Wonkette

If you look closely at Blackwater’s website, you’ll see a slight change. It’s barely perceptible, but it is there. Apparently, in an attempt to soften its deadly cowboy ways, the outfit is changing its logo from a bear track in crosshairs of a rifle scope to a softer, less-butch version of the original that looks exactly like the Clemson Tigers logo. Well, almost. MORE »

Blackwater claims its murderous thugs are independent contractors (1099) rather than employees (W2); now Congressman Waxman wants to nail this sinister mercenary army for tax evasion.

* Hey guess what all these nutcases think? If you guessed, “the same thing,” you’d be correct. [Right Wing News]
* It’s not easy to defend Christmas against Jews and Mexicans, but every year a group of heroes steps forward to do just that.[WorldNet Daily]
* Now that you can’t use the word “rape” in a Nebraska court, and that in Nebraska, a prostitute can’t be raped since what they’re selling is sex, well, let’s just say Nebraska is safe for the GOP this year. [MoJo]
* Blackwater gets the sack, because apparently “freedom” means there’s no room for indiscriminate killing of unarmed women and babies and whatever. [Capitol Hill Blue]
* Colbert may be breaking federal election law, but we’re not going to act like we care. [Fresh Intelligence]
* Dennis Hastert may be a fat, washed-up old pawn of the power elite who has announced retirement plans, but he’s not going to let that force him into retirement. [Political Wire]
* If Arlen Specter has his sites set on a Wonkette internship, he better throw some fucking cuss words into the mix. [Swamp]

Looking for a sadistically corporate way to spruce up your Christmas tree? Best check out the sparkly new Blackwater ornament! A great way to complement your Fallujah Snow Village, Halliburton poinsettia and Cheney tinsel. [Copyranter]

Hillary’s new top strategist is also Blackwater’s top strategist! [Political Machine]

“Hey — there is someone moderately major visiting the Post offices on 15th street today … the street is not blocked off to traffic but there are close to twenty black vehicles and assorted security folk loitering around. all the construction in the neighborhood has been stopped so there are lots of construction workers loitering around as well which is why i am writing you from the safety of my desk rather than the ogling-encouraged zone of the street. i work at 15th and M — will probably pop out for a check in a little bit.”

BY MANCHUCANDIDATE: “In 2007 a crack mercenary company was forced to testify in a senate hearing for a crime they did commit. These men promptly escaped from minimal harsh questioning to their NC compound. Today, still paid by the government, they thrive as soldiers of fortune. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find the dough to pay for them, maybe you can hire Blackwater.” [Comments]

Erik Prince, Blackwater’s founder and owner, is testifying before Congress about how his mercenary army keeps shooting civilians in Iraq. Henry Waxman opened the hearing by applauding Prince for serving in the military even though he’s rich and politically-connected. And we applaud Prince for then quitting the military to go into the private sector, using all that taxpayer-funded know-how to make himself millions of dollars. Of course, every now and then, one has to give back a couple of those dollars. Like when one of your employees drunkenly kills a civilian and you need to shut up his whiny family. And just how much is that life worth? MORE »

* Hillary promises to pull our troops out of Iran during her first term. [Election Central]
* Blackwater knows how to make a bad situation worse. [Think Progress]
* So does the State Department. [Muckraker]
* But the good news is, the military is outsourcing death. [Capitol Hill Blue]
* Before Fred Thompson ran for president to fight terrorism, he defended it in court. [Liberal Avenger]
* Writing some blog posts takes more time than Sam Brownback’s entire online operation. [Redstate]
* OMG innocent patriot Rush Limbaugh got smeared by some cunt senator war veteran. [Michelle Malkin]

Congratulations to Blackwater, who, despite being just one of the many private armies currently employed by the Pentagon and State Department to “provide security” in Iraq, is handily beating all their competitors when it comes to shooting Iraqis. Blackwater has officially fired weapons “at least twice as often per convoy mission as security guards working for other American security firms.” Someone’s getting a hefty bump come the holiday appropriations season! MORE »

Now Iraq wants to kick out all the “security” contractors! This could a problem, because they operate totally outside any and all laws oh and also we need them to keep running things there as we pretend to withdraw American forces. But Maliki’s government has banned Blackwater from working in Iraq and they’re investigating the deaths of all those civilians who accidentally got killed by people who or may not have been Blackwater employees. Of course, our contractors are immune from Iraqi prosecution but they can investigate all they like. What’s that got to do with Mitt Romney, you’re not asking? Good question!

Mitt Romney today tapped a former CIA official, who is now a top officer in a private security firm with widespread operations in Iraq, to head his counterterrorism policy advisory group.

That former CIA official? Cofer Black — like Blackwater, the company he vice-chairs!

So we can all feel confident that Mitt will continue the administration’s current counterterrorism strategy of shooting suspicious-looking dudes on sight there so we don’t have to shoot them on sight here.

Iraq to Review All Security Contracts [NYT]
Romney Names Terrorism Policy Advisers [Boston Globe]
Earlier: Iraqis Kicking Out Our Mercenaries

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The Iraqi Government is kicking private security firm/mercenary army Blackwater out of their country — wait, what? They can do that? Blackwater runs their fucking country! Apparently the Iraqis are all upstet that our soldiers-for-hire keep opening fire on civilians because they answer to no one but the dollar. Of course there are something like 100,000 mercenaries in Iraq shoring up our military with half the professionalism at twice the cost, and we kinda need them to secure that one block-long Potemkin “open air market” that all our congresspeople keep visiting. MORE »

Blackwater is building its own air force of “ground attack planes” and just bought a fleet of “Super Tucano light combat aircraft from the Brazilian manufacturer Embraer.” [Strategy Page]