Thursday, July 03, 2014

I would not expect Mr. Cheney to say anything else. He is too deep into the lies. If he changed his stories he would be causing his own indictment.



We all know the bind Cheney was in with Halliburton when he donned the crown of Vice President. He cooked the books and he wanted a way out. Iraq was a convenient country to invade. Saddam Hussein frequently fired his gun off on his balcony and for the purpose of rubbing Cheney and Bush's nose in it.

From Michael Moore (click here)

Published on Thursday, August 19, 2004 by CommonDreams.org

How Dick Cheney Got Away With $35 Million Right Before he Government Launched a Probe into Halliburton (ciick here)
By Jason Leopold

It i obvious that no mainstream news reporter has the gumption to seriously question Vice President Dick Cheney's ethics when he was chief executive of Halliburton, the oil-field services company that is currently embroiled in a scandal with the Pentagon due to it's questionable accounting practices related to it's work in wartorn Iraq.

Pity those journalists because this is the stuff Pulitzers are made of . What's even more remarkable is that there's reams of documents in the public domain showing how Cheney cooked the books when he was CEO of Halliburton, which makes the vice president look like Ken Lay's twin brother. The evidence is beginning to collect dust. To tell the story of how Cheney's Halliburton used accounting sleight of hand to fool investors all you need to do is connect the dots, which is what this story will do.

Let's start with a bit of old news. A couple of weeks ago Halliburton agreed to pay a $7.5 million fine to settle a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission probe related to a 1998 change in the way Halliburton accounted for construction revenue. The commission says the undisclosed accounting change caused Halliburton's public statements regarding its income in 1998 and 1999 to be materially misleading, boosting Halliburton's profit on paper by $120 million...

Cheney and Saddam had something in common, power. 

When Bush invaded Iraq he unleashed MISTRUST of the USA in the global community. The entire world was with us after September 11, 2001, but, that radically changed as WMD was politicized and Iraq was then the target.

There it is, "...we went into Iraq for very good reasons...." Such as?

The Surge makes me laugh. Somehow the nation is suppose to believe 'The Surge' was a magical answer to the civil war within Iraq. The Surge killed people. It killed Iraqis. Of course it worked. There were less Iraqis to fight the civil war. The Iraqis learned that fighting the USA meant death. The USA was the ultimate warlord. I don't know if there is a body count when "The Surge" was launched, but, it was simply slaughtering people in order to dominate the country. The Surge is still what is the problem today. The rebels simply laid low until they had a chance to regain footing. The same thing happened in Afghanistan.

But, Cheney hangs on to those words "The Surge" as if it was something that actually changed the landscape. It didn't change a darn thing, it simply killed more people.

I think it is time the USA stopped killing people. Obviously, Mr. Cheney disagrees. When then? When does the USA stop using death as a means to control nations? Never? The USA is suppose to occupy every nation it invades such as South Korea? That is nonsense. If the USA needs to dominate countries, what does that say about our country? Is the USA so completely out of step with humanity it has to kill and control in order to exist?

Cheney bellyaches about the number of USA soldiers being left behind in Baghdad. 20,000? He simply wants a ready force to rule the country. The USA military was Maliki's private militia. Makiki never had peace in Iraq, he had the USA military. The civil war was simply to be thought of as 'insurgents' and 'terrorists' and 'dead enders.' There was only 'the end game to clean up.' What the USA was doing by leaving behind 20,000 troops was immoral from the standpoint that the USA was maintaining the peace and not the people. The citizens are suppose maintain the peace. They are suppose to run their own country.

20,000 USA troops lead by USA generals and commanders would continue to destablize Iraq. Today, the Kurds are strong enough to form their own independent state. Would that have happened if the USA dominated Iraq? Heck no, the USA military would have seen the Kurds as a threat to the Maliki government and would have confronted them as insurgents. 

"The result was an Iraqi military that was unable to stand up to the terrorists." Does Cheney ever listen to his own words? Somehow the number of American troops in Iraq was suppose insure a democracy without conflict or war. 20,000 rather than 3,000 was a better presence to insure the USA had control over Iraq. 

