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Presenting Mitt Romney's Top Campaign Contributors
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When establishment Republicans
replace establishment Democrats
who replaced establishment Republicans
who replaced establishment Democrats...
is it any wonder the real winner is the establishment?
While fishing, Homer is abducted by the aliens Kang and Kodos. When they demand that Homer point them towards Earth's leader, Homer tells them about the then-upcoming election and that the winner could be either Bill Clinton or Bob Dole.
Kang and Kodos kidnap both Dole and Clinton, placing them in suspended animation tubes. Kang and Kodos take on their forms to ensure that one of them will become the next leader.
Before returning Homer to Earth, the aliens soak him in rum so nobody will believe him. Later on, Homer stumbles upon the badly hidden spaceship and tries to save the real Dole and Clinton; however, he accidentally ejects them into space.
On the day before the election, Homer successfully reveals the candidates' real identities. Realizing it is too late to get new candidates, one man in the crowd decides to vote for a third-party candidate. However, Kang and Kodos convince the crowd that doing so would be a wasted vote. Kang is elected President and forces the citizens of America to build a giant ray gun to aim at an unknown planet
As Homer Simpson said:
Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qk12ALX9fz8&feature=related
Vivint = Goldman Sachs
* = means partially owned by Goldman Sachs and trying very very hard to be just as sleazy, but not quite there yet.
A year later, Vivint announced its new business partnership with investment bankerGoldmanSachs.
On October 5, 2009, Vivint created a $440 million credit facility led by Goldman Sachs.
In 2008, Louisiana ordered the company to cease and desist any and all security-related business in the state.
Vivint is not currently accredited with theBetterBusinessBureau (BBB) but does have an overall rating of "D" with 1379 negative claims reported within the last 3 years...
sourced from wikipedia
Too late, buddy. I posted this joke on Wednesday.
Homer Simpson also spake:
"Just becaue I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand."
It's a little game invented by the British Empire called "Divide and conquer"
Just two wings of the same bird of prey.
they forgot baby_Blythe!
L0L!!!
Talk about deep capture. Hell, even DeepCapture(.com) has been captured. F#@k.
Obama's top contributors
Communist Party USA
George Soros
Obama top contributors : Wall Street.
"Wall Street Has Their Man And His Name Is Barack Obama"
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2011/12/07/moore_wall_street_alre...
Sadly, you really could cut and paste Romney's top contributors into an identical story about Obama. Obromney 2012.
Obama's top contributors are the Unions, do hedge accordingly. Funny how nobody mentions Obama care anymore.
bain capitol owns clearchannel owns over 500 radio stations..limbaugh, beck, savage etc....
They must have went bankrupt for them to own the stations.
I wonder what their programming was then.
and they STILL call it the "liberal" media. Bane, GE, Westinghouse, etc own 97% of commercial media in the USA. Why would any company want to make a population ignorant? Because it's easier to take their money.
Exactly. And continuing to use the term "liberal" (it works both ways) just helps their cause by furthering the false divide between people.
A point of clarification...regarding how I write at least.
When I write "liberal" I mean socialist. When I write "progressive" I mean socialist or worse.
When I write liberal I mean a classical liberal.
There are very large, gaping differences.
as time trudges forward, definitions seem to move in the opposite direction. The word game, at least when played by our government, is utterly meaningless now. Seems as societies begin to collapse, everything heads down with it, including language, its utter foundation. It's more than a man's word, it's the word itself. No truth, no words left to describe it. Unspeakable theft, unspeakable crime, unspeakable inaction.
doublespeak.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doublespeak
perfected by governments, ramped up to 11 on the dial this past decade or so. . .
have to say tho' - I rather like that trust has been so abused that, in the future many will ask for definitions when some words are being used, I know I do already. and so many "legal" definitions we are forced to live with, so few understood.
it's good to get people to pay attention, to the extent they are able.
Its good that everyone pay attention...this is the critical time.
Tomorrow I will go fishing with my son (not the best of tides, but still) where I will share all my accumulated knowledge of the human race with him via three simple truths.
1) Never trust anyone completely but yourself.
2) Always expect the worst and hope for the best.
3) It will always be about the money with "them".
heh, fancy meeting you here. . .
I almost replied to you upthread, where you wrote
in a recent exchange you threw me the "progressive" tag, and I gave back that I doubted you meant it to be friendly - now I KNOW what you accused me of, tsk.
but it's not a worry - labels applied by others are always from their own point-of-view - the time to be worried is when one starts applying labels to oneself.
curious 'bout your third "simple truth" - the "them" appears important, yet you decline to be specific. . . given your other posts relative to your "stance" - well, it's interesting, I guess.
enjoy your fishing - catch 'n' release hopefully, despite what you think about where you're slinging your hook. in the end, it's more about spending time with your son that's important.
Yes, I did tag you with that Cat. I now think it was a hasty assessment on my part.
Please accept my apology.
"the "them" appears important, yet you decline to be specific..."
The "them" is all inclusive. From governments to corporations to charities to individuals. They are all trying to relieve ones earnings in one way or another. What I will say to him is meant to focus his outlook, from the inside out.
Many kids don't appreciate these forces acting on them at the emotional level.
Whether a teary eyed appeal on television to save cats & dogs if you would only send a dollar a day...or a won't you help Haitian earthquake victims...we know by and large where the majority of the money winds up.
