WP (A01): Document Says Oil Chiefs Met With Cheney Task Force

Lots of people have gone to jail over that kind of stuff!

I wonder how many of these "oil executives" are willing to go to jail for this admin? Betcha NONE!

I wondered why Stevens was SO vehement about that. This explains it. No oath, no perjury.

Man, this is getting interesting.

That is obstruction of justice.

Anybody gonna do anything about it?

investigated asap.

But I bet they just fine them. It'll be pocket change for these grotesquely rich assholes.

from

OPEC AND THE ECONOMIC CONQUEST OF IRAQ
Why Iraq Still sells its oil à la cartel
Twilight of the neocon gods
Harper's
Monday, October 24, 2005
by Greg Palast

"In plotting the destruction of OPEC, the neocons failed to predict the virulent resistance of insurgent forces: the U.S. oil industry itself. From the outset of the planning for war, U.S. oil executives had thrown in their lot with the pragmatists at the State Department and the National Security Council. Within weeks of the first inaugural, prominent Iraqi expatriates-many with ties to U.S. industry-were invited to secret discussions directed by Pamela Quanrud, an NSC economics expert now employed at State. "It quickly became an oil group," one participant, Falah Aljibury, told me. Aljibury, an adviser to Amerada Hess's oil trading arm and to investment banking giant Goldman Sachs, who once served as a back channel between the United States and Iraq during the Reagan and George H. W. Bush administrations, cut ties to the Hussein regime following the invasion of Kuwait."

http://www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=471&row=0

are grounds to impeach him by themselves.

Lately it seems that the DOJ and Congress may be looking at more than mere perjury charges with respect to the Administration's handling of the Iraq War. Enter Democrat Sen. Lautenberg (D-NJ) who asked Big Oil CEOs in early November, 2005, whether they or their companies participated in Vice President Cheney's Energy Task Force in 2001. It turns out that they probably lied about their involvement.

Big Oil CEOs May Have Made False Statements to Congress About Involvement in Cheney's Secret Energy Panel.

You can't lie to Congress (No No). That is a crime under the "False Statements" statute, 18 U.S.C. §1001, which states that even individuals who are not under oath violate federal law if they provide false statements or information to Congress.

Background of Cheney's Energy Task Force (Pre-9/11) and the Initial Effort to Compel Disclosure
In the Early days of the Bush administration and prior to May of 2001, Vice President Cheney participated in a study by the National Energy Policy Development Group (NEPDG).

Details of the study and its participants were kept confidential. The Sierra Club and Judicial Watch later sued in federal court for the production of energy documents relating to the discussion and creation of a particular NEPDG policy report dated May 16, 2001. Plaintiffs contended that the NEPDG meetings were subject to Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) disclosure requirements.

Plaintiffs suspected that business executives of the energy industry played an improper role in shaping the policy report in question.

A previous Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), issued and successfully litigated against the Dept of Commerce by Judicial Watch, has revealed that maps and charts of Iraqi Oil Fields, as well as lists of foreign suitors for such oil fields, were already being drawn up as early as March of 2001.

The Legal Case for Disclosure
Plaintiffs' case went all the way up to the Supreme Court.
(Remember when Cheney went duck huntingwith Scalia the week before the case was to come before the Court? )

On June 24, 2004, the United States Supreme Court ruled that NEPDG and Vice-President Cheney were not subject to the procedural disclosure requirements of FACA. (The Federal Advisory Committee Act requires public disclosure of government public interest policy meetings). In the June 24, 2004 ruling, the Supreme Court essentially decided that, in this particular case, the need for information with respect to the resolution of a civil action did not merit disruption of the separation of powers doctrine.

Civil versus Criminal
The Court went on to distinguish between compelling discovery in a CIVIL case versus a CRIMINAL case.

1) The Supreme Court of the United States said that in a criminal investigation there is a "constitutional need for production of relevant evidence in a criminal proceeding," and that it is the "primary constitutional duty of the Judicial Branch to do justice in criminal prosecutions."

2) The Supreme Court also said that the discretion of the prosecutor is entitled to great deference. "The decision to prosecute a criminal case, for example, is made by a publicly accountable prosecutor subject to budgetary considerations and under an ethical obligation, not only to win and zealously to advocate for his client but also to serve the cause of justice."

3) If the DOJ or Congress are closing in on a larger criminal Iraq conspiracy, as some news reports suggest, any legitimate investigation/prosecution of such criminality could be able to justify the production of those NEPDG documents despite executive privilege. The authority exists, it would just come down to a matter of showing need and relevance to the criminal prosecution at hand.

CONCLUSION
Ultimately, the disclosure of the NEPDG documents requires our political pressure. Once the Criminal investigation is politically forced, the legality plays in favor of disclosure. There is no constitutional barrier to the forced disclosure of the NEPDG documents in a valid criminal investigation.

