Potentially habitable planet discovered; Cheney orders NASA probe for oil

As Brendan notes on the front page, exciting news on the space research front:

Potentially habitable planet found

By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer

WASHINGTON - For the first time astronomers have discovered a planet outside our solar system that is potentially habitable, with Earth-like temperatures, a find researchers described Tuesday as a big step in the search for "life in the universe."

What received less attention was this news item which followed quickly on the heels of the new planet announcement:

Cheney orders NASA to send probe to possible habitable planet in search for oil

By SUSAN FENSTER, UIP Energy Writer

WASHINGTON - Vice President Dick Cheney, citing reports of a newly discovered planet that may be habitable, ordered NASA to "begin work immediately" on sending a probe to the planet to search for life forms and oil.

A top secret memo from Cheney to NASA officials declares, "If there are signs of significant amounts of oil, send along something that can and will kill whatever living beings may reside there. Something nuclear, preferably. That's what we should have done in Iraq. And if you asshats up there at NASA can't get this done in the next few weeks, you can be damn sure I'll have Halliburton take care of it."

The Cheney memo, obtained by UIP, also demanded that NASA officials keep his request secret.

"Any violation of this order will be considered treason, punishable by a slow and painful death," Cheney notes in his memo.

The memo's header includes a "cc:" line to the CEOs of several leading energy and oil companies.

A spokesman for the Vice President's office refused to comment on the memo.

I love, love, love Dick Cheney!

(And for those who may have missed this, here's a Dick Cheney humor bonus from Robert Smigel and Saturday Night Live: Torboto: The Robot that Tortures People .)

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maybe we'd be able to accomplish it

after the Economic Armageddon... Because we can't afford to drill for oil over there until we go through a class war over here.

"To discuss evil in a manner implying neutrality, is to sanction it." AR

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Indeed.

Bush and company have been waging war on the middle class since day one of the administration in favor of crony companies who loot the treasury under the approving eyes of the criminal cabal currently occupying the Executive branch.

As Bush has, himself, declared, "I am a war President."

If you really believe this is the "fight of our lives," how come you're not in Iraq?

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lol

You're starting to sound like me Ender.

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Heh

Mars didn't pan out?

Come, my friends. 'Tis not too late to seek a newer world -- Tennyson

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The sad part is...

... that this administration has killed satire (among the many things and living beings it has killed).

As someone pointed out to me last night when I posted a similar version of this post at Daily Kos:

Bush announces plans to set up a permanent base on the Moon and to send astronauts to Mars.

Questions arise over the cost, the military's role and the Mars-Halliburton connection.

[...]

Among the private companies that will benefit from the space program may include Halliburton and Shell Oil. According to a 2001 article in Petroleum News, NASA has been working with Halliburton, Shell, Baker-Hughes and the Los Alamos National Laboratory in identifying drilling technologies on Mars.

Geez, you can't even make stuff up anymore...

Unless, of course, you are Karl Rove and you can make up stories about how Pat Tillman died or how Jessica Lynch was saved in order to cover up abuses like Abu Ghraib and to keep the American public in the dark about the realities of our Iraq misadventure.

If you really believe this is the "fight of our lives," how come you're not in Iraq?

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