Can any one explain the $2.3 trillion missing from the Pentagon books?

[seemslikeadream]

Who's supposed to keep track of stuff like that?


http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/01/29/eveningnews/main325985.shtml

(CBS) On Sept. 10, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld declared war. Not on foreign terrorists, "the adversary's closer to home. It's the Pentagon bureaucracy," he said.

He said money wasted by the military poses a serious threat.

"In fact, it could be said it's a matter of life and death," he said.

Rumsfeld promised change but the next day – Sept. 11-- the world changed and in the rush to fund the war on terrorism, the war on waste seems to have been forgotten.

Just last week President Bush announced, "my 2003 budget calls for more than $48 billion in new defense spending."

More money for the Pentagon, CBS News Correspondent Vince Gonzales reports, while its own auditors admit the military cannot account for 25 percent of what it spends.

"According to some estimates we cannot track $2.3 trillion in transactions," Rumsfeld admitted.

$2.3 trillion — that's $8,000 for every man, woman and child in America. To understand how the Pentagon can lose track of trillions, consider the case of one military accountant who tried to find out what happened to a mere $300 million.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUKJNxdmX6Y

[bluerum]

1. Well. I don't have it. nt

[seemslikeadream]

2. Are you sure?

turn out your pockets!

[bluerum]

33. Pretty sure. I think I would notice a couple billion $$'s layin' 'round. nt

[Ripley]

3. Why, the Honest Bookies keep track

You know, like all those Arthur Anderson guys. Smirky loves filling the government with crooked private sector foxes.

Is an investigation into this in the Dems *100* plan?

[Lone_Star_Dem]

4. I think we should demand they account for it or else give it back

This was our money they lost after all. Either they account for it's usage or we should all get a refund.

[flamin lib]

13. I read of one officer who took it upon himself to find a single

expenditure of $300 million. He couldn't get any co-operation from the brass, but after a year he finally found an office building the Pentagon owned. They lost a chrome and glass office building!

It was being used by the military though, they just couldn't account for the line item in the budget--$300 mil and they didn't know where they spent it and didn't want anyone to look for it!

[Lone_Star_Dem]

37. I guess for them that was no more than losing the car keys?

A $300 million dollars expenditure and no one cared where it had gone. It does make one wonder where some of the money has gone to cause them to not wish to track it all.

[alfredo]

27. It's probably off shored, hiddened in secret accounts, laundered

then turned into things like property in Paraquay.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

39. All the more reason we should demand receipts for every last dime.

As I said, it's our money, we have a right to know where it ended up.

[alfredo]

44. bush and his buddies will never release the records, and

even if they did, it will be such a mess it will take years to figure out what they did with the money. I say much of it went to the war profiteers. Some of that money will be kicked back to lawmakers and administration officials who made it all possible.

[butterfly77]

75. Let us make a mistake ...

With some taxes or missing money,we all know what would happen...

[Lone_Star_Dem]

76. Isn't that the truth

Things should be changed so that the government is held to the same standard as we the people. Yearly accountings for all their expenditures would be a good start.

[G_j]

5. Transcript of Representative Cynthia McKinney's Exchange with Rumsfeld

http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/031505_mckinney_transcript.shtml

Transcript of Representative Cynthia McKinney's Exchange with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Richard Myers, and Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) Tina Jonas, March 11th, 2005

[HCE SuiGeneris]

6. Only 2.3 Trillion?

pishaw... chicken feed. I'm sure that it's safe somewhere. :banghead:

[flamin lib]

7. They lose abut 25% of their $450 B budget every year. There are

entire brigades of armor that they have no idea where they are. How the hell do you lose an M1A1 tank much less a couple hundred of 'em?

That was one of my suggestions to balance the budget: Trim the Pentagon budget to only what they can account for.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=3052186&mesg_id=3052186

[SharonRB]

8. Wait -- let me go check my freezer

:rofl:

[dogday]

14. Can't help but laugh on that one.....

:rofl:

[SharonRB]

17. I couldn't help myself -- it just needed to be said

[PA Democrat]

23. LOL. How big is your freezer?

I had a hard time squeezing a bag of bagels in mine.

Poster down below says that much money would be "a stack of 100 dollar bills nearly 200 miles high."

[SharonRB]

55. LOL

Nowhere big enough for $2.3 trillion! Not unless it was in the form of a check, anyway!

[truthpowertruth]

9. Just a coincidence this info was released on Sept.10 2001...

INSIDE JOB! Get with it.

