“
Being called a traitor by Dick Cheney is the highest honor you can give to an American.
”
”
Edward Snowden
“
I have some bad news. Bjork cannot be here tonight. She was trying on her Oscar dress and Dick Cheney shot her.
”
”
Jon Stewart
“
You give me a water board, Dick Cheney and one hour, and I'll have him confess to the Sharon Tate murders."
(Larry King Live, May 11, 2009)
”
”
Jesse Ventura
“
Wait, Richard Cheney, as in Dick Cheney? You're a vampire named Dick Cheney? Somehow, that makes you seem more evil.
”
”
Molly Harper (Nice Girls Don't Have Fangs (Jane Jameson, #1))
“
I did not mean to sodomize Dick Cheney.
”
”
Jerry Stahl
“
Ashleigh’s a manipulative liar,” Jenny said. “She makes Dick Cheney look like Mr. Rogers.”
“That is an ugly thing to say about Dick Cheney!” Dr. Goodling snapped. “And my daughter, as well.
”
”
J.L. Bryan (Jenny Pox (The Paranormals, #1))
“
Enhanced Interrogation is Dick Cheney changing a word, Dick Cheney comes up with a new word to cover his ass!
”
”
Jesse Ventura
“
When Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld conflate what is good for Lockheed, Halliburton, Carlyle and Gilead with what is good for the United States and indeed the world, it is a form of projection with uniquely dangerous consequences.
”
”
Naomi Klein (The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism)
“
It is easy to take liberty for granted when you have never had it taken from you.
”
”
Dick Cheney
“
Draft-dodging is what chicken-hawks do best. Dick Cheney, Glenn Beck, Karl Rove, Rush Limbaugh (this capon claimed he had a cyst on his fat ass), Newt Gingrich, former Attorney General John Ashcroft—he received seven deferments to teach business education at Southwest Missouri State—pompous Bill O’Reilly, Jeb Bush, hey, throw in John Wayne—they were all draft-dodgers. Not a single one of these mouth-breathing, cowardly, and meretricious buffoons fought for his country. All plumped for deferments. Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani? Did not serve. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney? Did not serve in the military. (He served the Mormon Church on a thirty-month mission to France.) Former Senator Fred Thompson? Did not serve. Former President Ronald Reagan? Due to poor eyesight, he served in a noncombat role making movies for the Army in southern California during WWII. He later seems to have confused his role as an actor playing a tail gunner with the real thing. Did Rahm Emanuel serve? Yes, he did during the Gulf War 1991—in the Israeli Army. John Boehner did not serve, not a fucking second. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-KY? Not a minute! Former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-MS? Avoided the draft. Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl, R-AZ—did not serve. National Republican Senatorial Committee Chair John Cornyn, R-TX—did not serve. Former Senate Republican Policy Committee Chair John Ensign, R-NV? Did not serve. Jack Kemp? Dan Quayle? Never served a day. Not an hour. Not an afternoon. These are the jackasses that cherish memorial services and love to salute and adore hearing “Taps.
”
”
Alexander Theroux
“
Tonight, I say to the American people, to Democrats and Republicans and Independents across this great land: enough! This moment, this election is our chance to keep, in the 21st century, the American promise alive. Because next week, in Minnesota, the same party that brought you two terms of George Bush and Dick Cheney will ask this country for a third. And we are here because we love this country too much to let the next four years look like the last eight. On Nov. 4, we must stand up and say: "Eight is enough.
”
”
Barack Obama
“
In all, the future secretary of defense and wartime vice president[, Dick Cheney,] would receive five deferments during the Vietnam War, protecting him from service during his draft-eligible years.
”
”
Charlie Savage (Takeover: The Return of the Imperial Presidency and the Subversion of American Democracy)
“
People tell me that Senator Edwards got picked for his good looks, his sex appeal, and his great hair. I say to them, 'How do you think I got the job?
”
”
Dick Cheney
“
The world has given me a good life since then, I won't deny it, but sometimes I hate the world, anyway. Dick Cheney, that apologist for water boarding and for too long chief preacher in the Holy Church of Whatever it Takes, got a brand-new heart while I was writing this - how about that? He lives on; other people have died.
”
”
Stephen King (Joyland)
“
Cheesecake. Are you shitting me? Who invented that? Probably Jesus of Nazareth. Or maybe Louis Pasteur. It makes me physically sick to think that Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize, yet the name of the inventor of cheesecake isn’t tattooed on Dick Cheney’s face.
”
”
Rob Delaney (Rob Delaney: Mother. Wife. Sister. Human. Warrior. Falcon. Yardstick. Turban. Cabbage.)
“
I know he [Richard] went hunting. Maybe well get lucky, and he'll shoot himself in the head. Or maybe a buddy will pull a Dick Cheney.
”
”
Karen Metcalf (In The Storm)
“
Other times, we dads are presented as the “enforcer” Vice President, the Dick Cheney.
”
”
Jim Gaffigan (Dad Is Fat)
“
On Rachel's show for November 7, 2012:
We're not going to have a supreme court that will overturn Roe versus Wade. There will be no more Antonio Scalias and Samuel Aleatos added to this court. We're not going to repeal health reform. Nobody is going to kill medicare and make old people in this generation or any other generation fight it out on the open market to try to get health insurance. We are not going to do that. We are not going to give a 20% tax cut to millionaires and billionaires and expect programs like food stamps and kid's insurance to cover the cost of that tax cut. We'll not make you clear it with your boss if you want to get birth control under the insurance plan that you're on. We are not going to redefine rape. We are not going to amend the United States constitution to stop gay people from getting married. We are not going to double Guantanamo. We are not eliminating the Department of Energy or the Department of Education or Housing at the federal level. We are not going to spend $2 trillion on the military that the military does not want. We are not scaling back on student loans because the country's new plan is that you should borrow money from your parents. We are not vetoing the Dream Act. We are not self-deporting. We are not letting Detroit go bankrupt. We are not starting a trade war with China on Inauguration Day in January. We are not going to have, as a president, a man who once led a mob of friends to run down a scared, gay kid, to hold him down and forcibly cut his hair off with a pair of scissors while that kid cried and screamed for help and there was no apology, not ever. We are not going to have a Secretary of State John Bolton. We are not bringing Dick Cheney back. We are not going to have a foreign policy shop stocked with architects of the Iraq War. We are not going to do it. We had the chance to do that if we wanted to do that, as a country. and we said no, last night, loudly.