What Mr. Cheney stated was, "The result was an Iraqi military that was unable to stand up to the terrorists." Is that right? So, how is 20,000 troops going to change that? It wouldn't. All 20,000 USA troops would insure is the best outcome of what the USA prioritized as important for Iraq and it's people. 

Was Iraq never to have a military that could stand up to the terrorists? Nearly a decade and the result was an Iraqi military that was unable to stand up to terrorists. 

"...extremists would have to rethink their strategy of jihad. Nearly a trillion dollars spent there with 4500 American lives lost there. What do you say to those that say you (Mr. Cheney) was so wrong about so much at the expense of so many?" 

"No, I just fundamentally disagree..."

Right. There weren't over 4500 Americans lost, there wasn't nearly a trillion US spent? But, yet the entire statement is fundamentally wrong.

Mr. Cheney cannot admit the intelligence was extremely flawed. He cannot admit the 'intelligence' leading to the Iraq invasion was as cooked as Halliburton's books. He CANNOT. If he ever admitted he was wrong and the invasion was a travesty, he'd be facing his own peril.

Is everything 'not quite accurate?' Dick Cheney is the only accurate man in the entire of Washington and the world? My goodness Mr. Cheney can read minds. He 'believes' Maliki thought the USA didn't want a Status of Forces agreement. Wow. Cheney 'believes' he knows everything Maliki thinks. Some kind of talent. 

He never has given up that 'magical thinking,' has he? I 'believe' therefore it is. 

Just because President Obama states the same thing about Iraq as his predecessors, doesn't mean he is correct either. The only person that appears to be correct is Vice President Biden at this point. President Obama won't even recognize VP Biden's assessment. That is a shame. Maybe things would have moved along quite nicely without the "ISIS Surge." 

Oh, dear, Liz Cheney states President Obama didn't do his job. Hm. And of course she knows what his job is in these circumstances. I mean this is President of the USA. Who writes his job description? 

See, Mr. Maliki followed Mr. Cheney in 'believing' President Obama didn't want to leave any USA troops in Iraq. So, because Mr. Maliki is a spineless ninny and can't speak up for the needs of Iraq, there was no Status of Forces agreement. I think it takes at least two signatures. Not only that, but, I would think the Status of Forces Agreement would include Iraqi soldiers as well as USA forces. That was the deal with the American people. The American people believed the entire time we were fighting this insane civil war there would be 'As Iraqi forces stand up, the USA would stand down.' Didn't I hear that from somewhere?

The Bush/Cheney administration IS responsible here. They lied, they cooked up the Cabal and they betrayed the trust of allies. Somehow that reality escapes Liz Cheney. We would not even be in Iraq if "When Bush lies people die." Somehow Ms. Cheney forgets that very important point.

By Evelyn Leopold and Nadim Ladki
1-10-3




UNITED NATIONS/BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.N. inspectors (click here) on Thursday gave a mixed interim report on Iraq's arms programs, providing ammunition both to those backing U.S. preparations for a possible conflict and for the anti-war camp.
 
Chief weapons inspector Hans Blix said his teams had so far found no "smoking gun" but added Iraq had failed to answer many questions about its armaments. Baghdad said it would do so.
 
Washington appeared unimpressed with Blix's double-edged comments.
 
"The problem with guns that are hidden is you can't see their smoke," a White House spokesman told reporters. "We know for a fact that there are weapons there." Blix's remarks, made to reporters as he prepared to brief members of the U.N. Security Council, were interpreted by the markets as making war more likely, and oil prices quickly rose.
 
In the nearly seven weeks since inspections resumed in Iraq, he said, "we have been covering the country in ever-wider sweeps, and we haven't found any smoking guns."...

When is Ms. Cheney going to admit she is lying once again to the public and to herself. When will she include all the truth, not just the convenient truths.

There was absolutely nothing there, except, some scud missiles that had a range set beyond the Iraq borders, so the missiles were buried in the sand. Where is that truth? 