[seemslikeadream]

10. Actuall I should have asked WHO should be held accountable?

Who's job was it?

Any guess?

[Jcrowley]

15. Dov

Mebbe?

No not Dove

Mr. Zakheim I presume.

What do I win?

:hi:

[seemslikeadream]

28. Well that WAS his job now wasn't it?

Dov S. Zakheim was sworn in as the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) and Chief Financial Officer for the Department of Defense on May 4, 2001. Dr. Zakheim has previously served in a number of key positions in government and private business. Most recently, he was corporate vice president of System Planning Corp., a technology, research and analysis firm based in Arlington, Va. He also served as chief executive officer of SPC International Corp., a subsidiary specializing in political, military and economic consulting. During the 2000 presidential campaign, he served as a senior foreign policy advisor to then-Governor Bush.

From 1985 until March 1987, Dr. Zakheim was Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Planning and Resources in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Policy). In that capacity, he played an active role in the Department's system acquisition and strategic planning processes. Dr. Zakheim held a variety of other DoD posts from 1981 to 1985. Earlier, he was employed by the National Security and International Affairs Division of the Congressional Budget Office.

Dr. Zakheim has been a participant on a number of government, corporate, non-profit and charitable boards. His government service includes terms on the United States Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad; the Task Force on Defense Reform (1997); the first Board of Visitors of the Department of Defense Overseas Regional Schools (1998); and the Defense Science Board task force on "The Impact of DoD Acquisition Policies on the Health of the Defense Industry" (2000).

A 1970 graduate of Columbia University with a bachelor's in government, Dr. Zakheim also studied at the London School of Economics. He earned his doctorate in economics and politics at St. Antony's College, University of Oxford, where he was graduate fellow in programs of both the National Science Foundation and Columbia College, and then a research fellow. Dr. Zakheim has been an adjunct professor at the National War College, Yeshiva University, Columbia University and Trinity College, Hartford, Conn., where he was presidential scholar.
http://www.defenselink.mil/bios/zakheim_bio.html



Pentagon finance manager resigns

Thursday 11 March 2004

Rabbi Dov Zakheim's refused to tell journalists the exact reason for his departure on Wednesday. A former adjunct economics professor at New York's Yeshiva University, Rabbi Zakheim has spent more than 30 years working in various jobs at the Pentagon.

But he has also worked in private industry, specifically as a consultant to McDonnell Douglas and Boeing.


Rabbi Dov Zakheim,
Pentagon comptroller and chief financial officer, a conservative Republican who graduated from Jew's College in London in 1973, Zakheim first joined the Department of Defence in 1981 under former president Ronald Reagan.

He was responsible for such tasks as preparing defence planning guidance for nuclear war.

As Pentagon Comptroller and Chief Financial Officer, Rabbi Zakheim's priority has been financial management.
But that does not include additional spending needed to support US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan - a sum expected to range from $30 billion to $50 billion.


A General Accounting Office report found Defence inventory systems so lax that the US army lost track of 56 aeroplanes, 32 tanks and 36 Javelin missile command launch-units.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/635B6007-9DD0-436C-BFF6-E6521520B1C7.htm

[Jcrowley]

19. Recherché du trillions perdu

Recherché du trillions perdu
By Jerry Mazza
Online Journal Associate Editor


Jul 20, 2006, 00:43


Pardon my bebop French, paraphrasing Marcel Proust’s famous novel, Recherché Du Temps Perdu, which is about his childhood memories flashed to life by a piece of tea-soaked toast whose taste reminds him of a childhood cookie. In my case, Recherché du trillions perdu (Remembrance of trillions lost) was triggered by seeing that tidbit Donald Rumsfeld gave us on September 10, 2001: that the Pentagon could not account for $2.3 trillion dollars. It had vanished in the rabbit hole and the story was buried the next day under the rubble of 911. Merde.

And in fact Rummy lamented that was $8,000 for every man, woman and child in America. One Jim Minnery, a former marine turned whistle-blower, risked his job at the Defense Finance And Accounting Service when he asked about the millions missing from one defense agency‘s balance sheets. Minnery attempted to follow the money, criss-crossing the country looking for clues, only to have his boss look at him and say, “Why do you care about this stuff.” He was reassigned and the booboo written off.

