idrankwhat

Ask and ye shall receive: http://www.oceanlight.com/html/boobies.html

I'll go with "smarmy", seems to be popular with my peeps these days. If you want the contract I can email the pdf to you, I don't have a link handy. Wait, this is lame......hold on, someone has to have it posted............ok, found it. Sorry, you might not like the messenger but here you go. http://www.giveitupcheney.org/CheneyGiftAgreement.pdf

Nice Catch 22 - Halliburton doesn't pay him the DEFERRED SALARY from before he went into office, they're in breach of contract and can be sued. If they DO pay him the deferred salary, they're in collusion and "he's sending them enormous amounts of business". (I'm still waiting on that document he signed awarding the contract in Iraq, btw). Just to clarify Cheney's position so we'll know where he stands, From a 2003 "Meet the Press": "Since I left Halliburton to become George Bush's vice president, I've severed all my ties with the company, gotten rid of all my financial interests. I have no financial interest in Halliburton of any kind and haven't had now, for over three years." Sounds pretty definitive, almost as directly worded and accurate as his comments on aluminum tubes and meetings in Praque

Kind of a love/hate relationship huh? They suck when they don't want to go along with us because global interests don't support us but they're kinda nice to have around to clean up our messes. I really don't know why people have a beef with the UN. I mean they're a corrupt, pseudo-democratic institution and our government is a corrupt, pseudo-democratic institution. What's not to love?

Ooops. You're right! I was using the past tense. It will be back on the front page of our propaganda papers in a couple of months.

They're not his. This is the second copy I've gotten in the last half hour. I'm trying to decide if this is simply a case of rosey revisionism or if maybe it's a test piece launched onto the net by Bush's lawyers to work out their defense in case they have to make a flight to the Hague P.S. Careful with how "facts" are used. Yes, Iraq did fire on the US military in the no fly zones. But the no fly zones were an incursion into soverign Iraqi airspace as a "humanitarian" action by the US and Britain. The UN never officially recognized them and they are a part of no security council resolution.

Afghanistan. I wasn't a big fan of some aspects of it but the people who attacked us were there as was a political leadership that supported them so we certainly had no problem justifying the military action. Also, having the vast majority of the world community supporting our actions didn't hurt either.

First, you need to explain how an IRREVOCABLE trust can be broken... He doesn't have to break the agreement. The agreement states that he can withold the award of the options if he wants to. It's on page six, section 8(c) Dude, give it up - there's no foul play here, regardless of how much you want there to be... Also, he's already exercised the options on all but 50,000 of his shares, most of which (~$6.9 million) has gone to the Cheney Cardiac Institute and George Washington University.

I disagree with all of what you just wrote, especially "necessary for the safety of this country" and the last sentence. We're less safe now than we were four years ago, I'm really not sure how that can even be debated. And most of the R's supported the war for political reasons as evidenced by their lock step support of party over ideology, but now (some) are looking out for the best interests of the US and our military. John Warner is the best example. As for the bigger picture, the war was a mistake, has been full of mistakes, and thousands, no millions of people will continue to pay for those mistakes for years to come. No one is better off for this war (with the exception of a few defense contractor administrators and company shareholders). The whole situation is screwed up and this is Bush's baby regardless of how people may want to spin it. I wish he would just us his super powers and fix it by simply saying "it has to work" and "I told them that they had to. That was the end of it. That's the way it is." To blame certain R's and the D's because they are having a hard time coming with a solution to the clusterfuck that Bush and company created is just plain....(searching for a better term....nope....can't find one) fucked.

One fact seems to debunk your theory here. If still being in Iraq in 08 is a problem for the Dems and and win for the R's then the Dems should vote to pull funding and get out now. If they have done the correct thing they will look like heros buy elections time. What do you think? I think this whole conversation is fucked. This war is bad news any way you look at it and the worry about whether it benefits the demoblicans or the republicrats is an exercise in missing the big picture. Hey, you asked me what I thought.

I've been looking for it but I can't seem to find some graphs that I got off my Congressman's website about three years ago. They predicted short term job growth followed by a substantial crash in the late 00's. I seem to remember that being a consensus of a number of sources but I can't provide specifics right now. I'll post that info if I find it. That aside, globally we're hurting. We've dropped from first to sixth in the world economic forum's competitiveness rankings. Their recent report makes some valid points. "“The United States will remain, for the foreseeable future, one of the most competitive economies in the world, reflecting the existence of a long pipeline of innovation, nurtured by a first class system of higher education. However, two areas are of some concern and if unattended could allow other countries–in a highly competitive global economy–to challenge the US’s privileged position. First, with potentially open-ended expenditure commitments linked to defence and homeland security, ongoing plans to lower taxes further, as well as other longer-term potential claims on the budget, the prospects for sustained fiscal adjustment seem not too bright. With a low savings rate, record-high current account deficits and a worsening of the US’s net debtor position, there is a non-negligible risk to both the country’s overall competitiveness and, given the relative size of the US economy, the future of the global economy. Second, while the US has, in general, an excellent institutional framework, the quality of the country’s public institutions falls somewhat short of the levels of transparency and efficiency seen in other OECD members,” said Augusto Lopez-Claros, Chief Economist and Head of the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Network. http://budget.house.gov/analyses/07WEF_report.pdf Yea, I know this is another example of "always with the negative waves" and "what about all the good things" but I have a tendency to look at what's wrong and try to fix it. If the foundation on the house is crumbling I'm not going to rave about the resale value being boosted by the granite countertops.