But it makes us feel better about ourselves doesn't it?
Whether the poor Haitian or stray dog derives any real benefit is immaterial on the emotional level. Whether he actually needs the latest widget offered at the low low price of 19.99 is irrelevant because its such a great deal...he feels better. Whether this or that new law is required is of no consequence (until the growth of it is a very real consequence) at least someone did something!!!...lol...emotion.
Thanks we're gonna enjoy it.
Seeya
oh, no apologies needed nmewn - I was just poking you with your belated definition, no offenses - we settled that in the other thread IMO. . . 'twas a tease.
appreciate your defining "them" - I agree, it's a sad truth that people have been conned by the pathos of "appeals" for their money, and exploited emotionally - hopefully anger from being duped will result in less giving to organisations, but some empathy might be held for direct encounters with individuals in need.
your advice to your son, that of knowing "within" before extending "without" is healthy, it gives him a solid place to work from before encountering the "needs" of the world, which will only grow as we go forward.
take care
Now,
I trust my Brother, my Dad, my lawyer, my wife and my priest.
And my wife only because, in this state, she cannot be required to testify against me.
So there ! :)
(Not so much my Mom.....she's an idiot I'm sorry to report.)
Mom aside, if you are only talking about three people there, you may not have to grab your ankles in the future. Otherwise, you need to stay limber.
I'm just wondering if your kids were fathered by your brother, dad, or lawyer...
"and they STILL call it the "liberal" media."
yup. You have to OWN the media before you can claim it as the propaganda tool of your enemy....
think about it.
and whether it's the RomneyTron 2012™ or Fo' Mo' years, we are "Fucked Incorporated™"
Who Owns The Media? The 6 Monolithic Corporations That Control Almost Everything We Watch, Hear And ReadToday, six colossal media giants tower over all the rest. Much of the information in the chart below comes from mediaowners.com. The chart below reveals only a small fraction of the media outlets that these six behemoths actually own....
Time Warner
Home Box Office (HBO)
Time Inc.
Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
CW Network (partial ownership)
TMZ
New Line Cinema
Time Warner Cable
Cinemax
Cartoon Network
TBS
TNT
America Online
MapQuest
Moviefone
Castle Rock
Sports Illustrated
Fortune
Marie Claire
People Magazine
Walt Disney
ABC Television Network
Disney Publishing
ESPN Inc.
Disney Channel
SOAPnet
A&E
Lifetime
Buena Vista Home Entertainment
Buena Vista Theatrical Productions
Buena Vista Records
Disney Records
Hollywood Records
Miramax Films
Touchstone Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures
Pixar Animation Studios
Buena Vista Games
Hyperion Books
Viacom
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Home Entertainment
Black Entertainment Television (BET)
Comedy Central
Country Music Television (CMT)
Logo
MTV
MTV Canada
MTV2
Nick Magazine
Nick at Nite
Nick Jr.
Nickelodeon
Noggin
Spike TV
The Movie Channel
TV Land
VH1
News Corporation
Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Fox Television Stations
The New York Post
Fox Searchlight Pictures
Beliefnet
Fox Business Network
Fox Kids Europe
Fox News Channel
Fox Sports Net
Fox Television Network
FX
My Network TV
MySpace
News Limited News
Phoenix InfoNews Channel
Phoenix Movies Channel
Sky PerfecTV
Speed Channel
STAR TV India
STAR TV Taiwan
STAR World
Times Higher Education Supplement Magazine
Times Literary Supplement Magazine
Times of London
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
20th Century Fox International
20th Century Fox Studios
20th Century Fox Television
BSkyB
DIRECTV
The Wall Street Journal
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Interactive Media
FOXTEL
HarperCollins Publishers
The National Geographic Channel
National Rugby League
News Interactive
News Outdoor
Radio Veronica
ReganBooks
Sky Italia
Sky Radio Denmark
Sky Radio Germany
Sky Radio Netherlands
STAR
Zondervan
CBS Corporation
CBS News
CBS Sports
CBS Television Network
CNET
Showtime
TV.com
CBS Radio Inc. (130 stations)
CBS Consumer Products
CBS Outdoor
CW Network (50% ownership)
Infinity Broadcasting
Simon & Schuster (Pocket Books, Scribner)
Westwood One Radio Network
NBC Universal
Bravo
CNBC
NBC News
MSNBC
NBC Sports
NBC Television Network
Oxygen
SciFi Magazine
Syfy (Sci Fi Channel)
Telemundo
USA Network
Weather Channel
Focus Features
NBC Universal Television Distribution
NBC Universal Television Studio
Paxson Communications (partial ownership)
Trio
Universal Parks & Resorts
Universal Pictures
Universal Studio Home Video
http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/who-owns-the-media-the-6-monolithic-corporations-that-control-almost-everything-we-watch-hear-and-read
didn't know that. no wonder NY City is going ape-shit and fronting Newt Gingrinch. I'm still trying figure out the Santourom thing myself...
re obama care
you will hear plenty about it in 2016 dont worry.
USA Inc
purveyors of fine fudge and numbnuttery
If you think Obama is a Communist you must be drinking the Reich-Wing media Kool-aid. They haven't had a grip on reality for decades and still think they're living in the McCarthy era.
