US Lawmakers Invested in Iraq, Afghanistan Wars
WASHINGTON - U.S. lawmakers have a financial interest in military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, a review of their accounts has revealed.
Members of Congress invested nearly 196 million dollars of their own money in companies that receive hundreds of millions of dollars a day from Pentagon contracts to provide goods and services to U.S. armed forces, say nonpartisan watchdog groups.
David Petraeus, the top U.S. general in Iraq, is to brief the Senate Foreign Relations and Armed Services committees on Tuesday and Wednesday. The latest findings are unlikely to have a significant impact on this week’s proceedings but could stoke anti-incumbent sentiment in this year of presidential and legislative elections.
Lawmakers charged with overseeing Pentagon contractors hold stock in those very firms, as do vocal critics of the war in Iraq, says the Centre for Responsive Politics (CRP).
Senator John Kerry, the Democrat from Massachusetts who staked his 2004 presidential bid in part on his opposition to the war, tops the list of investors. His holdings in firms with Pentagon contracts of at least five million dollars stood at between 28.9 million dollars and 38.2 million dollars as of Dec. 31, 2006. Kerry sits on the Senate foreign relations panel.
Members of Congress are required to report their personal finances every year but only need to state their assets in broad ranges.
Other top investors include Representative Rodney Frelinghuysen, a New Jersey Republican with holdings of 12.1 million - 49.1 million dollars; Rep. Robin Hayes, a North Carolina Republican (9.2 million - 37.1 million dollars); Republican Rep. James Sensenbrenner Jr. of Wisconsin (5.2 million - 7.6 million dollars); and Rep. Jane Harman, a California Democrat (2.7 million - 6.3 million dollars).
Sen. Jay Rockefeller, the Democrat and former governor of West Virginia who chairs the Senate Select Intelligence Committee, invested some 2.0 million dollars in Pentagon contractors, CRP says.
Other panel chiefs who invested in defence firms include Sen. Joseph Lieberman, the Connecticut Independent who presides over the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and Rep. Howard Berman, the California Democrat who heads the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
In all, 151 current members of Congress — more than one-fourth of the total — have invested between 78.7 million dollars and 195.5 million dollars in companies that received defence contracts of at least 5.0 million dollars, according to CRP.
These companies received more than 275.6 billion dollars from the government in 2006, or 755 million dollars per day, says budget watchdog group OMB Watch.
The investments yielded lawmakers 15.8 million - 62 million dollars in dividend income, capital gains, royalties, and interest from 2004 through 2006, says CRP.
Not all the firms deal in arms or military equipment. Some make soft drinks or medical supplies and military contracts represent a small fraction of their revenues. Many are leaders in their industries and, as such, feature in the investment portfolios of millions of ordinary people who invest at least a portion of their savings in mutual funds, which in turn hold stocks in up to hundreds of companies.
“Giant corporations outside of the defence sector, such as Pepsico, IBM, Microsoft and Johnson & Johnson, have received defence contracts and are all popular investments for both members of Congress and the general public,” says CRP.
“So common are these companies, both as personal investments and as defence contractors, it would appear difficult to build a diverse blue-chip stock portfolio without at least some of them,” the group acknowledges.
If some of the stocks appear innocent, aides say legislators also are. Some did not buy the stocks in question but inherited them. Many hold them in blind trusts, so called because the investments are handled by independent entities, at least theoretically without the politicians’ knowledge of how their assets are being managed.
Even so, according to CRP, owning stock in companies under contract with the Pentagon could prove “problematic for members of Congress who sit on committees that oversee defence policy and budgeting.”
Members of the Senate Foreign Relations and Armed Services committees held 3.0 million - 5.1 million dollars in companies specialising in weapons and other exclusively military goods and services, it added.
Critics have assailed President George W. Bush and Vice President Richard Cheney for their ties to companies seen as benefiting from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Bush was characterised as pushing conflict in the interest of the oil fraternity whence he hailed.
Before becoming vice president, Cheney headed Halliburton, a major player in the oil services industry and the object of controversies involving political connections, government contracts, and business ethics.
Halliburton’s subsidiary, Kellogg Brown & Root, was given multi-billion-dollar contracts to provide construction, hospitality, and other services to the U.S. military following the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The contracts drew fire because of Cheney’s history and then-ongoing financial relationship with the firm, and because the company did not have to compete for the Pentagon’s business. The firm was renamed KBR Inc. after Halliburton spun it off last year.
© 2008 Inter Press Service
Golly gee, what a big surprise. Too bad the media hasn’t noticed or, more likely, doesn’t care.
Hahhaha. Perfect.
Wow! Talk about insider trading!!!!!
If we were truly a nation of laws, the SEC would investigate … uh … sorry, there I go thinking we have a representative government …
These sons-of-biches are getting rich off the blood spilled on both sides of this hideous war!! They should ALL be brought to trial for WAR CRIMES!!! First off, they should RESIGN or be IMPEACHED!!!
AND their PROFITS split among the VICTIMS both in Iraq and Afghanistan, AND OUR SOLDIERS!!!
why are you all so surprised by any of this?
what did you all think would happen?
So the real question is this, with all this info that we do know now, about everything….. what do WE DO!???
any clues???? I have a few, but cant put it here…….
Suspect the worst and then it gets worser. When Borat ranted to the Texasshole crowd about Bush drinking the blood of every Iraqi it seemed like an over the top spoof. Now it’s probably be viewed as an essential dietary supplement.
Too bad, we the people, are absolutely POWERLESS to do a godamn thing about it. Think voting helps? I think NOT!
I’m sure that anyone in a position to do anything about this will have some well-buffed explanation about how this just proves that unfettered free-market self-regulation provides a more robust mechanism for defending our freedoms, and that to consider these so-called facts as proof of anything else is downright treasonous.
What’s the stock-market Symbol? [I’d go a hundred-shares — just on ‘Spec’!]
3-trillion into those sinkholes…’somebody’ is sure making a pile-o’-cash…
[”What you do” is: you become damn-glad you ain’t an Iraqi.
What’s that Yiddish-prayer…the one that thanks G_d that the Prayee “was not born a woman”?]
These “crimes” and ‘collateral’ war-dead-civilian ‘counts’ are NOTHING compared to what this next-Admin will bring via ’soft-power’ — starvation/drought/crop-disease/GMO & varied ‘free-trade’ enforcements, etc. BushCo will look ‘positively amateurish’ and Unmotivated — come 2011-or-so…
While it is no surprise to hear that our elected representatives have invested and profited heavily in the MIC (Military Industrial Complex), it was refreshing to see some actual numbers put out there. Naturally an elected official with such ties to the MIC should be barred from running for political office, yet in reality there electability increases as a result of the association with the merchants of death.
It should also be noted that any politician quickly realizes that personally investing in the MIC will guarantee a good return in a country that that so willingly supports an over bloated military.
Attacking and occupying weak countries is big business in America. The greedy, conscienceless rich politicians, both War Party Republicans AND Democrats, get richer off of unnecessary war. There’s nothing the American politicians/military-industrial complex/weapons industry love more than making enemies worldwide, only 3rd world enemies, that is.
It’s a shame we tax payers are so impotent against the war criminals in this so-called democracy.
We are such a corrupted society. There are those who make the rules for those who will follow the rules. But, those who make the rules — make the rules so they don’t have to follow the rules they make. Tah dah!