”
”
Rachel Maddow
“
We are, as a matter of empirical fact and undeniable history, the greatest force for good the world has ever known.
”
”
Dick Cheney (Exceptional: Why the World Needs a Powerful America)
“
In the cold war, the CIA was condemned by the American left for what it did. In the war on terror, the CIA was attacked by the American right for what it could not do. The charge was incompetence, leveled by such men as Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld. Say what one may about their leadership, they knew from long experience what the reader now knows: the CIA was unable to fulfill its role as America’s intelligence service.
”
”
Tim Weiner (Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA)
“
And you know what happened next in my dream? Dick Cheney and I said the same thing at the same time: "Well, we had a Cold War to win." And then I screamed at him: "I KNEW you would say that! You ALWAYS say that!" But then, since Cheney and I made the same remark at the same time, I realized he owed me a Coke. So I said, "Jinx! You owe me a Coke!" And Vice-President Dick Cheney smiled sheepishly. *Shudder*... I don't even DRINK coke. I tastes like robot sweat.
”
”
David Rees (Get Your War On II)
“
KBR won its coveted role in Iraq while it was a subsidiary of Halliburton, the company Vice President Dick Cheney ran before the 2000 presidential campaign. KBR was later spun off from Halliburton, but by then, it was well entrenched with a virtual monopoly over basic services for American troops in Iraq. At the height of the war, KBR had more than fifty thousand personnel and subcontractors working for it in Iraq, making the company’s presence in Iraq larger than that of the British Army.
”
”
James Risen (Pay Any Price: Greed, Power, and Endless War)
“
she said in a voice so low it could have been wearing spike heels and still skittered under Dick Cheney’s credibility.
”
”
Mark Schweizer (The Mezzo Wore Mink (The Liturgical Mystery #6))
“
Burr would not be the last vice president to shoot a man, but he was a better shot than Dick Cheney,..
”
”
Steven Pinker (The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined)
“
Separating fact and fiction in Inca history is impossible, because virtually all the sources available are Spanish accounts of stories that had already been vetted by the Inca emperors to highlight their own heroic roles. Imagine a history of modern Iraq written by Dick Cheney and based on authorized biographies of Sadam Hussein published in Arabic, and you'll get some idea of what historians face.
”
”
Mark Adams (Turn Right at Machu Picchu: Rediscovering the Lost City One Step at a Time)
“
Prisons are big business and have become deeply entrenched in America’s economic and political system. Rich and powerful people, including former vice president Dick Cheney, have invested millions in private prisons.15
”
”
Michelle Alexander (The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness)
“
The world has given me a good life since then, I won’t deny it, but sometimes I hate the world, anyway. Dick Cheney, that apologist for waterboarding and for too long chief preacher in the Holy Church of Whatever It Takes, got a brand-new heart while I was writing this—how about that? He lives on; other people have died. Talented ones like Clarence Clemons. Smart ones like Steve Jobs. Decent ones like my old friend Tom Kennedy. Mostly you get used to it. You pretty much have to.
”
”
Stephen King (Joyland)
“
These are lines from my asteroid-impact novel, Regolith:
Just because there are no laws against stupidity doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be punished.
I haven’t faced rejection this brutal since I was single.
He smelled trouble like a fart in the shower.
If this was a kiss of gratitude, then she must have been very grateful.
Not since Bush and Cheney have so few spent so much so fast for so long for so little.
As a nympho for mind-fucks, Lisa took to politics like a pig to mud.
She began paying men compliments as if she expected a receipt.
Like the Aerosmith song, his get-up-and-go just got-up-and-went.
“You couldn’t beat the crap out of a dirty diaper!”
He embraced his only daughter as if she was deploying to Iraq.
She was hotter than a Class 4 solar flare!
If sex was a weapon, then Monique possessed WMD
I haven’t felt this alive since I lost my virginity.
He once read that 95% of women fake organism, and the rest are gay.
Beauty may be in the eyes of the beholder, but ugly is universal.
Why do wives fart, but not girlfriends?
Adultery is sex that is wrong, but not necessarily bad.
The dinosaurs stayed drugged out, drooling like Jonas Brothers fans.
Silence filled the room like tear gas.
The told him a fraction of the truth and hoped it would take just a fraction of the time.
Happiness is the best cosmetic,
He was a whale of a catch, and there were a lot of fish in the sea eager to nibble on his bait.
Cheap hookers are less buck for the bang,
Men cannot fall in love with women they don’t find attractive, and women cannot fall in love with men they do not respect.
During sex, men want feedback while women expect mind-reading.
Cooper looked like a cow about to be tipped over.
His father warned him to never do anything he couldn’t justify on Oprah.
The poor are not free -- they’re just not enslaved. Only those with money are free.
Sperm wasn’t something he would choose on a menu, but it still tasted better than asparagus.
The crater looked alive, like Godzilla was about to leap out and mess up Tokyo.
Bush follows the Bible until it gets to Jesus.
When Bush talks to God, it’s prayer; when God talks to Bush, it’s policy.
Cheney called the new Miss America a traitor – apparently she wished for world peace.
Cheney was so unpopular that Bush almost replaced him when running for re-election, changing his campaign slogan to, ‘Ain’t Got Dick.’
Bush fought a war on poverty – and the poor lost.
Bush thinks we should strengthen the dollar by making it two-ply.
Hurricane Katrina got rid of so many Democratic voters that Republicans have started calling her Kathleen Harris.
America and Iraq fought a war and Iran won.
Bush hasn’t choked this much since his last pretzel.
Some wars are unpopular; the rest are victorious.
So many conservatives hate the GOP that they are thinking of changing their name to the Dixie Chicks.
If Saddam had any WMD, he would have used them when we invaded. If Bush had any brains, he would have used them when we invaded.
It’s hard for Bush to win hearts and minds since he has neither.
In Iraq, you are a coward if you leave and a fool if you stay.
Bush believes it’s not a sin to kill Muslims since they are going to Hell anyway. And, with Bush’s help, soon.
In Iraq, those who make their constitution subservient to their religion are called Muslims. In America they’re called Republicans.
With great power comes great responsibility – unless you’re Republican.
”
”
Brent Reilly
“
According to economist Dr. Paul Craig Roberts, who served as assistant secretary of the treasury in the Reagan administration, Dick Cheney used his two terms as vice president to fill environmental agencies, including the FDA, with corporate-friendly executives. Jeffrey
”
”
Jim Marrs (Population Control: How Corporate Owners Are Killing Us)
“
Like MacMillan and the clique of teachers and the coaches who all went to the same church and barbecued at one another's houses, much of the country's small-bore civil servants were itching to do some repressing of their own. Millions of Dick Cheney wannabes swelling the ranks, enjoying their little authoritarian fiefdoms.