Step outside your comfort zone once in a while, go outside your normal boundaries and experience something new while letting a new thought or idea enter your mind. You might learn something. (Yes, I know all of those recommendations are the mortal enemy of the conservative mind but try it anyway.)
A paper authored by BHO Sr.
http://www.politico.com/static/PPM41_eastafrica.html
After his drunken father (above) left him and his mother, Frank Marshall Davis, a CPUSA card carrying member, was his mentor as a young man. These were his father figures.
You have the ability to look all this up on your own ya know.
////////////////////////////////
Edit: And I'm not fucking done with this stupid ass meme.
If we are going to have yet another discussion about communism vs capitalism (as envisioned) we are going to have to discuss members of the politburo not living in grass huts (as envisioned) by purists.
Now why would this be?
Furthermore, why is it that O'Barry gets a pass on, now a hundred rounds of golf, when the leftwing sycophantic media went apoplectic over much less?
Is this an example of "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs"? He needs more time on the golf course than any other President (at our expense)...because he sucks at golf?
Really?
And the proletariat pays for it?
At least I pay my own greens fees, and I'm a PGA rated -5.
No big wins yet..... :) A few local tourneuys. That's all. But I love golf. :)
check out "Golf in the kingdom" Changed my life and view about Golf.
ori
Damn millionaire Wall Street owned communist!!
========
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, stateless and revolutionary socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communism
========
Yeah, sounds just like him. /sarc
Exactly what I am pointing out. But hey, he might have been around some communists when he was young, so since we know people, never, ever, ever, ever, ever change (in the conservative mind) once exposed to communists always a communist, especially if they're a democrat.
Forget that Republicans pushed through the NDAA and are funded by the same people, THEY are for freedom, free markets and all that is good and wholesome. Besides, you have nothing to fear unless you're doing something wrong.
This whole two-party illusion still seems to work on the masses.
He grew up around communists, he hung out with communists as an adult, he thinks like a communist, he acts like a communist. The only thing he doesn't do, is talk like a communist. Because he's a sneaky little two-faced lying sack of motherfucking shit.
Unfortunately most people-- especially libtards-- aren't smart enough to see where someone came from, watch what they do, and deduce what they think.
His administration is full of Wall Street insiders whom he refuses to prosecute for fraud. Your argument makes no sense. Why would he be protecting the captains of capitalism if he was a communist? Communism means socializing the profits AND the losses not just the losses. I think you're confusing Communism with Fascism.
The merger of corporate and state powers is called FASCISM.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFlKJmE4gVE
“Fascism should rightly be called Corporatism, as it is the merger of corporate and government power.” - Benito Mussolini
============
Obama's cabinet is? Wall Street insiders.
See Here: http://www.globalresearch.ca/i ndex.php?context=va&aid=13208
Bush's cabinet was Big Oil executives.
See Here: http://entertainment.salon.com/2001/11/19/bush_oil/
They're all owned by the same people and their profits sure aren't socialized - just their losses.
============
The Four Horsemen of Banking,
Bank of America
JP Morgan Chase
Citigroup
Wells Fargo,
...own the Four Horsemen of Oil,
Exxon Mobil
Royal Dutch/Shell
BP
Chevron Texaco,
..in tandem with,
Deutsche Bank
BNP (Banque Nationale de Paris)
Barclays
other European old money behemoths
But their monopoly over the global economy does not end at the edge of the oil patch. According to company 10K filings to the SEC, the Four Horsemen of Banking are among the top ten stock holders of virtually every Fortune 500 corporation.
So who then are the stockholders in these money center banks?
This information is guarded much more closely. My queries to bank regulatory agencies regarding stock ownership in the top 25 US bank holding companies were given Freedom of Information Act status, before being denied on “national security” grounds. This is rather ironic, since many of the bank’s stockholders reside in Europe.
One important repository for the wealth of the global oligarchy that owns these bank holding companies is US Trust Corporation - founded in 1853 and now owned by Bank of America. A recent US Trust Corporate Director and Honorary Trustee was Walter Rothschild. Other directors included Daniel Davison of JP Morgan Chase, Richard Tucker of Exxon Mobil, Daniel Roberts of Citigroup and Marshall Schwartz of Morgan Stanley. [2]
J. W. McCallister, an oil industry insider with House of Saud connections, wrote in The Grim Reaper that information he acquired from Saudi bankers cited 80% ownership of the New York Federal Reserve Bank- by far the most powerful Fed branch- by just eight families, four of which reside in the US. They are the Goldman Sachs, Rockefellers, Lehmans and Kuhn Loebs of New York; the Rothschilds of Paris and London; the Warburgs of Hamburg; the Lazards of Paris; and the Israel Moses Seifs of Rome.
http://globalresearch.ca/i ndex.php?context=va&aid=25 080
You need to brush up on your history. It's well known (to those who've bothered to look) that Wall Street and London banks funded the Bolshevik Revolution. Central banking and Communism go hand-in-hand, central banking is a bedrock principle of communism. Every communist party platform has very strong wording about the importance central banking.
It appears you're having the "discussion about communism vs capitalism (as envisioned) we are going to have to discuss members of the politburo not living in grass huts (as envisioned) by purists" argument by yourself while throwing in some attempts to include golf and the mythical, corporate owned "leftwing" media.
