Executive Producer of The Professional Left Podcast. On staff at Crooks and Liars since 2007. Master's degree from Harvard. Happy wife of Driftglass. Mother of three geniuses. Obsessive knitter. Blogs at http://bgalrstate.blogspot.com. .
I just saw the movie "Stardust" this afternoon. It really is pretty good. It's family fare, sorta (maybe too many stabbings for anyone under 12), but if you are going on a date with the wife or girlfriend, this is a good pick. It would make a great double feature with "The Princess Bride". The entire movie is well-cast, with the exception of the ship's captain (you'll see) and Claire Danes is radiant (literally and movie fx-wise). Funny, sweet, lots of adventure and fun visuals!
I don't know anything about the book or the comic, so maybe the fanboys might have a different opinion. But for the average movie goer and the fantasy/sci-fi junky like me, I got my money's worth.
skipping channels tonight…I caught a fauxnews show on “the surge” and what looked like yet another American general “reporting” from Iraq. I don’t remember his exact words but basically he said that we would now be told the truth about whether or not the surge was working and that a positive comment in support of the surge was patriotic and that a negative comment meant that you were working with the terrorists. Dear Lord, I hope that I am not the only one to grasp the full meaning (never mind the sheer contradictory irony) of this and to SEE where their latest propaganda campaign is headed. If we don’t do something fast, we are all about to become America’s version of wwII Germany’s Jews. This is scary, scary stuff, and it cannot be allowed to escalate - it must be “nipped in the bud”, immediately.
Please grab a DVD version of my videos and make sure that all your relatives, your friends, and your neighbors see it - before it's too late. Hurry...grab a copy, while you still can.
how rich. It's a commercial that doesn't even need editing. I should be played constantly - maybe for the upcoming 6th anniversary of 9/11. Cowardous chicken-hawks don't want more war until it's their more war.
has anyone else noticed how the cockiness and the boldness of the neocons has returned (to it's former high) now that they know that many democrats are with them and that the democratic party won't stand in their way?
This is posted on Malkin's Hot Air believe it or not. The comments are running along the lines of "ah yes, but 9/11 changed everything." It's amazing how that 9/11 mantra can disrupt reasoning even today.
Man oh man, those are my arguments agaianst the war. If I beleive those things today does that mean I will turn into a sociopath like Dick Cheney in 15 years?
So they knew they were going to create chaos. So of all the countries in the region, which country would want a chaotic Iraq? Good question . . . . . whose lookin' out for yoose guys.
If there's one thing I've learned in the last six years, it's that Orwell was not exaggerating. Reality really is completely malleable to these people. They'll say one thing on Monday, and insist the opposite has always been true on Tuesday. "Reality" is whatever serves their immediate purposes.
I don't expect our corrupt corporate media to note these blatant contradictions and convenient about-faces. The really disheartening thing is that so many regular people seem blind to it.
Yo-Ho, which way does the wind blow? Seems he says whatever he thinks appropriate for whatever time it is and how much he can gain by it. He was against it before he was for it. What a putz.
If there's one thing I've learned in the last six years, it's that Orwell was not exaggerating. Reality really is completely malleable to these people. They'll say one thing on Monday, and insist the opposite has always been true on Tuesday. "Reality" is whatever serves their immediate purposes.
I don't expect our corrupt corporate media to note these blatant contradictions and convenient about-faces. The really disheartening thing is that so many regular people seem blind to it.
When Orwell wrote "1984" he had the Soviet Union in mind. I think he'd be appalled to see what has happened to the U.S.
Hey hadenuf sto using wikipedia as a source of truth. The web is the wild west when it comes to truth.
Try this regarding Steinbeck:
"But by the end of the trip, the anti-communist Steinbeck had realized the war was more complex than he had thought and that Johnson was not giving Americans a full picture of what was going on, according to Steinbeck scholar and San Jose State University Professor Susan Shillinglaw."
Man, who put that website together - a fucking 12 year old?? I mean the Ace of Spades with crossed swords is juvenile enough, but what's with the flaming skull?? Like I said, it looks like it was put together by a 12 year old while hiding out in his tree house - the one with the "no gurls aloud" sign on the door.
In 2000, I voted for Bush/Cheney because I thought they would be much less internationalist / meddling that Gore / Lieberman. I thought their foreign policy would be 'humble'.
I found Cheney to be reassuring since he was from the Bush 41's cabinet and thought there would be a return to adults running foreign policy.
It is difficult not watching the incredibly moving 9/11 Press for Truth on Free Speech TV and not feel a sense of outrage at not only the administration but at the media for failing to go after the administration's claim that they had no idea that terrorists might use planes as weapons inside the United States. As Paul Thomson states in the film, if he as an amateur was able to find out the information that belied the administration's story, then certainly the mainstream media should have been able to do the same thing, As former CIA analyst Ray McGovern pointed out, 80 per cent of the information was available yet the mainstream media failed to connect the dots. Failure to protect this country from being attacked is simply another reason why Bush, Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld, et al, should be impeached.
Site Monitor: You're skirting the edges of dangerous territory, Erroll. Please respect the siteowner's wishes to not have discussion of 9/11 theories on this site.
It is difficult not watching the incredibly moving 9/11 Press for Truth on Free Speech TV and not feel a sense of outrage at not only the administration but at the media for failing to go after the administration’s claim that they had no idea that terrorists might use planes as weapons inside the United States. As Paul Thomson states in the film, if he as an amateur was able to find out the information that belied the administration’s story, then certainly the mainstream media should have been able to do the same thing, As former CIA analyst Ray McGovern pointed out, 80 per cent of the information was available yet the mainstream media failed to connect the dots. Failure to protect this country from being attacked is simply another reason why Bush, Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld, et al, should be impeached.
Carefull there eggroll. 911 information isn't welcome on this website.
P.S. sorry about making fun of your name. I couldn't help myself. No offense intended/I actually agree with your statements. LOL
> “Shouldn’t the Cheney in our dimension have a goatee?”
I would think that would belong in the parallel universe. In this dimension? He should have a tattoo on the top of his head that says "Kill the wabbit".
Man, who put that website together - a fucking 12 year old?? I mean the Ace of Spades with crossed swords is juvenile enough, but what's with the flaming skull?? Like I said, it looks like it was put together by a 12 year old while hiding out in his tree house - the one with the "no gurls aloud" sign on the door.
Lemme guess, since I got here late....The site's called "The He Man Woman Haters Club".
Saw "NO END IN SIGHT" the whole Bush administration, past and present, MUST go to prison.
There must be consequences for the crimes that have been committed by Bush and his ilk.
God damn it _ I am so pissed have been for a long time. What I want to know is what is the Democratic party going to do about it?!!!!? NOTHING?!!!!? YOU FUCKERS!!! YOU FUCKERS!!!! YOU FUCKERS!!! YOU CANNOT CONTINUE TO LET THIS GO ON WITHOUT PUNISHMENT. We will pay if we don't make restitution for all the harm and that is putting it lightly. I'm at such a loss - Please Please Please America make right this horrendous wrong our country has committed. We must. We must.
I get the aversion to eye contact- Cheney's got a Reluctant Medusa Complex- but wtf is up with his inability to keep his head up? That dome looks like it's floppin' around in a strong breeze!
I get the aversion to eye contact- Cheney's got a Reluctant Medusa Complex- but wtf is up with his inability to keep his head up? That dome looks like it's floppin' around in a strong breeze!
It's all those years of crouching under small bridges and grabbing children. He lists to one side from carrying them under one arm into his cave.
Andy -
> Lemme guess, since I got here late….The site’s called “The He Man Woman Haters Club”.
I didn't check it out, but the origonal trollage was apparently an attempt at knocking those that believe in global warming and I assume that the website was supposedly about that too.
Actually, the original trollage was (ht to instaputz acknowledged) a comment on my perception of someone like Ace of Spades revealing a demeaning attidute toward the very earth itself. I can't believe anyone who read the entire post could not perceive the intent of the final sentence. My mistake.
This says what I said four years ago: Cheney made no mistakes when he went in with too few troops it was deliberate,
Cheney deliberately fired the Baathist civil service and Iraqi army, Cheney deliberately left weapons dumps unguarded,
knew all the weapons given to Iraqi police would disappear, allowed all the corruption possible, knew that explosives would be
stolen and used on our troops, knew we would never be able to train any police or army.
Why did he do it? Ray McGovern uses the acronym OIL; O-guess what, I-for Israel, L-for FE, ME and domestic political leverage.
Encourage chaos, establish empire through perpetual war, sacrifice as many soldiers as is necessary, in return he gives the
military industrial complex all the money and power they need to run the economy into the ground while cutting taxes forcing the US to start over economically and culturally which will, in turn, bring the rest of the world down with us.
There was never any grand experiment for Iraq, never any plan for democracy, all the nonsense about WMD's was
an excuse. The country will be in such bad shape any democrat elected will never overcome the corruption, lose of revenue
through war and tax cuts, a draft will be initiated after Persian or Arabic blowback for all the civilians killed "over there".
Blowback will consist of either sabotage at our ports with IED's (as in sinking and blowing up an oil tanker inside one or more of our ports)
or a dirty bomb in one or more of our cities.
Saw "NO END IN SIGHT" the whole Bush administration, past and present, MUST go to prison.
There must be consequences for the crimes that have been committed by Bush and his ilk.
God damn it _ I am so pissed have been for a long time. What I want to know is what is the Democratic party going to do about it?!!!!? NOTHING?!!!!? YOU FUCKERS!!! YOU FUCKERS!!!! YOU FUCKERS!!! YOU CANNOT CONTINUE TO LET THIS GO ON WITHOUT PUNISHMENT. We will pay if we don't make restitution for all the harm and that is putting it lightly. I'm at such a loss - Please Please Please America make right this horrendous wrong our country has committed. We must. We must.
I know man, alot of us feel the same frustration. It's hard to sit back and just watch these Fuckers run roughshod over the Constitution.
I finally got tired of it and hung my American Flag upsidedown in protest only to have my Homeowners Association tell me to put it rightside up. I think my ultra-conservative neighbor squealed on me. He's squealed on me before over stupid stuff.