And, when exactly did Kerry actually base ANYTHING on “opposing the war”?
As I recall, his chief Debate-complaint about Iraq was that Bush “didn’t send enough troops to do-it-right”…[and, don’t expect ANYTHING different from McCain/Obama or our next-President (or her free-Adviser — still brainwashed from his Rhodes/Oxford neo-Lib ‘training’) or her VP, Al “Carbon-Tax” Gore (who never met a nuke-plant developer or Uranium-mine owner he didn’t-like!)].
[As for ‘Rules’: The Golden Rule is: “Them what has the Gold, makes the Rules” — Baron David Mayer de Rothschild]
It’s time, methinks, for a bit of a reminder. What are the greatest values to our Repubs, if not the martial ones (they love war, don’t they?)? That is at least what they are fond of setting forth in their endless patriotic babble.
So, let’s take a look at the martial record of our Repubs and their various pundits and pontificators (I am adding the Democrats’ record for comparison, not because they are such responsive politicians).
Now, if these dirtbags are so meek on actual martial performance, they surely must be into war for the money. It’s that simple.
Republicans — These are the guys sending people to war:
* Dick Cheney: did not serve. Several deferments, the last by marriage.
* Dennis Hastert: did not serve.
* Tom Delay: did not serve.
* Roy Blunt: did not serve.
* Bill Frist: did not serve.
* Mitch McConnell: did not serve.
* Rick Santorum: did not serve.
* Trent Lott: did not serve.
* John Ashcroft: did not serve. Seven deferments to teach business.
* Jeb Bush: did not serve.
* Karl Rove: did not serve.
* Saxby Chambliss: did not serve. “Bad knee.” The man who attacked Max Cleland’s patriotism.
* Paul Wolfowitz: did not serve.
* Vin Weber: did not serve.
* Richard Perle: did not serve.
* Douglas Feith: did not serve.
* Eliot Abrams: did not serve.
* Richard Shelby: did not serve.
* Jon Kyl: did not serve.
* Tim Hutchison: did not serve.
* Christopher Cox: did not serve.
* Newt Gingrich: did not serve.
* Don Rumsfeld: served in Navy (1954-57) as flight
instructor.
* George W. Bush: failed to complete his six-year National Guard; got assigned to Alabama so he could
campaign for family friend running for U.S. Senate;
failed to show up for required medical exam,
disappeared from duty.
* B-1 Bob Dornan: Consciously enlisted after fighting was over in Korea.
* Phil Gramm: did not serve.
* John McCain: Silver Star, Bronze Star, Legion of Merit, Purple Heart and Distinguished Flying Cross.
* Dana Rohrabacher: did not serve.
* John M. McHugh: did not serve.
* JC Watts: did not serve.
* Jack Kemp: did not serve. “Knee problem,” although continued in NFL for 8 years.
* Dan Quayle: Journalism unit of the Indiana National Guard.
* Rudy Giuliani: did not serve.
* George Pataki: did not serve.
* Spencer Abraham: did not serve.
* John Engler: did not serve.
* Lindsey Graham: National Guard lawyer.
* Arnold Schwarzenegger: AWOL from Austrian army base.
* Ronald Reagan: due to poor eyesight, served in a non-combat role making movies.
Pundits & Preachers:
* Sean Hannity: did not serve.
* Rush Limbaugh: did not serve (4-F with a ‘pilonidal cyst.’)
* Bill O’Reilly: did not serve.
* Michael Savage: did not serve.
* George Will: did not serve.
* Chris Matthews: did not serve.
* Paul Gigot: did not serve.
* Bill Bennett: did not serve.
* Pat Buchanan: did not serve. (Did oppose the war in Iraq)
* Bill Kristol: did not serve.
* Kenneth Starr: did not serve.
* Antonin Scalia: did not serve.
* Clarence Thomas: did not serve.
* Ralph Reed: did not serve.
* Michael Medved: did not serve.
* Charlie Daniels: did not serve.
* Ted Nugent: did not serve. (He only shoots at things that don’t shoot back.)
* John Wayne: did not serve.
* Gerald Mcraney: did not serve. Played a Vietnam Vet
on 3 TV shows (Simon & Simon, Major Dad, and Promise
Land)
Democrats:
* Richard Gephardt: Air National Guard, 1965-71.
* David Bonior: Staff Sgt., Air Force 1968-72.
* Tom Daschle: 1st Lt., Air Force SAC 1969-72.
* Al Gore: enlisted Aug. 1969; sent to Vietnam Jan. 1971 as an army
journalist in 20th Engineer Brigade.
* Bob Kerrey: Lt. j.g. Navy 1966-69; Medal of Honor, Vietnam.
* Daniel Inouye: Army 1943-47; Medal of Honor, WWII.
* John Kerry: Lt., Navy 1966-70; Silver Star, Bronze Star with Combat
V, Purple Hearts.
* Charles Rangel: Staff Sgt., Army 1948-52; Bronze Star, Korea.
* Max Cleland: Captain, Army 1965-68; Silver Star & Bronze Star, Vietnam.
* Ted Kennedy: Army, 1951-53.
* Tom Harkin: Lt., Navy, 1962-67; Naval Reserve, 1968-74.
* Jack Reed: Army Ranger, 1971-1979; Captain, Army Reserve 1979-91.
* Fritz Hollings: Army officer in WWII; Bronze Star and seven campaign
ribbons.
* Leonard Boswell: Lt. Col., Army 1956-76; Vietnam, DFCs, Bronze
Stars, and Soldier’s Medal.
* Pete Peterson: Air Force Captain, POW. Purple Heart, Silver Star and
Legion of Merit.
* Mike Thompson: Staff sergeant, 173rd Airborne, Purple Heart.
* Bill McBride: Candidate for Fla. Governor. Marine in Vietnam; Bronze
Star with Combat V.
* Gray Davis: Army Captain in Vietnam, Bronze Star.
* Pete Stark: Air Force 1955-57
* Chuck Robb: Vietnam
* Howell Heflin: Silver Star
* George McGovern: Silver Star & DFC during WWII.
* Bill Clinton: Did not serve. Student deferments. Entered draft but received #311.
* Jimmy Carter: Seven years in the Navy.
* Walter Mondale: Army 1951-1953
* John Glenn: WWII and Korea; six DFCs and Air Medal with 18 Clusters.
* Tom Lantos: Served in Hungarian underground in WWII. Saved by Raoul Wallenberg.
* John Murtha: Marines, Vietnam, Purple Heart, Bronze Star
They should all be tossed for conflict of interest.
Government and corporations joined at the hip = fascism.
Eveningland, thanks for the detailed calling out of the chickenhawks!
death and misery is the heart of the business of Amercia
Sick!
http://www.publicintegrity.org/wow/bio.aspx?act=pro&fil=IQ
Should they all be tossed for conflict of interest?
No, they should all be tossed for treason!
Did Toby Keith serve? He seems to like to shoot off his mouth about being a rabid patriot? Did Charlie “raghead” Daniels serve?
They’re not only evil, they’re fools. If they invested the money in firms that manufacture solar panels emblaazoned with the stars and stripes, they’d get some return on investment for the whole country over the long haul. Munitions and logisitics are bad business, the ultimate malinvestment, and pure waste except in times of dire need. And no matter how much is spent on selling vague notions of dire need, that money is pure waste and malinvestment too. It only stands to reason as an act of Grand Theft Public Purse.
