Rice Calls Brutal Oil-Rich Dictator a ‘Good Friend’
Rice Calls Brutal Oil-Rich Dictator a ‘Good Friend’
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, two weeks ago, lamenting how energy politics ‘warp’ foreign policy:
“I can tell you that nothing has really taken me aback more as secretary of state than the way that the politics of energy is — I will use the word ‘warping’ — diplomacy around the world,” said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on April 5.
Condoleezza Rice, last week, sharing a photo-op with Equatorial Guinean President Teodoro Obiang Nguema. Nguema is “one of the most brutal, most corrupt and unreconstructed dictators in the world”; he also controls the third-largest oil reserves in Africa:
The Washington Post noted this morning, “The meeting with Mr. Obiang was presumably a reward for his hospitable treatment of U.S. oil firms, though we cannot be sure since the State Department declined our invitation to comment.”
Unfortunately, Rice’s backslapping with a vicious dictator is nothing new:
In 2003, the Bush administration reopened the embassy [in Equatorial Guinea], a move sharply criticized by human rights groups as a favor to the oil companies and to Obiang. Frank Ruddy, U.S. ambassador to Equatorial Guinea in the mid-1980s, decries current U.S. policy, saying that Bush administration officials are “big cheerleaders for the government — and it’s an awful government.â€
Read more in this excellent Mother Jones profile.
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92 Responses to “Rice Calls Brutal Oil-Rich Dictator a ‘Good Friend’”
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He may be a brutal dictator, but he dresses very well.
April 18th, 2006 at 1:01 pmOil whores — the lot of them.
April 18th, 2006 at 1:02 pmAs long as he is the US’s dog he can stay in power.
April 18th, 2006 at 1:04 pmDon’t they look cute together. Don’t you think that if she had her own country, she’d be just like Obiang? What an evil bitch.
April 18th, 2006 at 1:04 pmThe US has installed or propped up so many brutal dictatorships we have lost count. Saddam being one of them!
April 18th, 2006 at 1:10 pmAccording to the CIA,
President Teodoro OBIANG NGUEMA MBASOGO has ruled the country for over two decades since seizing power from his uncle, then President Francisco MACIAS, in a 1979 coup. Although nominally a constitutional democracy since 1991, the 1996 and 2002 presidential elections - as well as the 1999 and 2004 legislative elections - were widely seen as flawed.
The president exerts almost total control over the political system and has discouraged political opposition.
April 18th, 2006 at 1:12 pmRepublicans never met a dictator or third world thug they didn’t like.
First they support, then they hate. Osama, Saddam, Noriega, Pinochett…
April 18th, 2006 at 1:23 pmHe is rich and her knees are dirty, Bush and the shooter are jealous.
April 18th, 2006 at 1:25 pmHey, maybe Teo and Condi go back like frootloops and hoolahoops, ya’ll don’t know…
April 18th, 2006 at 1:26 pmit looks like love to me!!
April 18th, 2006 at 1:32 pmYeah, but did he ever have a supertanker named after him?
April 18th, 2006 at 1:34 pmIt’s not just any kind of love. It’s that special kind of Republican love.
Ick. Ack.
April 18th, 2006 at 1:35 pmCAPTION CONTEST:
After a close race, Rice pulled ahead of Nguema in the smiling contest with her patented move ‘The Gap.’
April 18th, 2006 at 1:35 pmJesus…Ronnie Reagan & Bush41 loved Saddam Hussein prior to his invasion of Kuwait.
Go figure. Them goal posts, they ain’t in concrete.
April 18th, 2006 at 1:38 pmWhy is anyone surprised by this?
April 18th, 2006 at 1:43 pmThis is a replay from the Carter and Clinton years. We can’t play with our friends because they’re mean to other people, so the only playmates we have left are - our enemies!
This is called cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face, a game the Left loves to play. The trouble is, the Left is playing with the fire that heats my home and fuels my car and keeps my family safe and sound.
The irony is that oil rich dictiators like Nguema are kept in power, not by the Right, but by the Left’s slavish opposition to the safe, cheap, clean alternatives of nuclear energy and domestic oil & gas production. If the Left had not blocked every significant energy initiative in the last 25 years (that is, since “The China Syndrome”), we would not be in the position of seeking oil from third world dictators.
Tell you what, progs, I’ll trade ya: You can have your two-bit oil rich tinpot dictators if we can build enough nuclear plants in America to become an energy exporter. Then we will be able to pick and choose our playmates more according to your tastes.
