Monday, April 29, 2013

Location, location, location

How the hell did I manage to miss out on the cash bonanza opportunity in civil government in Afghanistan?
"For more than a decade, wads of American dollars packed into suitcases, backpacks and, on occasion, plastic shopping bags have been dropped off every month or so at the offices of Afghanistan’s president — courtesy of the Central Intelligence Agency. All told, tens of millions of dollars have flowed from the C.I.A. to the office of President Hamid Karzai, according to current and former advisers to the Afghan leader."
I was assured that the Nigerian oil minister gig was a dead-solid moneymaker, better than Amway, even.

Man, I have GOT to give my financial advisor a piece of my mind...I feel like I missed Microsoft at $1.28 a share.

Anybody here know where I can learn Dari in six weeks and find a marriagable Karzai niece..?

18 comments:

  1. I read the story when it first hit the news, and simply yawned. It's really getting harder and harder to surprise me, I guess. The desired ends simply justify any means, from weapons causing serious collateral damage to out and out bribery.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Chief,
    i live in a extreme poverty area compounded by generations of problems yet unsolved.
    I live in a place where the NFL or a lotto win is the best way out.
    We are the 2nd poorest county and a long shot from the beltway or portlandia.We have a aids rate and std rate to rival Ghana.
    The poverty is palpable AND then we read such as you discuss in this essay.
    One has to ask WTF?
    Maybe we can justify these cash payments as a early type of bailout for the suck asses riding the gravy train.
    Nice call on pubbing this.
    jim

    ReplyDelete
  3. I didn't yawn, I hate to admit it but I laughed; anyone else remember "The Mouse That Roared"? The macguffin was that this shitty little duchy would declare war on the U.S., lose immediately, and then get all Marshall-planned and rake in the bucks. Of course, because it's a comedy instead they WIN and end up having to give foreign aid to the U.S....

    This is almost too ridiculous; I'm all in favor of using silver instead of lead, but forgawdsakes can we at least make sure we buy people who are a) gonna stay bought and b) can actually DO something useful with all that taxpayer cash?

    Shit, with these idiots we might just as well be dropping off Hefty bags of unmarked bills at the trailer home of the cast of "Here Comes Honey Boo Boo"...

    ReplyDelete
  4. Chief: I suggest doing it the old way.

    Every year, show up in Kabul and give a donkey load of gold to the "King of Afghanistan" ("President" I guess these days). And then say, we will be back next year with another donkey load.

    Then *leave* and not come back for a year. In the mean time, all the movers and shakers will be so busy scheming to make *their* guy "King" they won't be looking to cause troubles outside of Afghanistan.

    Everyone wins. The Afghans are paid to play their national sport and the rest of the world isn't bothered overmuch.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Brilliant AEL. Perhaps even better doing it in small denomination bills, making the counting and distributing time longer. Kind of in the category of "Idle hands are........"?

    ReplyDelete
  6. To all,
    i try to put this stuff in perspective.
    Martha Stewart goes to prison for lying about insider trading and Abramhoff goes to prison for doing essentially what the CIA did every day in Afgh.
    Now we know where the buck really stops.
    jim

    ReplyDelete
  7. Yeah, jim, but at least Martha showed us how to make adorable Christmas decorations out of Neiman Marcus sconces. WTF had Karzai done for us lately?

    ReplyDelete
  8. Chief,
    wtf has Obomba done for us lately??!
    jim

    ReplyDelete
  9. jim: ??? Dunno how I'd even begin to address that one. Are you suggesting that the elected Chief Executive of the U.S. government is a foreign potentate whose relatives we're paying off with hefty-bags of unmarked cash?

    Not that I'm saying that we couldn't work that system, but, still...

    ReplyDelete
  10. Chief: there sure is a very clear desire for interest groups to make their purchases of elected officials and elections as "unmarked" as possible. We have just about reached the point in capitalism where we have a "free market" government, with legislation going to the highest contributors (purchasers?)

    ReplyDelete
  11. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Find out the high-priced rates on all amenities from reduction in price hotel booking.


    Here is my homepage - agencja detektywistyczna

    ReplyDelete
  13. Prong collar Prong dog collars are also called pinch collars.
    Incorrectly installed or improperly grounded devices are a hazard.


    Review my web-site; usługi detektywistyczne warszawa

    ReplyDelete
  14. I was place to keep my new iphone 4 running for give consideration to days during this test.


    Feel free to visit my blog post; detektywi warszawa

    ReplyDelete
  15. Cheerios has a calming effect on the nervous
    system. Share additional take a get just one of
    the many Medicare supplement plans, plan N.

    Also visit my blog post - prywatny detektyw

    ReplyDelete
  16. Furthermore when your long-established electric source fails, you still gain
    a very back-up.

    Also visit my website: zespół muzyczny Bydgoszcz

    ReplyDelete
  17. This may require practicing those you decide upon. You
    will not expected to check out the company at sort of point of time.


    My homepage; tanie wczasy

    ReplyDelete
  18. hey there and thank you for your info – I've definitely picked
    up something new from right here. I did however expertise some technical points using this site, as
    I experienced to reload the site lots of times previous to I could get
    it to load correctly. I had been wondering if your web hosting is
    OK? Not that I am complaining, but slow loading instances times will often affect
    your placement in google and can damage your high
    quality score if ads and marketing with Adwords.
    Well I am adding this RSS to my email and can look out for a lot more of your respective
    exciting content. Make sure you update this again very soon.


    Feel free to visit my page ... xtrasize

    ReplyDelete