Harry Truman became FDR’s VP because he vigorously went after war profiteering during WWII.
He and Ike were the last honest presidents.
Didnt the democrats go after Nader claiming he had bad investments?
Kerry trumped that.
We’re not only being screwed, we are screwed.
All those mealymouthed lawmakers saying we’re trying our hardest to end this war. They’re all full of crap.
kathyodat
eveningland, great list!
To me, this pretty much answers the question of why impeachment is, “off the table.” It would appear that virtually every person in a position of power and influence is quilty, in one way or another, for this terrible war in Iraq.
If any were to even attempt to go after Bush or Cheney to hold them accountable and uphold the constitution, they would be quickly forced into silence because their hands are just about as bloody as the neo-con’s hands are.
This is why nobody is going to be held accountable for anything.
Eveningland - Thanks for the list. Very interesting. However a balanced view requires that we note that by means of omissions it looks like republicans never go to war and only democrats serve their country. The list would be more impactful if it included all our congress people and actually demonstrated a preponderance of hypocrisy one way or the other. And then, speaking as one who is weary of America’s war fetish and the bloody litmus test it imposes on our prospective leaders, the list seems to sadly indicate that we have a choice between cowardly war profiteers and gung ho warriors. As far as I’m concerned the heros of Vietnam were those who did not serve.
And then there is Senator Dianne Feinstein and her husband Richard C.Blum…..
Have you ever heard of URS Corp or Perini Corp ? No, well URS had a 792 million dollar contract with the Department of Defence and Perini Corp had a 759 Million Dollar contract with the Department of Defence and they are part of The Blum Capital Partners and Rich is a Regent of the University of California which has a contract to improve our nuclear bomb….. Rich and Carlyle Group know one another well, they bought and sold some of the same companies, like EG and G and they love accumulating wealth……..
Oh, Dianne is in charge of “The Military Construction Appropriations Sub Committee” and has obviously had inside information to help her hubby…..and that is ok. She got legal advice from her adviser, Michael Klein and he owns Astar Air Cargo with Rich and they have a big military contract to fly stuff to Iraq and Guantanamo.
Do not worry, she will guarantee “Fair Elections” because she is the Chairman of the Election Committee that has said there was nothing wrong with the elections of 2000, 2004, and 2006. Of course she never saw “Uncounted” or read the MIT Cal Poly Tech Study of the 2000 election that showed 4 MILLION Electronic votes were lost or the Election Data Services review of the 2004 election that showed almost 8 MILLION electronic votes were not counted.
Are you kidding me……2008 Elections and a Senate bought and sold to the Military Industrial Complex, no wonder they sat on their hands when it came time to certify the vote of 2000.
Insider Trading and worse: the killing of up to 1.2 million Iraqis, the deaths of over 4,000 American Soldiers, and the MURDER of over 3,000 unarmed human beings. Yes, World Trade Center #7 was a demolition job and that means the rest was an inside job.
jjpeter - When thinking about the role of personal virtues as qualifications for leadership, consider that Truman killed hundreds of thousands of innocent people, probably out of the most honest of convictions. Even if John McCain were as honest as he was once reputed to be, he would still be an extremely dangerous president. I don’t care if the president is a pickpocket, as he as he/she is not a mass murderer.
voxlamantis, you’re right. However it’s noteworthy that in the upper echelons of this administration and rightwing talking heads just about every single one of them dodged service when they had the opportunity to serve.
Back when being Republican wasn’t about stealing everything that wasn’t nailed to the floor, they did serve. That was a different breed of Republican. One that I didn’t agree with, but could respect. Of course now we have Democrats doing the same thing, the difference being they’re pretending not to.
Say what you will about the public being uninformed - and they are - but their instincts are correct.
kathyodat
And these are the pigs we keep re-electing?
Quality Time - some of the media cares. My little southern Oregon newspaper, which usually buries politics between sports and ads, had the story on the front page on Friday, as I posted here a few times since then.
It’s an ill wind that brings no good.
It’s our Lawmaker’s profit vs. our loss.
U.S. Deaths Confirmed By The DoD: 4017
Reported U.S. Deaths Pending DoD Confirmation: 7
Total 4024
DoD Confirmation List
Latest Coalition Fatality: Apr 07, 2008
So, the entire house of cards come tumbling down. This clears up the question of why impeachment is off the table. War for profit. Plain and simple. When you’re looking for the guilty party, always follow the money trail.
EveningLand, Thanks for posting the list again.
herbert r chersonsky, Excellent post. Feinstein is one of my Senators and I believe, a closet nazi. Another Bush/Cheney enabler.
BeForKids,
As long as the un-inquiring American people keep voting for the two-party crooks and liars, the charade will continue. This is why I cannot support our military anymore or Democrats. The Republicans are beyond reproach and are a band of criminals, but as long as Dems collaborate with them, our nation will continue sliding into the abyss of tyrannical control for fascism and imperialism.
Ignorance is not bliss, my friends, it is unforgivable.
It’s OUR tax money these fire-breathing war pigs are getting rich off of, besides the blood of innocent people.
US Lawmakers Invested in Iraq, Afghanistan Wars
by Abid Aslam
Yes and it was a terrible and stupid investment. Also criminal, they are all now accessories after the fact. I knew it would come to this mess, why didn’t they? War crimes trials for all of them. Revoke their citizenships and ban them from the country. That is after forfieting all their ill gotten wealth.
Not surprising at all… The United States has always been run by and for the rich… War is good for business, as long as the war takes place somewhere else. That’s WHY the US fights wars.
big_money said: “Munitions and logisitics are bad business, the ultimate malinvestment, and pure waste except in times of dire need”
That’s hardly true… Come on, how much does a missle cost? I would suspect it’s $50,000+ each… bombs, prolly close to that… how many of these things does the US military fire off EVERY day? Thousands I would suspect… Munitions are an EXCELLENT investment in a time of war… Now if you’re looking at the investment from an ethical standpoint, then yes, they’re a bad investment.
In just- WAR (They-HAVE-a-DREAM) GOT it?
Injust WAR-
(apologies to e.e. cummings / In just-)
CRONYPALOO$A
(They Have A: DREAM) [you better believe it!]
In just-
WAR
when the world is crud-lu$ious
the little lame duhbloonman
“whistle$” far and “wee”
and jerryandscooter come unrecu$ed
from hedgefunds and piracie$
to the wide-open arms of “More”
when the WAR is win’-fall WONderful
the queer ole duhbloonman “whistle$”
far and “wee”
and condiandkarl come $ideways
from stoploss and waterboard
it’s WAR
and the red-footed
duhbloonman
“whistle$” far and “wee”
and…
and the ba$e elite Family Fortune$-o’-War
multi-millionize and billionize our “value-added” “FEARS”
as the petered-principle GOPees
an off-shored golden $hower “home”
and the loophole-potted rainbow “appears”
bearing chicken-hawked-yellow In$ult-to-Injury
the heartland’s ruptured bridge
the mouldering sprawl of New Orleans
can you Feel it NOW?
…can you
…can you $ee it yet?
