Ariana Nails the Coming Cheney Scandal..."Bada Bing" Ranch....

[KoKo]

We've only scratched the surface, but the more we learn about the Armstrong Ranch, site of the Cheney shooting, the more it feels like the GOP equivalent of Tony Soprano's joint, the Bada Bing.

CNN described the remote 50,000-acre Armstrong ranch as "a private getaway." It's the kind of place the goodfellas of the Republican crew can go to kick back, put their feet up, have a beer (or two) with lunch, talk a little business, raise a little money, make a few deals, maybe meet a girl.
Of course, at the Bada Bing the girls are strippers; at Armstrong they're the ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein. But both hot spots feature quite a bit of gunplay.

According to Austin American-Statesman reporter Robert Elder, the Armstrong is "a favored destination spot for this type of Republican with social connections, a fair amount of wealth... Certainly if you have access to the vice president or other high level administration officials, corporate officials, it gives you really a unique opportunity to kind of relax, talk, and who knows what happens from there."

Well, Dick Cheney knows. He's been kicking back at Armstrong for over 30 years. Also in the know: President Bush and Laura, Bush 41 and Barbara, Karl Rove, and James Baker, all of whom have been frequent guests at the ranch.

The rest of us can get an idea of "what happens from there" by piecing together some of the very cozy connections between the Armstrong Ranch Mafia.

Take ranch proprietress, shooting eyewitness, and in-a-pinch vice-presidential press secretary Katharine Armstrong, who has parlayed her hunting relationships into a number of well-paying gigs.

For instance, in 1999, back when he was Governor, ranch regular George W. Bush appointed her to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission. Two years later, she became the Commission's chairman.

In a 2003 interview, the Dallas Morning News asked Armstrong what had she done to "gain an appointment to the TP&W Commission, which is considered one of the plums of gubernatorial appointments?" Replied Armstrong: "I didn't do anything. In fact, I was shocked when Governor Bush's office called me... What Governor Bush told me is that my name just came to him in a 'eureka' moment."

More of "connecting the dots" and quid pro quo....
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/armstrong-ranch-a-gop-ba_b_15820.html

[TallahasseeGrannie]

1. Kind of reminds me of

the country weekends of the British upperclass. Musical rooms, maybe?

But I feel kind of snarky to bring that into it, because frankly, I have a feeling old Dick doesn't perform too well these days, given his health problems. Not to say this might not have been the case in the past...

[merh]

4. Your thinking for deadeye dick involves his performance.

You overlook the obvious about the man and his associates.

Their performance doesn't matter, only their pleasure.

It is not what they can do for this nation, for their lady friends, for their corporate cronies, it is what all of their toys can do for them.

[TallahasseeGrannie]

5. Well I will be more graphic

I doubt he can get it up anymore. And if he can't get it up, there is no pleasure in the bedroom. For him OR his partner. And Viagra isn't an option with the heart meds he must be on.

[merh]

14. Again, you are thinking relative to the physical aspects.

Their pleasure is derived from the emotional control and dominance. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. It is not whether he can experience the pleasure, it is whether he can dominate another to the point that they go out of their way to try to help him achieve the pleasure. That, in and of itself, is the pleasure.

I also hesitate to believe any report that has been released on his physical condition. There is nothing that this administration makes public that I can believe. They lie constantly. Why not try to garner the sympathies of the nation and the world for sickly dick? His "health issues" can make the nation doubt the full extent of his power, can make foreign nations (France) less likely to go after him for his numerous crimes and can make people doubt that he is as capable of the corruptions that many of us fear he has had a hand in.

There was a mafia godfather that feigned his illness and mental incapacity during his murder and corruption trial in an effort to gain the sympathies of the jury and the court and in an effort to win an acquittal. This bunch of criminals is always playing to the jury, always shaping public opinion.

[TallahasseeGrannie]

26. okay, gotcha

you were way more esoteric than I was!

It's hard for me to relate pleasure to dominance, so I didn't consider that.

[merh]

32. The tool that they use so effectively against the people is

"thinking outside of the box". Their crimes so aggregious, the horrors and abuses so perverse, they know that the majority of folks cannot relate, let alone perceive that the wrongs are anything that our leaders could be capable of doing. After all, they are "our" leaders.

In the 50's this same corrupt take over and control of our nation was tried. McCarthy and his lot used fear to control the people and to infringe upon our freedoms. In the 50's it was communism that threatened our world, today it is terrorism.

