Feral Jundi

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Letter Of Marque: Rhode Island Governor Chafee Issues Ceremonial LoM To Privateer Re-enactors, Despite Article 1, Section 10 Of The US Constitution

Filed under: History,Letter Of Marque,Rhode Island — Tags: , , , , , , , — Matt @ 6:30 PM

Mr. Dorman explained, “Historically this document would separate a legitimate privateer from an outright pirate.” Letters of Marque were issued frequently during colonial times and through the American Revolution as a way to help protect shipping and give naval support. The organization’s ceremonial commission is the first to be signed in Rhode Island since Governor William Jones issued letters of marque during the War of 1812.

Now this is cool. This historical re-enactor group is trying to draw attention to their state’s history with privateering, and they actually got the governor of the state to issue a ceremonial Letter of Marque (see below).

I guess you could also call this a ‘ceremonial violation’ of Article 1, Section 10 of the US Constitution? lol Hopefully no one has a fit about the whole thing… The best part though is the recognition of this concept and importance to US history, by a state’s governor! –Matt


Ahoy! RI ‘pirates’ get governor’s commission
April 12, 2011
PROVIDENCE, R.I.—Shiver me timbers! A group of “pirates” has been granted a commission by the governor of Rhode Island.
The group of about 20 pirate re-enactors, called the Rhode Island Pirate Players, was granted a ceremonial so-called Letter of Marque (MARK’) by Chafee this week. The letter authorizes the group to “arm, furnish and equip themselves” to educate the public about the state’s pirate and privateer history. It also requests that captains who meet them at sea not give them any trouble.
The group’s founder and leader Casey C. Dorman says he asked Chafee’s office for the letter as a way to raise awareness. Rhode Island was once a haven for pirates, and Dorman says it’s one of the most interesting chapters in state history.
Story here.
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The Rhode Island Pirate Players Receive Letter of Marque
PROVIDENCE , April 12 /–The Rhode Island Pirate Players today announced that they have received a Letter of Marque, also known as a Privateering Commission, from Governor Lincoln Chafee.
“We are very excited that Governor Chafee wants to help us in our mission to educate the public about the often overlooked history of pirate and privateer activity in the state,” Casey C. Dorman, Founder and CEO of the Rhode Island Pirate Players stated. The Rhode Island Pirate Players approached the governor in the hope that formal recognition would help bring awareness to their educational mission.
Mr. Dorman explained, “Historically this document would separate a legitimate privateer from an outright pirate.” Letters of Marque were issued frequently during colonial times and through the American Revolution as a way to help protect shipping and give naval support. The organization’s ceremonial commission is the first to be signed in Rhode Island since Governor William Jones issued letters of marque during the War of 1812.
About The Rhode Island Pirate Players
The Rhode Island Pirate Players are a living history organization dedicated to educating the public about Rhode Island ’s pirate and privateer history. They are available for educational presentations, living history events, as well as film and more. The RIPP also has a walking tour operating in Newport through the summer called Dead Men’s Tales. The Rhode Island Pirate Players are willing to travel, and have performed throughout New England, and as far south as the Carolinas .
Link to website here.
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Article 1 – The Legislative Branch

Section 10 – Powers Prohibited of States
No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility.
No State shall, without the Consent of the Congress, lay any Imposts or Duties on Imports or Exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing it’s inspection Laws: and the net Produce of all Duties and Imposts, laid by any State on Imports or Exports, shall be for the Use of the Treasury of the United States; and all such Laws shall be subject to the Revision and Controul of the Congress.
No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any duty of Tonnage, keep Troops, or Ships of War in time of Peace, enter into any Agreement or Compact with another State, or with a foreign Power, or engage in War, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent Danger as will not admit of delay.

Monday, August 24, 2009

Afghanistan: U.S. Panel on Wartime Contracting to Return to Afghanistan

Filed under: Afghanistan,Industry Talk — Tags: , , , — Matt @ 11:42 PM

The commission’s visit to Afghanistan comes as US commanders weigh cutting back on desk jobs and other support staff to free up troops for combat, a move that could require more private contractors to fill the gap.

   I know, why don’t we send the cooks to the frontli….. oh, my bad, the cooks are all KBR contractors.  lol (I had to say it) 

   Outstanding news, and I hope the team is able to collect some good scoop on how things are going.  One thing this group might want to consider though, is the massive dog and pony show that will go on as soon as these folks hit the deck.  Now will they get an accurate assessment of how things are really going, who knows?  But I guess it is the thought that counts.       If you are one of the folks that this group visits, please do not be vocal in any issues you might have.  How can anything be fixed, if no one says anything about it? I am sure the latest Program Support report is floating around in the team’s heads right now, as is the enormous pressure from the administration to not have any more embarrassments that could impede the war effort, so now is a perfect opportunity to get this right because folks actually care.

   The other part of this article that I wanted to point out, was the latest troop shuffling game that General McChrystal and gang has been throwing around. The article mentioned briefly the idea, and I thought it was important to mention it again seeing how the MSM kind of glanced over it.  All joking aside, that is scraping the barrel if the goal is to use support personnel to throw to the front lines.