My comment was aimed at the pervasive mythology on so many of these boards that Democrats are communists, while Republicans are somehow free market and freedom promoting warriors. Meanwhile both are backed by the same corporations and neither party passes any legislation that actually takes wealth or power away from the truly wealthy and powerful and distributes it to the masses.
Since you seem to be a research expert, can you show me any legislation passed since the 1980's (when the Great Fascist Reagan started all of this) that truly takes money from the upper 5-8% and gives it to the bottom 15% or so? All the research I have found has shown wealth moving quite quickly to the top in a welfare for the wealthy kind of way. Can you explain how this fits into the "communism vs capitalism (as envisioned)" debate you're having above? And you can leave out the golf and leftwing media whingin as it really adds nothing to the fundamentals of the discussion. Please set me straight as it seems you really have a grip on this issue. Thanks.
People in grass houses should not stow thrones.
NEA
GE
Solyndra
UAW
UMW
He's got the whole "Pig 5"!!!!
Goldman
JP Morgan
Citi
Morgan Stanley
Bank of America
A perfect 5 for 5. 70% of the entire world's CDS right there, for those who may be wondering why not triggering CDS is such a big consideration with Euro-defaults.
plus two "bains." that's interesting.
Two Bains, No R's.
I think that explains a lot, no DA?
ori
There's got to be feeder funds to this cabal.
Donate now.
Ron Paul 2012
Fuck you Willard. Fuck you.
Might post is alongside Ron Paul's contributors.
Just sayin'.
US Army$78,056
US Navy$56,769
US Air Force$55,405
Google Inc$52,801
Microsoft Corp$47,923
US Postal Service$26,591
Hewlett-Packard$25,318
Lockheed Martin$23,425
Cisco Systems$23,007
Boeing Co$22,434
Verizon Communications$19,944
Wachovia Corp$19,629
US Dept of Defense$19,198
General Dynamics$18,506
AT&T Inc$17,946
Northrop Grumman$16,907
JPMorgan Chase & Co$16,072
Apple Inc$15,903
Raytheon Co$15,830
General Electric $15,000Chicken feed.
You left out RockyRacoon: $100.00
Sigh....
lol
Banks vs. Military. Interesting.
I didn't know the military was allowed to contribute to political campaigns. Is this taxpayer funds or from an MIC slush fund?
It's members of the U.S. military; those who face the enemies of the Israeli/U.S. Empire.
I think the military has gotten wise to the fact that they're being controlled by the Illuminati, just like the federal reserve is. That the wars they are fighting and things they are doing is not in the interest of protecting the US contstituion or it's ideals. I would hope if the banksters really clamp down on all of us, there would be a coup. I would support the guys on the side of real liberty.
You make a good point.
"Alternative" media has been available to these kids for a while now. Much harder to brain-wash...
A military coup is the only hope for saving America now, since the citizens (with their 400,000,000 [useless] guns) have proven they won't do it.
Not sure where you get "useless" from but yes Americans are a little on the lazy side.
You're delusional. Never has there been such a rich pool of automatons willing to follow orders. These meat puppets are churned out of high schools by the millions, annually. Then they breed, and the next generation of patriots squirts out locked and loaded, ready to serve and protect the shit out of you.
When the order comes to step on your neck, for your own good--for the national interest--they'll step.
Lon Horiuchi. 'nuff said.
Wake up Military. Wake up. Wake up before you wake up dead.
right on Jr !~
dont forget the the U K and the Vatican
Well if I were a guess'n man than I guess I'd be a choosen to be on the side of the military cause a military will always win a battle. So, if'n guess'n causin choosin uncertainty then I'ma goin to vote for Ron Paul.
And I assume, tmosley, that those contributions you listed represent donations from private individuals associated with those groups or businesses, not direct donations from those groups or businesses themselves (I cannot imagine, for example, that the US Air Force itself made a donation to the Ron Paul campaign, or to any campaign).
"or to any campaign".
Thats the way I took it...from individuals in the military. They can't, its illegal.
But apparently its not illegal to try and suppress their absentee ballots from being counted as seen in past elections ;-)
////////////////
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/1375024/Gore-campaign-trying-to-block-military-votes.html
If they're smart, and I think they are, they'll mail those absentee ballots to a family member to mail in. Anyone with experience in politics will tell you that the greatest amount of voting fraud is done with absentee ballots.
Agreed on both points.
It'll change. Just give it time. Things get bad enough and people wake up. Our democracy, for all its' slowness and plodding does allow for some radical change when things get bad enough. Trust in the system.
I used to believe that, but since they took over the media I think it's game, set and match. 90+ percent of people have absolutely no clue what's going on even though it should be painfully obvious by now.
We'll be fighting in the streets
With our children at our feet
And the morals that they worship will be gone
And the men who spurred us on
Sit in judgment of all wrong
They decide and the shotgun sings the song
I'll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around me
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
And I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again
Don't get fooled again
The Who
The sad part is that song is from 1971 ... how long did we get fooled.
On August 15, 1971, the United States unilaterally terminated convertibility of the dollar to gold. As a result, "the Bretton Woods system officially ended and the dollar became fully 'fiat currency,' backed by nothing but the promise of the federal government
I turned 11 that day. I remember listening to both the Who and my Dad that day, but obviously not as much as I should have.
Thankfully I still have the albums and the Sansui turntable (and just a liitle of the "real money" ) Dad gave me then.
It is simple guys. We are fucked! Either way.