This is why we, as the blogosphere, can play a pivitol role in forcing the disclosure of the energy documents by supporting Sen. Frank Lautenberg's efforts to investigate whether Oil Executives lied to Congress, which is a crime. There is no doubt that by placing these executives under judicial scrutiny, we will be able to compel more evidence that will further necessitate the political and legal justification for discerning the details of Cheney's pre 9/11 energy task force.

turns the whole process into a farce. It makes absolutely no sense to have people come before Congress and not have them testify under oath. What a joke.

"A White House document shows that executives from big oil companies met with Vice President Cheney's energy task force in 2001 -- something long suspected by environmentalists but denied as recently as last week by industry officials testifying before Congress".

Either way, this I beleive is more bad news for the Bush Admin. as it shows more lies by the Administration and the oil companies. What have they got to hide I wonder?

Olaf

Amazing how corrupt Republicans are, they make Democrats look like angels. x(

I believe you are right, here, you win a cookie...:) I cant' stand Stevens, and I still to this day dont' know why my fellow alaskans voted for this imbecile...

Ahnold also met with these guys about the same time when he was thinking about running in California's special election.

Lysol, anyone?

how convenient..

executives.

Isn't she the one who broke the secret gulag story?

:tinfoilhat: :tinfoilhat: I've always thought Woodward was "allowed" to bring Nixon down because it was an "inside job."

So now the WaPo is starting to bring The Chimp down. The "insiders" are at work once again. BushCo has become a liability and the WaPo is again at "journalism."

Dana Milbank is the man who is a frequent guest of Keith Olbermann.

Is this a prelude to Cheney's REASON for cooking intel so he could get his war profiteering going?

the Bushistas had that at number one on their "things to do" list. Cheney wanted to touch base with all of his oil buddies on how to carve up the oil fields for maximum profit distribution.

In essence, the oil companies WROTE the bush White House "energy policy". All of this is the reason why the meetings were such a closely held secret. I have suspected this from day one and now maybe my relatives will think I'm not so much the fool they think I am. :)

was SOOOO important for Bush & co. to sandbag. Thanks to Cheney and his duck hunting buddy what's his name who sits on the Supreme Ct.

They do both write for the 'Washington Post', right?

When did D. Milbank start doing Oberman's show? I wonder how long it was after he had that "Flame war" with the guy that runs the democrats.com website?

I stumbled upon that when everyone was really down on him here, and he seemed to think that all his hate mail was coming from angry Democrats. I had just found that the extreme Right was very angry with * too, and wrote to tell him that, most likely, that was were all the hate mail and threats were coming from, the extreme right, not Democrats.

Chomsky says that Watergate was exposed by the Post because the Post's owners, and the rest of the oligarchy, had decided that Nixon's policy was threatening the bottom line, so he had to go.

It is similar now.

they face? a finger chopped off, perhaps? or a family member whacked?

They were guarding the Energy Task Force attendance lists like Fort Knox. They weren't letting anything out about those meetings. Now, suddenly.......

Whatever is happening?

...meeting and phone call of the NeoCon Junta since December 2000, and has been waiting for just the right moment to begin releasing them to the media?

that control the outcome of our elections, foreign and domestic policy etc. They're the ones responsible for bush's meteoric rise to the presidency, a man who, left to his own devices couldn't successfully manage a 7-11.
Something has happened that they are not happy with. Maybe it's the deficits, the static stock market, the country's fall in world standing...whatever. They've decided that bush must go. It isn't some sudden epiphany by the MSM that is driving this, I doubt it's even the CIA who, although very powerful, would seem to lack the clout to pull this off without some sort of internal leak. Whoever these people are they've have had enough and they're pulling the plug on the bush cabal. I wonder who they'll choose next to run their empire?

He must have been doing something they liked for 4 years (or maybe just getting away with what he was doing). Now that his public standing is negative (oh, the potholes of life!) they have to scramble for a new puppet? Could anybody that powerful be that stupid?

Oh, wait. I just described the GOP!

up until the '04 presidential election, sort of. At least there was enough support to make the theft of election '04 seem believable. After that the wheels started to come off, bit by bit at first and now in torrents. The neo-con, corporate agenda has hit a real snag here and it's not likely that the rest of their agenda has a ghost of a chance in passing. ZAP! Time for a new figurehead! If they can't get the rest of their pet projects passed (Social Security "reform", abolishing the income tax in favor of a "flat" tax etc.) there's no reason to stand behind bush for 3 more years just spinning their wheels. He's become a liability to them so he must go. These people don't like to wait, they want it all and they want it now. Time is running out, the American political climate is changing and if they don't get their pet projects rammed through now it might be another 25 years before they have the chance again.
They need to cultivate another "beard" for themselves, and quickly. However, the people they had counted on to follow the program like Frist, Santorum etc. have shot themselves in the feet and the neo-con well is drying up fast. They may be in a bit of a pickle here.

