Have Shot Foot

Cheney/Halliburton Chronology

2007-07-02T19:45:00.000-07:00

I know I have Halliburtonwatch.org linked, but this was a very good piece of research that I wanted to show here. This is a great read. It's the window to the obvious.

Cheney/Halliburton Chronology

Published by CitizenWorks.org and HalliburtonWatch.org

"The good Lord didn't see fit to put oil and gas only where there are democratic regimes friendly to the United States" - Richard Cheney1

1992

Halliburton subsidiary Brown & Root is paid $9 million by the Pentagon (under Cheney's direction as Secretary of Defense) to produce a classified report detailing how private companies (like itself) could provide logistical support for American troops in potential war zones around the world. Shortly after this report, the Pentagon awards Brown & Root a five-year contract to provide logistics for the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers. The General Accounting Office estimates that through this contract, Brown & Root makes overall $2.2 billion in revenue in the Balkans.2

1995

Without any previous business experience, Cheney leaves the Department of Defense to become the CEO of Halliburton Co., one of the biggest oil-services companies in the world. He will be chairman of the company from 1996 to October 1998 and from February to August 2000. Under Cheney's leadership, Halliburton moves up from 73rd to 18th on the Pentagon's list of top contractors. The company garners $2.3 billion in U.S. government contracts, which almost doubles the $1.2 billion it earned from the government previously. Most of the contracts are granted by the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers.3 Halliburton's overseas operations go from 51% to 68% of its revenue. According to the Center for Public Integrity,4 under Cheney's leadership the company also receives $1.5 billion worth of assistance from government-sponsored agencies such as OPIC (Overseas Private Investment Corporation) and the Export-Import Bank, a huge increase compared to the $100 million that the company had received in federal loans and guarantees in the five years prior to Cheney's arrival. Years later, during the 2000 campaign in a broadcasted vice presidential candidates' debate with Joe Lieberman, Cheney asserts that "the government has absolutely nothing to do" with his financial success as chairman of Halliburton Co.5 Halliburton pleads guilty to criminal charges of violating a U.S. ban on exports to Libya by selling Col. Qaddafi six pulse neutron generators, devices that can be used to detonate nuclear weapons.6 Halliburton pays a $3.8 million penalty to settle alleged violations of the U.S. trade ban.7

1996

Halliburton subsidiary European Marine Contractors (EMC) helps lay the offshore portion of the Yadana natural gas pipeline in Burma. Several human rights organizations allege tremendous human rights abuses are associated with the project, as thousands of villagers in Burma are forced to work in support of the pipeline and related infrastructure. Many lose their homes due to forced relocation, and there are reports of rape, torture and killings by soldiers hired by the companies as security guards for the pipelines.8

1997

Cheney contributes to the creation of an influential right-wing policy group called the Project for the New American Century (PNAC). The group advocates for the removal of Saddam Hussein's Iraqi regime as early as January 1998, and is later revealed to be the intellectual center of the drive to war in Iraq.9

March: The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), a U.S. government agency, helps Halliburton by providing "political risk insurance" worth up to $200 million for the development of natural gas in Bangladesh.10 Halliburton subsidiary Brown & Root (now Kellogg, Brown & Root, KBR) launches a major Caspian project for the Azerbaijan International Operating Company, despite congressional sanctions against aid to Azerbaijan for human rights violations.11 Indonesia Corruption Watch names Kellogg Brown & Root (Halliburton's engineering division) as one of 59 companies using collusive, corrupt and nepotistic practices in business deals involving former president Suharto's family.12

Even with the Iran-Libya Sanctions Act in place, Halliburton continues to operate in Iran. It pays the Department of Commerce $15,000 to settle allegations that the company has broken anti-boycott provisions of the U.S. Export Administration Act for an Iran-related transaction, without admitting wrongdoing.13 Halliburton also continues to do business in Libya throughout Cheney's tenure.

