Enough Of This

I’ve had enough of the Republicans and their lapdog media yapping about  Nancy Pelosi and what and when she was told about torture in 2002.   These Republicans and media pals have memories shorter than a worm’s.  It was Dennis Hastert (R) that was Speaker of the House in 2002 and he led the actions or better yet, led the inactions of Congress during the Bush/Cheney years.  Nancy Pelosi was not in a position of power during the Republican dominated Congress.  There was little that she could do at that time.  It was the responsibility of Dennis Hastert to speak up against torture.  Instead, Hastert and the Republicans in Congress along with their friends in the media turned their backs on the Constitution and the American people and did nothing.

Ultimately, however, the greatest horror of Hastert’s House was not confirmed by its specific failures to serve the American people who most needed a Congress to counter the malignant neglect of the Bush-Cheney administration. Rather, it was defined by the remaking of an essential legislative chamber as nothing more than an extension of the executive branch of the government. The damage to the Congress has been severe, as has been the damage to the Republic.

All this talk about Nancy Pelosi is a diversionary tactic by Republicans that are guilty of negligence.

Hastert’s House was a crude and unworkable place, where members who sought to uphold their oaths to “defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign or domestic” were held up to ridicule and forced to hold hearings on issues involving the most extreme abuses of presidential authority — lying to the Congress and the American people about matters of war and peace — in basement rooms.

So what exactly did Dennis Hastert know about torture?  When did he know it and why didn’t he do something about it?  Nothing more than Republican lies.  I’ve had enough of it.

Banned Bush Interview

This was an interview done in Ireland and was not seen in the United States.

It’s a good feeling to no longer fear our government and to be able to speak freely once again.

People Don’t Want War

You will be surprised when you find out who made this statement…

Why, of course, the people don’t want war. Why would some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best that he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece?

Naturally, the common people don’t want war; neither in Russia, nor in England, nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship . . .

[T]he people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.

Reason for Torture Number 1

In case you missed this…

What Did Cheney and Bush Know?

How long did they know this?  If we are to take a look at the some of the past investments (2005 to 2006) of both Dick Cheney and George W Bush, we will notice that neither of them put much faith in the Stock Market.

Cheney betting on bad news…. (from June 2006)

Vice President Dick Cheney’s financial advisers are apparently betting on a rise in inflation and interest rates and on a decline in the value of the dollar against foreign currencies. That’s the conclusion we draw after scouring the financial disclosure form released by Cheney recently.

And then this from our former President, George W. Bush…

President Bush may be bold in his public policies, but his private investments appear decidedly on the meek side. Bush and his wife, Laura, reported on their disclosure form that they held combined assets of $7.2 million to $20.9 million.

As of the end of last year, the Bushes’ two largest assets were their Texas ranch, valued at between $1 million and $5 million, and a blind trust, also valued at between $1 million and $5 million. Of course, it’s impossible to tell how the trust is invested, so it could be heavily in stocks. The White House would not make the trust’s managers available for comment.

Beyond the trust, the First Family’s investable assets are largely in super-safe Treasury notes, money market funds and bank certificates of deposit. The Bushes’ holdings in these instruments totaled between $1.7 million and $4.4 million. The president also listed a health savings account worth between $1,000 and $15,000.

So when was Cheney and Bush going to tell the American people that the Stock Market was going to go bust and that the 14,000 Stock Market was phony baloney?  NEVER… They had hoped that the crash wouldn’t happen until AFTER the 2008 general election.

As to stealing securing as many tax dollars as possible, Cheney began securing government contracts with Halliburton as early as 1992.  His influence was important in increasing income from the Defense Department.  Cheney has had a lock on the Defense Department for years and we paid little attention to it.  In the meantime, our tax dollars were and still are flying out the window and into the hands of the “Halliburtons”.