April 18th, 2006 at 1:48 pmSo much for promoting Democracy around the world.
April 18th, 2006 at 1:49 pmThe look on Nguema’s face is like..”Did Bush give me this woman? And I allowed to keep her for some oil? What is going on?”
April 18th, 2006 at 1:53 pmI think it’s telling that he looks distressed to the point of being physically ill at shaking hands with Condi, while she’s happy as a clam.
April 18th, 2006 at 1:53 pmThe look on Nguema’s face is like..â€Did Bush give me this woman? And I allowed to keep her for some oil? What is going on?â€
Comment by dlet — April 18, 2006 @ 1:53 pm
Funny :)
April 18th, 2006 at 1:56 pmThe president exerts almost total control over the political system and has discouraged political opposition.A - - Oh, so he’s a protege of Bush.
April 18th, 2006 at 1:57 pm#20 -
April 18th, 2006 at 1:57 pmWho’s is ruining who’s reputation?
F**k the people as long as we get the oil :(
“A badly-scarred man told me how the president’s soldiers cut his ears off with scissors.”
“What has struck me is President Obiang’s apparent lack of concern about his image overseas.
Before the 2002 elections I asked him why so much public oil money had apparently disappeared.
This, he said simply, was a state secret. He did not have to tell anyone where it had gone.”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3516588.stm
April 18th, 2006 at 2:00 pmGag me with a gas pump nozzle.
April 18th, 2006 at 2:01 pmLet’s see, Bush & Co. are hyping the need for war with Iran based upon hyped intelligence. Sound familiar? And instead of meeting with Iranian leaders, who wanted to meet with us back in 2003, Bush has farmed out diplomacy with Iran to Europe, Russia and China and Condi, who should be in Iran or Iraq trying to prevent war and chaos, was just in Equatorial Guinea chatting up a dictator, who just happens to be friendly to US oil companies.
April 18th, 2006 at 2:04 pmWell, maybe she knows him from her days working for Chevron. The whole admin are oil whores…Harkin, Haliburton, Chevron
April 18th, 2006 at 2:07 pmGone are the days when the United States had the image of being the moral good guys in the world. Slowly, ever so slowly, we are awakening to the fact that we have been the bullies of the world. And the price for our greed has been the blood of innocent people.
“safe, cheap, clean alternatives of nuclear energy…” yeah. tell that to the people who lived near Cherynobyl…or Three Mile Island.
What about putting together our capacity for good old Yankee ingenuity and creating a national mass-transit system that works and developing solar energy and renewable energy resources?
April 18th, 2006 at 2:10 pmBLUE STATE RED…. ever hear of solar power? how does oil keep you safe and sound? you are less safe now than any time since ww2! time to give up that addiction to oil and prevent your children from becoming addicts also!
April 18th, 2006 at 2:11 pmExplain how oil from a dictator keeps you “safe and sound”.
April 18th, 2006 at 2:12 pmWhy doesn’t she like him? Birds of the same feather.
April 18th, 2006 at 2:18 pmThis is an unjustified attack on Kinda Sleazy Rice. What she did here is nothing different from what America has always done even before Kina Sleazy was nothing more that a glint in her father’s eye.
Dealing with dictators offers long term stability and dictators are much easier to deal with than dealing with the vagaries of transient democratic governments. Is that not the reason we have crushed more than 30 populist-nationalist movements fighting against intolerable regimes in just the last 50 years? You would not be wrong to describe this as an American value. 2% of the world’s population would not be able to corner 25% of the world’s recourses any other way.
That principle remains the same irrespective of which puppet (Red or Blue) occupies the White House so can we please stop blaming Kinda Sleazy and Bush for this one?
April 18th, 2006 at 2:19 pm#17 We don’t trade with snake oil salesmen, BSR. Peddle your crap elsewhere, we aren’t buying. Geez, you trolls have no clarity and can’t get over two of the most intelligent, intellectual presidents we have had.
You keep voting for 91 IQ points and tell us how that goes. I myself have always been a sucker for an intelligent man.
I loves me some Clinton now. And Carter, love a man that tells the truth to GOD!!
April 18th, 2006 at 2:25 pmThe members of the régime that cuddles up to Islam “Boil-in-Bag” Karimov and condemns Hugo Chavez are the last people who should be lecturing others on “moral clarity”.
