When NPR has its annual pledge drive, you can get anything from a coffee mug to CDs to a tote bag. But the RNC offers its donors a little something splashier for their support: a trip to Xe Services' (formerly Blackwater) firearms training facility in North Carolina.
Young Eagles donors are scheduled to gather for a retreat in North Carolina on April 22 at a firearms training facility run by Xe Services, the controversial military contractor previously known as Blackwater, which has been dogged with allegations of civilian killings and other abuses in U.S. war zones.
The Republican National Committee provides no details on precisely what their "Young Eagles" (donor leaders under the age of 45) will be doing at the the nation's "premier weapons and tactics training facility." Quite a change of venue from the lesbian-bondage Voyeur club in West Hollywood, but not entirely outside of the purview of what Republicans seem to consider appropriate incentives for their donor leaders.
Xe Services denies that the RNC has scheduled any event at its training grounds, but its spokesperson, Marc Corrallo, says, "[L]ike the many corporations and organizations who choose our facilities for retreats and conferences, we would be happy to host the RNC and the DNC."
RNC Communications Doug Heye emails [to Politico.com], "No such Blackwater event ever existed."
Heye didn't respond to the question of why the event was in the calendar prepared by the RNC finance department.
Here's the link to the PowerPoint presentation that lists "Young Eagles at US Training Center in Moyock, North Carolina" (home of Xe Services): Check Slide #47.
I wonder whether a certain militia raid has scuttled the Young Eagles' plans to fly the nest and test their wings.