[Rhodes22-list] Stan, CAUTION, politics ahead

Thu May 29 04:57:51 EDT 2003

Brad,

Call me cynical then because it sure looks to me like the money/business is
precisely what drives our foreign policy.  It's naive to think that we
attacked Iraq in the name of freedom, democracy, righteousness or any of
that lofty stuff.  And the whole WMD threat turned out to be nothing but
spin.  We KNOW N. Korea has WMD but what would we have to gain ($$$) by
attacking them? BTW I find it terribly ironic that the man who controls the
vast majority of the world's WMD (Dubbya) can't even correctly pronounce the
word "nuclear."  Doesn't that make you a little squeamish?

Many people are forgetting about all of that and focusing on Saddam's other
atrocities. The media vivifies that for us as they scramble for their
ratings.  But that's not why we went after him.  There have been many
murderous dictators just as bad.  Years ago, when we were supporting Saddam
(who was no goodytwoshoes then), Pinochet, Shaw of Iran, we turned a blind
eye as long as there was something in it for us...$$$  We've continued to
turn a blind eye on Saddam's atrocities for years.  It's not like we didn't
know he was killing people.

But now it's in the best interest of the administration to take him down.
Or so it thinks.  And being a Texas oil man and all, I think we all know
what he's got his eye on.  And bless him for it.  Somebody's gotta do it.
It's not good business to have a guy like Saddam in charge of all that oil.
Why let a few thousand lives get in the way of that much business?  And
let's face it--it really is a mother load of business.

