THE CORPORATE ISSUE: VOLUME 15, ISSUE 31
THE WAY OF THE CORPORATION
by Malik Isasis






















At the end of 2008 the United Nation’s mandate, which makes it legal for the United States to occupy Iraq expires. So Bush, the Giggling Killer and his monkeys are renegotiating a pact that will keep the United States in Iraq indefinitely.

Here are a few things that are being asked of the Iraq government: 58 permanent military bases, immunity for U.S. troops and mercenaries, and control of Iraqi air space up to 30,000 feet. A Iraqi lawmaker when viewing the US’ proposal said this:

"The points that were put forth by the Americans were more abominable than the occupation," said Jalal al Din al Saghir, a leading lawmaker from the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq. "We were occupied by order of the Security Council," he said, referring to the 2004 Resolution mandating a U.S. military occupation in Iraq at the head of an international coalition. "But now we are being asked to sign for our own occupation. That is why we have absolutely refused all that we have seen so far."

Only in Bush world does this NOT sound like what is: slavery. Mum’s the word for the corporate media, which acts as Bush’s personal asswiper. Bush and his compatriots don’t even try to hide their disdain for the law. They’ve learned like a rat pulling a lever for cheese that an obtuse populace, a war-profiteering corporate media and a naïve, if not incredibly dense Democratic Party will do nothing to stop their illegal indiscretions. So they carry on as they have for the past 7 years, empowered by hubris, a sense of unearned entitlement, killing millions and making billions hand over fist.

The US government thinks Iraqis are stupid. Why would they assist in their own subjugation?

The Bush administration’s requests in the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), is exactly what they have sought from the beginning starting with the Coalition Provisional Authority chief L. Paul Bremer who had revised Iraqi legal codes and added 97 legal orders

According to CorpWatch, here are a few that survived Medal of Freedom recipient L. Paul Bremer's tenure:

Order #39: Privatize the country's 200 state-owned enterprises, permit 100 percent foreign ownership of Iraqi businesses, allow for complete repatriation of profits without tax. No requirements for reinvestment, hiring local labor, or provisioning public services. Labor rights non-existent.

Order #40: Foreign banks can enter the Iraqi market and take a 50 percent interest in formerly state-owned banks.

Order #49: Drop the corporate tax rate from 40 percent to a flat 15 percent. The income tax is capped at 15 percent.

Order #12: Suspension of "all tariffs, customs duties, import taxes, licensing fees and similar surcharges for goods entering or leaving Iraq, and all other trade restrictions that may apply to such goods." Result: A tidal wave of cheap imports wipes out locally made goods.

Order #17: Security firms get full immunity from Iraq's laws.

Liberation of the Iraqi people, my ass--this is good ‘ol fashion raping and pillaging.

The Tragedy

Bush is an American tragedy.

Here is a man who holds contempt for the government and the people whom he governs. His public and international policies have reflected a narrow interest for a few elite. He is the conglomerates’ president. He has used the federal government as a money-laundering operation by privatizing as much of the federal government as possible.

Creating a profit incentive for debt agencies to go after taxpayers is just another step – in concert with wiretapping, for example – in institutionalizing the corporate-government war on the individual. And in handing over "public good" duties to corporations, to whom the very concept of public good runs counter to the profit motive at the center of their identity. Of course the biggest tax cheats in America are corporations and millionaires with abusive tax shelters and the means to exploit every loophole available to them. Will the collection agencies turn on their fellow corporations?

Here's another example after Hurricane Katrina:

NEW ORLEANS -- Heavily armed paramilitary mercenaries from the Blackwater private security firm, infamous for their work in Iraq, are openly patrolling the streets of New Orleans. Some of the mercenaries say they have been "deputized" by the Louisiana governor; indeed some are wearing gold Louisiana state law enforcement badges on their chests and Blackwater photo identification cards on their arms. They say they are on contract with the Department of Homeland Security and have been given the authority to use lethal force.

There are at least 150,000 mercenaries in Iraq; a shadow army who are not accountable to Congress, but to their CEOs and their shareholders.

The Fourth Branch of Government

Here are a list of corporate companies as listed by Corporate Watch as profiteering from the death and destruction in the Middle East. These death merchants contributed millions to Bush in the 2004 presidential campaign for the privilege of selling incendiary weapons for the sole purpose of destroying lives.

Boeing
Aside from 747s, Boeing makes "smart" bombs, F-15 fighters, and Apache helicopters. Boeing has paid tens of millions in fines for selling flawed parts that led to thousands of unnecessary landings and at least one fatal crash and has been plagued by scandals connected to the company’s influence-peddling.

CEO: Jim McNerney
Military contracts 2005: $18.3 billion
Total contributions for the 2004 election cycle: $1,659,213*

Lockheed Martin
The world's #1 military contractor, responsible for the U-2 and SR-71 spy planes, F-16, F/A-22 fighter jet, and Javelin missiles. They've also made millions through insider trading, falsifying accounts, and bribing officials.

CEO: Robert J. Stevens
Military contracts 2005: $19.4 billion
Total contributions for the 2004 election cycle: $2,212,836*

Northrop Grumman
Makers of the B-2 stealth bomber, you'd think this company could stay under the radar. But they're dogged by scandals-from bribing Saudi princes to botching the training of the Iraqi National Army to the tune of $48 million. Above board, their job is simply selling death.

CEO: Ronald Sugar
Military contracts 2005: $13.5 billion
Campaign contributions in 2004: $1.68 million (defense related)
$1.77 million (total)

General Dynamics
General Dynamics makes traditional F-16 jets, Abrams tanks, and Trident subs. With contracts in the billions, and new markets (read: wars) opening every day, they're not as washed up as some may think.

CEO: Nicholas D. Chabraja
Military contracts 2005: $10.6 billion
Total contributions in the 2004 election cycle: $1,437,602*

Raytheon
Raytheon means "light from the gods." Makers of "Bunker Buster" bombs, Tomahawk and Patriot missiles, this company loves big noises and large civilian casualty counts. When a missile killed 62 civilians in a Baghdad market, that was Light from the Gods.

CEO: William H. Swanson
Military contracts 2005: $9.1 billion
Defense-related contributions in the 2004 election cycle: $961,252*

United Technologies
The name sounds like they make light bulbs, but UT, a.k.a. Sikorsky, sells Black Hawk and Comanche helicopters and various missile systems designed to inspire terror in civilians from Palestine to Colombia to Somalia and beyond.

CEO: George David
Military contracts 2005: $5.0 billion
Defense-related contributions in the 2004 election cycle: $558,850*

Halliburton
This company truly has a guardian angel: former Halliburton CEO and now Vice President Dick Cheney who looks out for its interests from the White House. The result? $8 billion in contracts “rebuilding” Iraq in 2004.

