Will it be Halliburton?

“I was going to say, quite a few dinosaurs from the Reagan Admin had close ties to Bechtel (George Shultz, et al).

Here are a few more tasty morsels. Don't ruin your appetite...

I wouldn't be drinking anything as the images appear (especially the last few!)... you might spew it all over your keyboard, LOL”

“my eyes!....”

“Tilt, those are absolutely hysterical. I have seen a few of them, but not the majority. Great posts...”

“Yeah, me too.

They can be a little overwhelming --- all at once like that, LOLOL”

“...Halliburton!

surprise”

“I'm shocked AND awed!”

“Some of you may have already seen this.......
Search for "War Is A Racket", and see what Smedley Butler had to say in 1933.”

“Awe Shucks!”

“I saw this this AM on . . . get this . . . a System of the Down video. Absolutely skeery.”

“Speaking of 'awe and shucks'... The C-SPAN folks were interviewing reporters at the Pentagon, getting a peek behind the scenes. One reporter commented that he was casting about for similar terms... (just to spice up the patter a little, doncha know) and he'd Almost used the word 'blitzkrieg'...

At the last moment he thought "Maybe I better Not" LOL”

“A Congressional Research Service report released yesterday concluded that federal ethics laws treat Vice President Cheney's annual deferred compensation checks and unexercised stock options as continuing financial interests in the Halliburton Co.

Deferred Compensation Package Counts, Report Indicates”

“Maybe he'll resign.











Nah.”

“He'll stick to the deferred payment story...”

“"60 Minutes" was interesting last week. The PR guy from Haliburton was chattering away, defending the contracting process... glossing over how Cheney, a man with zero business experience went directly into the CEO slot... but then the correspondent (Morley Safer?) asked, "So what is Your background... ?"

The Haliburton mouthpiece was formerly a General in the Army Corps of Engineers, who handle so much of the contracting in Iraq.

Some guy from a gov't watchdog group said we can forget the days of the 'revolving door'. According to him, there's no door anymore. There's no wall. With people on Pentagon advisory boards working for the corporations, where does one end and the other begin?”

“"Everybody's talking all this stuff about me
Why don't they just let me live
I don't need permission
Made my own decisions
That's my prerogative


They say I'm crazy
I really don't care
That's my prerogative
They say I'm nasty
But I don't give a damn
Gettin' girls is how I live


Some ask the question
Why can't I stay real
But they don't understand me
They really don't know the deal
About my brother trying hard to make it right
Not long ago before I really despised


Everybody's talking all this stuff about me
Why don't they just let me live
(Tell me why)
I don't need permission
Made my own decisions
That's my prerogative
(It's my prerogative)


It's my prerogative
It's the way that I wanna live
(It's my prerogative)
I can do just what I feel
(It's my prerogative)
Nobody can tell me what to do
(It's my prerogative)
Cause what I'm doin'
I'm doin' for you


Don't get me wrong
I'm really not a sook
Ego trips is not my thing
All these strange relationships
Really gets me down
I see nothin wrong

Everybody's talking all this stuff about me
Why don't they just let me live
(Tell me why)
I don't need permission
Made my own decisions
That's my prerogative
(It's my prerogative)


I can do what I want to do
(It's my prerogative)
I can live my life
(It's my prerogative)
I keep doing it just for you
Just tell me, tell me


Why can't I live my life
Without the all of the things people say


I can do what I want to do
Me and you
Together, together, together


Everybody's talking all this stuff about me
Why don't they just let me live
(Why don't they just let me live)
I don't need permission
Made my own decisions
That's my prerogative
(repeat and fade)"

-Bobby Brown”

“(CBS/AP) Two senior Democratic lawmakers say Vice President Dick Cheney's former company, Halliburton, is gouging U.S. taxpayers while importing gasoline into Iraq. The Houston-based company contends it is paying the best price possible.

The New York Times reports that in a letter to the White House budget office, Reps. Henry Waxman of California and John Dingell of Michigan contended that, "Halliburton seems to be inflating gasoline prices at a great cost to American taxpayers."

"The overcharging is so extreme that one expert has privately called it 'highway robbery,'" the lawmakers said in the latest Democratic attacks against the Houston company that received a no-bid contract.

Waxman and Dingell said Halliburton's KBR subsidiary is billing the Army between $1.62 and $1.70 per gallon, while the average price for Middle East gasoline is 71 cents.