The large corporations, the oil and military businesses, have taken control of this country more completely than ever before in our history, something that Eisenhower warned us about way back then. They have taken the Republican party as far as they can to give them everything they want. They would love to take this country back to the times before the Roosevelt era, before social security and unemployment benefits and overtime pay and anything else that takes away from their total control of the economy.

I do believe, however, that there is a struggle within the corporate class, another moderate side not directly associated with the oil/military cabal, that sees the disaster that is building both economically for this country, and in other ways (social, environmental, etc.) and wants to bring back some compromise. That dosn't mean they want to give us everything we want in terms of benefits and environmental protections, just enough to keep the working people and poor from getting restless. But also now, other countries in the world are taking advantage of our difficulties and are gaining more control and threatening our dominance and that threatens them the most. (Read this thread about China gaining on us in APEC: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1928124).

We cannot maintain the kind of dominance we have had in the world with military power and threats alone. The more rational powers that be understand this and are finally trying to get some control over the radicals who currently run this government. None of this, of course, is going to be completely to our benefit, but it will be better for us and everyone in the world than things are now with the current regime in power.

In the long run, however, I do believe we are on the decline as a world power and what we are seeing is the struggle among the powers that be in this country, one side to get as much as they can while they still can, the other side to find a way to slow the process or prevent it. I don't believe it can be prevented in the long run, but how hard and fast we go down and how bad it affects the majority of Amreicans is up for grabs.

They have weakened us internally and externally and it will take a long time to repair what they've done.

the front runner. And, there are a few Dems that might be up to the task who have been supporters of the dismantling of "The New Deal."

At least now we are "onto" their strategy. I think it will be much harder for them to come back from this and ram programs through. Without the internet...the WAR would be going well to most Americans. They covered up everything else they did and with media complicity they were going great...until they overeached.

I think that those of us out here working since the Selection of 2000 deserve some credit...and all those who've joined in along the way. Exposing their lies over and over eventually has had some effect. Without a "free press" we can see how fast a society can be taken over and run into the ground. We owe a little to Bill Gates as much as many of us dislike him. Many of us wouldn't be able to use a computer without Win-95. :D It was as important as the invention of the Printing Press for freeing of information that would have no other way to get out during a Fascist leaning P-residency.

He is only relevant as to cults of people who are in the upper upper country club class and the general population who don't mind learning about his craziness and the other group who have their heads in the sand about his weaknesses (the born agains). He is only about hubris. He is easily dismissed when it comes to the issue of leading and policy. He is their fund raiser.

Cheney and Rumsfeld are calling the shots for the higher ups or with the blessing of the higher ups. Yes, the higher ups (the face and name less ones) appear to be unhappy. I say it is with Cheney and Rumsfeld. It could all be about the torture and the wmd lie or both.

sent in to get rid of those who were not loyal and willing participants in the PNAC/Fed Society plan. Right?

I say Fed Society because they would not permit the atoricites of this war if they were on the side of the law - right. They are the Constitution gang and denying rights and torturing is constitutional, plus war laws. Right?

SOMEONE or SOME PEOPLE are not happy out there with that is going on.

...they'll cooperate or help with a coup d'etat, Watergate-style. They HAVE TO. The country can't run on fumes of democracy. It needs the real thing to breath freedom.

Operation Mockingbird, used extensively by Bush, will have to come out too. You can't have a war with this amount of 'not so bright shining lies' bringing down the House (and Senate).

Blowback is gonna out them all. Better to get it over with quickly, and not have a protracted matter.

to save,

If America crashed, many of these wealthy fucktards will be holding a big bag of shit. Others will do fine by it, however. Buying up the country for pennies on the dollar. They still need a government to enforce property rights and all, else even more is lost.

Big power struggles are going on between the uber-fucks!!

no flame please. just askin'

...it has to be the organization with the most at stake, and the organization that the NeoCons have blamed for nearly every failure of the NeoCons to date: the CIA.

History has proven that nobody bucks the CIA, not even presidents or dictators.

The CIA has been just biding it's time, waiting for public opinion to tank.

Rummy and the gang starting their own intelligence services in the Pentagon to create new realities should never have been allowed.

Should have been kept with the intelligent intelligence :-). The reality based one.

Is it possible that Libby is doing the leaking?

Also think the theory about the Washington Post owners bringing down Nixon when they were ready to get rid of him, and now doing the same with with W is a better than most. But couldn't help wondering about Libby.