”
”
Stephen Markley (Ohio)
“
When will the dropping of bombs on innocent civilians by the United States, and invading and occupying their country, without their country attacking or threatening the US, become completely discredited? When will the use of depleted uranium and cluster bombs and CIA torture renditions become things that even men like George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and Donald Rumsfeld will be too embarrassed to defend? Australian/British journalist John Pilger has noted that in George Orwell’s 1984 ‘three slogans dominate society: war is peace, freedom is slavery and ignorance is strength. Today’s slogan, war on terrorism, also reverses meaning. The war is terrorism.
”
”
William Blum (America's Deadliest Export: Democracy The Truth about US Foreign Policy and Everything Else)
“
It's important to bear in mind that I'm being called a traitor by men like former Vice President Dick Cheney. This is a man who gave us the warrentless wiretapping scheme as a kind of atrocity warm-up on the way to deceitfully engineer a conflict that has killed over 4,400 and maimed nearly 32,000 Americans, as well as leaving over 1000,000 Iraqis dead. Being called a traitor by Dick Cheney is the highest honor you can give an American, and the more panicked talk we hear from people like him, Feinstein, and King, the better off we all are. If they had taught a class on how to be the kind of citizen Dick Cheney worries about, I would have finished high school.
”
”
Edward Snowden
“
I'm [Paul O'Neill] an old guy, and I'm rich. And there's nothing they can do to hurt me.
”
”
Suskind (The Price of Loyalty: George W. Bush, the White House, and the Education of Paul O'Neill)
“
We have guaranteed freedom, security, and peace for a larger share of humanity than has any other nation in all of history. There is no other like us. There never has been.
”
”
Dick Cheney (Exceptional: Why the World Needs a Powerful America)
“
If history teaches anything, it teaches that simple-minded appeasement or wishful thinking about our adversaries is folly. It means the betrayal of our past, the squandering of our freedom.
”
”
Dick Cheney (Exceptional: Why the World Needs a Powerful America)
“
The boar held a VCR reote control and cackled maliciously as he watched a video of U.S. politicians grinning with their one-time budy Saddam--Dick Cheney, Gulf War-era Secretary of State James Baker, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Bob Dole, George H.W. Bush, to the tune of "Taking Care of Business." And then the viewers saw themselves in a mirror emblazoned with the words "You are a witness.
”
”
Wafaa Bilal (Shoot an Iraqi: Art, Life and Resistance Under the Gun)
“
A system that attempted to extinguish the human spirit, innovation, freedom, and individualism could not survive. A governing theory that required force to keep its citizens under its control would eventually crumble.
”
”
Dick Cheney (Exceptional: Why the World Needs a Powerful America)
“
I never performed for George W. Bush, and wouldn’t have. I disliked the man intensely. I thought he was a dunderhead, without intellect. And his father made certain that Dick Cheney was chosen as his VP. In my opinion Cheney’s one of the most evil men on the planet. Anyone who would vote against every environmental and equal-rights issue, as well as voting to keep Nelson Mandela in prison, is not of this earth and doesn’t deserve my support.
”
”
Graham Nash (Wild Tales: A Rock & Roll Life)
“
In Panama, I knew Noriega himself was the object of controversy. The "arms deal" was the final stage of Operation Carrier Pigeon where the planes were to wait in Saudi Arabia until all bank transactions were cleared and the load was ready for disbursement. Saudi Arabian King Fahd would then fund the Contras via Noriega for Reagan after all evidences had been properly covered up -- just as he had done in Afghanistan. After the shipment, there would be no further deals through Noriega involving Fahd, because Noriega could no longer be trusted. Besides, Fahd had increased diplomatic relations with Mexico for covert operations, and Iran-Contra was just beginning to heat up. Noriega did not seem to be upset by the news of losing Saudi Arabian business, although he was somber and took some time to respond. His translator was working over some complex computer equipment after I delivered the message. I left Noriega's yacht with John and a brief message for Dick Cheney at the Pentagon.
”
”
Cathy O'Brien (TRANCE Formation of America: True life story of a mind control slave)
“
President Obama has diminished American power and retreated from the field of battle, fueling rising threats against our nation. He has pursued a foreign policy built on appeasing our adversaries, abandoning our allies, and apologizing for America.
”
”
Dick Cheney (Exceptional: Why the World Needs a Powerful America)
“
The good Lord didn't see fit to put oil and gas only where there are democratically elected regimes friendly to the United States. Occasionally we have to operate in places where, all considered, one would not normally choose to go. But we go where the business is.
”
”
Dick Cheney
“
No nation can appease the Nazis. No man can tame a tiger into a kitten by stroking it. There can be no appeasement with ruthlessness. There can be no reasoning with an incendiary bomb. We know now that a nation can have peace with the Nazis only at the price of total surrender.
”
”
Dick Cheney (Exceptional: Why the World Needs a Powerful America)
“
Vice President Cheney has been the most dangerous vice president we've had probably in American history. The idea he doesn't realize that Article I of the Constitution defines the role of the vice president of the United States, that's the Executive Branch. He works in the Executive Branch. He should understand that. Everyone should understand that. And the primary role of the vice president of the United States of America is to support the president of the United States of America, give that president his or her best judgment when sought, and as vice president, to preside over the Senate, only in a time when in fact there's a tie vote. The Constitution is explicit. The only authority the vice president has from the legislative standpoint is the vote, only when there is a tie vote. He has no authority relative to the Congress.
”
”
Joe Biden
“
The first port of call was the Americans. In 1974, an initial agreement was reached by which the US agreed to sell two reactors, as well as enriched uranium, to Iran. The scope of the arrangement was expanded further in 1975, when a $15 billion trade deal was agreed between the two countries, which included provision for Iran to purchase eight reactors from the United States at a fixed price of $6.4 billion.55 The following year, President Ford approved a deal that allowed Iran to buy and operate a US-built system that included a reprocessing facility that could extract plutonium from nuclear reactor fuel, and therefore enable Teheran to operate a ‘nuclear fuel cycle’. President Ford’s Chief of Staff had no hesitation in approving this sale: in the 1970s, Dick Cheney did not find it difficult to ‘figure out’ what Iran’s motivations were.
