Politics, Everyday, All day... morning, noon and night....

[DVD Burner]

I would like to Praise Joel for this thread.




Thank you Joel for I have had too much to drink......But I love you dude.





Pee on me.....






LMFAO!



Great contribution to eplaya and BM. . I'm serious.

[Apollonaris Zeus]

So maybe not a federal indicment, but a civil suit!

Valerie Plume files Suit.

Hmmm, that can almost as bad and perhaps worst.

A Prolong Trial extending well past the next elections can be very bad for every republican seeking election.

One only needs to show intent here, not just probable cause.

May be very bad!!

But on to more important things>

Here is the question Joel or Ornery or Simple, answer this question and I would really think more highly of you; perhaps both of you and anyone else that has continually slammed me.

What are the social, economic, political and military consequences of the protracted Pelopennsian War on both the pan-hellenic states and the geopolitical climate of the ancient world?

What world power transpired to exploit this paradiem shift?

What can we learn from this event and what implication does it relate to our current situation in the middle east?

Maybe if you or someone else can answer this I'll propose that you receive a degree for this thesis.

AIIZ

[joel the ornery]

AIIZ, may i suggest looking into another hobby?

[helitack]

1. If you are trying to make a point, spelling is paramount. Paradigm.

2. The Greek, Hellenistic world is gone, it wasn't successful. Didn't work because people didn't want it to. Or it would have. Neither did the Roman world, or the Egyptian world...ad infinitum

3. In this modern world, it's all about the money. You have the money, you have the power, you make the rules. Or you have the oil, then you have the money, thus the power.

4. I don't know, I have had too much whiskey, I am through thinking for right now.

[Apollonaris Zeus]

You guys are not fun. I didn't even think that you had the intuitive capacity to answer it.

Helitack you're post isn't even wortly of a reply.

Stick to your booze!

Here is a worthy description of people with simple minds:



WASHINGTON, July 6th - President Bush appears to be losing support among a key group of voters who had hitherto stood firmly with the president even as his poll numbers among other groups fell dramatically.
A new Gallup poll shows that, for the first time, Bush's approval rating has fallen below 50% among total fucking morons, and now stands 44%. This represents a dramatic drop compared to a poll taken just last December, when 62" of total fucking morons expressed support for the president and his policies.
The current poll, conducted by phone with 1,409 total fucking morons between may 4 and may 8th, reveals that only 44% of those polled believe the pres is doing a good job, while 27% believe he is doing a poor job and 29% don't understand the question.
The December poll, conducted by phone with 1,530 total fucking morons, showed 62% approved of the president, 7% disapproved and 31% didn't understand the question.
Faltering approval ratings for the president among a group once thought to be a reliable source of loyal support gives Republicans one more reason to he nervous about the upcoming mid-term elections. "If we can't depend on the support of total fucking morons, "says Sen. Rick Santonin (R-PA), "then we have got a big problem. They're a key factor in our electoral strategy, and an important part of today's Republican coalition."
"We've taken the total fucking moron vote for granted," says Rep Tom Feeney, " and now we're paying for it. We've let the Democrats control the debate lately, and they've dragged discourse back into the realm of complex, nuance issues. So your average total rucking moron turns on his TV and sees his Republican Congressman arguing about constitutional law or the complexities of state formation in the Middle East, and he tunes out. He wants to hear comforting, pandering, flattering bromides and he doesn't want to hear a logical argument more complex then what you'd find on a bumper sticker."
For Feenet, the poll is dire warning that Republicans can ignore only at their peril. This should send a signal that we have to regain control of the debate if we want the support of our key constituencies in the coming election and beyond we need to bring public discourse back into the realm of stupidity and vacuity. We should be talking about homosexual illegal immigrants burning flags. We should be talking about the powers of pride. We should talking about freedom fries. These are the issues that resonate with total fucking morons."
But some total fucking morons say it's too late. Bill Snarpel of Enid, Oklahoma is a total fucking moron who voted for Bush in both in 2000 and 2004. But he says he won't be voting for Bush in 2008. "I don't want my children riding camels and wearing towels on our heads. I don't want my children singing the Star Spangled banner in Muslim."
Total fucking moron Kurt Meyer of Turlock, CA. also says his once solid support for Bush has collapsed. "He invaded Iraq and all those soldiers died, and for what? We
destroyed all their WMDs, but now their new president is making fun of us and saying he's going to build nuclear bombs and that we can't stop him. Well, nuclear bombs and even worse then WMDs, so what did we accomplish?
Laura McDonald, a total fucking moron from Chandler, Arizona, say she is disappointed that the president hasn't been a more forceful advocate of Christian values. "This was founded on Christian values, "she say, "but you'd never know it looking around and all the Mexicans running around. I thought Bush was going to bring Jesus back into the government. Instead, Christians are being persecuted even worse then ever before in history, because all these Mexicans come and tell Christians that we have to respect their religions beliefs. So now it's illegal for children to pray in school. Son it well be illegal for them to speak English."
Not all total fucking morons have turned their backs on the president. Jeb Larkin of Topeka, Kansas says he still fully supports Bush. "He is doing a great job. He is a great president. He is a great decider. I have a puppy. His tail sticks straight up and you can see his butthole."
And not all Republican lawmakers are concerned about the poll. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), for one, does not find is a cause for anxiety. While he agrees that his party should not take total fucking morons for granted, "they never be able to understand someone like Al Gore or John Deny or anybody intelligent and articulate who wants to talk about substantive issues. Just try having a conversation with one of them about global warning. They' say, "Oh, but Rush says volcanoes consume more ozone then humans do. I mean, they're morons! Total fucking morons!"
"They've got nowhere else to go, Alexander reaffirms with a smile, "and they always vote."