...in Afghanistan and Iraq. And the cabal will move heaven and earth to keep that fact from emerging.

in James Baker's Strategic Energy Policy Challenges for the 21ST Century, also participated in Cheney's Secret Energy Task Force. I would also guess that their findings are not that much different then what they had already found when they published this report in 2001.

Where is Ken Lay's name?

Who has balls enough to investigate this fiasco ? The book, whoever writes it will make us proud of our democracy once again. Unless it doesn't get investigated and the book doesn't get written.

Maybe the French can help. Vive la France !

Amazing how oil brings out the liar and warmonger in so many.

People go to jail for that. That's a felony.

Not in the cards. They own this administration.

Impeach W and they may come to trial.

There may be hope here. He could file charges for lying before Congress. Under oath it's a federal perjury rap.

It probably would read like a play by play accounting of everything this administration has done from the get-go.

To make up for those terrible lean years of peace and prosperity under President Clinton.

for 5 years are getting their payback. It seems that at every opportunity, someone puts out the right piece of incriminating evidence. No honor among thieves.

I knew it, YOU knew it, now, finally, CONGRESS has discovered the secret energy task force panel? WTF? Next we will be reading in the WaPo that they deliberately ignored the August 12 PDB. I mean WHAT is going on? WHY are the floodgates suddenly opening? EVERYTHING we've known and talked about the past five years is now front and center? BRING. IT. ON. This is just incredible.

I keep saying OMFG I can't believe all the shit we have known all along is finally coming out in the open :wow:

One can only surmise that the White House is in the process of eating their own?

another 3 years under Bu$hitCo and the Republinazis. Time to get the Dem lacky's back in to fix it up, again. Still, don't fix it to far...!

Put these robber barons under oath and hld 'em accountable for price gouging the people and just plain gouging the environment

Cantwell trying to have the oil fatcats put under oath - Slimy Ted Stevens prevented it)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1927411
thread title (11/15 LBN): Document Says Oil Chiefs Met With Cheney Task Force

The link to the Nov 8 Cantwell press release is in the replies.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/15/AR2005111501842.html?nav=rss_nation

Document Says Oil Chiefs Met With Cheney Task Force

By Dana Milbank and Justin Blum
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, November 16, 2005; Page A01

A White House document shows that executives from big oil companies met with Vice President Cheney's energy task force in 2001 -- something long suspected by environmentalists but denied as recently as last week by industry officials testifying before Congress.

The document, obtained this week by The Washington Post, shows that officials from Exxon Mobil Corp., Conoco (before its merger with Phillips), Shell Oil Co. and BP America Inc. met in the White House complex with the Cheney aides who were developing a national energy policy, parts of which became law and parts of which are still being debated.


In a joint hearing last week of the Senate Energy and Commerce committees, the chief executives of Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp. and ConocoPhillips said their firms did not participate in the 2001 task force. The president of Shell Oil said his company did not participate "to my knowledge," and the chief of BP America Inc. said he did not know

Chevron was not named in the White House document, but the Government Accountability Office has found that Chevron was one of several companies that "gave detailed energy policy recommendations" to the task force. In addition, Cheney had a separate meeting with John Browne, BP's chief executive, according to a person familiar with the task force's work; that meeting is not noted in the document

Were they testifying under oath?

:eyes:

Iraq? I'm convinced the initial wars to invade and occupy Iraq were hatched here. Of course, they'd want to get Big Oil on board as to who got what....a united front for their oil grab.

Where Cheney and the oil companies had carved it up like a Christmas turkey.

:wtf:

From Cheney's Energy Task Force (from July, 2003)

http://www.judicialwatch.org/071703.c_.shtml

Google judicial watch iraq oil fields map

Didn't we hear about a month ago about Evil Dick meeting with oil company execs where they went over maps of Iraqi oilfields? Are these the same meetings as that?

Probably the map in the Judicial Watch link just above. Carved into blocks.

...gov't official and that includes congress. So the big oil execs could be jailed and tried for this lie.

hehehe... I love it!!!!

:hi:

put under oath, Sen. Stevens ruled her out of order.

Cantwell Insists Oil Execs Testify Under Oath

“Anything less would undermine the integrity of this Congress…”

Tuesday, November 8, 2005

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) is leading the effort to ensure that oil company executives testify under oath on Wednesday when they appear in a rare joint hearing before the Senate Commerce and Energy and Natural Resources Committees. Currently there are no plans for the executives to be sworn in, unlike when Enron executives appeared in Senate hearings.

“Every school kid knows that honesty is the best policy, we should demand nothing less from witnesses before the Senate,” said Cantwell, a member of both the Senate Energy and Commerce Committees.