April 18th, 2006 at 2:28 pmHey, don’t you know that you can only compare dictators to Hitler if they are not pliable with our wishes! After all, Saddam only became Hitler when he started eyeing Kuwait, and the Iranian guy is Hitler now only because he is not as pliable as, oh, say the Shah. Get it straight! :)
April 18th, 2006 at 2:29 pmHere is a list of OPEC members. Maybe we’re trying to get him a seat. Has anyone asked the President why we deal with OPEC anyway.?I thought that if they were a company doing business in this country all the directors would be jailed on colusion and price fixing? http://www.solcomhouse.com/OPEC.htm
April 18th, 2006 at 2:37 pmNotice the full quote is absent. Context is everything unless your not interested in truth.
“I think it’s telling that he looks distressed to the point of being physically ill at shaking hands with Condi, while she’s happy as a clam.”
Comment by Aaaargh — April 18, 2006 @ 1:53 pm
FYI not that it matters but the guy has terminal cancer.
April 18th, 2006 at 2:46 pmI thought that was called a stye?
April 18th, 2006 at 2:49 pmI’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again:
HER MOUTH IS BIG ENOUGH TO SPEAK OUT OF BOTH SIDES.
April 18th, 2006 at 2:49 pmTroll, I’ll have to be honest that is absolutely the lamest attempt at a rebutal I have ever read. That’s it? We are supposed to pity this man because he has cancer? What truth are we talking about? You must listen to Rush Limbaugh in your sleep.
April 18th, 2006 at 2:51 pmI said not that it matters didnt I? It was simply information.
April 18th, 2006 at 2:52 pm“What truth are we talking about?”
Comment by the fly-man — April 18, 2006 @ 2:51 pm
The full quote truth.
April 18th, 2006 at 2:54 pm[…] In other totalitarian-regime, human-rights-violating news, Condi Rice loves Africa. […]
April 18th, 2006 at 2:56 pmTroll, sorta like Bill Bennet threw out his hypothetical about aborting black babies. He thought it was abhorent but he still said it, you mean like that technique?You preface with that it didn’t matter, than why say it?
April 18th, 2006 at 2:56 pmTroll, speaking of full quote Truths here is one for ya. http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/006893.php
April 18th, 2006 at 3:00 pmbend over condi and take one for the team….
April 18th, 2006 at 3:02 pmFly Man why dont you change the subject.
April 18th, 2006 at 3:08 pmThe full quote truth.
Comment by troll — April 18, 2006 @ 2:54 pm
There are several quotes in the topic of the thread, which one are you talking about?
April 18th, 2006 at 3:12 pm“Good friend”
April 18th, 2006 at 3:14 pmAdd Uzbekistan to the list.
April 18th, 2006 at 3:22 pm“Good friendâ€
Comment by troll — April 18, 2006 @ 3:14 pm
So, you think that the quote was taken out of context and misrepresented what Rice said? Fine then, let’s have the quote in full context:
SECRETARY RICE: Good morning. Welcome. I’m very pleased to welcome the President of Equatorial Guinea, President Obiang. We will have a full set of discussions about our bilateral relationship, about some innovative social programs that USAID is involved with and about the range of regional issues that we both confront. So thank you very much for your presence here. You are a good friend and we welcome you
Remarks With Equatorial Guinean President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo Before Their Meeting
Rice was “pleased to welcome” Equatorial Guinea’s strong man and called him a “good friend”.
Now please explain how the title misrepresented what Rice said.
April 18th, 2006 at 3:23 pmMiss Snake Eyes is the most incompetent person in this administration barring Rumsfeld. She is following his lead. This is the same way Rummy cut a deal with Saddam back in the day.
April 18th, 2006 at 3:42 pm#17, speaking of safe nuclear energy:
“Greenpeace said Tuesday in a new report that more than 90,000 people were likely to die of cancers caused by radiation from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster…” That’s just a bit higher than the 4k that the U.N. predicted.
http://news.yahoo.com/ fc/ world/ nuclear_power_and_waste
April 18th, 2006 at 3:47 pmOf course BSR omits that the oil industries and the auto industries have worked overtime to prevent any effective legislation to bring about fuel efficiency for cars.
Carter had implemented numerous programs to promote alternative fuel sources that were quickly squashed once Reagan and the first of the Bush Family Oil Dynasty set foot in the Whitehouse.
-GSD
April 18th, 2006 at 4:05 pmGregor,
Wrote “Now please explain how the title misrepresented what Rice said.”