Ah, but, Ms. Cheney has the answers when no one else does. She has a group now that will reveal the 'real truth.' The mother of all truths.

Ah, Mr. Cheney does have the real truth in that President Obama is supporting the Muslim Brotherhood. And then there is the horrible truth that President Obama wants to work with the Iranians. My, my, "Iran is as big a threat as al Qaeda." Where does it stop? Where do the lies and fear mongering stop? The allies bailed on Cheney. The Coalition of the Willing. Remember? 

President Obama's desire is to weaken the nation. Hm. Indeed, it is easy to see it was never the Bush/Cheney administration that weakened the nation, it was that sly Kenyan in the White House pulling the strings the entire time.

The near enemy vs. the far enemy (click here)

One of the truly unique and dangerous elements of Al Qaeda’s brand of terrorism is its transnational nature. Bin Laden and many of his followers derided the governments of most Muslim-majority nations, in particular Saudi Arabia and Egypt, as apostates. Yet instead of targeting these governments, often referred to as the “near enemy,” Al Qaeda believed that destroying their U.S. and Western allies, the “far enemy,” would more effectively lead to the downfall of apostate Arab regimes. The group’s transnational aims and focus on the United States made it unique among terrorist organizations and brought jihadist terrorism to American soil.
Over the last decade, the United States has demonstrated the enormous costs associated with making it a target. When coupled with the death of bin Laden, the most effective advocate for this strategy, the near enemy/far enemy balance has shifted decidedly in favor of the near enemy. Al Qaeda affiliates, with the possible exception of AQAP, seem much more concerned about attacking domestic targets as opposed to spending their resources on a much more difficult attack on the other side of the planet.
The Cheneys have a chronic state of denial. 

Whom unleashed the beast by diverting the legitimate war in Afghanistan to Iraq?

Now, whom is sincerely dangerous?

Rural hospitals should never be closed.

The Hill - Burton Grant Act of 1946 (click here) established small community and rural hospitals all over the USA. The US federal government provided matching grants to communities. Those were monies the federal government saw necessary to protect the lives of Americans.

I gave the plight of Pungo Vidant Hospital in Belhaven a good deal of thought yesterday evening and I remembered something. 2010 saw a huge change in Republican state seats in North Carolina. More than had been in power for over one hundred years. North Carolina Republicans are vicious SOBs. There is no nice way to put it. It was later that year when they suspended the acceptance of Medicare at UNC Chapel Hill. Eventually, the hospital leadership persuaded the extremist state legislature to return function back to the citizens relying on UNC Chapel Hill for care. 

Then in 2011 the Republicans lost all respect when they enacted Senate Bill 33—formally known as the Medical Liability Reforms but simply called “tort reform."  It changed procedural rules and laws related to North Carolina’s medical malpractice law. What the law states is no physician carries any liability for deaths in emergency rooms.

I took a ride to several hospitals yesterday in the area. Baptist Wake Forest had a waiting time of over 4 hours. There was a young girl in the waiting room with her mother that had been there for 3 hours. She was having seizures.

The CEO of Baptist hospital is a man by the name of John D. McConnell, MD. The MD is questionable right now. 

In 2008, John D. McConnell, MD, (click here) was named as the first chief executive officer in the history of Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, the largest employer in the Piedmont Triad, including almost 90% of the region's physicians listed among the "Best Doctors in America."...

He sits in a chair in his office, but, from what I have read and observed on newscasts it would seem as though he belongs on a Parrot perch simply because any of his public statements parrots Republican dogma. For carrying out this 'parroting behavior' he has been given a brand new cancer center there on his campus.

Totaling more than 530,000 square feet, (click here) the cancer hospital is the largest cancer facility in the state and consolidates both outpatient and inpatient services into a single location. All inpatient rooms are private and filled with natural light, and include recliners and sleeper sofas to accommodate family members. 

He planned and built this monstrosity with tax payers money and in order to keep the treasury full enough to complete the building of it he laid off hospital personnel.

I think Wake Forest is a private hospital. The NC Republican legislature likes private anything including universities.

