Helicopter Parents Are Everywhere, Except Where They're Needed Most

Jennifer Mendelsohn

Since last month, more than three million people have watched a YouTube video featuring just the mix of irresistible elements that often spell going viral: an adorable dancing baby, an equally adorable giggling toddler and Psy's "Gangnam Style." But when some viewers noticed something troubling in the video, pointing out that both children were unsafely harnessed in the wrong kinds of car seats, they were excoriated as "killjoys," "sanctimommies" and "Nazis."
"Oh for God's sake people stop being so judgemental [sic] over safety on a video and just enjoy it," read a typical complaint. "JESUS!"
"It's people like you who like to ruin the internet for all of us," moaned another.
That hostility is yet another example of a puzzling disconnect in the American parental psyche. We live in an undeniable culture of helicopter parenting, in which we will go to extraordinary lengths to shield our kids from even the most remote of possible threats or discomforts. (Wipe warmers, anyone?) We worry about an endless cavalcade of potential dangers, from crib bumpers and BPA to blind cords and arsenic-laced juice boxes. And yet, many parents are bizarrely inattentive, if not downright hostile, to discussion of the single most deadly threat to our children's safety, and ironically the one perhaps most within our power to actually offset: automobiles.
While we pride ourselves on vanquishing the menace of whole grapes (choking hazards!) and sandboxes (toxic stews!), car accidents remain the single biggest killer of kids aged 1 to 14, according to the CDC. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data shows that an average of three children under 14 die in car accidents every day. And while studies have continually shown that properly used child restraints dramatically lower rates of death and injury, an oft-cited NHTSA study found that astonishingly, roughly three out of four car seats are used improperly. Those who perform car seat inspections report even lower rates of proper use. "Over the more than 40 years I've worked in this field, I have found that about 90 percent of safety seats are either incorrectly selected, fitted, or used," says Stephanie Tombrello, the Executive Director of SafetyBeltSafe U.S.A.
In a 2012 Insurance Institute for Highway Safety/University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute study of car seat installations using the LATCH system, only 13 percent were done correctly.
Popular culture is so rife with examples of car seat mistakes that there's a Facebook group dedicated to trying to make MTV aware of the egregious safety lapses shown just on "Teen Mom" and "16 and Pregnant." I have personally lost count of the times I have seen parents allow their children to travel unsafely, both wittingly and not. The very same responsible, well-informed parents who vaunt their children's rigorous, no-high fructose corn syrup diets and screen-free playtime often see no corresponding need to extend that same wariness to the very real danger of car travel. At a time when hyper-involved parents micromanage every facet of their children's lives, sometimes to almost comical extremes, they are often oddly unwilling to take extra steps to protect those very lives, saying it's too much of a "nuisance" to keep toddlers rear-facing for the maximum length of time or too "embarrassing" to insist a small fourth grader use a booster seat. Equally unnerving, many parents simply have absolutely no idea they're not following the latest safety recommendations.
In this fishbowl age of social media, when our parenting is perpetually on display, society casts a validating glow on certain kinds of vigilance; passing on viral warnings about outlier threats like falling furniture is seen as a badge of engaged, thoughtful parenting. (A sweet Facebook photo of an off-duty police officer guarding his daughter's elementary school three days after the Newtown massacre was "liked" over a million times.) But while refusing to let a drop of shampoo with sodium lauryl sulfate touch your child's hair conveys a certain cool mom cred, being extra vigilant about the most prevalent actual killer of children is dismissed as ridiculously over the top, like insisting kids need wetsuits to play in puddles. Being the mom who cares about car seat safety doesn't garner you "likes;" it elicits eye rolls, behind-the-back snickers and hostility. The one time I worked up enough courage to send a private note of polite concern to an acquaintance who had posted a photo of her toddler improperly buckled into what appeared to a dangerously outdated seat, both she and her husband summarily unfriended me.
Why is it so much more comforting to slay paper tigers than to do our utmost to counteract a very real and well-documented danger? Is it simply too frightening to acknowledge that the children we adore really are vulnerable on a daily basis, under the most seemingly innocuous of circumstances -- the 4,327th drive to basketball practice or the grocery store?
In the wake of Newtown, every parent in America was forced to ponder the unthinkable: that on an otherwise ordinary, unthreatening day, we could lose a child forever. We wept for the silence in those twenty Connecticut homes and asked what we could do to prevent another family from experiencing it. Obviously, there is no perfect, catchall solution; children will be hurt and die every day, no matter what we do. But while parents are scurrying off in droves to buy bulletproof backpacks, ostensibly in the interest of saving their children's lives, they might want to stop and take a quick look in the back seat. There really is something very simple we can do to make our kids demonstrably safer. It isn't particularly sexy or heroic; it just means making changes to the most humdrum of daily routines. Why is it a solution so many parents won't hear?
Want to find out if your kids are buckled up safely?
HuffingtonPost

