Wednesday's Answer.....(Let's just pretend it's still Thursday)..
----------------------------------------------------------
Following the almost complete destruction of New Orleans and surrounding areas in 2005 from Hurrican Katrina, "President" Bush's response? A $700m tax cut to America's largest corporations (like Halliburton) to finance the purchase of new equipment (the corp's in NO had no income, so a tax cut was quite useless). As well as suspending overtime and minimum wage laws for the workers who actually did the .....um.....rebuilding. What there was of it.
Did these companies NEED a tax break to profit off of the New Orleans disaster? Nah, but $700m extra sure is nice.
Oh, Bush, before going to NO for a photo op, stopped to play a round of golf at Pueblo El Mirage in Arizona. "Now watch this drive!!"
Bad news? Good news? Really, it's all good news even if it's bad news, for some.
-----------------------------------------------------------
From Wikipedia:
"The world of Nineteen Eighty-Four is built around an endless war involving the three global superstates, with two allied powers fighting against the third. The allied states occasionally split with each other and new alliances are formed, but as Goldstein's book explains, this does not matter, as each superstate is so strong it cannot be defeated even when faced with the combined forces of the other two powers. The war rarely takes place on the territory of the three powers, and actual fighting is conducted in the disputed zone stretching from Morocco to Australia...
During "Hate Week" (a week of extreme focus on the evilness of Oceania's enemies), Oceania and Eurasia are enemies once again. The public is quite blind to the change, and when a speaker, mid-sentence, changes the enemy from Eurasia to Eastasia (speaking as if nothing had changed), the people are shocked as they notice all the flags and banners are wrong (they blame Goldstein and the Brotherhood) and quite effectively tear them down.
The book that Winston receives explains that the war is unwinnable, and that its only purpose is to use up human labor and the fruits of human labor so that each superstate's economy cannot support an equal (and high) standard of living for every citizen.
Goldstein's book hints that in fact, there may not actually be a war. The only view of the outside world presented in the novel is through Oceania's media, which has an obvious tendency to exaggerate and even fabricate "facts".
Goldstein's book suggests that the three superpowers may not actually be at war, and as Oceania's media provides scarcely believable news reports...
However, as with many facets of the novel, the disputed existence of a war is neither confirmed nor denied, and the reader cannot be sure whether a war actually is in progress. In fact, it is entirely possible that the other two powers themselves are fabrications, and the entire world is controlled by a single entity."
-------------------------------------------------------------
From "Armed Madhouse" by Greg Palast:
"When fifteen Saudi Arabians flew airliners into American buildings, their victims' families sued (Saudi Arabia's) Defense Ministry for indirectly buying the tickets for the terrorists. James A. Baker's was the first law firm in the courthouse....for the Saudis." (p 103)
"April 23, 2003
Three star general Jay Garner, appointed occupation chief by President Bush, is personally fired by Defense Secretary Rumsfeld. Garner had demanded swift elections and refused to sell off Iraq's oil fields (to foreign corporations); resisting the neo-cons....cost him his job." (first page)
"(Chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations-James A. Baker III Institute Joint Committe on Petroleum Security Ed) Morse sneers at 'the obsession of neo-conservative writers on ways to undermine OPEC.' It may be a cute idea to smash the Arab oil cartel, he said, but Iraqis know that if they start pumping six million barrels a day, two million above their OPEC quota, they will 'crash the oil market' and bring down their own economy." (p 97)
--------
- Not that the Iraq economy is booming right now. But back three years ago when Paul Wolfowitz promised the American people a war that would cost them/us "zero" due to the available oil incountry, he and everybody else knew that this was bullshit. Iraq did not have the capacity to pump anywhere close to that due to infrastructure damage over the last decade or so. And even if they did, you don't fuck with the Saudi's, who run OPEC. The Saudi's have so many trillions of dollars stashed away in the US, Switzerland, and other nations that they could charge pennies per barrel indefinately, thus destroying any exporting country's economy.
