Last time I promised to examine some of the finer avarice techniques of super Neocons like Paul Ryan, Scott Walker, Newt Gingrich and the Hammer, Tom DeLay. I admit to being a bit hesitant because it always churns the juices of nausea when I do this drill. However, a promise is a promise so let us start with Newt Gingrich. He has many sins to answer to, but the latest unveiling is that he collected $1.6 million in consultant fees from Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae during a time when the two agencies were under constant attack by Newt’s fellow Republicans. The two companies failed which will end up costing American taxpayers perhaps $500 billion. Yet Newt tucks the $1.6 in his poke and heads on down the road as a major contender running for president of the United States in the 2012 General Election (pregnant pause right about here). What’s wrong with this picture? Was money more important to Newt than his own convictions that he as a professed conservative jawbones about in the Republican debates and every chance he gets? Guess so. He knew Freddie and Fannie were going down the toilet. But he took the money and ran. But if he did not have a clue that Freddie and Fannie would go down the tubes then is somebody that dumb really make a very good president? Duh. Newt once said he wanted to defund Social Security to the extent that it would wither on the vine. He’s’ truly a great American, eh, Sean Hannity? Wouldn’t you throw your toy football on that note?
Senator Paul Ryan and House Speaker John Boehner are both a simple study in avarice and having no milk of human kindness in them. They want to kill all the social programs they can so the money can find its way into the pockets of the rich (the wealthy poor people who need more money like a hemophiliac needs blood). You know, send the money back where it belongs (wink, wink)? They mean to take from the poor and give to the rich and they make no bones about it. Such strong Neoconistic, me-first beliefs are hardwired into their Neocon mother boards. They want no new taxes, and have joined most all their Republican peers in pledging not to vote to raise taxes as long as they live. Grover Norquist, a non-government, Heritage Foundation Neocon geek sits with the boys in the GOP back room daring all Congressmen not to take the pledge of no new taxes. Wow. Wasn’t Norquist the one who said he wanted to take Social Security and Medicare and all Welfare Programs and drown them in the bath tub? Quite an image, eh? Kinda symbolic of killing something, like in millions of our fellow countrymen (mostly old Americans) who depend upon such programs. But maybe I shouldn’t be so rough on Grover; maybe he is a bit slack in his assessments of cause and effect and maybe did not mean any of his countrymen any harm. You think? If so, read this: Norquist and the K Street Project
The Hammer, nee Tom DeLay, convicted of wrongful use of campaign funds still awaits what is to become of him. He has been sentenced to 3 years in prison but out on $10m bond pending appeal. DeLay was also convicted of money laundering and given 10 years’ time, but it was suspended by the judge and DeLay was given probation instead. DeLay’s biggest crime against the human race, in this reporter’s opinion is that he used monies to affect the REDISTRICTING of Texas Congressional Districts in order to insure the gain of 16 new Republican seats in the US House. Screw the Democrats and the horse they rode in on. Presto change Texas would be even more Republican than ever before. And Washington would gain 16 new powerful Republican votes in the US House of Representatives. Do you love it?
The Democrats needed for a quorum vote on hacking up the Texas Districts got out of town so the issue would not come to a vote. These devilish state legislators were dubbed the “Killer Bees” in that they would kill voting on redistricting by avoiding being present as a necessary quorum for a vote. But time ran out on the Killer Bees. They could not stay gone from Austin forever. They lost their attempt to seek a desperate kind of justice, the vote came to the floor when they were present, and (presto) Texas had a bunch of new U.S Congressional Districts. Now there were more known Republicans within those new geographical Texas Districts for the sole purpose of electing Republicans to the U. S. House.
