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Michelle Obama’s Princeton classmate is executive at company that built Obamacare web

Re: Michelle Obama’s Princeton classmate is executive at company that built Obamacare

I think it's always interesting to view something like this as if it happened to someone in the the other political party. Say Laura Bush went to school with someone who became the CEO of a company that ended up with a big government contract. Would liberals give her or George Bush the benefit of the doubt? And, to be fair, would conservatives be so eager to suggest there must be some connection or would we complain about liberals jumping to unsubstantiated conclusions?

Because you told me that because you hadn't personally accused Cheney of being corrupt, that should "answer my question". You tell me, how does that answer my question? I haven't accused Michelle Obama of anything, yet you have no trouble talking about "conservatives" being lame and birthers or whatever.

See the question I bolded. That is the one I answered...
 
Re: Michelle Obama’s Princeton classmate is executive at company that built Obamacare

Thank God you're here to provide balance.
Please explain to everyone why out of more than a dozen firms that are listed as qualified for Government work (yes, that's funny in and of itself) the Obama's chose the CGI bid without even reviewing any others ...
and then after getting the contract, CGI's President became a campaign donor to USA's President.
I know, I know, you're gonna say that's done all the time in politics.
But imagine how much money, how many votes, and how much campaign groundwork is gonna come back to the Democrat Party at election time given all the contracts and Community Organizations tapped for the Obamacare rollout ... not to mention all the new dependents/voters targeted by ACA ... no, it's unprecedented.
So ... let's have the balance.

The HHS has been contracting with CGI since 2007. Obama wasn't the president in 2007.
 
Re: Michelle Obama’s Princeton classmate is executive at company that built Obamacare

Michelle Obama's Princeton classmate was Obamacare website builder | The Daily Caller

Company management biographies - Toni Townes-Whitley | CGI.com



Association of Black Princeton Alumni

Well well well, look who's listed in the same graduating class. Does anyone remember what the Left said about Cheney and Halliburton?

I see no problem here, a Princeton classmate of the first lady is an executive on one of the many companies who worked on the web site. Woopie do. Now a running buddy of the president from his college days, might make me stop and think and perhaps do some more checking out. But this, no way. No big thing. Only the most die hardest of Republicans and conspiracy theorist would pay this much attention.
 
Re: Michelle Obama’s Princeton classmate is executive at company that built Obamacare

Ok, well and I haven't accused Michelle Obama of anything, so, what's your point? You think that means no liberal would be trying to draw those connections?

I don't think liberals are that anal retentive.
 
Re: Michelle Obama’s Princeton classmate is executive at company that built Obamacare

I'm not really interested in the Princeton classmate. What I wonder about is the bidding process. Ordinarily, the RFP is published at fedbizopps, and it's open. Were there competitive bids? I've read variously that there were and that there weren't, that there was only one bid. HHS denies that it was a "sole source" contract, but critics say that CGI Central was the only bidder.
 
Re: Michelle Obama’s Princeton classmate is executive at company that built Obamacare

Michelle Obama's Princeton classmate was Obamacare website builder

"Roommate" would be interesting. "Classmate"? Those are pretty big classes.

Besides, the CGI was already working for the federal government under Bush Jr.
 
Re: Michelle Obama’s Princeton classmate is executive at company that built Obamacare

I don't think liberals are that anal retentive.

Well, you must have been living under a rock during most of the Bush administration.
 
Re: Michelle Obama’s Princeton classmate is executive at company that built Obamacare

Brief history of Haliburton:

1. Early 1990s. Cheney, as Secretary of Defense, gives contracts to Halliburton to rebuild facilities in Kuwait that had been destroyed in the first Persian Gulf war.

2. Early 1990 to 1993. Cheney, as Secretary of Defense, commissions Halliburton to do a classified (secret) study concerning replacing the U.S. military's logistics by work done by private companies. Halliburton says, yes, a company can do the work. In August 1992, with essentially no bidding, Halliburton is selected by the US Army Corps of Engineers to do all work needed to support the military for the next five years! Thereafter, Halliburton (or its subsidiary KBR) and its military logistics business escalated rapidly. In the ten years thereafter revenues totaled $2.5 billion.