And the memory flashes forward to January 31, 2005, and the Pentagon announces that Rabbi Dov Zakheim, the Pentagon Comptroller, has Misplaced a Trillion Dollars. In fact, al Jazeera (of all news outlets) reported a “General Accounting Office report found Defence inventory systems so lax that the US Army lost track of 56 airplanes, 32 tanks and 36 Javelin missile command launch-units.” How could all this have been lost in my memory? Of course, Rabbi Zackheim resigned, complaining that the pressure of keeping track of all that loot was too much trouble.

<snip>

And if memory serves, before that, from 1985 to 1987, he was under secretary of defense for planning and resources, and held various senior Pentagon posts in the Reagan madhouse. Before that with the Congressional Budget Office. Then on to Corporate VP of Systems Planning Corporation, a high-tech research, analysis, and manufacturing firm, then Chief Executive Officer and President of SPC International, Inc. In 1998, Zakheim, expert in ballistic missiles, worked with the Rumsfeld Commission. And more, yes, he is a long-time Bush crony, policy advisor to Governor Bush in the 2000 campaign theft. Yes, it all comes back.

http://www.onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_1015.shtml

[Richard D]

11. 2.3 trillion dollars

A stack of 100 dollar bills nearly 200 miles high.

[malaise]

12. Check Paraguay n/t

[Peace Patriot]

25. Yup, lots of oil in the Andes. See my Post #5 at

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=109x28423

...for what I'm guessing they might be up to, and what these 'disappeared' trillions might be for.

[leveymg]

57. You'd need a wealthier nation-state to launder that much cash. eom

[rodeodance]

16. TRillion. whow whow whow.

[SpiralHawk]

18. BushCo republicon corruption is VAST.

They steal from everyone....that's what you get with an AWOL preppy as commander in chief.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

20. The year was not shown for the article. It was September 10, 2001. Ain't it

amazing that this Huge story was lost in the attacks of 9/11?
Also, the part of the Pentagon that was attacked, if I am correct, had accounting records.....

[Peace Patriot]

29. You know what the other story was, that got buried in the rubble on 9/11?

The news consortium story on the real vote count in Florida, showing Gore won. I think it was published on 9/12 or thereabouts.

[seemslikeadream]

and the Enron documents!

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

43. Yes it was. It was later spun in the Washington Post in November as being

inconclusive with a possible advantage to the Shrub.

[bananarepublican]

63. Also, Wall Street shinannigans were being investigated! Guess where the records were held? n/t

[sce56]

71. Humm just like this story never published the friend of Mohamed Atta Tracked down

*Mohamed Atta's Best Friend Caught in South Pacific:*

*"You can't arrest me, I'm working for the CIA."*

http://voxpopnet.net/attascia.html

Published today, 12/18/06, in New York Megaphone, print run: 40,000
circulation: 66,700, NYC and Environs

Sander Hicks

Daniel Hopsicker is an independent journalist working in Venice,
Florida, outside the decommissioned military airstrips where three
pilots from the 9/11 attack were trained. Hopsicker found the secret
life of 9/11 ring-leader Mohamed Atta, who lead the operation by
piloting the first plane into the World Trade Centre. Hopsicker
found Atta's American girlfriend, Amanda Keller. What she said broke
new ground for truth-seekers worldwide. Atta had social connections
and a party-boy life that indicated there was more to his story than
people had been told. The American media establishment turned a
blind eye to Hopsicker's work, however. He has been called a
"conspiracy theorist" in mainstream media in Florida, when he's paid
any attention at all.

Yet, in November, 2006, Hopsicker's career turned a corner. Sources
connected to the Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) told the
Megaphone that his work began to be used to track Atta's former
associates. A researcher close to JTTF, speaking on condition of
anonymity, told the Megaphone that the "JTTF relied heavily on
Daniel's research on Atta and Amanda . I faxed them pages
from Welcome to Terrorland."


The lead paid off: on November 16, 2006, the Joint Terrorism Task
Force issued a "Terror Alert" for a certain Wolfgang Bohringer, a
German-born, naturalized U.S. citizen who had reportedly partied
with and protected Mohamed Atta in Florida. Bohringer's name came up
often in interviews with Amanda Keller. Amanda called the two
"inseparable" and described how they had been kicked out of bars
together. Atta called Wolfgang "brother" a name he reserved for
particular white Europeans.


Why "Brother?" During Atta's university years in Cairo, the
engineering guild that he joined had made him a member of the group
Muslim Brotherhood. (9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is also
a card-carrying Muslim Brother.) The group has two wings. Their
front men in Egypt are non-violent, but the sordid history of the
Brotherhood is that, since 1928, its anti-Semitism and anti-Zionist
ideologies have made it a partner in crime for Nazis, European
fascists, American far-rightists, and their powerful counterparts,
the neo-conservatives.


