Via RawStory I got to THIS ARTICLE at the Seatle Times.

A pipeline shuts down in Alaska. Equipment failures disrupt air travel in Los Angeles. Electricity runs short at a spy agency in Maryland.

None of these recent events resulted from a natural disaster or terrorist attack, but they may as well have, some homeland security experts say. They worry that too little attention is paid to how fast the country's basic operating systems are deteriorating.

All that money that went/is going to the failure that is Iraq has been taken away from other projects (No Child Left Behind). Our power-structure is out of date as the above article mentions, but is also pointed out by failures like the major northeast blackout, and rolling blackouts in California. Adding to the problem is Enron Fraud, and the cronyism involved in projects like "The Big Dig". And lets not forget the lack of explosive screening equipment at our airports, and the lack of proper training and staff that leads to such fearful items dell batteries, vaseline, water-bras, and gatorade among other things (dynamite) on a plane amidst the highest 'terror threat level' since... well the last elections. But anyways, some more good reading from the article:

When I see events like these, I become concerned that we've lost focus on the core operational functionality of the nation's infrastructure and are becoming a fragile nation, which is just as bad -- if not worse -- as being an insecure nation," said Christian Beckner, a Washington analyst who runs the respected Web site Homeland Security Watch (www.christianbeckner.com).

The American Society of Civil Engineers last year graded the nation "D" for its overall infrastructure conditions,

Add that to the 9/11 Commision Grades, the Governments Response to Katrina, and how swimmingly things are going in Afghanistan, The GOP Report Card and W's college grades have alot in common. But hey, at least theres always fart jokes.

More from the Seattle Times:

"I thought [Hurricane] Katrina was a hell of a wake-up call, but people are missing the alarm," said Casey Dinges, the society's managing director of external affairs.

To bad the GOP doesnt hire thinkers. Dont get along with Deciders I guess.

If a terrorist group were able to knock the NSA offline, or disrupt one of the nation's busiest airports, or shut down the most important oil pipeline in the nation, the impact would be perceived as devastating," Beckner said. "And yet we've essentially let these things happen -- or almost happen -- to ourselves."

Devastating?! You dont need electricity, airplanes, oil or the NSA to clear brush, dont expect immediate action.

The Commission on Public Infrastructure at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank, said in a recent report that facilities are deteriorating "at an alarming rate."

It noted that half the 257 locks operated by the Army Corps of Engineers on inland waterways are functionally obsolete, more than one-quarter of the nation's bridges are structurally deficient or obsolete

"Nobody could have predicted that the [insert one: locks, bridges, levees] would fail."

No fears though, G.W to the rescue:

Infrastructure is always a difficult issue," Bush acknowledged. "It's a federal responsibility and a state and local responsibility. And I, frankly, feel like we've upheld our responsibility at the federal level with the highway bill."

Upheld your responsibility?

$11 billion is needed annually to replace aging drinking-water facilities.

Water: $11,000,000,000

Iraq as of 2:55p.m: $310,076,168,578

Why John Mark Karr Matters

Ramsey this, Ramsey that. All over the cable news, and now youre seeing the name here. Hold off on being pissed just a second though, I have a brief point to raise.  

There, now that we got that out of the way:

Whether John Karr killed her or not, we'll probably find out soon. But theres a bigger story here, if you take a look at Karr's Resume. Take a look at that "World Traveled" section at the bottom:

 

>London, Paris, Amsterdam, Zurich, Milan, Bologna, Stuttgart, Munich, Sydney Australia, Taipei,

Singapore, Seoul Korea, Osaka Japan, Istanbul, Reunion Island off the coast of Madagascar, Atlanta, Dallas, Los

Angeles, San Francisco, and a host of other cities in the United States

Run a google search of any one of those Cities/Countries and the word "Sex Ring". The results are a reminder of the sad state of affairs our world is really in.