“The good Lord didn’t see fit to put oil and gas only where there are democratic regimes friendly to the United States” – Richard Cheney1

1992
Halliburton subsidiary Brown & Root is paid $9 million by the Pentagon (under Cheney’s direction as Secretary of Defense) to produce a classified report detailing how private companies (like itself) could provide logistical support for American troops in  potential war zones around the world. Shortly after this report, the Pentagon awards Brown & Root a five-year contract to provide logistics for the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers. The General Accounting Office estimates that through this contract, Brown & Root makes overall $2.2 billion in revenue in the Balkans.2
1995
Without any previous business experience, Cheney leaves the Department of Defense to become the CEO of Halliburton Co., one of the biggest oil-services companies in the world. He will be chairman of the company from 1996 to October 1998 and from February to August 2000. Under Cheney’s leadership, Halliburton moves up from 73rd to 18th on the Pentagon’s list of top contractors. The company garners $2.3 billion in U.S. government contracts, which almost doubles the $1.2 billion it earned from the government previously. Most of the contracts are granted by the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers.3 Halliburton’s overseas operations go from 51% to 68% of its revenue.
According to the Center for Public Integrity,4 under Cheney’s leadership the company also receives $1.5 billion worth of assistance from government-sponsored agencies such as OPIC (Overseas Private Investment Corporation) and the Export-Import Bank, a huge increase compared to the $100 million that the company had received in federal loans and guarantees in the five years prior to Cheney’s arrival. Years later, during the 2000 campaign in a broadcasted vice presidential candidates’debate with Joe Lieberman, Cheney asserts that “the government has absolutely nothing to do” with his financial success as chairman of Halliburton Co.5 Halliburton pleads guilty to criminal charges of violating a U.S. ban on exports to Libya by selling Col. Qaddafi six pulse neutron generators, devices that can be used to detonate nuclear weapons.6 Halliburton pays a $3.8 million penalty to settle alleged violations of the U.S. trade ban.7

The most agrevating part of Cheney’s deal is that he was planning war with Iraq as early as 1998.  No wonder the Republicans made sure that they stole the election in 2000 from Al Gore.  It was imperative that Bush get into office so that Cheney could influence Bush into invading Iraq.  It wasn’t only about oil, it was about cementing Defense Department contracts with Halliburton and it’s crooks, Kellogg Brown and Root (KBR).

2000
August: Cheney leaves his position as Halliburton’s CEO to run as Bush’s Vice President. Halliburton announces that it is giving Cheney a retirement package worth more than $33.7 million.19 Under public pressure, Cheney sells company stock worth  30 million.

October 5: In a broadcasted debate with Joe Lieberman, Cheney asserts that “the government has absolutely nothing to do” with his financial success as chairman of Halliburton Co. 20 Halliburton is by now the world’s largest diversified energy services, engineering, construction and maintenance company, with some $15 billion in revenues annually, 100,000 employees, and 7,000 customers in over 120 countries.21

2001
KBR wins a $300-million exclusive contract to supply logistics to the Navy, providing services like cooking, construction, power generation and fuel transportation.22One of Cheney’s largest projects as Vice President is to coordinate the development of a new National Energy Policy (NEPDG). According to the former climate policy adviser in the Environmental Protection Agency, who was present at the task force’s sessions, Cheney “continually pushed plans to increase […] oil supplies while paying little heed to promoting energy efficiency and clean energy sources”.23 Casting as an inevitability that by 2020, the UniteStates will need to import two-thirds of its oil, mainly from the Arabic peninsula, the NEPDG recommends “that the President make energy security a priority of our trade and foreign policy”.24

Citizens Work has documented all this thievery and lies.

And the “teabaggers” are bitching about the government deficit.  They didn’t give a rat’s behind when Cheney and Bush allowed Halliburton and KBR (Kellogg Brown and Root) to steal our hard earned money.  Suddenly, when it comes to re-investing in the American people, they object.  Stupidity is the only way to describe their outrage.

The upside of Cheney’s recent appearances on TV, is that he keeps reminding people that he is a liar and can’t be trusted.  He is the highest ranking Republican with the lowest public approval rating that is keeping himself visable.  At least Bush knows to keep a low profile.  Cheney is so self absorbed that he can’t stand not having the last word.  Well, hopefully, Cheney’s last word will put him behind bars.