The JTTF swiftly descended on Wolfgang Bohringer, outside Fanning
Island, in the South Pacific, about 1000 miles south of Hawaii, on
the 17th of November. Sources reported that the arresting officers
said, "The first thing out of his mouth made him go from a '5' to an
'8'" (on a scale of importance). Allegedly, Bohringer had claimed,
"You can't arrest me, I'm working for the CIA."


It looks like Bohringer was right. The day after the arrest, The
Megaphone's JTTF sources did an about-face. With a mix of threats
and attempts at persuasion, they claimed that an error had been
made: Bohringer had not been arrested. It was someone else. They
couldn't say who. That identity was secret.


Daniel Hopsicker felt betrayed. In an email to a JTTF source, he
said, "perhaps y'all are unaware up there that i haven't spent the
past five years in venice bumfuck florida because i have a fetish
for blue-haired widows. i'm the person who discovered that mohamed
atta had a close german associate named wolfgang bohringerŠif NOBODY
there feels that i deserve to be briefed on this story, please pass
on my cordial 'fuck you' to all involved."


The Megaphone approached other sources inside national and
international security agencies. One source, a former JTTF informant
and undercover operative for the anti-terrorist Operation
Diamondback, phoned The Megaphone office on Dec. 11, and confirmed
that Wolfgang Bohringer was arrested on Nov. 17, 2006: "The answer
is yes, and he's working-can't talk about it."


The message was pithy, but the effect is devastating: This might be
the closest anyone has come to "proof" that Mohamed Atta had
connections to the CIA.


If sources are correct, Bohringer was working for CIA when he
befriended Atta in Florida. Bohringer was CIA when he was arrested
by the Joint Terrorism Task Force on November 17th, 2006.


And according to the Diamondback source, Mohamed Atta best friend,
Wolfgang Bohringer today is still "working" for CIA.


At this point, The New York Megaphone is out front on a story no one
else has. The only thing we can say is "Qui custodiat ipso
custodies?" latin for "Who watches the watchmen?"


According to polls, national opinion is shifting towards thinking
more critically about 9/11. But the only people who seem adamant
these days about defending a lie are the people tasked with finding
the truth.

To unsubscribe reply with "unsubscribe" in the subject line and please
include your username at the 9/11 CitizensWatch site.
Fascism Accomplished!

[judaspriestess]

21. I'm sure raytheon is probably one of the lucky winners in this

windfall.

[BlueJac]

22. Cut their budget.........

until they find the money. Srew it, just cut their budget anyway. We are losing trillions through all branches of government........what a fucking joke.

[Subdivisions]

24. Haliburton has it. n/t

[mod mom]

26. Stealing elections cost a lot of $

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

30. Funny how good they are at keeping track of our income and spending.

Maybe they should hire the IRS to keep track of the dough shelled out to the "defense" industry.

[lies and propaganda]

31. Hallinurton, Bechtel, KBR, and assorted douchebaggery...

thats my guess.

[flordehinojos]

32. 1st. look for it in any of the bushes bank accounts 2nd look for it in any of the bushes bankaccount

3rd. look for it in any of the bushes bank accounts.

[jazzjunkysue]

36. Lol! n/t.

[Ezlivin]

34. And why did terrorists just happen to strike the Pentagon's accounting/finance dept on 9/11?

Ah, I guess it was just another one of those weird coincidences that seemed to only happen on that day.

[bananarepublican]

64. Wow! Is this for real? n/t

[Ezlivin]

69. Yeah. And that's what's so damned creepy

Five sides to the Pentagon (duh). Hani could have lowered the nose of the aircraft and plowed straight ahead into a section where Rumsfeld and others were sitting. Instead he passes the Pentagon, does a 330° descending turn and hits the accounting and finance section.

Just dumb luck, right?

[TheWraith]

74. That's a complete distortion.

For starters, it's pretty clear from the flight path that the aircraft was attempting to strike the side facing the river, which is where the Defense Secretary's office is, but that the pilot underestimated how hard it was to turn a fully loaded 747. Second, the area of the Pentagon that was struck by the aircraft was mostly vacant at the time due to renovations.