CEO: David J. Lesar
Military contracts 2005: $5.8 billion
Oil and gas-related contributions in the 2004 election cycle: $221,249*

General Electric
Run until 2001by “Neutron” Jack Welch, who made it a matter of principle to lay off 10% of his workers per year, the world’s biggest company churns out plastics, aircraft engines and nuclear reactors and media spin through NBC, CNBC, Telemundo, and msnbc.com.

CEO: Jeffrey R. Immelt
Military contracts 2005: $2.2 billion
Defense-related contributions in the 2004 election cycle: $220,950*

Science Applications International Corporation
SAIC, awarded control of the Iraqi Media Network, was not able to spin US propaganda in Iraq and ended up being forced to withdraw. But their financial prospects remain solid as supplier of surveillance technology to US spy agencies.

CEO: Ken Dahlberg
Military contracts 2005: $2.8 billion
Campaign contributions in 2004: $781,410 (defense related)

CSC/ DynCorp
The world's premier rent-a-cop business runs the security show in Afghanistan, Iraq, and the US-Mexico border. They also run the coca crop-dusting business in Colombia, and occasional sex trafficking sorties in Bosnia. But what can you expect from a bunch of mercenaries?

CEO: Van Honeycutt
Military contracts 2005: $2.8 billion

note: CSC sold DynCorp in January 2005

United States Incorporated

Bush, the Giggling Killer, is indifferent, and a lazy corporatist. He has no imagination, no interests outside of his understanding; the only thing that interests him is getting his way and his way is the way of the Corporation.

The corporate media is acting like a lookout as Bush and the corporate raiders rape and pillage everything in sight, and reap the rewards as their parent companies’ bottom line balloons in blood money.

We the People

Our Democracy is failing before our eyes. The corporations have successfully indebted the populace; the Federal and State governments have demoralized the working poor and the poor, the corporate media has successfully managed to misinform, and has created a brand of cynicism that keeps people from the voting.


Iraqi Freedom my ass.

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FILM REVIEW
THE EDGE OF HEAVEN
a film review by Malik Isasis
















The Edge of Heaven follows an ensemble of six Turkish and German characters in and out of Instanbul, Turkey through Bremen, Germany in an interconnected story of coincidence and tragedy.

The Edge of Heaven opens with an elderly almost frail looking Turkish man, Ali walking down a street in Bremen, window-shopping scantily clad women who are sitting or standing in the windows of brothels like exotic mannequins. Ali pauses when he spots a middle-age woman in particular with a blond wig and olive skin. Her name is Yeter, and she too is Turkish. After several visits, Ali who is lonely asks her to be his live-in girlfriend and in turn he would pay her what she would make at the brothel. The catch, she would sleep with only him. She only slightly considers the offer, until two Turkish men threatens her life when they overhear her speaking Turkish.

Nejat, a professor and Ali’s son, is unsure of this arrangement, but soon finds himself intrigued by Yeter’s life after Ali suffers a heart attack. While Ali is in the hospital, Nejat and Yeter tacitly become friends. Upon Ali’s return, he becomes obsessed whether or not his son has “fucked” Yeter.

“Tell me the truth. Have you fucked her?” He asks. "I know you fucked her." He goes on. When Nejat leaves to return to work, Ali turns his inquisition on Yeter.

"Did you fuck him?"

At first blush Ali is sweet, thoughtful, and polite but he is not who he seems to be.

In 2004 writer/director Fatih Akin, a German citizen of Turkish decent, won the top prize, the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival for his debut film Gegen Die Wand or as it was known here, Head On.

Head On followed two German-Turkish souls who found each other in a mental institution; both were institutionalized for attempted suicide. From the onset, Akin put each of the characters on the same train track, but on opposite ends so that the audience observes the train wreck in slow motion. It was neither exploitive, nor self-indulgent, rather it revealed a lot about the human condition—the need to create chaos in order to feel connected to self and others.

In The Edge of Heaven Akin again explores German-Turkish relations and again, assembles the train track and places the trains at opposite ends. The happenstance-driven plot device actually moves the story along smoothly, if not in an emotionally frustratingly way, still it is effective.

Heaven is divided into three chapters and Akin cleverly tells the audience which character is going to die. The first chapter is Yeter’s Death, the second, Lotte’s Death, and the third, The Edge of Heaven. It is a little disturbing since almost immediately you become attached to the character you know who will not survive the act. I found it interesting that I completely forgot about the predetermined deaths until it happened and I still found myself shocked.

Akin like Pedro Almodovar has a talent for writing very strong, female-centered characters. He is also not afraid to air the dirty laundry of Turkish culture and is deft at showing the contradictions of the struggle between secularism and Islam, sexism and egalitarianism without condescension.

I love popcorn movies just as much as the next person, but I review art house and foreign films here because they keep us close to our humanity, and they often get lost amongst the explosions and superheroes. Art house, independent, and foreign films calls us to examine who we are and who we want to be. The Edge of Heaven does all those things and more. This story about parents and their adult children is still with me, deep in my bones.

The Edge of Heaven is the best movie I’ve seen all year. I highly recommend seeing this film when it comes to a theatre near you this summer. Here is a schedule. If you do not see your city, the movie will be out on Netflix in four months. Until then, rent Akin’s first feature, Head-On as a primer.



GRADE: A+

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THE Nth DEGREE: THE STRAIGHT DOPE
WAITING FOR MR. RIGHT
by N






















Dare I say it; I think I am in love. That’s right ladies you can find love in the big city. It all started when I moved to New York. I was dating “Mr. It’s Over for Now” but still keeping my eyes and ears open for good prospects. The autumn and the winter came and went with no success. Then suddenly, as if he was waiting for the spring to appear, I started seeing him.

Now, I can’t say that I was immediately attracted to him but as time passed he has become exceptionally endearing. His good-hearted nature, quick wit, and his ability to comfort me in my time of need is nothing I have ever found in another man. He gives me my space to vent and to explore other “options” if needed, but still keeps our set date time on Thursday afternoons. Of course, accommodatingly, after I get out of work.

He also is intelligent. I can’t believe some of the books he has read. (I’ve scoped out his book shelf.) I mean I didn’t think a man so smart would find it intriguing talking to me! Well, he does. He not only talks, gives solicited advice, and laughs at my jokes, but also listens with baited breath and hangs on my every word. It’s as if he is looking for little clues into more my life. There’s even times when I am the only one who speaks during our rendezvous. Oh, how selfless he can be.

This man is unbelievable. I am so lucky that I have him in my life.

Too bad he’s my THERAPIST.