Below is the text of the letter:

November 8, 2005

Honorable Ted Stevens Chairman Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation United States Senate Hart Building, Room 522 Washington, DC 20510-6125

Honorable Pete Domenici Chairman Committee on Energy and Natural Resources United States Senate Dirksen Building, Room 364 Washington, DC 20510-6125

Dear Chairmen Stevens and Domenici:

Thank you for convening tomorrow’s joint hearing on energy prices and supply. As members of the Senate Energy and Commerce Committees, we write to request that the witnesses at tomorrow’s hearing—specifically, the CEOs of the five major oil companies expected to attend—be sworn in, to offer testimony under oath.

We are aware that Majority Leader Frist called for this hearing as part of the effort “to investigate high energy prices.” Many of us have previously called for similar investigations and believe such an effort is long over-due, given factors such as the oil companies’ record profits, complaints from across the nation about potential price gouging in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and other long-standing controversies about the pricing policies and business practices of these corporations.

In order for the Senate to play its proper oversight role, we believe it would be most appropriate for these witnesses to be administered the oath. Not only will this give us and our constituents the utmost confidence in the testimony that is offered, it will also provide us a reasonable opportunity to request additional information to aid in this investigation.

If the American people are to find this inquiry credible, it is essential that the oil executives testify under oath. Anything less would undermine the integrity of this Congress and these committees. Thank you for your attention to this request.

Sincerely,

Maria Cantwell Jay Rockefeller Bill Nelson Mark Pryor Tim Johnson Ron Wyden Barbara Boxer Byron Dorgan Frank Lautenberg Et al

http://cantwell.senate.gov/record.cfm?id=248438&&

pnorman

...Ted "I sold my soul to Big Oil" Stevens wouldn't let them take the oath. He got really mad at Maria Cantwell about it when she tried to get them to take the oath.

that it wasn't the (insert name of transgression here), it was the LYING that mattered.

Yes, indeedy, I do remember hearing that.

Long time passing.

Rec'd.

we have federal bribery law to consider

...someone from the opposition party or an honest journalist could easily point to the campaign contribution records and link them to attendance at exclusive meetings.

I understand, somewhat, if the courts rule that Cheney doesn't have to reveal meeting details. That's legal determination. But, politically, I don't see how the public ever let the task force issue slide. Here's the vice president meeting with industry officials to talk about easing regulations, dividing up Iraq, exluding environmental representatives, and who knows what. Should be politically risky, right?

There's a reason the meetings are secret. Let's assume the worst and run with it.

oil stock right before the Iraq war. Whoever did made a lot of money.

lawsuit?

"The meetings were held in secret and the White House refused to release a list of participants. The task force was made up primarily of Cabinet-level officials. Judicial Watch and the Sierra Club unsuccessfully sued to obtain the records."

and why the oil executives were NOT put under oath, Stevens I suspect knew, and if they were put under oath, that IS perjury.

It really makes me ILL to know that this SAME reporting could have been done, and should have been done when it would have mattered..

Had the press been nipping at their heels and unrelenting, BACK IN 2001, Ahhhnold would have NEVER been able to unseat Davis.. Most of the damage to Davis'governorship was done by unscruipulous energy corps (with the tacit support of the WH)...of course they had Ahhhnie waiting in the wings to "save the day" after the "recal movement" which they also started...

Nothing happens by accident with this crew..

Poppy and Co had EIGHT LONG YEARS to plan their campaign..

The press gave them a free ride, looked the other way when they pulled all this shit, and actually criticized anyone who dared even mention their complicity in the things that ail us..


Guess what??

Things that WE have been railing about for YEARS ARE being brought to the surface FINALLY...and it's just what we feared,.only worse..

We have been accused of being conspiracy nuts, tinfoilhatters, moonbats..whatever...but every day things that WE predicted are unfolding, just as we predicted.. Only it's not going to change much now.

The treasury's looted...everfyone around the world pretty much hates us...terrorism has grown by leaps and bounds, and the worst people possible are running the show for another THREE years..

I am glad it's coming out , but I sure hope we have learned a lesson..The PRESS just HAS to do its job or we are just going to keep on getting screwed

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1927405
thread title (11/15 LBN): WP (A01): Document Says Oil Chiefs Met With Cheney Task Force

no one in the admin wanted this to EVER get out.

I hope there is more coming.

My guess is they need a big fall guy, and a viable new VP?

The problem is, now people are waking up and/or saving their hides, they're stuck with a seriously psychologically damaged President who WILL NOT RESIGN and may survive impeachment and trial attempts.

On top of that, the number 2 guy, who mastermineded the whole mess, WILL NOT RESIGN, although impeachment and trial are looking better every day.

This is a very, very serious problem for the country and the world. Gaining control of Congress in 2006 will not solve the problem, although it might serve to mitigate the situation so that the country can limp through until January 2009, when, hopefully, sanity will again reign at 1600 Pennsylvania.

visit some of the criminals in jail to give them a piece of my mind.

they told the truth about.