[Ezlivin]

77. First, it was a 757, not a 747

Second, there is no way of knowing what the pilot's intentions were; all we can go on is the flight path. And it sure looks like he bypassed an easy head-on strike for a tricky manuever. Plus the 757 was not fully-loaded; it had only 64 passengers and carried only enough fuel for its intended flight. If you check the flight path below, you'll see that the hijackers took a leisurely cruise for a while before they turned back to D.C. That burned a significant amount of fuel.




Third, why kill people when all you are after is burning the books?

[jazzjunkysue]

35. Did you look under the desk in the oval office? n/t.

[Hubert Flottz]

38. It's somewhere North East West or South of Texas!

[druidity33]

49. heh, heh... good one. n/t

[timtom]

40. Dov Zackheim?

Just a guess...

[seemslikeadream]

41. That WAS his job

The CEO of SPC

Dr. Dov Zakheim has been nominated to serve as Under Secretary of Defense and Comptroller. He is presently the CEO of SPC International, and in the past he has served as Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Planning and Resources as well as in a variety of Defense Department positions under former President Reagan. He was a member of the Task Force on Defense Reform under then-Secretary of Defense William Cohen and in February of 2000 he was appointed to the Defense Science Board Task Force on the Impact of DoD Acquisition Policies on the Health of the Defense Industry. He has received the Department of Defense Distinguished Public Service Medal; the Bronze Palm to the DoD Distinguished Public Service Medal and the CBO Director's Award for Outstanding Service. A New York native, Dr. Zakheim is a graduate of Columbia University and has also studied at the London School of Economics. He received his doctorate degree from St. Anthony's College at Oxford University.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/20010212-2.html

It was an SPC subsidiary, TRIDATA CORPORATION, that oversaw the investigation after the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in 1993.

[timtom]

65. Wait a minute!

I just thought of something. It might not mean anything, but, then again...Doesn't Rabbi Zackheim have dual citizenship? Therefore, to whom does he owe his allegiance?

Wow! Wotta concept!

[teryang]

60. Good guess!

Missing funds tend to turn up in secret overseas accounts. My guess is that they are the source of the non transparent and mysterious money used to control the value of US treasury and Fed reserve offerings both at auction, and on the NYMEX. Economists in their unguarded moments in the media often wonder where the huge sources of capital come from to make up for the shortfalls when the overseas Asian and mideastern buyers cut back. Some speculate that the "secret buyer" is the Fed itself. I think it is more likely the pentagon and intelligence agency proxies.

[Imagevision]

42. Without responsible oversight BushWAS having a field day....

this too shall pass...

[B Calm]

45. What gets me is how republicans can say they're conservative

without laughing....as though they are serious...

[Fovea]

46. Imagine a foreign enemy did 2.3 trillion dollars worth of damage

to the US. What would that look like?

Well ours has.

[TacticalPeek]

47. Very hungry dogs?

:shrug:

[lonestarnot]

48. And the 8.9 billion in Iraq?

[leftofthedial]

50. 98% of it?

repukes.

[FogerRox]

51. Its the Enron model.

[sanskritwarrior]

52. Look at Officers

Every S-4 officer (Supply Officer) at the Battalion or Brigade Level and G-4 at division and J-4 at ecehlons above Corps has an Army Credit card. This card allows them to buy anything needed for mission accomplishment. Things from desks and office supplies to routers and Plasma TV's. The officer must account for all the property, but proeprty has a way of going missing after accountability inventories take place.

Here is an example: My unit S-6 (Signal officer) just bought 22 Cisco 48 port routers. He only needs 4. The other 18 were given to the 18 Staff officers for their offices. This allowed those officers to not have to pay for the out of pocket or with unit funds. Those were a couple of grand a piece, as a result the staff officers were able to take the old routers in thier offices home with them or sell them on Ebay or other sites. So the officers made some money, the S-6 racked up a huge debt that will never be paid and everyone was happy. :sarcasm:

[exlrrp]

67. Taking them home is a crime!!

"...the staff officers were able to take the old routers in thier offices home with them or sell them on Ebay or other sites...."
this is a federal crime--theft of government property.
Can't you make a complaint?
When I was peeling spuds in defense of my country it was common practice for Army cooks to take home the best stuff, leaving the scraps for troops. Someone In my company took pictures of the company cook loading meat into his car and reported it--the cook was busted and punished.
Doesn't ANYONE in your unit have some kind of integrity? Or do they all just turn their heads and/or collude?

[DeeDeeNY]

53. I think I know where it is

It's being kept with the weapons of mass destruction!

[DemReadingDU]

54. Hopefully, Waxman can get this investigated

k&r

[noamnety]

56. I'm sure they'll find it.

Just as soon as they find the 380 tons of explosives we lost in Iraq.