AIIZ

[DVD Burner]

Actually I agree with helitack.

3. In this modern world, it's all about the money. You have the money, you have the power, you make the rules. Or you have the oil, then you have the money, thus the power.

[geekster]

whiners

[Apollonaris Zeus]

If any of you had researched my question you would have come to one conclusion: Wealth was one very important factor in the collapse of Athenians and Roman.

We could be next!


AIIZ


PS- that was only one factor there are more if you are willing to learn.

PSS- an unscripted bush spoke volumns of his true identity today! Just another foul mouthed S_ _T head and he's the F_ _king pres.

[Kinetic IV]

The expletive heard around the world.
Actually it scored points in my book because he was simply telling it like it is. Hezbullah needs to knock the shit off.....before Israel puts those new tankers into the air and Tehran gets a visit from some long range F-15's who won't be out there for a joyride. After all Hezbullah is nothing but a sock puppet army for the Iranian leadership anyway.

[DVD Burner]

Hate to dissapoint you but Hezbullah and Hamass were being nice for almost a year.

Bet Israel was'nt expecting thoses rockets to come into Haifa huh?

Hamass and Hezbullah didn't do very much for about a year while Israel bombed Palistine and jailed women and children for a year.

Israel will get just what they ask for if they keep it up.

I can assure you that if Bush thinks Israel is doing the right thing it most likely is the most wrong thing to do.

after all, so far all Israel has been doing is bombing cilvillians and not Hezbullah.


How often am I wrong?

P.S. and I aint talkin spelling wrong either.

[DVD Burner]

eplaya's workin funky today.

[cowboyangel]

the entire fucking region needs to placed in suspended annimation.

[Kinetic IV]

Personally, I'd like to see the Israelis take it to Hezbullah first, knocking them on their ass. If the news reports are any indication they're taking a pounding now. Then I'd like to see the Israelis drop a whole bunch of those bunker busters they bought from us on Natanz...with maybe a few of them dropped on the meeting place of the Assembly of Experts so that new leadership can be brought in that might not be under the thumb of Khamane'i and would have the balls to toss that bastard into prison where he belongs. And if a few F-15's swept into Northwestern Syria to drop a bunker buster or three on a certain presidential palace (with Assad present of course) that would certainly be a welcome change from the current situation.

[DVD Burner]

K. you are watching too much Americam tv which is mostly owned by........




Tell you the honest truth, I am gladd Isreal is going into Lebanon on foot now.It's their ultimate mistake.
Lets see how long Isreal becomes non-exsistant.


Fatal mistake. You see isreal is not fighting just Hezbullah and Hamass. Isreal is totally outnumbered no matter what kind of equiptment they have.
They have already proven that they are not that smart.

[Kinetic IV]

K. you are watching too much Americam tv which is mostly owned by........

Tell you the honest truth, I am gladd Isreal is going into Lebanon on foot now.It's their ultimate mistake.
Lets see how long Isreal becomes non-exsistant.

Fatal mistake. You see isreal is not fighting just Hezbullah and Hamass. Isreal is totally outnumbered no matter what kind of equiptment they have.
They have already proven that they are not that smart.

I watch TV...my LCD TV is actually my PC monitor so I watch a bunch of TV. (grin) Seriously except for my WWE and Luche Libra stuff and NHRA drag racing on ESPN2 the TV is rarely on. I get my info from lots of other sources, a very wide range / mix of sources I might add.