More recently:

Nine charged in international sex-trafficking ring across U.S-Canadian border:

Nine people have been arrested following a two-year investigation into an international sex-trafficking ring that involved smuggling Asian women into this country in shipping containers, federal and local authorities said.

The U.S. attorney's office in Seattle said the "highly organized national network prostitution ring" illegally brought women here from China, Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan and Laos.

Some of the women were brought into the United States by crossing the Canadian border, investigators said.

The Bush Administrations failure to inspect incoming cargo and protect the borders, lets a lot more than terrorists or dirty bombs through.

The Bush Administrations pandering to lobbyists/campaign donors for countries with well tied establishments to child-sex rings, reeks of corruption.

Every other day theres a new GOP operative being busted on child porn charges, whether it be videos and magazines, propositioning children on the internet, or actual indecency with a child.

In November we need to hold these people accountable at the voting booth, and then the courts.

UPDATE:

Because of some confusion, I have this to say. This is not a diary about the Ramseys. The Ramsey case is only to highlight the child-sex-rings that are operating in our country. There are PEOPLE being shipped by the dozens into the United States INSIDE OF SHIPPING CONTAINERS! We are pouring our gatorade out at the airports, but Women and Children are being shipped in?! If they can get in, then Al Qaeda, or whatever other terrorist organization can get in, or get something in. George Bush and the Republican Party are weak on national security.

Cocaine One, Part 2.

Yesterday I brought the story of how an American-registered DC9 painted with a seal closely resembling a U.S Government seal destined for the U.S was caught carrying an astonishing 5.5 tons of pure cocaine in Mexico by the Mexican military on April 10th. This story is part of an ongoing extensive investigation being done by MadCowProd

Please visit Part 1 to get the goods on the DC9s Owner, Brent Kovar, and how both Jeb Bush and Tom Delay and Homeland Security figure into the story.

This entry is to shed more light on one of the chief shareholders of Brent Kovar's company Skyway Aircraft, and individuals involved. The shareholder is a private investment bank in Texas which 'also raised funds for a Mexican industrialist with reported ties to a Cali and Juarez Cartel narcotics trafficker', MCP reports.

Private investment bank Argyll Equities LLC in Boerne, Texas, is part of The Argyll Group, headquartered in La Jolla, CA., incorporated in Texas, Nevada, and Delaware, whose undisclosed principals are involved, according to their website, in "providing creative financial solutions globally."  

An example of the firm's creative financial solutions according to MCP, Argyll Equities LLC was paid to raise a $17 million loan for Mexican industrialist Jose Serrano Segovia's shipping line, GRUPO TMM.

The trafficker involved w/ the DC9, Manuel Vicente Losada, was arrested in Chile after being linked to another five ton cocaine shipment.

The Santiago Times out of Chile reported on May 5, 1998 that Segovia "provided significant capital" to a "Chilean narcotics trafficker" named Manuel Vicente Losada, arrested in the Chilean capital of Santiago after being "linked to a shipment of five tons of cocaine which U.S. drug enforcement officials in Miami intercepted over six years ago on the vessel Harbour, as it headed toward Guantanamo Bay.

In 1997 Mexican Newspaper El Universal De Mexico reported "Drug trafficker Losada is a partner in some 30 shipping companies."  Jose Serrano Segovia owns shipping lines too, and until recently controlled what used to be Mexico's flagship airline, Mexicana.

MCP reports that "Juan Serrano Segovia is one of a handful of Mexican  "big corporate guns" lucky enough to have been feted at a private dinner several years ago hosted by Gov. Jeb Bush, leading a Florida trade mission to Mexico."

"The evening turned into a kind of let's-get-to-know-each-other-socially affair." Joseph Lacher, BellSouth's Florida president, confided to The Miami Herald.

Through A Federal Indictment we learn that Argyll Equities was the recipient of $9.7 million dollars it didn't earn, in a "purported stock loan program operated by Argyll Equities, L.L.C," which resulted in  criminal charges earlier this year against three men.