They also complained that Iraqis are charged between 4 cents and 15 cents at the pump for the imported gasoline.”

“(AP) Pentagon auditors found that Vice President Dick Cheney's former company may have overcharged the Army by as much as $61 million for gasoline in Iraq, senior defense officials said Thursday.

Halliburton apparently didn't profit from the possible overcharges, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The problem, the officials said, was that Halliburton may have paid a subcontractor too much for the gasoline in the first place.

The Pentagon officials said the Halliburton subsidiary involved in Iraq reconstruction work, Kellogg, Brown & Root, also submitted a proposal for cafeteria services that was $67 million too high. The officials said the Pentagon rejected that proposal.

The defense officials said they had no reason to believe the problems were anything other than "stupid mistakes" by Halliburton.











And if you believe that I have a bridge I would like to sell you.”

“We can only hope it is Haliburton. With a job this big and this important I don't want "Bob's Oil" doing it.”

“Sick,sick,sick.”

“Wonder how much Cheney made?”

“(CBS/AP) President Bush, trying to calm a political storm, said Friday that Vice President Dick Cheney's former company should repay the government if it overcharged for gasoline delivered in Iraq under a controversial prewar contract.

"If there's an overcharge, like we think there is, we expect that money be repaid," the president told reporters when asked about the Halliburton contract controversy.








And if you believe that I have another bridge I would like to sell you.”

“I heard about this crap too. Neighboring countries can supply gasoline at ~$0.94/gal whereas Hal is charging something like ~$2.61/gal. If those numbers aren't exact, they are pretty darn close.”

“bob's oil! BOB'S OIL!


ok so the big deal is that halliburten overcharged us and we caught the mistake and are making them correct it and uhhhmmm....that means....uhhhh....er uhmmm.....OH! YEAH! BUSH IS EVIL BECAUSE CHANEY USED TO WORK FOR HALLIBURTON!

ok, gotcha...”

“Cheney not only used to work for Halliburton, he still draws money from them. My advice to the current administration: To insure against any impropriety, keep Halliburton out of Iraq. At the very least, let contractors from other countries bid.”

“Other countries except those who weren't willing to help in the first place. You aren't willing to help in the bad stuff, why should we let you help in the good stuff? How can you be against one part of this whole situation and ask to be allowed to help with another part? And oh by the way, Halliburton's current contracts were awarded in a competitive bidding process in 2001. The last administration gave a no-bid contract to Halliburton's parent company to support operations in the Balkans, so this is nothing new.”

“AND there isn't any other company who can do what haliburton can do...”

“Hey, what's a little double-dipping among friends?”

“(CBS) There are new allegations about how well U.S. tax dollars have been used in Iraq. It's just the latest controversy surrounding Halliburton, the Texas company once run by Vice President Cheney - and the U.S. military's biggest contractor in Iraq.

The investigation this time surrounds how many people - from President George W. Bush on down - are really eating in the mess halls of Iraq and Kuwait.

According to sources and published reports, Kellogg, Brown & Root - the Halliburton subsidiary that runs these military dining halls - has billed the government for millions of meals soldiers never ate, because, as CBS News Correspondent Wyatt Andrews, it is billing on the number of meals projected in advance, not the actual number of meals served.

Halliburton says estimating meals is essential because it's hard to know "how many people will be at the dinner table in a war zone." The company vigorously denies it has overcharged, but it has agreed to defer $16 million in payments while an audit continues.

Congressional critics say the meal projections were sometimes three times the number of meals delivered.”

“we'll never learn...

cheat me once, shame on you...

cheat me twice; shame on me.

But if it's Dick's company, then well, we'll just say that they'll pay us back whenever they can.”

“There will be a payback alright! Come November!”

“Now, let's imagine that GW was a "liberal". Don't you think the "conservatives" would have a special counsel appointed to hound him 24-7? I find this kind of double-standard very hard to take. Thank goodness GW is bringing back that integrity thing.”

“Ripe impeaches $20.00 each.”

“WASHINGTON, Feb. 5, 2004



(AP) A subsidiary of Halliburton Co. is under scrutiny by the Justice Department over allegations that it was involved in payment of $180 million in bribes to win a natural gas project contract in Nigeria. Vice President Dick Cheney was head of Halliburton at the time.