Public $ervus-gone-WILD
their whet dream–of ever-indeed More
at long last:
death- tax- —FREE!
and “so?” — on he goes:
with a touch and a stroke and a fondle and a rub
the red-handed, green-thumb$-up,
goat-footed NeoConstant Gardener of
…Hou$e Bushelzebub
tending to turd blossom, brushing hidden as the fig behind the leaf
the fingertip here, the whole palm there–
a $uddenly Tall $tranger for a salient brief momentality…!
returns to that faceless hunch like scales
glistering in unex”pected” sunlighthen
-doused~ . ~from complete view into waiting depths of shade…
there, See!! again—full-on!
in the Thorn Garden of the Root “of all Evil”…
Whistling @ his Work…”Far”… and “weeeee…”
–Artist General Masley
posted / comment 9:
http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/content/view/3354/81/
Ah, but elmysterio, how does one place a value on an investment? By it’s price tag? Or on it’s potential for returns? If you erect Star-Spangled Solar Panels, you get electricity, which is worth something, back. If you fire a missile (which cost a heck of a lot more than 50K to build, ship, test, maintain, support, and drop - heck, you can get an puny ol’ SUV for that…) all you get is craters and dead people, which you can’t sell for anything later. You could burn 50K in your fireplace, generate a lot less suffering and a bit of heat, and you’d have as much to show for it as you did by firing some missile. If you blew half the money you had on bombs and missiles, you’d have to cut back somewhere - probably on stuff that might generate future returns.
Hey… Send me $50K and I’ll party it away. Send me a hundred - a better investment? Even though the money goes to distillers and night club owners and taxi drivers and haberdashers? You still don’t get much. Unless you wanna join me for a good time out on the town…
The masters of war include not only the arms manufacturers but also their colleagues in our government. We’ve know this for decades. Dylan sang about it. The Feinstein and Polosi families, as examples, are not unique in America, nor in politics. It just goes to show you that empires, in their final stages, crumble under the weight of internal corruption and greed. We were crumbling when Dylan wrote the song but today we face the possibility that as a country we have held our last elections.
Hoa binh
Hi all - here’s another point of view - find out what share of the 3 trillion this war has cost your state and town - so while the already doing-just-fine investors rake it in, our communities have to shell it out. Check it out - www.nationalpriorities.org
They have maps you can click on to find your state and city -
Let’s ask these people to account for their actions!
Oh, yeah that’s right, someone already did…
“Don’t taze me bro!”
It’s been posted before, but it bears repeating:
“WAR is a racket. It always has been.
“It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives.
“A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small “inside” group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes.”
Gen. Smedley Butler
This news should help American citizens to understand the VALUE of their vote and their RESPONSIBILITY in NOT choosing representatives who live on BLOOD MONEY.
We are witnessing the unveiling of hell on earth. Each day with each new revelation we descend further into the fire. The final consummation is underway. There are no actions reversing the descent. People have given in and given up. They will be consumed in their sleep. From these ashes good people will arise. The good seeds are being planted now. I hope you make the cut.
I guess if you’re profiting from war you don’t think of it as ‘launching’ missiles. You’re SELLING missiles. Everyday’s a great day while you’re selling missiles at strangers!
Americans feel you should be free to invest in whatever you want and they will say these investments are in a blind trust so nobody is guilty. Americans don’t care. Nancy Pelosi will win reelection. If Americans cared she would be voted out. This is a plutocracy. All these congressmern are millionaires. The system is totally corrupt. Nobody cares. Incumbents gain reelection over 90% of the time. Very disgusting.
Several items to also check out about how this country run by the privileged for the privileged:
1. BOOK:Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense and Stick You With The Bill by David Cay Johnston
2. NYTimes today:
Editorial
Corporate Croesus
Published: April 8, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/08/opinion/08tue4.html?ref=todayspaper
These companies received more than 275.6 billion dollars from the government in 2006, or 755 million dollars per day
And it’s all wasted. There is no way to explain to Americans what they are missing were they to invest it in themselves, in education, infrastructure and health. The reason that it’s impossible to explain this to Americans is that we do not have access to television, the only medium that persuades them.
Instead it’s spent on war, and a huge chunk of the money is recycled back to the war makers via the stock market and all the special inside gimmicks available to government big shots who keep their blood and graft money there.
If the money were spent wisely - as I advise that it be spent - then the U.S. would lead the world in a Golden Age. But we cannot even begin on this course without the television “swift boating” us and denouncing us as sympathetic to terrorists.
So instead of our golden age, the money goes to wealthy dirt bags like the governor of NY who can afford to pay $4300 to a whore.
Nice perspective, Maplefudge. Indeed, ’tis why they had to come up with an abstract term like “conflict of interest”. Would a lawmaker dare act in a nation’s best interest if it threatened their retirement portfolio? Should we really need to find out the hard way? For a good time, Google up the stuff the VP is alleged to have in his portfolio. Odd stuff.
Lord Trigo - great quote
Not surprising, as many people have posted, but horrendous anyway. A racket indeed - one that should be illegal.
Empires usually collapse under their own greed, but it won’t happen in our lifetime.
It used to be that “War is diplomacy by other means”
Now it seems to be “War is business by ANY means”
If these companies are making profit from the war, shouldn’t they also be paying for it in the first place? Seems like they should collectively come up with $3 Trillion to may for the initial investment in Iraq.
This article has exposed the real truth about America and its rationale. It’s sickening really. America has sold its soul for a bucket of money!
Question is, what is the rest of the world going to do about it. Follow the leader to destruction or take a stand against America. Problem is that much of the rest of the world is similarly corrupted.
Perhaps a nuclear war is the answer. Destroy all humans. Start again.
P.S. Banning religions - good idea? See my blog for details.
A house of shame, those inside think there is no reason to blame.
Investing in the wars of acquisition is just a money game.
All is fair in politics and money, making war is just a need.
This time the stakes are into Iraq, and the cash vampires feed.
Like sex, when you are rich enough, in secret gratifications,
For American corporations, war slakes their lust on other nations.
Why the fuss, the congress person cries, I have done nothing wrong!
I believe in family values, and I am a true patriot, strong.
If War and death are my countries principle export,
Then you should support the troops, to you I strongly exhort
No hue and outrage will come from official news channels.
Being fed from the same trough, are part of the same herd those animals.
How long can the illusions of greatness last,
While the blood and money flow fast?
As the wall street giants totter, and go weak at the knees,
Their hearts are bleeding oil, and their dollars have a disease.
So the US expends its last strength, splattered on foreign soil.
Greed will overcome the giant, in yet another failed bid for oil.