The difference then was Ike, he recognized the danger of allowing the corporate/military interests to gain the control they wanted. As a war hero that actually served, the general was fully aware of the dangers and sadnesses associated with war. He saw that war for the sake of war, war so that the war machines can be made rich and the people can be controlled, was dangerous to the safety of our nation. He also recognized that social programs were necessary so that the nation could remain strong.

President Dwight Eisenhower, Republican, uttered these words on November 8, 1954:

"Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes that you can do these things. Among them are a few Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or businessman from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid."

Stupid, yes. Numbers negligibale? Not any more. Determination would be the only trait that Ike failed to recognize in his description of the thugs that are destroying our nation.

[Marie26]

34. Jeez that's a scary quote

Especially the part about the "Texas oil millionaires". They've been waiting a long time to get power. I've got to disagree w/you about Cheney possible faking or exploiting his health problems, though. If anything, the White House seems to be covering it up (reporting he had "foot problems" instead, etc.) The man has an ambulance that follows him everywhere he goes, even to a ranch w/his cronies. That's not just for show.

[merh]

36. I doubt his health issues because I doubt everything the WH

makes public. It is just that simple.

And, imho, he does look pretty healthy for an unhealthy man.

Maybe the ambulance is an armored car, made to look like an ambulance, that contains the imfamous portrait that helps him maintain his immortality. Or maybe it is the armored car designed to protect him from the terrorists, like the popemobile.

:shrug:

[Marie26]

40. Or maybe it's an armored car

to carry around all his Halliburton profits. Cheney never wants it out of his sight, and sometimes likes to frolic & dive into the money like Scrooge McDuck. But he can only do this in isolated places like the Armstrong Ranch, so they need the upmost secrecy. Ah, it's all making sense now...

[merh]

43. Now that is a possibility I have never considered.

It is possible, they do have a different set of priorities and values than you and I. I wish I were a photoshop artist or an artist of any kind, I would love to create that cartoon.

:hi:

[FreedomAngel82]

56. I think he knew this would happen

He did know Prescott after all.

[merh]

64. He did warn against this happening.

I wish his party had listened to him.

[Carni]

29. I also think the whole heart thing is bullshit

Them claiming the big Dick has a heart condition really doesn't impress me.

Everything coming out of that Whitehouse is typically a lie so why should Cheney's health be an exception?

[merh]

30. exactly

:thumbsup:

[TallahasseeGrannie]

45. But didn't his heart problems

start during the Clinton admin when he was in private industry? Why would they lie about it during that time frame?

[Carni]

48. Who knows!

I just don't trust anything they say at this point.

[FreedomAngel82]

57. Or perhaps

they're making it out to be worse than what it is. :shrug:

[KoKo]

50. you know...I agree with you here. What if it was just "contrived" to give

"Chimp" a pass...picking some guy that "we were told" was on his last legs because of so many heart attacks that he would never be a threat to the "Chimp's Power." What if it turns out that it was ALL A LIE about CHENEY?

I have friends who have much less heart problems starting in their 30's than Cheney and they are all Moldering in their Graves at this point. For a long time I assumed they died early because the Cheney types have access to better health care than my friend with similar heart disease. But, after I've seen more of this crap about Cheney and gone onto reputable Heart Disease Web Sites it seems that if Cheney had his first "Heart Attack" in his 30's he should or WOULD BE DEAD at this point.

What if Cheney's whole "heart thing" was disinformation? :shrug:

BTW, I have two family members who died with what's been reported about Cheney's heart history...and they had access and used EXCELLENT Physicians and Heart Surgeons. PLUS they watched their diets and were very thin folks when they finally "checked out of life."

Dick Cheney is a "large man" who doesn't look like he spends much time in the Gym or on the Exercycle like my friends who are now long gone did when they took their meds and exercised regularly but still died.

There's "something about" BIG DICK that doesn't meet the Cardio Test..IMHO.. But, maybe he just has incredibly good GENES?? :shrug:

[Carni]

51. It may have all been a ruse to make us think big Dick wasn't a drinker

We already had a Pres that was a so called reformed alcoholic, so a vice Pres with the same deal happening would have been too much...

By saying Dick was on meds for his so called heart prpblem it sort of lended the aura that a sober person had his eye on the road.

I think it's all crap

[FreedomAngel82]

59. And don't forget in his youth

he had at least two DUI's. Does anybody know how old he was on his second DUI?

[FreedomAngel82]

58. Very good point

My grandfather had a lot of heart problems and he had to watch what he ate. When he was younger he used to smoke pipe's and cigars (where he got his lung cancer from) and he had a heartattack and his doctors told him he had to stop smoking and go on a healthier diet or he would die. He was in his mid fourties to early fifties then I believe. My grandfather died last year at age seventy-three (or maybe seventy-two) and he was lucky because he took care of his health and he walked and did other exercises and ate healthy. Does anybody remember what they ate? And again if he's on heart medication and has serious illness with his heart why in the world is he drinking even one beer? My grandfather drank mostly tea and if he did drink anything else it was diet drink's or water.