Fortunately, the ACLU has stepped in on my behalf and is taking care of the flag situation. Or at least gave me some information to pass on to my HOA and told me to call them if they give me any more trouble.
But I'm sick of it and I'm sick of people not letting me tell people I'm sick of it. If that makes sense.
So they knew they were going to create chaos. So of all the countries in the region, which country would want a chaotic Iraq? Good question . . . . . whose lookin' out for yoose guys.
SO THEY KNEW ALL ALONG!!! NOW if you American citizens what to get afraid...this would be a good time...be AFRAID OF CHENEY!
If I were a site-mon here at C&L - I'd establish a rule that any variation of the word "first" would be auto deleted from the thread with out any expalanation.
Back when Cheney gave that interview, He was working for Bush #41. And Poppa Bush wouldn't invade even though Cheney wanted to at the time.
But Poppa Bush threatened to withhold Cheney's pace maker replacement he needed desperately at the time. So
Cheney was kept on his leash. With Bush #43, Cheney decided to be on top this time around, And I don't think their wives care, as long as its not with another woman.....................................
> If I were a site-mon here at C&L - I’d establish a rule that any variation of the word “first” would be auto deleted from the thread with out any expalanation.
I don't think the site monitors establish any rules around here. They just do what Mr. Amato tells them to, IMHO.
In 2000, I voted for Bush/Cheney because I thought they would be much less internationalist / meddling that Gore / Lieberman. I thought their foreign policy would be ‘humble’.
________________________________________________________________________
Are you proud of what you did to this nation? At the time, it was obvious that Bush was an asshole, talks like an asshole, behaves like ass hole...and you didn't notice? So much for voter's perception! Bravo!
What a turd!! Play this clip on the propaganda network some time. What a blatant joke. Here he speaks as though he has his head out of his ass. All we've heard since this criminal took office is "we're winning", "we're liberators", "we're bringing democracy", "they have WMD's" lies, lies, lies...and more lies. HANG THE SOB!!
My country is falling apart, and my fellow American is worried about Bond! Oh Lord. Give some stamina!
Oh. stop bein' so effin' self-righteous. A lot of us can walk and chew gum at the same time.
A friend of mine grew up in the Central Valley, not far from San Francisco. Flash remained a Giants fan although he lived the past 40 years in Michigan. He did the old mortal coil shuffle on Wednesday mornin', succmbin' to lung cancer hours after Bonds broke the home run record. Hopefully Flash got to see it. It was important to him.
You've been around long enough, garcia, to know that many threads are posted at C&L each day, mostly political, a few given over to things of slightly less gravitas. Yer welcome to skip the ones you deem trivial. The same applies to other commenters posts. I promise that the next time you post somethin' I don't think carries much importance I won't chide ya on it.
85 garcia Says: I hope you realize that Cheney is talking about the 1991 invasion. The conversation has nothing to do with today’s events is Iraq!
Sorry, Iraq, the middle east that Cheney spoke of in the clip has evrything to do with this day and age.
The only thing that had changed from '91 to when Bush invaded was that Iraq (Saddam's regime) was under our thumb and we controlled what went in and out of Iraq.
Iran, Israel, Saudi Arabia are stillthe same neighboring countries. Sunni, Shia, Kurds. What has changed is Bush's meddling nation building...............................................
In 2000, I voted for Bush/Cheney because I thought they would be much less internationalist / meddling that Gore / Lieberman. I thought their foreign policy would be ‘humble’.
I found Cheney to be reassuring since he was from the Bush 41’s cabinet and thought there would be a return to adults running foreign policy.
Jesus, I was really wrong.
Brian, that was really brave of you to admit that. It was a media theme, too -- "the adults are running things again." Needless to say, the inside-the-Beltway pundits like David Broder and Jim Hoagland and Richard Cohen and David Brooks and Charles Krauthammer and all of the other yo-yos at the Washington Post and the New York Times agreed with you. Saddam was "bad", his regime had to overthrown, even if there was no proof ever that he had WMD's (and remember, he did let in the U.N. inspectors -- it was Bush who chased them out).
And still these lying bozos persist -- not only Bush and Cheney and Lieberman, but also Broder and Brooks and Hiatt. They still won't admit that we made a bloody, disastrous, expensive mistake.
Frankly, the people who pressed this War on Iraq are truly war criminals (more than 3,000 Americans and 650,000 Iraqis have died as a result of this war). It's going to cost our country more than 1.8 trillion dollars before it's over...and the end is not yet in sight.
During World War II, there were the "good Germans" who didn't approve of what Hitler and his Nazi minions did. Now, I am sure that there are many "good Americans" who don't approve of what Bush and his loyal minions are doing in Iraq. Still, we are all guilty if we continue to allow it to happen.
We must stop the bloodshed and bring the troops home.
Otherwise, we become complicit in the crimes of George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and Joe Lieberman.
Please give us the strength to resist their ignorance.
I was looking at a conservative blog and most of the posts said something along the lines of: "Well that was then! Now is because of 9/11."
God...I was I could find some kind of sanity from these people.
Good lord, who would have believed that Cheney's reasoning predeceeded that of "left-wing" bloggers of today.
He was perhaps a corporation "foot in the door" to politics at that date, but that was before they got their chance to take over the White House entirely. No matter how bad things go for the Cheney administration because of their blunders, they always have a final line: war is profitable.
The latest numbers I heard is that we're about to X cross +- the 1 million number when it comes to the number of Iraqis we've murdered since President George "D Dubya I" Bush's occupation of Iraq.
has anyone else noticed how the cockiness and the boldness of the neocons has returned (to it's former high) now that they know that many democrats are with them and that the democratic party won't stand in their way?
K.I.S.S. They're all being blackmailed. After seeing this clip, I'd put Cheney in that pot, too.
What do you think the warrantless wire-tapping is for? This is dirty business. Defense contractor industrial espionage on $bn bids, for one; and blackmail of the people in office who would lose career, prestige, and coin if their shenanigans ever got out. At age 50+, the blackmailed will just go along; life is too short to ruin themselves and their families and their retirement for principled action that's forgotten within one news cycle, or impossible whistleblower glory.
Listen, I used to hear about this in the cafes when I grew up. It was a cynical adjunct to the afternoon banter I heard my father and his friends joke about. "So easy to turn an American politician." Blah-blah-blah. Except in those days, they did it with prostitutes, female and male, kinky stuff, and hidden cameras, just as they did with Palestinian informants to keep them in line for the future. I heard what they did in South America and South Africa to get an attache to flip, or an ambassador to behave. My father wasn't involved with that as far as I know. He was a House Manager to a rich man. But his friends did. They were the drivers for bigshots, sometimes the procurors, and they heard the stories coming back from America, and around the world. In my country then, if you were in on an information pipeline, you knew what everybody knew, because they knew you'd keep your mouth shut. Here, in the USA, it's all compartmentalized. There, you know.
The neocons wouldn't have this hold without their fingers on the short and curlies. Not a chance. What if someone had complete photographic and audio/video details about one of your wild and woolly nights that you want kept under the rug? And you're running for office? And you have a new wife, and a hideous mortgage, and young kids? You think you're going to get patriotic for a country that will just laugh at you and make sure you never work again, and you lose everything? A running jokeon HuffPo and Tucker for a week? Or are you going to protect your own?
The latest numbers I heard is that we're about to X cross +- the 1 million number when it comes to the number of Iraqis we've murdered since President George "D Dubya I" Bush's occupation of Iraq.
Already crossed. We are all complicit. I am guilty of this no matter how many letters I write, how many phone calls I make to the WH or my congressman. This number does not include the killing of 500,000 children Albright said on 60 Minutes (?) her 1990s policies condoned, not the number in the first Iraq war.
This is a holocaust:
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/iraq/iraqdeaths.html
The number is shocking and sobering.
It is at least 10 times greater than most estimates cited in the US media, yet it is based on the only scientifically valid study of violent Iraqi deaths caused by the U.S.-led invasion of March 2003.
That study, published in prestigious medical journal The Lancet, estimated that over 600,000 Iraqis had been killed as a result of the invasion as of July 2006. Iraqis have continued to be killed since then. The graphic above provides a rough daily update of this number based on a rate of increase derived from the Iraq Body Count. (See the complete explanation.)
One thing for sure is that although the Neo cons show absolutely no exit strategy for the military in Iraq. They most definately have an exit strategy out of prison. Ask I Lewis Scooter Libby. Or how I will always remember him as " Inmate #28301-016 ".
I was looking at a conservative blog and most of the posts said something along the lines of: "Well that was then! Now is because of 9/11."
God...I was I could find some kind of sanity from these people.
You would have better luck looking for a virgin in a whorehouse.
I wonder if Hillary Clinton saw this story and thinks that “Christians” ought to be taken seriously when it comes to their opposition to gay marriage? Thanks to AmericaBlog’s John Aravosis, this story was posted. I hope the mainstream media exposes these deranged people for the vicious people they are for once and made to report this story rather than avoid it. It is time to show who these extreme radical right wingers are in daylight. Right-wingers “love” children and are “moral,” my ass. This story is hardly one of love or being pro-child or pro-life. What these people did is nothing but sadism.
Police: Boot camp girl dragged with van
Sat Aug 11, 8:40 PM ET
BANQUETE, Texas - Authorities charged the director of a Christian boot camp and an employee with dragging a 15-year-old girl behind a van after she fell behind the group during a morning run.
Charles Eugene Flowers and Stephanie Bassitt of San Antonio-based Love Demonstrated Ministries, a 32-day boot camp for at-risk teens, are accused of tying the girl to the van with a rope June 12 and dragging her, according to an arrest affidavit filed Wednesday. Flowers, the camp's director, ordered Bassitt to run alongside the girl after she fell behind, according to the affidavit. When the girl stopped running, Bassitt yelled at her and pinned her to the ground while Flowers tied the rope to her, according to the affidavit.
The girl was treated for scrapes and bruises on her stomach, legs and arms. The girl's mother gave investigators photos of her daughter's injuries and a sworn statement from a witness who claimed to have seen the girl dragged on her stomach at least three times. Flowers and Bassitt remained jailed Saturday on $100,000 bond each on aggravated assault charges.