Try not to think of Cheney when you read these words…
Come you masters of war
You that build all the guns
You that build the death planes
You that build the big bombs
You that hide behind walls
You that hide behind desks
I just want you to know
I can see through your masks
You that never done nothin’
But build to destroy
You play with my world
Like it’s your little toy
You put a gun in my hand
And you hide from my eyes
And you turn and run farther
When the fast bullets fly
Like Judas of old
You lie and deceive
A world war can be won
You want me to believe
But I see through your eyes
And I see through your brain
Like I see through the water
That runs down my drain
You fasten the triggers
For the others to fire
Then you set back and watch
When the death count gets higher
You hide in your mansion
As young people’s blood
Flows out of their bodies
And is buried in the mud
You’ve thrown the worst fear
That can ever be hurled
Fear to bring children
Into the world
For threatening my baby
Unborn and unnamed
You ain’t worth the blood
That runs in your veins
How much do I know
To talk out of turn
You might say that I’m young
You might say I’m unlearned
But there’s one thing I know
Though I’m younger than you
Even Jesus would never
Forgive what you do
Let me ask you one question
Is your money that good
Will it buy you forgiveness
Do you think that it could
I think you will find
When your death takes its toll
All the money you made
Will never buy back your soul
And I hope that you die
And your death’ll come soon
I will follow your casket
In the pale afternoon
And I’ll watch while you’re lowered
Down to your deathbed
And I’ll stand o’er your grave
‘Til I’m sure that you’re dead
During WWII, the FDR administration passed taxes on war profiteering.
Don’t hold your breath waiting for Obama or Hillary to suggest the same. That old FDR Democratic party is long since dead.
And, here’s the part of the discussion I have not yet seen mentioned ….
When it comes to the contributors to these officials, how much do they have invested? We’ll never know, as they don’t have to file disclosure forms. But that’s at least as important as these personal investments.
Being a Congresscritter is the path towards getting rich. Or richer as everyone is already rich win they go to congress these days. But its the holding of the office that enables both some immediate wealth and lots more money after they leave Congress (how many broke ex-congresscritters do you know of?).
So, the most important thing to them is holding on to their office so they can keep the money flowing. And in a modern American faux-election, its money that decides the winner. The candidate with the most money almost always wins. That’s why the incumbents win, because they are the ones plugged into the money train already, so the incumbents always have more money in their campaign coffers than the challengers. This holds true unless an incumbent stops playing the game, then the money shifts to a challenger.
Thus to me, the more important question is how much money do the contributors to these congresscritters have invested in the merchants of death? Because the congresscritters are going to do what the contributors want to keep their place on the money train.
Anyone wonder now why even though 70% of Americans oppose the war, the politicians in the Dem and Rethug parties both act like its unthinkable to end the war? As always, follow the money.
“Too bad, we the people, are absolutely POWERLESS to do a godamn thing about it. Think voting helps? I think NOT!”
The Founding fathers of 1776 might disagree with you there…
“Question is, what is the rest of the world going to do about it. Follow the leader to destruction or take a stand against America. ”
So are you saying that the majority of the people at Common Dreams would kill Iraqis for profit? How about the majority of Democrats? How about the majority of Americans? Heck, how about the majority of Christians? They may have odd philiosophies, yet no where in my book have they said “to kill muslims to take their oil” and I went to a Fundy Baptist Military school. Most of them are mostly good people, it’s just we try to take their beliefs and stereotype them to it.
The “leaders who pretend to lead” should be given most of the blame and the people who follow them are the ones who can FIX the problem. We need awareness, we need hope, we need to act. So called “Realism” of pointing out just the negatives and offering no solutions is a corrupt form of “Pessism”, it no longer remains in Reality when it is unable to change it.
Don’t let the darkness of today blind a path toward the light of the future.
What I’m personally thinking about doing myself is to join up with Mother Jones as an intern and train myself as a way to change america.
—How can we live in a better tomorrow if we do not expect it?”—
I’m deeply sorry, it appears I have quoted the wrong part of your paragraph David Grayling
What I meant to quote was “Problem is that much of the rest of the world is similarly corrupted.”
Just scratching the surface. How about
“The Carlyle Group”, a Bushco company that is involved with many others in the Middle East.
They have a tendency to take the leaders of those countries, privatize the countries assets
and put them on the board of directors of
The Carlyle Group. Is Kissinger still in the
Business? or dare we ask? We cannnot wait for the Greenes and the Tree Huggers to raise the issue, as they only spike trees, and make spiritual speeches. As For Billary and his
$9,000,000, what is not mentioned is the tens of millions that he is recieving from the Arab
Countries for his Charity in Arkansas, the same one that he claims in his IRS return that he donated to.
What do you expect from the leaders of a country that was founded on genocide?
Off topic, but this is worth people reading:
Ahmadinejad: US used September 11 as ‘pretext’ for invasions
by Aresu Eqbali Tue Apr 8, 2:38 PM ET
TEHRAN (AFP) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accused the United States on Tuesday of using the September 11, 2001 attacks as a “pretext” to launch invasions and cast doubt on the accepted version of the terror strikes.
“On the pretext of this incident a major military operation was launched and oppressed Afghanistan was attacked. Tens of thousands of people have been killed until now,” he said in a speech broadcast on state television.
“Poor Iraq was attacked. According to official figures… one million people have been killed,” he said in the speech marking Iran’s day of nuclear technology.
He appeared to cast doubt on the official version of the attacks, saying the names of those killed had never been published and questioning how the planes had hit the towers of the World Trade Centre in New York.
“An event was created in the name of the attack against the twin towers. We were all sad. It was said that 3,000 people were killed,” Ahmadinejad said.
“But the names of the 3,000 people were never published and nobody was able to respond to the main question, which is how is it possible that with the best radar systems and intelligence networks the planes could crash undetected into the towers.”
This is the first time that Ahmadinejad has spoken publicly about his interpretation of the attacks of September 11, 2001.
The government of Iran’s then reformist president Mohammad Khatami was quick to condemn the airborne attacks on New York and Washington carried out by Al-Qaeda militants which killed nearly 3,000 people.
However hardline newspapers have on occasion described the attacks as a conspiracy that was devised by the White House to justify its attacks on Iraq and Afghanistan.
Iran and the United States have had no diplomatic relations since the seizure of the US embassy in Tehran in the wake of the 1979 Islamic revolution and remain at loggerheads over the Islamic republic’s nuclear programme.
“Discrimination has been applied in the world and the lie has become the rule. Threat and pillage is something that has become acceptable,” Ahmadinejad added.
The controversial president has previously provoked outrage by describing the Holocaust as a “myth” and raising doubts over the scale of the mass slaughter of Jews in World War II.
In his speech to Iranian dignitaries and some foreign diplomats, he also predicted the “demise” of the major powers which emerged victorious in World War II and have since dominated the international system.
He said Iran’s nuclear achievements mark the “acceleration of the trend to the destruction of major powers and with God’s help this will become reality. World powers are struggling to survive.”
The UN Security Council, whose permanent veto-wielding members are the victorious Allied powers from World War II, has imposed three sets of sanctions against Iran for refusing to suspend sensitive nuclear work.
Ahmadinejad described the Iranian nuclear programme as the “most important political event in the contemporary era.”
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080408/wl_mideast_afp/iranusattacksahmadinejad
Having leaders who profit from war and death, or maybe just simple maiming really is nothing new, history is full of it, it is just this silly notion I keep holding onto that this is a democratic country, not a kingdom, set up for certain elites to prosper from their impartial voting, or behavior. Those who are prospering from this war are failures to the American people, they have stabbed you in the back over and over, but not much different here either.
What a twisted world this is!!
I’ve read every single post here looking for someone to mention other American’s personal investments in the market. It’s my understanding that many mutual funds include stock in the defense industry, including some green investments. I’m pretty sure I’ve got some in my own portfolio which is why I’m going to start investing my money off shore.
