Harper's: How a gang of right-wing con men destroyed Washington and made a killing

The wrecking crew: How a gang of right-wing con men destroyed Washington and made a killing


(A subscription is required for access to this piece; however, I found this excerpt from Ann Calhoun's blog.)


July 13, 2008






Behold the endgame of the 30-year corrosive war on America, by the dogmatists of conservative ideology.


There's really nothing left to say..


...Except that now, it is time to take action for its permanent eradication.

We must stop believing what they say about us and STAND UP for what we believe. We must stop copping-out under pressure = "You all are 'evil'/wrong/bad, so I don't have to try to deal with you."

I am a Capitalist; I think Americans should receive REAL Value in return for the REAL Value of our Labor and Talents. Jobs, Paychecks, Property are arbitrary poker chips in derivative markets; they are NOT REAL Values.

REAL Values are things such as: Universal Health Care, Appropriate and Complete Education, SANE Military Budgets, Civil and Human Rights for All. These are the things that should be GAURANTEED to Americans. These are the things that should be the definition of "American" and I don't care who calls me a Socialist for saying so.

A parable taught to me by an old mentor.

:popcorn:

n't

Failure to impeach "approves" of all of this -- plus war criminality.

The need to Object/Impeach could not be greater.

Keep hammering to demand it. We CAN make it happen.

----

There will come a point when everyone knows it, and there will be no place to hide.

Ain't gonna get any prettier.

1) term limits
2) public financing of ALL elections

1........................................

I would love to see two 6-yr terms, max for the senate; and 2 4-yr terms for the house.

NO PENSIONS...NO POST-TERM BENEFITS EITHER..

Pensions would ONLY be available to public workers (including elected officials)if they work 20 CONSECUTIVE years) The only way this could be achieved would be to serve 2 terms in each branch of the congress..

What would happen to "elder statesmen" like Kennedy, etc? They would still be available to participate in think tanks, serve as advisors...just not be paid by government to do so.

The founders never intended government to be a lifelong "career"..They wanted citizen participation..not a ruling class who stayed forever..


2........................................

Regional primaries/caucuses a month apart, starting in February of an election year.. Conventions the first part of August, and then a 2 month sprint to the end.. During the primaries, a 15% threshold must be maintained, to continue, and all get the same amount of money..All viable candidates would get FREE air-time on a "politics" channel, created JUST for THEM.. Each candidate gets the same amount of time, on a use-it-or-lose it basis..no ads on "regular or cable" tv.

This is the ultimate fix. The founders never considered politics a lifelong occupation. It was a temporary service, nothing more.

"the capture of the state by business" - Isn't that the textbook definition of fascism?

-Hoot

IIRC, Benito Mussolini defined fascism as "the fusion of corporate and political (or maybe it was 'state') power." Chimpco in a sentence.

On an unrelated note, my Twins are still on a roll after the All Star break, shutting out the high scoring Rangers tonight. Chisox fans beware!

My twins just turned 16. 2 new drivers, be glad you live in Mn.

-Hoot

getting a copy or a subscription. It is a good starting point for a discussion, not just about this gang of crooks, but about how politics works and the potential dire consequences when we dont understand what is really going on. It is interesting to me that the dogmatists of conservative ideology dont even have to agree on issues as much as tactics. Abrahmov, Rove and the Bushes famously make common cause between Ayn Rand Atheists and Christian fundamentalists for instance. It becomes about playing the game.

that's just silly. the u.s. gov't has been corrupt for a good century anyway.

over "religious" issues and convincing America that social programs did not work. That took time. As for influencing politics over a long period of time - we still have the positive influence of FDR and JFK working in our party. *ss's plans are merely reagunomics accelerated and exaggerated.

to influence the media and the national debate through the use of "think" tanks, focus groups, and all sorts of funding...

roost resulting in our current nightmare.

in "GOOd GOvernment".. This is emblematic of their disdain for those who believe in a civil society.

He mentions: "the capture of the state by business."
Which businesses?
Who owns those businesses?
Stop buying from those companies and do not allow those individuals to show their faces in polite society.
Bankrupt them.
Cut off their "food supply" of profits.
Stop giving them your money!