Darn… I Missed This

We must always remember and protect our freedom.  Nixon wanted a totalitarian state and so did Dick Cheney.  No surprise considering that Cheney admired Nixon and has held a grudge against Americans ever since Nixon resigned (in shame).

Kent State…

See more at a previous post here…

Who Will Be the Survivor?

The latest ad by the DNC…. too good to pass up.

No one new idea among any member of that group.

The Faces of The Republican Party

What do all these leaders of the Republican Party have in common? They are all old, white men, past their prime and past their time.

Let’s not forget this one, either. After all, he is one of the champions of torture. Mr. Waterboard himself….

The Republican Party is the party of “No” and they have no new ideas. Just more of the same old repeated failures.

Here’s Glenn Greenwalds take on torture and politics.

UPDATE:  The Republican Party is having a “shrinkage problem”  Ha!

Why The Republican Party Won’t Survive

“It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the ones most responsive to change.”

Charles Darwin

The Republicans lead by Dick Cheney (most unpopular VP since Spiro Agnew and draft dodger), Rush Limbaugh (drug addicted, pediphile draft dodger), Karl Rove (commited treason by exposing the name of a covert CIA Agent), and Newt Gingrich (kicked out of Congress for ethics violations) want us to return to the “old days”.  They believe that “deregulation” was beneficial to our democracy.  The problem with that is they have failed to look at what “deregulation” has done to our economy.  Every time banks were given free reign of the investors money, our economy has come close to complete failure.  The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.  Dick, Rush, Karl and Newt are all insane.  They have failed to learn from the past and they are incapable of responding to change.  This is why the Republican party will not survive.

No Bids

My, oh, my… what is it with this media? The current topic to hit the big time is “no bid contracts” and it seems that the Democrats are the devils making these deals. Never mind that Bush and Cheney made no bid contracts that cost trillions of taxpayers money, not to mention both American and Iraqi lives lost. If a Republican does it, then that’s okay. If a Democrat does it, well, that’s big news.

• On Sunday, we read about Governor Bill Richardson withdrawing his nomination for Secretary of Commerce because of a Grand Jury investigation regarding funds that his campaign received from CDR. The investigation centers around CDR receiving preferential treatment by the state of New Mexico in receiving contracts from the state. More from the Albuquerque Journal.
• The plot thickens as ABC reports that the Obama campaign received from David Rubin, yes, the very person involved in the Richardson investigation. Oh, dear, where will this end?
• Even our very own Governor Ed Rendell is being accused of a “pay-for-play” with David Rubin. Talking Points Memo has more on the story of this scandal.

Now this is serious stuff, folks. Don’t let these famous names scare you. Let’s do a body count… how many people died as a direct result of David Rubin’s contributions to campaigns? None, that I am aware of. Let’s visit the Bush/Cheney no-bids.

• The Bush/Cheney Regime were working on a no bid contract with Iraq to steal purchase their oil back in June of 2008. Article from the NY Times.
• Here’s a juicy story from CBS 60 Minutes. Seems like Cheney wanted to keep it “all in the family” BEFORE the US invaded Iraq by having the Pentagon award a no-bid worth $1.3 billion to Halliburton and its subsidy Brown and Root. Wonder if David Rubin is collecting this much from New Mexico and Pennsylvania. Rubin can forget getting anything back from the Obama campaign.
• Now this story about a water deal from the San Francisco Chronicle may not sound like much, however, it did have an impact as it was just one more slap in the face of the Iraqi people. You see, the Iraqi people had lost their source of income when we bombed their businesses and then the Bush/Cheney Regime said, no work for the Iraqis unless they are working for American companies that received no bid contracts for very low wages. You figure this one out.

So what exactly is the body count from the Bush/Cheney no bid contracts? There are the thousands of Americans that have either lost their lives or been injured in Iraq and no one knows the true number of Iraqis that died or were injured. The Iraq war was all about OIL and Halliburton’s no bid contracts were the reward for contributing to the Bush/Cheney election.