The National Election that followed saw Republicans gain 16 new House of Representatives seats in Washington, D.C., all from Texas. Imagine that. It all came upon us like a bunch of No-See-Ums and no one really noticed, much less understood it all. The whole awful affair changed history in not just Texas but in America, too. The GOP used the Hammer’s little scheme to write and rewrite history, laws, and look the other way when George W. Bush decided to install and invoke the Patriot Act to change what used to be our America basic freedoms. Our loss of the centuries-old right to Habeas Corpus, military tribunals instead of a right to a fair trial, and most of our Bill of Rights became broken cinders. Torture, Wiretapping without a court order, and searching our bank accounts and other former freedoms of privacy became the norm (wink, wink). The Office of President was replaced with the concept of the Unitary Executive. This president could now start wars without Congress’ formal declaration. Just call it a National Security measure and all things became possible. He could simply declare a person to be a military combatant and not deserving of a trial under the American Constitution. Such offenders were tried at military tribunals now. Or these suspects vanished and were sent to Syria for some contract waterboarding with Uncle Sam footing the bill. He could seal and keep from the eyes of the American people many documents and secrets, including the minutes of the Energy Department meetings between Dick Cheney and Ken Lay just 4 days before the collapse of Enron. Presidential pardons of criminals like Scooter Libby became the norm, and no one saw the need to hide the brutal truth that power was the epitome of running the government. The rich and powerful ceased to be afraid of the meek. The Military Industrial Complex became government, itself. They were the big winners. Want to guess who lost?
Could one man do all this? No. It is the efforts of a few who have the means and power to rule and beat the millions of American voters into unaware submission and to giving up their basic freedoms. It is not unlike driving millions of cows down a narrow trail with a stick. So then, if some humans are more equal than others, then might is right? Right? No pun intended. Maybe not morally, but realistically, if you got the power America becomes a country run by elitists who are so sure of themselves that they care little about being noticed. Heck, these days, if you are the Unitary Executive you can refuse to hand over subpoenaed documents by the GAO, i.e., the minutes of the Energy Department meeting mentioned earlier. Just tell them it is a matter of National Security and the GAO will be forced to go away. Or don’t tell them anything, just show them the door. And who’s boss.
Want a private militia? Just wave the presidential wand and you got it. Enter Blackwater. Bush hired them to supplement the Reserve troops he commandeered to fight in combat operations in Afghanistan and in Iraq. But before we get into private militias secretly ordered by the president, what about misusing the State Reserve troops that are supposed to be there under the command of the governor of each state? Don’t have enough regular military bodies to invade Iraq? Not to worry, just declare a National Emergency and (abracadabra) you got uniformed soldiers to go to combat. Forget that State Guard Reserve troops, untrained in combat, are misused by the president to fight wars based upon myths. Forget that Iraq never had Weapons of Mass Destruction as stated, just do it. You got the power. You da man.
Oh yeah. Private militias. Blackwater soldiers were private mercenaries with helicopters and machine-guns who could take up the slack of a no-draft military whenever more boots on the ground (and in the air) became necessary. But what about the fact that each private militia soldier cost over 5 times as much as a uniformed duly enlisted American soldier? Don’t sweat it, just do it. Pay Blackwater’s owner, Erik Prince, a neat $1 Billion the first year and don’t even flinch. Nobody will notice (power is a great rush, ain’t it)? Congress will cower just like they did every time you asked them to let the United States borrow what turned into $4 Trillion, and they will cough it up. Whata they gonna do, be un-American and not support the troops? We got ‘em by the short hairs so not to worry.
Was it due to the Hammer’s scurrilous use of money and power that changed our lives forever? No. Those extra U.S. Congressional House seats did not cause all the maladies America sustained during the recent reign of the Neocons. It was a combined effort of a few who got rich by manipulating the American voters. DeLay probably got a Neocon trophy for his diligence toward the cause of helping the rich and powerful become richer and more powerful, though. And enough money to keep him out of jail forever. But consider. Can the efforts of a few truly change the financial and physical well-being of our nation and other nations that we decide to attack and occupy on a Bush whim supported by Colin Powell and artists’ drawings of what he said was reality?
Are we as Longfellow opined, all made of the same clay? I don’t know. If Evil is a chemical substance found in some humans but not others, I would have to answer NO. But if Evil is a psychological state of mind that makes one human different from another, I would have to answer Yes. I think. It’s confusing.
Bottom line; are some people more equal than others? It seems to be so. In fact, it seems to be an absolute truth.