for a share of a five-year, $15 billion budget “to fight terrorists with drug-trade ties.” According to the Army Times, the contract “could include antidrug technologies and equipment, special vehicles and aircraft, communications, security training, pilot training, geographic information systems and in-field support.” A spokesperson for another company bidding for the work said that “80 percent of the work will be overseas.” As Richard Douglas, a deputy assistant secretary of defense, explained, “The fact is, we use Blackwater to do a lot of our training of counternarcotics police in Afghanistan. I have to say that Blackwater has done a very good job.”

Such an arrangement could find Blackwater operating in an arena with the godfathers of the war industry, such as Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon. It could also see Blackwater expanding into Latin America, joining other private security companies well established in the region. The massive US security company DynCorp is already deployed in Colombia, Bolivia and other countries as part of the “war on drugs.” In Colombia alone, US military contractors are receiving nearly half the $630 million in annual US military aid for the country. Just south of the US border, the United States has launched Plan Mexico, a $1.5 billion counternarcotics program. This and similar plans could provide lucrative business opportunities for Blackwater and other companies. “Blackwater USA’s enlistment in the drug war,” observed journalist John Ross, would be “a direct challenge to its stiffest competitor, DynCorp–up until now, the Dallas-basedcorporation has locked up 94 percent of all private drug war security contracts.” The New York Times reported that the contract could be Blackwater’s “biggest job ever.”

Part of me says, hey, maybe this isn’t such a bad idea.  I’ve read that Blackwater employs former special forces soliders, SEALS, Delta, Rangers, etc.  If the Mexican Gulf Cartel has their own private army in Los Zetas, why not send Blackwater down there to operate?

The more rational part of me says what a horrible idea.  The war on drugs is a bad enough idea.  Billions and billions of dollars being spent with nothing to show for it.  Well, nothing positive.  We’ve got plenty of negatives to show for the war on drugs.  A sky-high prison population filled with non-violent offenders, providing an environment where violent drug cartels can thrive, and the eroding of the Constitution, just for a few examples

Throw into this mix private military contractors which operate with little to no oversight, and you’ve got a recipe for disaster.  I’m a little young to remember, but didn’t the US already try letting quasi-military organizations go running around in Latin American back in the 1980’s?  I suppose since we did it then to fight Communism, it can be considered or rationalized as fighting the good fight.  But putting Blackwater on the US/Mexico border?  That sounds like a good way to cause more problems, not solve problems.

Scents of Plum and Newspaper Ink

This is completely off topic, but it’s been slow around here, not much criminal news to write about.

Mrs. BadCourtThingy and I were making dinner last night, and the recipe called for red wine.  Since I’ve read that red wine is good for your heart, I figured I better do my body good and have a couple glasses.  I’m sitting there, drinking, thinking to myself this is a pretty good way to be healthy.  If only they made beer with resveratrol.  Note to self, that’s a million dollar idea.

I’ll preface this by saying, I’m not a wine snob.  I’m a beer snob, but not wine.  I don’t “get” wine.  We’ve got a couple wineries by us and I’ve done the tours.  People say they taste everything from apples to lemons to motor oil when they’re drinking a glass.

Personally, I think that’s a crock.  Here’s what your wine tastes like.  Grapes.  Want to know why it tastes like grapes and not lemons?  Because it was made of grapes.  Maybe you’ll get a taste whatever type of wood was used in the barrel, but that’s it.  It doesn’t smell like newspaper ink.  If it does, you either need to wash your hands or take the newspaper out of your wine bottle.

Crusin’ and Boozin’

I’m actually surprised this story isn’t from Texas.

A Whitehall man learned that on Memorial Day, when he was charged with driving while intoxicated after police pulled him over for swerving and driving on the sidewalk on a four-wheeled, motorized cooler known as a “Cruzin Cooler.”

Leslie J. “Bomber” Marr, 57, could face felony DWI and aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle charges because of prior arrests and convictions in drinking-and-driving cases, said Whitehall Police Chief Richard LaChapelle.

The electricity-powered Cruzin Cooler that Marr was riding contained 14 beers, the chief said. LaChapelle said Whitehall Police Patrolman Andrew Mija stopped Marr at about 7:45 p.m. after the officer saw Marr swerving and preparing to cross William Street on the motorized cooler.

I have two thoughts on the subject.

First, why on earth did I not have one of these for tailgating when I was in college and law school?  My school had a pretty big campus, the Cruzin Cooler would have been perfect for going from tailgate to tailgate without having to lug all the beers needed to make me forget how bad the football was going to do.

Second, would this hold up in Texas?  Texas Penal Code 49.04 simply states that “[a] person commits and offense if the person is intoxicated and operating a motor vehicle in a public place.”  OK, so is the Cruzin Cooler a motor vehicle?  Unfortunately, yes.  Texas Transportation Code 541.201(11) states that “‘Motor Vehicle’ means a self-propelled vehicle or a vehicle that is propelled by electric power from overhead trolley wires.”

Darn.  Still, motorized coolers, and to think in my last post I wondered whether they United States had what it takes to stay at the top of the food chain.  When you’ve got a country with the ingenuity to put a motor and wheels on a cooler, well, it’s tough to top that.

Down The Tubes

It finally happened. No, not a nasty letter from the State Bar. It finally cost me over 50 dollars to fill up my gas tank, $51.00 to be exact. I knew this day was coming, the cost to fill up my tank has been going for in the 30 dollar range, to the low 40’s, then the high 40’s, and now finally it breaks 50.