The GAO (General Accounting Office), the auditing arm of Congress, reports that KBR overbilled the Army for costs associated with its work in Kosovo. It is revealed that the firm used more workers and equipment than necessary to clean offices and provide electricity and backup power supplies to bases, and charged nearly $86 per sheet for plywood that it bought for $14.06.14 As a result of the GAO's critical report, KBR's logistics contract was not renewed by the military, though the company was re-hired in 1999.

Cheney appears in an Arthur Andersen promotional video praising the firm's accounting practices, saying: "I get good advice, if you will, from their people [Arthur Andersen], based upon how we are doing business and how we are operating, over and above the normal, by-the-books auditing arrangement".15 KBR is later investigated by the SEC for accounting fraud - in a case similar to the charges leveled against Anderson's other client, Enron.

1998

Cheney oversees Halliburton's merger with Dresser Industries, one of the companies that helped Saddam Hussein rebuild Iraq's oil infrastructure after the First Gulf War, despite economic sanctions against Iraq. Dresser also had faced major liability issues concerning asbestos which prove to be onerous for the company's financial health.16 Halliburton uses two foreign subsidiaries to do $23 million worth of business with Iraq.17

1999

Halliburton's KBR division is re-hired by the military, after being fired in 1997, for a $180 million a year contract to supply U.S. forces in the Balkans with logistical support. The company is also working on major contracts to build oil infrastructure in Brazil and Nigeria for companies like Chevron, Petrobras and Shell. It has a $200 million contract with Chevron and its partners in the enclave of Cabina (Angola), where the company services over 330 wells in 30 fields, which provide eight percent of U.S. oil imports; the concession is the source of 80 percent of the Angolan government's revenue.18

2000

August: Cheney leaves his position as Halliburton's CEO to run as Bush's Vice President. Halliburton announces that it is giving Cheney a retirement package worth more than $33.7 million.19 Under public pressure, Cheney sells company stock worth $30 million. October 5: In a broadcast debate with Joe Lieberman, Cheney asserts that "the government has absolutely nothing to do" with his financial success as chairman of Halliburton Co.20

Halliburton is by now the world's largest diversified energy services, engineering, construction and maintenance company, with some $15 billion in revenues annually, 100,000 employees, and 7,000 customers in over 120 countries.21

2001

KBR wins a $300-million exclusive contract to supply logistics to the Navy, providing services like cooking, construction, power generation and fuel transportation.22 One of Cheney's largest projects as Vice President is to coordinate the development of a new National Energy Policy (NEPDG). According to the former climate policy adviser in the Environmental Protection Agency, who was present at the task force's sessions, Cheney "continually pushed plans to increase […] oil supplies while paying little heed to promoting energy efficiency and clean energy sources".23 Casting as an inevitability that by 2020, the United States will need to import two-thirds of its oil, mainly from the Arabic peninsula, the NEPDG recommends "that the President make energy security a priority of our trade and foreign policy".24 April: After having unsuccessfully requested information on recent secret meetings between the Cheney-led National Energy Policy Development Group (NEPDG) and executives of several energy industry companies, Representatives John Dingell and Henry Waxman ask the GAO (General Accounting Office) to request information about those meetings.

July: GAO Comptroller General Walker requests records from Dick Cheney providing the names of the attendees for each of the meetings.25

November: Kellogg, Brown & Root is paid $2 million to reinforce the United States embassy in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, under contract with the State Department.26

December: Kellogg, Brown & Root secures a 10-year deal with the Pentagon with no cost ceiling to provide support services to the Army.27 The contract is known as the Logistics Civil Augmentation Program (LOGCAP). This contract is a "cost-plus-award-fee, indefinite delivery/indefinite-quantity service," which means that the federal government has an open-ended mandate and budget to send Kellogg, Brown and Root anywhere in the world to run humanitarian or military operations for profit.28

2002

February: Kellogg, Brown & Root pays out $2 million to settle a lawsuit with the Justice Department, which alleged that the company defrauded the government in the mid- 1990s by overbilling expenses.29 KBR was accused of inflating contract prices for maintenance and repairs at Fort Ord, California, a now-terminated military installation. The lawsuit, filed in Sacramento, alleged KBR submitted false claims and made false statements in connection with 224 delivery orders between April 1994 and September 1998. The false statements were allegedly made during Cheney's term as CEO.

