Paul E. Ester's Flogger

On Jan. 31, 1945, Hamtramck-born Eddie Slovik was executed by firing a squad near the village of Ste-Marie aux Mines for the crime of desertion. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, supreme allied commander, personally ordered the execution during the closing days of World War II in order to deter other potential deserters.

Ê Ê During World War II, 21,049 American military personel were convicted of desertion, 49 were sentenced to death, but only Pvt. Slovik paid the ultimate price. In fact, he was the only American soldier to be executed for desertion since the American Civil War…. Rest of Article

Note the GI (Top) holding his head in sympathy pain.

Federal law requires Members of Congress to forgo Congressional pay for days missed due to campaign appearances or other unexcused absences. In June 2003 National Taxpayers Union wrote to each of the six Presidential candidates serving in Congress to ask whether they planned “to voluntarily follow this law during your campaign.” None of the candidates replied.


Here are the estimated salary overpayments made to each of the six Presidential and/or Vice Presidential candidates:


Senator John Edwards was absent for every vote during 52 of the 115 days when the Senate cast floor votes in 2003. In 2004, Senator Edwards missed every vote during the months of July, September, and October Ð a total of 59 consecutive votes. Senator Edwards’ 50 absent days in 2004 equal an estimated salary overpayment of $63,543.16.


Representative Richard Gephardt was absent for every vote during 85 of the 109 days when the House cast floor votes in 2003. Gephardt compiled many streaks of consecutively missed votes, including all votes from April 10 to May 8, June 2 to June 24, September 9 to October 1, and October 20 to November 20, when he missed 93 votes in a row. In 2004 Gephardt was absent for 46 days. Representative Richard Gephardt’s total estimated salary overpayment: $81,362.53.


Senator Bob Graham’s 41 absences in 2003 add up to an estimated salary overpayment of $25,269.53.


Senator John Kerry was absent for every vote during 76 of the 115 days when the Senate cast floor votes in 2003. The Senator’s longest streak of missed votes in 2003 ran from July 11 to September 9, when he missed 62 in a row. For 2004, Senator Kerry was absent for every vote during the months of July, September, and October Ð and compiled a total of 76 consecutive votes missed from June 23 through October 11. Kerry’s absences for 2004 total 70 days. Senator John Kerry’s estimated salary overpayment: $90,932.68.


Representative Dennis Kucinich was absent for every vote during 28 days in 2004, but did not meet the study’s missed-votes threshold for 2003. Representative Dennis Kucinich’s estimated salary overpayment: $17,636.64.


Senator Joseph Lieberman was absent for every vote during 63 of the 115 days when the Senate cast floor votes in 2003. Lieberman skipped 54 percent of all the votes. Notably, Lieberman was first elected to the Senate after criticizing the incumbent for missing too many votes. Lieberman’s longest lineup of missed votes ran from July 10 to July 29, when he missed 43 votes. Senator Joseph Lieberman’s estimated salary overpayment: $38,828.79…. Rest of Article

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This report contains summary data on the 100 companies, including their subsidiaries, which were awarded the largest total dollar volume of Department of Defense prime contract awards during fiscal year 2004…. Rest of Article

THE US Defence Department has been asked to investigate a website being used by American soldiers to post grisly pictures of Iraqi war dead.

The site, which has been operating for more than a year, describes itself as “an online archive of soldiers’ photos”.

Dozens of pictures of decapitated and limbless bodies are featured on the site with tasteless captions, purportedly sent in by soldiers.

Captions include “plastic surgery needed”, “road kill” and “I said dead”…. Rest of Article

This site contains an archive of photos taken by soldiers serving in active duty. This site aims only to visually document their experiences and is not a political site. The name “Under Mars” is an homage both to Mars, the Roman God of War, and to the otherworldly nature of the experience…. Rest of Article

URS Corp., a San Francisco planning and engineering firm partially owned by California Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s husband, landed an Army contract Monday worth up to $600 million.

The award to help with troop mobilization, weapons systems training and anti-terrorism efforts is the latest in a string of plum defense jobs snared by URS. In February, the firm won an army engineering and logistics contract that could bring in $3.1 billion during the next eight years.

Government contracting has come under increasing scrutiny by Congress and citizen groups, with critics decrying the political connections of firms winning lucrative jobs. Richard Blum, Feinstein’s husband, serves on the company’s board of directors and controls about 24 percent of the firm’s stock,

according to Hoover’s Inc. research firm.

A Feinstein spokesman Monday declined to comment on the contract.

Blum and several URS representatives could not be reached for comment. A Pentagon spokesman said he was unfamiliar with the contract.

Announced in a company press release Monday, the contract calls for URS Corp.’s EG&G division and partner International Consultants Inc. to help with operations planning, troop mobilization, weapons system training and anti- terrorism assessment. The contract runs for five years.

“We are very pleased with this important win, which further expands our strong relationship with the Army and demonstrates our ability to provide a full spectrum of support services to ensure that our troops remain combat ready and capable of quickly mobilizing to address threats around the world,” said George R. Melton, president of the EG&G division, in a press release.

URS boasts some 25,000 employees working in more than 20 countries. Although the firm has a long history of government work, it has focused more on those activities since acquiring EG&G from the Carlyle Group investment firm last year for about $500 million…. Rest of Article

The Bush administration plans to announce Tuesday it will request about $80 billion more for this year’s costs of fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, congressional aides said Monday.

The request would push the total provided so far for those wars and for U.S. efforts against terrorism elsewhere in the world to more than $280 billion since the first money was provided shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, airliner attacks on New York’s World Trade Center and the Pentagon…. Rest of Article

Federal Appeals Court Judge Michael ChertoffÕs ties to the financiers of the Sept. 11 attacks may prevent his confirmation as Homeland Security Chief.

According to a June 20, 2000 article in the The Record of Bergen County, New Jersey, Chertoff defended accused terrorist financier Dr. Magdy Elamir.

ElamirÕs HMO was sued by the State of New Jersey to recoup $16.7 million in losses. At least $5.7 million went Òto unknown parties… by means of wire transfers to bank accounts where the beneficial owner of the account is unknown,Ó according to the article.

Foreign intelligence reports given to then chairman of the House International Relations Committee Ben Gilman,
R-New York, in 1998 accused Magdy Elamir of having Òhad financial ties with Osama bin Laden for years,Ó according to an Aug. 2, 2002 Dateline NBC broadcast.

In 1999, Magdy Elamir and brother Mohamed were named suspects in Operation Diamondback, an FBI/ATF undercover infiltration of Pakistani arms merchants who sought to arm Osama bin Laden with conventional and nuclear weapons, according to independent researcher and former New Jersey police officer Allan Duncan and taped transcripts with FBI informant Randy Glass.

Mohamed Elamir tried to purchase Òsmall arms and ammunitionÓ in a recorded telephone conversation with Glass, according to Dateline.

Dateline confirmed that Elamir and his corporations had paid at least $5,000 to Egyptian arms dealer Diaa Mohsen, who Elamir referred to on camera as a family friend. Moshen was sentenced to 30 months for his involvement in Operation Diamondback. However, Elamir was never convicted.

Duncan, who was hired by family members of the Sept. 11 victims to research government ties to the attacks, said the reason Magdy Elamir was never convicted was because he was never charged with a crime.

ÒBy the time Operation Diamondback culminated in arrests in the summer of 2001, Michael Chertoff was the Assistant Attorney General in charge of the criminal division and Operation Diamondback would have fallen under his prevue since it was a criminal case and not a counterterrorism case,Ó Duncan said.
… Rest of Article