3. 1995-2000. Cheney is CEO of Halliburton. Under Cheney, Halliburton increases its offshore tax havens from 9 to 44, cutting its taxes from $302 million in 1998 to an $85 million refund in 1999. That's almost $400 million they took from taxpayers in one year.

4. During Cheney's tenure at Haliburton, Halliburton did business with countries like Azerbaijan, Indonesia, Iraq, Libya, Iran, and Nigeria even though the US had imposed strict sanctions on them. They skirted sanctions, and they lobbied against sanctions. Some of this business was illegal, and Halliburton was fined for it.

5. Spring 2000. Cheney heads Bush's Vice-Presidential Search committee --while continuing as CEO of Halliburton. He ends up picking himself as Vice President.

6. July 2000. Cheney is asked whether Halliburton or its subsidaries were trying to do business with Iraq. He says no; he had a firm policy that they wouldn't do anything in Iraq, even if it was legal. This was a blatant lie: subsidiaries sold over $73 million in oil-production parts to Iraq.

7. 2000. As CEO of Halliburton, Cheney clears $20 million in one year, after taxes.

8. July 2000. Cheney's severance package from Halliburton (as CEO) is far and above what other company officers got when they left --some say it is as high as $62 million in stocks and stock options.

9. December 2001. KBR (Halliburton subsidiary) is granted an open-ended contract for Army troops supply and Navy construction, wherever U.S. troops go, for the next 10 years (so far, Afghanistan, the Philippines, Yemen, Iraq). This unique contract has no ceiling on cost. KBR is reimbursed for every dollar spent plus a base fee of 1 percent, which guarantees profit. Plus, they can get a bonus as a percentage of company costs.

10. January 2003. Bush sends a letter to Congress exercising his authority, as president, to waive section 9007, thus removing sanctions and allowing assistance to oil-rich Azerbaijan (see point 4). This administration invites the head of Azerbaijan to the White House, even though this person was the main reason for earlier sanctions against Azerbaijan. Reason? Azerbaijan has oil.

11. September 2003. Cheney states that when he became Vice President, he severed all ties with Halliburton, as required by law. This was a lie. Government accounting offices said that the compensation he continues to receive is a conflict of interest.

12. Dec 2003. Halliburton, without competitive bidding, is given a contract to restore the Iraqi oil sector. It is billed initially as a contract for putting out oil-well fires, something in which Halliburton has little expertise. It turns out that the contract is really for the full restoration of the oil business in Iraq. It is kept secret because of the "emergency conditions". It is one of the highest military logistics contracts in history.

13. June 2004. Cheney has said all along that he had no contact with government officials who coordinated Halliburtons many contracts with the military. A March 2003 Pentagon email refutes this claim. It says that action on a no-bid Halliburton contract to rebuild Iraq's oil industry was "coordinated" with Cheney's office. This has to do with a no-bid contract given to Halliburton for rebuilding Iraq.

14. August 2004. The SEC (Security Exchange Comission) levies a fine of $7.5 million on Halliburton for illegal accounting changes in 1998, when Cheney was CEO of Halliburton. Some people think that politics may have shielded Cheney and others from being held more accountable.

Conflict of interest: Haliburton
Sorry...couldnt bother going past your first lie...I mean...comment. Cheney did not award Haliburton ANYTHING. Haliburton was a pre-bid sole source IDIQ contractor. They were awarded the IDIQ contract because they were deemed the ONLY company with the resources to rebuild cities after natural disasters, wars, etc. The IDIQ was awarded during the Clinton administration.
 
Re: Michelle Obama’s Princeton classmate is executive at company that built Obamacare

Why isn't this thread in Conspiracy Theories?
 
Re: Michelle Obama’s Princeton classmate is executive at company that built Obamacare

Why isn't this thread in Conspiracy Theories?