[FreedomAngel82]

55. Ding ding ding very good point and

on Stephanie Miller's show this past week someone called in who takes heart medication just like Dick does and according to her drinking is a BIG BIG BIG no. It can mess your medication up. So why would he be drinking if he does have serious heart problems? Now you got me wondering if it's a ploy too so whenever they're getting into serious trouble Cheney can back down for "medical" issues and they can get a new VP to run in 2008 and he can go to his house he has near Rumsfeld and never be bothered. Remember how they love to spend money so I could be surprised that they have all his medical staff etc. around as a setup etc.

[Divernan]

16. Unless his nerve endings are dead, he can get pleasure.

How does one put it delicately - Monica would be welcome by Dick.

[TallahasseeGrannie]

27. Gosh..

I didn't know that. You mean.. hmmmm....

I honestly had no idea. I thought if the tree was down the...well, you get my drift.

[Raster]

11. merh, you hit the nail right on the head!

[AndyTiedye]

47. Cheney Gets Off On Shooting Animals And Watching Them Die

That is what canned hunting is all about.

He probably hasn't actually had sex for years.

[sam sarrha]

8. like the Swinging bi-sexual Swartz's ... moral icons of Califoarnia

[Canuckistanian]

13. He likes to watch

("Being There" reference.)

[Divernan]

19. Brit. upper class: Upstairs/Downstairs - havin' a beer with W

Remember all those working class/middle class fools who said they preferred W to Al Gore, cause W was the kind of guy you'd like to have a beer with? Wonder if they have figured out yet that W wouldn't be caught dead with them in their local watering holes, and if they want to have a beer with W, they better hand over the equivalent of their year's salaries as a campaign donation? Wouldn't you love to see Katherine's face if a bunch of blue collar workers crashed a blueblood weekend at her ranch? Get me an Iron City, babe and get lost while W and I talk about NASCAR!

[PDittie]

23. But he's got that Scud missle penile implant

PLEASE don't anyone post the picture...

[TallahasseeGrannie]

28. That WAS an amazing picture

I'm convinced he had a 16-oz Bud under there, hiding it from his wife.

[tsuki]

41. I was thinking it was more like the meeting in 1957 in rural Apalachin, NY

[FreedomAngel82]

54. But you do know

he doesn't have to do anything. Could the other person "perform" and he still get something?

[Klukie]

2. I really hope..

the late night comics pick upon this. It would be great if this if the perception of this ranch would turn into the bunny ranch.

[PuraVidaDreamin]

3. can we recommend for greatest page

the Armstrong ranch is a fantasy playground for
the political right wing players!

[KharmaTrain]

6. She Just Ate Whorie Kurtz And Some Wingnut Blogger Alive

The great thing this morning was hearing a consitant "talking point" from Kristina and then Arianna that this is a metaphor for how this regime lies and stonewalls everything. Very powerful and the wingnut blogger couldn't do anything but try to say how it's all personal and Kurtz attempts to dismiss this as "left wing bloggers" gone wild.

The good thing is Whorie covered the story...gave it another day of shelf-life and instead of making it go away, looks like the stench will stick around for a while. Yep, there are more important stories to cover...too many...but the corporate media can't make money off a scandal about a leaked spy or even wiretapping...but they sure can with a sex or drug/alcohol scandal.

This thing is turning into a GOOP version of "Dallas"...a soap opera where there's a lot of characters with some interesting backgronds and relationships...ripe for someone to investigate. The days where this regime can bullshit or intimidate a story away are at an end.

[KoKo]

12. Thanks for posting this. I turned off Howie Whore before they came on

figuring it would be more of the "same." I guess I turned it off too soon, but I just couldn't take the chance of ruining another Sunday morning with their crap.

[KharmaTrain]

17. C & L Will Probably Have The Video

Also Arianna and Harry Sheer are sure to have a good take on things...as will Jane Hamsher.

The wingnut was one of the powerline dudes...a real kool-aid drinker who reminds me of the guy we used to tie to the backstop and whip tennis balls at cause he was so obnoxious.

Cheers...

:hi:

[KoKo]

21. GREAT! thanks...didn't think of that...n/t

[panader0]

7. C'mon Cindy, there's a new place to camp.

[Sydnie]

9. Why is the song "Lawyers, guns, and money" replaying in my head?

I like the Bunny Ranch analogy. That works for me.