There can't be that much.

WP should have said"Oil Company CEOs WERE the energy task force" :evilgrin:


Now, maybe the WP can tell us somehing DU hasn't figured out 5 plus years ago :rofl:

Oh come on.


How can anyone even begin to think this honorable administration which has shown nothing but the utmost in integrity would have lied and covered up a fact that oil company execs were in attendance and it wasn't just gov't officials (thus allowing them to keep the meetings' minutes and content secret)?

You all must be mad!

Mad I say!




:rofl:

I'm in a state of rage that's been simmering since forever.

the hole is getting so much deeper.

Do we have a "pinch me I'm dreaming" emoticon?

issues like we do

Also a reference to both at www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=124&topic_id=105043&mesg_id=105043

this info is NEW?

The truth is that the media is playing CATCH UP JOURNALISM now because they know that the historic record is catching up to them, too. They fear being detected as complicit to the White House crimes and coverups of the last 5 years.

They only get journalistic ethics when it's "safe" for them to do so. Slime.

both are back peddling because they lied and deceived the American people along with the rest of the world and NOW neither have any credibility.

they were deciding how they were going to carve up Iraq and talking about how cheney could help them become ever more wealthy and powerful.

of course if they were put under oath one of the dems may have asked something about that and caused a serious ruckus.

illegal or unethical about the White House being reported by the media. It's amazing and depressing.

I mean, what is Cheney's job but to make the world safe for corporate exploitation?

Ergo $3.39/g petrol. Ergo $9.9-billion 90-day profits for Exxon-Mobil alone. But, then again, who thought it would turn out any differently under the Bu$h/Cheney reign?

refuges, Continental Shelf, Gulf of Alaska, Gulf of Mexico, Front Ranges, etc., etc. wherever oil MAY be.

Thank you, Sen. Lautenberg. Get the fucking bastards.

wash po editors are complicit in treason and should be held accountable-along with other organizations----they have wronged this country so badly they should be tarred and feathered or die some other slow painful death

How long did washpo sit on this story? How many cover-ups for this administration, their stinking war and their failed policies? The NYTs publicizes the aspens turning and suddenly all hell is raining down on Cheney. Not that I mind. But I want ALL of the neocon ratbastards who have done this to our country to be held to account. Every single last one. There is factional infighting going on now, and it is important to not be misdirected.

Seriously, this crime organization is so huge now that it's going to be nearly impossible to decapitate unless we resort to drastic measures. They've always recycled the most autocratic and manipulative people, too.

I say prosecute the living shit out of them. For laundering money, for starting a war on false pretenses, for election theft and letting 9/11 happen so they could advance their evil agenda, and for the cover-ups.

These people aren't Americans anymore, they prey upon Americans.

So I think it's time to think seriously about running them the hell out, forever. Revoke their citizenship, that these people who would dishonor us so badly may never, ever set foot in a position of government again.

I expected the Dem's leadership would have brought this up long before now, what with the high cost of gas. Just the fact that the admin met with big oil and the public would have 'demanded' to know the whos, whats and whys of the meeting.

and the Repubs let him have it

are you ready? for a crazy little thing called news...

Believe it or not there is an alternative energy source which has gone almost entirely unreported in all the media which is domestically sourced, abundant, renewable, could enable us to achieve energy independence, greatly improve our trade imbalance, strengthen our economy and our national security and it is not only CLEANER than gasoline but is also CHEAPER! Ethanol fuel (E 85) which is 85% ethanol, is made from corn (or other agricultural plant waste products) costs about $1.23 per gallon (April 2005)! Never heard of it? It’s very similar to what race cars run on. Why can’t you find it? Read on,,, and you better sit down for this!

How do you like paying $2.50 to $3.00 a gallon for gasoline? Do you think $3.00 a gallon gas is gone for good? Well, think again! Did you know that the big oil companies have been buying up the independent refineries just to close them down so as to keep the prices higher at the pump? (see: http://www.citizen.org/cmep/energy_enviro_nuclear/electricity/Oil_and_Gas) Did you know the big oil companies have been shipping gas and diesel fuel OUT of the country to sell in Chile and elsewhere for LESS than they can sell it in the U.S. just to keep the prices artificially high? How’s THAT make you feel, boobie? Like maybe it’s time to start seriously considering alternative energy sources to gasoline?

It is interesting to me how it seems the only solution to the gasoline crisis that ever seems to get talked about is hybrid vehicles (well, okay maybe along with flying saucers, ala the Jetsons). You’d think there was no other alternative. Well guess what, there is a much better solution AND IT DOESN’T REQUIRE BILLIONS OF DOLLARS OF RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT EXPENDITURES as hybrid vehicles do. IT’S HERE RIGHT NOW - - - AND IT’S CHEAPER THAN GASOLINE!