    The MSM is missing the big story on this as well.  We have more contractors in Afghanistan than troops, we have a massive surge of security contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan, yet the MSM is fixated on the idea that we are evil and not worth the attention because of a company called Xe.  Really?  It seems to me that it is contractors that are saving the day when it comes to man power issues for these wars, and yet the media and the public continues to ignore that fact.  Yet again, if you read the reports, the dirty little secret seems to be that contracting is a good idea to the Obama administration and the Generals of this war.  Losing the war in Afghanistan or Iraq tends to weigh pretty heavily on the minds of our leaders, and obviously contractors have become an important part of that strategy of not losing. –Matt

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US panel on wartime contracting to return to Afghanistan

August 22, 2009

WASHINGTON — A US commission investigating wartime contracting said it plans to return to Afghanistan on Sunday as part its effort to stem fraud and waste by private defense contractors.

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Friday, June 12, 2009

Publications: At What Cost? Contingency Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan, By the CWC

Filed under: Afghanistan,Industry Talk,Iraq,Publications — Tags: , , , , , , , , — Matt @ 2:36 PM

 

   Interesting report and check it out.  The things I thought were interesting was the discussion about the TWISS2 contracts, the RUF, and the fear of repeating the same mistakes in Afghanistan.  You think? pfffffft.-Matt

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Wartime Contracting Report

At What Cost? Contingency Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan

By the Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan 

 

Let the commission know what you think, click here. 

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Industry Talk: Can’t Anyone Here Manage a Contract?, by David Isenberg

Filed under: Industry Talk — Tags: , , , , — Matt @ 11:34 AM

   A great article and lots of excellent suggestions for the commission to check out. (hint….hint?) Let’s review the statistics shall we, so we can have a little perspective during this conversation.  250,000 plus or minus private contractors operating in the various war zones.(this number refers to DoD, DoS, USAID, others) As for personal sacrifice of the contracting community,  Iraq (1,314) and Afghanistan (111) casualties.  Not to mention the 31,000 contractors that have been injured. (and that is a rough number as well) So with those numbers, why is the government still not doing the things necessary to organize and manage this industry?

    Maybe the government wants this industry to be disjointed and unorganized?  They want fraud and abuse cases to happen, because it takes the spot light off the government, and allows them to blame private industry for all of their ills?  I don’t know, and it still boggles my mind as to how this continues to flail in the wind.  

   Look, it is simple.  If the current leadership tasked with organizing and managing this effort is not up to the task, then fire them, and get someone else in there to get the job done.  The next effort should be to shame those leaders in government and military who have allowed this to carry on.  We have a war to fight, and if the Obama administration has deemed this war a national interest and priority, then we need get off our collective ass and do what is necessary to organize and get efficient.  

   I would also like to see a conversation about including this 250,000 plus or minus contractors into the discussion about the various regional military and diplomatic strategies.  It is odd to me that we have thousands of us working with and around civilian populations out there, and our wartime strategies supposedly deal with protecting and helping those populations, and yet there is no coordination of my industry to insure we do not screw that up.  If a company implements bad business practices, or grossly impractical road tactics, or poor treatment of local nationals, etc. because there were no regional rules on what was acceptable for private industry, then of course that is going to work against the overall regional strategy and the war effort.  In the eyes of the local populations, we are all one in the same(foreigners in their land), and our military/diplomatic leaders and strategists need to recognize that reality. 

    The private industry does have an impact on the war, and if we are serious about managing that impact, then all 250,000 of us have to be brought into the conversation about war time strategy and how to conduct ourselves out there. That to me is reason enough to get serious about contractors, but who am I or David to bring that point up?  

    And the war continues……-Matt 

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Can’t anyone here manage a contract?

by David Isenberg 

June 9th, 2009 

Tomorrow, according to the Associated Press, the Commission on Wartime Contracting will present a bleak assessment of how tens of billions of dollars have been spent since 2001. The 111-page report, according to AP, documents poor management, weak oversight, and a failure to learn from past mistakes as recurring themes in wartime contracting.

The commission’s report is scheduled to be made public Wednesday at a hearing held by the House Oversight and Government Reform’s national security subcommittee.

While this is hardly the first report to document failings of oversight on private contractors it is nevertheless significant, as supposedly the U.S. government has taken significant steps in the past couple of years to improve its management of contractors. Yet apparently, to paraphrase the poet Robert Frost, contractors have numerous promises to keep and the government has years to go before it can sleep comfortably.

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Sunday, April 26, 2009

Industry Talk: Panel Investigating Wartime Contracts Finds Private Guards Lack Essential Equipment, Training

Filed under: Industry Talk — Tags: , , — Matt @ 10:57 PM

   Wow.  We’ll see how this works out, and hopefully these companies will correct the deficiencies.  Although having a commission and all of this media attention is a terrible way to manage this stuff.  If the government was actually involved with quality control, maybe the wartime commission wouldn’t have had to call this out.  Or better yet, if the companies actually held to the contract terms and provided this stuff in the first place, this wouldn’t have never gotten this far.  –Matt

Edit:  Check out David Isenberg’s article about the SIGIR report that came out last week as well. The report discusses some more stuff about TWISS, and David discussed some of the high lights. 

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Panel investigating wartime contracts finds private guards lack essential equipment, training

RICHARD LARDNER

Associated Press Writer

April 26, 2009

WASHINGTON (AP) — A commission investigating waste and fraud in wartime spending has found serious deficiencies in training and equipment for hundreds of Ugandan guards hired to protect U.S. military bases in Iraq, The Associated Press has learned.

The problems at Forward Operating Bases Delta and Hammer include a lack of vehicles used to properly protect the two posts, a shortage of weapons and night vision gear, and poorly trained guards. Both bases house several thousand U.S. military personnel.

Concerned the shortages leave the bases vulnerable, the Commission on Wartime Contracting alerted military officials in Iraq and at U.S. Central Command in Tampa, Fla.

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