APC and 2015: The Triumph of Reason

By AUBAKAR ALKALI
The declaration by the grand coalition of progressive opposition political parties that they have floated a new political party, the All Progressive Congress (APC) has set the stage for the final battle to rescue Nigeria from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The 13 years of misrule under the PDP has brought a debilitating and crippling poverty amongst Nigerians: corruption without borders, alarming state of insecurity, hardship, despair and hopelessness. Indeed, the PDP misrule is threatening the corporate existence of Nigeria more than even the threat of the civil war in 1967 –1970.
Although some foreign powers have posited that Nigeria will cease to exist after 2015, it seems to me that 2015 is the year of reformation for Nigeria. The union called Nigeria will be stronger and our sovereignty will be more cohesive after 2015 because the APC will take over power and provide the right leadership that will bring back renewed hope and prosperity for all Nigerians.
With the calibre of political gladiators in the APC, it is clear that the new mega party will lead Nigeria to a new direction of hope, equal opportunity, genuine democracy and freedom. Nigerians are in dire need of economic freedom because the PDP has turned the average Nigerian into an economic slave. Indeed, the PDP umbrella will be shredded by the APC in 2015 and the remains of that umbrella thrown to the dustbin of history. If opposition parties can unite to kick out unpopular governments in Senegal, Kenya, Benin Republic, Niger Republic, etc., why not Nigeria?
Everyone is keying into the new political platform, the APC. The latest news is that 12 PDP governors have endorsed the merger and are set to defect to the APC. I was at a recent book launch of Malam Nasir el-Rufa’i in Abuja when Dr Babangida Aliyu, a sitting PDP governor stated to the hearing of everyone that he wished that the merger talks would succeed so as to give Nigeria a new future.
As a Nigerian, I have never been as proud of my dear country as I had a couple of days ago with the declaration by the opposition parties – the ACN, CPC and the ANPP – to forge a united front and face our common enemy, the PDP.
Indeed, the opposition parties have created a new chapter in the annals of our political history. Yes, there have been political alliances and alignment of forces in our history but to my knowledge, never before have opposition parties merged into one and formed a new party that will defeat the ruling party in the general election.
The PDP has the record of being the most unpopular ruling party in the political history of Nigeria and the one that bequeathed a culture of corruption to the society. Corruption in Nigeria is a pastime but the difference between the PDP brand of corruption and the corruption of yesteryears is that before PDP, corruption in Nigeria was in millions and billions but the PDP elevated it to trillions prior to making corruption in Nigeria a quadrillion affair. Stealing in Nigeria is today officially in trillions courtesy of the most corrupt party in the world, the PDP. The fuel subsidy scam which involved sons of PDP chairmen and ex-chairmen, and as they call themselves ‘PDP chieftains’, was in the region of N2.5 trillion. The pension scam involving PDP sponsors was also hovering around the N1 trillion mark. The Halliburton scam involving highly placed PDP BoT serving and former chairman/members, the Siemens corruption scandal involving prominent PDP ministers, to mention but a few, are there for all to see.
All these monumental scandals that could bring a nation’s economy crashing down took place during PDP’s reign of terror. A former PDP minister, Dr Oby Ezekwesili, has alleged that the GEJ administration and its predecessor squandered $67 billion, virtually crippling Nigeria’s economy. Incidentally, most of the monumental and prominent corruption scandals were perpetrated under President Jonathan’s watch.
It is reassuring to note that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has given its blessings to the merger. Indeed, INEC is a partner in progress and has taken its rightful place in the battle to rescue Nigeria from the PDP. INEC has confirmed that the merger is perfectly within the provisions of the Nigerian Constitution and the Electoral Act (2010) as amended. Section 84 of the Electoral Act (2010), as amended, states that “Any two or more registered political parties may merge on approval by the commission, following a formal request presented to the commission by the political parties for that purpose.” Section 84 (2) added that “Political parties intending to merge shall each give to the commission 90 days notice of their intention to do so before a general election.”
Never has there been a time in our political history that Nigerians desire change like today. Nigerians have been patient with the PDP for 13 years even to a fault. The PDP has exhausted our patience and all Nigerians are saying in a strong and united voice that ‘We don’t want the PDP at all levels of government in Nigeria’. Indeed, 2015 is sunset for the PDP.
The revenue that accrued to the nation’s coffers in the last 13 years under the PDP misrule is more than the total revenue that Nigeria gained since independence, yet PDP recorded the highest level of poverty since independence at 86% during the period. It is only politicians and other public office holders that are benefiting from the nation’s commonwealth while the average Nigerian continues to be strangled by hunger and deprivation. Women and girls continue losing their lives at childbirth because they cannot afford good medical treatment. Nigeria is ranked second in the world in maternal mortality rate.
It is necessary to acknowledge the outstanding commitment of all the progressive opposition political parties to dismember the PDP and get this highly unpopular party out of circulation in 2015. The ACN, CPC and ANPP have all shown exemplary commitment in this merger. Today, the PDP has systematically short-changed and marginalized every section of Nigeria except the Niger Delta. That is PDP’s manifesto: The federal government should take everything to the section where the president comes from and leave all other sections of Nigeria on their own. The south-west of Nigeria where the ACN is in charge is soundly short-changed and marginalized by the PDP in terms of elective posts, appointments, projects execution and overall democratic value delivery. The PDP has been grossly unfair to the south-west simply because south-west is ACN. This fact was further confirmed by the Yoruba Unity Forum (YUF) through its leader, Chief Olu Falae.
Today, the south-west is so marginalized that no Yoruba indigene is in the top 12 political offices at the apex of political power equation in Nigeria. The merger presents the Yoruba south-west with the best opportunity yet to position themselves at the epicentre of national politics. Obasanjo wanted to deceive the south-west by claiming that he wanted to bring the region to national politics when all through his 8 years as president, including his time as military head of state, he did virtually nothing for the south-west. Obasanjo couldn’t fix even one pothole on the Lagos–Ibadan expressway, yet he wanted to ‘bring the south-west to national politics’.
OBJ, it would be recalled, foisted PDP on the south-west by rigging his way and installing a PDP governor in every state in the south-west except Lagos. But Asiwaju Bola Tinubu was smart enough to understand OBJ’s deceit, hence the Asiwaju went on the prowl and was able to rescue the south-west from OBJ and wriggle free all the south-west states stolen by the PDP. Asiwaju and the ACN have long clearly understood that their clamour for regional integration and true federalism can never be achieved under a PDP government at the centre. Only a genuine political party will key into the call for regional integration and true federalism whose main objective is to strengthen democracy by empowering the grass-roots communities. But alas, the PDP is not a political party but a conflagration of individual beneficiaries who use it to help themselves to the detriment of the nation’s resources.