Slim

On 5/27/03 6:11 PM, "brad haslett" <flybrad at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Stan,
> 
> I did a Google search on Lynn Cheney and couldn't find
> any construction companies she is a director of, but
> of course that doesn't mean it isn't true.  She is on
> the board of Lockheed-Martin, Union Pacific Recources
> and Readers Digest.  Her husband, of course, was CEO
> of Halliburtan and that may be the source of the
> confusion.  Lady Bird Johnson was on the board of
> Brown-Root Construction, who did a lot of contract
> work in Vietnam, but I'm not aware that she directly
> profited from any of their activities. Most good
> Republican capitalists are not as smart as Ms. Rodham
> and haven't figured out how to make $100,000 in a
> month trading commodities (its called trading on the
> house account, at least as old as Arkansas politics,
> but those smart boys from the New York Times never
> bothered to look too hard). As to our current
> situation (Iraq) there are only a handfull of
> companies with the expertise and capital to get the
> oil fields up and running quickly (unless you count
> the French and LukeOil, Russian, already there) so
> there are bound to be the appearances of conflict of
> interest.  One would have to be pretty cynical to
> believe that this administration, or any other, would
> start a war strictly for money.  But I know there are
> folks that think that way, God bless their souls,
> (sorry Bill) and if its true it will make some author
> rich esposing it. I think those who opposed the war in
> Iraq should look at the bright side;  at least there
> is the oil.  What have you purchased from Somolia or
> Kosovo lately?
> 
> Brad
> --- General Boats <wwrhodes at rhodes22.com> wrote:
>> Brad/Steve//Bill/ etc.
>> 
>> Brad:  congratulations on the sale of your boat and
>> the purchase of your boat.
>> While we do not always agree, we do agree that not
>> agreeing has made this list
>> stand out.  So I will miss your contributions and
>> extensive knowledge, which I
>> would like to here take advantage of.  Am I correct
>> in understanding that the Vice
>> President's wife is on the board of directors of the
>> giant contractor that the VP
>> is giving all that business to?  If so, let's
>> collectively throw Bill a bone: Just
>> imagine all the endless fun the right would have had
>> if Mrs. Clinton had enjoyed
>> such a rewarding conflict of interest job.
>> 
>> Steve:  Wonderfully profound.  I do not understand
>> it.  But I am with you.
>> 
>> Bill: You are not supposed to abandoned a ship until
>> it is sinking - we still have
>> a few more years and need your ballast on the left.
>> Hang in there and don't take
>> it too seriously - but if you must, take solace that
>> in a private, off line List
>> poll, you are in the silent majority.
>> 
>> stan/gbi
>> 
>> 
>> Steve Alm wrote:
>> 
>>> Hey Bill,
>>> Remember that if the boat leans to the left, it's
>> because you're on the
>>> starboard tack... I have no idea what I mean by
>> that but it sounds profound.
>>> 8-)  8-)
>>> 
>>> Please feel free to post your own soap boxing.
>> But if you use inflammatory
>>> rhetoric such as "conservative claptrap" you're
>> sinking to their level and
>>> should expect more starboard cannon fire.
>>> 
>>> We who sit on the port rail are in the good
>> company of most of the nation's
>>> great thinkers who occupy most of the
>> professorship positions at the
>>> colleges and universities in this great country of
>> ours, so take heart and
>>> let fly!  Don't let that mean old Brad get your
>> goat--don't get mad, get
>>> even!  8-)
>>> 
>>> What the republican party needs, for example, is
>> just ONE good poet--the
>>> poor suckers don't have any.  The great Minnesota
>> thinker, Garrison Keilor,
>>> has volunteered.  8-)
>>> 
>>> Roses are red, violet are blue,
>>> Don't quit the list, Bill,
>>> Lots of us think like you.
>>> 
>>> Slim
>>> 
>>> On 5/27/03 2:19 PM, "Bill Berner"
>> <bberner at optonline.net> wrote:
>>> 
>>>> I've been prompted to write by Brad's last
>> couple of posts, especially
>>>> "Rumsfeld apologizes"
>>>> 
>>>> I started in to write a suggestion that the list
>> charter be modified to ask
>>>> that members be refrain from soap boxing their
>> political positions.
>>>> 
>>>> Then I realized that it would be asking for the
>> group to curtail Freedom of
>>>> Speech.
>>>> 
>>>> So, I'm left with a conundrum.
>>>> 
>>>> I am personally sick and tired of the
>> inflammatory conservative claptrap
>>>> that shows up here.  It's isn't always the
>> substance that irks me so much,
>>>> but the belligerance, sarcasm and school yard
>> bullying quality of so many of
>>>> the posts. I have rarely seen any
>> acknowledgement that issues can be
>>>> multifaceted and complicated.
>>>> 
>>>> Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems like all of the
>> cannon fire comes from the
>>>> starboard side, and I'm pretty tired of it.
>>>> 
>>>> Chances are that I'll have to quit the list to
>> resolve the issue, not a
>>>> choice I easily make.  There has been some good
>> company here, and lot's of
>>>> good information.
>>>> 
>>>> Curious to see responses, then I'll shut up and
>> make a decision.
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> Bill Berner
>>>> 191 South Broadway
>>>> Hastings on Hudson, NY  10706
>>>> 
>>>> v 914 478 2896
>>>> f 914 478 3856
>>>> e BBerner at optonline.net
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>> From: rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org
>>>> [mailto:rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org] On
>> Behalf Of brad haslett
>>>> Sent: Tuesday, May 27, 2003 12:37 PM
>>>> To: rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org
>>>> Subject: [Rhodes22-list] Rumsfeld Apologizes
>>>> 
>>>> May 26, 2003
>>>> Rumsfeld Apologizes for Hyping Saddam Threat
>>>> (2003-05-26) -- U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald
>>>> Rumsfeld apologized to Senate Democrats today
>> for
>>>> pre-war "hyping" of the threat posed by Saddam
>>>> Hussein's regime.
>>>> 
>>>> "I'm sorry Senators Biden, Rockefeller, Byrd,
>> Roberts
>>>> and others," said a contrite Mr. Rumsfeld. "We
>>>> overestimated the threat posed by a lunatic
>> dictator,
>>>> who hated the U.S. and Israel, and who paid
>> rewards to
>>>> families of Palestinian terrorists. In an age
>> when two
>>>> of the world's tallest buildings can be brought
>> down
>>>> with tools used by the stockboy at K-Mart, we
>> should
>>>> have demanded more concrete evidence of exotic
>> weapons
>>>> of mass destruction. Saddam was helpless as a
>> kitten
>>>> up a tree."
>>>> 
>>>> Sen. Rockefeller, D-WV, said Congress must
>> determine
>>>> whether the administration "intentionally
>>>> overestimated" Iraq's weapons program, or "just
>>>> misread it. ... In either case it's a very bad
>>>> outcome."
>>>> 
>>>> Mr. Rumsfeld agreed, "What an awful outcome. We
>> deeply
>>>> regret freeing the Iraqi people from a murderous
>> gang
>>>> of thugs masquerading in the United Nations as a
>>>> representative republic. We're sorry that the
>> Iraqi
>>>> people have discovered thousands of graves of
>> their
>>>> Saddam-murdered relatives. It's none of our
>> business
>>>> if people want to live like that."
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
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