Also the predictions of Israel's demise have been going on since the day the country was founded. It's not going anywhere. As for their intelligence...any country that is surrounded by enemies on all sides except for the Mediterranean Sea and has survived and flourished this long is certainly not run by a pack of fools. Never, EVER underestimate Israel or you run the risk of being called a fool yourself.

Meanwhile the media is reporting that the US has given Israel one more week to give Hezbullah the thorough ass kicking it so rightfully deserves. May the bombs fall on target, the guns hit their mark, and hopefully a few of those legendary bunker busters will find their way towards the leadership compound in South Beirut. And if the Iranian president gets on the airwaves throwing a major hissyfit that's just a bonus. He can't do shit and he knows it.

[cowboyangel]

watch Spielberg's Munich. This same tired old shit from both sides has been going on for decades. It will never stop until violence is replaced with something better and saner.

[Kinetic IV]

Munich? I'll keep that in mind, that is once I get my DVD player hooked up. I really watch a lot of movies (NOT!)...sheesh, here's my DVD player:




It's been sitting in the box now for almost a month, I haven't got around to setting it up. When I finally get it hooked up I'll have a reason to use that class action Netflix settlement offer I've been sitting on for even longer than the box has been here.

[DVD Burner]

What? You got one of those tv tuners in your computer?





Uuummmmm.... I confess that I do. But I use my voodoo 3dfx for editing. I do music videos and broadcasting and the such.

Speaking of Israel and 1947-8......well lets move foward a bit to recent times as of a few months.....even a year or so ago. Israel has been bombing Hamass for how long and what has been the end result?



I dont think things have gotten all that better. But hey K. if there is one thing I have learned....no.....confirmed in life from Kenny boy is you can fuck people over as much as you want till the end. So you may be right though I doubt it. but only doubt.


Tell you what, I'll take bets. I'll bet on anyone other than Israel and the U.S. of A.

any takers?

[DVD Burner]

Just an added note.......



Israel is bombing fellow burners and their burner babies and families. No kidding.

You guys would love German and his Burner girl and burner concived child.



It's why I am so upset over this whole thing.

[DVD Burner]

Will Big Dig tragedy stain Bechtel's name?
Delays, cost overruns, leaks and now a death in Boston puts spotlight on S.F. construction giant -- and some of its other mammoth projects

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... ECHTEL.TMP

David R. Baker, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, July 19, 2006