It’s bad enough that a portion of my tax dollars goes to fund the horrors we inflict on ourselves here at home (Katrina, etc.) and those overseas. Please, call your broker/financial planner to see if your own investments include stock in defense companies. Then, rent the movie “Why We Fight” to see scenes of how America glorifies war with defense contractor trade shows, Blue Angel demonstrations, etc. My country truly disgusts me right now.
http://www.sonyclassics.com/whywefight/
One correction, KBR is a former Haliburton subsidiary. The money has been peeled away from KBR probably to limit losses in the very likely litigation to follow this little war crime spree. All the right people must have plausible deniability.
the war will end when people stop enlisting in the military.
“So?” Dick Cheney.
big_money said: “If you fire a missile (which cost a heck of a lot more than 50K to build, ship, test, maintain, support, and drop - heck, you can get an puny ol’ SUV for that…) all you get is craters and dead people, which you can’t sell for anything later.”
yes, you don’t really get anything for all those missles and bombs… but the beauty of the investment is that the government will keep coming back and buying more of the damned things… therefore, investing in the weapons manufacturer is good profit.
That being said though, don’t think that I’m all for this… but from a purely economical standpoint, war is good for business.
LoveandFreedom: You seem to believe the myths surrounding the “founding fathers”… they weren’t good men dude. They were wealthy landowners that were sick of paying tax to the british… They basically manipulated the middle class into supporting their revolution and replaced the colonial systems with a “republic” that was geared towards maintaining power for these rich white men… the poor were still screwed regardless.
Still, the mythology around the Founding Fathers persists. To say, as one historian (Bernard Bailyn) has done recently, that “the destruction of privilege and the creation of a political system that demanded of its leaders the responsible and humane use of power were their highest aspirations” is to ignore what really happened in the America of these Founding Fathers.
Bailyn says:
Everyone knew the basic prescription for a wise and just government. It was so to balance the contending powers in society that no one power could overwhelm the others and, unchecked, destroy the liberties that belonged to all. The problem was how to arrange the institutions of government so that this balance could be achieved.
Were the Founding Fathers wise and just men trying to achieve a good balance? In fact, they did not want a balance, except one which kept things as they were, a balance among the dominant forces at that time. They certainly did not want an equal balance between slaves and masters,
propertyless and property holders, Indians and white.
In Quebec a majority of filing adults pay no taxes. Therefore, you cannot run on a platform of lowering income taxes. The income tax will never, ever, be lowered, since most people have no interest in it. Likewise, if the members of congress are stock holders in war making companies, it follows that war will never end. These people will never be replaced as long as the system requires that you be a millionaire to run since millionaires are invested in these things. Americans will not elect non-millionaires since they measure a person’s worth by how much money he or she makes. We don’t have a country, we have jobs in their country. If we don’t have a job, we have nothing at all.
Vampires replete with the blood of Iraqis sit in Congress.
If blood is what keeps them alive, why should they put a stop to the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan?
This is great! I can’t stop laughing! OMG!
I think this is almost like insider trading. You have information and a vote in the administration of a company or nation and then you use that info and control for your “financial” gain. Unethical! I think it should be criminal.
John Kerry advocates an end to the war, but invests heavily in war related contractors. War is bad only when it isn’t profitable. I think that sums up our American political morality.
It just doesn’t get any better than this… We are truly lost.
is there a “list” of who’s getting how much from which corporations?
also nice work on who served and who didn’t that’s one to keep for future ref.
nymet624
“The war will end when people stop enlisting in the military.”
You’ve got that right. And people will stop enlisting in the military when the brainwashing from birth stops and this country has jobs that pay decent wages and benefits, i.e. health care. Of course the politicians are against good jobs. Who would they send for their war profiteering if no one joined the military? Certainly not their sons and daughters. By the way, what kind of country sends women to battle??
Politicians are evil liars.
Thanks to Eveningland and to herbert r chersonsky. So truly spoken both. The two party ruling class consensus. Let’s talk more about it. Warmongers and profiters. Chickenhawk war criminals and soldier war criminals. Those who steal elections and those who stand silently by while the “opposition” steals elections. They have their hands in each others pockets for all kinds of reasons.
As to the war ending, the war in Iraq will end, as did the war in Vietnam, when:
1) The Iraqi people defeat the U.S. imperialist, occupation army;
2) When U.S. soldiers are fragging their superiors;
3) When U.S. National Guard and police are shooting U.S. citizens in the street.
This war could go on for a long time to come, because the two party consensus is much clearer in its ruling class interests than the U.S. people are in theirs.
The surge is working and the Iraqi puppet government must take responsibility.
God, the information in this article (THANK YOU) makes me sick to my stomach. So does John Kerry (I’m from Massachusetts). Progressives did a lot of work to dis-invest the world from South Africa’s outrageous injustices. Time to start working on Congress in the same way: dis-invest in war, or we dis-invest in you. Dis-investing in Israel would also make a great beginning.
read “Term Limits” ;’sheeples’; by Vince Flynn, Larry King love this guy
when the signal comes 12 million Mexicans with guns will hoepfully get the party started to kill all these fucks, in their homes and work
all can be gotten to
time to wage peace, through blood
read Thomas Jefferson’s words
or you can all here in USA just eat more shit, do your dope from the drug dealing Drs, get fucked up the ass by all the lawyers, pay your taxes to all the fools on Gov payrolls etc etc etc
and keep on getting brainwashed by TV dope such as american idol and dancing with some old stars
wake the fuck up,
nope will just not happen here when all under 30-35 are not worth a crap and lost
Viva El Frente
www.elfrenteverde.org
Dear EveningLand - - What a post! This whole mess sounds not only like grounds for criminal/treasonous trials and deportation, but also time for a revolution - - of the peaceful kind, like a massive nationwide sit down strike to paralyse the whole system until the people regain control of the government instead of the disaster capitalists and corporatizers!
Gee, all this time I’ve been feeling sorry for those poor, put-upon, put-down U.S. Lawmakers; the ones who want oh-so-very-much to do the will of the people and put an end to this destructive war once and for all. With tears in their eyes they tell us again and again how Bad Boy Bush is bullying them into submission - threatening them and their families, accusing them of treason and lack of patriotism unless they go along with neocon policy. An aide to my congressman here in California told our delegation that the dear man was so-o-o busy trying to solve issues of public funding for us, his constituents, and couldn’t waste one more minute on such “distractions” as impeaching the Bush administration or stopping the war(s).
Have we been hoodwinked or what, folks! As far as our lawmakers are concerned, it’s not about priorities, or about being afraid to act in our defense. It’s all about greedy self-interest. As long as there’s a U.S.-run war overseas, there will never be U.S. domestic aid for us. The money just isn’t there. But why should our lawmakers care as long as THEIR money keeps rolling in?
I get letters from my lawmakers frequently, telling me how they are helping us by providing protections for homeowners, advocating single-payer health care, and protecting the environment. All lies!
If you’ve had enough of all this, join the Great American Strike on April 15. Go to TaxDay08.com for more information.
All this is a flagrant violation of their oathes of office, and those with such a conflict of interest should find the substance thereof forfeit. We can no longer afford the winking an nodding at this as a political question to be resolved via the election process. As far as I’m concerned, this sort of personal use of the apparatus of state is treasonous. I fear the electoral process has been so corrupted that it cannot heal itself, leaving few options. If laws cannot serve to sanction treason by our elected representatives, it is as if diplomacy has failed and we are left to “other means”, and who in their right mind wants that? This ain’t no CBGB.