The $4 billion Nigerian Liquified Natural Gas Plant was built in the 1990s by a consortium that included Kellogg, Brown & Root, a unit of Houston-based Halliburton.

Two senior Justice Department officials, speaking Wednesday on condition of anonymity, said the department had asked that Halliburton voluntarily provide documents related to the allegations. Those records, they said, could determine whether a full investigation is launched.

Halliburton has complied with the request, the officials said. One factor in the Justice Department's decisions on whether to press corporate fraud charges is whether the company is cooperative.

Halliburton, already under fire for its handling of contracts related to the war in Iraq, disclosed the Justice Department request in a Jan. 21 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A French magistrate, Renaud Van Ruymbeke, also is investigating the Nigerian payments. He has said in a memo that embezzlement charges could be filed against Cheney in Paris. Cheney's aides have refused comment on the allegations.”

“Oh wouldn't it be just grand if a French court had charges filed against the US VP! Ole Jeaucque or however the hell that's spelled would just be beside himself!”

“yes... the 'integrity thing'....

something like that 'vision thing'....”

“No, not the undersea guy!

This guy Dick sure puts the "vice" in vice president!”

“I'm just waiting for the nattering nabobs comment to resurface, LOL (with a fresh coat of paint)

Spiro was just thinking too small... Kickbacks from dairy farmers, puh-Leeze!”

“I live in Baltimore County, where Spiro got his start as county executive and took bribes from contractors who built schools and highway projects.

You can bet that he got a piece of any public school or highway project done here in the '60s.”

“It's kindof surprising it took so long to catch him.”

“When he bacame governor he solicited even larger bribes.

He told them he needed more money for even bigger social needs fitting of his higher office.”

“TIME - Vice President Dick Cheney was a guest on NBC's Meet the Press last September when host Tim Russert brought up Halliburton. Citing the company's role in rebuilding Iraq as well as Cheney's prior service as Halliburton's CEO, Russert asked, "Were you involved in any way in the awarding of those contracts?" Cheney's reply: "Of course not, Tim ... And as Vice President, I have absolutely no influence of, involvement of, knowledge of in any way, shape or form of contracts led by the [Army] Corps of Engineers or anybody else in the Federal Government."

Cheney's relationship with Halliburton has been nothing but trouble since he left the company in 2000. Both he and the company say they have no ongoing connections. But TIME has obtained an internal Pentagon e-mail sent by an Army Corps of Engineers official—whose name was blacked out by the Pentagon—that raises questions about Cheney's arm's-length policy toward his old employer. Dated March 5, 2003, the e-mail says "action" on a multibillion-dollar Halliburton contract was "coordinated" with Cheney's office. The e-mail says Douglas Feith, a high-ranking Pentagon hawk, got the "authority to execute RIO," or Restore Iraqi Oil, from his boss, who is Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz. RIO is one of several large contracts the U.S. awarded to Halliburton last year.

The e-mail says Feith approved arrangements for the contract "contingent on informing WH [White House] tomorrow. We anticipate no issues since action has been coordinated w VP's [Vice President's] office." Three days later, the Army Corps of Engineers gave Halliburton the contract, without seeking other bids. TIME located the e-mail among documents provided by Judicial Watch, a conservative watchdog group.”

“Then there was this item:

WASHINGTON — Empty flatbed trucks crisscrossed Iraq more than 100 times as their drivers and the soldiers who guarded them dodged bullets, bricks and homemade bombs.

Twelve current and former truckers who regularly made the 300-mile resupply run from Camp Cedar in southern Iraq to Camp Anaconda near Baghdad told Knight Ridder they risked their lives driving empty trucks while their employer, a subsidiary of Halliburton, billed the government for hauling what they derisively called "sailboat fuel."

<snip>

"There was one time we ran 28 trucks, one trailer had one pallet (a trailer can hold up to 26 four-foot-square pallets) and the rest of them were empty," said David Wilson, who was the convoy commander on more than 100 runs. Four other drivers who were with Wilson confirmed his account.

<snip>”

“*boing*”

“'...billed the government for hauling what they derisively called "sailboat fuel".'

So they were hauling wind?”

“Air.”

“When you have an administration who has a "small government" agenda, it's better to have the private sector be in charge of everything. That way you are assured of honesty, fairness, and the keeping of the American Way. Why, just look at our private contractors in Abu Ghraib.”

“Hey! I have sailbaot fuel coming out of my a$$ as we speak!”