[susu369]

10. Sidney Blumenthal nails it as well

The curiosities surrounding the vice president's accident have created a contemporary version of The Rules of the Game with a Texas twist. In Jean Renoir's 1939 film, politicians and aristocrats mingle at a country-house in France over a long weekend, during which a merciless hunt ends with a tragic shooting. Appearing on the eve of the second world war, The Rules of the Game depicted a hypocritical, ruthless and decadent ruling class that made its own rules and led a society to the edge of catastrophe.


Full story:
http://www.opendemocracy.net/democracy/rules_3277.jsp

[KoKo]

15. Sad thing is most Americans can't make the connection of this influence

peddling and quid pro quo going on at the highest levels. I remember when the Kennedy's were reviled by the RW Eco Chamber for every connection they had as if they were the most scurrilous family every to serve in the White House...on and on and on.

Yet the "Bada Bing Ranch" would make the "Kennedy Compound" look like the local Boston Pub in comparison...

[Sarah Ibarruri]

20. Only the media could present it to the public.... and they don't. nt

[Marie26]

35. It really reminds me of an Agatha Christie novel

Where aristocrats & politicians would gather together in a English country manor for some hunting and fine dining. Until, suddenly, the elderly owner is mysteriously shot. But all the witnesses claim it was an accident... or was it? But each guest has their own agenda, and they are all tied together to another scandal far in the past. This story isn't going away soon - it's just too good of a mystery.

[mitchum]

39. "The Rules of the Game" was the first analogy that came to my mind...

as the story was unfolding. It is apt.

[burythehatchet]

18. DON'T disrespect da Bing!!

22. and Whittington kisses the hand of da godfather

[Gregorian]

24. Never underestimate a Republican- Always Business.

Always.
So when Dick doesn't go to the hospital, it's business. He doesn't want people to know about The Ranch. He was silent for a reason. Keep it quiet. Hell, he wants and needs to go back to the republican clubhouse. Skull and Bones. You name it.

This last five years has me manic. From the thought that they might go down, to the thought that they might just find a way to remain in office another term, to the thought that elections might never be fair again.

But it's little things like this hunting accident, that keep me sane. Just one little slip-up at a time.

Folks, we are going to get our trifecta yet. And I'm not talking about a disaster that nets us power or income. I mean we are going to get this democracy back if it kills them.

[FreedomAngel82]

61. Yep

Something happened and they got cocky and messed up their plans. They would've been smart to not mention it at all. I wonder why they changed their minds. Maybe someone there threatned to tell and they had to do it first to frame the debate. Remember that is what they always do as well. They have to frame the debate first and use the media to pound it into people's heads. Why else do you think all the rightwingers were saying "oh it's not a big deal!" and Sean Hannity joking it off. The only one who really questioned it who's a republican was Joe Scarborough. I was really surprised quiet honestly.

[spanone]

25. Seems that's how bush* makes most of his political appointees.

Voila!!!!! Such insight for such an ignorant man...I'm truly impressed.

This is a man who NEVER had a 'eureka' moment in his life.

[pat_k]

31. Beware, when they go a-hunting, they are conducting business that cannot

. . .be conducted by phone or under the eyes of others.

There are some things that can only be discussed face-to-face.

They keep these hunting trips secret for a reason. When they openly pay visits they are showing their hand. For example, Bush going to Ohio immediately before Nov 2, 2004 or going to FL, AR, and TN immedicately before the 2000 election (what was so critical about AR and TN? Gee, could it have something to do with ensuring they had "Gore didn't even win his home state propaganda?)

And what was the timing of Scalia's hunting trip with Cheney?

Vice President Dick Cheney and Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia spent part of last week duck hunting together at a private camp in southern Louisiana, just three weeks after the court agreed to take up the vice president's appeal in lawsuits over his handling of the administration's energy task force,. . .

When we do find out that Cheney went a-hunting, we need to take note. Who accompanied? What's in the works that they need to rig?

[Klukie]

37. Great point.

Does anyone know who else was at the ranch that weekend besides the ones mentioned in the media?

[pat_k]

65. I think the other hunter was Baker's sister. . .

. . .but would need to confirm.

[joeunderdog]

42. Excellent points

The whole scalia thing just said to me that this was essentially the political whorehouse.

And they're all whores.

[FreedomAngel82]

62. It's the same thing with Bush too

Remember there for a while he was having a LOT of foreign people come to his place in Texas. Why not ever the White House? Why do they only go to his little wannabe ranch in Texas? Because they can have privacy?

[Marie26]

33. "Eureka moments"?