- And while it would be great for the American consumer to fill that Hummer up for $10, American/Euro corporations like ExxonMobil and the like would be ruined. The war in Iraq has led to record setting profits by the US/European oil companies. That's PROFITS, not costs. We in the US pay $3/gallon now not because it costs that much, but because we're willing to pay that much (ie no alternative). Once big oil discovered that the world's biggest market was willing to spend $3/gallon with no change in deman.... well, let's just say the price will never ever go back down to 20th century levels again, even if it was learned that the earth's core was pure 100% crude. And don't believe the talk about diminishing supply, either. There are trillions of barrels of oil mixed into sand/dirt in Canana and Venezuela just waiting to be brought to your local gas station. Now that big oil knows that we'll pay any price (esp. more than $40...50...now 78/barrel), then bringing that oil/sand to market becomes feasible. Just not a whole bunch at once, and certainly not at a cheap price.
------------------------------------------------------------
So basically it appears that we invaded Iraq because.........well. I'm still not sure really.
Maybe because we could? Another Panama/Operation Just (Be)cause? Look at North Korea. Certainly much scarier, but they can actually defend themselves. Ånd the "President" now talks of diplomacy and how much time it will take to deal with NK. Wow.
Knowing that the Iraqis were no threat to our nation. Knowing that Saddam had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks. Knowing that Iraq's oil, though plentiful, was years away from being brought to market in large quantities (which would just piss off our close personal friends, the Saudis). This doesn't give me a good answer.
Young men and women now dying by the thousands? US troops volunteered for service but never expected to be sent on a three year mission with no end in sight. Do they matter to the chickenhawks in charge of our government? Bush: National Guard during Vietnam. Cheney: Five deferments, "other priorities". Rumsfeld: fighter pilot who arrived in Korea....after the shooting stopped. All the neocons, to a man: didn't fight in America's wars. Do you think the powerful really care about the welfare of our troops, when they are cutting benefits and combat pay? As Ari Cohen of the Heritage Foundation (neo-cons) said: "I left other people to get their ass to get shot off." ("Armed Madhouse", p 95) He's speaks with a Russian accent, but the idea makes sense.
Bringing democracy to the Middle East (the neocon argument)? Howz that workin' out? Not.....too......good, I'd say.
-----------------------------------------------------------
So the answer is there is no one answer. They (the powers that be) just felt like it, I guess. Fuck the consequences....and the dead bodies.
Good news is good news, bads news is good news.....any news is good news for a select few, as long as no one looks too hard.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Following the almost complete destruction of New Orleans and surrounding areas in 2005 from Hurrican Katrina, "President" Bush's response? A $700m tax cut to America's largest corporations (like Halliburton) to finance the purchase of new equipment (the corp's in NO had no income, so a tax cut was quite useless). As well as suspending overtime and minimum wage laws for the workers who actually did the .....um.....rebuilding. What there was of it.
Did these companies NEED a tax break to profit off of the New Orleans disaster? Nah, but $700m extra sure is nice.
Oh, Bush, before going to NO for a photo op, stopped to play a round of golf at Pueblo El Mirage in Arizona. "Now watch this drive!!"
Bad news? Good news? Really, it's all good news even if it's bad news, for some.
-----------------------------------------------------------
From Wikipedia:
"The world of Nineteen Eighty-Four is built around an endless war involving the three global superstates, with two allied powers fighting against the third. The allied states occasionally split with each other and new alliances are formed, but as Goldstein's book explains, this does not matter, as each superstate is so strong it cannot be defeated even when faced with the combined forces of the other two powers. The war rarely takes place on the territory of the three powers, and actual fighting is conducted in the disputed zone stretching from Morocco to Australia...
During "Hate Week" (a week of extreme focus on the evilness of Oceania's enemies), Oceania and Eurasia are enemies once again. The public is quite blind to the change, and when a speaker, mid-sentence, changes the enemy from Eurasia to Eastasia (speaking as if nothing had changed), the people are shocked as they notice all the flags and banners are wrong (they blame Goldstein and the Brotherhood) and quite effectively tear them down.
The book that Winston receives explains that the war is unwinnable, and that its only purpose is to use up human labor and the fruits of human labor so that each superstate's economy cannot support an equal (and high) standard of living for every citizen.
Goldstein's book hints that in fact, there may not actually be a war. The only view of the outside world presented in the novel is through Oceania's media, which has an obvious tendency to exaggerate and even fabricate "facts".
Goldstein's book suggests that the three superpowers may not actually be at war, and as Oceania's media provides scarcely believable news reports...
