posted March 15, 2013 12:53 PM            

"We're run by either very foolish or very stupid people," he said during his speech at CPAC. "What's going on in this country is unbelievable. Our country is a total mess, a total and complete mess, and what we need is leadership."

Trump tends to be polarizing, but he was popular here at CPAC. His early-morning speech drew a large crowd -- far larger than remarks at the same time on Thursday -- and he has claimed credit for an increase in ticket sales after his appearance was announced. But conservative commentators have criticized the fact that he was invited when other popular conservatives, such as New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, were not.

Trump mocked those who have dismissed him, saying his business success proves his importance.

"I'm continually criticized by total lightweights all over the place," he said. "It's unbelieveable. When you see these guys on television, they can't buy a clean shirt, and they're saying 'Donald Trump, he's nothing.'"

He said that Romney should have, like him, touted his business success.

"Republicans and Mitt, and I told him this, didn't talk enough about the things he did, the great things," he said. "They were in the defensive instead of taking that offense."

Trump had harsher words for the Karl Rove-founded super PAC American Crossroads and the failure of the candidates it backed in 2012.

"When you spend $400 million and it's a failure, and you don't have one victory, you know there's something seriously, seriously wrong," he said.

Trump also had some ideas for the country, such as going back to Iraq to take some of its oil to pay for the war.

"When I heard that we were first going to Iraq, some very smart people told me we're actually going for the oil, and I said, 'Alright, I get that, there's nothing else, I get it,'" he said. "We didn't take the oil. And then when I said, we spent $1.5 trillion, we should take that -- you know, they have the second-largest oil reserves in the world after Saudi Arabia, so $1.5 trillion is nothing ... we should take it and pay ourselves back."

posted March 15, 2013 01:22 PM            

------------------
Passion, Lust, Desire. Check out my journal

posted March 15, 2013 01:29 PM            

Big surprise with that quote.

posted March 15, 2013 07:01 PM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by Node:
"[b]Trump also had some ideas for the country, such as going back to Iraq to take some of its oil to pay for the war"

Big surprise with that quote.

The Donald only has to look into the mirror to see his own stupid, re: failed candidate attemp.[/B]

---

I am sure you are a really successful person, Node-y

------------------
Passion, Lust, Desire. Check out my journal

posted March 15, 2013 07:27 PM            

quote:

---

"We're run by either very foolish or very stupid people," he said during his speech at CPAC. "What's going on in this country is unbelievable. Our country is a total mess, a total and complete mess, and what we need is leadership."

---

Goodness yes. We need a leader to run him off stage,muzzle him and put him to work in a wig factory. There he can keep big wigs in hair and business while paying an honest tax.

posted March 15, 2013 08:58 PM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by juniperb:
Goodness yes. We need a leader to run him off stage,muzzle him and put him to work in a wig factory. There he can keep big wigs in hair and business while paying an honest tax.

---

When people have nothing else to say, they cut down a person's looks.

------------------
Passion, Lust, Desire. Check out my journal

posted March 15, 2013 09:49 PM            

Some people are rich and successful but you can also be either one without being the other, but you know that already don't you ami?

posted March 15, 2013 10:04 PM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ami Anne:
When people have nothing else to say, they cut down a person's looks.

---

Read the post you quoted

posted March 16, 2013 06:33 AM            

From the person who never does personal insults

------------------
Passion, Lust, Desire. Check out my journal

posted March 16, 2013 08:22 AM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by Randall:

"When I heard that we were first going to Iraq, some very smart people told me we're actually going for the oil, and I said, 'Alright, I get that, there's nothing else, I get it,'" he said. "We didn't take the oil. And then when I said, we spent $1.5 trillion, we should take that -- you know, they have the second-largest oil reserves in the world after Saudi Arabia, so $1.5 trillion is nothing ... we should take it and pay ourselves back."

"What are we thinking? And this is whether it's Obama or [former President George W.] Bush or whoever -- what the hell are we thinking?" he said.

---

Who is "we"?

In the beginning of the war there was a conflict between the neoconservatives who wanted to use the oil to fit into their larger scheme of global dominion, and the US-based oil companies:

quote:

---

The former Shell oil boss agrees. In Houston, he told Newsnight: "Many neo conservatives are people who have certain ideological beliefs about markets, about democracy, about this, that and the other. International oil companies, without exception, are very pragmatic commercial organizations. They don't have a theology."

---

So there was arguing between the Powers that Be, and then, believe it or not, the Iraqi government actually had a say in what happened to their oil!

quote:

---

Furious protests are threatening to undermine the Iraqi government’s plan to give international oil companies a stake in its giant oilfields in a desperate effort to increase its declining oil production and oil revenues.

