Comments on: Obama’s Passport. Who cares?

By: Michael van der Galien

Michael van der Galien — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 18:38:33 +0000

The Israeli Mossad was connected with the passport breach. The problem is that the media, who favor Obama, are using this story to cover up the Wright Scandal.

The Mossad? Sure. Those pesky Jews again.

By: Stan

Stan — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 17:50:33 +0000

admin: duplicated spamming accounts = ban

By: Cheryl

Cheryl — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 17:40:21 +0000

Hi Interested-no sorry, that’s not how I understand federal or state government contracting. Employees to the federal government are akin to indentured servants as compared with the freedom contractors are able to exercise. That’s why the federal government uses contractors - they use them to exercise more latitude, not less than federal government employees are able to, depending on how they write the contract. Contractors have absolutely nothing to deal with compared to the rules and regulations that governing government employees. A government employee can’t even have a contractor buy lunch (even innocently). As a contractor, I can go out and buy my subcontractor lunch or my subcontractor can buy me lunch. But a government employee - oh, noooo. That’s why alot of employees get out of the goverment and go work for contractors or grantees. Often they want to make more money, but many times, they want to have a bit more freedom in how they do their work and that’s more negotiable within their company’s contract mechanisms than it is as a direct employee of the government. That’s all contractors, Blackwater, the company that was apparently involved in this State Dept mess (Stanley, Inc.), individual proprietary contractors, etc.

By: Interested

Interested — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 15:27:15 +0000

Interested - No, federal employees are, by law, much more accountable to the Federal government than are contractors. Just look at the Blackwater case, if you haven’t been keeping up with it.

Wrong, Blackwater had specific items in their contract with the Federal Gov’t. If you are going to compare - you have to compare on an equal basis. Unless you are saying that the Passport folks have an equal contract as Blackwater. Carrying firearms to work and all that.

By: Cheryl

Cheryl — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 15:18:07 +0000

Interested - No, federal employees are, by law, much more accountable to the Federal government than are contractors. Just look at the Blackwater case, if you haven’t been keeping up with it. They’re still trying to figure how & if they can prosecute these guys. So far, all that’s happened is that they’ve been fired and they’re trying to figure out what laws apply in that case. I can tell you, I worked for a federal contractor that was audited, was caught with ’some problems’ in their books. That company still has it most of its government contracts. If it had been an employee caught doing the same thing this company did, they would have been fired, threatened with prosecution or prosecuted. All the employees left due to the unethical & dangerous behavior of the company, but they still have their contract.
And Herb, its really simplistic to say that the media favors Obama. Like any range of media outlets, some favor Obama, others favor Clinton & still others favor McCain. My take is that the Rev. Wright & Geraldine Ferraro’s story are being used to cover up the fact that John McCain, himself, not has pastor or someone associated with his campaign has been caught on tape directly responding to a question from an audience member during a Q & A session when the questioner called Hillary Clinton a bitch. Hmmm - I wondered why that clip hasn’t been aired repeatedly on FOX, MSNBC, etc. and why John McCain hasn’t been asked to respond repeatedly to his own words? Alas, the double standard in the US is always in operation - John McCain gets a pass on his own statements while the first woman & African American to run for president must respond to other people’s words. All just depends on where you sit as to whether you see the contradictions.

By: Interested

Interested — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 07:01:31 +0000

Although in this case, the contractors may be presecuted, the ‘bar’ for the employee is much higher and they’re much more easy to prosecute as employees.

As a Federal Contractor I cannot agree with that, if anything we are held higher than Federal employees - we are accountable to an additional level. I am surprised that your Fed Contract is not as well.

By: Jason

Jason — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 03:56:12 +0000

So it was Officer Ziva David in the State Dep’t with a computer. Got it.

By: Herb

Herb — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 03:48:46 +0000

The Israeli Mossad was connected with the passport breach. The problem is that the media, who favor Obama, are using this story to cover up the Wright Scandal.

By: Cheryl

Cheryl — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 02:19:35 +0000

Claudia & Interested-

Yes, you’ve both got it. Background checks are more extensive now than they have ever been. However, you may pass a background check, but it still doesn’t mean you pass ‘the integrity test.’ Half of this administration passed the most extensive background checks and look at the level of ethical integrity (or lack thereof) of the top tier of this administration. You can still be dishonest and pass all the tests. It seems to me that they’re only ’spot monitoring’ for breaches like this, so they might not catch something like this for months.

And yes, this company should be sanctioned. This is why its better to use as few contractors as possible and to rely on gov’t employees. The level of accountability is much higher for an employee. We have seen this same problem in Iraq. A US soldier is legally bound to obey US laws in the war zone and can be prosecuted. Although in this case, the contractors may be presecuted, the ‘bar’ for the employee is much higher and they’re much more easy to prosecute as employees.

Also, the headquarters of State Dept. not known for excellence in management in just about anything. This is not surprising in some ways. These organizations are just too big - often, the ‘lefthand’ doesn’t know what the ‘righthand’ is doing.

By: Interested

Interested — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 00:24:41 +0000

actually Cheryl, The Contract need to be revoked. That is the only prudent measure for the Gov’t to take, simply firing the employees is not enough accountability.