With the emergence of the APC, the political dynamics in Nigeria will never be the same again. The struggle to rescue Nigeria from the PDP is not about tribe, region or religion but about the undeniable moral obligation that we all have under God to stand up and protect our country against evil. This is the only country that we have and which we can call our own. Indeed, Nigeria is a great country by any measure and blessed by the Almighty Allah (SWT).
With the emergence of the APC, Nigerians are set to wipe out the last yoke of post-colonial pre-vandals and predators who masquerade as our leaders. What is required is for all Nigerians to key into this change and support the APC to change Nigeria. Although the PDP is taking Nigeria to the wrong direction and almost everything is wrong with the PDP, there still remain a few progressive individuals within the PDP who found themselves in the PDP by accident. It is now time for these individuals to detach themselves free from the PDP and decamp to the APC without delay. Politician should position themselves appropriately and take advantage of the popular platform provided by the APC. As a matter of fact, this is political positioning time (PPT) in Nigeria. Several government officials are already romancing with the APC and have agreed in principle to decamp from the PDP and join the mega party.
Although there is maximum enthusiasm and unprecedented passion amongst Nigerians to make PDP history in Nigeria after 2015, there is so much work to be done as getting a sitting government out will not be easy, especially when juxtaposed with the way elections are conducted in Nigeria. Moreover, the APC being a new party has so much work to do to connect with the people. The PDP is completely disconnected with the people and has left every Nigerian on his/her own except those in government and their families. The APC must seize this moment and galvanize the nation and take advantage of the unprecedented disenchantment of Nigerians with the PDP. The APC must start work immediately and should not wait until election year 2015. The APC must demonstrate to Nigerians in clear and real terms why it is different from the PDP. With the calibre of respected political gladiators that we have in the APC, it is clear that the party will certainly be different from the PDP. A party that has genuine leaders such as Gen Buhari, Asiwaju Tinubu, Alhaji Gaba Gadi, Chief Tom Ikimi, Governor Raji Fashola, Alhaji Ibrahim Shekarau, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole and the refreshed Malam Nasir el-Rufa’i, to mention but a few, will surely not be like the PDP.
Upon receiving its certificate of registration, the APC must develop the right synergy with the grass roots to foster mutual cooperation with the sole objective of delivering the dividends of democracy to every Nigerian.
Nigerians are tired of empty promises and realistically, the average Nigerian regards all politicians as one and same as a result of obnoxious experiences of the past. Hence what the APC needs to do is to prove to Nigerians that it will not be business as usual. The APC must present to Nigerians the right presidential candidate who can lead us in this journey; someone who can inspire and who has track record of service, fairness and selflessness. Importantly, the new leader from the APC must be able to stand above the lures of corruption. The APC must do a thorough job in picking its presidential candidate. My instincts tell me that the APC should decide amongst these 3 outstanding personalities who is best fit. The 3 prominent Nigerians on my shortlist are: Gen Buhari, Malam Nuhu Ribadu and Malam Nasir el-Rufa’i. However, the man I reckon will be best fit to defeat the PDP is Gen Muhammadu Buhari. This is because he has already built his support base. Indeed, we can use the vast experience and strong support base of Gen. Buhari to get the PDP out of Aso Rock and at all levels in 2015.
The biggest problem today in Nigeria is poverty and if you can solve the problem of poverty, then every other thing will fall in its right place. It is the high level of poverty that has resulted in insecurity and instability in the country. In this regard, the APC should work with youth organizations at the ward level (the ward level is the last bus top in the community hierarchy) to provide tangible incentives to eradicate poverty in our communities. This can be in the provision of food items, skill acquisition centres, etc. All APC and other progressive governors and other political office holders should start working in this direction.
Based on the provision of the Electoral Act (2010) as amended, all politicians and political office holders belonging to the parties involved in the merger are automatic members of the APC when the party is registered. Section 84 (5) of the act states that ‘when the request for the proposed merger is approved, the commission shall forthwith withdraw and cancel the certificates of registration of all the political parties opting for the merger and substitute, therefore, a single certificate of registration in the name of the party resulting from the merger. Impliedly, upon registration of the APC by INEC, all the parties involved in the merger cease to exist.
In this regard, all APC public office holders must key into the APC manifesto whose main aim is to fight poverty and establish a system of fair politics to replace the PDP system of chop-I-chop politics. The APC should set up a War against Poverty (WAP) at all levels. With the debilitating poverty in the country arising from the PDP misrule, the WAP is the right strategy to connect with the people, particularly the grass roots, which constitute the majority of our population.
Upon assuming power at the centre on May 29th, 2015, the APC should immediately set up the machinery for a brand new people’s constitution for Nigeria. The focus of the new constitution must be to spread the wealth of the nation to everyone not just those in government. The new constitution must also drastically cut down the size of government such that both the executive and legislative arms of government are trimmed down to the barest minimum for efficiency and effectiveness. Two minister per geopolitical zone and each minister must win an election in his/her constituency to qualify for a ministerial post; one presidential adviser per geopolitical zone.
In the same vein, the legislature must be pruned down. Nigeria needs only a unicameral legislature. We need only the House of Representatives with two representatives per state. The Senate should be closed down because it has no place in the New Nigeria that we are working to build. This drastic cut in the size of government should apply to the state and local councils. The size of the state executives with too many commissioners and special advisers without portfolio must be trimmed down. The state legislatures must also be trimmed down. All the savings from these drastic cuts in the size of government must be invested in the communities through a social security system that will guarantee payment of monthly cash stipends to the disabled, senior citizens (old age people) and every unemployed Nigerian. In the new constitution, we must insert the drastic cut in the size of government and the social security (cash benefit) system. These are the fundamental changes that we need to make so as to create a working system that is fair and just and accommodates every one not just those in government.
2015 is the year that Nigerians have been waiting for in 100 years since the amalgamation of the Northern and Southern protectorates. It is that year that will usher in the birth of a new Nigeria where government is for all Nigerians and not just those in it. It is the year that will see a genuine and united coalition of progressive elements take over power in Nigeria and bring about the desired change that we have all been waiting for. It is the year when the wounds of our nation will began to heal, when government led by the APC will set the appropriate machinery to fight poverty and bring about hope, prosperity and equal opportunity for all. 2015 is the year that Nigeria shall be free from the grand design to destroy it and take its rightful place in the comity of nations.
Insight

