Ransom note
DEAR GEORGE WE’VE GOT YOUR OIL. IF YOU EVER WANT TO SEE IT AGAIN, SEND $12 BILLION IN UNMARKED $100 BILLS. CASH ONLY AND DON’T TRY ANY FUNNY STUFF. YOURS, HALLIBURTON AND FRIENDS
The half-full glass (just don’t try to drink from it)
Nero fiddled while Rome burned; Bush played the guitar while New Orleans drowned. And now this: The good news is—and it’s hard for some to see it now—that out of this chaos is going to come a fantastic Gulf Coast, like it was before. Out of the rubbles of Trent Lott’s house—he’s lost his entire house— there’s going to be a fantastic house. And I’m looking forward to sitting on the porch.
REAL Scary
Here’s a brief run-down of the lowlights from the “REAL ID Act” passed by the House yesterday. Overstaying a visa becomes grounds to deny a driver’s license. There are many, many people who are now legal immigrants who have at some stage overstayed a visa period. Overstayed a student visa by a few days back when you were a student? No license for you! Plus, do you want all those illegal immigrants driving around with no license, no insurance, and without having passed a driving test?
Adios Ashcroft
With Ashcroft’s departure, George W. Bush has a chance to make a symbolic gesture towards uniting the nation. Instead, he has chosen Alberto Gonzales as the new Attorney General. That’s the Alberto Gonzales who wrote the memo urging that the president declare the US exempt from the Geneva Convention, because otherwise US behavior could lead to war crimes prosecutions. If you had any doubt that a vote for the Bush administration would be rewarding those who supported torture, that doubt should now be dispelled.
Rebuilding Iraq
A few days ago I was being all cynical and saying that we’d fail to build Iraq, just like we’ve failed to rebuild Afghanistan. I was wrong, though. They’ve already sorted out the contract to rebuild any destroyed Iraqi oil fields. The winning company is Kellogg Brown Root. By an amazing coincidence, they’re owned by Halliburton, Dick Cheney’s old company.
In Case You Missed It
Time for another boring little news summary, culled from diverse mainstream media outlets, with links to sources… Dick Cheney is being sued for possible involvement in accounting fraud while running Halliburton. The company is also being investigated by the SEC. Meanwhile, Halliburton has just won the contract to provide the support services for the US military in Afghanistan. Halliburton took part in Energy Task Force discussions about building an oil pipeline from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan and Pakistan, to Dabhol in India, to allow the tapping of the Central Asian oil reserves.