Indeed.

Michelle Obama went to Woody Woo, Ted Cruz went to Woody Woo. Don't you guys realize what's REALY going on?!

These people stage political spectacles to fool the public, and then exchange secret handshakes and clink oversized champagne flutes behind closed doors.
 
Re: Michelle Obama’s Princeton classmate is executive at company that built Obamacare

Brief history of Haliburton:

1. Early 1990s. Cheney, as Secretary of Defense, gives contracts to Halliburton to rebuild facilities in Kuwait that had been destroyed in the first Persian Gulf war.

2. Early 1990 to 1993. Cheney, as Secretary of Defense, commissions Halliburton to do a classified (secret) study concerning replacing the U.S. military's logistics by work done by private companies. Halliburton says, yes, a company can do the work. In August 1992, with essentially no bidding, Halliburton is selected by the US Army Corps of Engineers to do all work needed to support the military for the next five years! Thereafter, Halliburton (or its subsidiary KBR) and its military logistics business escalated rapidly. In the ten years thereafter revenues totaled $2.5 billion.

3. 1995-2000. Cheney is CEO of Halliburton. Under Cheney, Halliburton increases its offshore tax havens from 9 to 44, cutting its taxes from $302 million in 1998 to an $85 million refund in 1999. That's almost $400 million they took from taxpayers in one year.

4. During Cheney's tenure at Haliburton, Halliburton did business with countries like Azerbaijan, Indonesia, Iraq, Libya, Iran, and Nigeria even though the US had imposed strict sanctions on them. They skirted sanctions, and they lobbied against sanctions. Some of this business was illegal, and Halliburton was fined for it.

5. Spring 2000. Cheney heads Bush's Vice-Presidential Search committee --while continuing as CEO of Halliburton. He ends up picking himself as Vice President.

6. July 2000. Cheney is asked whether Halliburton or its subsidaries were trying to do business with Iraq. He says no; he had a firm policy that they wouldn't do anything in Iraq, even if it was legal. This was a blatant lie: subsidiaries sold over $73 million in oil-production parts to Iraq.

7. 2000. As CEO of Halliburton, Cheney clears $20 million in one year, after taxes.

8. July 2000. Cheney's severance package from Halliburton (as CEO) is far and above what other company officers got when they left --some say it is as high as $62 million in stocks and stock options.

9. December 2001. KBR (Halliburton subsidiary) is granted an open-ended contract for Army troops supply and Navy construction, wherever U.S. troops go, for the next 10 years (so far, Afghanistan, the Philippines, Yemen, Iraq). This unique contract has no ceiling on cost. KBR is reimbursed for every dollar spent plus a base fee of 1 percent, which guarantees profit. Plus, they can get a bonus as a percentage of company costs.

10. January 2003. Bush sends a letter to Congress exercising his authority, as president, to waive section 9007, thus removing sanctions and allowing assistance to oil-rich Azerbaijan (see point 4). This administration invites the head of Azerbaijan to the White House, even though this person was the main reason for earlier sanctions against Azerbaijan. Reason? Azerbaijan has oil.

11. September 2003. Cheney states that when he became Vice President, he severed all ties with Halliburton, as required by law. This was a lie. Government accounting offices said that the compensation he continues to receive is a conflict of interest.

12. Dec 2003. Halliburton, without competitive bidding, is given a contract to restore the Iraqi oil sector. It is billed initially as a contract for putting out oil-well fires, something in which Halliburton has little expertise. It turns out that the contract is really for the full restoration of the oil business in Iraq. It is kept secret because of the "emergency conditions". It is one of the highest military logistics contracts in history.

13. June 2004. Cheney has said all along that he had no contact with government officials who coordinated Halliburtons many contracts with the military. A March 2003 Pentagon email refutes this claim. It says that action on a no-bid Halliburton contract to rebuild Iraq's oil industry was "coordinated" with Cheney's office. This has to do with a no-bid contract given to Halliburton for rebuilding Iraq.