Edie Falco Circus Boycott: Actress Teams With PETA Over Alleged Elephant Abuse

The Huffington Post  |  By Ron Dicker  

If elephants were her patients, the "Nurse Jackie" star would take them out of the circus.
In a new ad for PETA, actress Edie Falco urges parents to keep their children away from the circus to protest the alleged abuse of elephant performers.
The video, posted to YouTube March 18, accuses Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus of slamming baby elephants to the ground, shocking them with prods and beating them with bullhooks to train them. The video also shows footage of elephants apparently being whacked by bullhooks right before a show.
A PETA press release indicated the plea was timed so former "Sopranos" actress Falco, a New Yorker, could urge New York City residents to boycott the Ringling Bros. run at Barclays Center, in Brooklyn, March 20-April 1.
Jada Pinkett Smith, Demi Moore and Alec Baldwin have previously supplied their famous voices to PETA's elephant campaign.
Ringling Bros. spokesman Stephen Payne criticized the animal rights group's practice of trotting out notable names.
"It seems to be PETA's same tired playbook of getting a celebrity to spout out old, misleading allegations about our animal care," Payne told The Huffington Post. "I think Ms. Falco has been misled by PETA and I would invite her as a New Yorker to come to the Barclays Center and see for herself." Payne also said that some of the excerpts in the video were not of Ringling Bros.
In a statement to E!, Payne added, "Ringling Bros. is committed to the welfare of all its animals, particularly the endangered Asian elephants."
Feld Entertainment, the parent of Ringling Bros., has taken on its accusers in court. In December, another animal rights group, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), confirmed it had paid Ringling Bros. $9.3 million to settle two court cases revolving around alleged elephant abuse, CNN reported. The ASPCA admitted no wrongdoing, while Feld said the payout represented a victory against "malicious" accusations.
Debate over the use of circus animals extends across the globe. Last week, Australia's Newcastle Broadcasting New South Wales reported that around 50 protesters had gathered at the entrance of a Lennon Brothers Circus, on Australia's Gold Coast, to call for a ban of animal acts.
In October, PETA used the U.S. presidential election to sway public sentiment. A PETA activist in an elephant suit trailed President Obama on his campaign, holding a sign that urged him and the Department of Agriculture to "confiscate beaten circus elephants."
HuffingtonPost