February 27: The New York Times reveals the identity of some of the top executives from the oil and gas industry that met with Cheney on Feb. 8, 2001.30 One of them is Robert J. Allison Jr., the Chairman of Anadarko Petroleum, with which Halliburton has been doing business since 1959. The Times also reports that Cheney's wife Lynne had been a director and significant stockholder of Union Pacific Resources, an energy company that had merged with Anadarko in 2000, and that she received Anadarko stock worth $250,000 to $500,000 from the merger.

March: The press identifies the names of 22 oil and gas companies whose officials met in secret with the NEPDG.31 Nineteen of these were among the top 25 energy industry financial contributors to the Republican Party. Among the nineteen were Enron, ExxonMobil, BP Amoco, Anadarko Petroleum, Shell Oil, and Chevron.32 David M. Walker, the comptroller general of the GAO, as well as Judicial Watch, launch lawsuits against Cheney because he refuses to turn over to Congress documents that reveal the identities of industry executives involved in the National Energy Strategy.33 The GAO's lawsuit will be abandoned in February 2003, after Republican threats to cut the GAO's $440 million budget.34 But Judicial Watch's legal efforts continue. (see below)

May 22: A New York Times article alleges that Halliburton artificially inflated its stock price between June 1999 and May 2002 and counted cost overruns on construction projects as additional revenue.35 Following these allegations, the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) launches an investigation into Halliburton's accounting practices.36 The company's then-accountant was Arthur Andersen.37 Despite the ongoing investigation and previous revelations about cost overruns, Halliburton continues to receive government contracts worth billions.

June: Brown and Root is awarded a $22 million deal to run support services at a military camp in Uzbekistan, a country whose leader, Islam Karimov, is a ruthless dictator accused of human rights violations and boiling his political opponents alive. This is the first LOGCAP contract in the "war on terrorism".38

June: Halliburton informs workers its pensions will be reduced in value in order to pay for mergers and acquisitions.

July 15: Newsweek publishes the article, "Halliburton CEO Says Cheney Knew About Firm's Accounting Practices" revealing that Cheney was aware that the firm was counting projected cost overrun payments as revenues.39

July 29: A New York Times article quotes Cheney about corporate fraud: "The American people can be certain that the government will fully investigate and prosecute any wrongdoers". Cheney says the reform measure will "protect investors, bring more accountability to corporations and toughen controls of the accounting industry".40

July/August: It is revealed that while Vice President Cheney was Halliburton's CEO, the number of its subsidiary companies in offshore tax havens increased from 9 (in 1995) to 44 (in 1999). One of these subsidiaries (Halliburton Products and Services Ltd.), incorporated in the Caiman Islands, is used since 2000 to get around sanctions on doing business in Iran.41 At the same time, Halliburton's federal taxes dropped dramatically from $302 million in 1998 to an $85 million rebate in 1999.42

Despite these revelations, the company continues to be awarded massive government contracts, including a new 10-year deal with the Army with no lid on potential costs. In the year 2002 alone, Brown & Root received $1.3 billion for services to the U.S. government.43 These services include a $115 million contract to design and construct an embassy compound in Afghanistan; $37.3 million to build 816 detention cells at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; and $2 million to reinforce the U.S. embassy in Uzbekistan.44 As the press and Democratic Party leaders increasingly focus on Cheney's role in alleged accounting violations at Halliburton,45 the Bush administration turns the nation's attention to Iraq.

