Rag Hand

The short version:
This guy and his friend, with no experience, received a 300 million dollar contract to supply ammunition to the Afghan forces fighting the Taliban and al Queda.
—The ammunition they supplied was crap.—

According to Army documents, AEY and its president, Efraim Diveroli, 22, appear to have knowingly misled the military when they said last year the ammunition supplied was manufactured in Hungary between 1965 and 1975.
“In fact the majority of the ammunition was manufactured in the People’s Republic of China between 1962 and 1974,” the Army legal services agency told Diveroli in a letter on Tuesday notifying him of AEY’s suspension from all federal work.
If true, AEY would have violated U.S. law that prohibits the acquisition of munitions from Chinese military companies. (apparently purchased through Albania)

Now boys and girls. Why would it make a damned bit of difference where this junk came from?
If the information in the article from Reuters on the manufacture dates is correct, it was all manufactured in the same time period. It all would have deteriorated. DOD and State still would have looked surprised when it failed.
Now the only thing they have to charge him with is using Chinese ammo.
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It gets more complicated but something to consider is that Efraim Diveroli’s uncle owns Botach and Kley Zion and has done some government contracting.

Botach and Kley Zion not only share quarters at 43rd Place in Los Angeles, they also have the same federal tax ID number, the same DUNS number, and the same GSA contracting number, according to their respective websites. The klezion.com domain is registered to Bar Kochba Botach. The fictitious business name “Botach Tactical Kley Zion” was filed at the Los Angeles County Recorders office in 2006. “Botach Tactical” is a separate fictitious name for a California partnership between BK and Schlomo Botach.

On Fedvendor.com, Botach Tactical has two profiles. One of them lists physical and mailing addresses in California. The other says that Botach Tactical’s mailing address is the same Miami Beach address as AEY, down to the suite number:

925 41ST. SUITE 306 MIAMI BEACH, Florida 33140-3339 3423 W 43RD PLACE LOS ANGELES, California 90008, USA Tel: 305-534-0777 Fax: 305-534-1297 Contact

Information: Michael Diveroli 3423 W 43RD PLACE LOS ANGELES, California 90008, USA Tel: 305-534-0777 Fax: 305-534-1297
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Efraim Diveroli has apparently caught the next stage outta Dodge, headed for parts unknown, as has his favorite masseuse/VP. (I hear the weather in Haifa is nice this time of year.)

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Bar-Kochba Botach is trying to shift all the blame to his son.

This from the NYT:

Michael Diveroli, Efraim’s father, had incorporated the company in 1999, when Efraim was 13. For several years, a period when the company appeared to have limited activity, Michael Diveroli, who now operates a police supply company down the street from AEY’s office, was listed as the company’s sole executive.

In 2004, AEY listed Efraim Diveroli, then 18, as an officer with a 1 percent ownership stake.

The younger Diveroli’s munitions experience appeared to be limited to a short-lived job in Los Angeles for Botach Tactical, a military and police supply company owned by his uncle, Bar-Kochba Botach.

Mr. Diveroli cut off an interview when asked about Botach Tactical. Mr. Botach, reached by telephone, said that both Michael and Efraim Diveroli had briefly worked for him, but that after seeing the rush of federal contracts available after the wars began, they had struck out on their own.

“They just left me and took my customer base with them,” he said. “They basically said: ‘Why should we work for Botach? Let’s do it on our own.’
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For a good take on this, read AmericanGoy.

So far WordPress 2.5 works well with the few plugins I use. I especially like the automatic update feature.

The admin interface has changed to the extent that I have to read the screen carefully to find out where things are now.

This version allows widgets in the dashboard. I am interested to see what happens now that I’ve downloaded and installed the WordPress.com stats. (In spite of the site saying it was only compatible up to 2.3 alpha.)

A far as I can tell this version of WordPress is aimed at heavy bloggers with its’ built in galleries and multi-file uploads.
Because I’m strictly a casual blogger it offers few improvements beyond improved security.

I haven’t had any problems so far, and I didn’t lose any data in the upgrade like I did a few versions back.

On the whole, I recommend it. However I haven’t read any of the forums to see what happens with the more complicated themes or mods.

I’m the one who drew the short straw and won, at absolutely no charge, a free installation of WordPress 2.5.

Rich said we might as well start with my blog because we just did a full backup of the software and the database.

This software just left rc3 and was declared stable.

I have yet to play with it except to the extent that I figured out how to post.
There are a number of features I will have to read up on.
There are undoubtedly plugins that will refuse to work, but so long as my spam filters continue to function I can live without the rest.

As to the new administrator’s interface. As Rich would put it… Oooooh, purty

Now we find out if it is an improvement or a paint job.

A handful of blogs I read that most people have never heard of.

The World According to AmericanGoy:
Conspiracy Theory, Israel runs the US,etc.
If you think it’s an interesting read.
If you believe “it must be true or they couldn’t print it” avoid it.

Covertress:
Interesting humor in combination with blogs like:
Bombs Stink: The Survivability of Human Scent
Food Procurement 2 of 3: Traps, Snares, Killing & Fishing Devices
(This particular blog is illustrated with screen captures from Predator.)

LasVegasVegas:
Goings on in Las Vegas.
Ranging from Fergie’s 33 birthday at Jet in the Mirage to Station Casinos tweaking their freeplay.

Gas 2.0:
Mostly about Bio-Fuels

LiveLeak:
News video including Wilder’s oft banned 15 minute movie “Fitna.”

Wonkette
DC politics and gossip.

My View of the World:
A personal friend and my blog’s Admin.

The Tao of Poker:
Not just Poker

The President of Mexico, Felipe Calderon said the Mexican government would continue to “energetically protest unilateral actions” of the U.S. Congress on the immigration front that he said “exacerbate the persecution of undocumented Mexicans in the U.S.” He boasted that Mexican consulates in the United States have been fortified to protect the rights of millions of Mexicans living there illegally. “Wherever there is a Mexican,” he said, “that is Mexico.”

This loser openly threatens the sovereignty of the United States and our president says nothing, does nothing.
If they think they’re tough let’s make them prove it. At least then we won’t become a vassal state to a third world country that cannot survive without us.
I suggest that we cut the foreign aid and then see how tough he talks. It’s not as if we would lose a trusted partner.

The Mexican government forces it’s people to come north for work and then gets upset if there’s a chance that if those people quit sending money back to Mexico.

Mexico is a country where the rich are very rich and the poor are destitute. It’s a country where people protest the price of tortillas.

However, if not for the greed of our own government and major business’, we wouldn’t have this problem.

The Spanish took Mexico by force of arms. Mexico is taking the US by subtrifuge.

I’m tired of being bullied by sheer force of numbers, by what are politely described as refugees, who are being taught by their government that they have a right to be here.

I wonder when we’re going to be forced to learn Spanish.