Iraq War Contractors Fight On Against Lawsuits, Investigations, Fines

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WASHINGTON -- Donald Rumsfeld declared war on the Pentagon bureaucracy on a quiet, sunny Monday seven months into his tenure as secretary of defense. Never known for his tact, Rumsfeld delivered his battle cry to a room full of Pentagon bureaucrats, who stared back at him in stunned silence. Few in the media took note of the speech, delivered on Sept. 10, 2001.
Over the next 24 months, Rumsfeld waged his war on bureaucracy by outsourcing thousands of functions performed by the Defense Department to private contractors -- and nowhere more so than in Iraq. From its earliest planning stages in 2002 to its sputtering conclusion a decade later, the Iraq War was a public-private partnership.
The U.S. government supplied troops and assembled an international "coalition of the willing." The private sector provided a shadow army of hundreds of thousands of contractors, who supplied Americans on the front lines with everything from meals, laundry and housing, to drivers, translators, bodyguards and garbage collectors.
The massive outsourcing of the Iraq War marked a new phase in America's military industrial complex. Iraq was not the U.S. government's war alone. It was a joint venture, orchestrated with an unspoken understanding that the private sector was the U.S. government's most important ally.
Many of the private contractors in Iraq performed their duties admirably, but the story of the war is riddled with allegations of contractor fraud and abuse. They range from tales of U.S. defense and oil conglomerates overbilling the government, to companies sending unqualified employees to the now-infamous Abu Ghraib prison, to the most troubling allegations of contractors having murdered Iraqi noncombatants.
Until recently, many of the war's most controversial, and well-paid, U.S. contractors faced relatively few repercussions for their conduct in Iraq. During the war, they operated outside Iraqi jurisdiction, thanks to a rule implemented by the Coalition Provisional Authority, known as Order 17. Some companies relied further on secret indemnity agreements with the federal government, which protected them from future liability in the U.S.
But a handful of court rulings in the past two years have put big-name Iraq War contractors on the defensive against allegations of torture, fraud, negligence and extrajudicial killings. Faced with a shrinking U.S. war budget and unpredictable trial courts, some companies have chosen to settle these claims for millions of dollars. Others have left the country or dissolved their businesses. Some have done both.
Still more lawsuits are now playing out in court. They are writing an important chapter in the effort to understand what really happened in Iraq.
COALITION OF THE BILLING
It's hard to overstate the influence of private contractors on the Iraq War. Starting in 2006, contractors' employees in Iraq outnumbered U.S. troops, a previously unthinkable situation for the American military. By the end of 2008, at the height of the war, there were about 180,000 contractors' employees in the country, providing both military and reconstruction services, and 146,000 U.S. troops.
Contractors helped the U.S. government avoid implementing a draft by keeping troop levels artificially low. But they came with a high price tag. Between 2003 and 2008, Congress estimated that the United States had spent $100 billion on contractors in Iraq, or one dollar out of every five spent on the Iraq War at the time. Today, assuming a conservative estimate of $800 billion spent on the war, at least $160 billion has likely ended up in the coffers of private contractors.
The ties between members of the George W. Bush administration and leaders of some of the nation's biggest oil and defense contractors have been well documented, most notably the future Vice President Dick Cheney's lucrative tenure as CEO of oil services giant Halliburton.
As the Bush administration ramped up its case for war against Iraq in late 2002, Halliburton was the only contractor invited to submit a proposal to restore Iraq's oil infrastructure following a U.S. invasion. Ten years ago this month, Cheney's former company was quietly awarded a $7 billion contract for the restoration work.
Over the next three years, Pentagon reports found that Halliburton charged the federal government nearly $2 billion in "unsupported costs." Many of these questionable expenses came via Halliburton's subsidiary, KBR, the largest military logistics supplier of the Iraq War. One former KBR employee, Linda Warren, described to Vanity Fair how KBR's laundry service billed the government $75 per bag of laundry washed, but paid an Iraqi subcontractor just $12 per bag to wash it. Concerned about potential liability for KBR's Iraq deeds, Halliburton finally spun off the subsidiary in 2007, the same year it moved its corporate headquarters and its CEO, Cheney protege David Lesar, to Dubai. The move raised eyebrows across the industry and the federal government.
Among Iraq War contractors, KBR stands out for both the size of its contracts -- $31.7 billion between 2001 and 2008 -- and the scope of its legal issues. In July 2012, the company finally won the dismissal of a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of a soldier electrocuted in Iraq in 2008. The judge ruled that the situation involved decisions made by both the U.S. military and KBR, and that the court did not have jurisdiction to question the military's decisions in the matter.
In November 2012, however, a jury found KBR guilty of negligence in the poisoning of eight soldiers in Iraq who were exposed to highly toxic chemicals. The company is appealing the decision. That same month, the Justice Department alleged in a lawsuit that KBR and a subcontractor knowingly overbilled the government for housing constructed in the early days of the Iraq War.
These cases are just a sample of what KBR currently faces in court. But legal problems aren't the company's only setback. The post-war drop in demand for its services helped drive down KBR's profits by nearly two-thirds in 2012, prompting CEO William Utt to explain to Wall Street that "2012 was, overall, a disappointing year for KBR." Utt's salary for that year was $7.9 million.
THE DOMINO EFFECT
In many cases, the close working relationships between contractors and U.S. personnel during the Iraq War have exacerbated the difficulty for the government in prosecuting contractors who violated U.S. laws or for alleged victims of contractor malfeasance in seeking redress. In February 2013, the Justice Department was forced to drop 15 felony indictments against employees of the private security firm formerly known as Blackwater after attorneys offered persuasive evidence in court that Blackwater had been working as a de facto arm of the CIA when the alleged violations occurred.
Blackwater, which changed its name to Xe Services in 2009 and then to Academi in 2011, is one of the most controversial of the Iraq War contractors. It was hired at the start of the war to provide diplomatic protection services. By 2005, Blackwater's contract had ballooned to more than $1 billion, as the company provided armed security guards for thousands of U.S. diplomats and other contractors in Iraq.
As security in Iraq grew more tenuous, Blackwater employees developed a reputation for being quick on the trigger. In 2007, they shot and killed 17 Iraqi civilians in a crowded square. A report issued by congressional Democrats that year found that Blackwater employees had fired first in more than 75 percent of nearly 200 incidents involving Iraqi casualties.
At the time, Blackwater CEO Erik Prince defended his people before Congress, but in 2010, after the firm was effectively shut out of a lucrative government contract to train Afghan police forces, Blackwater quietly agreed to pay $42 million to settle hundreds of charges that its employees violated export controls.
In late December 2010, Prince sold the firm to a group of investors for around $200 million. Court records revealed that a few months before the sale, Prince, a man who for years had described his private army as a patriotic endeavor, had moved his family to Abu Dhabi, not far from where Lesar, the Halliburton CEO, lives in Dubai.
In Abu Dhabi, Prince founded a new security firm, Reflex Responses, which quickly secured a contract worth more than half a billion dollars from the United Arab Emirates' rulers. Last year, he entered into business with a group of Chinese investors seeking natural resources in Africa.
Like Blackwater, two other firms, L-3 Services and CACI, are still in the process of settling claims related to Iraq War incidents -- specifically, allegations that their employees participated in the abuse of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison in late 2003. Both companies provided translators for the U.S. military, and former prisoners at Abu Ghraib allege that L-3 and CACI employees took part in the torture that exploded into an international scandal when photos appeared online in 2004.
Until November 2012, the two cases from Abu Ghraib had been held up for years over questions of whether non-citizens could sue a private U.S. company for abuse suffered while in U.S. government custody overseas. But in a surprise move that wasn't noted until January 2013, the parent company of L-3 Services settled the allegations in November, agreeing to pay victims more than $5 million. The remaining case against CACI is scheduled to go to trial this summer.
As millions of citizens in Iraq and the United States pause this week to remember the enormous costs of the war -- in human life, treasure and global security -- the legal victories and fines levied against contractors years later will likely offer little solace. The reality is that for the small group of shareholders and executives at companies like Blackwater and Halliburton, the past decade was a perfect storm of opportunity, suitability and connections.
Should the American people want to know what investigators discovered about abuse and fraud by Iraq War contractors, they will have a chance to find out -- in 2031. That's when the results of a three-year study by the Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan will be unsealed from the National Archives. The 240-page congressionally mandated report, delivered in 2011, details how the U.S. government misspent between $31 billion and $60 billion on the war's contractors.
HuffingtonPost