In less than two weeks time, on June 29 and 30, the Iraqi Oil minister Hussain Shahristani will award service contracts to the world’s largest oil companies to develop six of Iraq’s largest oil producing fields over 20-25 years.

Senior figures within the Iraqi oil industry have denounced the deal. Fayad al-Nema, the director of the South Oil Company, which comes under the Oil Ministry and produces most of Iraq’s crude, said last weekend: "The service contracts will put the Iraqi economy in chains and shackle its independence for the next 20 years. They squander Iraq’s revenues." Mr Nema is reported to have since been fired because of his opposition to the contracts, which he says is shared by many other officials in Iraq’s state-owned oil industry.

---

Strangely enough, when Iraq gave some oil contracts to Asian oil firms in 2009, the media immediately spun the story to say things like, "Despite claims by some critics that the Bush administration invaded Iraq to take control of its oil, the first contracts with major oil firms from Iraq's new government are likely to go not to U.S. companies, but rather to companies from China, India, Vietnam, and Indonesia."

This is six years after they invaded! For all we know, the Bush administration invaded partly to get the oil but didn't foresee the stumbling blocks of Iraqi gov't and stalemates with US oil companies that didn't want to operate on the neocons' terms. The oil companies decided what to bid for each contract.

And it's not even over yet. Just because our military mostly left Iraq doesn't mean "we" left Iraq.

Western Oil Firms Remain as US Exits Iraq

Some said that what the Asian oil firms gained in 2009 were small pickins' compared to upcoming opportunities:

quote:

---

But none of this suggests Western firms like ExxonMobil (Charts), Chevron (Charts), BP (Charts) and Royal Dutch Shell (Charts) will be completely cut out of the action.

First, their technical prowess is world renowned.

"I have not heard anything from any Iraqi ministers against U.S. oil companies," said Aljibury. "In fact, I have heard the opposite. They are the best in field exploration and development. They want them."

Second, Iraq's oil contract game has just begun.

According to a letter supplied by John S. Herold's Ruppel, memorandums of understanding have been signed with all the oil majors for several years. And Iraqi Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani has said the country plans to tender for major oil projects in the second half of 2007.

Steve Kretzmann, executive director of Oil Change International, an industry watchdog group, criticized the draft oil law for allowing long-term oil contracts to be awarded to foreign oil firms, a practice he said was unique in the Middle East.

"Giving out a few crumbs to the Chinese and Indians is one thing," said Kretzmann, who noted the draft law was seen by both the Bush administration and the International Monetary Fund before it was given to Iraq's parliament. "But the real prize are the contracts that award long-term rights. I think the [Western oil companies] are biding their time."

---

Link

A few years later.....

quote:

---

Dr Abdulhay Yahya Zalloum, an international oil consultant and economist who has spent nearly 50 years in the oil business in the US, Europe, Asia and the Middle East, agrees that western oil companies have "obtained concessions in Iraq's major [oil] fields", despite "there being a lack of transparency and clarity of vision regarding the legal issues".

Dr Zalloum added that he believes western oil companies have successfully acquired the lions' share of Iraq's oil, "but they gave a little piece of the cake for China and some of the other countries and companies to keep them silent".

---

Link

And besides...the Iraq war wasn't totally about the oil, it was also about enriching companies like Halliburton and building up a massive military-industrial complex to kick off the New American Century of global dominion (see PNAC's Rebuilding America's Defenses for details) and about militarily surrounding Iran.

Finally, Trump is talking like a thief here. "We should have taken their oil."

posted March 16, 2013 09:04 AM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by katatonic:
Some people are rich and successful but you can also be either one without being the other, but you know that already don't you ami?

---

quote:

---

From the person who never does personal insults

---

Insults Ami Anne I think you are misreading or misinterpreting posts.

posted March 16, 2013 09:06 AM            

quote:

---

Finally, Trump is talking like a thief here. "We should have taken their oil."

Disgusting sense of entitlement and lack of humanity.

---

Now! There is a plain truth
that a few could take as an insult

posted March 16, 2013 09:24 AM            

------------------
Passion, Lust, Desire. Check out my journal

posted March 16, 2013 10:17 AM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by juniperb:
Now! There is a plain truth
that a few could take as an insult

---

posted March 16, 2013 11:16 AM            

I have never watched more than 2 minutes of Trump's show but i know he likes to pose (and advertise himself) as a ruthless boss who relishes that "you're fired" moment and the "power" he wields...i wouldn't patronize any of his business even if he did come up with something attractive.

posted March 16, 2013 11:26 AM            

The man is all about HIS power, money, and superiority to others. Nothing wrong with success, Branson is one of my heroes, but Trump is basically a cretin w/a big bank account, not a role model to anyone but a sociopath.

posted March 16, 2013 06:50 PM            

This is what happens when you cut the education budget in half.