14. August 2004. The SEC (Security Exchange Comission) levies a fine of $7.5 million on Halliburton for illegal accounting changes in 1998, when Cheney was CEO of Halliburton. Some people think that politics may have shielded Cheney and others from being held more accountable.

Conflict of interest: Haliburton

But but but...Michelle went to school with that chick!
 
Re: Michelle Obama’s Princeton classmate is executive at company that built Obamacare

I want to know about the bidding process. I know what is customary and what isn't, and the fact hasn't been settled whether CGI General was a sole-source contract or not. HHS says it wasn't. Was this, essentially, a no-bid contract? Was an RFP published or not?
 
Re: Michelle Obama’s Princeton classmate is executive at company that built Obamacare

But but but...Michelle went to school with that chick!

I don't see much here regarding Michelle Obama but, before you get too too smug, let's be real, some people will come to the defense of anything Obama. I learned that with Bengahzi. I was disappointed with how many seemed more interested in circling the wagons than getting to the bottom of it. I can say that I would be pissed about how that happened regardless of the party of the person in White House.
 
Re: Michelle Obama’s Princeton classmate is executive at company that built Obamacare

I don't see much here regarding Michelle Obama but, before you get too too smug, let's be real, some people will come to the defense of anything Obama. I learned that with Bengahzi. I was disappointed with how many seemed more interested in circling the wagons than getting to the bottom of it. I can say that I would be pissed about how that happened regardless of the party of the person in White House.

Well that is novel. Thread fails, but by god got to bitch and whine about something, so let's spun Benghazi. Hey, why don't you bring in that Obama isn't really a natural born citizen too since we are going to just go with random nonsense now.
 
Re: Michelle Obama’s Princeton classmate is executive at company that built Obamacare

I don't see much here regarding Michelle Obama but, before you get too too smug, let's be real, some people will come to the defense of anything Obama. I learned that with Bengahzi. I was disappointed with how many seemed more interested in circling the wagons than getting to the bottom of it. I can say that I would be pissed about how that happened regardless of the party of the person in White House.

My snarl was in reply to the OPs claim that being in the same class as someone who works for a company that got a no bid contract is the same as being CEO of a company that got no bid contracts.

There's some official shady going on at Halliburton under Cheney. And he was still getting some compensation from them as vice president, right?

In same class as is not equal to being CEO of.

Time will tell, and it COULD have been inappropriate.

But this is more like a pile of iron ore and some sulphur than a smoking gun.
 
Re: Michelle Obama’s Princeton classmate is executive at company that built Obamacare

Well that is novel. Thread fails, but by god got to bitch and whine about something, so let's spun Benghazi. Hey, why don't you bring in that Obama isn't really a natural born citizen too since we are going to just go with random nonsense now.

I've never bought into this thread but yes, I think Bengahzi was a disgrace which is something I thought pretty much everyone could agree on. I was wrong about that, though. Apparently it's better to ignore it (and actually get pissed at the people pissed about it) than to accept anything that might cast Obama in any kind of a bad light.
 
Re: Michelle Obama’s Princeton classmate is executive at company that built Obamacare

Bad enough that Obama sent 600 million tax dollars to Canada to do something that could have should have been done in America but this Michelle friend thing really puts it over the top.
 
Re: Michelle Obama’s Princeton classmate is executive at company that built Obamacare

Bad enough that Obama sent 600 million tax dollars to Canada to do something that could have should have been done in America but this Michelle friend thing really puts it over the top.

It's an American company, subsidiary of a Canadian company; the work went to Americans, and the office is in America.
 
Re: Michelle Obama’s Princeton classmate is executive at company that built Obamacare


Being the nice person I am
Well, THAT made you sound a little full of yourself
But are you okay now? Hope you've calmed yourself down.

I am going to teach you a bit about debate: off topic **** is off topic.

Lemme explain ... topic is political cronyism ... Solyndra ... Lightsquared ... now CGI ... big bucks, and I mean BIG bucks, and then campaign bucks in return.
Now do you understand? It's an age old game but seldom as massive or obvious as it is with this guy. But it has been working thanks to apologists inside - and outside - the media.
 