•

For Bechtel Corp., a company that lives by its record and reputation, last week's news from Boston could hardly have been worse.
A young mother of three died beneath falling concrete slabs inside the city's new network of freeway tunnels, designed by a Bechtel joint venture that also supervised construction. Bostonians -- weary of the project's long history of delays, gaffes and ballooning costs -- vented their anger at Bechtel and its subcontractors. The state's attorney general opened an investigation and declared the accident site a crime scene.
But Boston's $14.6 billion Big Dig isn't the only large public project spurring criticism of Bechtel.
In Washington state, the San Francisco company is building a nuclear waste treatment center that may end up $7 billion over its original estimate and six years late.
At the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste storage site in Nevada, a federal investigator last year said the company received about $4 million in incentive fees for work that had been turned in late -- or in poor quality.
A California congressman this spring accused Bechtel of double-billing the federal government for Hurricane Katrina relief work, potentially costing taxpayers $48 million if government auditors hadn't objected.
The company has also spent the past three years working to repair infrastructure in Iraq. However, criticism directed at Bechtel over that project has focused more on the way it received the job -- an unusual, limited bidding competition -- rather than its performance
Each time, Bechtel has defended itself, often in great technical detail. Critics often don't understand the way large government contracts work, the company's representatives say. And the projects Bechtel takes on tend to be so large, so complex that problems are almost guaranteed.
"Each project is unique," said Howard Menaker, spokesman for Bechtel's infrastructure business group. "There are no two Yucca Mountains. ... Yes, there are tunnels being built all over the world. There are bridges being built all over the world. But they aren't the Big Dig."
But public criticism of the company could have an effect.
Bechtel, like other construction and engineering giants, relies on its record to win new contracts. It has built its business on past achievements, such as building the Hoover Dam. If the issues swirling around the Big Dig, as well as its other major public works, aren't resolved to the government's satisfaction, it could eventually harm Bechtel's future business. How much harm, however is difficult to gauge, because very few companies can handle the large-scale contracts that are Bechtel's specialty.
Large construction companies "have their names on these projects, and they can't afford not to do well," said Gary Tulacz, senior editor of Engineering News-Record, a trade publication. "That's why I'm sure what's happened with the Big Dig is an obvious cause for consternation. These firms value their reputations."
So far, questions about the company's work haven't hurt Bechtel's revenue. The privately held firm doesn't release profit figures, but its revenue last year set a record of $18.1 billion. It remains the nation's largest construction design and management business, according to Engineering News-Record.
A Big Dig headache
The Big Dig has been, for both the company and the community, a persistent headache.
Originally expected to cost $2.6 billion, the Big Dig grew in complexity and cost over the course of two decades of discussion, design and construction. An aging, elevated freeway that once sliced through Boston's downtown, severing most of the city from its waterfront, was demolished and replaced with sleek tunnels. Workers supervised by Bechtel and its joint venture partner, Parsons Brinckerhoff, dug another tunnel beneath the harbor, linking an interstate freeway with the city's airport. A new bridge carried another freeway across the Charles River.
But criticism of the project mounted as its costs rose. And as construction neared an end two years ago, Bostonians who had endured years of detours were outraged by leaks that started appearing in the new tunnels. Many leaks were small, but one gushed enough water to shut down the road, backing up traffic for 10 miles. Those leaks have since been fixed, with the costs covered by the construction companies working for Bechtel, according to a Massachusetts Turnpike Authority spokeswoman.
The leaks became the subject of caustic jokes among Bostonians. Last week's incident, however, was far more serious.
Concrete panels suspended from the ceiling of one tunnel broke free and dropped onto a car carrying a couple to the airport. The husband survived. His wife was crushed.
In the days since, two of the tunnels have been closed for inspection and repairs. Attention has focused on the bolts and epoxy used to fasten the panels to the ceiling, with inspectors finding more than 1,100 questionable bolts. The state's attorney general has said that problems with the bolts were first noticed in 1999, and he is investigating whether any changes were made to correct those problems.
Bechtel joint venture spokesman Andy Paven said the company produced the overall design of the ceiling but did not design the systems that held the ceiling panels in place. The company, citing the state investigation, has made few public comments on the incident. Both Bechtel and Parsons Brinckerhoff have been served with subpoenas from the state attorney general and have said they are cooperating.
Even those who have watched the Big Dig for years say it may take a long time to assess blame. That's due, in part, to the technical nature of the work, as well as the close relationship between the contractors and the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, which commissioned the project. The authority has come under even more vitriolic criticism than Bechtel in the last week, with Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney taking the first formal steps Tuesday to oust the authority's top official.
"This is something that's going to take years to sort out in court," said Scott Amey, general counsel for the nonprofit Project on Government Oversight, which has issued several reports critical of the Big Dig's handling. "What were the actual plans? What were the specifications in the contract? And then, what did we get?"
Like the Big Dig, Bechtel's nuclear waste project in Hanford, Wash. is dauntingly complex.
The company is building a facility to take 53 million gallons of radioactive waste left over from the construction of atomic bombs and encase it in glass to keep it isolated from the environment. Some of the tanks that have been storing the waste have leaked into the local groundwater. And the site sits alongside the Columbia River.
Work at the plant, however, has been plagued by questions about the facility's ability to withstand earthquakes, questions that slowed construction to a crawl and forced Bechtel to reevaluate its plans. The construction of some of the vessels that will hold the toxic waste also has come under scrutiny, with one nonprofit watchdog organization accusing the company of ordering vessels with designs it knew to be flawed and installing one key vessel before fixing some faulty welds that had already been found in it.
"They were definitely on a fast track, and they were taking short cuts," said Tom Carpenter, director of the nuclear oversight program at the nonprofit Government Accountability Project. "Of course, they'll deny that to their dying breath, but that's what it looks like. That's what whistle-blowers on the inside are telling us."
Bechtel says the seismic issues did not require the company to remove or redo any work at the plant. The company denies that it found any problems with designs for the waste vessels before commissioning their construction.
Project manager Craig Albert said Bechtel decided to install one vessel before fixing all the welds because the repairs would be better performed after installation. He said the company discussed that decision with its federal government clients, who concurred.
"Everybody agreed that was an appropriate way to act," he said.
At Yucca Mountain, criticism focused on nearly $4 million in incentive payments the company received. Bechtel has a $3.2 billion contract to design the long-delayed storage facility for nuclear waste.
An audit by the U.S. Department of Energy's inspector general in September said the company had been paid incentives for work that had been performed late or was of "poor quality."
Bechtel spokesman Jason Bohne said the company then gave the Energy Department documentation showing that the work met all the specifications required for the incentive payments. No further action has been taken by the government, he said, and the company kept the money.
Another division of the federal government this year questioned the amount Bechtel said would be needed to maintain trailers shipped to Mississippi to house people displaced by Hurricane Katrina.
Bechtel was one of several companies tapped by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to supply housing in the hurricane's wake. A review by the Defense Contract Audit Agency, however, questioned $48 million of Bechtel's estimates for trailer maintenance. That led U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman, a Los Angeles Democrat and a frequent Bechtel critic, to say the company was trying to double-bill the government.
Menaker called the problem an error and said it was immediately corrected. He added that the company never charged the government the disputed amount. Rather, he said the incident shows how federal contracts are supposed to work. The company gave the government a cost estimate, the government reviewed it and corrected mistakes, and the work was able to proceed.
"It's a good example of the system working, under federal auditors," he said. "It's also a good case of how the public was not double billed."