Did we give up when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?
lol...clearly its time for someone, to do something, completely useless and futile.
And we're just the ones to do it!!!
LOL - You mean when the Mexicans burned down the White House?
Naw, he meant when the Canadians flew into the World Trade Center.
Yes! When the Puerto Ricans crucified Christ
Why, its almost like free money is just printed up for their own use ;-)
Advice to a Generic Candidate
FRJanuary 8, 2012
Last night on the lobotomy box I encountered yet another candidate for the presidency, a Mr. Santorum, threatening to make war on Iran. I can't decide whether the idea is more frightening than fascinating, or fascinating than frightening. I do suggest that the combined candidates do not have the military competence of a stuffed bear. Given that the principlal business of the United States is war and preparation for it, do we want a martial analphabetic in charge? One does not let children play with chain saws. (From all of this I exempt Ron Paul, who appears to be sane.)
To save the republic, if any, from another routine military disaster, I offer the following thoughts.
To begin, I will ask the following questions of the candidates, and for that matter of Mr. Obama, and of the Secretary of Defense, a generic bureaucrat.
Can you explain: Convergence zones, base bleed, Kursk, range-gate pull-off, artillery at Dien Bien Phu, IR cross-over, Tet and queen sacrifice, Brahmos 2, CIWIS, supercruise, side-lobe penetration, seven-eighty-twice gear, super-cavitating torpedoes, phased arrays, pulse Doppler, the width of Hormuz versus the range of Iranian cruise missiles, DU, discarding sabot, frequency agility, Chobham armor, and pseudo-random PRF?
These, gentlemen, are the small talk of serious students of the military. Here I mean men like David Isby, author of such books as Weapons and Tactics of the Soviet Army for Jane's, which you likely have never heard of, or William S. Lind, probably the best military mind (though, or because, not a soldier), that I have encountered. If you are unfamiliar with them, and with the things listed above, you are unfamiliar with the military. Yet you campaign for possession of the trigger.
Perhaps a little humility, perish the thought, and a little self-examination might be in order.
Peering into your own depths, you will probably find that the humility does not come easily. In my decades of covering the armed services, I noticed among men a belief in their innate jock-strap competency regarding wars. Men who would readily admit ignorance of petroleum geology, ophthalmology, or ancient Sumerian grammar nonetheless believe that they grasp matters military. Usually they do not. In particular, they have an utterly unexamined belief in America's military invincibility.
Candidates should be wary of this. Instead, most of you propose ultimata to Iran as one would threaten a three-year-old with a spanking. You clearly think that the American flotilla would quickly thrash the impudent Persians with no unexpected consequences. Do as we say, or the fleet will teach you a jolly good lesson.
So thought Philip II in 1588.
A little reading wouldn't hurt. I would strongly recommend A Legacy of Ashes, by Tim Weiner, on the CIA, and We Meant Well, by Peter van Vuren, a former State Department guy on how Iraq actually works. You will be most surprised. I accept in advance your gratitude for these suggestions.
Once a candidate from the relative bushes gets elected, as may happen, he becomes a captive of Washington in about ten minutes. This too you should bear in mind. You will be briefed by the CIA, which will spin things so that you believe what it wants you to believe. The spooks will radiate lethal charm and speak with the assurance of a higher order of being. This will give you a sense of admission to a special tree house where everyone has a Captain Marvel secret decoder ring (two box tops and a dollar fifty). And, in Washington, you will have access to no other view. Gotcha.
You will be briefed by the Pentagon by generals with firm handshakes, steely gaze, obvious intelligence, and a convincing understanding of the world as consisting chiefly of threats. They are very good at this. You do not become a general without expertise with Power Point and the slick gab of a confidence man. Generals too are politicians. They will carry you along like a wood chip in a spring flood. And you will pay the price.
A powerful skepticism is here well advised. The belief that military men know about war is beguiling. It is their trade, is it not? Surely they must be authorities. Dentists know about dentistry. Soldiers must know about war. But how often when you go to a dentist do you return without teeth?
In fact career officers live in a mental world not well adapted to winning today's wars. You need to understand this. Theirs is a world of aggression seeking an outlet, of institutionally inculcated confidence unrelated to external reality, of suppression of dissent. Fatal bad judgement is common, and recently almost the rule. If you think this implausible, consider:
When the Japanese attacked Pearl, their military thought it would win, Yamamoto excepted. When the Wehrmacht went into Russia, it thought it would win. So did Napoleon. When the Germans attacked in 1914, they thought they would win, the Schlieffen Plan being infallible. When the Confederates shelled Sukmter, they thought they could win. When the French took on the Viet Minh, they thought they would win. When the Americans went into Viet Nam, they thought they would win. When they went into Iraq, Somalia, Beirut, Afghanistan....
And now you, our newly elected, fresh-caught president, contemplate a shooting war with Iran. Those who favor this idea will assure you that it will be short and sweet. Shock and Awe. Duck soup. A cakewalk. The Iranians will just take it, perhaps put up some slight and hapless resistance, and roll quickly over. Our airplanes, after all, say varooom and pow-pow-pow and boom.
Good luck.
