RTFA: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/politics/general/…

The State Department is preparing to slap a multimillion-dollar fine on private military contractor Blackwater USA for shipping hundreds of automatic weapons to Iraq without the necessary permits.

Some of the weapons are believed to have ended up on the country’s black market, department officials told McClatchy Newspapers, but no criminal charges have been filed in the case.

The expected fine is the result of a long-running federal investigation into whether employees of the firm shipped weapons hidden in shrink-wrapped pallets from its Moyock, N.C., headquarters to Iraq, where Blackwater is the State Department’s largest personal security contractor.

Since the arms shipment allegations first became public 14 months ago, Blackwater, which has received $1.2 billion in federal contracts, according to the Web site fedspending.org, has consistently denied involvement in illicit arms trafficking.

Oh boy - several million taken out of $1,200 million… I’m sure that’s really a deterrent.

Did anyone see the part about these illegal weapons ending up on the black market? Come on, people! This concept of outsourcing military functions to professional mercenaries is insane! Is anyone surprised that a group called “Blackwater” is also an illegal arms trafficker, whose weapons end up in the hands of terrorists?!

RTFA: http://hotair.com/archives/2008/11/11/aig-responds…

It is essential for AIG to conduct seminars of this kind to keep independent financial planners abreast of investment products and services including those offered by AIG. The financial planners are responsible for generating almost $200 million in revenue this year for AIG as of September 30th.

On October 10, I issued a directive to all AIG employees and subsidiaries to reduce expenses and conserve cash, including cancelling all nonessential conferences or meetings, unnecessary travel and excessive overhead. Since then, we have canceled more than 160 events. We conducted a top-to-bottom review of all expenses of the Phoenix meeting in advance and found that it was consistent with my October 10th directive. This conference was approved because it provides the kind of communication we must conduct with the people who sell our products if we are to be successful and repay the U.S. taxpayer.”

Before I offer my rebuttal, let me first state that the AIG Media Relations people and the various employees who e-mailed me were very polite and friendly. They all said they understand the scrutiny under which AIG must now operate, but felt that this story unfairly characterized the event, and to some extent, they’re right. After all, sitting at poolside doesn’t cost any more money than already spent, and neither does coffee-drinking, both of which got a strange level of focus in the article.

However, I think the rebuttals miss the point. AIG essentially cast itself as bankrupt and in need of receivership by American taxpayers. If they want to hold conferences - and I agree that sales organizations have to do so - then they can hold them at corporate headquarters and not resort hotels. When times got lean for corporations in which I worked, all of which had major sales organizations within them, they didn’t travel to resorts but had people come back to HQ to get their training. Had they gone into Chapter 11, I doubt that any judge would have approved the outlay in any case, and this is a similar position.

YES - Morrissey gets this one right on the nose. Is it necessary for AIG to use luxury resort escapes for this sort of thing?

This is almost as absurd as celebrity divorces where one party claims they have gotten used to a certain lifestyle, so the other side needs to throw in some premium.

I can’t believe I’m saying this, but:

If you’re bankrupt, NO RESORT VACATIONS!!! Period.

RTFA: http://www.abc15.com/mostpopular/story.aspx?conten…

To the outside observer, the 2008 Asset Management Conference held this week at the Pointe Hilton Squaw Peak Resort in Phoenix was nothing out of the ordinary.

Conference participants, however, were notable because of the publicity they’ve received for their role in the ongoing financial crisis.

The conference at the posh resort included many senior managers at American International Group, or AIG, one of the world’s biggest insurers and recipients in September of more than $85 billion from the federal government.

AIG made significant efforts to disguise the conference, making sure there were no AIG logos or signs anywhere on the property.

Barf! Lemme get my pitchfork.