Feral Jundi

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Legal News: Marine’s Father Will Not Pay Court-Ordered Funeral Protester’s Fees!!!

Filed under: Legal News,Military News — Tags: , , , , — Matt @ 3:35 AM

   This is disgusting.  These pathetic losers from the Westboro Baptist Church are a stain on society and the US.  Any court should recognize that maybe common sense and human decency should for once dictate in ruling like this?  Because if they don’t, then I could see this protest method gaining traction, and we will see even more disgusting examples of freedom of speech gone horribly wrong.

   Now if they say that the ruling should stand, and this father should pay, then that’s that.  If I was that father, I would do the time in prison or whatever for not paying and be highly vocal once in the joint.  He would become a martyr, and it will surely make a mockery of the justice system–every day he serves. It is as ridiculous as holding a court martial for the Navy SEALs who punched the terrorist in the stomach, after the animal was responsible for killing, mutilating and hanging from a bridge, the Blackwater contractors in Fallujah. What the hell is going on? –Matt

Edit: Please join the Facebook Page in support of the Snyder Family in their fight against the WBC.

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Marine’s dad ordered to pay protesters’ court fees

March 30, 2010

BALTIMORE — The father of a Marine killed in Iraq and whose funeral was picketed by anti-gay protesters was ordered to pay the protesters’ appeal costs, his lawyers said Monday.

On Friday, Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ordered Snyder to pay $16,510 to Fred Phelps. Phelps is the leader of the Westboro Baptist Church, which conducted protests at Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder’s funeral in 2006.

The two-page decision supplied by attorneys for Albert Snyder of York, Pa., offered no details on how the court came to its decision.

Attorneys also said Snyder is struggling to come up with fees associated with filing a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court.

The decision adds “insult to injury,” said Sean Summers, one of Snyder’s lawyers.

The high court agreed to consider whether the protesters’ message is protected by the First Amendment or limited by the competing privacy and religious rights of the mourners.

Story here.

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Marine’s Father Will Not Pay Court-Ordered Funeral Protesters’ Fees

March 30, 2010

The father of a Marine killed in Iraq whose funeral was picketed by anti-gay protesters told Fox News he will defy a court order and not pay the protesters’ appeal costs.

The father of a Marine killed in Iraq whose funeral was picketed by anti-gay protesters told Fox News he will defy a court order and not pay the protesters’ appeal costs.

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Iraq: Aegis Defense Contractor Robbie Napier Killed, Others Wounded And Killed In Separate Incidents

Filed under: Industry Talk,Iraq — Tags: , , , , , , , — Matt @ 1:11 AM

   I had no idea that this happened several weeks back, and there is nothing on the Aegis company website or Army Corps of Engineers website about this death, or even the other attacks. Supposedly another contractor was killed by a sniper, and others severely wounded, but there is nothing in the news about it.  If a reader could please pass on the news link to the death related to that sniper, I will definitely make an edit to this post.

   The other deal with this, is that I found out about this because of a story a blogger put together, who also happens to be a contractor and artist.  Perhaps he can come over and fill in some of the blanks.  Good on him for at least writing the story up on this, because if it wasn’t for him, I would have never have known. I also checked the icasualties site, and others, and I could not find anything at all about these deaths. Yet again, if the Army Corps of Engineers or Aegis Defense posted a press release about this, I could have blogged about this awhile back–but there was nothing. (someone please correct me if I am wrong on this, but I found nothing in my searches)

   With that in mind, if you are reading this and you are seeing no attention at all about a security contractor death in your company, or a death you heard about somewhere else, please let me know and I will put it up on the blog.  I have a multitude of media folks reading FJ, and I will definitely get the word out.  These are our fallen brothers, and their deaths mean something.  But if know one knows that they were killed, other than their family, then no one will ever have an idea about that sacrifice.