Hey, the top employer in my suburban California county is the Navy Base… 14,000 people make their living there, most of them civilians. The residual employment their salaries generate props up the whole damned economy here.
It ain’t just wealthy investors who are invested in the Military Industrial Complex. A whole lot of taxpayer/voters are participating as well.
This situation is going to take decades to turn around. It’s going to take long term commitment from a lot of people to heal our addiction to the war economy. Are you in?
Why investigate when you can invest?
There should be laws passed to ensure that no members of congress can own shares in any company (neither can their immediate family). This should also apply to members of Parliament in the UK.
I am totally sick of the conflict of interests (which Truthmonger pointed out), which actually prevent an elected person from carrying out their duties to the electorate. We elect people, to do the bidding of the majority of the people, for the good of the country (now, I know that at this moment, people are going to call me naive, or even a simpleton), so we have to take a good long look at where we are now.
We in the UK - despite being the World’s 5th strongest economy (?????), have a sub standard education system, riddled with inequalities. We have a health service, which is run on a “target” system, where lack of hygiene (caused by cost cutting), has resulted in large scale infections, such as C Dificile and MRSA killing thousands of patients a year.
None of our politicians are in touch with ordinary people, and all of them are in debt to corporate sponsors.
This is Capitalism which has run amok!!
That’s right folks.
Put on Dylan’s Masters of War.
More than a few feel that way.
UN NEOCON & HEDOLOGY
thank you for the poetry. very poignant………..
70% of americans are against the war.
No, they think it was a mistake to attack Iraq. That is because it hasn’t worked out very well. If it was going well they would be happy. This is America, land of the warriors.
In Scott’s biography of Napoleon, he recounts
a terrible tale of where a Russian peasant had
his hand branded with “N” for the foreign
conquering general. The peasant grabbed an ax
and chopped off his hand. No matter how much
money is made and no matter how powerful a
foreign military starts out, as long as young
men are willing to blow themselves up or chop
their hands off, the foreign adventure is
doomed. We should know; a bunch of ill-clad
woodsman drove out the mighty British army
when King George got too greedy. No army
can stand forever in the face of authentic
and defiant patriotism. If Bush and Cheney had
had sons, they would understand that. I don’t
know why McCain has missed it.
I’m shocked. Shocked, stunned, amazed… that this is surprising to anyone. Good thing this is getting the media attention it deserves.
http://www.ryanhartman.wordpress.com
So?
Marion Shaw, Outstanding comment! It reminds me of an old German veteran of the First World War, telling me about fighting in Yugoslavia against the Serbs. He said one of the Serbians was shot up so badly and hobbling on one leg, but the soldier kept running toward the German position trying to kill the enemy before his lights went out. He said we were scared and thought the guy had super-human strenght and managed to kill another German before dying. This was not an isolated incident.
Blackwater and the other mercenary organizations aside, we have to bribe men and women to join or stay in our armed forces with huge wasted taxpayer dollars to engage in murder for the most corrupt regime in American history.
The day of reckoning hasn’t arrived for all the nefarious and murderous plans our nation engaged in, but when it happens, it won’t be nice.
How could anyone vote for these slimy hypocrites?
“The investments yielded lawmakers 15.8 million - 62 million dollars in dividend income, capital gains, royalties, and interest from 2004 through 2006″
Since the invasion was illegal, you can’t say crime doesn’t pay.
.
I’ll say it again…
We needed Ralph Nader as President in 2000.
We needed Ralph Nader as President in 2004.
We NEED Ralph Nader as President in 2008.
Never before as we do now
http://www.votenader.org/index.html
.
I have posted here, and other places, that Both Major Parties, are in bed with the Corporations/Military Industrial & Medical Insurance, mostly working for Wall Street! I was always thinking: Lobbyists/Special Intersts! I had NO IDEA!! Boy does it suddenly all add up.
There is another answer: If you live in a ‘Red State’, and you know your vote isn’t really going to count,
Vote Green Party! Smae for people in ‘Blue States’
WHY?? The Green Party doesn’t take ANY Corporate Money!
The Green Party supports Instant Run-Off Elections:
To end this Two Party (Corporate) Monopoly!
They currently hold 85 elected offices, and have 1000, candidates running! There’s a convention in July, you’ll never hear about on Main Stream Media! (Oh, did I forget to mention they support Media Reform, and breaking up the monopolies, bringing back the Fairness Doctrine?)
They have a written Party Platform, every candidate runs on! Including Single-Payer Non-Profit HealthCARE!
***Country Before Party**Go Green Party***votesmart.org**
Let’s have a referendum on penalties for lawmaker’s conflicts of interest.
hello again, I’ve been reading all the pissing and moaning, but no solutions with any positive input. Nader is definitly not the answer, he’s one of them, thats right he has been feeding at the public trough like all the rest. And most all of us that are complaining feeds from that trough as well, in some form or another. The warmongers and the investors of wars have made it the way of life, that goes for all the american people, even the ones with a moral values. Remember the great trickle down effect?? Even us who feed on the crumbs are partakers….If you don’t like it then you have to get out of this world, or stand Idley by and wait for the out come of it all. All the world has turned to this corrupt means to satisfy there greed. Its genoside world wide. Yet while all these maggots are at work consuming the dead body of americas morality, we,the enlightened, should be doing something positive and constructive, as the end draws nearer and nearer for all humanity. Yes,, there is an end comming. Scientificly it has happend several times in the past, with quite certianey, according to science it is well over 350,000 yrs overdue, that means time is running out, if we don’t do something about saving mankind, from a catostrophic anillation. According to the Bible, and theologians we have been waiting for our salvation for a couple of thousand years, with many prophetic times set and all have past with new one set in there places. has it ever occured to any one except me that God want us to do somthing with our own intellegence that he has given us?? Look where we are today, and where we were a century ago. I am trying to rally a support from thinking people, yes that means regular everyday people. We are the answer to our problem. I have the answers to what I belive to be the greatest advancement ever in space flight. Inter and outer galactical space travel, with speed maybe nearly instintanious. Also I have Ideas for life longivity, with research that already exists. I NEED SUPPORT TO START A RESEARCH CENTER. The Corporate maggots of the world will continue there coruptness, while it will be impairitive that we the independent moral people of the world, will need to excell in our private research and development reguarding space travel and medical research advancements. I have Ideas, theories, and the Knowledge and ability to carry this plan forward. I need support from people, real people from all walks of life, all with one accord.
Jack Carrell
Rattlinjack@blackfoot.net
101 Juniper lane
Alberton MT.
59820
406 722 6648
406 239 0424
Rattlinjack, may I suggest that you begin your research in an English dictionary? Ideas are more readily accepted if they are presented with correct spelling.
It looks like the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing, doesn’t it, when it comes to running our country and even our own lives? In my young, cynical days, I used to love portraying myself and the world as the blind leading the blind. I stopped doing that when I finally figured out we create our reality from what we choose to believe.
Look at the amount of time and energy we spend examining the reality created by our beliefs, and how little time and energy we spend examining the beliefs that create our reality. For example, if we believe in separation and scarcity, we’ll create a world dominated by fear, competition and violence. If we believe in oneness and sharing, we’ll create a world where love, partnership and peace prevail. How we define ourselves and the world around us forms our intent, which, in turn, forms our reality.