Woman has 5 husbands who are all brothers – and she sleeps with a different one each night

Rajo Verma, 21, lives in a one-room shack with all five, sleeping with a different one each night on a rota. The housewife has no idea which one is the father of her toddler son. She said: “Initially it felt a bit awkward. But I don’t favour one over the other.”
Husband Guddu, 21 – the first to make her his bride insisted: “We all have sex with her but I’m not jealous. We’re one big happy family.” Guddu and Rajo got married in an arranged Hindu marriage four years ago and he remains her only official spouse.

But the custom in their village is she had to take as husbands his brothers Bajju, 32, Sant Ram, 28, Gopal, 26, and Dinesh – who married her last year when he turned 18.
Eldest brother Bajju said: “I consider her my wife and sleep with her like my brothers.” Rajo cooks, cleans and looks after 18-month-old Jay while her hubbies go out to work in Dehradun, northern India.
She said of the ancient tradition, called polyandry: “My mother was also married to three brothers so when I got wed I knew I had to accept all of them as my husbands.
“I sleep with them in turn. We don’t have beds, just lots of blankets on the floor.
“I get a lot more attention and love than most wives.”
Naijaurban

Uduaghan, Amaechi Lied About Walking Out On Tukur, Akpabio

Three sources within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) today confirmed to SaharaReporters that Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State and his Delta State counterpart, Emmanuel Uduaghan, actually walked out on the PDP’s national chairman, Bamanga Tukur, and Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom, the chairman of the PDP Governors Forum (PGF).

Our sources said Mr. Amaechi and Mr. Uduaghan staged the walk-out during a meeting of the South-South special zonal executive committee on Sunday, March 17, 2013 in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. One of the sources accused the two Niger Delta governors of teaming up to walk out in order to embarrass Mr. Tukur and their Akwa Ibom State counterpart. Governor Akpabio, who was recently chosen as the inaugural chairman of the PDP’s governors’ forum, is known to be extremely servile towards President Goodluck Jonathan.
Mr. Jonathan and Governor Amaechi have been carrying on a quiet feud for some months now. In a move to cover up shunning of Mr. Tukur, the Delta State Commissioner of Information, Chike Ogeah, had issued a statement claiming that Governor Uduaghan’s exit from the Port Harcourt meeting did not translate to disrespect for the PDP chairman. Mr. Ogeah’s statement asserted that, on arrival in Port Harcourt, Mr. Uduaghan had informed Mr. Tukur of his intention to return to Asaba, the Delta State capital, the same day.
“Given that Asaba Airport closes to air traffic by 5 p.m., the Governor had sought the permission of the chairman to exit the meeting whenever it gets to the threshold of arriving Asaba Airport ahead of its closure to air traffic,” wrote the commissioner. He added: “Alhaji Tukur had graciously agreed to let Governor Uduaghan leave to enable him [to] return to Asaba on time. When eventually it was time to leave for the return flight to Asaba, Dr. Uduaghan again notified the chairman who wished him a safe flight.” According to Ogeah, “Governor Amaechi, as the host governor, had to see Dr. Uduaghan off.
At no time was there any disagreement to elicit a walk out by anybody. Alhaji Tukur had conducted the meeting in an atmosphere of candor and camaraderie and before Dr. Uduaghan left the meeting, all the parties present had addressed the meeting.” Mr. Ogeah’s narrative was contradicted by a senior official of the Delta State government who was in Mr. Uduaghan’s entourage. The source disclosed that Governor Uduaghan did not head straight for the airport after leaving the meeting in Port Harcourt. Instead, he went to Governor Amaechi’s residence where he and the host governor as well as a few others shared a few bottles of wine.
In the words of the source, “The truth of the matter is that His Excellency, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, and his Rivers State counterpart really walked out on the national chairman of PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, and the Governor of Akwa Ibom who is the chairman of the PDP Governors Forum (PGF), Chief Godswill Akpabio during the South-South Meeting of PDP held on Sunday, March 17, 2013 in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.” The source noted that Mr. Uduaghan left shortly after the delivery of some speeches. He disclosed that the Delta governor stood up and told Mr. Tukur that he was leaving. “As he was going out, the host governor, Mr. Amaechi, stood up too.
Governor Amaechi pretended that he was seeing off my boss. But to the surprise of many, the two governors’ convoys drove straight to Governor Amaechi’s lodge where we all came down and were ushered in. Governor Amaechi then asked his aides to bring out drinks and my boss was treated to a good reception.” Our source revealed that the two governors discussed in hushed tones but laughed loud as they enjoyed themselves. SaharaReporters learnt that Governor Uduaghan spent approximately one hour before leaving for the airport to board an aircraft bound for Asaba.
A senior PDP official told SaharaReporters that Mr. Tukur and Governor Akpabio were upset to discover that Governors Amaechi and Uduaghan left the PDP parley to go and share drinks. “Do you need a prophet to tell you that the two governors actually walked out on the party chairman and other dignitaries at the meeting?” he queried. When SaharaReporters contacted Governor Amaechi, he stated that he had to leave the meeting due to a slight medical reason. He added he and Mr. Uduaghan exited the meeting at the same time after notifying the PDP chairman.
Naij.com