”
”
Peter Frankopan (The Silk Roads: A New History of the World)
“
The seeds of totalitarian regimes are nurtured by misery and want. They spread and grow in the evil soil of poverty and strife. They reach their full growth when the hope of a people for a better life has died. We must keep that hope alive. The free peoples of the world look to us for support in maintaining their freedoms. If we falter in our leadership, we may endanger the peace of the world—and we shall surely endanger the welfare of our own Nation.
”
”
Dick Cheney (Exceptional: Why the World Needs a Powerful America)
“
Take George W. Bush: He was an unpopular two-term president. Three times, his approval rating dropped to 25 percent. [To be fair, he also had the highest approval rating of all time, very briefly. But that was immediately after 9/11 — and in the wake of domestic terrorism, a well-dressed mannequin’s approval rating might have hovered around 50.] During his last two years in office, he was hammered nonstop, periodically classified as the worst U.S. president since Ulysses Grant or James Buchanan. Yet was Bush a villain? No. He was not. He was never, ever calculating. He didn’t know the most (which is not to say he was dumb), and he didn’t care the least (which is not to say he was a paragon of empathy). He was just the guy who ended up with the job. The villain of his administration ended up being Vice President Dick Cheney, a frosty puppet master who radically expanded the powers of the presidency even though he was not the president.
”
”
Chuck Klosterman (I Wear the Black Hat: Grappling With Villains (Real and Imagined))
“
New Rule: Conservatives have to stop complaining about Hollywood values. It's Oscar time again, which means two things: (1) I've got to get waxed, and (2) talk-radio hosts and conservative columnists will trot out their annual complaints about Hollywood: We're too liberal; we're out of touch with the Heartland; our facial muscles have been deadened with chicken botulism; and we make them feel fat. To these people, I say: Shut up and eat your popcorn. And stop bitching about one of the few American products--movies---that people all over the world still want to buy.
Last year, Hollywood set a new box-office record: $16 billion worldwide. Not bad for a bunch of socialists. You never see Hollywood begging Washington for a handout, like corn farmers, or the auto industry, or the entire state of Alaska.
What makes it even more inappropriate for conservatives to slam Hollywood is that they more than anybody lose their shit over any D-lister who leans right to the point that they actually run them for office. Sony Bono? Fred Thompson? And let'snot forget that the modern conservative messiah is a guy who costarred with a chimp. That's right, Dick Cheney.
I'm not trying to say that when celebrities are conservative they're almost always lame, but if Stephen Baldwin killed himself and Bo Derrick with a car bomb, the headline the next day would be "Two Die in Car Bombing."
The truth is that the vast majority of Hollywood talent is liberal, because most stars adhere to an ideology that jibes with their core principles of taking drugs and getting laid. The liebral stars that the right is always demonizing--Sean Penn and Michael Moore, Barbra Streisand and Alec Baldwin and Tim Robbins, and all the other members of my biweekly cocaine orgy--they're just people with opinions. None of them hold elective office, and liberals aren't begging them to run. Because we live in the real world, where actors do acting, and politicians do...nothing.
We progressives love our stars, but we know better than to elect them. We make the movies here, so we know a well-kept trade secret: The people on that screen are only pretending to be geniuses, astronauts, and cowboys.
So please don't hat eon us. And please don't ruin the Oscars. Because honestly, we're just like you: We work hard all year long, and the Oscars are really just our prom night. The tuxedos are scratchy, the limousines are rented, and we go home with eighteen-year-old girls.
”
”
Bill Maher (The New New Rules: A Funny Look At How Everybody But Me Has Their Head Up Their Ass)
“
In Detroit, Dr. Forest Dodrill, a surgeon at Wayne State University, collaborated with engineers at General Motors Research to develop a mechanical pump capable of supporting the circulation of an adult. The resulting stainless-steel and glass device, the Dodrill-GMR mechanical heart pump, had multiple cylinders from which blood circulated and, perhaps not surprisingly, bore an uncanny resemblance to a Cadillac V-12 automobile engine. The device was intended to temporarily replace either the right or left ventricle and was first used in 1952 to support a patient for fifty minutes while Dr. Dodrill repaired a mitral valve.
”
”
Dick Cheney (Heart: An American Medical Odyssey)
“
investigations and reported the completion of significant investigations without charges. Anytime a special prosecutor is named to look into the activities of a presidential administration it is big news, and, predictably, my decision was not popular at the Bush White House. A week after the announcement, I substituted for the attorney general at a cabinet meeting with the president. By tradition, the secretaries of state and defense sit flanking the president at the Cabinet Room table in the West Wing of the White House. The secretary of the treasury and the attorney general sit across the table, flanking the vice president. That meant that, as the substitute for the attorney general, I was at Vice President Dick Cheney’s left shoulder. Me, the man who had just appointed a special prosecutor to investigate his friend and most senior and trusted adviser, Scooter Libby. As we waited for the president, I figured I should be polite. I turned to Cheney and said, “Mr. Vice President, I’m Jim Comey from Justice.” Without turning to face me, he said, “I know. I’ve seen you on TV.” Cheney then locked his gaze ahead, as if I weren’t there. We waited in silence for the president. My view of the Brooklyn Bridge felt very far away. I had assured Fitzgerald at the outset that this was likely a five- or six-month assignment. There was some work to do, but it would be a piece of cake. He reminded me of that many times over the next four years, as he was savagely attacked by the Republicans and right-leaning media as some kind of maniacal Captain Ahab, pursuing a case that was a loser from the beginning. Fitzgerald had done exactly as I expected once he took over. He investigated to understand just who in government had spoken with the press about the CIA employee and what they were thinking when they did so. After careful examination, he ended in a place that didn’t surprise me on Armitage and Rove. But the Libby part—admittedly, a major loose end when I gave him the case—
”
”
James Comey (A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership)
“
Somewhere in between are the rest of us natives, in whom such change revives long-buried anger at those faraway people who seem to govern the world: city people, educated city people who win and control while the rest of us work and lose. Snort at the proposition if you want, but that was the view I grew up with, and it still is quite prevalent, though not so open as in those days. These are the sentiments the fearful rich and the Republicans capitalize on in order to kick liberal asses in elections.