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REST IN PEACE TRUTH SEEKER























If God had intended us not to masturbate he would've made our arms shorter.
-George Carlin

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THE REAL POLITIK ISSUE: VOLUME 14, ISSUE 30
THANK YOU, DEMOCRATS
by Malik Isasis






















As expected the Democratic leadership Senator Harry Reid, and Representative Nancy Pelosi have given George W. Bush one last victory for the road. And the victory is significant. Bush received $160 billion dollars from his largess, the Democratic-run congress, for the continued occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan.

June 20 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. House approved a compromise agreement that gives the Bush administration more than $160 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and includes new spending sought by Democrats for domestic priorities.

Customers are suing telecommunication companies for releasing their records to the Bush administration for “national security” reasons. So, included in this giveaway is complete immunity for the telecommunication companies who spy on their customers for the government. Nice, huh?

Democratic Leader of the House, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had the audacity to say this: “Let us think and hope that this is the last time another dollar is spent without constraints, without conditions, without direction.”

What?

Bush has clubbed the Democrats like a baby seal and their bloody carcasses lay and rot under the sun of irrelevance. It was just six months ago, December 2007 that the Democrats drew a line in the sand and dared—or rather hoped that Bush wouldn’t cross the line.

He did and here’s what happened: The House of Representatives approved another $70 billion in war spending on Wednesday, capping a year of frustration for Democrats who took control of Congress on pledges to end the war in Iraq.

Thanks Democrats!

Democrats, I personally would like to thank you for changing nothing. Not a damn thing.

The little girl in the picture crying over her dead parent thanks you. The 4 million civilians who’ve fled Iraq, thanks you. The 650,500 Iraqi civilians who’ve been violently killed, thanks you. And thanks to you Democratic Party, millions more Iraqi civilians have an opportunity to become refugees, or die violently under the U.S. occupation.

You worthless pieces of shit.

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THE REAL POLITIK ISSUE: VOLUME 14, ISSUE 29
A DAY LATE AND A DOLLAR SHORT
by Malik Isasis

















The picture accompanying this post with Bush looking through binoculars with the cap still on speaks volumes about this man and his psychological make-up. We have all at one point or another left the cap on a video camera or stills camera but immediately recognized the oversight and simply removed the cap-- a couple seconds, tops. No big deal.

However, President Bush who must have immediately noticed that he was looking into blackness, continued to stare through the capped binoculars as if he was seeing what the military officers abreast of him, were seeing.

What would make a person do that?

I think this incident perfectly encapsulate who George W. Bush is as a person. Someone whose ego is so precious, so fragile that it won’t allow for any perception of infallibility—even the tiniest of infallibilities such as an oversight of a capped pair of binoculars. This is a man who the country, and the world want to convince that he needs to change.

Bush’s ego is inflexible, which is why he bases decisions on his faith, so he can personally blame Jesus Christ if shit goes to hell.

I suppose anyone running for President of the United States is narcissistic, I mean who wants to be the leader of the free world? You can imagine the ego it takes to believe one can actually do this, again no big deal. However, it is a big deal when narcissism becomes destructive and infringes on the rights of others. Take Iraq for instance, the country is tearing itself apart and the presence of the US exacerbates the violence and death, but Bush fails to talk to those with whom he disagrees with; he can not acknowledge the failure in Iraq because that would mean he is a failure as a person--albeit, he is a failure, one big shitty pile of failure.

Getting Away With it

Why does the media, the Democratic and Republican Parties protect this man, when it is as clear as the day is long, that he doesn't know what the hell he is doing? What's more is that he has gotten away with complete human destruction. The Dems have approved another war-funding bill, a red carpet welcome for more rape and pillage. It seems the Democrats are willing to negotiate away the Constitution for fear of being unpatriotic. Who knew such elementary trickery was so effective?

The Democrats have played politics by allowing Bush and the Republicans to run the country into the ground over the course of his eight, long ass years of governance, so that there would be a backlash. Well, congrats Democrats. You did it. Blood covers your hands too, you cowardly bastards.

The Administration’s slogan for the failed troop surge, “A New Way Forward” is like that cap on the binoculars--he pretends to see a "New Way Forward" but sees jack-shit, nothing.

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THE Nth DEGREE: THE STRAIGHT DOPE
IT’S NOT YOU, IT’S ME
by N













I just discovered a reality television show called The Bachelorette. I quickly learned that the reality show was about twenty five men competing for the attention and affection of one woman.

I was floored; some lucky girl gets to date twenty five guys at the same time and go on fantastic dates. Not to brag, but it sounds like a page out of my own date book. Only without the television cameras, the creepy guys screened out, and the fantastic dates. Well, okay, so nothing like my life. I was so excited.

So fast forward to last Monday night, there I was in my wife-beater and boy shorts with my red wine and a bowl of pasta the size of my head watching the Bachelorette. (I’ll diet tomorrow, relax!) Like my life could be more depressing. Instead of actually dating, I curl up on my chaise lounge and voyeur into the Bachelorette’s dates.

While living vicariously, I learn that the Bachelorette is a cute little brunette from the South. My immediate reaction was great, awesome, the Wholesome Cheerleader Type. (I wanted to vomit. I hate women like this.) Then I found out that she was a reject from the Bachelor. Now, I vowed to mute the volume each time she opened her mouth. No need for me to have to hear her cutesy shit and depressing stories too.

Bring on the men!

There they were the last seven of them. Adorable. (Yeah, I know. I started watching late; twenty five down to seven. The first eighteen were probably hideous man beings and a waste of space anyway.) I was in for a treat. Seven men all vying for my attention, I mean the Bachelorette’s attention. Why didn’t this happen in real life?

I started watching and listening to what the men were saying. The ones that had mind-blowing stunning good looks were either creepy, too vain, emotionally detached, and/or just douche bags. The ones who were nice, cute, and honest she booted off because of their looks or their “just friend-status.” She even snubbed a guy when he tried to kiss her on the cheek because he was “just too much like a friend.” That’s when I had the “Holy Crap” moment; this does happen in real life.

I realized my single friends and I do this daily. We weed out the men in our lives one by one. Nitpicking little things that make the good guys “just-friend” material and the douche bags our next big heartache. It’s not just me anymore throwing away a “good guy” to date the hotter asshole type. I finally understood; it’s part of our culture.

Women today are programmed by television, magazines, and other forms of media daily as to what to expect in a mate. We all say we look for humor, honesty, and an overall good personality. However, most media focuses primarily on the looks of such individuals and to be honest, so do we. I don’t think I’m superficial; but I know I have never heard the slogan “honesty sells” and I definitely have never spotted a man in a crowd and exclaimed to a friend, “Wow, did you see that “semi-attractive” man? I’m going to go talk to him before he and his mediocre looks disappear.”

