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21 Aug 2010 14:35

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World: Blackwater (remember them?) nailed for export violations in Iraq

  • $42M the amount the former Blackwater (now Xe) had to pay for export violations
  • 288 the number of defense-related violations Blackwater was cited for between 2003 to 2009
  • 17 the number of Iraqis that died in a controversial Blackwater-caused incident in 2007 source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

23 Jul 2010 14:44

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U.S.: Bad uses of top-secret clearance: Accessing child porn online

  • bad Dozens of Pentagon officials and contractors with clearance have been tied to purchasing child porn.
  • worse While some cases have been prosecuted, many have languished over a number of years. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Feb 2010 10:46

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Biz: Apple nails foreign contractors for using underage workers

  • 133k number of workers Apple’s contractors, over 102 facilities, use to create their products
  • 17 number of violations it found as a result of its own internal audits of contractors
  • three number of cases it found of contractors purposely hiring underage workers; that’s bad source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 2 Comments • Permalink

19 Feb 2010 12:06

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U.S.: Plane-crasher Joe Stack’s big issue may have been unfair tax policy

  • What policy? A 1978 law limited how employers could be punished for misclassifying employees as contractors, but in 1986 an exception was made for engineers and computer workers specifically.
  • The effect The exception affected workers like Stack, forcing the employees to have to pay back taxes if the IRS found that they were misclassified. It’s an issue Obama’s still trying to reform today.
  • Joe’s issue Stack spent $5,000 of his own money lobbying to change the law to no effect. The change forced him to pay significant backroll taxes due to his contractor status. He compared himself to a slave. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

03 Jan 2010 10:52

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U.S., World: Iraq isn’t taking the Blackwater court decision lying down

  • win Blackwater won its criminal suit, saying they weren’t liable for a shooting that killed 14 Iraqi citizens and injured many others.
  • lose The Iraqi government, upset over this, plans to help out victims’ families in civil suits and ask for a review of the criminal case. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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