The Democrats' 2006 midterm gains should not fool anyone into thinking that these feelings are not still out here in this heartland that has so rapidly become suburbanized. It is still politically profitable to cast matters as a battle between the slick people, liberals all, and the regular Joes, people who like white bread and Hamburger Helper and "normal" beer. When you are looking around you in the big cities at all those people, it's hard to understand that there are just as many out here who never will taste sushi or, in all likelihood, fly on an airplane other than when we are flown to boot camp, compliments of Uncle Sam. Only 20 percent of Americans have ever owned a passport. To the working people I grew up with, sophistication of any and all types, and especially urbanity, is suspect. Hell, those city people have never even fired a gun. Then again, who would ever trust Jerry Seinfeld or Dennis Kucinich or Hillary Clinton with a gun? At least Dick Cheney hunts, even if he ain't safe to hunt with. George W. Bush probably knows a good goose gun when he sees one. Guns are everyday tools, like Skil saws and barbecue grills.
So when the left began to demonize gun owners in the 1960s, they not only were arrogant and insulting because they associated all gun owners with criminals but also were politically stupid. It made perfect sense to middle America that the gun control movement was centered in large urban areas, the home to everything against which middle America tries to protect itself—gangbangers, queer bars, dope-fiend burglars, swarthy people jabbering in strange languages. From the perspective of small and medium-size towns all over the country, antigun activists are an overwrought bunch.
”
”
Joe Bageant (Deer Hunting with Jesus: Dispatches from America's Class War)
“
I knew something about the case because I had actually been in charge of the fugitive hunt for Marc Rich when I was a federal prosecutor in Manhattan a decade earlier. Rich was then represented by prominent lawyers, among them Scooter Libby, well before his tenure as Dick Cheney’s chief of staff.
”
”
James Comey (A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership)
“
Fairly or not, Bush thought Rumsfeld an unreflective hawk who, along with a post-9/11 Dick Cheney, had formed the core of an influential hard-right element within the administration.
”
”
Jon Meacham (Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush)
“
By the time George Bush’s re-election campaign got under way in 2004, there was little doubt he’d make terrorism the focal point of all of his speeches and press conferences. His surrogates went farther still, overtly portraying a vote for his Democratic rival, Senator John Kerry, as an invitation to annihilation. “If we make the wrong choice,” Vice President Dick Cheney warned a Des Moines audience, “the danger is that we’ll get hit again—that we’ll be hit in a way that will be devastating from the standpoint of the United States.” In May, just prior to the Democratic Convention, Attorney General John Ashcroft announced that al Qaeda’s preparations for an attack were 90 percent complete; immediately after the convention, the Department of Homeland Security issued yet another terrorist alert, which diverted America’s attention away from Kerry and back to the “wartime” president, George Bush. The strategy worked.
”
”
Barry Glassner (The Culture of Fear: Why Americans Are Afraid of the Wrong Things: Crime, Drugs, Minorities, Teen Moms, Killer Kids, Muta)
“
NEDEN İNGİLİZCE ÖĞRENEMİYORUZ...
Yıllarca İngilizce öğrenmek için harcanan zaman ve paraya bakıldığında dünya sıralamasında en alt düzeyde olduğumuz ve bu sorunu gidermek için ne kadar çaba sarf edilirse edilsin gerçekçi bir başarıya aç olduğumuz artık herkesin bildiği bir durum.
Peki ama neden İngilizce öğrenmek bu kadar zor...
Bu sorunun cevabı aslında çok basit. İngilizce öğrenmek için iki ana metot vardır. Bunlardan ilki çocuk yaşlarda o dili bir bebek gibi öğrenmektir. Diğeri ise çocukluk yaşlarından sonra yabancı dile vakıf olmaya çalışmak ve üzerine kafa yormaktır. Buda öğrenmek istediğiniz yabancı dilin kendi dilinize ne kadar yakın olduğuyla bire bir alakalıdır.
Şimdi sizinle ana dilimiz olan Türkçe üzerine biraz kafa yoralım. Türkçe Dilinde kelime yapısı cümle devrik olmadığı sürece İngilizcenin aksine sondan başa doğru dizilen ve her türlü açıklamanın önce yapılıp yüklemin sona atıldığı aslen çok geniş gibi görünen ama temelde oldukça sığ ve birbirimizi cümleden çok olayı bilmekle anladığımız ve çoğu zaman yorumlarımızla sonuca ulaştığımız duyumsallıktan uzak yorumsal bir dildir.
Örneğin,
"beni sevdiğini biliyorum" dediğimizde kimin kimi sevdiği belli değildir. ( o ya da sen )
"Gideceğini " dediğimizde kişinin gidip gitmediği konusunda en ufak bir bilgi bile söz konusu değildir.
Gideceğini söyledi,
Gideceğini söylüyor.
Ancak açıklamalar yapıldığında sonuca varılır.
"Geldiğinde" dediğimizde kişinin gelip gelmediği konusunda yukarıdaki mantık çerçevesinde sonuca varmak mümkün değildir.
Geldiğinde ağladı.
Geldiğinde ağlıyor.
Bütüne ulaşıldığında kapsamlı anlam çıkartılır.
Oysa İngilizcede böyle bir durum söz konusu değildir. İstisnalar dışında bir cümle söylediğinizde kainat tek şey anlar. Bu da bize zaten Türkçesini anlamadığımız bir olayın İngilizcesini söylemenin neredeyse imkansıza yakın olduğu sonucunu çıkarır.
Yetişkin yaşlarda yaşayarak yabancı dili öğrenmeye çalışmak sadece günlük rutin cümleleri söylemekten öteye geçemez. Yani "Colin Powell'ın stratejisi El Kaideyi hedef alan bir kampanya yerine terörizme karşı daha geniş ölçekli bir savaşta Mısır ve Suudi Arabistan gibi anahtar müttefiklerin birlikte hareket etmeyeceğini anlayan Dick Cheney'in büyük desteğini aldı." tarzı Newsweek cümlelerini yapabilmek hayal sınırlarını zorlayacaktır.
Peki ama nedir bu işin sırrı...
İşin sırrı, kendi dilinize hakim olmak ve söylemeye çalıştığınız şeyin kendi dilinizdeki gramer karşılığını bilmektir. Böylelikle ne yaptığınızı her adımda kontrol edebilme yetisine sahip olursunuz. Eğer siz bir edilgenin, ettirgenin, etkenin veya hikayenin ne olduğunu kendi öz dilinizde bilmiyorsanız, hiç kimse size onların İngilizce karşılıklarını öğretemez. Sadece ezberler ve kısa bir süre sonra da unutursunuz. Öğrenmenin kalıcı olabilmesi için diller arası kıyas ve yerine koyma modellemelerine tam ve mutlak hakim olmanız gerekmektedir.