However, as with many facets of the novel, the disputed existence of a war is neither confirmed nor denied, and the reader cannot be sure whether a war actually is in progress. In fact, it is entirely possible that the other two powers themselves are fabrications, and the entire world is controlled by a single entity."
-------------------------------------------------------------
From "Armed Madhouse" by Greg Palast:
"When fifteen Saudi Arabians flew airliners into American buildings, their victims' families sued (Saudi Arabia's) Defense Ministry for indirectly buying the tickets for the terrorists. James A. Baker's was the first law firm in the courthouse....for the Saudis." (p 103)
"April 23, 2003
Three star general Jay Garner, appointed occupation chief by President Bush, is personally fired by Defense Secretary Rumsfeld. Garner had demanded swift elections and refused to sell off Iraq's oil fields (to foreign corporations); resisting the neo-cons....cost him his job." (first page)
"(Chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations-James A. Baker III Institute Joint Committe on Petroleum Security Ed) Morse sneers at 'the obsession of neo-conservative writers on ways to undermine OPEC.' It may be a cute idea to smash the Arab oil cartel, he said, but Iraqis know that if they start pumping six million barrels a day, two million above their OPEC quota, they will 'crash the oil market' and bring down their own economy." (p 97)
--------
- Not that the Iraq economy is booming right now. But back three years ago when Paul Wolfowitz promised the American people a war that would cost them/us "zero" due to the available oil incountry, he and everybody else knew that this was bullshit. Iraq did not have the capacity to pump anywhere close to that due to infrastructure damage over the last decade or so. And even if they did, you don't fuck with the Saudi's, who run OPEC. The Saudi's have so many trillions of dollars stashed away in the US, Switzerland, and other nations that they could charge pennies per barrel indefinately, thus destroying any exporting country's economy.
- And while it would be great for the American consumer to fill that Hummer up for $10, American/Euro corporations like ExxonMobil and the like would be ruined. The war in Iraq has led to record setting profits by the US/European oil companies. That's PROFITS, not costs. We in the US pay $3/gallon now not because it costs that much, but because we're willing to pay that much (ie no alternative). Once big oil discovered that the world's biggest market was willing to spend $3/gallon with no change in deman.... well, let's just say the price will never ever go back down to 20th century levels again, even if it was learned that the earth's core was pure 100% crude. And don't believe the talk about diminishing supply, either. There are trillions of barrels of oil mixed into sand/dirt in Canana and Venezuela just waiting to be brought to your local gas station. Now that big oil knows that we'll pay any price (esp. more than $40...50...now 78/barrel), then bringing that oil/sand to market becomes feasible. Just not a whole bunch at once, and certainly not at a cheap price.
------------------------------------------------------------
So basically it appears that we invaded Iraq because.........well. I'm still not sure really.
Maybe because we could? Another Panama/Operation Just (Be)cause? Look at North Korea. Certainly much scarier, but they can actually defend themselves. Ånd the "President" now talks of diplomacy and how much time it will take to deal with NK. Wow.
Knowing that the Iraqis were no threat to our nation. Knowing that Saddam had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks. Knowing that Iraq's oil, though plentiful, was years away from being brought to market in large quantities (which would just piss off our close personal friends, the Saudis). This doesn't give me a good answer.
Young men and women now dying by the thousands? US troops volunteered for service but never expected to be sent on a three year mission with no end in sight. Do they matter to the chickenhawks in charge of our government? Bush: National Guard during Vietnam. Cheney: Five deferments, "other priorities". Rumsfeld: fighter pilot who arrived in Korea....after the shooting stopped. All the neocons, to a man: didn't fight in America's wars. Do you think the powerful really care about the welfare of our troops, when they are cutting benefits and combat pay? As Ari Cohen of the Heritage Foundation (neo-cons) said: "I left other people to get their ass to get shot off." ("Armed Madhouse", p 95) He's speaks with a Russian accent, but the idea makes sense.
Bringing democracy to the Middle East (the neocon argument)? Howz that workin' out? Not.....too......good, I'd say.
-----------------------------------------------------------
So the answer is there is no one answer. They (the powers that be) just felt like it, I guess. Fuck the consequences....and the dead bodies.
Good news is good news, bads news is good news.....any news is good news for a select few, as long as no one looks too hard.
-----------------------------------------------------------
posted by joe sweeney at 1:58 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home