| While Chris Shays has been campaigning for the 100-Years-War Candidate, John McCain, two more pressing issues -- issues that Shays hates to deal with -- have splashed up in the news again:
Broadwater has received federal approval to build a monstrous liquified natural gas facility in Long Island Sound.
Blackwater Worldwide is reported to have gassed American soldiers in Iraq.
Shays has tried to avoid the Broadwater controversy by claiming that he is "ashamed" for opposing Broadwater, making it perfectly unclear where he stands. While Shays waffles, Broadwater moves closer to reality. Fortunately, CT Governor Jodi Rell and Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, along with Congressmen Joe Courtney and Rosa DeLauro, have all vowed to try to prevent this environmental train wreck from happening. Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, a longtime opponent, called the project an environmental atrocity and vowed Friday to take the federal energy commission to court.
Shays has demonstrated that he can get fired up when he wants to -- like when he verbally abused a policeman in Washington DC. What's needed here is that same kind of fiery spirit by Shays, but this time for an important cause -- to stop Broadwater.
As for Blackwater, Shays has tried to undermine oversight of this reckless mercenary corp by claiming that the company does "a perfect job." Never mind that Blackwater guards killed 17 Iraqi civilians and engaged in massive war-profiteering. The fact that no Americans under its watch have ever been killed, to Chris Shays, makes them "perfect."
Now, it turns out that Blackwater has been gassing American soldiers and Iraqis to get through Baghdad traffic jams.
Officers and noncommissioned officers from the Third Infantry Division who were involved in the episode said there were no signs of violence at the checkpoint. Instead, they said, the Blackwater convoy appeared to be stuck in traffic and may have been trying to use the riot-control agent as a way to clear a path.
Shays, as a member of the Congressional Oversight Committee, has the power to help rein in Blackwater. But in Shays' opinion baseball's steroid users have the worst behavior of anyone he's ever seen in his 20 years in Congress, even compared to Blackwater, and has called Roger Clemens -- not Blackwater CEO Erik Prince -- sleazy.
So don't expect Shays to hold Blackwater accountable. In fact, Shays may need Blackwater's protection on his future trips to Iraq, which, if Shays' candidate wins the White House, may number into the hundreds ... unless of course the people of the 4th CD elect Jim Himes to Congress.
UPDATE: The FBI says that Blackwater has been trying to destroy evidence related to its shooting of 17 Iraqi civilians. Not surprising.
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