Do We Really Want Another Dick Cheney?

The Washington Post's story about the pressure that Sarah Palin and her husband put on a gubenatorial appointee to fire her former brother-in-law brings back memories of Cheney's involvement with the CIA in the run-up to the Iraq War.

Visit after visit over to Langley insisting on that the CIA analysts check and re-check their information because he was convinced that they were wrong. Secret energy task force meetings behind closed doors dominated by big oil companies. Contracts for Iraq reconstruction given to political donors and allies. Angry and snide references about political opponents. A breath-taking assertion of the supposed power of the vice-presidency.

Yep, Sarah Palin has the potential to be a prettier, if not as intelligent, Dick Cheney. To quote a woman who is also a Democratic operative, "What's the difference between Dick Cheney and Sarah Palin? Lipstick."

Republican Senator Chuck Hagel Calls for Direct Talks with Iran

The Washington Note, a blog run by Steve Clemons, reports today, October 31, 2007, that Republican Senator Chuck Hagel, R-NB, sent a letter to Bush calling for direct and uncontional talks with Iran. He copied the Secretaries of Defense and State, and the National Security Advisor. He apparently did not copy the Vice-President.

In this letter, which the Washington Note has reprinted on its site and which Cleamons says he did not get from Hagel or his staff, Hagel tells Bubble-Boy that:

Unless there is a strategic shift, I believe we will find ourselves in a dangerous and increasingly isolated position in the coming months. I do not see how the collective actions that we are now taking will produce the results that we seek. If this continues, our ability to sustain a united international front will weaken as countries grow uncertain over our motives and unwilling to risk open confrontation with Iran, and we are left with fewer and fewer policy options.

Now is the time for the United States to active consider when and how to offer direct, unconditional, and comprehensive talks with Iran. The offer should be made even as we continue to work with our allies on financial pressure, in the UN Security Council on a third sanctions resolution, and in the region to support those Middle East countries who share our concerns with Iran. The November report by IAEA Director General ElBaradei to the IAEA Board of Governors could provide an opportunity to advance the offer of bilateral talks.

Of course, this approach is not what The Duck Hunter wants and so we fully expect that Hagel's suggestion will be rejected, if not explicitly, then implicitly. It is a good reminder, though, that not every Republican has drank the Bush Kool-Aid.

Halliburton Moves Headquarters to Dubai

Halliburton is moving its headquarters from Houston to Dubai. This is just another example of how multi-national corporations don't see themselves as American companies, even though they are incorporated in the United States. They see themselves as international companies whose operations are not in America but world-wide, even though most of their employees are Americans and even though they want help and contracts from the American government.

Well, here is a thought: if they don't seem themselves as American companies, why should we? More importantly why should the American government keep helping them out with contracts, sweetheart tax provisions, and other perks? Isn't it past time to start thinking of them the way they think of themselves? Isn't it past time to give them the same consideration they give American workers and taxpayers, which is to say, none?

These people aren't loyal to any one country, they are loyal to themselves and since so much of their compensation is paid in share options, to their shareholders. They don't care about this country except to make money off of it. They are perfectly to fund Republican candidates like Bubble-Boy and Dick "The Duck Hunter" Cheney who will protect their interests while shipping jobs and capital overseas. They are perfectly willing to have American troops in Iraq so they can access its oil fields but don't want their own kids serving in BB's ill-advised war. In short, they are perfect examples of the "me-first", piggish attitude that characterizes this administration and its supporters.