Ethanol fuel (E 85) which is 85% ethanol, is made from corn (or other agricultural plant waste products) costs about $1.23 per gallon (April 2005)! In some high volume areas it’s selling for $1.13 to $1.19 per gallon. Ethanol burns cleaner than gasoline with much less green house gas emissions. Also, most emissions into the air from cars occur while the cars are sitting and the engines aren’t even running. The volatile components in the gasoline are emitted from the gas tank. Since ethanol contains less volatile chemical additives than gasoline it reduces air pollution over gasoline even while the cars are not in operation. ( See: http://www.e85fuel.com/index.php). ALL THE AUTO MANUFACTURERS OFFER FLEXIBLE FUEL VEHICLES WHICH CAN USE ETHANOL 85 OR ANY MIXTURE OF ETHANOL AND REGULAR POLLUTING GASOLINE – AT LITTLE OR NO ADDITIONAL COST TO THE BUYER!!! (GM has two models of the Impala which run on Ethanol 85 available right now!) While ethanol 85 is somewhat less fuel efficient than gasoline, at roughly 50% cheaper than gasoline the cost advantage goes to the ethanol BY A WIDE MARGIN. How about that, a cleaner fuel, producing less pollution, that reduces our dependence on foreign oil, improves our trade imbalance - AND IT’S CHEAPER THAN GASOLINE?!

Do you like the fact that we import millions of gallons of gas from the mid-East and South America – supplies which could be jeopardized at any moment? (NOTE: Crude Oil represents about 1/4th of all our imorted goods) Do any of you remember waiting hours in line for gasoline during the Arab Oil Embargo in the 70’s? Well, ethanol is a RENEWABLE energy source made from agricultural products grown in the United States (mostly corn right now, but sugar cane waste can be used and other plant waste which is now just burned as trash!). For every hundred gallons of ethanol 85 burned in a car you would be reducing oil imports by 85 gallons. If half of the cars being used were flexible fuel vehicles we could reduce our oil imports by almost 43%. This would not only enhance our national security it would also strengthen our economy – SIGNIFICANTLY.

There is some dis-information out there that it takes more energy to make ethanol than it provides. Bull! Current research prepared by Argonne National Laboratory (a U.S. Department of Energy Laboratory), indicates a 38% gain in the overall energy input/output equation for the corn-to-ethanol process. That is, if 100 BTUs of energy is used to plant corn, harvest the crop, transport it, etc., 138 BTUs of energy is available in the fuel ethanol. Corn yields and processing technologies have improved significantly over the past 20 years and they continue to do so, making ethanol production less and less energy intensive.

See: Ethanol Facts (http://www.e85fuel.com/e85101/faq.php)

“ Ethanol is produced from plant matter, today dominated by corn, wheat, potatoes, sorgum, etc. Plants grow through the use of energy provided by the sun and are a renewable resources. In the future, ethanol will be produced from waste products or "energy crops." In fact one company is currently constructing an ethanol production plant in Louisiana that will use sugar cane waste to produce ethanol. Additionally, this company is considering building ethanol production facilities in California that would use the waste hulls from rice growers and wood waste from the forrest industry to produce ethanol. Energy crops such as perennial switch grasses, timothy, and other high-output/low-input crops will be used in the future.” Many ethanol producers capture carbon dioxide generated in the ethanol fermentation process for other commercialy viable uses! This is not a technically difficult thing to do.

Also, note that unlike oil, which when brought out of the ground, transported, refined and burned as gasoline has pollution issues to be dealt with at every stage of the process. Ethanol is a plant product and it is completely BIO-DEGRADABLE. That is, you don’t have to worry about or incur enormous costs to clean-up or prevent spills. You won’t have any Exxon-Valdez like spills in the ocean to worry about damaging the environment and to clean up!

Ethanol will enable us to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, enhance our national security, strenthen our economy and reduce pollution at the same time. And this technology is available and practical right now and doesn’t require billions of dollars of investment in R & D (unlike fuel cell cars). In the current energy bill just signed by Congress there are $6 billion in tax incentives and supports for the oil industry, and this is a mature industry! The only solutions I have heard advanced for our current energy crisis is to drill in more places (including deep drilling in the Gulf of Mexico which, again, will require billions of R&D investment – much of which the oil companies want to be provided by the Government) and spend billions developing hybrid cars which will still burn gasoline and cost the buyer quite a bit more to buy! Fuel cell vehicles are still quite a ways off and will require billions more in Research and Development to make practical. In the mean time, we could be driving Ethanol vehicles and reducing our dependance on foreign oil, reducing pollution, helping our economy and saving billions of dollars we would have spent buying imported oil! Personally, I would rather see those billions stay right here in the USA instead of going to places like Saudia Arabia (via Exxon-Mobil, Shell Oil, et al).