Posted: Wednesday, November 14, 2012 9:49 am
Updated: 2:22 pm, Thu Apr 11, 2013.
Richard Craver/Winston-Salem Journal


Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center (click here) has been warning since April that a workforce blow was coming to reflect the new economic realities of operating an academic medical center.
The hammer fell Wednesday when the center said it was eliminating 950 positions, including 475 held by current employees, by June 30 – the end of its 2012-13 fiscal year.
The restructuring is “designed to position the institution for success aligned with the challenges of health-care reform, federal budget deficits and a decline in research funding from The National Institutes of Health and private industry,” according to a statement from the center Wednesday....
CEO McConnell blames the Obama administration for all this trouble the people of Winston-Salem is experiencing and never the fact McCrory has his Republican state government refusing the Medicaid Expansion.

Vidant Health is the Trauma Center for Eastern North Carolina. Eastern North Carolina has a huge coastline. The size of the area is appreciated when realizing the state actually has two coastlines; the Intercoastal Waterway (click here), the actual state coastline and the coast line of the Outer Banks.
Vidant Health is insufficient to carry the responsibilities for the coastal needs of the state, especially considering the chances of tourists being injured while at the beach. It was Vidant Health that purchased and closed Pungo Vidant Hospital in Belhaven.

McCrory is real happy there is a hurricane coming, because he gets to call the people of North Carolina names.

Submitted by WWAY on Wed, 07/02/2014 - 1:52pm

..."Don't put your stupid hat on," (click here) McCrory said during a news conference at the New Hanover County Emergency Operations Center this afternoon. "Usually most injuries occur right before a storm or right after a storm, so especially on the coastal area, we want to make sure people don't try out the great waves before the storm comes, even though they are good waves. We don't want you to go into the ocean."...

If Governor McCrory believes there are people in the path of a hurricane and believes they are too stupid to take shelter, if there is any shelters, he should not have cut the state's education budget.

The Governor of North Carolina is rightfully calling attention to the hurricane as it makes it's way up the coast, but, besides enjoying his name calling of the people of his state, he is relieved attention can be diverted from his corrupt administration with all kinds of problems manifesting across the state, including water pollution and now it would seem a health care crisis with 'for profit' health organizations closing hospitals.

Pat McCrory is a perfect storm as a governor. He likes the state legislature and mostly goes along with their hideous priorities. He disagrees with them enough to maintain an image for re-election.

Pungo Vidant Hospital in Belhaven was closed even with 'human rights' cries of protecting human life. Why? Because Vidant doesn't have to worry about the deaths of the people in Belhaven because there is no financial liability to the health care organization when people die because of their decision.

I had lived in North Carolina for 11 years. One of the pride and joys of the state were the state of the art hospitals, world class physicians, world class state university system and it's compassion for the poor. At one time North Carolina was second to California for the preservation of wildlife and the appreciation for forests and coastal habitat. 

Since 2010, the North Carolina legislature along with a self-righteous governor has become a detriment to the people, corrupt to the core of the state's government, immoral to values of human health and human life and a hazard to the state's economy.

Pungo Vidant Hospital in Belhaven needs someone like Former Senator and UNC System President Erskine Bowels and Former Senator John Edwards to advocate and file a lawsuit against Vidant and the State of North Carolina for endangering human life with their reckless laws and indifference to the people of the state.

North Carolina has become dangerous and CEO's like John McConnell is a prime example of it. People will die in North Carolina emergency rooms and quite possibly before they reach the emergency room and it won't matter to anyone.

The State of North Carolina is currently run by ideologues. Why? Because they have no ideas, can't think worth a damn and get away with murder because they pass laws permitting it.

North Carolina (click here) Gov. Pat McCrory laughs as he shakes hands with Mitt Romney on Aug. 12, 2012, in High Point, N.C. Somewhere offstage, Art Pope is pulling the strings....

2013 proved to be a tumultuous year (click here) in North Carolina politics, and a leading journalist's TV show will examine the battles underway in a documentary that will begin airing this week -- and that draws on research by the Institute for Southern Studies, publisher of Facing South....