[johnaries]

58. Pssst. Ever hear of Black OPs?

Well, you never heard it from me....

[progressoid]

59. Welfare moms?

[shanti]

61. nancy pelosi

i fervently hope that she and the rest of the dems look into this in 2007!!!! you can be sure that the cabal will fight like the devil to have anything like this exposed, tho.

[orleans]

62. $2.3 trillion dollars? that's easy: my dog ate it. n/t

[MethuenProgressive]

66. Old news - this story is from 2002 almost 5 years ago!

The link in the OP is from 2002

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/01/29/eveningnews/main325985.shtml

[seemslikeadream]

68. and your point is?

We should just forget about it?

[MethuenProgressive]

70. Ancient news is "new" to seemslikeadream...

Posted by seemslikeadream

and your point is?
---
We should just forget about it?

Evidently YOU have forgotten it, since it's almost 5 years old. The point was: If this is news to you, where the hell have you been?
What's your post going to be? "Bush wins '04 Election!"?
:sarcasm:

[seemslikeadream]

72. This is NOT news to me and this is GD not LBN

Wed Aug-11-04
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=743997


where the hell have I been? Posting at DU for over 4 years now


GD means General Discussion, I believe that means we can talk about many things here including "old stuff"

[seemslikeadream]

73. You really should know what your talking about before you post

You walk into the room
With your pencil in your hand
You see somebody naked
And you say, "Who is that man?"
You try so hard
But you don't understand
Just what you'll say
When you get home

Because something is happening here
But you don't know what it is
Do you, Mister Jones?

You raise up your head
And you ask, "Is this where it is?"
And somebody points to you and says
"It's his"
And you say, "What's mine?"
And somebody else says, "Where what is?"
And you say, "Oh my God
Am I here all alone?"

Because something is happening here
But you don't know what it is
Do you, Mister Jones?

You hand in your ticket
And you go watch the geek
Who immediately walks up to you
When he hears you speak
And says, "How does it feel
To be such a freak?"
And you say, "Impossible"
As he hands you a bone

Because something is happening here
But you don't know what it is
Do you, Mister Jones?

You have many contacts
Among the lumberjacks
To get you facts
When someone attacks your imagination
But nobody has any respect
Anyway they already expect you
To just give a check
To tax-deductible charity organizations

You've been with the professors
And they've all liked your looks
With great lawyers you have
Discussed lepers and crooks
You've been through all of
F. Scott Fitzgerald's books
You're very well read
It's well known

Because something is happening here
But you don't know what it is
Do you, Mister Jones?

Well, the sword swallower, he comes up to you
And then he kneels
He crosses himself
And then he clicks his high heels
And without further notice
He asks you how it feels
And he says, "Here is your throat back
Thanks for the loan"

Because something is happening here
But you don't know what it is
Do you, Mister Jones?

Now you see this one-eyed midget
Shouting the word "NOW"
And you say, "For what reason?"
And he says, "How?"
And you say, "What does this mean?"
And he screams back, "You're a cow
Give me some milk
Or else go home"

Because something is happening here
But you don't know what it is
Do you, Mister Jones?

Well, you walk into the room
Like a camel and then you frown
You put your eyes in your pocket
And your nose on the ground
There ought to be a law
Against you comin' around
You should be made
To wear earphones

Because something is happening here
But you don't know what it is
Do you, Mister Jones?

[Karenina]

78. Na Du... That 2.3 figure is at LEAST

5 YEARS OLD. ;-)

[krispos42]

79. Rolling Stone knows where it is

The $2 Trillion Dollar War

A leading economist says the true cost of Iraq is far higher than President Bush claims -- and America will pay the price for decades to come.

CHARLES M. YOUNG

When America invaded Iraq in 2003, the Bush administration predicted that the war would turn a profit, paying for itself with increased oil revenues. So far, though, Congress has spent more than $350 billion on the conflict, including the $50 billion appropriated for 2007.

But according to one of the world's leading economists, that is just a fraction of what Iraq will actually wind up costing American taxpayers. Joseph Stiglitz, winner of the Nobel Prize for economics, estimates the true cost of the war at$2.267 trillion. That includes the government's past and future spending for the war itself ($725 billion), health care and disability benefits for veterans ($127 billion), and hidden increases in defense spending ($160 billion). It also includes losses the economy will suffer from injured vets ($355 billion) and higher oil prices ($450 billion).

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