So why don’t you see Ethanol 85 or 15 anywhere? Because the big oil companies are not very interested in promoting a product they don’t entirely control themselves. ETHANOL 15 (15% ethanol) CAN BE BURNED IN ANY CAR ENGINE THAT RUNS ON GASOLINE. Just by using Ethanol 15 you would be helping to reduce our dependance on foreign oil and reducing the aggregate demand for gasoline (the ethanol in the mix is reducing the amount of gasoline demand by 15% of the volume of gas that you buy).

The building of more Ethanol manufacturing facilities is moving very slowly because the demand for ethanol is building very slowly. The demand is building slowly because almost nobody is aware of the benefits of ethanol and because there are hardly any retail outlets making Ethanol available - and the oil companies like it that way. I’m sure if people knew that Ethanol existed and of its benefits, they would be buying it, but they don’t know about it and they can’t find it anywhere. Nobody is going to buy a Flexible Fuel Vehicle (although Flexible Fuel Vehicles can run just fine on strait gasoline as well as Ethanol) when you have to drive 20 miles or more to find E85 to put in it! We need a program to aggressively advance the use and availability of ethanol 85 and ethanol 15. Just a little bit of those billions of dollars going to the oil industry building new refineries or drilling in the Arctic Reserve or deep drilling in the Gulf of Mexico would reap much greater rewards MUCH SOONER if spent supporting increased availability of Ethanol 85 and 15. Gas stations should be required to make Ethanol 85 available and all gasoline should be required to have 15% ethanol blend. All vehicles can use Ethanol 15 and that alone would reduce demand for gasoline by about 15%. If necessry tax incentives could be used to help out the station owners for the extra cost/ lost income while the demand for Ethanol 85 builds. (if Big Oil doesn’t want to have anything to do with Ethanol, that’s okay, we’ll just help independenct stations offer Ethanol. Given the price diferential between Ethanol 85 and gasoline, you can be sure people will start buying more and more Ethanol 85 and Ethanol 15 and guess what – this would ‘help’ Big Oil find ways to keep the price of their price controlled (by them) gasoline from spiking so much. Amazing!) The benefits to our economy, our national security and the environment would be worth it and these benefits would be received much sooner than additional oil (which obviously doesn’t address the problem of our dependence on oil) from new wells in Alaska or the Gulf of Mexico.

Do you think it’s time to stop pretending this energy source does not exist, this energy source which could provide us with energy independence from mid-East oil, which could strengthen our economy immeasurably and affect the balance of power in the mid-East and the world – for the better? We could become not only the bread basket to the World but also a major supplier of this “Freedom Fuel” to the World. That would put our relaationship to OPEC countries on a completely different footing. This fuel source not only makes economic sense as an alternaative to more and more expensive gasoline but strategic sense!

If you think this idea of promoting availability of E85 fuel has any merit, please e-mail your Congressmen and tell them we need to start an aggressive program to expand ethanol production and availability to save us billions of dollars we would have spent on higher and higher priced oil imported mostly from the mid-East (especially Saudi Arabia) and which could be better spent invested in our own country. (use any or all of this article in your email) has things set up to make it very easy to email your representatives in Congress. Just think how great it would be to see our imports of foreign oil going DOWN year after year and all that money NOT going out of the country but instead helping our disastrous balance of payments situation. This would strengthen our dollar and our economy and enhance our national security (and need I point out , perhaps save a lot of lives in the future).

traded? Would make a good investment IMO.

From the piece (http://www.pbs.org/now/printable/transcript_moyers25_print.html):

"Judicial Watch is a conservative organization that investigates and prosecutes government corruption and abuse, and two years ago, Klayman filed a Freedom of Information request to find out who came to the Vice President's meetings and what advice they gave. When the administration failed to comply, Klayman went to court.
Well, this week, in response to that lawsuit the government had to release several energy task force documents.

Now, keep in mind, these date back to the spring of 2001, some six months before 9/11, two years before the war with Iraq. Among them are a map of Iraq's oil fields and pipelines, and lists of foreign companies — the documents call them "suitors" — interested in developing Iraq's oil industry. These documents raise more questions than they answer, they don't tell us, for example, why the Vice President and private energy executives would be so curious at that time about those Iraqi oil fields, and why they would fight so hard in the meantime to keep their curiosity secret.

They must want him out.

:shrug:

Sure seems that much of what us leftist loonies knew all along is coming out into the spotlight.

They all belong behind bars!!!

This is old news!!.....It's been known since they stole office!!!