What a turd!! Play this clip on the propaganda network some time. What a blatant joke. Here he speaks as though he has his head out of his ass. All we've heard since this criminal took office is "we're winning", "we're liberators", "we're bringing democracy", "they have WMD's" lies, lies, lies...and more lies. HANG THE SOB!!
This is why Dick is dangerous – more so than Bush. He’s smart. Smart AND Evil.
I agree with everything Dick was saying back then. And back then it was his Energy policies that scared me the most. Those same policies trumped the known chaos that would be created in Iraq. They knew it and didn’t care.
As others have pointed out, the constantly changing rationale for us being in Iraq has gone from WMDs to regional stabilization to removing an evil dictator (the most recent). But why was Saddam evil? Because of the number of his own people he killed? We have now killed more Iraqis than Saddam ever did. Doesn’t that make us more evil, and given this current rationale, justify our “removal”?
We're responsible for the deaths of over a million people in the past 4 years.
Saddam killed maybe 25,000 in the previous 25 years - and the large percentage of those people were those with allegiances to the Ayatollah Khomeini (a person conservatives so conveniently forgot).
So the dirty rotten mother f!@#$r knew what he was dragging this country into as well as we did, but just didn't care, it was "Business"...."Oil-Business"
He should be fed to the pigs like they do on Deadwood.
Fatigue cripples US army in Iraq Exhaustion and combat stress are besieging US troops in Iraq as they battle with a new type of warfare. Some even rely on Red Bull to get through the day. As desertions and absences increase, the military is struggling to cope with the crisis
Hillary, Hiroshima, and Hubris
Justifying mass murder The anniversary of the U.S. bombing of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is, perhaps, a good time to note that arguments rationalizing and even valorizing the use of nuclear weapons, once considered beyond the pale, are now back in fashion. Here we have yet more evidence of the Bizarro Effect, which, ever since 9/11, has stood everything – especially our traditional concept of morality – on its head, not only repealing the laws of logic and common sense but also ensconcing evil in the place of good.
Why, just the other day, U.S. presidential aspirant and sometime antiwar candidate Barack Obama was asked by a reporter if he would authorize the use of nuclear weapons against al-Qaeda. Instead of looking at the man as if he were more than half-crazy and pointedly asking to see his press credentials, Obama ruled out the possibility… or, maybe not. I'll leave it to my readers to make the call: (READ ON)
This says what I said four years ago: Cheney made no mistakes when he went in with too few troops it was deliberate,
Cheney deliberately fired the Baathist civil service and Iraqi army, Cheney deliberately left weapons dumps unguarded,
knew all the weapons given to Iraqi police would disappear, allowed all the corruption possible, knew that explosives would be
stolen and used on our troops, knew we would never be able to train any police or army.
Why did he do it? Ray McGovern uses the acronym OIL; O-guess what, I-for Israel, L-for FE, ME and domestic political leverage.
Encourage chaos, establish empire through perpetual war, sacrifice as many soldiers as is necessary, in return he gives the
military industrial complex all the money and power they need to run the economy into the ground while cutting taxes forcing the US to start over economically and culturally which will, in turn, bring the rest of the world down with us.
There was never any grand experiment for Iraq, never any plan for democracy, all the nonsense about WMD's was
an excuse. The country will be in such bad shape any democrat elected will never overcome the corruption, lose of revenue
through war and tax cuts, a draft will be initiated after Persian or Arabic blowback for all the civilians killed "over there".
Blowback will consist of either sabotage at our ports with IED's (as in sinking and blowing up an oil tanker inside one or more of our ports)
or a dirty bomb in one or more of our cities.
Your fundamental assertion - that the US's cuurent circumstances in Iraq were utterly predictable, and that the management of the invasion and occupation seemed deliberately designed to produce exactly the consequences we are seeing - is valid.
Those running this campaign may eb venal, but they are not stupid. Cheney, the architect of much of it, clearly understands the terms and consequences of the conflict, as this video makes plain.
The question then becomes, if they have deliberately put themselves in a situation where the US military is embroiled in chaos in Iraq, and on the cusp of war with Iran, what could they possibly have had to gain, beyond contracts for Halliburton.
As much as I find Ron Paul a bit queasy in his racist baiting and his isolationist bent, this speech before congress is worth a watch or a read.
He makes the completely plausible argument that the US has targeted, for war or coup, those nations who have mused about tagging their oil sales to the Euro instead of the Dollar (Iraq, Venezuela, Iran).
I find these arguments completely persuasive, in that they adequately explain a variety of seeming otherwise inexplicable aspects of current world affairs, such as...
- the completely specious linking of Saddam and 9/11 as an excuse for invasion
- the pre-9/11 obsession with Saddam
- the obsession with Venezuela and the US support for the aborted coup
- the sabre rattling and seemingly inevitable war with Iran
- the odd dance with China who both holds dollar debt and is oddly dependent on the Dollar
If seen through the lens of this argument, it becomes clear that the Iraq occupation isn't technically about oil - as in the supply of oil - but more about forestalling the collapse of the dollar and the American economy. Witness the unbelievable movement of the Euro in comparison with the dollar, and mark the fact that the EU can easily expand and grow the need for, and strength of their currency, and you have some sense of the sleepless nights that American leaders must have.
Imagine a wholesale sell-off of dollars world wide, the liquidation of China's reserves, and the collapse of the dollar.
This is what, it seems, the administration is trying to avoid or delay, no matter how many Iraqi civilians, or how many US soldiers have to die.
Maybe Paul and the others are wrong, but right now, their theories explain the current reality - and the video clip above - more than any other theory I've heard.
Remember that, in the clip above, Cheney is talking long before Saddam began, in 2001 and 2002, to talk about pegging his oil sales to the Euro and, in fact, when Cheney is talking (1994, I believe), the Euro was in its infancy and no-one could have predicted that it would come to challenge the Dollars hegemony.
I've always found the "they're stupid, evil, and personally greedy" meme unpersuasive. But the Dollar theory seems credible to me.
Fleeing the country is taking longer than I thought it would. I’ve been planning my escape for several years now: the tunnel is dug, the papers forged, I stitched up an SS greatcoat out of old burlap sacks, made a pair of jackboots out of prosciutto nicked from the canteen, and I’ve memorized a few phrases of the kind of German they now speak in Washington (“Karl Röve ist ein Zionen mit einem Vorhaut”). Yet I’m still here, and I can’t quite say why. It’s not like I’m having the time of my life waiting for Homeland Security goons to show up at the house and shove an electric fucknozzle up my botty. The only obvious reasons to stick around, besides some atavistic sense of patrie, are bile, cowardice, and sloth, my three primary virtues if you exclude man tits.
Well said, and I agree. More than the oil-supply (which is never-the-less an important factor), the timing of the Iraq invasion and our recent Iran-directed saber-rattling is based on the conversion of oil-reserve currencies from the dollar to the Euro. That this conversion will happen is inevitable – it IS happening. We (the US gov) want to forestall an all-out sell-off of dollars to minimize the impact on our economy.
Saddam appeared foolish before OPEC when he started to switch to the Euro in the 90’s. That currency wasn’t as strong then as it is today. Now he seems prescient. Our first invasion was timed as a sanction for this conversion. Now the Saudis, Iranians and the rest of OPEC are starting to do the same thing. That’s why we have 2-3 carrier fleets in the Persian Gulf.
It’s interesting how were paying for this military intrusion though. It’s financed via debt to China. Now they hold more cards than OPEC, with as much to gain from controlling the oil supplies as we do (and India and Japan).
I've always been mystified by those who think it is merely "all about oil" - meaning about controlling the oil supply.
This is a completely illogical argument. For one thing, the biggest suppliers of US oil are, in order, Canada, Mexico, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. Canada accounts for more oil imports than the Persian Gulf states combined.
Secondly, it's not as though Iraq, Venezuela and Iran aren't willing to sell oil to the US, or to do so at established prices. In fact, they are eager to do so. The US is a big market.
So, if it is not about the "supply" of oil, it must be about something else.
Well, maybe peak oil has arrived, and supplies are dwindling.
But that doesn't make much sense either, because alternative technologies are burgeoning rapidly, and there are plenty of alternatives on the horizon. And, in terms of long-term policy, it seems wiser to pursue those alternatives rather than attempt to control, militarily, the dwindling supply of oil. Besides, the invasion of Iraq, or Iran, doesn't really seem to prevent the scramble for oil that might come later in the century. The problem, when it comes, will dwarf the Iraqi reserves.
So, all this war has to be about something else.
And the Dollar seems the likely candidate. The collapse of the US currency would have a horrific impact on the USA - much more profound than a terrorist attack - and is probably the most imminent and real threat to US security.
And, as your neighbours, we wouldn't fare too well either.
The signs are ominous, though. China is flexing its economic muscles, subtly threating the US. The Euro is becoming a powerhouse currency, and the EU is expanding. Even the Canadian and Aussie dollars are thumping the greenback.
And, ironically, the US is bankrupting itself in a war designed to protect its economy.
Now, add a sub-prime mortgage crisis, and stir.
If I were an Iranian, I'd be stockpiling water and food.
I'm taking the opportunity here to put in a plug for THE ANGRY RIGHT, a very entertaining book by my friend, S.T. Joshi. It's a well-documented and well-reasoned takedown of such rightwing mouth breathers as Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh, and I wish it were better known.
S.T. Joshi may be known to some of you already as an important literary historian and critic (probably the premier expert on H.P. Lovecraft among other writers), as well as champion of a very muscular atheism.
Anyway, go buy the book now. It's well worth the money.
from antillectual: So what exactly changed between 1994 and 2003?
Well, Cheney was able to give Halliburton a commission to study privatization of the military...and just like when Cheney found he was the best choice as v/p, Halliburton realized they were ideal for privitization of the military.
After he left the Bush administration, he went to work for Halliburton, as is well known, and he could drink the blood of soldiers and make a profit while doing so. no downside for this captain of industry.
oh, and 9-11 changed everything, tho the oil fields in Iraq were being divvied up before 9-11 via the Energy Task Force that's super secret dangerous for any american to know about.
Rummy talked a good game and the OSP at the Pentagon made sure no realistic assessment was available about WMDs, etc. Plus Osama wanted Bush and Cheney to move their bases out of S.A., and Iraq was a good place to put them, or so it seems, since they are being built like fortresses making sure the "american way of life is not negotiable"...no matter how many dead americans and iraqis it takes. That's the american way, by golly.
