FUTURE HISTORY: I roared with laughter at this. Go enjoy the whole thing at "Triumph of the Wolfowitz".

May 29, 2005: After days of study, the World Bank’s Office of Really Special Plans releases a 500-page report entitled, "A Really New Strategy for Securing the Realm: Promoting Democracy and Energy Security in the Middle East." It recommends the World Bank finance the construction of an enormous bridge and a pipeline connecting the oil-rich republic of Turkmenistan with staunch U.S. ally Azerbaijan on the other side of the Caspian Sea. ...

March 30, 2007: Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif, announces that investigators on his staff have discovered that the Caspian Sea is, in fact, approximately 170 miles wide, not the 17 miles claimed by Halliburton and the World Bank. No previous bridge project has ever crossed such a large stretch of open sea, Waxman notes. ...

September 11, 2007: The Caspian Sea Thermonuclear Prevention and Social Security Reform Act is approved by Congress, after 42 out of 44 Democratic Senators vote to invoke cloture on a Democratic filibuster attempt. By a somewhat narrower 88 to 12 vote, the Senate also accedes to a House rider funding construction of the world’s largest Native American gaming casino on the so-called "Azerbaijani Rivieria." ...