Comment by Gregor Samsa — April 18, 2006 @ 3:23 pm
I had merely drawn attention to the fact the context was absent. I had no evidence that it misrepresented what rice said but I was suspicious. Thanks for finding the full quote.
April 18th, 2006 at 4:37 pmAmerican foreign policy has always been aggressive,even when we didn’t have the power to project that policy. The Monroe Doctrine is a good example. Later on the ventures in the Phillipines,Dominican Republic,Mexico,Haiti, I doubt you could find a 10 year period in our history when we weren’t involved in some escapade to enhance our trade,expand our borders or both.
April 18th, 2006 at 4:47 pmThere are no permanent friends,there are no permanent enemies,there are only permanent interests.
Comment by TJM — April 18, 2006 @ 4:47 pm
That the way it is. Clinton gave China MFN status. Its diplomacy. We may not always like it or understand what the’re up to but oh well.
April 18th, 2006 at 5:05 pm[…] Think Progress […]
April 18th, 2006 at 5:12 pmCondi Rice loves Black dictators as long as they are stooges for the Oil Cartels, like she is! Condi would also like “Papa Doc” Duvalier of Haiti if he was still alive > lol.
April 18th, 2006 at 5:13 pmA VICIOUS BRUTAL DICTATOR?
WHY DIDN’T YOU SAY SO?
IT’S TIME TO INVADE!!!!!!
April 18th, 2006 at 6:15 pmUm, yeah…..
Carter is one thing.
CLINTON is a globalist corporatist whore just like W.
April 18th, 2006 at 6:23 pmI mean, damn, Clinton IS W with better speaking skills.
Just like M. Moore said, “Clinton is the best Republican president we ever had.”
Rice Calls Oil-Rich Dictator “Good Friend”…
“Third-largest oil reserves in Africa? Hiya, pal!”…
April 18th, 2006 at 7:01 pmGone are the days when the United States had the image of being the moral good guys in the world. Slowly, ever so slowly, we are awakening to the fact that we have been the bullies of the world. And the price for our greed has been the blood of innocent people.
“safe, cheap, clean alternatives of nuclear energy…†yeah. tell that to the people who lived near Cherynobyl…or Three Mile Island.
What about putting together our capacity for good old Yankee ingenuity and creating a national mass-transit system that works and developing solar energy and renewable energy resources?
This is one of the most succinct examples of what is wrong with the Left today. Back when I was a card-carrying liberal there was a distinct sense that America was a forecs for good in the world, despite its flaws, and that it could only improve itself through adherence to its founding principles of human and economic freedom - which, by the way, were still recognized then as self-evident natural rights.
That kind of classic liberalism is now a spent force. The PC crowd moved in circa 1970, and they have been preaching from the “Ugly America” bible ever since. At the top of the Left’s enemies list is Amercian capitlaism and the technology it provides to the betterment of the whole world.
Ignorance of human history and human nature, is one of the chief hallmarks of this world view. Despite our national flaws, the United States is without peer in terms of our national generosity and sacrifice on behalf of the world, especially those regions afflicted by war, famine, pestilence and death. We often have filled needs that other nations have ignored. We often have sacrificed blood and treasure for interests far beyond our own parochial concerns. And this giving spirit is expressed as much by our private citizens as by our national government.
Without the steady advance of human technology, spurred on by the profit motive, none of this would be possible. To paraphrase a famous bumper sticker, governments don’t create prosperity; people create prosperity. It has ever been thus.
As far as energy production goes, anyone who has actually studied the problem knows that conservation (e.g., mass transit) and renewable energy are limited resources at best, given the scope of the problem [not to mention the fact that the environmental troglodytes of the world instictively block mass transit proposals and oppose renewable energy projects, such as the Mojave Desert solar power project and the New England caostal wind generator project].
As far as nuclear power is concerned, anyone who links Three Mile Island and Chernobyl is really showing their ignorance. The Chernobyl and TMI facilities were two completeley different technologies. The Chernobyl plant in 1986 was a poorly [government] designed reactor, using obsolete technology without any containment unit in the event of the inevitable disaster, which caused over 50 deaths. TMI was a relatively modern facility in 1979, with a containment unit that functioned properly, according to its design, without any injury or loss of human life. In fact, there never has been any incident associated with the the operation of a U.S. nuclear plant that has caused significant injury or death.