August 26: Cheney delivers a speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Nashville, warning that "seated atop of ten percent of the world's oil reserves, Saddam Hussein could then be expected to seek domination of the entire Middle East, take control of a great portion of the world's energy supplies, […] and subject the United States to nuclear blackmail."46

October: A Washington Post article describes Cheney as the "fulcrum of foreign policy", and that his influence for a pro-war policy comes to the fore on the eve of a possible conflict with Iraq.47 Cheney's wife Lynne is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a "right-wing think tank exercising significant influence in Washington circles"48 which is one of the leading architects of the Bush administration's foreign policy and one of the leading voices pushing the Bush administration's plan for "regime change" through war in Iraq.49 The AEI has received funding from the Bechtel Foundation and ExxonMobil.50

November: Brown & Root begins a one-year contract, estimated at $42.5 million, to cover services for troops at bases in Bagram and Kandahar, Afghanistan.51

2003

January: The Wall Street Journal reports that Halliburton officials met informally with representatives of Vice President Cheney's office back in October to figure out how best to jumpstart Iraq's oil industry following a war.52 Cheney and Halliburton deny it.

March: Congressman Henry Waxman launches an inquiry into the fact that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has secretly awarded a no-bid contract to KBR to extinguish oil well fires in Iraq. The contract has a huge cost ceiling of $7 billion, with additional fees of up to seven percent ($490 million). The mission and the contract have been "awarded without any competition or even notice to Congress, [… and] were entered into on March 8, but not disclosed publicly until March 24".53 This contract is open-ended. It is also a "cost-plus" contract, i.e. the company is guaranteed to recover costs plus an additional percentage of those costs as its profit. It is later revealed that the contract not only includes fighting fires, but also operating the oil fields. The administration replies to Waxman's questions on the lack of competition: "To invite other contractors to compete to perform a highly classified requirement […] would have been a wasteful duplication of effort. […] Only Kellogg Brown & Root Services […] could commence implementing the plan on extremely short notice" and "No other contractor could satisfy mission requirements in the time available".54 However, CBS reports that other qualified companies had attempted to bid on the contracts, but were shut out of the process. Bob Grace, president of GSM Consulting, after having contacted the Pentagon to inquire about the contracts, received a letter from the Department of Defense dated December 30, 2002 saying that it was "too early to speculate what might happen in the event that war breaks out in the region".55 This was "more than a month after the Army Corps of Engineers began talking to Halliburton about putting out oil well fires in Iraq",56 and in fact one month after the Secretary of Defense had granted such a contract to Halliburton.57 Furthermore, KBR did not actually put the fires out itself, but subcontracted the job to other companies: Boots & Coots International Well Control Inc., and Wild Well Control Inc.58

Thousands of employees of Halliburton are working alongside U.S. troops in Kuwait and Turkey under a package deal worth close to a billion dollars. KBR is also supporting operations in Afghanistan, Djibouti, Georgia, Jordan and Uzbekistan. The overall anticipated cost of task orders awarded since the contract award in December 2001 (LOGCAP) is approximately $830 million.59

May 8: Halliburton admits having paid 2.4 millions of dollars in bribes to a Nigerian official in return for tax breaks.60

May 30: Twenty shareholder class-action lawsuits accusing Halliburton of using deceptive accounting practices while Dick Cheney led the company is settled for 6 million dollars. Halliburton doesn't admit to any wrongdoing.61

July 8: Following Judicial Watch's attempt to force the White House to disclose the names of nongovernmental officials who were consulted by the task force in 2001, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit affirms a lower court judge's order and thereby rejects Cheney's bid to keep all the workings of the Energy Task Force secret.62

Sept. 14, 2003: On NBC's Meet the Press, Cheney said, "And since I left Halliburton to become George Bush's vice president, I've severed all my ties with the company [Halliburton], gotten rid of all my financial interest. I have no financial interest in Halliburton of any kind and haven't had, now, for over three years." But the vice president conveniently forgot to mention that he continues to receive from the company deferred salary of over $150,000 per year while maintaining 433,333 shares of unexercised stock options.