Now I’m not saying that every single girl does this but a majority of us do or at least know a girl who does. (Hell, the Bachelorette is one of those girls.) There is nothing wrong with wanting to be physically attracted to the man you are dating or secretly want to be but sometimes we tend to get our own way of seeing “good guys” because they might not be as attractive as we expect them to be; i.e. too short, weird hair, messed up teeth, over weight. When it comes to relationship happiness, most of us are doing a too thorough job of weeding out men or in my case being a bit too picky. We complain aloud, “There are no good guys left!” When in actuality, there are. We have simply, by our own devices, weeded out the possibility of great dates, new and exciting relationships, and possibly our future husbands by not giving the “good guy/just friend” type the opportunity to date us.

My hope for myself and the Bachelorette is to get out of our own way when it comes to dating and see for once that the guys that may be “just friend” material may actually have something more to give. Who knows if I take my own advice maybe I’ll actually find my next husband or at least a good romantic date for Saturday night? Well here’s to watching to see what happens to the Bachelorette, dating with a little more acceptance, and giving the “good guy/just friend” types a fighting chance!

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THE REAL POLITIK ISSUE: VOLUME 14, ISSUE 28
WAR WITH IRAN: A SHITASTIC IDEA!


















GOP Congressman Hypes Iran Threat
by Real News.com & Consortium News

In an emotionally loaded speech before AIPAC, Congressman Mark Kirk, R-Illinois, envisioned a doomsday scenario, justifying increased military presence in the Middle East.

Said Kirk: "Sometimes I've talked about a nightmare morning, where you're brushing your teeth, your cell phone rings, it's your best friend on the phone and says, 'Quick, turn on CNN, turn it on right now, Israel doesn't exist, it was just wiped out in a salvo of missiles.'"

Ignoring the important NIE findings that "Iran will not be technically capable of producing and reprocessing enough plutonium for a weapon before about 2015", Kirk perpetuates the common fallacy that President Ahmadinejad's role in the Iranian hierarchy of power allows him control over military initiatives, and extrapolates that Iran poses an imminent threat.

By contrast, Larry Wilkerson, former Chief of Staff to Colin Powell, told The Real News: "I don't think the President of the United States should be negotiating with President Ahmadinejad. President Ahmadinejad occupies a position in the Iranian hierarchy of power which is largely ceremonial, he is not a very powerful president."

In an interview following Congressman Kirk's inflammatory statements, The Real News' Matt Palevsky takes a look at some of the truth behind the sensationalism.

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THE U.S. MILITARIST ISSUE: VOLUME 14, ISSUE 27
FUCK THE TROOPS
by Ian Murphy, The Beast




















So, 4000 rubes are dead. Cry me the Tigris. Another 30,000 have been seriously wounded. Boo fucking hoo. They got what they asked for—and cool robotic limbs, too.

Likely, just reading the above paragraph made you uncomfortable. But why?

The benevolence of America’s “troops” is sacrosanct. Questioning their rectitude simply isn’t done. It’s the forbidden zone. We may rail against this tragic war, but our soldiers are lauded by all as saints. Why? They volunteered to partake in this savage idiocy, and for this they deserve our utmost respect? I think not.

The nearly two-thirds of us who know this war is bullshit need to stop sucking off the troops. They get enough action raping female soldiers and sodomizing Iraqi detainees. The political left is intent on “supporting” the troops by bringing them home, which is a good thing. But after rightly denouncing the administration’s lies and condemning this awful war, relatively sensible pundits—like Keith Olbermann—turn around and lovingly praise the soldiers’ brave service to the country. Why?

What service are they providing? I don’t remember ordering 300,000 dead Iraqis—although I was doing a lot of heavy narcotics back in ‘03. Our soldiers are not providing a service to the country, they’re providing a service to a criminal administration and their oil company cronies. When a mafia don orders a hit, is the assassin absolved of personal responsibility when it’s carried out? Of course not. What if the hit man was fooled into service? We’d all say, “Tough shit, you dumb Guido,” then lock him up and throw away the key.

As a society, we need to discard our blind deference to military service. There’s nothing admirable about volunteering to murder people. There’s nothing admirable about being rooked by obvious propaganda. There’s nothing admirable about doing what you’re told if what you’re told to do is terrible.

We all learned recently that the Bush administration instituted its policy of global torture during quaint White House meetings. And we already know this war was started with lies. Shame on them. But what about the people who physically carry out these atrocities? We’ve seen bad apples punished and CEO despots walk free, but all verbal and written denouncement is focused on our leaders. Surely, they deserve that and more—decapitation, really. But why can’t we be critical of the people who have actually tortured and murdered hundreds of thousands of Iraqi citizens? We deride private contractors like Blackwater for similar conduct—why are the troops blameless?

Take John McCain, or “McNasty,” as they called him in high school. While the conventional wisdom says that Obama gets a pass from the media, McCain is clearly the least scrutinized presidential candidate. He diddles lobbyists, sings about bombing Iran and doesn’t know Shiite from Shinola, yet he remains unscathed, cloaked in his Vietnam “hero” legend.

Again, what is heroic about involving one’s self in a foolish war, being a shitty pilot or getting tortured? Yeah, it must have sucked, but getting your ass kicked every day for five years doesn’t make you a hero—it makes you a Bad News Bear.

Here’s where America’s military lust becomes a true perversion. If we truly valued military prowess, John McCain would be viewed as a failure. But duty alone is enough to inspire our gratitude. Hence the left’s tendency to obligatorily praise the troops while decrying the sum of their actions. Good thing, too, because this war is unwinnable.

George Washington warned that the biggest threat to the young United States was in keeping and deploying standing armies. An overextended military is a drain on any nation—eventually it will break. It also pisses off the people your army is standing on. We’ll never heed this warning and break the cycle of violence, so long as military service is so reflexively praised.

People want to be respected. And in a country with an abysmal education system and disappearing economic opportunities, they seek respect wherever they can find it—as street corner toughs or as government-sanctioned thugs. It beats McDonald’s. But this kind of victim-of-circumstance-sympathy for the troops turns them into automatons, neither deserving of praise or damnation. Disregarding the Stop Loss back door draft travesty, they had a choice.

We’re a squeamish people; we eschew heated debates and, in principle, strive for political correctness when arguing with those who hold contrary views. The left does anyway; the right makes no such pretense. That’s one of the reasons liberals have taken such a beating in the last few decades.

As plainly stupid as religious belief or participating in immoral and illegal wars may be, the castrated left can only argue against these things by appealing to reason. In America, that fails every time. We respond best to partisan venom and ad hominem attacks.

The right has no problem painting their opponents as cowards or godless heathens, but liberals—instead of sticking to the merits of their arguments—fight those accusations by leaning right, praising god and guns, and pandering to the people who cling to them. The left has taken to appeasing bullies as their only course to victory. And that’s no victory at all.