Scott had two recent posts that got me thinking about this topic more. The first was discussing an New York Times article (I have to stop reading these articles from the Times, I’m going to get kicked out of Texas) by Thomas Friedman.   The second is about our love for trucks and SUVs.

Basically, Friedman states in his column that with the way things are going, he who has the oil is going to make the rules.  While that’s probably an accurate statement of the world today, he states the balance of power is going to keep shifting, and even the mighty United States, with all our advantages, may be reduced to Canada-like status.

The failure of Mr. Bush to fully mobilize the most powerful innovation engine in the world — the U.S. economy — to produce a scalable alternative to oil has helped to fuel the rise of a collection of petro-authoritarian states — from Russia to Venezuela to Iran — that are reshaping global politics in their own image.

If this huge transfer of wealth to the petro-authoritarians continues, power will follow. According to Congressional testimony Wednesday by the energy expert Gal Luft, with oil at $200 a barrel, OPEC could “potentially buy Bank of America in one month worth of production, Apple computers in a week and General Motors in just three days.”

Friedman then wonders how the US its going to pull its collective bacon out of the fire this time.

For too long, argues Zakaria, America has taken its many natural assets — its research universities, free markets and diversity of human talent — and assumed that they will always compensate for our low savings rate or absence of a health care system or any strategic plan to improve our competitiveness.

“That was fine in a world when a lot of other countries were not performing,” argues Zakaria, but now the best of the rest are running fast, working hard, saving well and thinking long term. “They have adopted our lessons and are playing our game,” he said. If we don’t fix our political system and start thinking strategically about how to improve our competitiveness, he added, “the U.S. risks having its unique and advantageous position in the world erode as other countries rise.

Scott’s take on the article is that Friedman is confident the U.S. will figure out something, and everything will turn out fine.  He (Scott) goes on to say he’s not as confident, and what’s going to happen if there is no magic bullet.

This is what Friedman talks about when he remains optimistic about encouraging the United States economy to perform its magic yet again.  He believes in miracles.  He believes that our captains of industry, our engineers, our scientists will come up with something, anything, to save the day if only we push them.

What if they don’t?  There is no guarantee that another internet will come along just in the nick of time to save the day.  Maybe we’ve used up our good fortune.  Maybe the ride is over.  You only get so much good luck before your luck runs dry.

Friedman may be right, that we still have some juice in the economy to pull us out of this jam.  Perhaps “Mr. Fusion” is right around the corner, and the rest of the world will come running to us for their needs.  But even so, can we count on another miracle to come along the next time?  And as long as Americans continue to hide our heads in the sand, there will most assuredly be a next time.

I disagree with Scott that Friedman is optimistic.  Maybe I’m reading the article wrong, or perhaps he’s a regular reader of Friedman, but I don’t take from this article that Friedman is especially optimistic.  However, I agree with Scott that keeping our heads in the sand and just hoping that something will come along to save us isn’t a good way to handle the situation.  I don’t know what the answer is, assuming there is one.  I’m just a simple country lawyer.  But I do know that the current path isn’t the answer.

Will Snitch For Cash

As a Texan, I normally wouldn’t read the New York Times. Heck, I kind of feel like a traitor when I read the Scott’s and Gideon’s blogs. But, since I got this story from The Consumerist, I figure I won’t get kicked out and sent to Oklahoma.

According to The Old Grey Lady, thanks to our shaky economy, and the rising prices for food and fuel, people are turning to ratting out their neighbors for money.

To gas prices, foreclosure rates and the cost of rice, add this rising economic indicator: the number of tips to the police from people hoping to collect reward money

Calls to the Southwest Florida Crime Stoppers hot line in the first quarter of this year were up 30 percent over last year. San Antonio had a 44 percent increase. Cities and towns from Detroit to Omaha to Beaufort County, N.C., all report increases of 25 percent or more in the first quarter, with tipsters telling operators they need the money for rent, light bills or baby formula.

“For this year, everyone that’s called has pretty much been just looking for money,” said Sgt. Lawrence Beller, who answers Crime Stoppers calls at the Sussex County, N.J., sheriff’s office. “That’s as opposed to the last couple of years, where some people were just sick of the crime and wanting to do something about it.”

I admit, I never would have thought this would be a good way to make some money.  When I was in college, we’d do some strange things for money.  Wonder if my school would have paid me for ratting out my friends who were drinking while underage.

The article goes on to say, some people are even making this their job.

Some people have made a cottage industry of calling in tips. Although repeat callers do not give their names, operators recognize their voices.

“We have people out there that, realistically, this could be their job,” said Sgt. Zachary Self, who answers Crime Stoppers calls for the Macon Police Department.

“Two or three arrests per week, you could make $700, $750 per week,” Sergeant Self said. “You could make better than a minimum-wage job.”

At $700 a week in tips, that’s roughly the equivilent of  having a job that pays $17.00 an hour.  That’s pretty good money.  If times are tough, that’s a lot easier than getting a second job or selling plasma.

I have to admit though, it really strikes me as something out of East Germany during The Cold War.  People ready to sell out their neighbors, or family members at a moment’s notice.

In some cases, the quality of the tips is lagging as people grasp for any shred of information that might result in an arrest. A woman in Macon, for example, recently called to report that a family member — who was wanted for burglary and whose name and address were already known to the police — was at home. His home.

I bet that’s going to be an awkward Thanksgiving.