December 2003: The Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) confirmed in a preliminary audit that Halliburton and a Kuwaiti firm, Altamnia, had overcharged the U.S. government by at least $61 million through Sept. 2003 for the cost of gasoline imported into Iraq. Halliburton's KBR unit had been charging $2.64 per gallon to transport gasoline into Iraq while its competitors were transporting gasoline for less than half that price. The DCCA formerly asked the Pentagon's inspector general to investigate the overcharges and said the fuel importation contract was given to Altanmia "under unusual circumstances."

2004

January: Halliburton reportedly wants to drill on Mars at U.S. taxpayers' expense.

January 16, 2004: House Democrat Henry Waxman (D-CA) discloses serious irregularities regarding Halliburton Co.'s contract to transport oil into Iraq.

January 17, 2004: The Army awards Halliburton subsidiary KBR a contract worth up to $1.2 billion to rebuild the oil industry in southern Iraq. The Army previously had awarded a no-bid contract to KBR in March 2003 for the purpose of rebuilding Iraq's oil infrastructure in both the north and south of the country. But, under charges of cronyism and favoritism leveled at Halliburton, the Army subsequently opened the contract for competitive bidding in the Fall of 2003. The Army split the contract into one for northern Iraq and one for southern Iraq. The northern Iraq contract, worth up to $800 million, was given to a joint venture of California-based Parsons Corp. and the Australian firm Worley Group Ltd.

January 23, 2004: In Paris, a French judge warns that Cheney could be charged over allegations that Halliburton paid $180 million in bribes to build a Nigerian gas plant.

January 24, 2004: Halliburton admits two of its employees accepted a $6 million bribe in exchange for awarding Army subcontracts to a Kuwaiti-based company involved in rebuilding Iraq. Halliburton fired the employees.

January 25, 2004: CBS Television's 60 Minutes program shows how Halliburton does business with Iran even though U.S. law bans companies from doing business with the country.

January 26, 2004: New York City's controller accuses Halliburton of taking blood money from state sponsors of terrorism, such as Iran and Libya. Controller William Thompson - who oversees an $80 billion pension fund for city workers - says cops and firefighters are outraged that their retirement portfolios include stock in U.S. firms getting fat off contracts with rogue nations like Iran, which funds the terror groups Hezbollah and Hamas and is suspected of giving sanctuary to Al Qaeda leaders.

January 30, 2004: New York Times columnist, Bob Herbert, details how Halliburton evades U.S. taxes and export bans by establishing foreign subsidiaries. Halliburton’s Wendy Hall admits the company paid only $15 million in taxes in 2002 even though the company earned $339 million in profits from continuing operations and $12.5 billion in total revenue.

January 2004: Halliburton discloses that a subsidiary paid a $2.4 million bribe to a Nigerian government official's business in exchange for favorable tax treatment.

January 2004: Halliburton admits in an internal memo that its cost controls for government contracts are "antiquated" and "weak" and its procurement "disorganized" and marked by "weak internal controls." The memo, which was leaked to the Wall Street Journal, contradicts the company's public statements which claim it has a "rigorous system of internal controls" for contracts in Iraq.

January 2004: Halliburton begins an advertising campaign to improve its tarnished image with the public. A television spot running on CNN says Halliburton supplies hot meals, laundry and telephone links for soldiers in Iraq. The ad shows a man in desert camouflage holding a phone, his lip trembling, and shouting, "It's a girl!" "Halliburton: Proud to serve our troops," an announcer says.

February: The Pentagon reports that Halliburton Company would repay the government for overcharges estimated at $27.4 million for meals served to American troops at five military bases in Iraq and Kuwait last year. In one military camp in July 2003, KBR billed the government for an average 42,000 meals a day but served only 14,000 meals. Pentagon auditors found the overcharges during a routine audit of Halliburton.