It is important that, in almost every discussion of our future energy needs, President Bush consistently has advocated the resumption of our nuclear energy program. The sooner we begin to followwhis leadership the better, for the environment, for the nation, and for our national and economic security. Only American ingenuity, motivated by American economic incentives, can solve this vexing problem.
April 18th, 2006 at 7:19 pmMore on Rice’s Good Friend, Equatorial Guinean President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo:
SECRETARY RICE: (snip) So thank you very much for your presence here. You are a good friend and we welcome you.
PARADE’s Annual List Of…The World’s 10 Worst Dictators
10) Teodoro Obiang Nguema, Equatorial Guinea. Age 63. In power since 1979. Last year’s rank: 10
Obiang took power in this tiny West African nation by overthrowing his uncle more than 25 years ago. According to a United Nations inspector, torture is the normal means of investigation in Equatorial Guinea.
There is no freedom of speech, and there are no bookstores or newsstands. The one private radio station is owned by Obiang’s son. Since major oil reserves were discovered in Equatorial Guinea in 1995, Obiang has deposited more than $700 million into special accounts in U.S. banks. Meanwhile, most of his people live on less than $1 a day
April 18th, 2006 at 7:41 pmBLUE STATE RED…. lets not build the reactors on earthquake faults okay? as in california? Goober has no clearly defined policy for ANYTHING!!! the war in Iraq was poorly planned and poorly executed. now he is mired in his own administrations foul play and will spend the rest of his presidency protecting those friends of his in big business. so when he retires he can lead the life of leisure building his Library (can he read??) and we will al be left to pay of the humungous deficit and try to repair the international damage he has done!
April 18th, 2006 at 8:53 pmCarter and Clinton? Funny, I wasn’t reminded of them at all. On the other hand…
April 18th, 2006 at 9:40 pm[…] Heh. Us midwestern yokels must not be imperial enough. Frankly, I’m not sure if having the RNC come here next year is a good thing or not. It’d be a nice boost to the city’s economy, and it’d give local liberals something juicy to protest, which could be good for some fun. Then again, would you invite Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo’s buddies over? […]
April 19th, 2006 at 8:32 am#61, No, not yet time to invade. First we support, nurture, even suck off. Then if the brutal dictator gets “uppity” … THEN we invade.
April 19th, 2006 at 10:07 amCONVERSATION:
“CONDI, ON YOUR NEXT VISIT, YOU MUST TRY HUMAN BRAIN. IT IS A RARE DELICACY.”
“I LOOK FORWARD TO IT, YOUR EXCELLENCY.”
April 19th, 2006 at 11:27 am#62 Have some more beer. I give 100 Bushs for 1 Clinton any day. I really don’t like stupid men. And damn, republicans sure are unattractive. Is it the anger that ages and wrinkles the faces?
April 19th, 2006 at 11:29 am[…] Rice Calls Brutal Oil-Rich Dictator a ‘Good Friend’ […]
April 19th, 2006 at 1:28 pmI may be the only one commenting here that has actually met the “leader” of Equatorial Guinea. In 1983, while on a diplomatic cruise (I am retired Navy), one of the portds that we visited was Malabo, the capital of Equatorial Guinea. Before we pulled in to port, we were given our customary State Department briefing. Warnings were issued that we should not play our “boomboxes” loud enough for people on shore to hear. If we did play our boomboxes we were not to play Beatles music.
Later that night I attended a reception hosted by the Ambassador and President Obiang. After the usual introductions and toasting I found myself standing next to President Obiang and decided to ask him about the Beatles music. He told me that during the reign of his uncle old, infirmed, and political enemies had been hereded into the soccer stadium and tortured and shot all to the blaring sounds of Beatles music. After this revelation, President Obiang told me, “These things will never happen again while I am President.”
Then oil was discovered in the mid Nineties. Now, if you visit Equitorial Guinea, the oil comapnies have walled compounds for their employees and they employee what amounts to private armies to protect the precious oil. The President and his family have taken almost all of the oil money for themselves while the populace is still trying to live on less then $10 per day for a family of four. When I was there in 1983 they were making $4 per day per family of four. While this may seem like quite a raise, find out a little more about Pres. Obiang and his family. His son has homes in France and elsewhere around Europe. The estimat of how much they have taken from the people is in the Billions.
So I am not surprised that Condi is sidling up to this dictator. All you have to do is follow the oil.