[DVD Burner]

I am sure no one is going to read what I have just posted here. Why?


Cause no one here has ever read what I have posted of any signifigance in the past, but I'm posting it anyway for reference:

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Bechtel

Bechtel Group, Inc.
From SourceWatch
(Redirected from Bechtel)
Bechtel is a large construction company and defense contractor with very strong political ties (http://www.corpwatch.org/issues/PID.jsp?articleid=6548) and "a long history of doing business in Iraq, including an unsuccessful pipeline deal that at one point involved a meeting between Donald H. Rumsfeld, now the secretary of defense, and Saddam Hussein. That project later drew scrutiny from a special prosecutor looking into allegations of impropriety involving Edwin A. Meese III, the former White House counsel and attorney general in the Reagan administration." [1] (http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/18/inter ... &position=)

Table of contents [showhide]
1 Bechtel Connections

1.1 With Bin Laden Group
1.2 With U.S. Government


2 Related SourceWatch Resources

3 External Links

[edit]Bechtel Connections
[edit]With Bin Laden Group
Jane Mayer of The New Yorker writes about the connections of Bechtel, the Bin Laden Group/family, and Bush, and past, administration officials, "The bin Ladens have a ten-million-dollar stake in the Fremont Group, a San Francisco-based company formerly called Bechtel Investments, which was until 1986 a subsidiary of Bechtel. The Fremont Group's Web site, which makes no mention of the bin Ladens, notes that 'though now independent, Fremont enjoys a close relationship with Bechtel.' Mayer further writes, "One Fremont director, Riley Bechtel, is the chairman and chief executive officer of the Bechtel Group, and is a member of the Bush administration: he was appointed this year to serve on the President's Export Council. In addition, George P. Shultz, the Secretary of State in the Ronald Reagan Administration, serves as a director both of Fremont and of the Bechtel Group, where he once was president and still is listed as senior counsellor." [2] (http://www.newyorker.com/printable/?tal ... talk_mayer)

