"Contractors Rarely Held Responsible for Misdeeds in Iraq" (The Washington Post 11/04/06) and "In Iraq Just Signing the Contract is No. 1" (The New York Times 10/25/06).  A discussion of these and other contracting abuses follows:

A little known truth about Washington has become more evident through recent news about three ...

BY ANONYMOUS On behalf of all past, present, and future CSRS (Civil Service Retirement System) retirees,       "Short of double taxation, what U.S. law authorizes both taxation of Civil Service Retirement System contributions going into the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund and then ...

Re: Taxing CSRS Retirement Contributions by Anonymous on 2005.10.07 12:28PM EDT  |  As a CSRS member with 26 years of Federal service, I have long suppressed the fear that my employeer would "mess" with my retirement system. My theory has been, that as the number of CSRS members declined, the ability to resist ...

Re: taxing CSRS retirement contributions 2x?? by Horatius on 2005.10.07 07:44AM EDT  |   Come on, guys, it's because, over an average time-after-retirement period, the bulk of the retirement payments greatly exceed the sum of the contributions. As for why employee contributions to the CSRS are taxed, it's because -- under the IRS code -- the ...

Re: taxing CSRS retirement contributions 2x?? by Anonymous on 2005.10.07 07:10AM EDT  | Its just another way for this administration to help the rich folks. I have worked for DOD for 25 years and I have never seen an administration circumvent the law like this one does. Reduce taxes on the rich, ...

comment from reader:

3 October 2005 Congratulations on standing up. One question, if I may: How is it possible to tax CSRS retirement contributions going into the Civil Service Retirement & Disability Fund and then to tax the majority of those contributions coming out of Fund as annuity payments?