Unutmayın, kendi diline dilbilgisi olarak vakıf olmayan bir başkasının diline asla vakıf olmaz. Önce öğrenmeli sonra da konuşma çalışmalarıyla bunu geliştirmeli ve sonuca ulaşmalısınız. Öyle bilmediğiniz bir yabancı dili konuşarak öğrenme hayalinden bir an önce vazgeçmeli, öncelikle mantığını oturtmalı, kendi dilinizde yerine koymalı ve sonrasında pratik aşamasına geçmelisiniz.
Ayrıntılı bilgiye Matematiksel İngilizce adresinden ulaşabilirsiniz. Erhan Sarıoğlu
”
”
ingilizce ve en iyi ingilizce kursu
“
I AM BASICALLY ALEX JONES’S Simon Cowell. I star-spotted him in the late-1990s. He’d been a locally renowned radio talk show host in Austin, Texas, back then, but I gave him the idea that catapulted him to fame. My idea was for the two of us to sneak into a secretive summer camp in the forests of Northern California called Bohemian Grove, where powerful men like George H.W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Henry Kissinger were rumored to undertake an annual ritual in which a human effigy was thrown into the fiery belly of a giant stone owl.
”
”
Jon Ronson (The Elephant in the Room)
“
The thing I like most about political cartooning is the relevance of the work to the real world. And if you do this long enough you get to look back and see yourself in historical context, sometimes on the right side and sometimes on the wrong. But I’m proud of the work I was doing in the runup that bamboozled us into the Iraq War and that horrible chapter where Cheney and Bush drove the country into the ditch, the one we’re still in.
(2010 interview with Washington City Paper)
”
”
Matt Wuerker
“
You know, it’s at times like this that I’m really glad I’m friends with Dick Cheney,” I said as Andrea squeezed my fingers with her free hand. “He is handy to have around when you need favors of a secretive and dubious nature,” she acknowledged
”
”
Molly Harper (Nice Girls Don't Bite Their Neighbors (Jane Jameson, #4))
“
After two and half decades of covering the crimes of our oligarchic elites, I go through periods when the impunity of it all gets the better of me. The sweatshops and oil spills. The Iraq invasion. The 2008 financial crisis. The coups that threw a generation of idealists out of helicopters in Latin America. Washington’s coordinated attack on Russia’s nascent post-Soviet democracy that created the oligarchs and paved the way for Vladimir Putin. I simply cannot bear what these people have been able to get away with. No one paid. Everyone gets a reputational rebrand. Henry Kissinger keeps advising presidents. Dick Cheney is hailed as a reasonable Republican. Robert Rubin, one of the men who personally helped inflate the derivatives bubble that melted down the global economy in 2008, now gives advice about how we can’t move too fast to prevent catastrophic climate change. My throat constricts. My breath becomes shallow. On bad days, I feel like I might explode. Impunity can drive a person mad.
”
”
Naomi Klein (Doppelganger: a Trip into the Mirror World)
“
intelligence also suspected Iraqi involvement with the
”
”
Dick Cheney (Exceptional: Why the World Needs a Powerful America)
“
There was a dream that men could one day speak their thoughts. There was a hope that men could stroll through the streets unafraid. There was a prayer that each could speak to his own God. That dream, that hope, that prayer became America.
”
”
Dick Cheney (Exceptional: Why the World Needs a Powerful America)
“
Speaking to the nation on October 22, 1962, Kennedy reminded his audience, “The 1930s taught us a clear lesson: aggressive conduct, if allowed to go unchecked and unchallenged, ultimately leads to war.
”
”
Dick Cheney (Exceptional: Why the World Needs a Powerful America)
“
No man can tame a tiger into a kitten by stroking it.
”
”
Dick Cheney (Exceptional: Why the World Needs a Powerful America)
Dick Cheney (Exceptional: Why the World Needs a Powerful America)
“
Defense Intelligence Agency from 2012 to
”
”
Dick Cheney (Exceptional: Why the World Needs a Powerful America)
“
Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency from 2012 to 2014, offered this view as he was leaving his post: When asked if the terrorists were on the run, we couldn’t respond with any answer but “no.” When asked if the terrorists were defeated, we had to say “no.” Anyone who answers yes to either of those questions either doesn’t know what they are talking about, they are misinformed, or they are flat out lying.
”
”
Dick Cheney (Exceptional: Why the World Needs a Powerful America)
“
Who does not feel a growing sense of unease as our allies, facing repeated instances of an amateurish and confused administration, reluctantly conclude that America is unwilling or unable to fulfill its obligations as leader of the free world? Who does not feel rising alarm when the question in any discussion of foreign policy is no longer, “Should we do something?” but “Do we have the capacity to do anything?
”
”
Dick Cheney (Exceptional: Why the World Needs a Powerful America)
“
Warsaw fell on September 27. The last Polish force was defeated on October 6. The
”
”
Dick Cheney (Exceptional: Why the World Needs a Powerful America)
“
We do ourselves a disservice when we dehumanize Washington and reduce its processes and people to a few superficial talking points. Checks and balances, lobbyists, pork barrel spending, the electoral college, filibusters, Dick Cheney’s bimonthly virgin sacrifice upon a marble altar in the Heritage Foundation’s basement to placate the icy god of darkness and ward off the eternal sleep of death for another moonturn, yadda yadda yadda. The more entrenched this view becomes, the less able we are to grasp the complexities of the situation and perhaps even start to do something about it. Yes, there is corruption and yes there are systemic issues that can probably be fixed if we removed our heads from our asses—they’ll come up often enough in this book. If
”
”
Eliot Nelson (The Beltway Bible: A Totally Serious A–Z Guide to Our No-Good, Corrupt, Incompetent, Terrible, Depressing, and Sometimes Hilarious Government)
“
I had other priorities!
”
”
Dick Cheney
“
My daughter Liz is NOT a worthless piece of shit, a goddamned turd, or what-have-you!
”
”
Dick Cheney
“
Military life and culture seem to be foreign territory for many of the people who write for national magazines and newspapers today. Every time they refer to Navy SEALs and other SOF outfits as "Special Forces," which only describes the Army's Green Berets, they reveal themselves to be as ignorant as someone who doesn't know, say, a Shia Muslim from a Sunni. Recently, in a well-attended forum at a public university, a prominent journalist referred to the Joint Special Operations Command, as "an executive assassination ring, essentially" for Vice President Dick Cheney. The fact that the guy who said this has a Pulitzer Price might confirm your worst fears about those who write "news" for a living. (Naturally, in the same presentation, he also referred to special operations units as "Special Forces.