Liberals need to start calling a moron a moron—and openly mocking that moron if his positions or actions are indefensible. Just as Limbaugh or Hannity insults the left, tilting the battlefield so liberals are left scrounging for their patriotic bona fides, the left must begin attacking stupidity whether in the form of religious nonsense, “free market” capitalism or military worship.

Instead of blowing the troops every chance we get, to prove our patriotism and insulate ourselves against attacks from the right, liberals should grow a pair and start dishing the damnation.

How despicable must a military campaign be before Americans turn on their beloved troops? After chiding the “War on Toddlers” as fool-headed and pointlessly barbaric, would Keith Olbermann still thank the troops for their service? After the “Great Grandmother Slaughter of 2010,” will the press remove the fat military cock from its mouth? Following “Operation Murder Fluffy Kittens,” will the left finally nix the “honored service” crap? No. No, they won’t.

Condemning the “troops”—a term coined during the Gulf War—is almost unthinkable. And it won’t win you any awards. “Troops” are a monolithic entity, a cohesive group of pride-inspiring order-takers. Whereas an individual soldier is accountable for his or her actions, the “troops” are too abstract to blame. For Americans, there are only bad apples, never bad orchards.

But what kind of world would we rather live in: one where fools are admired for being fooled and murderers are extolled for murdering, or one where we have the capacity to step back and say, “I don’t care who told you to do what and why; you’re still an asshole!” Personally, I’d rather live in a world where people who act like retards are treated like retards: executed in Texas.

Americans fear the truth. It’s the slipperiest slope of all. Once we start extending responsibility beyond those who gave orders to those who took them, it won’t be long before we’re blaming ourselves. And we can’t have that.

Well, guess what, kids? The Iraq debacle is a pointless bloodbath—and every time you applaud those who “bravely” fill that tub, you’re soaking in it.

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THE REAL POLITIK ISSUE: VOLUME 13, ISSUE 26
I DRINK YOUR MILKSHAKE
I drink it up!
by Malik Isasis






I’m just a filmmaker, with harsh opinions. I’m no sage. I’m no economist, however, I am commonsensical, and eight months ago on November 26, 2007, I said this: OPEC and the multinational oil companies that extract their oil has the world in a head lock as the price for a barrel of oil reaches a $100 a barrel. If some of the OPEC members have their way and switch to the euro from the dollar as a reserve currency, we could expect the price of oil to reach $200 dollars a barrel due to the precipitous fall of the dollar.

Since Bush took office in 2001, the dollar has lost approximately 50% of its value against currencies like the euro and the sterling. Now, it should be clear that since oil is traded in dollars, and the dollar has lost half its value against the more vibrant euro, OPEC would inflate the price, to make sure it made a profit.

The United States is about $7 trillion dollars in debt. Increasingly, needy U.S. interests are getting shortchanged because President Bush and Congress are spending all our tax revenues and are borrowing about $400 billion a year to make ends meet. According to the New York Times, China holds approximately $1.2 trillion dollars of the debt. On top of all of this debt, Bush and the congress are spending $9 billion dollars a month on the Iraq and Afghanistan occupations—which isn’t calculated as part of the debt.

“Yo, China. Can a brotha get a dollar?”
What the Fuck? Bush borrows $400 billion a year?

Barbarians at the Gate

Republicans blocked a windfall tax bill on the largest oil companies proposed by the Democrats.

Republican critics said higher taxes on oil companies would increase — not lower — gasoline prices and reduce the incentive for domestic oil exploration and production.

You hear that Working Class Voter ®? In order to save you money on gas, Republicans want to shit on the environment by drilling more, giving the oil conglomerates more tax breaks, and more billions ($17 billion to be exact) while completely ignoring that it’s Bush’s economic policy that has ruined the value of the dollar—man these rat bastard Republicans are scum. They fart in a crowd and whistle as if they had nothing to do with it.

The Republican Junta is following Bush right off the cliff of uber patriotism that is psychotic, shortsighted and hate filled. Republicans' ideology of entitlement has driven the United States’ reputation, and treasury into a ditch. The Republicans in the Congress has filibustered, blocked and outright obstructed most of the Democratic Party’s progressive legislation such as minimum wage increase, pulling out of the bloody occupation, and now the windfall tax on oil companies.

This flawed hierarchical-approach of the Republican Party can allow such cognitive dissonance and for the politicians and their supporters to maintain a narrow ideology—Party, before the needs of the country.

And the Democratic Party sits idly by like a battered spouse watching the children get abused and then turning a blind eye. I don't know which is worse, the Republicans who shit on you, or the Democrats who pretend to be doing something about it, but only if the Republicans agree to it first.

So, I predict this: gas will reach $6 dollars a gallon by the end of the summer because the dollar will continue to lose its value. Another $18 billion dollars would have been spent by the end of the summer on the two occupations. If Bush and his neocons have their way, maybe we'll be bombing more Muslims in Iran and be in another conflict. China will still hold nearly $2 billion dollars of our debt. The United States will continue to print money, causing an inflation...

Although the Democrats are in power in the Congress, and the Republicans are at their weakest, they still continue to drink the Democrats' milk shake, I mean drink it up.

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THE REAL POLITIK ISSUE: VOLUME 13, ISSUE 25
WAR: I WISH I KNEW HOW TO QUIT YOU!
by Malik Isasis






















On June 5, 2008 Bush stated, "[It's] very important for the world to take the Iranian threat seriously, which the United States does," Bush said. "Iran is an existential threat to peace." Bush, Olmert and their neocons have been pushing war with Iran since the illegal invasion of Iraq in 2003.

“Iran is an existential threat to peace,” Bush said.

No motherfucker, you are the existential threat to peace.

I’ve spent two days pouring over a disturbing report (download report) of how the United States plans to take out Iran nuclear facilities. “Considering a War with Iran: A Discussion Paper on WMD in the Middle East”, report substantiated my theory of Iraq as a staging ground for a much larger colonization effort of Arab and Muslim states in the Middle East by the United States and Israel.

The necons dusted off their corporate colonization plans immediately after September 11, 2001 and decided that the time is now to exert American power and influence by completely destabilizing the whole of the Middle East, the so-called War on Terror is the distraction, the purpose of a colonization is so that the corporate raiders could come in and rape and pillage the natural resources. The spoils of war and destruction will be divided amongst three countries: the United States, Great Britain and Israel.

Building Nobility in Mass Murder

In order to build nobility in mass murder, Bush and the American and Israeli neocons must first demonize, dehumanize, and caricaturize Arabs and Muslims as savages so that when they drop 250,000 heavy weight bombs over Baghdad it is seen as a great cause.

Excerpts from Plesch’s and Butcher’s paper clearly illustrates Bush’s noble intentions:

General Wesley Clark claims [sic] that he became aware of the Bush Administration’s instructions concerning the overthrow of the Iranian regime in September 2001. He states that he was told this in the Pentagon by a serving General holding the order in his hand.