Then those previous children become adults and vote and have children that degrade worst then them, the cycle goes on....

Someone wrote in the astrology 2.0 forum a thread called "The 9th house and your education"

I was tempted to say, but chose not to say,
some post-secondary institutions are not equal.

A student could graduate from a community college thinking there Harvard material.

A degree from one institution isn't the same quality as another.

Harvard and well established universities will always maintain there standards.

While other institutions will:

1)Bell-curve marks to make sure students are graduating

2)Lower the admissions to increase the amount of students enrolled because they need more revenue.

These students graduate thinking they have earned a real education.

---------------------------------------
Capircorn Rising
Gemini Sun, 5th House
Aries Moon
Mercury in Gemini
Venus In Taurus

posted March 16, 2013 06:55 PM            

The majority of US oil is flowing from the Albertan oil sands.

But, if Shale oil development continues in Dakota. The US could just supply most of its own needs.

---------------------------------------
Capircorn Rising
Gemini Sun, 5th House
Aries Moon
Mercury in Gemini
Venus In Taurus

posted March 16, 2013 09:02 PM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by katatonic:
All too true, faith..and now that america's oil reserves have been exposed, they will be coming for ours...if not peacefully via swallowing our sovereignty into the TransPacific alliance, then, like other countries, by force.

---

What American oil reserves are you talking about? As far as I know, we have little oil and are running out rather fast:

quote:

---

The United States only has about 19.1 billion barrels of proven reserves, representing only about 1 to 2% of the world's proven oil reserves.

---

Link

quote:

---

List of Countries by proven oil reserves:

Country Reserves (MMbbl)
— OPEC 1,112,448 - 1,199,707
1 Venezuela 211,169 - 297,571
2 Saudi Arabia 265,405 - 267,017
3 Canada 173,625 - 175,200
4 Iran 151,167 - 154,580
5 Iraq 115,350 - 143,103
6 Kuwait 103,998 - 111,500
7 United Arab Emirates 97,800
8 Russia 60,003 - 116,000
9 Libya 47,102 - 48,014
10 Kazakhstan 30,002 - 39,800
11 Nigeria 37,200
12 Qatar 25,382
13 United States 20,682

---

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_proven_oil_reserves

posted March 17, 2013 01:33 AM            

the dakotas are loaded with oil, shale oil (very dirty expensive process but the oil is better than tarsands) which supposedly is enough to meet our domestic oil needs for a long time. i posted a story about it awhile back. some believe it "must bring down" the price of oil BUT the only reason it is cost effective is because the price of oil is so high...so i doubt it will do that.

there are plenty of stories online about it, both from the point of view of the farmers and indians who are being shafted and having oil men squatting their land, and the oil men who think it is bonanza time...

i'll try to find a link but there are plenty google dakotas oil boom...

as far as i am concerned we can't run out fast enough. imagine...the solar haters claim germany is only doing so well with solar because they have MORE SUN THAN THE US, a total crock as any weather buff will tell you...

no need to dispense with it altogether and immediately, but we really don't need oil much at all. all alternatives have been ditched or classified to soothe shell and exxon's & cos troubled souls...

posted March 17, 2013 02:43 AM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by Faith:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_proven_oil_reserves

What American oil reserves are you talking about? As far as I know, we have little oil and are running out rather fast:

We're currently producing about 8% of the world's oil while consuming about 25%. Looks like our reserves here at home will never be enough to meet our needs.

---

Its Ironic that with a thread called "The Country is Run By Stupid People" that I have to explain this or maybe I'm just Irritated.

If your referring to light sweet crude the answer is yes.

But, dirty oil or alternative energy (tar sands, shale oil) that's a different story.

I don't know why everyone still thinks of light sweet crude, light sweet crude is dead.

Sure its easier to pump out of the ground, but you have to factor transportation and politics.

Think of it this way If I have something you need and its unavailable or you can find a similar product for a better price or get a better service I will look for alternatives.

Its the same reason why Sears is failing as a retailer because people can find a better price and service somewhere else.

The same goes with alternative energy, if the Arabs and Venezuelans were smart they would try to be more competitive.

Keep in mind having an oil source is one half of the problem.

You can't do anything with the oil unless you send it to a refinery.

If anything build more refineries and pipelines.

The price will then come down and even lower if the US becomes an oil exporter.

If your an exporter the less effected a country is to shocks in the global market.

katatonic,

I know how you feel I could see Aliens out there watching and Laughing at us saying.

Those dumb humans haven't evolved and are still relying on fossil fuels( dead-plants and dead organic material) to power there machines and vehicles.

While they've already mastered better energy sources or have been forced to after depleting there own available resources.