They don't own them yet. People still seem to be confusing debt with prosperity.

Yea, but the "whoring America" picture of W and Laura is still there

I'd ask the VP directly but he's got potty mouth and has a tendency to ask people to do things that aren't anatomically possible

If anyone is interested in what the show was about: January 24, 2007 · Following the president's State of the Union address, we'll move past the political analysis and punditry and hear from innovative thinkers and creative minds about their view of the state of the country. Guests: Nora Ephron, Academy Award-nominated screenwriter of When Harry Met Sally, Silkwood and Sleepless In Seattle, which she also directed; author of I Feel Bad About My Neck Elizabeth Nunez, author of Prospero's Daughter; distinguished professor at Medgar Evers College at City University of New York Merle Haggard, singer-songwriter Kwame Anthony Appiah, author of Cosmopolitanism, professor of philosophy at Princeton University Frank Miller, comic book artist Ana Marie Cox, Washington editor of Time.com Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission You can even listen to it if you want. I don't think any of these guest are throwing their hats in the ring for the 2008 election. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7002481 edited to add:Stein's article might have sounded a bit different if he had listened to Frank Miller's take on the issue.

That sounds a little misleading. Has he exercised those 433,333 options yet? Because to my knowledge he has just pleged to donate those profits to charity after they're cashed in. I believe that he still is getting a deferred salary as well, about $200K/yr. edited to add: http://lautenberg.senate.gov/newsroom/record.cfm?id=254548&&

I'd say that sums it up pretty well.

What's a democrate? Besides, I listened to NPR yesterday and I heard all of the things you mentioned. That's the problem with "liberals". How dare they give us so much information?!? Don't they know that talking points are so much easier to remember?

Don't forget Pat Robertson! He's always up for a targeted assassination here and there. (all I did was say "that piece of halibut was good enough for Jehova") http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOdARZ3bs0k&mode=related&search=

Apparently Ben didn't listen to the whole show on NPR. I heard it yesterday and the point of the show was to get broad input from all different kinds of people on their opinion of the State of the Union, not the State of the Union speech necessarily but their current take on the state of the US and how it impacts them. Stein.....Stein.....anyone........anyone.......

The Army Corps of Engineers managed to build a water treatment plant right in the vicinity of Ramadi (they stared while I was there, but I got injured before they completed it). Our mission was different from the engineers and other support troops there. Most of the other coalition forces in theater are not combat units, rather support units whose specialty is rebuilding infrastructure. The majority of US forces in the region are in the same capacity. I said "fusion" reactor That aside, if the Corp of engineers can build one I'd suggest they go build it in Iran so they can stop their nuclear enrichment. Heck, build a few here in the US too, just don't hire the same Corps that designed the levies in New Orleans.

Actually, Petreaus may be a good guy to have in there I think. He seems to be able to think for himself. In 2003 government contractors stated that they needed $15 million to bring a concrete plant on line in northern Iraq. Petreaus hired some Iraqis to get the job done and did it with $80,000. Maybe Cheney will disagree with me but I like that kind of thinking and action. That said, that doesn't mean that by giving a capable general only a few more good men that he'll be able to make Bush's....ummm...."plan" work. When it fails it won't be Petreaus' fault. Those troops would be better utilized in Afghanistan.

Let's say the troops' mission was to displace Saddam and take over control of Iraq. Sounds reasonable. Ok, then the mission is changed to design and build a nuclear fusion reactor to handle the electricity needs of Iraq. This is not a vote of lack of confidence in the troops or their capability to do the jobs that they were trained for.

Two things, first of all, Zawahiri (sp) called off an attack in the NY subway in 2002, for what reason we don't know. Secondly, how many years was it between attacks on US soil after the first WTC bombing? 8 years? And that was without massive government over-reaction, ally alienation and enemy cultivation and US military crippling. Also, whassup with that anthrax investigation? Any new leads there? edited to add: Ok, yea we did continue to cultivate more enemies but not nearly at the rate that we did post 2001.

Much? No. I can't handle too much. The commercials and the constant ego stroke fest make it difficult to bear but I do tune in enough to find out what the talking points are and read some of their crap that shows up on the net. But thanks for referring to it as entertainment. Some people let their guard down and confuse entertainment with insight.