"The complaint alleges the men made false statements to a hedge fund operator so they could keep $25 million from the fund that was invested this year with Nevada-based American Trade Industries, Inc., according to US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald and the US Secret Service in Chicago," the AP reported. Yes, THAT Fitzgerald.

MCP informs us that: The men were accused of conspiring to perpetrate a $26 million dollar fraud on  the administrator of a private hedge fund in Lake Forest, IL, who turns out to be mother of "Wedding Crashers" actor Vince Vaughn.

According to the indictment, one of the accused men, Richard E. Warren, apprehended as he attempted to board a plane for London, told Sharon Vaughn that he "had a special government clearance," was "licensed by USG to participate in secret trading programs.

Also indicted was Frank L. Cowles Jr., who owns an Arabian horse farm near Washington D.C.,  where he is referred to in news accounts as a "Virginia businessman," and who is married to the Ambassador to the U.S. of the tiny country of Paraguay, Leila Teresa Rachid de Cowles.

This is just one of the stories of Fraud that comes out of the "Cocaine One" scandal. At least six of the companies associated with "Cocaine One" and its twin airliner have been involved in massive fraud resulting in hundreds of millions of dollars being swindled from innocent investors and shareholders.

Cocaine One. A Republican Scandal

This is a brief summarization of an extensive investigation @ MadCowProd who also brough us the Wilkes/MZM Poway Mafia Scandal.

It begins like this:

An American-registered DC9 destined for the U.S was caught carrying an astonishing 5.5 tons of pure cocaine in Mexico by the Mexican military on April 10th.

The DC9 was painted with a seal that is remarkably similar to U.S Government planes, and bears the statement "Protecting America's Skies".

The plane's registered owner, "Royal Sons LLC," a Florida air charter company, was at one time housed in a hanger at the Venice Fl. Airport owned by infamous flight school Huffman Aviation. Infamous for teaching future 9/11 hijackers how to fly.

Brent Kovar (owner Skyways Communications), One of the two owners of the DC9 had been appointed in 2003 to the Business Advisory Council of the National Republican Congressional Committee by Congressional Majority Leader Tom Delay.

Kovar was appointed:

"in recognition of his valuable contributions and dedication to the Republican Party"

And he was:

"expected to play a crucial role in the party's efforts to involve top businesspeople in the process of government reform both at the state and federal levels."

Two weeks before Skyway declared bankruptcy, Governor Jeb Bush's Department of Transportation issued a press release touting the firm's bright future in Homeland Security and announcing it had been selected to be the state's primary provider of airport security applications.

The DC9 in question, was said to be used to perform in-flight demonstrations of new technology of SKYWAY AIRCRAFT and its corporate parent SKYWAY COMMUNICATIONS HOLDING CORP.

That could not be true however, an inspection of the company and its principals reveals that SkyWay had no products, no prospects, and nothing to demonstrate.

SkyWay said it's patented technology promised to protect airplanes from terrorism, and provide high-speed Internet at 30,000 feet. To the shock and anger of investors who lost 30-40 million dollars, it did nothing of the kind.

As MCP points out, what they did have were a couple of airliners masquerading as official U.S. Government planes.

SkyWay Aircraft also leased a 70,000 square foot "repair" facility at DFW Airport in Dallas for more than $20,000 a month... in a building owned by a man called "George W. Bush's biggest supporter" and "the power behind the throne" during Bush's first Presidential campaign.

MCP (rhetorically) asks: Why would a start-up company which doesn't (and never will) have any products, spend $20 grand a month to rent a facility to "repair" them?

Interestingly enough, SkyWay shared the facility with another firm, Airbase Services Inc. A month after the DC9 was seized in Mexico, Airbase filed for bankruptcy.

What is Kovar doing nowadays? Nervously awaiting trial? In jail already? No way, as his new business card shows:

Well I Started This

And then never posted after my first entry. Moved from Texas to Pennsylvania and started a new career and didnt really have time for the computer. Sad story I know. Now I've made that time and will update regularly.