Posted on 01/23/2004 1:11:01 PM PST by SierraWasp
ALL ABOARD!
Message boards tear into Halliburton
By Shawn Langlois, CBS.MarketWatch.com Last Update: 3:55 PM ET Jan. 23, 2004
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS.MW) -- Halliburton's boards have seen a firestorm of political rhetoric since this whole Iraq thing began, but Friday's virtual melee reached a whole new level.
The catalyst hit the wires early Friday in the form of a Wall Street Journal report that two Halliburton employees took $6 million in kickbacks for awarding a Kuwaiti-based company some lucrative work in Iraq.
Sure, the guilty parties were fired and Halliburton shares (HAL: news, chart, profile) rallied nearly 3 percent, etc., etc., but that didn't stop the peanut gallery on Yahoo from thrusting the unrelenting buzz into overdrive.
Torroid88 was just one of many outspoken Bush-busters chanting their displeasure: "We know that the FISH ROTS FROM THE HEAD!!! We know that the FISH ROTS FROM THE HEAD!!!"
Elsewhere, JimParkey was drawing blanks as he tried to play detective and guess the perps: "Rove and Cheney? Can't think of any other Washingtonian puppet masters at the moment. Although with the Captain Kangaroo news and all, I'm a little fuzzyheaded."
MmmmmDoughnuts, clearly unmoved by the death of the mustached Captain, hardly tried to veil his sarcasm: "Shocked. I am shocked. I never thought I'd hear the words kickbacks and Halliburton in the same sentence. I wonder if one of those employees was Dick Cheney."
Shadow piled on: "Didn't we already know that, Halliburton, Dick Cheney, and all the other cockroaches infesting the White House were crooks and liars?"
To those that might actually HAVE been shocked to hear the news, RMLeider offered this: "Suppose if you only watch Fox news, this might be somewhat surprising."
Hey, that's just the way it is, according to a cynical poster by the name of KillTheMessenger: "What's really funny is that the people on this board and around the country who are 'upset' over this news - don't seem to want to admit that this is how business is run all over the country and world. Wake up!"
There was even a growing contingent, of which DasherDancer was a card-carrying member, that believed the company could actually benefit from the fiasco: "Halliburton has nothing to hide. Its internal audit safeguards discovered the rogue employees actions and they were promptly terminated."
Will this blow over for Halliburton? Share your thoughts in CBS MarketWatch's "HAL" discussion group.
Shawn Langlois is a reporter for CBS.MarketWatch.com, and the editor of its community message boards.
Share your thoughts in CBS MarketWatch's "HAL" discussion group.
There are some whackos over on those stock boards even before politics comes into play. My bet is that some leftists just figured it was a good place to rant.
The idiots that arranged kickbacks were summarily dismissed!!!
Stop swallowing the leftist media's "Tired Tirade" so readily, or you may get something lodged in your windpipe!!!
None of us here are in a position to administer the Hindlick Maneuver to rescue you!!!
I see that you swallow the Clinton kool-aid. How does it taste?
I also see you've been aboard since 12-03. Those greedy "all bidness" brothers of the Bushes are striking again, eh?
More like digested and excreted peanut residue coming straight outta the hind end of the Mighty Elephant that eats those peanuts.
Happy Friday to you... Happy Friday TO YOU... Happy FRIDAY BOB the gas guy... HAPPY FRIDAY to you!!!
With stocks ending their 8 week winning streak... Watch alla the FReeper SLeepers git real brave.
Don't bother ta ping ol Grampa. He's off on a phishing expedition tryin ta keep the whitewater outa his hip waders!!! (I pinged 'em anyways, just in case)
Aw geeze... and wait'le blows 'em outa his trumpeting trunk!!! (It'll be a classical GAS!!!)
Yes, it's the ultimate in masturbation journalism.
The only thing worse would be Dan Rather interviewing . . . . Dan Rather.
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