Like appointing Brownie & Harriet Miers? Bush must have a mental Rolodex of his cronies & buddies that he flips through whenever he has to appoint someone. Actual merit doesn't much matter.

[Joey Liberal]

38. Cheney disrespected the Bing n.t

[sundancekid]

44. we can also call it:: The Biggest Whorehouse in Texas::ChickenHawk Farm!

[Burried News]

46. Ein bier, ein struudle, check on accounts in der Switz

http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/bank/20010227a.asp
"All of 15 Swiss francs in it," Martin's character modestly tells his naive mark. "But you ever want to impress anybody, they can find out you have a Swiss account -- but Swiss law prohibits the bank from revealing the balance.

"Thus," he adds after a portentous pause, "are all men created equal."

That bit of dialogue makes Francois Micheloud laugh. "No, no, no," the Swiss account broker says. "You can't open an account online." He shakes his head good-naturedly as he talks from his office in Lausanne. He laments that movies give the impression that Switzerland is a "no-questions-asked country."

Yah yah yah yah salud'

[KoKo]

49. Why do I think that Swiss Bank Accounts must be as common as Face Lifts

and Hair Transplants amongst our members of both the House and Senate these days?

And that folks in BOTH PARTY's are participants. In other words, they have the same Doctors who are so skilled in "reconstruction" that the "party affiliation" really means nothing these days. It's all the same "Rolodex."

I know..I'm probably being "TOO CYNICAL." But, I watch ALOT OF C-SPAN.

[lovuian]

52. Armstrong should have ramifications for giving false info

to the press...

[FreedomAngel82]

53. You know what popped into my mind reading this?

The Bunny Ranch. It's a place where you go and meet girls and they live there and get paid for sex and to have sexual parties. I thought of this place right away only they probably have other activities available too such as Cheney and hunting. I don't know why but I still feel very weird about George and Laura's relationship. I have read that they married only after knowing each other (not dating but knowing) after ninety days. Does anybody know about this? And I find it interesting too how when he ran for Congress Laura was not around. He had his whole fake cowboy thing going on and nobody was buying it and thus him. Than he "met" Laura and ran for governor and it worked. And if you look and him and Laura act compared to other political couples they don't act very romantic. Whenever they kiss in public their eyes don't meet and he looks past her. Even Ronald and Nancy Reagan you could tell loved each other and the Bush parents (George and Barbara).

[Catchawave]

60. More dots....

from: http://www.whitehouseforsale.org/ContributorsAndPaybacks/pioneer_profile.cfm?pioneer_ID=509

Pioneer Tobin Armstrong’s ancestor, Texas Ranger John B. Armstrong, bought the beginnings of the Armstrong Ranch in 1882 with the $4,000 bounty he received for capturing outlaw John Wesley Hardin. In 1944 Tobin’s older brother wed an heir of legendary King Ranch (see Fausto Yturria), linking two of the biggest ranches in Texas. The Armstrong Ranch has since gone global, with tracts in Australia and South America. In recent years, Tobin and his wife, Anne, have hosted many GOP dignitaries--including the first and second President Bush--on their 50,000-acre Armstrong Ranch in South Texas. “We go out when the dew is still on the grass, and then hunt until we shoot our limit,” Tobin said in 2000 of his ranch outings with Dick Cheney. “Then we pick a fine spot and have a wild game picnic lunch.” True conservatives might choke on their javelina steaks if they knew that Tobin Armstrong dunned the government for $11,336 in farm subsidies between 1995 and 2002, according to the Environmental Working Group. Anne Armstrong served as: a close advisor to President Nixon; President Ford’s British Ambassador; and approved covert actions on the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board under Reagan. A veteran of blue-chip corporate boards, Anne Armstrong was a Halliburton director when that corporation hired Cheney. She is Kay Bailey Hutchison’s best friend, having helped launch the senator’s career as Republican National Committee co-chair in 1971. George W. Bush appointed Anne Armstrong as a Texas A&M regent in 1997. She and her husband were part of Laura Bush’s delegation to the funeral of Queen Mother Elizabeth in 2002. As a Kenedy County Commissioner in 2001, Tobin Armstrong expressed serious reservations about a short-lived Bush administration plan to relocate a Navy bomb-testing site from Puerto Rico to the fragile sand dunes of a local beach. Daughter Katharine Armstrong--formerly Katherine Idsal--and ex-son-in-law Warren Idsal also are Pioneers. President Bush invited Tobin, Anne and Katharine Armstrong to a White House sleepover.

[FreedomAngel82]

63. A White House sleepover?

Huh. Does anybody know when that was?