March: As of March 1, 2004, KBR is awarded reconstruction work in Iraq and Afghanistan worth at least $3.9 billion.

Many thanks to Agnes Christeler of CitizenWorks.org for compiling most of the chronology here.

Remember The Electric Car

2007-06-29T21:17:00.000-07:00

Back in 2000 I was lucky enough to drive General Motors EV1. What a fantastic car it was. As of now there is not one left on the road. This is tragic in every way. Why did GM not want this car anymore? Why were all the manufacturers destroying their electric cars? Oil and greed are a few. Also if you look at all the parts that electric cars didn't have you might find another reason why. One can also look at the big push for SUV's as a reason too. The fact that the government sued California over the electric car, and that it was spearheaded by White House Chief of Staff Andy Card a former lobbyist for the auto industry says a lot too. What is ironic is that during the Clinton administration there was a push for hybrid cars, this was later killed by Bush, but what happened was the Japanese car makers were worried and built their own. Now with gas prices at all time highs the Japanese automakers are making millions, while American automakers are loosing billions. Justice? I would like to hope so.

EV1 Article

Amnesty Crushed!

2007-06-28T15:06:00.000-07:00

Amnesty for illegal immigrants has been crushed! We finally got heard. Even with this victory we still had too many that wanted it. Yet Senator Reid still didn't hear his people speak to him. I do fear however that we will see this again when the 2008 Presidential elections are over. What comes as no surprise is the money Bush has set aside for border security is no longer available, seems that money was used to bribe senators to pass this bill. But the real interesting thing here is the President of Mexico is calling this a great mistake! Goes to show you how stupid this thing really was. I'm happy that Mexico won't be able to exploit their people further by the money these illegals would have sent home to them. We must keep up this fight.

Article

My Letter to the BLM

2007-06-28T00:03:00.001-07:00

Dear Mrs. Metcalf,

My name is Steve Cobb and I am a resident of Las Vegas, Nevada, and have been for about 20 years. Last May I visited a good friend of mine who lives within miles of the new proposed "White Pine County Energy Center" and what I don't understand is why it needs to be there. Sure I read the proposal and all the other garbage that went with it, I even heard a speech made by the folks from Sierra Pacific telling the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce how good of an idea it was. I don't know if you have been up there, and I can only hope that you have, but this place is too beautiful to be forever destroyed so a couple of rich tycoons can make more money. We live in a great age of technology and with the resources and will of the people of this country we have always set our goals high when we wanted to achieve greatness. So why not place solar, wind, or geothermal energy alternatives to work in the great state of Nevada instead of polluting the state with "clean coal power"? Coal is not clean, period! Hold it in your hand and tell me how clean it is. I think the BLM needs to rethink its policies after all you must answer to the American people and not the corporate interest. I'm sure if I had a G-4 and could fly you around to your favorite vacation spots and wine and dine you, then maybe I might be able to be taken more seriously. Why don't you think about the people that live there and have to breathe the air that plant will pollute. The BLM has let the state down so many times in its past. For one, having grown up in Las Vegas I have seen how you have sold off the land to real estate moguls all in the name of growth. What did we get out of that? Over population, increased pollution, traffic, energy increases, and a out of control housing market. I guess that was all done in the name of growth right? Maybe you should look at Boulder Colorado's model, I think they have a lot to teach you. I hope that when you read this that you may look into yourself and ask could we do something better for the state of Nevada? Can we back out of this deal and look for better alternatives? In twenty years I would like to be able to visit White Pine County and not see it changed by corporate greed.

A Concerned Nevadan,

Steven E. Cobb
Have Shot Foot

Raise Time

2007-06-27T21:22:00.000-07:00

The Congress has decided that all the special gifts and retreats that corporations and special interest give them isn't enough. So now they want us to contribute again by giving them another $4,400 raise! Wow that will give them a salary of about $170,000 a year. I don't know about you, but I think we should be able vote on this. After all we are their employer. I wish I could give myself a raise, hell that would be great. I might be able to save money then to pay for the rising prices of energy. This country is once again being raped by these thieves.