April 19th, 2006 at 1:40 pm#73,,,, thanks for the insight! makes the pic above even more disgusting!!!
April 19th, 2006 at 2:58 pmOur illustrious Secretary of State is apparently impressed by the way this man runs his country, giving him the seal of approval on behalf of us American citizens. Of course, the only difference between Nguema and Saddam Hussein is Nguema is friendly to our oil companies. You know, the ones that are making record profits as the US economy begins it’s slow decline. This administration considers oil profits for a handful of billionaires to be a goal higher than human rights. I wish that was just a reactionary statement, but unfortunately it’s a fact…
April 19th, 2006 at 4:49 pmHe may be a murderous throat slitting Negro but he’s our murderous throat slitting Negro. Ya’ll have your own in Jackson, Sharpton and Queezy Muffoony. Besides, if you’re going to do business in darkest Africa this is the kind of man you’re gong to deal with because that’s all they’ve got.
April 19th, 2006 at 5:21 pmSo I am not surprised that Condi is sidling up to this dictator. All you have to do is follow the oil.
Comment by Retired Navy Senior Chief
I’m cool with it as long as we don’t sell them any machetes. What’s your problem Chief? Tired of driving?
April 19th, 2006 at 5:26 pm[…] Why does the Bush administration claim to be waging war to promote freedom and democracy, while embracing brutal dictators simply because they are friendly to US oil companies? […]
April 19th, 2006 at 5:47 pm#17, speaking of safe nuclear energy:
“Greenpeace said Tuesday in a new report that more than 90,000 people were likely to die of cancers caused by radiation from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster…†That’s just a bit higher than the 4k that the U.N. predicted.
As a matter of fact, according to Patrick Moore, co-founder of Greenpeace, “the U.N. Chernobyl Forum reported last year that 56 deaths could be directly attributed to the accident, most of those from radiation or burns suffered while fighting the fire. Tragic as those deaths were, they pale in comparison to the more than 5,000 coal-mining deaths that occur worldwide every year.”
For more nuclear power mythbusting information google Patrick Moore and Nuclear Energy, or contact Mr. Moore at pmoore@greenspirit.com.
That is, if you have an open mind on the subject.
April 19th, 2006 at 6:11 pmOf course BSR omits that the oil industries and the auto industries have worked overtime to prevent any effective legislation to bring about fuel efficiency for cars.
Man, you progs really are ignorant about capitalism. Of course oil companies try to block potentiual competitors. ALL corporations try to defeat potential competitors in one way or another. But if the environmental obstructionists would advocate nuclear power and lobby the public and Congress for reduced regulatory restrictions, market forces would soon overcome such problems. Sooner or later some bright venture capitalist would take advantage of the favorable new regulatory climate to begin planning more nuclear plants in this country.
That day would be the beginning of our road to energy independence, a cleaner environment, a more stable economy, and reduced international conflict. All it would take is some intelligent thinking about environmental matters.
April 19th, 2006 at 6:18 pmBy the way, as if to prove my point that liberals are the problem, not the solution to our energy woes, Tom Friedman of the NY Times was on the Today Show rooting for $100 a barrel oil. His theory is that this will cause enough conservation to bring oil back down to $20 a barrel.
What a crock! With the Indian economy growing, and with the Chinese economy adding 20 to 30 million new middle classers (that is, duplicating the French economy) annually, there is no way that Amercia, already one of the leading conservation countries, can out conserve the demand for oil in the developing world. The onjly solution is nuclear power, which we can create in abundance, safely, cleanly and relatively cheaply - if only we have the politcial will to do so.
April 19th, 2006 at 7:03 pmBLUE STATE RED…. do you work for GE???? and Friendman is right. according to many economists the only way to get people out of their Hummers and SUV”S is to make gas so expensive they cant afford to fill those big ass tanks!!!
April 19th, 2006 at 7:17 pmIRI…. be careful you are sounding like a racist bigot! you might want to keep that trait hidden while posting or no one will listen to you!
April 19th, 2006 at 7:22 pmIRI…. be careful you are sounding like a racist bigot! you might want to keep that trait hidden while posting or no one will listen to you!
Comment by meg_mac
Don’t be silly. These people are smart enough to know that pointing out the obvious cultural flaws in a people doesn’t necessarily mean that one is particularly biased against that culture or for that matter people who have come from that background and raised themselves or been forced to rise above it. I enjoy and appreciate the diversity of peoples God has seen fit to put on this earth and I’m all for American cultural diversity. Just as long as the Chinks, Spades, Spics, Hebes and Irish think like I do it’s all good for me. The losers here know that so don’t fret none about my popularity. K?