[edit]With U.S. Government
"Former Secretary of Defense, Caspar Weinberger, was vice president and general counsel of the Bechtel Group before going to Washington in 1980." [3] (http://www.corpwatch.org/issues/PID.jsp?articleid=6548)
"Daniel Chao, a Bechtel senior vice president, serves on the very same advisory committee of the Export-Import Bank of the United States while Ross J. Connelly, a 21-year veteran of Bechtel Group, is the chief operating officer for the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), the other major source of funding from the federal government for American companies overseas." [4] (http://www.corpwatch.org/issues/PID.jsp?articleid=6548)
"Jack Sheehan, a senior vice president at Bechtel, is a member of the Defense Policy Board ... Andrew Natsios, the administrator of USAID, which awarded the reconstruction contract for Iraq, was overseeing Bechtel just two years ago as the chairman of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, which hired the company to complete the Boston Central Artery project."[5] (http://www.corpwatch.org/issues/PID.jsp?articleid=6532)
The Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is operated by the Midwest Research Institute (MRI), Battelle, and Bechtel.[6] (http://www.nrel.gov/director/biography.html)
[edit]Related SourceWatch Resources
BWX Technologies Inc.
defense contractors
Iraq's oil industry
Military-industrial complex
nuclear weapons complex
oil industry
Post-war Iraq
Post-war Iraq contractors
[edit]External Links
Bob Herbert, "Ultimate Insiders (http://nytimes.com/2003/04/14/opinion/14HERB.html)", The New York Times, April 14, 2003.
Iraq Reconstruction Contract (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/ar ... Apr17.html), Washington Post, April 17, 2003.
"Bechtel Has Ties in Washington, and to Iraq (http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/18/inter ... &position=)," The New York Times, April 18, 2003.
David R. Baker, USA: Bechtel to Rebuild Iraq. Politically Connected Firm Wins $680 Million Bid (http://www.corpwatch.org/news/PND.jsp?articleid=6448), San Franciso Chronicle, April 18, 2003.
Documentation of Rumsfeld in Iraq to sell Bechtel pipleline in 1983. (http://zfacts.com/p/129.html) Secret state department documents show he knew Iraq was using poison gas (WMD) against the Kurds at the time.
Pratap Chatterjee, Bechtel's Friends in High Places (http://www.corpwatch.org/issues/PID.jsp?articleid=6548), CorpWatch, April 24, 2003.
Pratap Chatterjee, Bechtel Wins Iraq War Contracts (http://www.corpwatch.org/issues/PID.jsp?articleid=6532), CorpWatch, April 24, 2003: "Soon after Riley Bechtel was appointed as an advisor to Bush, on April 21, Terry Valenzano, the man who ran Bechtel's construction business in Saudi Arabia, flew into Kuwait city to meet with Jay Garner, the Pentagon official appointed to oversee Iraq. The two men met at the Hilton resort to plan the reconstruction of Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein's government."
Jane Mayer, "Dept. Of Connections: The Contractors (http://www.newyorker.com/printable/?tal ... talk_mayer)," The New Yorker, April 28, 2003.
Pratap Chatterjee, Bechtel's Nuclear Nightmares (http://www.corpwatch.org/issues/PID.jsp?articleid=6669), CorpWatch, May 1, 2003.
Pratap Chatterjee, Bechtel's Water Wars (http://www.corpwatch.org/issues/PID.jsp?articleid=6670), CorpWatch, May 1, 2003.
Pratap Chatterjee, Bechtel drums up war business (http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/EE22Ak02.html), Asia Times, May 22, 2003.
CorpWatch, Public Citizen, Global Exchange, "Global Exchange, and Public Citizen, Bechtel: Profiting from Destruction. Why the Corporate Invasion of Iraq Must be Stopped (http://www.corpwatch.org/issues/PID.jsp?articleid=6975)", June 5, 2003, accessed January 13, 2004. "These case studies reveal a legacy of unsustainable and destructive practices that have reaped permanent human, environmental and community devastation around the globe."
U.S. Government's Iraq Infrastructure Reconstruction Program (http://www.bechtel.com/iraq.htm), with August 19, 2003, Project Update and List of Awarded Subcontracts (since April 25, 2003) (https://supplier.bechtel.com/bni/usaid/ ... bcList.xls) for USAID Contract EEE-C-00-03-00018-00.
Karim El-Gawhary, "Bechtel Fails Reconstruction of Iraq's Schools (http://www.corpwatch.org/issues/PID.jsp?articleid=9248)", Corpwatch, December 2, 2003.
Bechtel lands Qatar airport deal (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3426195.stm), BBC/UK, January 24, 2004]: "Qatar has signed a contract with US engineering giant Bechtel to build a new airport for its capital Doha. The scheme is expected to cost a total of about $5bn. Passenger handling capacity will be boosted to 12m when the first phase is completed by 2009."
"Windfalls of War" (http://www.publicintegrity.org/wow/reso ... =resources), Center for Public Integrity, January 25, 2004: "Contracts and Reports."
A.C. Thompson, "Inside Bechtel's Spin Machine (http://www.sfbg.com/38/32/news_bechtel.html)," San Francisco Bay Guardian, May 5, 2004

[DVD Burner]

3. In this modern world, it's all about the money. You have the money, you have the power, you make the rules. Or you have the oil, then you have the money, thus the power.

[DVD Burner]

June 3, 1997

American foreign and defense policy is adrift. Conservatives have criticized the incoherent policies of the Clinton Administration. They have also resisted isolationist impulses from within their own ranks. But conservatives have not confidently advanced a strategic vision of America's role in the world. They have not set forth guiding principles for American foreign policy. They have allowed differences over tactics to obscure potential agreement on strategic objectives. And they have not fought for a defense budget that would maintain American security and advance American interests in the new century.

We aim to change this. We aim to make the case and rally support for American global leadership.


As the 20th century draws to a close, the United States stands as the world's preeminent power. Having led the West to victory in the Cold War, America faces an opportunity and a challenge: Does the United States have the vision to build upon the achievements of past decades? Does the United States have the resolve to shape a new century favorable to American principles and interests?