INEC tightens guidelines ..

 by Fidelis Mac-Leva

Prof. Jega Attahiru

 for party registration  - The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has proposed an upward review in the ‘administrative fee’ for political associations seeking registration as political parties from the current N100, 000 to N1 million.

The review which drew mixed reactions by stakeholders was contained in the draft of new guidelines for political parties which were presented to all the registered political parties during a consultative meeting with INEC in Abuja yesterday.

In addition to the new administrative fee for party registration, INEC also proposes to carry out inspection of the national headquarters of political associations seeking registration to verify the claims of the association for registration.

Similarly, every association seeking registration as a political party, under the new guidelines, is expected to submit 50 copies of the minutes at which the name, symbol or logo of the association in addition to submitting 50 copies each of the proposed party constitution and manifesto and minutes of the meeting of members of the association indicating approval and adoption of both.

The new guidelines also requires associations seeking registration as political parties to provide evidence of valid occupation their national headquarters in the Federal Capital Territory while the Commission shall carry out inspection of the national headquarters  to confirm the continued existence and functioning of the address  as the party’s national headquarters.

Addressing representatives of registered political parties at the consultative meeting, INEC chairman, Attahiru Jega said the commission had also worked out a plan for the delimitation of constituencies which it shall strive to carry out before the 2015 elections.

Reacting to the development,Acting national secretary of the PDP, Solomon Onwe said the proposed N1million administrative fee by INEC was on the high side and would deny many Nigerians the opportunity of registering associations as political parties.

On his part, the national secretary of the ANPP, Tijani Tumsah, said the consultative meeting was a noble initiative by INEC, adding that it would go a long way in making improvements in the electoral process, especially ahead of the 2015 general elections.

DailyTrust

Russians threaten to leave Cyprus over IMF deposits tax Added by Ehi on March 20, 2013. Saved under World News Tags: Cyprus, Deposit tax, Imf, Limassol, russians, World 1.1K inShare 1 digg Email Share on Tumblr Share Protests in Cyprus over bailout tax Protests in Cyprus over bailout tax LIMASSOL, Cyprus(AFP) – Angry Russian residents of Cyprus are talking of giving up on the Mediterranean island over a eurozone bailout deal which they say unfairly targets their money. “We are asking ourselves if we should stay here,” says Anastasia, a young Russian who grew up in the southern coastal city of Limassol, nicknamed “Limassolgrad” for the tens of thousands of Russians who live there. “We trusted this country and its banks, then all of a sudden they take our money,” she says. The Cypriot parliament voted on Tuesday to reject a debt bailout deal which included an unprecedented one-time levy on bank savings of up to 9.9 percent, to raise 5.8 billion euros ($7.47 billion) in return for a 10 billion euro rescue package. Figures vary but the Moody’s rating firm estimates that Russian companies and banks keep up to $31 billion on the Mediterranean island, which accounts for between a third and half of all Cypriot deposits. “Cyprus was a paradise until it joined the eurozone,” said Yana, who works for a real estate agent on the Limassol seafront. “But in recent months the Cypriots have started to point fingers at us. We feel more and more like foreigners here,” she says. “Some think they are in this situation because of the Russian money, and others are jealous.” Yana’s colleague and fellow Russian, Tatiana, said that as soon as the banks reopen “the Russians are going to transfer their money”. “We’re not going to give the island a second chance.” As a condition for the desperately-needed Cyprus bailout, fellow eurozone countries and international creditors on Saturday agreed a levy on all deposits in the island’s banks. Under a revised plan, drafted on Tuesday in response to an angry backlash at home, the bank levy was dropped on savings below 20,000 euros but retained at 6.75 percent on deposits of 20,000-100,000 euros and at 9.9 percent for amounts above 100,000. Of the estimated 5.8 billion euros which the measures would yield, nearly two or three billion would have come from Russians living on the island, analysts said. After parliament rejected it, the government was expected to try to renegotiate the terms of the deal with the EU and IMF, although with no clear options on how to make up the 5.8 billion euro shortfall. In Limassol, a city of four-star hotels, luxury cars, fur retailers and trendy restaurants, the Russian community has its own radio station, newspapers and schools. “All the Russians are hanging on a conclusion to this crisis. We give them information hour by hour, trying not to make them afraid. Aside from that, we prefer to keep quiet,” says Ilias Antoniades, a Cypriot who manages the Russian Wave radio station. German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, who regretted the Cyprus parliament vote, on Tuesday said that “whoever (invested) his money in countries where they (paid) lower taxes” ought to assume responsibility, a message to the Russian fortunes in Cyprus. Several analysts said the levy meant to ensure that Brussels did not spend billions propping up possibly ill-gotten gains of Russia’s super-rich that may be kept in Cypriot accounts. “People put clean money in the banks. The mafia put theirs in safe boxes but they aren’t touched. It’s the more honest ones who are punished,” said an angry Larissa, who owns Rus Market minimart. “Me, I pay my taxes, I do my accounts. I don’t have any dirty money,” the Russian woman in her 40s said. “All my customers are telling me that Cyprus, for them, is finished.” One Limassol banker estimated that 30 percent of foreign clients are going to leave. “Some want to keep their head offices here but they will send part of their funds elsewhere, to dilute the risk,” said the banker who declined to be named. Antonis, who manages a restaurant frequented almost exclusively by Russians, said targeting Russian money is unjust. “I don’t know if all the Russian money here is clean. But it’s no better in Germany or in England. Over there the oligarchs buy football clubs,” he said. A fur merchant simply fumed: “It’s the end of my business.”

