OUTRAGE: Bunny Greenhouse, Halliburton whistleblower may lose her job

[Bluebear]

WASHINGTON — In the world as Bunnatine Greenhouse sees it, people do the right thing. They stand up for the greater good, and they speak up when things go wrong. She believes God has a purpose for each life, and she prays every day for that purpose to be made evident.

She is praying her heart out these days, because she is in a great deal of trouble.

Bunnatine "Bunny" Greenhouse is the Principal Assistant Responsible for Contracting ("PARC" in the alphabet soup of military acronyms) in the Army Corps of Engineers. Lest the title fool, she is responsible for awarding billions upon billions in taxpayers' money to private companies hired to resurrect war-torn Iraq and to feed, clothe, shelter and do the laundry of American troops stationed there...

She is a black woman in a world of mostly white men; a 60-year-old workaholic who abides neither fools nor frauds. But she is out of her element in this fight, her former boss said.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002425295_bunny07.html



=======
"Bunnatine Greenhouse. Roll that over your tongue for a moment.

No, this isn't the name of a place you go to buy flowers and shrubs. It's a woman employed at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as a principal assistant responsible for contracting (PARC).

And she's in big trouble. She's already been demoted once and she's now on a three-month evaluation of a kind that could result in her being fired.

All of this is because she refuses to back down when told to turn a blind eye to the kinds of things a person in her job is supposed to prevent.

In short, she's a whistleblower. She's the kind of person who is often lionized in magazine feature stories and sometimes turned into the subjects of Oscar-winning motion pictures like "The Insider" and "Erin Brockovich."....

more:
http://www.cumberlink.com/articles/2005/08/09/editorial/francis_volpe/volpe01.txt

[rainman99]

1. Yep, I know a Halliburton weasle who is set for life because

he's over there. He gets TWO army guys to guard him at all
times.

[Bluebear]

2. Bunny is another unsung hero of nation.

Villified by the war machine for speaking up.

[FreedomAngel82]

4. I agree

God bless her. It's simply disgusting.

[cthrumatrix]

19. this is the democracy that bush hates .... freedom of speech that shines

truth on lies and corruption.

[MasonJar]

3. Then let's get going we need a ltte and call to reps and Move-on

and any other thing that will let the country and the world know NOW.

[Bluebear]

6. Thank you Masonjar, her cause needs some DU-ing!

:toast:

[Mnemosyne]

5. Have whistleblowers ever been

punished the way they have in this administration? Ever in history?!

She is a brave person for daring to stand up to Helliburton. Imagine, a country that allows her to be demoted and fired for doing the honorable thing? Oh wait, we don't need to imagine it. We are living it.

Thanks for the info Bluebear!

[Bluebear]

7. Never. People ridiculed $700 toilet seats and thanked the whistleblowers

And just as Jessica Lynch got a TV movie made about her and Shoshanna was relatively ignored, I hope people don't let that happen help champion this brave soul's situation! Thanks for your thoughts, vickiss~!

[Mnemosyne]

8. Gawd, I remember the $700 toilet seats! Ah, for

the "good" old days!:toast:

:kick:

[BQueen]

25. Unfortunately, yes

I read over the account of her treatment and I've been through the same routine, and from my research, it is frequently routine (although I have always thought my former boss and W are both maxed out on the vindictiveness scale). Watching this play out again and again on the national scene now makes me feel like a WWII vet being forced to watch a continuous loop of the first 20 min of "Saving Private Ryan" in IMAX. (please don't think I'm minimizing being literally "under fire" -- just trying to make an analogy.)

The blowback to the FBI agent who busted others for scavenging that Tiffany globe from Ground Zero began long before that due to her annoying habit of wanting to actually protect Native American children. Excellent article and interview at this link: http://citypages.com/databank/25/1244/article12538.asp Another good account of Justice Department retaliation appeared in the New Yorker (maybe Aug '03?) as part of the story about John Walker Lindh "The American Taliban" and the ethics attorney who warned Asscrack not to interrogate him without his attorney.

People you'll never hear about are placed in this same position when they threaten to blow the whistle and the boss complies with demands to clean up their act...can be even worse, at least with being fired, you're out of the battleground that your workplace becomes. And Bunny mentions that there is support (under the radar) but the overall feeling of isolation is paramount -- people are afraid to associate with "The Traitor."

I remember seeing a Discovery Health (I think) program on whistleblowers with post traumatic stress disorder. The engineers who got up in their bosses' faces before the Challenger went up were heartbreaking. The saddest thing is that whistleblowers are usually the people with the most dedication to their profession/field, but often end up being forced out of it precisely because of that sense of honor and loyalty to the ideal.

In another probably inapt allusion, I always thought it was a bit like Frodo in LOTR; he managed to save what he loved, but was so damaged by the act that he could not find joy in it anymore.

[Mnemosyne]

27. How very sad. n/t

:hug:

[Bluebear]

9. Kick for the bunny love

:)

[TomInTib]

10. Strong women of integrity...

...we need more of them: Sibel(sp?) Edmonds and Bunnatine Greenhouse...can they share Time's "person of the year" accolade? Of course we want Cindy Sheehan in there too...

[GreenPartyVoter]

11. Kickin for Bunny, who's stickin to her guns.

[Bluebear]

12. Thanks GPV

[GreenPartyVoter]

26. 'nother kick

[Tsiyu]

13. Stay strong, Bunny

Even if greed has turned everyone else stupid.

[Bluebear]

14. For the a.m.

[linazelle]

15. She was featured in Essence magazine. Hope she keeps her job. Link...

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1264/is_12_35/ai_n13596193

There are plenty of articles on her at Google.

[magellan]

16. Despicable!!

Okay, this blows big time. I've admired this lady's ethics since her story appeared in Time magazine. Where do we apply the pressure to save her job? She's not going to lose it without me doing something to stop it happening!!

[Bluebear]

17. I don't know where to being other than make the story known

She is a heroine, the anti-Halliburton!

[magellan]

18. Thank you for sharing it Bluebear

I'll have a think about it and start a LTTE tonight. Most people will not know who Bunny is so I'll have to work on being succinct while outlining who, what, when, where and how!!

btw, I love your spinning dancer and tagline. :)

[wishlist]

20. Unprecedented war profiteering going on with little criticism

Sen Frank Lautenberg and other Dems have had hearings (covered only on CSPAN and garnering almost no publicity) providing details of the shocking waste of taxpayer money, abuse of trust and lack of accountability for the war profiteers Halliburton, Brown & Root and other contractors as well as Halliburton doing business with Iran against government prohibitions.

Greenhouse and inside whistleblowers from the companies plus official Defense Dept information substantiates claims of serious problems with contractors and the lack of oversight, but nothing is being done by those in power.

Where is the outrage. Back in WW II, war profiteers were considered greedy and disloyal traitors by most Americans who would have demanded accountability and put the Vice President on the hot seat over his connections and involvement.

[Tsiyu]

21. Kick

Bunny needs some more DU Love.

:kick: :kick: :kick:

[SalmonChantedEvening]

22. Get thee to the greatest page!

Another truth-teller marked for retribution by the BFEE

Mornin blue :D

[spooky3]

23. Get a lawyer who knows about the False Claims Act, Bunny!

and employment laws.

[YOY]

24. Since the Bush admin took over

More ridiculously large contracts directly and unfairly awarded to sole-source companies.

Little competition in many areas.

Less set-asides for smaller companies.

Just something I've witnessed at the workplace (small IT contractor).