No immediate financial award - just the feeling that you helped stop this war and save the lives of thousands of humans and helped restore America's name.
This clip is obviously a liberal media conspiracy. I can tell the whole thing was Photoshopped. I'm pretty sure this was actually Kerry saying it, or Clinton...
Well, compared to the chilling info I just saw and heard in Aaron Russo's film 'America: Freedom to Fascism' this is not even a minor surprise. See the film - if you can find it. Google has removed it several times, and Mr. Russo keeps posting it, but how long can he keep up with the corporate-owned wage slaves dedicated to silencing him?
Suffice to say, the international banking cartel that's behind EVERYTHING is closing the gaps, and we're all worm meat. We've already seen that Congress is scared to death of the WH, and will simply rubber-stamp whatever is demanded of them. The elections are rigged, the jack-booted storm troopers will break down your door and taze you if you do not obey them instantly, regardless of whether you've broken any actual law. It's over, America. The rule of law is done.
Give Me Convenience (not verified) — 8/11/07 2:26pm
Know what? C&L is becoming quite tedious. Honestly. May I suggest, rather than putting ancient history on, like this video, just to put something on, put nothing on. Less is more if you get my drift. Anyone alive and paying attention both during the Gulf war and at the start of the Iraq war realize that Dickie was reversing himself. It seems to be quite well understood what a tool our Vice President is. Is it really necessary to waste time and effort to once again drive this point home to those who already understand it?
FreakedOutCanadian@121 you said,
"Remember that, in the clip above, Cheney is talking long before Saddam began, in 2001 and 2002, to talk about pegging his oil sales to the Euro and, in fact, when Cheney is talking (1994, I believe), the Euro was in its infancy and no-one could have predicted that it would come to challenge the Dollars hegemony."
Thanks to you, Erin and others for the links and really intelligent offerings this morning, quite generous discussion which is enhancing my understanding tremendously. What do you think then is the relationship between Halliburton's move to Dubai. The minute we heard that I thought H was interested in shoving off the dollar for the Euro. Makes sense H wants to attach itself to higher ground when the dollar tanks. This is where the edges begin to fray, what are they up to and what wells will they be drawing from? So many factors are perched right on the edge ready for a wind to take down the house of cards.
Freaked-Out Canadian @ 130:
I've always been mystified by those who think it is merely "all about oil" - meaning about controlling the oil supply.
This is a completely illogical argument. For one thing, the biggest suppliers of US oil are, in order, Canada, Mexico, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. Canada accounts for more oil imports than the Persian Gulf states combined. [H: absolutely correct]
Secondly, it's not as though Iraq, Venezuela and Iran aren't willing to sell oil to the US, or to do so at established prices. In fact, they are eager to do so. The US is a big market.
So, if it is not about the "supply" of oil, it must be about something else.
It was about going to war for Israel and ITS OIL SUPPLY.
Philip Zelikow declared outright we went to war for Israel in late 2003 at a private Virginia war college talk, while still working for Condi at the NSC (google it).
Israeli Minister of Infrastructure Joseph Paritzky let 'the cat out of the bag' in late March 2003 about the re-opened pipeline the war would give Israel oil for the first time, reducing its 25% premium with Russia ((Gazprom). (google paritzky oil israel the guardian)
Netanyahu leaked it in June 2003 at a private meeting among London investors. (google it)
Jane's Defense Weekly described the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) re-upped in 2002 that required the USA to provide Israel with $3bn in oil at 2002 prices "even if it created domestic shortages at home;" and required the USA to store it and ship it to Israel in US tankers. The price of that commitment has now tripled for US taxpayers. (google it)
The reopened pipeline was to be from Kirkuk/Mosul to Haifa. Old 1948 pipeline. The first thing US forces did when they landed: build US bases at H1, H2, and H3 in NW Iraq -- where there was NO fighting -- to protect the line. (google it)
Israel was to become the "new Rotterdam" and supply oil to itself and the USA. Israel would become an oil force in the ME. Think of whoever nabbed that concession in Israel. Enormous profits. The Russian oil oligarchs (read mafiya) were in on it (Putin put one the head of Yukos oil in jail in 2002 for eight years, which put a crimp in that operation. Lord Jacob Rothschild is handling his shares until he gets out) Another faction wanted to build a pipeline from Haifa to Turkey to distribute it (Perle and Feith organizing that since 1996, which Paritzky also spilled the beans about). Sharon, who was Minister of Infrastructure before Paritzky in 1998, had another group of people who wanted to control this; they tried to off Sharon the night before his second operation; he's still in a coma.
The anger over political neophyte Paritzky revealing the inner workings of the plan -- he revealed the Turkey part in late 2003/2004 -- was such that they trapped him with a tape and caused a political scandal that sent him packing not only from the Knesset but ran him out of Israel (google it)
End result? No reopened pipeline yet, which is why every neocon still clings to this war.
This was all about oil for Israel, which Israel needs for its military if its to be a world power: the goal.
Many of google sites have been removed but you can find the info. Some of this info has been cached on obviously anti-semitic sites, but that does not lessen the weight of the facts, provided that is what you are looking for. [It obviously helps if you can read Hebrew.]
A reader's letter intrigues me. He writes, "I find everything you say about a coming New World Order and One World Government extremely difficult to believe. For one thing, while you yourself obviously display no hate towards anyone, most other conspiracy theorists are anti-Semites." He further wrote, "An intelligent man such as yourself would do well to distance yourself from these loony theories."
I will quickly acknowledge that unfortunately there are a significant number of conspiracy theories promulgated by people with obvious anti-Semitic tendencies. I join my reader friend in repudiating such bigotry.
However, just because certain conspiracy theories are advocated by people with personal agendas and extremist ideologies is not reason enough to automatically dismiss the facts that suggest there is a conspiracy to steal America's sovereignty and independence. These facts are plentiful and powerful. Only foolish people would dismiss them out-of-hand.
As a Christian, I believe the Word of God to be my source of faith and practice. Therefore, I must take seriously the Word's admonition that, "There is a conspiracy" (Ezek. 22:25). In fact, the conspiracy to overthrow righteousness (and any semblance of it) is ubiquitous.
Furthermore, if one will study American history, he will note our Founding Fathers firmly believed a conspiracy of influential internationalists was behind many of the draconian decisions of old King George. They said as much in the Declaration of Independence.
In the Declaration, Thomas Jefferson wrote, "But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security." If that isn't a clear reference to conspiracy, I don't know what is.
As in British-controlled America 200 years ago, policies advanced by like-minded politicos today attempt to erode our constitutional laws and national independence. Only a naïve person would suggest that this is mere coincidence. I remind my readers that George Bush, Sr. first popularized the name "New World Order." However, he is not the only notable personality that has openly called for such an international order.
Former newsman, Walter Cronkite, has openly called for world government. Others calling for world government include England's Prime Minister, Tony Blair; former Clinton cabinet member, Strobe Talbott; and a variety of spokesmen for the United Nations, as well as leaders from various multinational corporations. To think that all of these people (whose numbers are multitudinous) should not be taken seriously is the height of idiocy.
Yes, my friends, there is a conspiracy. No, it is not a Jewish conspiracy. It is much more than that. It is a conspiracy of elitists from all races and ethnic backgrounds who deeply despise our constitutional form of government, our national independence, and our Christian heritage. Some are communists; others are socialists. Some call themselves liberals, and some even call themselves conservatives. Labels mean little.
Most of the conspirators are wealthy and well positioned to advance their utopian ideas. Some teach in our nation's colleges and universities. Some occupy powerful positions in the media and in our political institutions. Some of them are also found behind the pulpits of churches, and, yes, some are found in synagogues.
The promoters of internationalism may not conduct monthly meetings. They may not carry New World Order membership cards in their wallets (albeit, if they are members of the Council of Foreign Relations, people who love liberty should be very wary of them), but collectively they form a credible conspiracy to rob America of its independence. Furthermore, as long as patriotic Americans refuse to acknowledge their existence, the more effective they are at accomplishing their oligarchic objectives.
As damning as this Cheney tape is, if ever confronted with it he would simply say "well it may be hard to believe but I too had a pre- 9/11 mindset back in '94 and nothing I said then can be applied to the situation we're in now, since 9/11 if you will". LOL!
Rather than broad brushes, what is needed are hands-on facts to counteract the damage
to our everyday lives, not some gossipy biblical reference which means zip.
I just watched "Grapes of Wrath" for the first time tonight.
Steinbeck was quite the lefty, until the Vietnam War.
Go figure.
frist!
This should be played endlessly on every major media outlet.
Wow. I had heard those Dick quotes before but never seen it on video... Man.
B
That was just plain, eerie!
Sen. Clinton is rapidly becoming not merely acceptable to many right-wingers but possibly even their candidate of choice.
What happened to the C&L piece on Barry Bonds? Why was it removed? What was wrong with it?
Just more evidence of what drinking the Kool-aid can do.
nsr @ 6:
A Holy roller circus. America vs Jesus.
i'd like to see that one being aired everyday on US tv until the 08 elections or impeachment begins:)
I just saw the movie "Stardust" this afternoon. It really is pretty good. It's family fare, sorta (maybe too many stabbings for anyone under 12), but if you are going on a date with the wife or girlfriend, this is a good pick. It would make a great double feature with "The Princess Bride". The entire movie is well-cast, with the exception of the ship's captain (you'll see) and Claire Danes is radiant (literally and movie fx-wise). Funny, sweet, lots of adventure and fun visuals!
I don't know anything about the book or the comic, so maybe the fanboys might have a different opinion. But for the average movie goer and the fantasy/sci-fi junky like me, I got my money's worth.
4 out of 5 stars!
Where the hell has this been for 5 plus years?
I guess our current Vice President is the evil twin.
Surveillance is Good for You (TM).
Right.