Note that in the foregoing list of wars, all were expected to end quickly. This should not surprise. Military men live in the psychic world of the cavalry charge, of decisive battle, of courage, heroism, and glorious victory. Modern militaries are designed with shsort-and-sweet in mind, with tanks ships and aircraft intended to fight other tanks ships and aircraft. Unfortunately wars nowadays are more like dealing with a recalcitrant bureaucracy. They go on and on. Concentrated firepower doesn't work well against dispersed enemies. The treasury bleeds, the public wearies. Quick victory seldom comes. The Pentagon thrashes and thrashes every more desperately, a saber tooth in the tar pits of La Brea. Just give us a little more time, a few more troops, a surge....
Reflect that the Pentagon hasn't won a war since 1945, unless you count titanic eruptions like Grenada. Yes, it usually wins the conventional battles, as it did in Afghanistan, as it did in Iraq, Mission Accomplished, but then the enemy deploys the most fearsome weapons of the last half-centry: the AK, the RPG, and the IED.
The Pentagon can bomb Iran with impunity, as it could Afghanistatn. It thinks it can keep the Straits open, as it thought it could do all the things in the past that it couldn't. How many burning supertankers does it take to discourage the rest?
Then the unexpected comes. It turns out that the enemy is not as stupid as the strategy required. Pehhaps thousands of Iranian troops infiltrate into largely Shiite Iraq, which blows again. Oh fun.
If you can't win any war at all, start a larger one. And you, Mr. Santorum, or Romney, or Gingrich, will hold the bag. Such a deal.
@kill switch: May I repost this, giving "kill switch" full credit of course?
Trying, if you do repost, give the credit (as BigJim mentions below, but just thought I'd clarify) to Fred Reed, NOT killswitch. Killswitch apparently (this is at least the second instance) likes to post Fred's stuff WITHOUT the full credit you kindly offered him.
Thanks everyone, I found Fred's post and used that link.
http://www.fredoneverything.net/
I've only read a couple of his articles, but they were all excellent. I urge my fellow ZHers to check him out.
Seconded.
Fred Reed would be an amazing choice for VP on a Ron Paul ticket.
To echo Fred Reed: Take a look at the ideological wars of the 16th century, ie the wars of religion fought by Spain and her Papal allies in Italy, the Venetians and Genoans.
First, Spain took on the Turks- a collision of empires and ideologies- they fought each other to a standstill- "good match, mate!" and one has to ask, what was the point? A balance of power, I suppose. Analogy: Cold war parity,US vs USSR circe 1991.
But it wasn't the Turkish behemoth that kicked Spain's ass. It was those pesky Calvinists of the Low Countries. Spain sunk her entire fortune, the bulk of her fighting men, and eventually, the greatest sailing navy the world has ever seen assembled in one place, into those muddy little provinces, only to watch the glory of it all sink beneath the Rhinish mud.
We worry about marines urinating on dead bodies. Spanish soldiers, their pay in arrears because Phillip II was broke, despite the greatest PM treasure ever seen arriving from New Spain, rioted, mutineeed and looted, destroying Antwerp. The town of Naarden was levelled, and every man woman and child put to the sword. The list of massacres and atrocities, most too horrific to mention, goes on and on.
The upshot? Spain lost, and after the end of the wars in the Netherlands, was never a world power ever again.
Imperial over-reach. The impossibility of winning a guerilla war against a committed native enemy. The destruction of domestic industry in favor of outsourcing wealth generation. The adoption of a surviellance-based, elite-controlled, ideologially sclerotic society (Office of the Inquisition).The death of an economy ignored until the state-sponsored terrror machine consumes itself...
Well the analogy is clear, and history is a pitiless taskmaster. Here we go (Again!).
The whole lot of them will do or say anything to get the nod from the Fed.
whatever your knowledge of military affairs...and of those thereof...which is obviously extensive and well chosen...you lose your argument by making the fraudelent claim that the sole goal of those who advise a President is to simply lie to him. One would presume the President a fool of course...and dangerously so in my view. No...the President is advised as honestly as any man knows alive. When the President is simply determined to war...as for example Kennedy was in Vietnam...then the best a George Ball can do is simply point out the obvious. After that it's up to "those who will effect the policy." The orders have been given....
I don't know all that stuff but I hear that super cavitation torpedo porn is the best.
Well I don't know if its the best. It just has the most moaning.
Whenever I am traveling down the Zero Hedge expressway of comments I always hit the kill switch when I come across Kill Switch. Good rant and spot on.
thanks for this post. this guy fred is a great writer,
period.
hmmm You presume good intent on the part of the future President. I'm not so sure.
A psychopath is just that; incapable and thus void of any good intent.
I think the guys in the militairy are starting to find this out.
Wall Street makes roughly equal contributions to both parties. This suggests that it matters not who wins. The candidates are all bought and paid for. There is no difference between WS and Congress. Occupy Congress!
With Tea Partiers!
It's called 'hedging your bets'. They just love all that 'hedgie stuff'.
"Well, of course we gave money to the other guy, too. But don't worry, we only did it to lull the other guy into a false sense of security. Really. You're still our BFF. ... Would we lie to you?"
See how easy it is?
Azzhatter- $500.00 to Ron Paul
stirners_ghost- $20.00 to Vermin Supreme
The US is lost with either Romney or Obama. Makes you sick.
put me down for $100 for Ron Paul.
You just like him cause he's a doctor.
If brains was dynamite, you couldn't blow your nose.
(Total = $200)
Where is " Lord BlanKfein" ?
This looks bad. Very bad.