Here is the article.

Dear Senator

2007-06-27T18:47:00.000-07:00

Dear Senator Reid,

I am very disappointed in your push of the new immigration bill. I have been a strong democrat for twelve years, having worked with President Clinton, Vice-president Al Gore, and Senator John Kerry. This bill will do nothing but destroy even further the working class people of this country. I believe now that the democrats can no longer be trusted anymore than the republicans with the future of this country. Big corporations and special interested have now taken control, and I feel that my vote does very little; something I learned working against President Bush in the last two elections. When you became the leader of the Senate I expected drastic change. For one I hoped the Iraq debacle would be dealt with, and you failed. I expected that companies like Halliburton who have stolen millions of dollars from the American people to be charged with crimes, yet they haven't. The American people have been telling you that they do not approve of many things that the Bush administration have been doing over the last six plus years, and yet you go along with his plans to push this immigration bill down our throats. When will the voice of the American people be heard? I’m sorry I don’t have money to buy your loyalty, maybe if I did I could control you like the puppet you have become. I no longer feel the need to support you or the Democratic Party. What you and the congress have done is taken advantage of the American people and for that you should be ashamed.

Steven E. Cobb
Have Shot Foot

Immigration Nightmare

2007-06-26T15:11:00.000-07:00

Well today marks yet another dark day in the history of this country. The US Senate has decided to proceed with the Immigration Bill for Amnesty. Everyone who voted yea should be ashamed of themselves. What they have done is sold us out! The American people have been telling them that this is a very bad idea and yet they insist on moving on with it making it a law. Did we not learn from 1986 when that bill was introduced? It's the same story again, and now we are just being ignored by our representatives in government. I am so tired of special interest being over the will of the people. People wake up! We are being used, and our country is being run by corporations and special interest.

Top 5 Dumbest Things in the Immigration Bill

5) Taxpayers will pay for the immigration lawyers for illegal aliens if working in agriculture.

4) Illegal aliens would be given legal status just one day after their application is filed even if a background check is not completed.

3) Gang members are eligible for amnesty if they renounce their gang status.

2) Borders do not have to be secure before the amnesty program begins.

1) $2,600,000,000,000 -- That is the cost the Heritage Foundation estimates to cover the retirement benefits of 12,000,000 illegal aliens if this amnesty bill becomes law

Lou Dobbs

Here is the list of those who voted.

Some interesting statistics.
Look at the results from this poll done on Lou Dobbs

Do you believe the Senate leadership and the President are selling out the interests of American citizens?
Yes

98%
12912 votes

No
2%
312 votes
Total: 13224 votes

Cheney Flip-Flop

2007-06-23T11:47:00.000-07:00

Here is an interesting post I got off the Halliburton Watch website.

Dick Cheney and this administration is the closest thing this country has to the old 3rd Reich. Cheney and Karl Rove learned a lot from those guys and they thought they would pass it on to us. Aren't we lucky? This article has great references to each of Cheney's misrepresentations of the truth. Why can't he be held accountable for his actions? Is he that powerful or are the Democrats slaves to the same master? We need change and I don't see whole lot of it around right now. Americans need to educate themselves and stop pretending they can't do anything. Call congress and demand they listen. When we look back at the Nazis all we see is the death and destruction, but what we rarely look at it why and how to prevent it. We should be able to clearly see the things this administration is doing and call them on it. See if this sounds familiar.

Joseph Goebbels Quotes

“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”

“The most brilliant propagandist technique will yield no success unless one fundamental principle is borne in mind constantly - it must confine itself to a few points and repeat them over and over”

ALL FOR ONE ALL FOR OIL

2007-06-23T00:58:00.000-07:00

EXXON has got to be stopped!