'UK: Database of Top-Secret Police Phone Taps Stolen'
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/crime/article2856892.ece
- ferg
He sure speaks out of both sides of his mouth....and his ass too
skipping channels tonight…I caught a fauxnews show on “the surge” and what looked like yet another American general “reporting” from Iraq. I don’t remember his exact words but basically he said that we would now be told the truth about whether or not the surge was working and that a positive comment in support of the surge was patriotic and that a negative comment meant that you were working with the terrorists. Dear Lord, I hope that I am not the only one to grasp the full meaning (never mind the sheer contradictory irony) of this and to SEE where their latest propaganda campaign is headed. If we don’t do something fast, we are all about to become America’s version of wwII Germany’s Jews. This is scary, scary stuff, and it cannot be allowed to escalate - it must be “nipped in the bud”, immediately.
Please grab a DVD version of my videos and make sure that all your relatives, your friends, and your neighbors see it - before it's too late. Hurry...grab a copy, while you still can.
http://www.rosecoloredglasses.org
Rush Limbaugh - Putz Hall of Fame:
http://mediaputz.com/07/08/putz0809.html
Mitt Romney's "Family Surge"
http://satiricalpolitical.com/?p=980
Tweety was frist before Rush:
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/08/09/matthews-bush-monologue/
how rich. It's a commercial that doesn't even need editing. I should be played constantly - maybe for the upcoming 6th anniversary of 9/11. Cowardous chicken-hawks don't want more war until it's their more war.
"It's a quagmire."
O.K. Mr Cheney. Could you explain again why we invaded Iraq?
has anyone else noticed how the cockiness and the boldness of the neocons has returned (to it's former high) now that they know that many democrats are with them and that the democratic party won't stand in their way?
This is posted on Malkin's Hot Air believe it or not. The comments are running along the lines of "ah yes, but 9/11 changed everything." It's amazing how that 9/11 mantra can disrupt reasoning even today.
Man oh man, those are my arguments agaianst the war. If I beleive those things today does that mean I will turn into a sociopath like Dick Cheney in 15 years?
So they knew they were going to create chaos. So of all the countries in the region, which country would want a chaotic Iraq? Good question . . . . . whose lookin' out for yoose guys.
We have always been at war with East Asia.
If there's one thing I've learned in the last six years, it's that Orwell was not exaggerating. Reality really is completely malleable to these people. They'll say one thing on Monday, and insist the opposite has always been true on Tuesday. "Reality" is whatever serves their immediate purposes.
I don't expect our corrupt corporate media to note these blatant contradictions and convenient about-faces. The really disheartening thing is that so many regular people seem blind to it.
Liberal Agenda
http://news.yahoo.com/photos/ss/1617/im:/070811/photos_pl/2007_08_11t155...
Here try this instead
http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/nm/20070812/2007_08_11t155952_450x321_us...
Never mind
Well that rules out incompetence.
The admin went in full well knowing what would happen.
Yo-Ho, which way does the wind blow? Seems he says whatever he thinks appropriate for whatever time it is and how much he can gain by it. He was against it before he was for it. What a putz.
> I guess our current Vice President is the evil twin.
In a parallel universe sortof WAY. :-)
[Deleted.Trollage]
Let's see. 1934 and Germany was heading towards Nazi fascism. 2007 and America is heading towards Nazi fascism.
How do you feel now, smike?
Well smike, I feel pretty stupid.
And I am going to go right on feeling stupid too.
It is my mission in life to show these NeoTurds just how stupid I really am.
Gawd damn but I am one just totally stupid bastard!
Guess I'll have to go hug a tree, at least they love me...
Cat Atomic @ 26:
When Orwell wrote "1984" he had the Soviet Union in mind. I think he'd be appalled to see what has happened to the U.S.
Hey hadenuf sto using wikipedia as a source of truth. The web is the wild west when it comes to truth.
Try this regarding Steinbeck:
"But by the end of the trip, the anti-communist Steinbeck had realized the war was more complex than he had thought and that Johnson was not giving Americans a full picture of what was going on, according to Steinbeck scholar and San Jose State University Professor Susan Shillinglaw."
> When Orwell wrote “1984″ he had the Soviet Union in mind.
I disagree. I think he had the U.S. in mind. He had "vision".
> I think he’d be appalled to see what has happened to the U.S.
I agree.
smike @ 33:
Man, who put that website together - a fucking 12 year old?? I mean the Ace of Spades with crossed swords is juvenile enough, but what's with the flaming skull?? Like I said, it looks like it was put together by a 12 year old while hiding out in his tree house - the one with the "no gurls aloud" sign on the door.
I agreed with every word Dick Cheney said.
That should be played on every media outlet.
In 2000, I voted for Bush/Cheney because I thought they would be much less internationalist / meddling that Gore / Lieberman. I thought their foreign policy would be 'humble'.
I found Cheney to be reassuring since he was from the Bush 41's cabinet and thought there would be a return to adults running foreign policy.
Jesus, I was really wrong.
Chavez thinks oil will reach $100 a barrel.
It is difficult not watching the incredibly moving 9/11 Press for Truth on Free Speech TV and not feel a sense of outrage at not only the administration but at the media for failing to go after the administration's claim that they had no idea that terrorists might use planes as weapons inside the United States. As Paul Thomson states in the film, if he as an amateur was able to find out the information that belied the administration's story, then certainly the mainstream media should have been able to do the same thing, As former CIA analyst Ray McGovern pointed out, 80 per cent of the information was available yet the mainstream media failed to connect the dots. Failure to protect this country from being attacked is simply another reason why Bush, Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld, et al, should be impeached.
Site Monitor: You're skirting the edges of dangerous territory, Erroll. Please respect the siteowner's wishes to not have discussion of 9/11 theories on this site.
Erroll @ 42:
Carefull there eggroll. 911 information isn't welcome on this website.
P.S. sorry about making fun of your name. I couldn't help myself. No offense intended/I actually agree with your statements. LOL
As someone on another forum I frequent said
"Shouldn't the Cheney in our dimension have a goatee?"
Did I just see that? WTF? Oh, that's right, we're not in Kansas anymore.
BG! W00t!
> “Shouldn’t the Cheney in our dimension have a goatee?”
I would think that would belong in the parallel universe. In this dimension? He should have a tattoo on the top of his head that says "Kill the wabbit".
Brian,
Oh, buddy. Sorry. Wow.
WHAT. THE. FUCK.
It's the alternate universe Dick Cheney.
Please someone link this clip to all the conservative blogs. Ram it down their throats constantly.
On second thought, someone play this clip for Dick Cheney. Ram it down HIS throat.
RE: Deleted.Trollage for my #33 post
Is snarkage outlawed on this site?
[Looked like trollage to us-- Sitemonitor]
oh my god. This nightmare never ends, does it.
it never ends, its all of our worst fears, and more, because its true.
Just in case we were feeling a trickle of joy creep in...
CAPTAIN BRINGDOWN on video! Spontaneous cancer!
gene214 @ 39:
Lemme guess, since I got here late....The site's called "The He Man Woman Haters Club".
How very Republican these days.
Saw "NO END IN SIGHT" the whole Bush administration, past and present, MUST go to prison.
There must be consequences for the crimes that have been committed by Bush and his ilk.
God damn it _ I am so pissed have been for a long time. What I want to know is what is the Democratic party going to do about it?!!!!? NOTHING?!!!!? YOU FUCKERS!!! YOU FUCKERS!!!! YOU FUCKERS!!! YOU CANNOT CONTINUE TO LET THIS GO ON WITHOUT PUNISHMENT. We will pay if we don't make restitution for all the harm and that is putting it lightly. I'm at such a loss - Please Please Please America make right this horrendous wrong our country has committed. We must. We must.
smike @ 51:
Maybe I don't understand what trollage is, but are you defending Ace from defamation? This is quite mysterious to me.
Now I will just go away.
I get the aversion to eye contact- Cheney's got a Reluctant Medusa Complex- but wtf is up with his inability to keep his head up? That dome looks like it's floppin' around in a strong breeze!
Andy K @ 57:
It's all those years of crouching under small bridges and grabbing children. He lists to one side from carrying them under one arm into his cave.
What a dick!
Oh sure, but in that Universe you also have to contend with Spock wearing a goatee, and Uhura packing a switchblade.
Andy -
> Lemme guess, since I got here late….The site’s called “The He Man Woman Haters Club”.
I didn't check it out, but the origonal trollage was apparently an attempt at knocking those that believe in global warming and I assume that the website was supposedly about that too.
driftglass @ 60:
I preferred DS9 in the paralell Universe. More moral ambiguity.
Stanley,
Actually, the original trollage was (ht to instaputz acknowledged) a comment on my perception of someone like Ace of Spades revealing a demeaning attidute toward the very earth itself. I can't believe anyone who read the entire post could not perceive the intent of the final sentence. My mistake.
This MuthaFu**A is crazy!!!
We're livin' in an era of paranoia, smike.
even the trolls agree: dick's a nazi.
ThanX for the correction, smike. I certainly didn't get what you were up to via reading your original comment/trollage.
joe cantwell @ 66:
I reckon so.
This says what I said four years ago: Cheney made no mistakes when he went in with too few troops it was deliberate,
Cheney deliberately fired the Baathist civil service and Iraqi army, Cheney deliberately left weapons dumps unguarded,
knew all the weapons given to Iraqi police would disappear, allowed all the corruption possible, knew that explosives would be
stolen and used on our troops, knew we would never be able to train any police or army.
Why did he do it? Ray McGovern uses the acronym OIL; O-guess what, I-for Israel, L-for FE, ME and domestic political leverage.
Encourage chaos, establish empire through perpetual war, sacrifice as many soldiers as is necessary, in return he gives the
military industrial complex all the money and power they need to run the economy into the ground while cutting taxes forcing the US to start over economically and culturally which will, in turn, bring the rest of the world down with us.
There was never any grand experiment for Iraq, never any plan for democracy, all the nonsense about WMD's was
an excuse. The country will be in such bad shape any democrat elected will never overcome the corruption, lose of revenue
through war and tax cuts, a draft will be initiated after Persian or Arabic blowback for all the civilians killed "over there".
Blowback will consist of either sabotage at our ports with IED's (as in sinking and blowing up an oil tanker inside one or more of our ports)
or a dirty bomb in one or more of our cities.
Disco Inferno @ 55:
I know man, alot of us feel the same frustration. It's hard to sit back and just watch these Fuckers run roughshod over the Constitution.
