Gravitymaster

Oh, please give me a break!!! I only posted true statements that "highlighted" the other side of what going on in Iraq. I only did it in response to yours, Quades and others oversimplifications, one-sidedness and constant whining about how "horrible" thing are in Iraq. So after the constant battering of the war by the aboved mentioned you want to bash me about listing "TRUE" accomplishments that present a positive view? Puhleeeez.

Have you considered that SH let 100,000 felons out of jail and they now find themselves in a position of having families to support? Now everyone in their town knows they are untrustworthy and they can't find work. Along comes Mr. Bin Laden and Mr. Saddam offering a bounty on American Soldiers? No surprise what they choose is it? How long do you think it would take to round up 100,000 criminals who were released in L.A. and were paid to kill cops by gang leaders? Would you be this critical of the Police because they hadn't been able to find all of them in 7 months?

The contract Cheney has with Haliburton has been explained so many times on this forum and others that it really makes me wonder why you would make such a statement.

This only pertains to Primary Contractors. There is nothing to prevent sub-contraction to Non-Coalition Countries. Hence a British Company could sub all labor and materials to a French or German Company. Why would that cause the world to hate us?

"Things are going splendid in Iraq? No US soldiers being killed or injured? Security being provided and you can pull your troops out by Christmas? Civil administration is working well and being run by the Iraqis?" Result of Bush's No Plan No Direction This is for those who are discouraged at the constant bombardment of negative news about Iraq from the liberal, anti-Bush media, and also for those who just want to be critical for other reasons. SINCE PRESIDENT BUSH DECLARED AN END TO MAJOR COMBAT ON MAY 1: ... the first battalion of the new Iraqi Army has graduated and is on active duty. ... over 60,000 Iraqis now provide security to their fellow citizens. ... nearly all of Iraq's 400 courts are functioning. ... the Iraqi judiciary is fully independent. ... on Monday, October 6 power generation hit 4,518 megawatts-exceeding the pre-war average. ... all 22 universities and 43 technical institutes and colleges are open, as are nearly all primary and secondary schools. ... by October 1, Coalition forces had rehabbed over 1,500 schools - 500 more than their target. ... teachers earn from 12 to 25 times their former salaries. ... all 240 hospitals and more than 1200 clinics are open. ... doctor's salaries are at least eight times what they were under Saddam. ... pharmaceutical distribution has gone from essentially nothing to 700 tons in May to a current total of 12,000 tons. ... the Coalition has helped administer over 22 million vaccination doses to Iraq's children. ... a Coalition program has cleared over 14,000 kilometers of Iraq's 27,000 kilometers of weed-choked canals. They now irrigate tens of thousands of farms. This project has created jobs for more than 100,000 Iraqi men and women. ... we have restored over three-quarters of pre-war telephone services and over two-thirds of the potable water production. ... there are 4,900 full-service connections. We expect 50,000 by January first. ... the wheels of commerce are turning. From bicycles to satellite dishes to cars and trucks, businesses are coming to life in all major cities and towns. ...95 percent of all pre-war bank customers have service and first-time customers are opening accounts daily. ... Iraqi banks are making loans to finance businesses. ... the central bank is fully independent. ... Iraq has one of the world's most growth-oriented investment and banking laws. .. Iraq (has) a single, unified currency for the first time in 15 years. ... satellite dishes are legal. ... foreign journalists aren't on 10-day visas paying mandatory and extortionate fees to the Ministry of Information for minder's and other government spies. .. there is no Ministry of Information. ... there are more than 170 newspapers. ... you can buy satellite dishes on what seems like every street corner. ... foreign journalists and everyone else are free to come and go. ... a nation that had not one single element-legislative, judicial or executive-- of a representative government, does. ... in Baghdad alone residents have selected 88 advisory councils. Baghdad's first democratic transfer of power in 35 years happened when the city council elected its new chairman. ... today in Iraq chambers of commerce, business, school and professional organizations are electing their leaders all over the country. ... 25 ministers, selected by the most representative governing body in Iraq's history, run the day-to-day business of government. ... the Iraqi government regularly participates in international events. Since July the Iraqi government has been represented in over two dozen international meetings, including those of the UN General Assembly, the Arab League, the World Bank and IMF and, today, the Islamic Conference Summit. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs today announced that it is reopening over 30 Iraqi embassies around the world. ... Shia religious festivals that were all but banned, aren't. ... for the first time in 35 years, in Karbala thousands of Shiites celebrate the pilgrimage of the 12th Imam. ... the Coalition has completed over 13,000 reconstruction projects, large and small, as part of (a) strategic plan for the reconstruction of Iraq. ... Uday and Queasy are dead - and no longer feeding innocent Iraqis to his zoo lions, raping the young daughters of local leaders to force cooperation, torturing Iraq's soccer players for losing games... murdering critics. ... children aren't imprisoned or murdered when their parents disagree with the government. ... political opponents aren't imprisoned, tortured, executed, maimed, or are forced to watch their families die for disagreeing with Saddam. ... millions of longsuffering Iraqis no longer live in perpetual terror. ... Saudis will hold municipal elections. ... Qatar is reforming education to give more choices to parents. ... Jordan is accelerating market economic reforms. ... the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded for the first time to an Iranian -- a Muslim woman who speaks out with courage for human rights, for democracy and for peace. ... he has not faltered or failed. ... Saddam is gone. Since... Iraq is free. Not bad for an administration with no plan, no direction, was going to be slaughtered going into Baghdad and was only in it for the oil.