Re: Michelle Obama’s Princeton classmate is executive at company that built Obamacare

Well that is novel. Thread fails, but by god got to bitch and whine about something, so let's spun Benghazi. Hey, why don't you bring in that Obama isn't really a natural born citizen too since we are going to just go with random nonsense now.

To be fair, you seem to be the one doing the most bitching about this and bringing up birther trash talk and other nonsense, so seems a little hypocritical to call out someone for bringing up Benghazi, isn't it?
 
Re: Michelle Obama’s Princeton classmate is executive at company that built Obamacare

It only makes sense.

The Silicon Valley has the world's top technology innovators and designers so only a blind fool could fail to see the logic in turning to Canada in order to hire a black college friend of Michelle's.

Certainly it's racist to even notice this.

Ain't that the truth.
 
Re: Michelle Obama’s Princeton classmate is executive at company that built Obamacare

I don't know anything about this company, except that many here want to scapegoat Canada for a failed American federal government program. I'm a firm believer in the old saying "garbage in, garbage out". Until someone definitively shows that this company was A) negligent, and/or B) didn't do what HHS and Obama officials asked them to do, I'm not prepared to slag them.

The blame, as far as it goes, lies entirely with the government and its agents who set the parameters and details of the system they wanted. In fact, much of the complaining seems to be that people are being asked for far too much personal information simply to inquire about prices of options and they're getting bogged down before they can even get in. Who do you think demanded the need for all this detail to enter the site? It wasn't CGI.
 
Re: Michelle Obama’s Princeton classmate is executive at company that built Obamacare

I don't know anything about this company, except that many here want to scapegoat Canada for a failed American federal government program. I'm a firm believer in the old saying "garbage in, garbage out". Until someone definitively shows that this company was A) negligent, and/or B) didn't do what HHS and Obama officials asked them to do, I'm not prepared to slag them.

The blame, as far as it goes, lies entirely with the government and its agents who set the parameters and details of the system they wanted. In fact, much of the complaining seems to be that people are being asked for far too much personal information simply to inquire about prices of options and they're getting bogged down before they can even get in. Who do you think demanded the need for all this detail to enter the site? It wasn't CGI.

They didn't deliver a working website for the 55 million dollars they were paid to do it.

If you bought a computer from Dell and it wouldn't turn on, would you also blame the government? :lamo
 
Re: Michelle Obama’s Princeton classmate is executive at company that built Obamacare

I don't know anything about this company, except that many here want to scapegoat Canada for a failed American federal government program. I'm a firm believer in the old saying "garbage in, garbage out". Until someone definitively shows that this company was A) negligent, and/or B) didn't do what HHS and Obama officials asked them to do, I'm not prepared to slag them.

The blame, as far as it goes, lies entirely with the government and its agents who set the parameters and details of the system they wanted. In fact, much of the complaining seems to be that people are being asked for far too much personal information simply to inquire about prices of options and they're getting bogged down before they can even get in. Who do you think demanded the need for all this detail to enter the site? It wasn't CGI.

Absolutely right ... the Canada complaint escapes me.
The contractors coded what they were asked to code.
Including the "no reasonable expectation of privacy" text and the requirement for full enrollment just to get prices, as you mentioned.
It's not just those initial intrusive requirements.
Your point about the innards of Obamacare is the ultimate point ... it's much more than the pieces not fitting with each other.
This thing is really really bad and should scare the crap out of anyone who learns about it.
 
Re: Michelle Obama’s Princeton classmate is executive at company that built Obamacare

So this thread is about how a lot of successful people went to Princeton?

Oh, no, it's really about making unsupported allegations that somehow Mrs. Obama overcome all the bidding processes we have for government contracts and gave a Princeton classmate the job.

Conservatives are that desperate and foolish looking.

Let's file this in the rightwing "I hate the black first lady" meme cabinet
 
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