“He picked up a piece of paper. And he said, “I just got this down from upstairs” meaning the Secretary of Defense’s office -- “today.” And he said, “This that describes how we’re going to take out seven countries in five years, Iraq, and then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and, finishing off, Iran.”

In various forms, regime change or change of orientation favouring the US occurred in Iraq, Lebanon, Libya and Somalia in the ensuing six years. (pp. 6)

The Israeli-Lebanese War two summers ago brought to light, Lebanon as a blueprint for an attack on Iran just as Seymour Hersh reported in August 2006. Israel wasn't successful in the military campaign; however, the US will still use the blueprint.

Although the war was a stalemate, the Bush administration and the Likudniks in Israel were still successful in their prime objective and that is destabilizing the Lebanese government.

In Bush fashion and in his usual disconnectedness, his administration had the audacity to condemn Hezbollah and its allies in the UN for attempts to destabilize the Lebanese government. But in the spring of 2007, Bush escalated tensions throughout the Middle East by arming militias throughout Lebanon, Gaza and Iraq causing disruption, death and destruction which has led to destabilization of governments and not to mention, the US inability to track the arms in which it sold or gave to militias. As I suspected before, the targeted countries are being set up to fail, but so are the military, but none of this matter in Bush's World, his eyes are on the prize and not on common sense.

This is why Bush and Co. aren’t interested in diplomacy. Talking to these countries just might yeiled peace, so why take that chance?

WASHINGTON, Nov 13, 2006 (Reuters) - President George W. Bush, searching for a new approach in Iraq, expressed little enthusiasm on Monday for seeking Syrian and Iranian help to calm Iraq as he cautioned Democrats against quick U.S. troop reductions.

The lack of diplomacy surely makes sense now doesn't it? Speaking of diplomacy or the lack thereof, has the State Department disappeared Condeleezza Rice? Where are the diplomatic efforts on the part of the State Department? Isn't it peculiar that she is nowhere in sight in the looming conflict with Iran?

Presidential Politics and the New War

It is believed that the Democratic Party in the coming elections will slaughter the Banana Republicans. Bush will try and bequeath his ailing bastards with a new war, hoping to prey on the fear that has gotten him eights years of raping and pillaging of the U.S. treasury.

The Republican Party has opened the windows from their dark lair and commanded the flying monkeys to do whatever it takes to win the next elections for the Republicans and their conservative cabal. The neocon political mercenaries fly high over the masses dropping shit-bombs to divert attention away from the inept handling of the Iraq occupation by picking on Iran. The American public appears wide-awake and is not being fooled by the trickery. Baghdad is covered in blood and destruction and the American public has taken notice. After Hurricane Katrina, America saw the Bush Administration for who they really are…frauds. It’s like they create crises, in order to pretend to be doing something about them. The Bush Administration’s and the neocons’ one-act play has run its course and they look oxymoronic, with more emphases placed on moronic as they recite tired and hacked slogans to produce fear.

They’ve tapped the well of fear too often, leaving Americans fear-fatigued and skeptical of the false prophets of Capitalism and their Gears of War and Destruction. The level of fear that was created by Bush and Co. after September 11, 2001 and through two wars and now two occupations was not sustainable, but the Republicans are still in the trenches with forked tongues searching for fresh fear to be tapped.

Make no doubt about it, John McCain will continue this policy.

The Cause for the War on Terror

Since 1971 the world’s oil supply has been traded in U.S. dollars making the dollar the dominant reserve currency forcing countries who pay for energy and International Monetary Fund debt to use the dollar. Saddam Hussein was the first of the OPEC nations to start selling oil in euros, upsetting the U.S. monopoly. We all know what happened to Saddam. He became a casualty of ‘The War on Terror’. Syria, Iran has threatened to use euros as the reserve currency for buying oil. They are both being threatened by the United States and its proxy, Israel. Venezuela has threatened to use euros, and has even bartered around the dollar by trading with developing countries in energy for goods and services. As a result of President Chavez's disdain toward US policy, an attempt coup d’etat in 2002 by the Bush administration, failed.

"All of this is bad news for the US economy and the dollar. The fear for Washington will be that not only will the future price of oil not be right, but the currency might not be right either. Which perhaps helps explain why the US is increasingly turning to its second major tool for dominating world affairs: military force."

Bush has no sense of boundaries and will break the military by involving it in its attempt to occupy and subjugate the whole of the Middle East for the energy needs and the preservation of U.S. dominance.

Bush and his corporate pirates are acting like cornered cats lashing out, using all the blunt force of the government to maintain power over others. But power is only maintained because others are complicit to it. The world is no longer complicit to the United States and its indiscretions.

George Bush and his enablers have overplayed their hand. As we fall from grace and off the shelf of superpower, maybe it will humble us as it did European countries who’ve watched the sun set on their ability to project power, and now they are sitting back on the beach with Pena Colidas, enjoying the schadenfreude and the sun setting on America.

Cheers.

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THE Nth DEGREE: THE STRAIGHT DOPE
THE MAN CAVE: A SPECIAL INVESTIGATION
by N























Okay ladies, here it is the real deal; we all know that there are certain components that are always there in a new manfriend’s apartment. But did you know that certain components are in all single guy apartments? Recently, I started visiting more and more single guy apartments, of course in the name of research, and realized I have been given the power to spot these single guy household commonalities (SGHC). So I have decided to share my powers for the good of all womankind and for the sake of a little laugh. See if you can spot them at your new guy’s place. Happy hunting!

THE LIVING ROOM

The Leather Couch: This may be the only place to sit in his living room. I have seen this component in white leather as well as black leather. Unfortunately, for the most part, it does contain two reclining seat units; perfect for watching HIS favorite team score while ignoring you. Fortunately, after the game is over, maybe you’ll get to score here too!

The Strategically Placed Animal Print Item: A pillow, a throw, or perhaps a stuffed animal from an ex. These items should be quickly found and burned or at least hidden while you’re in his apartment. What the hell is a grown man, who is not a porn star, doing with animal print items anyway? He is not Tarzan and we are not Jane! Get over it!

The Enormous Television: Yes ladies, size does matter; at least with his television. If you can lie down and horizontally have your height measured with the length of the screen, welcome to a man who is going to love his T.V. more than you. Beware this SGHC may also appear again in the bedroom and can also be accompanied by…

The Video Game System: Okay, so maybe it’s hidden or maybe he has one on order at Amazon.com but it’s usually there. Whether it’s the Wii, the Xbox, or the PSP, Find it! This will become the thing you hate the most! Either he will dump you for becoming better than him at Madden ’09 or you will smash this SGHC to smithereens with your stiletto; whichever way, it isn’t going to end pretty.