I finally got tired of it and hung my American Flag upsidedown in protest only to have my Homeowners Association tell me to put it rightside up. I think my ultra-conservative neighbor squealed on me. He's squealed on me before over stupid stuff.
Fortunately, the ACLU has stepped in on my behalf and is taking care of the flag situation. Or at least gave me some information to pass on to my HOA and told me to call them if they give me any more trouble.
But I'm sick of it and I'm sick of people not letting me tell people I'm sick of it. If that makes sense.
WOW...WOULD SOMEONE PLEASE PUT THIS ON YOUTUBE...THIS BLOWS MY MIND...WHAT A ... %@#$*&^!!!
[...] Crooks and Liars.) Permalink | Leave a Comment | RSS 2.0 Spew your [...]
Patty @ 3:
YES YES YES
Slippery Slope @ 12:
LIKE YEAH? THANK YOU!!!
Bill O'Lielee @ 25:
SO THEY KNEW ALL ALONG!!! NOW if you American citizens what to get afraid...this would be a good time...be AFRAID OF CHENEY!
If I were a site-mon here at C&L - I'd establish a rule that any variation of the word "first" would be auto deleted from the thread with out any expalanation.
bob bruman @ 71:
Ummmm... where do you think that video is linked to?
Back when Cheney gave that interview, He was working for Bush #41. And Poppa Bush wouldn't invade even though Cheney wanted to at the time.
But Poppa Bush threatened to withhold Cheney's pace maker replacement he needed desperately at the time. So
Cheney was kept on his leash. With Bush #43, Cheney decided to be on top this time around, And I don't think their wives care, as long as its not with another woman.....................................
Blue Buddha @ 77:
REALLY? Good I will look for it...I need to get this out to a number of peops. Thanks.
> If I were a site-mon here at C&L - I’d establish a rule that any variation of the word “first” would be auto deleted from the thread with out any expalanation.
I don't think the site monitors establish any rules around here. They just do what Mr. Amato tells them to, IMHO.
There is other footage of the Vader that is better in depth on Desert Storm.
But this covers the subject from flip flpo to ignorance and outright lying.
You can see by what he expresses then and what were are experiencing now.
Disregard for strong strategy at the cost of others that do the fighting.
Good old 5 deferment Dick....
[...] to Blue Gal who’s posting over at C&L right [...]
ahahahahahahahahahahhahahaahahaha!
Wow. Bizarro world.
LanceThruster Says: What happened to the C&L piece on Barry Bonds? Why was it removed? What was wrong with it?
_______________________________________________________________
My country is falling apart, and my fellow American is worried about Bond! Oh Lord. Give some stamina!
Brian Says@40
In 2000, I voted for Bush/Cheney because I thought they would be much less internationalist / meddling that Gore / Lieberman. I thought their foreign policy would be ‘humble’.
________________________________________________________________________
Are you proud of what you did to this nation? At the time, it was obvious that Bush was an asshole, talks like an asshole, behaves like ass hole...and you didn't notice? So much for voter's perception! Bravo!
garcia, IMHO you have a valid complaint.
I hope you realize that Cheney is talking about the 1991 invasion. The conversation has nothing to do with today's events is Iraq!
The army gets some shrinks, but, unfortunately, none for its generals.
What a turd!! Play this clip on the propaganda network some time. What a blatant joke. Here he speaks as though he has his head out of his ass. All we've heard since this criminal took office is "we're winning", "we're liberators", "we're bringing democracy", "they have WMD's" lies, lies, lies...and more lies. HANG THE SOB!!
garcia @ 84:
Oh. stop bein' so effin' self-righteous. A lot of us can walk and chew gum at the same time.
A friend of mine grew up in the Central Valley, not far from San Francisco. Flash remained a Giants fan although he lived the past 40 years in Michigan. He did the old mortal coil shuffle on Wednesday mornin', succmbin' to lung cancer hours after Bonds broke the home run record. Hopefully Flash got to see it. It was important to him.
You've been around long enough, garcia, to know that many threads are posted at C&L each day, mostly political, a few given over to things of slightly less gravitas. Yer welcome to skip the ones you deem trivial. The same applies to other commenters posts. I promise that the next time you post somethin' I don't think carries much importance I won't chide ya on it.
85 garcia Says: I hope you realize that Cheney is talking about the 1991 invasion. The conversation has nothing to do with today’s events is Iraq!
Sorry, Iraq, the middle east that Cheney spoke of in the clip has evrything to do with this day and age.
The only thing that had changed from '91 to when Bush invaded was that Iraq (Saddam's regime) was under our thumb and we controlled what went in and out of Iraq.
Iran, Israel, Saudi Arabia are stillthe same neighboring countries. Sunni, Shia, Kurds. What has changed is Bush's meddling nation building...............................................
40
Brian Says:
Brian, that was really brave of you to admit that. It was a media theme, too -- "the adults are running things again." Needless to say, the inside-the-Beltway pundits like David Broder and Jim Hoagland and Richard Cohen and David Brooks and Charles Krauthammer and all of the other yo-yos at the Washington Post and the New York Times agreed with you. Saddam was "bad", his regime had to overthrown, even if there was no proof ever that he had WMD's (and remember, he did let in the U.N. inspectors -- it was Bush who chased them out).
And still these lying bozos persist -- not only Bush and Cheney and Lieberman, but also Broder and Brooks and Hiatt. They still won't admit that we made a bloody, disastrous, expensive mistake.
Frankly, the people who pressed this War on Iraq are truly war criminals (more than 3,000 Americans and 650,000 Iraqis have died as a result of this war). It's going to cost our country more than 1.8 trillion dollars before it's over...and the end is not yet in sight.
During World War II, there were the "good Germans" who didn't approve of what Hitler and his Nazi minions did. Now, I am sure that there are many "good Americans" who don't approve of what Bush and his loyal minions are doing in Iraq. Still, we are all guilty if we continue to allow it to happen.
We must stop the bloodshed and bring the troops home.
Otherwise, we become complicit in the crimes of George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and Joe Lieberman.
Please give us the strength to resist their ignorance.
If I were Sitemon here I would track down anyone who tried to tell me what to do and slap them across the face with a dead fish.
But that's just me, I ain't giving advice or nothing.
Slap them with their own red herring?
I was looking at a conservative blog and most of the posts said something along the lines of: "Well that was then! Now is because of 9/11."
God...I was I could find some kind of sanity from these people.
Good lord, who would have believed that Cheney's reasoning predeceeded that of "left-wing" bloggers of today.
He was perhaps a corporation "foot in the door" to politics at that date, but that was before they got their chance to take over the White House entirely. No matter how bad things go for the Cheney administration because of their blunders, they always have a final line: war is profitable.
The latest numbers I heard is that we're about to X cross +- the 1 million number when it comes to the number of Iraqis we've murdered since President George "D Dubya I" Bush's occupation of Iraq.
rcg @ 22:
K.I.S.S. They're all being blackmailed. After seeing this clip, I'd put Cheney in that pot, too.
What do you think the warrantless wire-tapping is for? This is dirty business. Defense contractor industrial espionage on $bn bids, for one; and blackmail of the people in office who would lose career, prestige, and coin if their shenanigans ever got out. At age 50+, the blackmailed will just go along; life is too short to ruin themselves and their families and their retirement for principled action that's forgotten within one news cycle, or impossible whistleblower glory.
Listen, I used to hear about this in the cafes when I grew up. It was a cynical adjunct to the afternoon banter I heard my father and his friends joke about. "So easy to turn an American politician." Blah-blah-blah. Except in those days, they did it with prostitutes, female and male, kinky stuff, and hidden cameras, just as they did with Palestinian informants to keep them in line for the future. I heard what they did in South America and South Africa to get an attache to flip, or an ambassador to behave. My father wasn't involved with that as far as I know. He was a House Manager to a rich man. But his friends did. They were the drivers for bigshots, sometimes the procurors, and they heard the stories coming back from America, and around the world. In my country then, if you were in on an information pipeline, you knew what everybody knew, because they knew you'd keep your mouth shut. Here, in the USA, it's all compartmentalized. There, you know.
The neocons wouldn't have this hold without their fingers on the short and curlies. Not a chance. What if someone had complete photographic and audio/video details about one of your wild and woolly nights that you want kept under the rug? And you're running for office? And you have a new wife, and a hideous mortgage, and young kids? You think you're going to get patriotic for a country that will just laugh at you and make sure you never work again, and you lose everything? A running jokeon HuffPo and Tucker for a week? Or are you going to protect your own?
Call me cynical. This is what's going on.
More . . .
This is what CALEA wrought.
Stanley Rosenthal @ 97:
Already crossed. We are all complicit. I am guilty of this no matter how many letters I write, how many phone calls I make to the WH or my congressman. This number does not include the killing of 500,000 children Albright said on 60 Minutes (?) her 1990s policies condoned, not the number in the first Iraq war.
This is a holocaust:
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/iraq/iraqdeaths.html
The number is 1,000,985.
One thing for sure is that although the Neo cons show absolutely no exit strategy for the military in Iraq. They most definately have an exit strategy out of prison. Ask I Lewis Scooter Libby. Or how I will always remember him as " Inmate #28301-016 ".
hareli @ 98, it's the crime of the century. But there's you, and there's me. :-(
Ticking Dick was reprogrammed durring a heart battery replacement
That man being interviewed was absolutely brilliant and insightful. We need someone like him to be president.
Blaed @ 95:
You would have better luck looking for a virgin in a whorehouse.
I wonder if Hillary Clinton saw this story and thinks that “Christians” ought to be taken seriously when it comes to their opposition to gay marriage? Thanks to AmericaBlog’s John Aravosis, this story was posted. I hope the mainstream media exposes these deranged people for the vicious people they are for once and made to report this story rather than avoid it. It is time to show who these extreme radical right wingers are in daylight. Right-wingers “love” children and are “moral,” my ass. This story is hardly one of love or being pro-child or pro-life. What these people did is nothing but sadism.
Police: Boot camp girl dragged with van
Sat Aug 11, 8:40 PM ET
BANQUETE, Texas - Authorities charged the director of a Christian boot camp and an employee with dragging a 15-year-old girl behind a van after she fell behind the group during a morning run.