From “We Create Our Own Reality: http://diaryofaghost.net/WordPress/?page_id=19
During the course of everyday events we often forget the role of thoughts in the forging of our material reality. We get lost in the visible symbols, the material by-products of our imaginations, forgetting the invisible blueprints from which they, and we, emerge.
Pure energy like money, its material equivalent, is shaped into matter and experience by thought. It can be used to lift up or smash down, to build character or destroy character, to express love or express hate, to beautify or make ugly.
The purpose, or challenge, of life is to learn how to use thought in its various forms to shape energy into a pleasing reality. The prize is a sense of satisfaction, a feeling of a job well done. And, like learning to walk or talk, it is a personal, subjective endeavor that requires creative aggression. It is a great balancing act, where one must accept falling down in the course of learning how to stand up.
Remember:
Thoughts are “things” with a reality of their own and you an artist. With thoughts in the forms of belief, attitude, value and expectation you paint the landscape of your life.”
By letting ourselves get lost in our creations, we lose control of them.
When we let external events, the by-products of our beliefs and imagination, capture too much of our attention, we end up reacting to life (become the “victims” of it), instead of being the conscious creators of it. Creating a life, like driving a car, requires our full attention to detail. As individuals, we make life safe for ourselves and others by thinking and acting in ways that are life supportive, not life destructive.
What’s going to work best for ALL of us? This is the question we need to ask, whether we’re rich or poor, young or old, male or female, black or white, Christian or Muslim. We need to put our imaginations to work for us, not let them work against us by wallowing in fear, self-pity and doubt.
We helped create this reality and we have the power to create a different reality. As we think, we create. CHANGE what we think and we change what we create!
Let’s get rid of the biggest elephant in the room first. We’re all going to die some day, somehow. There’s no question about it. That leaves us with the question, in what condition do we want to leave the world when it’s time for us to go? Do we want to leave it knowing we didn’t do the best we could to preserve its future and integrity for others to come behind us? That’s like being a poor parent, teacher, politician, or business leader and not going out of our way to become better at what we do.
To have hope, we must not only believe in ourselves, we must be honest with ourselves. If we could only see how amazing we are, how amazing all of life is, we could change reality in an instant. We are not bad! It is our ideas about who we are and what reality is that are bad.
Many of us think or ourselves as the “children” of God. We think we’re basically bad because the bible, readily supported by human behavior, tells us we are. We think we can’t trust ourselves and one another because the drives that support our biological survival (sex and hunger), are too strong for us to control. As a young child, being told in Catholic School that I was born in sin because Adam and Eve ate an apple from the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, was devastating. It was guilt by association. The nun teaching our class followed up with, “and you can’t trust the flesh because it will always betray you.
Beliefs like these are well meaning but destructive because we get what we concentrate on, we “see” what we look for. If we look for evidence to support the idea that we’re basically evil, we’ll find or manufacture it. If we think we can’t trust ourselves, we’ll find evidence in our, or other people’s, behavior to justify this belief. If we believe we’re “children”, we’ll not to take full responsibility for our behavior. If we believe we’re separate and there’s not enough of what we want or need to survive, we’ll destroy each other. We’ll buy into ideas like “survival of the fittest, dog eat dog” and “devil take the hindmost,” predatory concepts we see dramatized in life, work and art every day.
Evolution, not revolution. It’s time to wake up. We need to stop getting lost in the excitement drama and demands of the material side of our life. We need to examine the ideas we accept as part of our belief system, the ideas that serve as invisible blueprints for the creation of our reality. The self is our seat of power and the moment is our point of power! Without responsibility, there can be no freedom.
rap@realtalkworld.com
Thanks to herbert above for mentioning Senator Diane Feinstein in the mix of war profiteers (via her husband).
Feinstein is a true war criminal, very much in the vein of Bush and Cheney. She claimed to have been shown secret documents by the Bush administration, which influenced her in granting Bush unconstitutional war powers, leading to Bush’s illegal attack on Iraq. Feinstein has never admitted to being “duped” by the Bushies, nor has she stepped off the Armed Services Committee as a conflict of interest as a consequence of her husband’s financial investments in defense industries.
The author of this article also forgot to mention that even though VP Cheney is no longer the head of Halliburton and no longer works for that company, he gets a monthly stipend from Halliburton. It’s a clear conflict of interest.
How people can suck up the blood money and live with themselves is something I just don’t understand. Please, let us send them all to the Hague and International Criminal Courts. And let’s bring back the gallows for war criminals.
Excellent post, worldchangeguy. This universe if full of wavelengths and I’ve wondered if we all choose to get on the same one what would happen. The power is in our thoughts. But beyond our thoughts we are energetic beings, the thoughts are simply tools.
kathyodat
Well my common dreamers, it is so easy to make judgements from hind sighte, but if you believe in 20/20 hind sight the picture is painted there is nothing we can do about the corporate dogs in control. We can just sit here and wait for the trickle down for our crumbs, or do as the majority dose, ride the corporate band wagon and feed at the public trough, and wait for the changing of the guard, and you can be certian of one thing they will march to the same beat. kathyodat.. you have one thing right… “choose” that is the answer! Its what I have been trying to get support on.. Choose, choice, call it the (people of one accord.) Follow our intellegence, and use the 20/20 hind sight for the road map of what not to do. Yes we are energetic beings, and our thoughts are tools, but our Knowledge and wisdom coupled with our thoughts will be our salvation.. We can do it right along side of the corporate world monster, and excell to the forfront of control. but only if we choose, choice, and only if we unite our wavelengths and become the, (PEOPLE OF ONE ACCORD) I for one am not giving up on mankind, I am sending and searching for support accross the enternet. If anyone knows of anyone who will support a forward movement, research and development, (private enterprise)no goverment involvement.. Please send them my way and also join in…
Jack,,
Rattlinjack@blackfoot.net
406 722 6648–406 239 0424
Skeezyks, sorry about my mispelling, I don’t have time for the dictioary. I am getting old and my typing skills are not the best, that I am sure. But I hope, my knowledge, and understanding, my theories, some gifted some researched and found to be sound,and also my real concern for the demise of mankind, I hope it sparks the intrest of the people of this world. My hopes is that I may not always have to sit at the computer and try to stir the intrest of the people so they can see realness of the situation the world is in. It would be nice one day, soon I hope, to have many like yourself that can spell, and write, to be able to communicate for a cause worthy of saving of mankind. My belief is that if the big bone of greed is taken away from the ” big greedy america dogs ” mouth, we as a nation will be done, all hope will be lost, thats why I am so motivated for expediance, when it happens and it will one day, we will be just another thrid world country with no control over our circumstances. We do have a short duration of time it appears that this nation will stay in control, as americas people we should move to seize the moment. Time is of an essence…..
Jack,,
A-one-an-a-two-an-a-
War and profit
War and profit
Go together like thay all had planned it,
Sad but true, my brothers,
You can’t have one
You can’t have one
You can’t have one, without the o-o-other!
Legislate the profit out of war, and it would be over in a FORTNIGHT.
Simple: for the duration of hostilities, all war business and oil-related profits taxed at 100% or nationalized. No hostilities-no tax. Retro-active, of course.