When I read this I just got angry, and reminded myself why I started this blog. CEO Rex Tillerson is a prick! I also want to point out the author of this piece, he seems not to be the left wing liberal media we always hear about. I always love how these oil companies tell us that global warming is debatable as if it wasn't true. How are they going to explain the melting of the ice around the world? I guess when the sea levels rise and their ports are gone then maybe they will listen, but by then it will be to late. We should be moving forward now, putting an end to the fuels which pollute this planet. We can improve our world we just need the motivation. There are things we can do to put this guy out of business.

1. Buy more fuel efficient vehicles
2. Change the light bulbs in your home to compact florescent or LED lights.
3. Go Solar, put your house on the system, making the energy companies pay you.
4. Pressure the government.
5. Recycle
6. Ride a bike, walk some people live close enough to the places they go.
7. Educate yourself know who you are up against.

Katrina

2007-06-22T23:20:00.000-07:00

Halliburton again!

This is a subject that has troubled me and many like me for some time. I went down to New Orleans in April of 2006 months after the hurricane and floods that hit the gulf region. It's destruction can never be explained in words, it was something one had to see. I went down there with a group to help gut homes so that people could start the task of rebuilding. When I went down there I thought that it might have been more organized than it was, or maybe more would have been done. Our government had left these people along with the cameras and reporters who had so passionately pleaded for the people of New Orleans. As we were taken on a tour of the famous 9th Ward we were told that they are still recovering bodies! What? This happened seven months ago! This is the United States we don't have stuff like this happen do we ? What is amazing is the detail of DNA forensics that went into identifying people from the World Trade Center.These are our fellow countrymen and we have left them behind. I know this will go down in history as the greatest failure of the United States government to its people. Why nothing has been done as far as justice is mind numbing. The people of New Orleans are a tuff lot. I don't think I could have survived such a thing.

Dick Cheney's Halliburton was the only success story from Katrina. To this day they still benefit financially from it. The article above represents the ongoing rape of this country by corporate elitist. Can't we stop this? Are we as a people unable to control our own government. Can the middle class republicans not see through this greed and stop voting for their elite party members?

President Bush has failed the people the people of the gulf coast, and especially those in New Orleans. What happened to all that talk about being prepared against an attack from terrorist? If the government couldn't handle this situation then how could we expect them to save us from the likes of a dirty bomb or other disaster? Shame on this government for doing nothing! I am just happy there are people in this country that mobilized quickly and went down and help all those people.

Government at it again!

2007-06-22T20:10:00.000-07:00

The Article

My friend Rick and the people of White Pine County have had their hands full with the crooks from coal power for so long. It's things like this that make it an uphill battle. When our leaders are bought by special interest, how can someone like you or me compete? I certainly don't own a Gulfstream to fly some legislator to his or her favorite golf spot. All I have is one vote which depending on election cycles I might have to wait up to six years before I can have my say. What they count on is your attention span, the five minute rule that is. They figure you won't remember the immoral things they did while in office or what got them in office. However they don't know what to do with us bloggers, we remind people and keep the debate going. So let's remember these sell-outs to democracy! It's time we take back our government from big business.

Welcome!

2007-06-22T18:35:00.000-07:00

Recently I was inspired to start my own blog by a friend who has been working to stop the environmental destruction of land near Ely, Nevada by Sierra Pacific and the Nevada Water Authority. Last May I went up there for a visit and had a look for myself, and it just angered me that powers that be want to destroy such beautiful places, and those who live there along with it.

I think it is time for us to speak out, make our voices heard! We should not allow the corruption that has deeply rooted itself in our government to gain any further. It’s time to make a stand, and do this with our voices and our votes.

This blog is my piece of the “American Dream” the one that many people have come to respect but many have come to destroy, the freedom of speech. I don’t expect everyone to agree with me but I hope that you listen, and maybe it will inspire you to speak out and contribute, to put and end to corruption in our government.