Charles Eugene Flowers and Stephanie Bassitt of San Antonio-based Love Demonstrated Ministries, a 32-day boot camp for at-risk teens, are accused of tying the girl to the van with a rope June 12 and dragging her, according to an arrest affidavit filed Wednesday. Flowers, the camp's director, ordered Bassitt to run alongside the girl after she fell behind, according to the affidavit. When the girl stopped running, Bassitt yelled at her and pinned her to the ground while Flowers tied the rope to her, according to the affidavit.
The girl was treated for scrapes and bruises on her stomach, legs and arms. The girl's mother gave investigators photos of her daughter's injuries and a sworn statement from a witness who claimed to have seen the girl dragged on her stomach at least three times. Flowers and Bassitt remained jailed Saturday on $100,000 bond each on aggravated assault charges.
Read the entire story @:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070812/ap_on_re_us/girl_dragged;_ylt=AixgLu...
It's all bitter and no sweet for this symphony:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7xyd_IRgGs
We need to get rid of anyone who's been part of trashing the Constitution. Party doesn't matter.
hadenuf @ 1:
sour grapes.
Blue Buddha @ 77:
Just in case someone wants the YouTube URL - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BEsZMvrq-I
HulksHeroes @ 89:
and very slowly i might add!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is why Dick is dangerous – more so than Bush. He’s smart. Smart AND Evil.
I agree with everything Dick was saying back then. And back then it was his Energy policies that scared me the most. Those same policies trumped the known chaos that would be created in Iraq. They knew it and didn’t care.
As others have pointed out, the constantly changing rationale for us being in Iraq has gone from WMDs to regional stabilization to removing an evil dictator (the most recent). But why was Saddam evil? Because of the number of his own people he killed? We have now killed more Iraqis than Saddam ever did. Doesn’t that make us more evil, and given this current rationale, justify our “removal”?
hareli @ 101:
We're responsible for the deaths of over a million people in the past 4 years.
Saddam killed maybe 25,000 in the previous 25 years - and the large percentage of those people were those with allegiances to the Ayatollah Khomeini (a person conservatives so conveniently forgot).
So what exactly changed between 1994 and 2003?
So the dirty rotten mother f!@#$r knew what he was dragging this country into as well as we did, but just didn't care, it was "Business"...."Oil-Business"
He should be fed to the pigs like they do on Deadwood.
U.S. life span keeps slipping
http://health.yahoo.com/news/178301
Stu Bykofsky: To save America, we need another 9/11
http://www.philly.com/dailynews/columnists/stu_bykofsky/20070809_Stu_Byk...
Fatigue cripples US army in Iraq
Exhaustion and combat stress are besieging US troops in Iraq as they battle with a new type of warfare. Some even rely on Red Bull to get through the day. As desertions and absences increase, the military is struggling to cope with the crisis
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,2147052,00.html
Hillary, Hiroshima, and Hubris
Justifying mass murder
The anniversary of the U.S. bombing of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is, perhaps, a good time to note that arguments rationalizing and even valorizing the use of nuclear weapons, once considered beyond the pale, are now back in fashion. Here we have yet more evidence of the Bizarro Effect, which, ever since 9/11, has stood everything – especially our traditional concept of morality – on its head, not only repealing the laws of logic and common sense but also ensconcing evil in the place of good.
Why, just the other day, U.S. presidential aspirant and sometime antiwar candidate Barack Obama was asked by a reporter if he would authorize the use of nuclear weapons against al-Qaeda. Instead of looking at the man as if he were more than half-crazy and pointedly asking to see his press credentials, Obama ruled out the possibility… or, maybe not. I'll leave it to my readers to make the call: (READ ON)
http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=11418
One Big Reason Markets are Plunging
China's Threat to the Dollar is Real
http://www.counterpunch.com/roberts08102007.html
longnow @ 69:
Your fundamental assertion - that the US's cuurent circumstances in Iraq were utterly predictable, and that the management of the invasion and occupation seemed deliberately designed to produce exactly the consequences we are seeing - is valid.
Those running this campaign may eb venal, but they are not stupid. Cheney, the architect of much of it, clearly understands the terms and consequences of the conflict, as this video makes plain.
The question then becomes, if they have deliberately put themselves in a situation where the US military is embroiled in chaos in Iraq, and on the cusp of war with Iran, what could they possibly have had to gain, beyond contracts for Halliburton.
As much as I find Ron Paul a bit queasy in his racist baiting and his isolationist bent, this speech before congress is worth a watch or a read.
He makes the completely plausible argument that the US has targeted, for war or coup, those nations who have mused about tagging their oil sales to the Euro instead of the Dollar (Iraq, Venezuela, Iran).
There's plenty of other resources a mere Google search away:
http://usa.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/17450
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Iraq/Iraq_dollar_vs_euro.html
http://globalresearch.ca/articles/CLA410A.html
I find these arguments completely persuasive, in that they adequately explain a variety of seeming otherwise inexplicable aspects of current world affairs, such as...
- the completely specious linking of Saddam and 9/11 as an excuse for invasion
- the pre-9/11 obsession with Saddam
- the obsession with Venezuela and the US support for the aborted coup
- the sabre rattling and seemingly inevitable war with Iran
- the odd dance with China who both holds dollar debt and is oddly dependent on the Dollar
If seen through the lens of this argument, it becomes clear that the Iraq occupation isn't technically about oil - as in the supply of oil - but more about forestalling the collapse of the dollar and the American economy. Witness the unbelievable movement of the Euro in comparison with the dollar, and mark the fact that the EU can easily expand and grow the need for, and strength of their currency, and you have some sense of the sleepless nights that American leaders must have.
Imagine a wholesale sell-off of dollars world wide, the liquidation of China's reserves, and the collapse of the dollar.
This is what, it seems, the administration is trying to avoid or delay, no matter how many Iraqi civilians, or how many US soldiers have to die.
Maybe Paul and the others are wrong, but right now, their theories explain the current reality - and the video clip above - more than any other theory I've heard.
Remember that, in the clip above, Cheney is talking long before Saddam began, in 2001 and 2002, to talk about pegging his oil sales to the Euro and, in fact, when Cheney is talking (1994, I believe), the Euro was in its infancy and no-one could have predicted that it would come to challenge the Dollars hegemony.
I've always found the "they're stupid, evil, and personally greedy" meme unpersuasive. But the Dollar theory seems credible to me.
Fleeing the country is taking longer than I thought it would. I’ve been planning my escape for several years now: the tunnel is dug, the papers forged, I stitched up an SS greatcoat out of old burlap sacks, made a pair of jackboots out of prosciutto nicked from the canteen, and I’ve memorized a few phrases of the kind of German they now speak in Washington (“Karl Röve ist ein Zionen mit einem Vorhaut”). Yet I’m still here, and I can’t quite say why. It’s not like I’m having the time of my life waiting for Homeland Security goons to show up at the house and shove an electric fucknozzle up my botty. The only obvious reasons to stick around, besides some atavistic sense of patrie, are bile, cowardice, and sloth, my three primary virtues if you exclude man tits.
http://www.counterpunch.com/tripp08112007.html
Erin @ 122:
Erin, it is perversely ironic that, during the Vietnam era, the US was afraid that China would end up defeating America by spreading Communism.
Now it looks like they have done it by lending America money.
It was Capitalism, not Communism, that proved to be the American achilles heel.
Freaked-Out Canadian, I totally concur.
Enter the Dragon.
Freaked-Out Canadian -
Well said, and I agree. More than the oil-supply (which is never-the-less an important factor), the timing of the Iraq invasion and our recent Iran-directed saber-rattling is based on the conversion of oil-reserve currencies from the dollar to the Euro. That this conversion will happen is inevitable – it IS happening. We (the US gov) want to forestall an all-out sell-off of dollars to minimize the impact on our economy.
Saddam appeared foolish before OPEC when he started to switch to the Euro in the 90’s. That currency wasn’t as strong then as it is today. Now he seems prescient. Our first invasion was timed as a sanction for this conversion. Now the Saudis, Iranians and the rest of OPEC are starting to do the same thing. That’s why we have 2-3 carrier fleets in the Persian Gulf.
It’s interesting how were paying for this military intrusion though. It’s financed via debt to China. Now they hold more cards than OPEC, with as much to gain from controlling the oil supplies as we do (and India and Japan).
Scary predicament we’ve put ourselves in…
I emailed this video to C&L yesterday. I wonder if that's why it's on today.
This site is the best. That Cheney video was from 1994.
That evil fuck always says something like "Our judgment was x, y and z; and I think we got it right."
Taarak @ 127:
Taarak:
I've always been mystified by those who think it is merely "all about oil" - meaning about controlling the oil supply.
This is a completely illogical argument. For one thing, the biggest suppliers of US oil are, in order, Canada, Mexico, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. Canada accounts for more oil imports than the Persian Gulf states combined.
Secondly, it's not as though Iraq, Venezuela and Iran aren't willing to sell oil to the US, or to do so at established prices. In fact, they are eager to do so. The US is a big market.
So, if it is not about the "supply" of oil, it must be about something else.
Well, maybe peak oil has arrived, and supplies are dwindling.
But that doesn't make much sense either, because alternative technologies are burgeoning rapidly, and there are plenty of alternatives on the horizon. And, in terms of long-term policy, it seems wiser to pursue those alternatives rather than attempt to control, militarily, the dwindling supply of oil. Besides, the invasion of Iraq, or Iran, doesn't really seem to prevent the scramble for oil that might come later in the century. The problem, when it comes, will dwarf the Iraqi reserves.
So, all this war has to be about something else.
And the Dollar seems the likely candidate. The collapse of the US currency would have a horrific impact on the USA - much more profound than a terrorist attack - and is probably the most imminent and real threat to US security.
And, as your neighbours, we wouldn't fare too well either.
The signs are ominous, though. China is flexing its economic muscles, subtly threating the US. The Euro is becoming a powerhouse currency, and the EU is expanding. Even the Canadian and Aussie dollars are thumping the greenback.
And, ironically, the US is bankrupting itself in a war designed to protect its economy.
Now, add a sub-prime mortgage crisis, and stir.
If I were an Iranian, I'd be stockpiling water and food.