Wait you have a mistake those are Obamas top contributors.
http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/contrib.php?cycle=2008&cid=N00009638
Looks a lot like Obama's top contributor list. When will people learn that big business has learned it's much easier to buy both parties and use wedge issues to divide the vote among people who would otherwise agree on the important issues of foreign policy and runaway social and business entitlements?
super court and super pac - game over
Chicken feed ... according to Open Secrets, foreign PACs contributed the following, and 2012 ain't barely started yet:
2008:
To Dems: $7,760,984
To Repubs: $7,900,467
2010:
To Dems: $7,801,668
To Repubs: $7,549,385
2012 (sofar):
To Dems: $2,197,163
To Repubs: $3,180,503
Hmmm, interesting. Looks like Dems and Repubs go for pretty much the same price.
interchangable, why pay more for either brand.
Fair trade whores, no need to argue price. It's not just about $, but also status/"power".
Well I'm just glad nitwitmitt is a REAL conservative........
doesn't include the money flowing into super pacs which nobody has to declare.
Looking ahead to November 2012 and a banking cartel even more unpopular than it is today, one wonders how the bankers' Romney would find anything to defend himself against the Democrats.
AllGov news, reported Thursday that Goldman and JP Morgan were among 17 investment banks sued in 1947 for collusion in setting rates, acting like a cartel, in Investment Banking Cartel More Concentrated than Ever, Drops to 5, and that their method of eliminating competition has reduced that 17 down to 5. The move now, it seems, is not to pay off the politicians and government officials and regulators, but actually to become the regulators. As the latest example, there is “Obama’s” new Chief of Staff, Jacob Lew. Says AllGov in a synopsis of William Cohan’s original article:
“Where once there were 17 major investment banks on Wall Street, there now are only five.
“During the financial crisis, stalwarts such as Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and Merrill Lynch crumbled, leaving behind Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Bank of America and Deutsche Bank AG in command of investment banking.
“These Big 5 act a lot like a cartel, according to William Cohan, a former investment banker and columnist for Bloomberg. In fact, investment banks have been operating like a cartel for a long time.
“In 1947 the U.S. government sued Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and 16 other Wall Street investment banks, claiming the banks were violating antitrust laws by colluding to set prices for their services. The lawsuit was finally dismissed in 1953 when Judge Harold Medina ruled that evidence of collusion was only 'circumstantial,' leaving the banks to continue their antitrust behavior.
“Now, 59 years later, the number of major players in the investment banking industry is so reduced that the 17 of the old days seems positively competitive in comparison.
“Cohan urges the Obama administration to go after the five institutions dominating investment banking, ‘break up the Wall Street cartel and re-establish the integrity of the capital markets.’”
-Noel Brinkerhoff, David Wallechinsky
How Wall Street Turned a Crisis Into a Cartel (by William Cohan, Bloomberg)
Nice catch JR.
I've noticed the same thing. Its like a weird card game with them...played down through the ages where the public is not invited into the parlor until someone goes bust.
“Cohan urges the Obama administration to go after the five institutions dominating investment banking, ‘break up the Wall Street cartel and re-establish the integrity of the capital markets.’”
Or they could just reinstitute Glass-Steagall.
Word’s getting around, nmewn. Caught that one on Watchdog on Wall Street!
Excellent. I like the cut of that sites jib!
From the Boeing debacle at the top there now...
Let’s review…
The Obama administration wants to order a private business, dictate to a private concern, where they can set up shop, where they can build, where they can expand, where they can hire within the United States of America. Our nation’s greatest exporter is being urinated on by this administration. That also goes for the State of South Carolina, and its people as well.
Could anyone fault Boeing if they decided that the United States of America is too unfriendly to private business and they would be better served moving production to the Far East? Could anyone blame Governor Nicki Haley if she decide to withhold tax revenues from going to Washington D.C.?"
Of course, the answer is no.
5? you named 6?....
Just like in war, the banks will back both sides.
This list means nothing, it's chump change. It's the Super PAC's where everyone should focus. Another Obama legacy, creating an entity that can take in unlimited funds (from rich people, corporations) and then use the funds to create negative ad campaigns on other candidates.
So Romney's SPAC is Restore Our Future, so have at it, and get back to us. Here's a start: John Paulson (yep, the hedge fund guy) donated $1Million to start off. the limit for personal contributions normally is $2500. Seem fair to you???
it's not just an Obama legacy it's the last branch falling, the Supreme Court overturning 100+ years of precedent. That was the last straw, where we stopped pretending and announced to the world this place was for sale.
ZH - Can you please update this post regarding military contributions by nominee?
I think those who put their lives on the line for this this country should have their voices heard. They only get shot at, blown up, and killed to protect this country, often leaving widows and fatherless children...and they made this sacrifice in defence of our country.
Can we throw that chart up? Maybe a pie chart so we know where they stand.
I think you could use a service pac upgrade.
obsolete viewpoint may result in poor decisions.
also, co-ed now. just sayin'
how about Santorum? It can't be as bad as this, but he certainly isn't a small gov't conservative...
Santorum refused to join Newt’s attacks on Bain and its predatory practices, linking it to an attack on “capitalism.” Asked whether Romney’s corporate takeover experience at Bain Capital would be a liability, Santorum said: “I’m not making it a liability. I believe in the private sector."