   Iraq is also at a very interesting point in the war.  We are at the end there, but make no mistake about it, things are still dangerous and just because the media is not reporting it, doesn’t mean it is not happening.  With the draw down, it requires a lot of road work.  We are moving all this stuff out of theater, and contractors are going to be the guys doing it all–much like we were the ones that helped to bring it all in.  And as we see Iraq take more of the security duties, and Coalition forces take less, the possibility for attacks only increase, because the insurgency feels it has a better chance of getting in a punch or two as we are leaving. Watch yourselves out there. –Matt

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Wakefield bomb blast victim had just delivered baby

20 March 2010

By Stuart Robinson

A SECURITY contractor was killed in an explosion in Iraq just three months after delivering his baby daughter in the kitchen of his home.

Ex-Marine and father-of-two Robbie Napier, 36, from Wakefield, died after the explosion this month.

On Friday, his grieving father told the YEP that just last Christmas he had returned home and delivered his baby daughter at his family home in Stanley.

An inquest in Wakefield into his death heard that Mr Napier was a front seat passenger in the front of a three-vehicle convoy on March 10.

Coroner’s officer Anthony Lancaster told the hearing: “Mr Napier sustained fatal injuries in an explosion of a detonated explosive device.”

The court heard that following the explosion in Baghdad Mr Napier was taken to a nearby base but was pronounced dead a short time later.

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Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Maritime Security: Combating Piracy 2010, Hamburg

Filed under: Germany,Industry Talk,Maritime Security — Tags: , , , , , , — Matt @ 3:43 AM

    It would be great to attend an event like this, just to meet some of the players and get a feel for where the industry is going.  I would especially like to sit in on the lethal versus non-lethal discussion, and hear the various arguments.  My guess is that you will have the same dorks promoting the same non-lethal drivel when it comes to dealing with the kind of piracy we are seeing these days.  But you never know.  There might be a few courageous souls in this conference who are willing to tell it like it is.

   I really like the lessons learned aspect of a conference like this, and I really think that will pay big dividends. If any readers are able to attend and give a quick report about how it went, feel free to do so in the comments section. Follow the links below if you want to register for this thing. –Matt

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Combating Piracy 2010

Date 26 Apr 2010 – 28 Apr 2010

Location Hamburg, Germany

Venue Crowne Plaza Hamburg

Organisation Hanson Wade

Type event Conference, Workshop

Category Defence / Security

“There is a great business out here. You go with friends, you seize a ship and weeks later you come back with big money,” said the 23-year-old, who gave his name only as Gure. “We prefer to do this piracy thing until change comes to this country.”

As each hijacked vessel is released, the ransoms are dramatically rising with a reported payment of over $7million in January 2010.

But what’s most concerning is that as more money is paid the more sophisticated the pirate groups are getting. They’re investing ransom money in equipment and each hijacking leads to an increase in pirate intelligence. They’re learning vulnerable pressure points so each time they can secure the highest possible ransoms are paid. And as the military perfect their act, so do the pirates, who venture hundreds of miles into the Indian Ocean, where naval forces are stretched too thinly to create an effective net.

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Industry Talk: Can The Government Force Contractors To Unionize?

Filed under: Industry Talk,Legal News — Tags: , , , , , , — Matt @ 2:26 AM

   It’s a basic question, and I have not a clue about how this would pertain to government contracts in the war.  I am sure there is some clause for overseas contingency operations that do not allow labor unions with wartime contracts.  I could be wrong, and this is an area that is way out of my lane. (any legal eagles want to step in, or maybe even the folks at IPOA)

   Plus, with how globalized contracting has become with DoD and DoS contracts, I just don’t see how you could force some Sri Lankan working at the DEFAC for KBR to pay the dues for some union.  There are just so many pieces to this, and I really have never explored this area.

   Now I have heard of numerous discussions amongst contractors while working out there, revolving around organizing. Most of the times, it was all talk born from poor labor practices of companies.  There have even been some attempts at creating unions for this industry, but nothing with any teeth or longevity. I could be wrong, and there might be some solid stuff out there that I am not aware of.  I know for CONUS, there are security related unions.  But for OCONUS, I have yet to see it.

   For fun though, what would happen if we were forced to be unionize?  Would that be a good thing, or a bad thing? –Matt

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Can the Government Force Contractors to Unionize?