The answer, of course, is that "9/11 changed everything".
As in, 9/11 is the reason to be stupid? Sheesh.
...
I'm taking the opportunity here to put in a plug for THE ANGRY RIGHT, a very entertaining book by my friend, S.T. Joshi. It's a well-documented and well-reasoned takedown of such rightwing mouth breathers as Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh, and I wish it were better known.
S.T. Joshi may be known to some of you already as an important literary historian and critic (probably the premier expert on H.P. Lovecraft among other writers), as well as champion of a very muscular atheism.
Anyway, go buy the book now. It's well worth the money.
It's just been confirmed by the crack C&L Research Dept: This was the last time Dick Cheney was right!
What a video. Way to go DICK.
Da Spyda @ 13:
*snort* Bwa hah ha ha ha.
The current VP is fatter, has less hair and is stupider. But he still tells lies out the one side of his mouth doesn't he?
from antillectual: So what exactly changed between 1994 and 2003?
Well, Cheney was able to give Halliburton a commission to study privatization of the military...and just like when Cheney found he was the best choice as v/p, Halliburton realized they were ideal for privitization of the military.
go see their good work via Iraq For Sale.
After he left the Bush administration, he went to work for Halliburton, as is well known, and he could drink the blood of soldiers and make a profit while doing so. no downside for this captain of industry.
oh, and 9-11 changed everything, tho the oil fields in Iraq were being divvied up before 9-11 via the Energy Task Force that's super secret dangerous for any american to know about.
Rummy talked a good game and the OSP at the Pentagon made sure no realistic assessment was available about WMDs, etc. Plus Osama wanted Bush and Cheney to move their bases out of S.A., and Iraq was a good place to put them, or so it seems, since they are being built like fortresses making sure the "american way of life is not negotiable"...no matter how many dead americans and iraqis it takes. That's the american way, by golly.
Send this vid out to seven people.
Ask that they send it to seven other people.
No immediate financial award - just the feeling that you helped stop this war and save the lives of thousands of humans and helped restore America's name.
This clip is obviously a liberal media conspiracy. I can tell the whole thing was Photoshopped. I'm pretty sure this was actually Kerry saying it, or Clinton...
Well, compared to the chilling info I just saw and heard in Aaron Russo's film 'America: Freedom to Fascism' this is not even a minor surprise. See the film - if you can find it. Google has removed it several times, and Mr. Russo keeps posting it, but how long can he keep up with the corporate-owned wage slaves dedicated to silencing him?
Suffice to say, the international banking cartel that's behind EVERYTHING is closing the gaps, and we're all worm meat. We've already seen that Congress is scared to death of the WH, and will simply rubber-stamp whatever is demanded of them. The elections are rigged, the jack-booted storm troopers will break down your door and taze you if you do not obey them instantly, regardless of whether you've broken any actual law. It's over, America. The rule of law is done.
Pass this vid to seven people.
Ask those people to pass it to seven other people.
No immediate financial reward - just helping to save lives and restore some sanity in the world.
Sorry for the dbl comment...
Tax cuts are working ......
Tax cuts? What tax cuts?
They are not 'cutting' taxes, they are 'postponing' taxes to be paid by future generations --- with interest.
Know what? C&L is becoming quite tedious. Honestly. May I suggest, rather than putting ancient history on, like this video, just to put something on, put nothing on. Less is more if you get my drift. Anyone alive and paying attention both during the Gulf war and at the start of the Iraq war realize that Dickie was reversing himself. It seems to be quite well understood what a tool our Vice President is. Is it really necessary to waste time and effort to once again drive this point home to those who already understand it?
FreakedOutCanadian@121 you said,
"Remember that, in the clip above, Cheney is talking long before Saddam began, in 2001 and 2002, to talk about pegging his oil sales to the Euro and, in fact, when Cheney is talking (1994, I believe), the Euro was in its infancy and no-one could have predicted that it would come to challenge the Dollars hegemony."
Thanks to you, Erin and others for the links and really intelligent offerings this morning, quite generous discussion which is enhancing my understanding tremendously. What do you think then is the relationship between Halliburton's move to Dubai. The minute we heard that I thought H was interested in shoving off the dollar for the Euro. Makes sense H wants to attach itself to higher ground when the dollar tanks. This is where the edges begin to fray, what are they up to and what wells will they be drawing from? So many factors are perched right on the edge ready for a wind to take down the house of cards.
Any thoughts?
Well, look what the cat dragged off.
It was about going to war for Israel and ITS OIL SUPPLY.
Philip Zelikow declared outright we went to war for Israel in late 2003 at a private Virginia war college talk, while still working for Condi at the NSC (google it).
Israeli Minister of Infrastructure Joseph Paritzky let 'the cat out of the bag' in late March 2003 about the re-opened pipeline the war would give Israel oil for the first time, reducing its 25% premium with Russia ((Gazprom). (google paritzky oil israel the guardian)
Netanyahu leaked it in June 2003 at a private meeting among London investors. (google it)
Jane's Defense Weekly described the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) re-upped in 2002 that required the USA to provide Israel with $3bn in oil at 2002 prices "even if it created domestic shortages at home;" and required the USA to store it and ship it to Israel in US tankers. The price of that commitment has now tripled for US taxpayers. (google it)
The reopened pipeline was to be from Kirkuk/Mosul to Haifa. Old 1948 pipeline. The first thing US forces did when they landed: build US bases at H1, H2, and H3 in NW Iraq -- where there was NO fighting -- to protect the line. (google it)
Israel was to become the "new Rotterdam" and supply oil to itself and the USA. Israel would become an oil force in the ME. Think of whoever nabbed that concession in Israel. Enormous profits. The Russian oil oligarchs (read mafiya) were in on it (Putin put one the head of Yukos oil in jail in 2002 for eight years, which put a crimp in that operation. Lord Jacob Rothschild is handling his shares until he gets out) Another faction wanted to build a pipeline from Haifa to Turkey to distribute it (Perle and Feith organizing that since 1996, which Paritzky also spilled the beans about). Sharon, who was Minister of Infrastructure before Paritzky in 1998, had another group of people who wanted to control this; they tried to off Sharon the night before his second operation; he's still in a coma.
The anger over political neophyte Paritzky revealing the inner workings of the plan -- he revealed the Turkey part in late 2003/2004 -- was such that they trapped him with a tape and caused a political scandal that sent him packing not only from the Knesset but ran him out of Israel (google it)
End result? No reopened pipeline yet, which is why every neocon still clings to this war.
This was all about oil for Israel, which Israel needs for its military if its to be a world power: the goal.
Many of google sites have been removed but you can find the info. Some of this info has been cached on obviously anti-semitic sites, but that does not lessen the weight of the facts, provided that is what you are looking for. [It obviously helps if you can read Hebrew.]
Get used to this one:
THERE IS A CONSPIRACY
By Pastor Chuck Baldwin
July 13, 2007
A reader's letter intrigues me. He writes, "I find everything you say about a coming New World Order and One World Government extremely difficult to believe. For one thing, while you yourself obviously display no hate towards anyone, most other conspiracy theorists are anti-Semites." He further wrote, "An intelligent man such as yourself would do well to distance yourself from these loony theories."
I will quickly acknowledge that unfortunately there are a significant number of conspiracy theories promulgated by people with obvious anti-Semitic tendencies. I join my reader friend in repudiating such bigotry.
However, just because certain conspiracy theories are advocated by people with personal agendas and extremist ideologies is not reason enough to automatically dismiss the facts that suggest there is a conspiracy to steal America's sovereignty and independence. These facts are plentiful and powerful. Only foolish people would dismiss them out-of-hand.
As a Christian, I believe the Word of God to be my source of faith and practice. Therefore, I must take seriously the Word's admonition that, "There is a conspiracy" (Ezek. 22:25). In fact, the conspiracy to overthrow righteousness (and any semblance of it) is ubiquitous.
Furthermore, if one will study American history, he will note our Founding Fathers firmly believed a conspiracy of influential internationalists was behind many of the draconian decisions of old King George. They said as much in the Declaration of Independence.
In the Declaration, Thomas Jefferson wrote, "But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security." If that isn't a clear reference to conspiracy, I don't know what is.
As in British-controlled America 200 years ago, policies advanced by like-minded politicos today attempt to erode our constitutional laws and national independence. Only a naïve person would suggest that this is mere coincidence. I remind my readers that George Bush, Sr. first popularized the name "New World Order." However, he is not the only notable personality that has openly called for such an international order.
Former newsman, Walter Cronkite, has openly called for world government. Others calling for world government include England's Prime Minister, Tony Blair; former Clinton cabinet member, Strobe Talbott; and a variety of spokesmen for the United Nations, as well as leaders from various multinational corporations. To think that all of these people (whose numbers are multitudinous) should not be taken seriously is the height of idiocy.
Yes, my friends, there is a conspiracy. No, it is not a Jewish conspiracy. It is much more than that. It is a conspiracy of elitists from all races and ethnic backgrounds who deeply despise our constitutional form of government, our national independence, and our Christian heritage. Some are communists; others are socialists. Some call themselves liberals, and some even call themselves conservatives. Labels mean little.
Most of the conspirators are wealthy and well positioned to advance their utopian ideas. Some teach in our nation's colleges and universities. Some occupy powerful positions in the media and in our political institutions. Some of them are also found behind the pulpits of churches, and, yes, some are found in synagogues.
The promoters of internationalism may not conduct monthly meetings. They may not carry New World Order membership cards in their wallets (albeit, if they are members of the Council of Foreign Relations, people who love liberty should be very wary of them), but collectively they form a credible conspiracy to rob America of its independence. Furthermore, as long as patriotic Americans refuse to acknowledge their existence, the more effective they are at accomplishing their oligarchic objectives.
As damning as this Cheney tape is, if ever confronted with it he would simply say "well it may be hard to believe but I too had a pre- 9/11 mindset back in '94 and nothing I said then can be applied to the situation we're in now, since 9/11 if you will". LOL!
[...] read more | digg story [...]
EZ@145, Well, no surprises there.
Rather than broad brushes, what is needed are hands-on facts to counteract the damage
to our everyday lives, not some gossipy biblical reference which means zip.
unfuckingbelievable.
Comments are closed on this entry