”
”
Marcus Luttrell (Service: A Navy SEAL at War)
“
Clarke, the architect of those policies, stayed on in the White House and retained his title of National Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection, and Counterterrorism. But, it was clear, Bush didn’t care about any of those issues, nor did Vice President Dick Cheney or the national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice.
”
”
Fred Kaplan (Dark Territory: The Secret History of Cyber War)
“
I didn't mean to shoot him. I really didn't!
”
”
Dick Cheney
“
1 MART TEZKERESİ
ABD, Türkiye'nin kararını bekliyordu. Her düzeyde, değişik yöntemlerle baskının dozunu artırmıştı.
ABD Başkan Yardımcısı Dick Cheney sık sık arıyor ve "Gemilerimiz yolda. Daha fazla bekleyemeyiz. Tezkereyi bir an önce çıkarın." diye sıkıştırıyordu.
Başbakan Gül de görüşmelerinde, CNN ve BBC'ye verdiği mülakatlarda demokrasi kartını kullanıyordu:
"Ben bir emir ya da kral değilim. ABD'de nasıl Kongre varsa bizim de Meclisimiz var. Anayasamıza göre, parlamento kararı olmadan adım atamayız. Tezkereyi TBMM'ye götüreceğiz. Oradan çıkacak karara göre hareket edeceğiz."
Ama, diplomatik nezaket kurallarını hiçe sayan asıl tehdit, şubat ayının ortasında Ankara'yı ziyaret eden ABD Dışişleri Başkan Yardımcısı Elizabeth Jones'tan geldi:
"TEZKEREYİ REDDEDERSENİZ EKONOMİNİZİ MAHVEDERİZ."
Diplomatik teammüllere tamamıyla aykırı böylesi bir tehdide daha önce hiç tanık olmamıştım. - Sayfa 41
”
”
Ahmet Sever (Abdullah Gül İle 12 Yıl - Yaşadım, Gördüm, Yazdım)
“
Dick Cheney at the Pentagon. Cheney then prepared me for the final phase of the operation. This was a meeting with Prince Bandar (who Cheney, Houston, and others referred to as Sultan) in Nashville, Tennessee where he often visited corrupt friends. There, I would relay a message of agreement to Fahd's terms between Noriega and the U.S., as well as confirm all Air Force flights (Carrier Pigeons) and bank transactions. In turn, Fahd's "Homing Pigeon" would relay the messages to Fahd so that the seemingly long running drugs for arms deals would draw to a successful conclusion. Dick Cheney cautioned me, "Sultan will be in Nashville
”
”
Cathy O'Brien (TRANCE Formation of America: True life story of a mind control slave)
“
Darkness is good. Dick Cheney. Darth Vader.
Satan. That’s power.
”
”
Steve Bannon
“
The NORAD stand down at the direction of Vice President Dick Cheney
”
”
J. Micha-el Thomas Hays (Rise of the New World Order: The Culling of Man)
“
A small group of zealots undermined our golden opportunity to pursue peace, not war. Little did we dream that they had a vastly different “vision” of the New World Order. That group included U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney, former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, former Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, Douglas Feith who held the number three position at the Pentagon, Lewis “Scooter” Libby, a Wolfowitz protégé, who later served as Cheney’s Chief of Staff before his dismissal, John R. Bolton who was assigned to the State Department to keep Secretary of State Colin Powell in check, and Elliott Abrams, appointed to head the Middle East policy at the National Security Council. Apparently all envisioned a world dominated by the U.S. – economically and militarily.
”
”
Paul T. Hellyer (The Money Mafia: A World in Crisis)
“
Dick Cheney was the chief of operations officer for 9/11 conspiracy. I used to go up to the Rockefeller’s estate in Maine and was on the inside of Rockefeller’s operation, and his board,
”
”
Jeremy Stone (American Hoaxism: Surviving the New World Order II (Surviving The New World Order Trilogy Book 2))
“
In 1989, then-Defense Secretary Dick Cheney opted for a $25 million modernization program,
”
”
Mike Guardia (Tomcat Fury: A Combat History of the F-14)
“
I convinced [Dick Cheney] that the greatest terrorist was nature itself," Fauci said.
quoted in Nightmare Scenario by Yasmeen Abutaleb, Damian Paletta
”
”
Anthony Fauci
“
A lawsuit, if allowed to proceed, would give the family, as well as homicide detectives in New York, a tool they could use to force disclosure of deep secrets. President Ford’s chief of staff, Donald Rumsfeld, and his deputy Dick Cheney, recognized the danger. Cheney warned Rumsfeld in a memo that a lawsuit might force the CIA “to disclose highly classified national security information.” To head off this looming disaster, he recommended that Ford make a public “expression of regret” and “express a willingness to meet personally with Mrs. Olson and her children.
”
”
Stephen Kinzer (Poisoner in Chief: Sidney Gottlieb and the CIA Search for Mind Control)
“
Prisons are big business and have become deeply entrenched in America’s economic and political system. Rich and powerful people, including former vice president Dick Cheney, have invested millions in private prisons.15 They are deeply interested in expanding the market—increasing the supply of prisoners—not eliminating the pool of people who can be held captive for a profit.
”
”
Michelle Alexander (The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness)
“
...and in the prison wall there‘s a hole so wide you could fit an hour‘s worth of corporate greed in it and have room left over for Dick Cheney‘s draft deferments.
-Til Lunch Do Us Part
”
”
Tom Robbins (Wild Ducks Flying Backward)
“
Rich and powerful people, including former vice president Dick Cheney, have invested millions in private prisons.15 They are deeply interested in expanding the market—increasing the supply of prisoners—not eliminating the pool of people who can be held captive for a profit.
”
”
Michelle Alexander (The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness)
“
Secretary of State Dick Cheney flew in, escorted by Black Hawk helicopters to check the status of our readiness. While the tanks were firing on the range, he was nervously jumping around, shaking his head “yes.” He asked me how old I was and why I joined the Army.
”
”
Joseph B. George (Never Surrender: How to Overcome Life's Greatest Challenges)
“
Reagan proved that deficits don't matter.