By Jim Garrettson

March 29, 2010

Executive order 13502 [1]from February 2009 garnered relatively little attention when it was issued.   It reads, “in order to promote the efficient administration and completion of Federal construction projects,” executive agencies are allowed to require contractors working on federal construction projects to implement “Project Labor Agreements.”

This order applies to any construction, renovation or rehabilitation project that costs over $25 million, and encompasses all agencies but the GAO.  The order also rescinded Bush’s Executive Order 13202 [2]from February, 2001, which prohibits the government from requiring contractors to abide by these agreements, or discriminating against contractors for “refusing to become or remain signatories or otherwise to adhere to agreements with one or more labor organizations, on the same or other related construction project(s).”

Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) [3] require all employees working on a specific project to abide by the same collective bargaining agreement.  This enables the hiring of non-unionized contractors, but typically requires them to pay into multi-employer union pension plans, putting non-union contractors at a financial disadvantage because they must pay for the union plan and for their existing company plan, according to the Associated Builders and Contractors [4].  Another problem for contractors is that many union pension funds are underwater, according to this recent article in the Washington Times [5].  Employers bound to collectively bargained agreements are forced to cover costs for underfunded union pensions when other contractors drop out.

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Monday, March 29, 2010

Aviation: Drones Slowly Becoming The New ‘Virtual Fence’ On Border

Filed under: Aviation,Law Enforcement,Mexico,Texas — Tags: , , , , , , , — Matt @ 1:53 AM

   So are we actually shutting down the virtual fence, or are we just using a different method of creating a virtual fence? I also want to highlight another ongoing saga involving drones and a call for troops.  In Texas, governor Perry has been fighting to get more drones and more troops on the border in order to stop the spill over of violence, and has met a lot of resistance from the feds on this.

    Over the last year, this has been more political than anything, seeing how Perry is Republican and the Administration and Congress is mostly Democrat. Increasing border security activities goes against any kind of immigration reform or amnesty initiatives, because it sends a mixed message to the U.S. citizenry.  The narrative is this– ‘Do we want to stop illegal immigrants from crossing the border so we can stop them from killing Americans or bringing over drugs/supporting the cartels, or do we want them coming over and giving them a free pass so we can get cheap labor? I side on the idea that people should come to my country legally, and go through the same process that all immigrants have gone through who have come to the US.  Why the Mexican immigrant is a special case, is beyond me. Especially when drug cartels are taking advantage of these immigrants and a weak border, and flooding my country with their drugs.

   But back to border security.  As soon as Americans die, either on the border or on either side of that border, I think politics tends to go out the window, and reality sets in. The attack on diplomats and the astronomical increase in deaths across the border in places like Juarez, have presented a reality where border security might start getting the attention it needs.  Our use of drones will probably increase along the border, as will our assistance to the Mexican government in stopping the cartels. American deaths are game changers, and those acts will only put the war back into the ‘drug war’. The bitter irony is American deaths have already been high do to drug overdoses or drug related crimes in the US. I guess it takes killings on the border to really drive home the point.-Matt

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Drones silently patrol U.S. borders

By Ed Lavandera

March 12, 2010

Fort Huachuca, Arizona (CNN) — It’s a frigid, dark night in the mountainous border region of southeast Arizona. A group of 31 suspected illegal immigrants are walking up and down rocky ridges toward Tucson, Arizona. They’re wearing small backpacks and stop to rest every few minutes.

This isn’t a scene unfolding before the eyes of Border Patrol agents on the ground. It comes from a video image provided by a Predator B unmanned aircraft 19,000 feet overhead. In fact, the nearest Border Patrol agents are far away.

Jerry Kersey is the Customs and Border Protection agent in charge of this night’s Predator mission. He and his two-man crew relay the information to Border Patrol agents from a small trailer 40 miles from the scene.

Kersey directs the agents on the ground, who are wearing night-vision goggles.

“Stop! Stop! They’re to your right,” Kersey firmly dictates over a radio transmission. “They must see you. The group is running.”

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