THE KITCHEN

The Mug: A.K.A the bowl, the wine glass, the beer pong stand in cup. What the hell is he thinking only owning mugs and that one lone NY Rangers Plastic Beer cup from a 1995 home game at Madison Square Garden? Either his mom or his ex should have stepped in by now. You can do one of two things suggest he buy them and wait for them to come (unlikely) or run!

The Empty Fridge/Freezer: Well empty is a bit harsh. The nine Taco Bell hot sauce packets, the upside-down bottle of ketchup with that one last drop, and the 12 pack of PBR, Bud Light, or Newcastle, depending on his fiscal funding. Now, brace yourselves ladies there might just be a pitcher of cold water for you to drink. See below…

A Brita Water Filtration Pitcher: I know you’re impressed. “This guy must be domesticated and be ready to get married!” Whoa and No! His mom brought this for him when he moved in, he got tired of drinking shitty city water when he comes home drunk, or he is too cheap/too eco-friendly (BOTH WEIRD) to buy bottled water!

The Oddly Placed Dish Towel: This one gets tricky. He uses it to wipe up messes on his counter, as a napkin, and to dry off clean dishes. It never sees the inside of his laundry pile never mind the washing machine. It can be ratty, colored, stained, or contain some weird horse or dog print. Nonetheless, he incongruously folds it and places it neatly on the stove/oven handle or a strategically placed hook. Should we be disgusted with the lack of cleanliness or impressed with the meticulous hang up strategy?

THE BEDROOM

The Comforter from 1984: Okay, so I know that the Transformers movie just made a new appearance in the theatres but that is no excuse for grown men to still have the cartoon version of the comforter on their beds! (Oh yes ladies, I have seen this!) I’m sorry but the mysteriously stained and faded one isn’t cutting it in the bedroom any longer. I want to shout from the rooftop, “BUY A NEW COMFORTER!”

The Thin Brown Pillows: I hate to quote another year here but “1976 called, it wants pillows back!” Seriously, do guys not know that stores sell pillows; new ones, fluffy ones, white and clean ones. If I have to see another puke colored piece of fabric with a case on it, I’m going to vomit!

The Dresser: This is usually a man’s place that he uses as a catchall. Be savvy when perusing over this area. You can spot where he has been and where he is going. Hopefully, you will find a fancy dinner reservation for the two of you among the other girls’ phone numbers, receipts, condoms, and matchbooks.

The Closet: I know what you’re saying, “I have a closet, N.” I know so do I, but mine or should I say ours is not filled with a dirty laundry pile, pairs of Reef flip-flops with the bottle opener on the bottom, and a mini-fridge for midnight beers. Keep a close eye on this guy or at least sneak a beer while he’s sleeping.

THE BATHROOM

Dirty Shower Curtain: I am going to try to be nice here. Why do so many so many single men think that the curtain will magically get cleaned just by being in the shower? Mold, Mildew, and Dirt do not go away on their own. I’ve been that girl clinging for dear life in the single guy’s shower up against the wall trying to avoid even skimming the dirty curtain with my elbow. Do yourselves a favor and the next girl’s; cut this SGHC down! He’ll get the hint.

Toothpaste Graveyard A.K.A the Bathroom Sink: This is nasty, dirty, and just plain unsanitary. I don’t see why there is such a need to leave toothpaste spit stains running down the side of the sink. Oh, I remember, because his mom is not there to clean up after him. Enter you, the new girlfriend. RUN!

The Elusive Sink Soap: Where is it? Do they hide it? Are they playing a mean joke on us? Soap. We need it to wash our hands but they don’t have any. This SGHC does not exist to them. “Why open two bars when you can just use the soap in the shower?” He’ll exclaim. There’s an idea; let me grab the bar of soap from the shower with your pubic hair on it.

No, thank you! NEXT!

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THE REAL POLITIK ISSUE: VOLUME 13, ISSUE 24
A HOUSE DIVIDED
by Malik Isasis























In America’s young 230 years of existence, we are witnessing history as Barack Obama has become the first non-white male to win a presidential nomination from one of the two parties in the United States political system; the first man of African ancestry to win such a nomination in any Western world. Yet, there is a troubling undercurrent of racism that has been propagated by the corporate media and the Clinton campaign that could undermine his chances of becoming the first non-white to lead the Free World.

Over the past five months I’ve had it out with two friends in particular, both white women. At times it was difficult to tell whether we were political allies.

“I gotta vote for the vag,” One said, as her motto. The other friend believed in her heart of hearts that Obama wasn’t a fighter, and that the Republicans would chew him to pieces.

“Hillary is a fighter. She’s willing to play dirty,” she said.

After it was clear that Obama would win, the younger of the two immediately began supporting Obama, the other, it took Hillary saying some awful things before I received this email:

” well, I'm done with Hillary. her part in dividing WVa by race is such a drag, and what's the point? not that WVA is a redeemable state on many levels, but at this point I think she's hurting the country and the dems.
so hopefully she'll drop out and Obama will prevail against McCain. his list of advisors and lobbyists are almost exclusively military-industrial so it would be too sick for words if he got in.”

So, there is hope that Hillary supporters will come around, but will the most rabid of Hillary supporters come around?

Hillary Clinton’s supporters are hurting, and I truly respect that pain and have compassion for what they must feel, I would feel incredibly resentful if it had been the other way around. The corporate media has eagerly stirred up sexism and racism for entertainment value. The corporate media has been sexist toward Clinton, just as they have been racist toward Obama. Yet, white women (older) have turned on Obama; the media has pitted Latinos against Obama, and most infamously, the Working Class Voter ® to what end?

You know how when there are riots in the inner city? Who suffers? The same residents who live in the very area they’re rioting in. The very injustices that caused the rioting are lost in the aftermath of property damage. The protracted primary race between Clinton and Obama has been something like a five month Democratic riot. The emotional and psychic wounds from the Democratic primaries threaten to leave some scar tissue. The injustices caused by Bush and the Republicans could very well be lost because of the scorch earth tactics that have divided the party.

Political Operatives

In order for there to be any healing, Clinton will have to tell her rabid supporters and political operatives to stand down. Geraldine Ferraro comes to mind. Here is an excerpt Op-Ed Ferraro wrote on May 8, 2008:

That sexism impacted Clinton’s campaign, I have no doubt. Did she lose a close election because of sexism? I don’t know. But I do know that it will never happen again as long as women are willing to stand up and make sure that it is just a one-time bad experience.

As for Reagan Democrats, how Clinton was treated is not their issue. They are more concerned with how they have been treated. Since March, when I was accused of being racist for a statement I made about the influence of blacks on Obama’s historic campaign, people have been stopping me to express a common sentiment: If you’re white you can’t open your mouth without being accused of being racist.