Romney then showed his thanks by having his PAC, Restore Our Future, attack Santorum.
http://maroonedinmarin.blogspot.com/2012/01/romney-thanks-santorum-for-not-joining.html
Are you the same J.R.? Birds of a Feather J.R.?
I flock with neither of these predatory birds, Yen; they’re both birds of prey, raptors, captives of Israel.
Santorum's a fool. He ran to party heads in Iowa saying "I'm your man: I'll release my tax returns while Romney says he won't." And he got the nod. Let's see how long it lasts.
About as long as he can keep his connections with Jerry Sandusky, Penn State and the gay guy he ran around with during his college "Young Republican" days....
Santorum:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWJiicJzsVY
Money IS influence. I wish it wasn't but that's what it does... It what influences the guy at the store to give you your beer and candy bars... and its what influences Congress to turn into oligarchal self-justified idiots... after all... the only 'responsible' opinion is the opinion that supports their campaigns.
That doesn't mean we can't do things about it... level the field a little better... get the squid-corps out of the game...
And get you into the game...
Sorry to tell you this... and it really sounds hokey I know... but democracies keep failing after initial success cause the citizens give the job over to the pros and get on with watching the gladitorial distractions conveniently provided...
Do the math whizbangs...
Liberate the very small, one-click political contribution and its networking.
Or, for God's sake at least start thinking about it... it's ready to go. And the big banks and big Parties sure don't seem to be calling...
25 cents a couple of times a week times 150 million voters is over $7 Billion per election cycle.
Its a fundamental of speech...
Forgive me... I used to worry about the concept being stolen... now I find its really true!
"Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened"
- Winston Churchill
And as far as the 'meek inheriting the earth'... I suggest they start trying to influence the Will before they're written out of it.
Pitch available upon request
Perhaps, after all, America never has been discovered. I myself would say that it had merely been detected.
- Oscar Wilde
No "conflict of interest" with contributions from Bain Capital and Bain & Co. , eh Mittens...? You hypocriitical, lying, POS... Vote for Ron Paul!
That's what I was thinking. Perhaps I was subjugated, in the anathema of the situation? " perHapS"?
With the Top 5 PigMen firms in his back pocket.
It is going to be virtually impossible for any other candidate to have a chance at winning the primary.
All that money going into Ron Paul's "Money Bomb" and Rick Santorum's sweaters is basically like flushing money down the toilet.
What new, fresh hell is this?
For that remark I had to drop another 50 on Paul.
I've decided that every time I feel like taking another drink I'll contribute another $2 to Paul instead. I'm in, Michelle, but not for Barry. What can go wrong?
(It only took me 3 edits to get this right)
This fact alone should bury Romney...
I'm still wondering what was on the computer hard drives he had wiped when leaving the governatorship....
A four-year history of surfing www.wildmidgettrannyporn.com
The meek are having a tough time inheriting the Earth --- I'm voting for Dr. Ron Paul.
http://www.divinecosmos.com/start-here/davids-blog/1023-financial-tyranny
FINANCIAL TYRANNY: Defeating the Greatest Cover-Up of All Time
...
.."A DIRECT CONNECTION TO THE FEDERAL RESERVE
To review, 80 percent of the world’s profits are being earned by a ‘core’ group of 1,318 corporations.
As we look even deeper, we find this ‘core’ is mostly run by a “super-entity” of 147 companies that are totally interlocked. 75 percent of them are financial institutions.
The top 20 companies in the “super-entity” include Barclays Bank, JP Morgan Chase & Co., Merrill Lynch, UBS, Bank of New York, Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs.
Many key Federal Reserve personnel work for these companies – and they secretly handed themselves trillions of dollars in free money between 2007 and 2010.
The 147-part “super-entity” has controlling interest in the 1318-part “core”, which in turn has controlling interest in 80 percent of the world’s wealth.
It would be utterly essential for the Federal Reserve corporations, and their beneficiaries, to be heavily invested into oil and pharmaceuticals in order to earn such a tremendous percentage.
Is there any proof that the Federal Reserve elites are, indeed, invested in these and other top businesses? Absolutely.
Let’s now do some historical research on the top two Federal Reserve names we always read about – the Rockefellers and Rothschilds – and see what we find." .....
Ker PlunK! Se ya next week.
My top campaign contributor was "Lick her Ass Raw.com". My tongue is sore. And I have bad breath.
No wonder Paul is getting slimed... romney is just another Goldman/JP Morgan shill... what a screwed up government we have... And read Vanity fair, this is one WEIRD dude... BO or Willard, why bother to vote?
"BO or Willard, why bother to vote?"
Because they really don't want you to have any say at all.
Still, less is sometimes more...
"One of the penalties of not participating in politics is that you will be governed by your inferiors"---PlatoNo. What they really want is for you to vote (which is why government propaganda encourages voting... duh.), and vote for either Robama or Obomney. Regardless of which, you end up validating the existing con (by voting) and help provide a "mandate" for the establishment for business as usual (by voting for one of their hand-puppets), all in a single, brainless act. You are their favorite type of serf: one who will not only actively participate in his own suckering, but who will also proselytize on behalf of the system. Pathetic.
Plato quote is laughable on its face and would imply the more idiots that participate the better the results.
Hogwash.
You "superior" men keep on keeping on,K!
And by "superior" I mean something worse fer sur buffy!