The B.S. about diabetes being the cause of the collision really pissed me off. I would have had more sympathy and respect for him if he had just admitted he was speeding and that he ran the stop sign because he was in a hurry to get somewhere. This hits home especially hard with those of us who ride motorcycles. We are constantly being cut-off and not seen by cagers. I hope they give him some jail time and revoke his license to drive for a very long time.

QuoteBoth states are oppressive, but I think Northern Virginia has more charm.*** The Peoples Republic of Maryland I understand, but why do you say Virginia is oppressive?

Here's an article you might find interesting. Perhaps it will help you understand how hampered GWB was in trying to get good Intelligence. http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2001/9/17/162056.shtml

At the very most, he is saying he had intelligence Iraq had at least supported Al Qeada. I think there is more evidence emerging which supports some type of a connection. Even if you choose not to believe a connection exists, you have to at least allow that our intelligence community was severly hampered in their ability to infiltrate terrorist groups. (Robert Torrecelli) It is possible GWB was acting on faulty information. That doesn't make him a liar in my book. I'm sure it would be easy to look back on anyones posts on these forums, as an example, and find discreprencies on statements they made and what the truth later turned out to be. I even seem to remember quite a few comments about how tax cuts were going to devastate our economy and cause unemployment to rise. Obviously that hasn't turned out to be true. I don't call those people liars....just wrong. I also gain more respect for people who admit when they're wrong as GWB did in this case. To outright call GWB a "LIAR" based on this document is just plain wrong Quade. I think you know it too.

Well, neither you nor I nor Quade were there, so it's all hearsay, but there have been many reports that GWB was told ahead of time that the statement about the attempted Iraqi purchase of uranium had no evcidence to back it up, but he went ahead and used it in the State of the Union address anyway. The difference is neither you nor I are alleging GWB broke the law by "lying to Congress" and Quade appears to be as evidenced by the point in the thread he made his "challenge". It becomes evident if you go back and read the thread up to the point the statement was made. I think this is a pretty serious allegation.

Yawn............ I have no intention of wading thru numerous web page links just to read about how a President or anyone else for that matter made a statement that they believed was true at the tiime they made it. The little I did read before I became bored had GWB stating the economy would improve and the number of people unemployed would decrease. Seems thats happening. You still haven't backed up your statement that "GWB lied to Congress". You framed this statement in the same context and alluded to an equal severity as lying under oath in a Court of Law. Had you said "all Politicians lie", you'd get no arguement from me but you are taking it to a more serious level by insinuating GWB broke a law.

When did they repeal the 5th Amendment? Why does the right against self incrimination enter into it? Clintons' affair with Lewinsky wasn't a criminal matter? I thought you still had the right to remain silent in this country.*** ?????????????????????? Ok, that's not what he did for whatever reasons and he's paid for it. So, now let's talk about GWB lying to Congress, shall we? O.K.you go first. What did he "LIE" about?

You're asking me to prove that weapons of mass destruction were not in Iraq? That's a bit like asking me to prove there were never any UFOs at Roswell. An impossible proposition of trying to prove a negative. I would say, much like I do when talking to UFO folks, that extraoridinary claims require extrordinary proof and that the burden of proof lays on those making the claim. In this case, the US Government. *** No, he's asking you to back up your statement that GWB "LIED" to Congress since you expressed a desire to discuss it. I don't understand how Space Aliens entered into the discussion unless thats where you got the information to make your statement.

And exactly what was the outcome of that case? By all accounts, Ms. Lewinski was not sexually harrassed and her actions had no bearing whatsoever on the validity of the case you mention. *** The point isn't whether the case went anywhere or not. The point is when the court orders you to respond to a question, it isn't up to you to decide whether the order is germaine. Suppose a defendant in a murder case was compelled to explain his/her whereabouts at the time of the murder and they lied, resulting in the case going nowhere, does that justify their actions? Like it or not Quade, thats how our judicial system works and it isn't up to any defendant to decide which questions to be truthful about and which ones to lie about. Sorry if you are unable to understand this and what would happen if all defendants were able to lie at will.