They see Obama’s playing the race card throughout the campaign and no one calling him for it as frightening. They’re not upset with Obama because he’s black; they’re upset because they don’t expect to be treated fairly because they’re white. It’s not racism that is driving them, it’s racial resentment. And that is enforced because they don’t believe he understands them and their problems. That when he said in South Carolina after his victory “Our Time Has Come” they believe he is telling them that their time has passed.

Pack it in Ferraro. You’re the rioter who is throwing firebombs through your neighbors' windows. Your time is up. You are not useful to Democrats. And hopefully, when Hillary’s supporters get wind of McCain's policies, they'll be coming home.

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THE REAL POLITIK ISSUE: VOLUME 13, ISSUE 23
THE REPUBLICAN JUNTA
by Malik Isasis













I’m a little slow sometimes, but I think I get it now. The Bush administration has gotten away with mass murder, and the largest money-laundering scheme in the history of the world because Bush knows how to pay money to keep people quiet. Since money can buy Bush off he assumes that it can buy others off too. So, this is how he runs the government, and it’s this philosophy that now has the Unites States bankrupt.

In 2004 the Republican congress voted unanimously to double the reward for Osama bin Laden's capture to $US50 million. In 2004, the Washington Post reported, TIKRIT, Iraq -- Cash has become the U.S. military's first line of defense in some parts of Iraq, where U.S. soldiers are distributing money to encourage goodwill and to counter their enemies' offers of money to unemployed Iraqis willing to attack Americans, according to officers here.

On March 18, 2008, CNN interviewed Retired Army Col. Doug Macgregor on the cash-for-peace scheme and he stated:

"Normally when you begin paying off your enemy on the scale that we are, it is seen by your enemy as well as others as a tacit admission of failure, not of success…We have to understand that this expedient policy of paying your enemy is very dangerous. It's fragile, and eventually, hatred of the foreign occupier overwhelms greed."

It appears, greed is all Bush and his Republicans understand. In order for them to function, they need chaos.

Enter Iraq.

The Bush Money Laundering Scheme







L. Paul Bremer, the first Director of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance in Iraq, and an awardee of the Medal of Freedom by President George W. Bush, lost 9 billion dollars on his watch.

Philip Giraldi, a former CIA Officer wrote in The American Conservative on October 24, 2005, “The American-dominated Coalition Provisional Authority could well prove to be the most corrupt administration in history, almost certainly surpassing the widespread fraud of the much-maligned UN Oil for Food Program. At least $20 billion that belonged to the Iraqi people has been wasted, together with hundreds of millions of U.S. taxpayer dollars. Exactly how many billions of additional dollars were squandered, stolen, given away, or simply lost will never be known because the deliberate decision by the CPA not to meter oil exports means that no one will ever know how much revenue was generated during 2003 and 2004.”

On Christmas Day, December 25, 2006, the AP reported, “The tally for Hurricane Katrina waste could top $2 billion next year because half of the lucrative government contracts valued at $500,000 or greater for cleanup work are being awarded without little competition.”

$11 billion in tax-dollars lost in 3 years in governmental no-bid contracts in New Orleans and Baghdad reconstruction. The loss is not stagnant, Bush is financing the Iraq Occupation and the conflict in Afghanistan through supplemental funding, and the money doesn’t count toward the country’s deficit, which is why it is supplemental and in the past, used sparingly.

The reconstruction efforts in New Orleans and Baghdad have gone to hell and the common denominator are private contractors like Halliburton receiving sweetheart, no-bid contracts. There is so much money to be made in Iraq that the number of contractors has swelled to a 100,000 according to military census. Those numbers aren’t surprising since Bush and Rumsfeld wanted to privatized the military.

It is difficult to wrap the mind around the absurd amounts of money that is not being tracked. Iraqi officials are being paid in cash, which means money is carried around in shrink-wrapped bricks by the millions.
L. Paul Bremer, the Medal of Freedom winner, revised Iraq legal codes and added 97 ‘legal orders.’ According to CorpWatch, here are a few that survived Medal of Freedom recipient L. Paul Bremer's tenure:

Order #39: Privatize the country's 200 state-owned enterprises, permit 100 percent foreign ownership of Iraqi businesses, allow for complete repatriation of profits without tax. No requirements for reinvestment, hiring local labor, or provisioning public services. Labor rights non-existent.

Order #40: Foreign banks can enter the Iraqi market and take a 50 percent interest in formerly state-owned banks.

Order #49: Drop the corporate tax rate from 40 percent to a flat 15 percent. The income tax is capped at 15 percent.

Order #12: Suspension of "all tariffs, customs duties, import taxes, licensing fees and similar surcharges for goods entering or leaving Iraq, and all other trade restrictions that may apply to such goods." Result: A tidal wave of cheap imports wipes out locally made goods.

Order #17: Security firms get full immunity from Iraq's laws.

Liberation of the Iraqi people, my ass--this is good ‘ol fashion raping and pillaging is what that is.

When Hurricane Katrina hit the shores of the Gulf Coast August 2005, the same government cronies who had received no-bid contracts in Iraq, were awarded no-bid contracts to rebuild New Orleans and parts of Mississippi; and with them, they brought along their accounting practices, well honed in Iraq.

President Bush with the support of the Republican controlled Congress gave cover to contractors in the Gulf Coast rebuild by suspending the Davis-Bacon Act of 1931 which, “sets a minimum pay scale for workers on federal contracts by requiring contractors to pay the prevailing or average pay in the region. Suspension of the act will allow contractors to pay lower wages.” Bush and the Congress also suspended environmental laws to expedite the rebuild effort.

Good ‘ol fashion raping and pillaging is what that is.

The money laundering is going on right before our eyes—the government is redistributing wealth to multi-billion dollar conglomerates, a state welfare program for millionaires and billionaires. I can only make an educated guess that if you were to follow the money paid out to political campaigns by lobbyist it would explain why the 109th Republican control congress refused oversight of governmental expenditures.

The Democrats stated that they would establish strong oversight upon their return to control of Congress. Lobbying firms and their conglomerate pimps being as amoral as they are, will try and seduce the Democrats.

The Bush Administration has created an environment where war profiteering is no longer looked upon as immoral; in fact, it is rewarded with corporate tax breaks.
Bush’s public relations Administration called this “The Ownership Society” where those few at the top, own more than half the country’s wealth.

Bush’s contempt for government and for the American people is always on display as he bankrupts the Federal Government so that social welfare programs are starved out of existence. In Conservative circles, this is referred to as “Starving the Beast”.

Oh yeah, as for the defense contractor, Custer-Battles, represented by the men seen with the bricks of blood money in the accompanying photo, was charged with 37 counts of fraud in a $9 million dollar contract to help distribute new currency in Iraq. They were fined $10 million dollars in March of 2006. They were the first civil case brought against a military contractor.

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