Read More at http://www.naijacenter.com/russians-threaten-to-leave-cyprus-over-imf-deposits-tax/, Copyright © Naija Center News

Russians threaten to leave Cyprus over IMF deposits tax Added by Ehi on March 20, 2013. Saved under World News Tags: Cyprus, Deposit tax, Imf, Limassol, russians, World 464 inShare 1 digg Email Share on Tumblr Share Protests in Cyprus over bailout tax Protests in Cyprus over bailout tax LIMASSOL, Cyprus(AFP) – Angry Russian residents of Cyprus are talking of giving up on the Mediterranean island over a eurozone bailout deal which they say unfairly targets their money. “We are asking ourselves if we should stay here,” says Anastasia, a young Russian who grew up in the southern coastal city of Limassol, nicknamed “Limassolgrad” for the tens of thousands of Russians who live there. “We trusted this country and its banks, then all of a sudden they take our money,” she says. The Cypriot parliament voted on Tuesday to reject a debt bailout deal which included an unprecedented one-time levy on bank savings of up to 9.9 percent, to raise 5.8 billion euros ($7.47 billion) in return for a 10 billion euro rescue package. Figures vary but the Moody’s rating firm estimates that Russian companies and banks keep up to $31 billion on the Mediterranean island, which accounts for between a third and half of all Cypriot deposits. “Cyprus was a paradise until it joined the eurozone,” said Yana, who works for a real estate agent on the Limassol seafront. “But in recent months the Cypriots have started to point fingers at us. We feel more and more like foreigners here,” she says. “Some think they are in this situation because of the Russian money, and others are jealous.” Yana’s colleague and fellow Russian, Tatiana, said that as soon as the banks reopen “the Russians are going to transfer their money”. “We’re not going to give the island a second chance.” As a condition for the desperately-needed Cyprus bailout, fellow eurozone countries and international creditors on Saturday agreed a levy on all deposits in the island’s banks. Under a revised plan, drafted on Tuesday in response to an angry backlash at home, the bank levy was dropped on savings below 20,000 euros but retained at 6.75 percent on deposits of 20,000-100,000 euros and at 9.9 percent for amounts above 100,000. Of the estimated 5.8 billion euros which the measures would yield, nearly two or three billion would have come from Russians living on the island, analysts said. After parliament rejected it, the government was expected to try to renegotiate the terms of the deal with the EU and IMF, although with no clear options on how to make up the 5.8 billion euro shortfall. In Limassol, a city of four-star hotels, luxury cars, fur retailers and trendy restaurants, the Russian community has its own radio station, newspapers and schools. “All the Russians are hanging on a conclusion to this crisis. We give them information hour by hour, trying not to make them afraid. Aside from that, we prefer to keep quiet,” says Ilias Antoniades, a Cypriot who manages the Russian Wave radio station. German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, who regretted the Cyprus parliament vote, on Tuesday said that “whoever (invested) his money in countries where they (paid) lower taxes” ought to assume responsibility, a message to the Russian fortunes in Cyprus. Several analysts said the levy meant to ensure that Brussels did not spend billions propping up possibly ill-gotten gains of Russia’s super-rich that may be kept in Cypriot accounts. “People put clean money in the banks. The mafia put theirs in safe boxes but they aren’t touched. It’s the more honest ones who are punished,” said an angry Larissa, who owns Rus Market minimart. “Me, I pay my taxes, I do my accounts. I don’t have any dirty money,” the Russian woman in her 40s said. “All my customers are telling me that Cyprus, for them, is finished.” One Limassol banker estimated that 30 percent of foreign clients are going to leave. “Some want to keep their head offices here but they will send part of their funds elsewhere, to dilute the risk,” said the banker who declined to be named. Antonis, who manages a restaurant frequented almost exclusively by Russians, said targeting Russian money is unjust. “I don’t know if all the Russian money here is clean. But it’s no better in Germany or in England. Over there the oligarchs buy football clubs,” he said. A fur merchant simply fumed: “It’s the end of my business.”

Read More at http://www.naijacenter.com/russians-threaten-to-leave-cyprus-over-imf-deposits-tax/, Copyright © Naija Center News