We are in danger of squandering the opportunity and failing the challenge. We are living off the capital -- both the military investments and the foreign policy achievements -- built up by past administrations. Cuts in foreign affairs and defense spending, inattention to the tools of statecraft, and inconstant leadership are making it increasingly difficult to sustain American influence around the world. And the promise of short-term commercial benefits threatens to override strategic considerations. As a consequence, we are jeopardizing the nation's ability to meet present threats and to deal with potentially greater challenges that lie ahead.

We seem to have forgotten the essential elements of the Reagan Administration's success: a military that is strong and ready to meet both present and future challenges; a foreign policy that boldly and purposefully promotes American principles abroad; and national leadership that accepts the United States' global responsibilities.


Of course, the United States must be prudent in how it exercises its power. But we cannot safely avoid the responsibilities of global leadership or the costs that are associated with its exercise. America has a vital role in maintaining peace and security in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. If we shirk our responsibilities, we invite challenges to our fundamental interests. The history of the 20th century should have taught us that it is important to shape circumstances before crises emerge, and to meet threats before they become dire. The history of this century should have taught us to embrace the cause of American leadership.

Our aim is to remind Americans of these lessons and to draw their consequences for today. Here are four consequences:

• we need to increase defense spending significantly if we are to carry out our global
responsibilities today and modernize our armed forces for the future;


• we need to strengthen our ties to democratic allies and to challenge regimes hostile to our interests and values;


• we need to promote the cause of political and economic freedom abroad;


• we need to accept responsibility for America's unique role in preserving and extending an international order friendly to our security, our prosperity, and our principles.

Such a Reaganite policy of military strength and moral clarity may not be fashionable today. But it is necessary if the United States is to build on the successes of this past century and to ensure our security and our greatness in the next.

Elliott Abrams Gary Bauer William J. Bennett Jeb Bush

Dick Cheney Eliot A. Cohen Midge Decter Paula Dobriansky Steve Forbes

Aaron Friedberg Francis Fukuyama Frank Gaffney Fred C. Ikle

Donald Kagan Zalmay Khalilzad I. Lewis Libby Norman Podhoretz

Dan Quayle Peter W. Rodman Stephen P. Rosen Henry S. Rowen

Donald Rumsfeld Vin Weber George Weigel Paul Wolfowitz

[DVD Burner]

See,



Now I read all of this and it is how I am to post these things.


Why is it that no one can do the same for an intelligent debate?

[DVD Burner]

shit.....


Maybe my laptop is running slow.



Just getting rid of the double post.

[Apollonaris Zeus]

AS I had stated in the Arafat thread, If Israel had left Hamas and Fatah to sort things out amongst themselfs, then were wouldn't be here now.

Wealth creates falsed sercurity!

AIIZ

PS- no time left library closing now!

[DVD Burner]

Well German, his girl and child and family are ok from Lebanon.





Whew!

[can't sit still]

more of the same BS
http://www.guardian.co.uk/medicine/stor ... 72,00.html

[EvilDustBooger]

..Israel jumps on the "War on Terror" bandwagon?

... "Wagging the Palestinian"?...






Progressive Daily Beacon July 19th, 2006
Sorry, but what Israel is doing isn't right and I think the American people know that. Israel as the "lone victim" is getting pretty old too. Israel has the finest military American taxpayer money can buy, and they wield that power with impunity. How is it possible that a country with the world's sixteenth largest, and probably the most technologically advanced military can be considered the only victim in the violence they help perpetuate?

We in America, and I'm guilty of it too, have been programmed to view Palestinians specifically and Arabs in general, as something akin to subhuman. We've been programmed via biased television reporting and an ongoing government policy that has been anything but objective. It might be hard for many Americans to believe, but we view Palestinians in the same light Nazi Germans viewed the Jews - as creatures something less than human beings.

And before anyone even tries to label me "anti-Semitic", don't even start because you haven't a historical clue as to what you think or say. Israel was settled by Jews, but they weren't, for the most part, people that spent much time engaging their faith. The State of Israel came into being through the work of a group known as Zionists. No, they weren't evil creatures with some stygian goal. They simply grew tired of Jews being persecuted in Europe and began campaigning for a return to Jerusalem. What the original Zionists were, however, are mostly secularist and Marxist social thinkers. Many, if not most, despised fellow Jews who clung strictly to their faith and traditions.

Jewish tradition, for those not aware, accepted that they had been pitched from their land by God and meant only to return around the coming of the Messiah. Zionists didn't have the patience or willingness to sit idly around awaiting the Messiah, while being made to suffer in Europe's ghettos so they pushed for an Israeli State. Following World War II and Hitler's cruel and evil attempt at exterminating the Jews, many nations thought it time to return the Jewish people to the Middle East.

