Lockheed Gets Another Big Contract

Four days after out-sourcing a $6.1 billion Navy contract for 23 security helicopters to the Italian and British branches of Lockheed Martin, the Bush administration has blessed Lockheed Martin with another billion dollar contract. According to the Washington Post this morning, a 10-year, $1.9 billion Federal Aviation Administration contract for general aviation flight services (currently handled by 2,500 FAA employees) has gone to Lockheed Martin’s Bethesda, MD unit. Four new bidders (Lockheed Martin Corp. of Bethesda, Md.; Raytheon Co. of Waltham, Mass.; Computer Sciences Corp. of El Segundo, Calif.; Northrop Grumman Corp. of Los Angeles) competed for the contract against the FAA in-house team which had teamed with Harris Corp. of Melbourne, FL. When FAA Administrator, Marion Blakey was interviewed by The Federal Times on January 10th, she said the competition started in August 2002 and that the FAA was using “best-value criteria” to decide the competition. Translation: the White House saying they were out-sourcing to save money is hogwash. Best-value means spending as much money as possible. Guess what major corporation has invested in all of the competitors, including the Harris Corp. Here’s a hint. It’s the international war profiteer that owns the GOP. Altogether now: THE CARLYLE GROUP. Tonight the Prez will deliver his State of the Union address. We all know what he’s going to say. Things are going great in Iraq, the economy is going great, our deficit spending is going great but the new budget will be tough, the plan for Social Security to screw the old, poor and sick is going great, and the utopian vision to bring peace, freedom and Jesus to the whole world by 2008 is going great. While the Prez speaks, particularly if you wisely turn off the sound, it will be difficult not to concentrate on the tell-tale left-side droop of his face when he smirks. Repugnant as it is to be reminded that the GOP has picked a mentally impaired zealot to represent the United States in the world. It’s even more repugnant to know that the freedom and liberty global supremacy plans touted by the White House is being implemented by handing out defense contracts to all the Carlyle Group defense companies. And make no mistake, those defense contracts include adding newer and more deadly nuclear weapons to our once-dormant nuclear arsenal.