*** Errr.......... Methinks you forget that Clinton was testifying in a civil case brought against him for Sexual Harassment. You may also have forgotten the Judge in the case found him guilty of lying under oath and he was disbarred by the State of Arkansas. Hardly a simple case of bedroom privacy. When you put your hand on the Bible and swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, you gotta do it. Not split hairs with the meaning of the word "is".

I felt that way too, until the patriot act. How has the patriot act affected your life? Thats a question you are unlikely to get an answer to even though it's been asked many times on these forums. I think it comes from spending too much time on ACLU or other left-wing agenda driven sites that present only one side in an attempt to frighten people. I suggest those who are afraid of the Patriot Act educate themselves and quit worrying about "what if" senarios. http://www.lifeandliberty.gov/index.html

My WinBook X4 laptop with Windows XP Pro. Haven't decided which I hate more, the software or the hardware.

***Yes I do. And just for the record, I don't support the Democrats either. Hard to know which is better - a bunch of losers or an evil cabal. Will have to take your word on that statement. However I can't seem to find where you've criticized the Dems very often. I can, however find volumes of criticisms of Reps.

Tell us more about the reality of the WMDs that would be found within a few hours of taking Iraq. Tell us about the reality of the claims in Bush's State of the Union speech. If that's the sort of reality the right deals in, I'm not impressed. *** We could ask all the members of Congress who voted to go to war. OOPPPS.......Some of them were Democrats weren't they? I like REALITY, don't you?

Thanks

Turn sound down if at work. www.microsaft.com/hitme.htm[url] www.microsaft.com/grew.htm

*** Particularly since he's been so critical of the Bush Admin. secrecy regarding the war. Yep, add hypocrit to Deans "pedigree".

http://www.msnbc.com/news/999347.asp?cp1=1 Howard Dean has blasted President Bush for excessive secrecy, but his records as governor remain locked up Politics: What’s in Howard Dean’s Secret Vermont Files? By Michael Isikoff NEWSWEEK Dec. 8 issue — As investigative reporters and “oppo” researchers flock to Vermont to dig into Howard Dean’s past, they have run into a roadblock. A large chunk of Dean’s records as governor are locked in a remote state warehouse—the result of an aggressive legal strategy designed in part to protect Dean from political attacks. DEAN—WHO HAS BLASTED the Bush administration for excessive secrecy—candidly acknowledged that politics was a major reason for locking up his own files when he left office last January. He told Vermont Public Radio he was putting a 10-year seal on many of his official papers—four years longer than previous Vermont governors—because of “future political considerations... We didn’t want anything embarrassing appearing in the papers at a critical time.” “Most of the records are open,” said Dean spokeswoman Tricia Enright, adding there is “absolutely not” a “smoking gun” in those for which Dean has claimed “executive privilege.” Still, Dean’s efforts to keep official papers secret appear unusually extensive. Late last year, NEWSWEEK has learned, Dean’s chief counsel sent a directive to all state agencies ordering them to cull their files and remove all correspondence that bore Dean’s name—and ship them to the governor’s office to be reviewed for “privilege” claims. This removed a “significant number of records” from state files, said Michael McShane, an assistant Vermont attorney general. The battle over Dean’s records began last year when three Vermont newspapers took him to court after being denied access to his official schedule. Reporters were trying to track Dean’s out-of-state political trips. State lawyers argued that release of the schedule could jeopardize his safety and that the governor’s office was not a public “agency” covered by state open-records law—two notions rejected by the Vermont Supreme Court. (The court ultimately ruled that those portions of the schedule related to his political trips had to be released, but those relating to state policy could be redacted.) Then last January, Dean’s chief counsel David Rocchio negotiated a sweeping agreement that resulted in about 140 boxes of Dean records containing several hundred thousand pages of documents being locked up for 10 years at a state archive in Middlesex, said Greg Sanford, the state archivist. The sealed papers include Dean’s correspondence with advisers on, among other matters, Vermont’s “civil unions” law and a state agency that critics charged was used to grant tax credits to Dean’s favored firms. Rocchio said the sealing agreement was driven by “legitimate” policy concerns, but also by, he later acknowledged, political factors. “All you have to do is look at what [Dean’s opponents] are doing with the existing records,” he said. “They’re distorting his record.”

I'm not going to state my position on the president at current, but I do intend to vote John "Why Do You Hate America?" Ashcroft out of office. *** Doesn't this statement belie your intendend vote? What in John Ashcrofts history makes you believe he "hates America"?

How much did her trip cost taxpayers? How much did Bush's trip cost taxpayers? Why does the amount matter? If they are going to whine, isn't the mere fact Hillary and GWB spent taxpayer dollars for a photo-op enough reason to whine? I demand the whiners whine equally.