The problem was, however, that the land meant to be Israel was all ready occupied by the Palestinians. As some of the cities held vital religious importance to all three major faiths, Israel didn't get everything they had wanted and hoped. Over time, however, not satisfied with forcing millions of Palestinians to live in perpetual refugee camps, Israel has slowly but certainly been taking the land and cities they have long coveted. With each grab of land more Palestinians have become squeezed out of their homes and left to rot in isolated camps or impoverished cities.

Israel's military success has been bought and paid for by the U.S. taxpayer. They have the finest tanks, attack helicopters, nuclear weapons, fighter jets, communications, and precision guided bombs. It is through these weapons and nothing short of brute force, as is being witnessed today, that Israel has subjugated and defeated any and all who dare question their means or methods. No people, however, have been more abused by Israel than have the Palestinians.

Nobody condones acts of terrorism, but if it were you and your family being forced from your land and sent off to refugee camps to live an impoverished life - honestly, how would you respond? Would you too, not eventually become desperate enough to strap a bomb around your stomach and attack those you see as being responsible for your families suffering? Perhaps, if the Palestinians had a military capable of rivaling Israel's they too, might consider dropping more precise bombs that, when they kill innocent women and children, aren't called acts of terror but rather, "collateral damage".

Regarding the Palestinian and Israeli conflict, a war that has been raging 50 years, there are no innocent parties. And certainly, the Israelis are not the only "victims". Surely, the average Palestinian, like most Israelis, wishes the violence and death would end. The Palestinian people, just as much as the Israeli's, are victims of an Israeli government that thinks the hammer is the only tool in the box and the extremist groups like Hezbollah and Hamas that see no problem killing for the sake of killing.

Someone had said "Israel didn't start this one." Right! They had a single soldier kidnapped and for that they went on a rampage knocking out the only station providing electricity to millions of people. For that single soldier, Israel killed scores of innocent Palestinian civilians. Day after day bombs dropped and innocent people died. An invitation for non-terrorists to become terrorists. Hezbollah then responded by kidnapping two more Israeli soldiers, so Israel invaded Lebanon. Now there are bombs flying across Israel's borders and dropping on Beirut and Lebanon's airports and roads - not to mention killing hundreds of innocent Lebanese civilians.

Maybe Israel "didn't start this one", but through their outrageously grotesque response they've proven themselves equal partners in the madness. It is time for the American people to realize Israel is not the only "victim" in the Middle East madness. There are millions of innocent Palestinians and now, too, Lebanese that have equal claim to the sad title of "victim".
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------



....stay tuned for a North Korean Distraction, or things furthest from the truth.

[can't sit still]

Mr. Booger, I went to one of those Palestinian refugee camps. The people had a surprisingly good attitude considering that they have no land, no future.
The Israelis, the Jews and the Zionists are masters at PR.
The Arabs are horrible at it.
Several years ago, they opened an office in North Hollywood. The Arab Anti-defemation League. It was the strangest thing. It was fire bombed 2 weeks later.
The Jews are the perpetual squeaky wheel and all of their efforts are self-serving. They decry genocide in strident voices.
You didn't see Simon Weisenthal complaining when Idi Amin killed 1.2 million of the Matebele. Nary a squeak when the Hutsus and the Tutsis iced a half million.. Serbs and Croats,,,no problem. Bomb them back to the stone age to bring peace.
But, kidnap one of the chosen people and god's designated asskicker will rain down fire and brimstone.

The majority of the Palestinians only know how to die.
The Jews decry terrorism. When they were trying to get the British out of israel, They proved themselves to be very good terrorists.
Their first cabinet was all terrorists.

Americans are tired of treating israel like the 51st state. They spy on us constantly. We give them weapons and they won't even give us the battlefield data. We've sent them hundreds of billions and we've paid other countries many billions not to fight with israel.
Israel is so rich that they don't qualify for foreign aid. But we continue to send billions.
ALL we get is grief.
Jews in general are proud of their M.O. epitomised by "chutspah"
Chutspah is an action like,,,,murdering your parents and then pleading for clemency because you're an orphan"
Anti-semetic is another convienient knee-jerk bugaboo. If you don't like anything that they're doing,,,you're anti-semetic. BFD. And besides that
the majority of the Arabs are all semetic people.

The jews won't let anyone forget the arayan idea of the master race.[Germans]
Talk to the ultra-othodox and they'll let you know that god's chosen are way far above the goy and the rest of the trash.
Rodney King said "why can't we all just get along"
You'll never hear an israeli say that.