April 19th, 2006 at 10:03 pmIRI… i wasnt talking about your popularity! i was talking about your veracity. and it’s at about -1000 right now. please get real and lets talk substinitive! if all you have is these silly teenage comments it’s just no fun!! and if we are losers here what does that make you?
April 19th, 2006 at 10:14 pm[…] This presidency, and Congress for that matter is ripe for a science fiction plot where conservatives have managed to switch the electrodes on the reality machine, weakness is the new strength, losing is winning, a spinning bottle determines which despotic regimes they'll do business with and which one's they'll bomb, tax breaks that benefit mostly the wealthy are good for America, toxic air is good for children, values are like buying a used car they're negotiable. […]
April 20th, 2006 at 3:28 amIRI… i wasnt talking about your popularity! i was talking about your veracity.
Comment by meg_mac
What makes you think I’m not being honest when I call a spade a spade?
and it’s at about -1000 right now.
It could be that you and I are having a problem in communication
please get real and lets talk substinitive!
You have to catch me in the mood to totally waste my time to find me treating the losers around here like adults. I’ve tried it and it’s just too damn hard when you have to explain to them what it is you’re trying to explain to them. IOW most of the time we’re not on the same page or even in the same book. I get frustrated easily with dummies
if all you have is these silly teenage comments it’s just no fun!! Whadaya mean it’s no fun. I get high marks around here for my wit and wisdom!
and if we are losers here what does that make you?
Somebody who has a soft spot in his heart for losers?
April 20th, 2006 at 10:14 amIRI…. i think it makes you a groupie! you like to hang around here because you idolize the people here but know you will never be a ’star’
April 20th, 2006 at 12:29 pmIRI…. i think it makes you a groupie! you like to hang around here because you idolize the people here but know you will never be a ’star’
Comment by meg_mac
Sugar, I am the star, that’s why Judd keeps me around.
April 20th, 2006 at 2:14 pmNguema and his uncles regimes murdered my family.
April 24th, 2006 at 3:07 pmNguema and his uncle’s regimes stole our land and everything we owned.
April 24th, 2006 at 3:40 pm[…] The Bush Administration’s War on Irony continues. […]
May 19th, 2006 at 11:28 ami go to school with his 2 sons in highschool!…its very sad…
June 16th, 2006 at 5:12 pmI dont understand this all, she and the US cosy up to a brutal dictator, why for oil, for a taste of money.
And the things that both sides are prepared to do to get it. That is what I dont understand.
I mean in the final analysis, what’s the point, Everyone is going to die. Even the brutal dictator, apparently he has cancer.
Does the oil help that, did the money, did all of the US buddies, nothing can stop the inevability of that.
Maybe people should stop thinking about “for the moment”.
And inevability, they are all going to die, we all are. Maybe its time to create, instead of destroy. Because this man and bush leave no real legacy to anyone, except a memory of they did nothing much.
The only presidency that anyone remembers is where the person did good for the whole country. and if i am not mistaken (though it seems to be forgoten) is that what they were elected for. Not just a money grab.
In summary, there really is not much that has sigificantly changed since the days of the “fedual lords”, except now they “call” it a democracy.
But lets not be too democratic, shall we, let introduce id cards into the US, that have your fingerprints, and retinal scans on the cards. And lets also plan to ammend the laws to allow stop and search.
After all the constitution is just a goddam piece of paper (bush’s words.)
And we want to keep tabs on everyone, just to know who’s doing what, and who causes trouble, by speaking against us.
Only a person of low intelligence and dubious moral character, would call it the patriot bill, the bill that has taken more freedoms away than any other legiisation in the US’s history.
In the long run, there cant be and will not be any salvation for the human race or progress for that matter, as long as these kind of people are in charge.
And how the hell did they get there. If we dont act soon, it will be too late, not only for us, for for our children, and their children, and i mean everyones.
All of the above are sadly facts, oh, i did forget to mention they would like to implant a chip in you, you know to monitor you. Guess who owns part of the company, and they are testing it on grunts (we aint got no choice soldiers). Dont believe?
http://www.verichipcorp.com/
look ah who’s using it, i see a lot of oil companies, and why did they take the military off the site?
July 17th, 2006 at 5:42 pm