”
”
Dick Cheney
“
The good Lord didn't see fit to put oil and gas only where there are democratically elected regimes friendly to the United States.
”
”
Dick Cheney
“
Dick Cheney, then a member of the House of Representatives, put it sharply in 1985. “Confrontation fits our strategy,” he said. “Polarization often has very beneficial results. If everything is handled through compromise and conciliation, if there are no real issues dividing us from the Democrats, why should the country change and make us the majority?”[22]
”
”
Ezra Klein (Why We're Polarized)
“
In 2010, Nigeria also indicted Dick Cheney in the multimillion-dollar bribery scheme. Cheney, a notorious micromanager, claimed not to know about the bribery.
”
”
Jake Bernstein (Secrecy World: Inside the Panama Papers Investigation of Illicit Money Networks and the Global Elite)
“
Much has been made of the youth and inexperience of the US political appointees in the CPA - the fact that a handful of twentysomething Republicans were given key roles overseeing Iraq's $13 billion budget. While there is no question that the members of the so-called brat pack were alarmingly young, that was not their greatest liability. These were not just any political cronies; they were frontline warriors from America's counterrevolution against all relics of Keynesianism, many of them linked to the Heritage Foundation, ground zero of Friedmanism since it was launched in 1973. So whether they were twenty-two-year-old Dick Cheney interns of sixtysomething university presidents, they shared a cultural antipathy to government and governing that, while invaluable for the dismantling of social security and the public education system back home, had little use when the job was actually to build up public institutions that had been destroyed.
In fact, many seemed to believe that the process was unnecessary. James Haveman, in charge of rebuilding Iraq's health care system, was so ideologically opposed to free, public health care that, in a country where 70% of child deaths are caused by treatable illnesses such as diarrhea, and incubators are held together with duct tape, he decided that an overarching priority was to privatize the drug distribution system.
”
”
Naomi Klein (The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism)
“
I still consider Dr. Davis’s reminder that “hard work never killed anyone” some of the finest medical advice I have ever received. I believe it sustained me through my four subsequent heart attacks and the numerous other cardiac challenges I faced as I pursued my career in public service. For that, I will always be grateful.
”
”
Dick Cheney (Heart: An American Medical Odyssey)
“
the artery supplying the front (anterior) wall of Cheney’s heart, the left anterior descending (LAD), did not have significant narrowing. Absent a significant blockage in that critical vessel, sometimes indelicately called “the widowmaker,” bypass surgery is usually no better than medical therapy in improving survival.
”
”
Dick Cheney (Heart: An American Medical Odyssey)
“
It’s getting-up time,” Alessandro declares. “Today is the day.”
“What day?”
“The release date.”
“What are we talking about?”
“Daa-add. The new XBOX game. Hunting Old Sammie.”
Armand opens his eyes. He looks at his son looking at him. The boy’s eyes are only inches away. “You’re kidding.”
“It’s the newest best game. You hunt down terrorists and kill them.” Lifting his voice, “‘Deploy teams of Black Berets into the ancient mountains of Tora Bora. Track implacable terrorists to their cavernous lairs. Rain withering fire down on the homicidal masterminds who planned the horror of September eleven, two-thousand-and-one.’” The kid’s memory is canny.
Armand lifts Alex off his chest and sits up. “Who invented it?”
“I’m telling you, dad. It’s an XBOX game.”
“We can get it today?”
“No,” Leah says. “Absolutely not. The last thing he needs is another violent video game.”
“Mahhuum!”
“How bad can it be?” says Armand.
“How would you know? A minute ago you hadn’t heard of it.”
“And you had?”
“I saw a promo. Helicopter gunships with giant machine guns. Soldiers with flamethrowers, turning bearded men into candles.”
“Sounds great.”
“Armand, really. How old are you?”
“I don’t see what my age has to do with it.”
“Dad, it’s totally cool. ‘Uncover mountain strongholds with thermal imaging technology. Call in air-strikes by F-16s. Destroy terrorist cells with laser weaponry. Wage pitched battles against mujahideen. Capture bin Laden alive or kill him on the spot. March down Fifth Avenue with jihadists’ heads on pikes. Make the world safe for democracy.’”
Safe for Dick Cheney’s profits, Armand thinks, knowing all about it from his former life, but says nothing. It’s pretty much impossible to explain the complexity of how things work within the greater systemic dysfunction. Instead, he asks the one question that matters.
“How much does it cost?”
Alessandro’s mouth minces sideways. He holds up fingers, then realizes he needs more than two hands.
Armand can see the kid doesn’t want to say. “C’mon. ’Fess up.”
Alex sighs. “A one with two zeros.”
“One hundred dollars.”
Alex’s eyes slide away. Rapid nods, face averted. “Yeah.”
“For a video game, Alex.”
“Yhep.”
“No way.”
“Daa-add! It’s the greatest game ever!” The boy is beginning to whine.
“Don’t whine,” Armand tells him.
“On TV it’s awesome. The army guys are flaming a cave and when the terror guys try to escape, they shoot them.”
“Neat.”
“Their turbans are on fire.”
“Even better.”
“Armand,” Leah says.
“Dad,” says Alessandro.
He will not admit it but Armand is hooked. It would be deeply satisfying in the second-most intimate way imaginable to kill al Qaida terrorists holed up along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border—something the actual U.S. military cannot or will not completely do. But a hundred bucks. It isn’t really the money, although living on interest income Armand has become more frugal. He can boost the C-note but what message would it send? Hunting virtual terrorists in cyberspace is all well and good. But plunking down $100 for a toy seems irresponsible and possibly wrong in a country where tens of thousands are homeless and millions have no health insurance and children continue, incredibly, to go hungry. Fifty million Americans live in poverty and he’s looking to play games.
”
”
John Lauricella (Hunting Old Sammie)
“
By mid-November, all US diplomatic and intelligence agencies concurred that the referendum of 1 December would confirm Ukraine’s independence. For Bush and Scowcroft, however, the vote posed a problem. Ukraine’s voters “almost certainly would vote for sovereignty,” recalled Scowcroft, “but not necessarily independent [sic] from the Soviet Union . . . What became clear to me was that Yeltsin was maneuvering so that the Ukraine would be the proximate cause of the break-up of the Soviet Union.” Should the United States therefore announce its recognition of Ukraine straightaway and thus set the final break-up of the USSR in motion? Dick Cheney and his deputies in the Pentagon proposed just that.
”
”
Vladislav M. Zubok (Collapse: The Fall of the Soviet Union)