The back and forth of politics is great fun, but if we want to get rid of the cockroaches behind the baseboards, as well as the ones in plain sight, we must starve them. They feed off of us, and we must stop giving them what they need to exploit us. It's not that difficult. Quit borrowing their money and paying it back with interest, and quit buying all the crap they advertise on the TV. It's up to you and me, not some "Democrat" in some office somewhere. If you keep waiting for the cavalry to ride in and save you, you'll remain quite disappointed. STOP GIVING THEM PROFITS! And do it today...

Really, how? They have that covered as well. Sure there must have been a day when 'good' corporations (ones who treated workers fairly, didn't complain about their taxes too much, encouraged a role of being a good corporate citizen) were available to run to when you found out that your once favored brand of toothpaste was made by warmongers. But after decades of hostile takeovers, conglomerating, and monopolizing its near impossible to boycott. When every successful Mom and Pop business is bought out, where they retain the folksy label so you think you're buying local and small, but when you read the fine print you see Nestle or General Foods, or Kraft etc. When each of the few families that own and control the products we buy are now fully corrupted and in on the game.

You are upset that Nestle is marketing its baby formula to third world countries that can only use contaminated water to mix with it? As detailed on the INFACT site http://www.infactcanada.ca/nestle_boycott.htm Here is an incomplete list of their subsidiaries in the US:

100 GRAND
ADDITIONS - Nutrition Supplement
AFTER EIGHT - Dinner Mints
ALBERS
ALPO - Dog Food
ALPO CHEW-EEZ
ALPO DOG TREATS
ALPO MASTER'S CHOICE
BABY RUTH - Candy
BACI
BIT-O-HONEY - Candy
BUITONI - Pasta & Sauces
BUITONI REFRIGERATED PASTAS & SAUCES
BUTTERFINGER - Candy Bar
BUTTERFINGER BB's - Candy
CARNATION
CARNATION ALSOY
CARNATION BABY CEREAL
CARNATION COCO SUPREME
CARNATION COFFEE-MATE
CARNATION EVAPORATED MILK
CARNATION FOLLOW-UP FORMULA
CARNATION GOOD START
CARNATION HOT COCOA
CARNATION INSTANT BREAKFAST
CHEF-MATE - Food Products
CHUNKY - Candy
CONDIMIX
CROSSE & BLACKWELL - Sauces, Soups, Jellies, Specialty Items
CRUCIAL - Nutrition Supplement
DAVID & SONS SUNFLOWER SEEDS
EUROPEAN STYLE
FLIPZ
FRISKIES - Pet Food
FRISKIES CANNED
FRISKIES CHEF'S BLEND
FRISKIES COME 'N GET IT
FRISKIES DRY
FRISKIES FANCY FEAST
FRISKIES GOURMET
FRISKIES KITTEN
FRISKIES MASTER'S CHOICE
FRISKIES MIGHTY DOG
FRISKIES MIGHTY DOG SENIOR
FRISKIES PRIME STEAKS
FRISKIES PRIME STRIPS
FRISKIES SENIOR
FRISKIES SPECIAL DIET
FUN DIP
GLYTROL - Nutrition Supplement
GOOBERS - Candy
ICECAP
JIM DANDY
KATHRYN BEICH
LA LECHERA
LIBBY'S JUICE BLAST
LIBBY'S JUICY JUICE
LIBBY'S KERNS
LIBBY'S KERNS NECTARS - Hispanic
LIBBY'S PUMPKIN
LIK-M-AID
MAGGI - Bouillon Cubes, Soup Mixes, Seasonings
MIGHTY DOG - Canned Dog Food
MILO
MINOR'S
NESCAFE - Instant Coffee
NESCAFE CLASSICO
NESCAFE ICED COFFEE
NESCAFE MOUNTAIN BLEND
NESCAFE SUNRISE
NESPRESSO - Instant Coffee
NESQUIK POWDER
NESQUIK READY TO DRINK
NESQUIK SYRUP
NESTEA - Tea
NESTEA HERITAGE
NESTEA ICE TEASERS
NESTEA NUEVO TEA
NESTEA SUNTEA
NESTLE
NESTLE BUNCHA CRUNCH
NESTLE CRUNCH
NESTUM
NIDO
NIPS
NUTREN - Nutrition Supplement
OH HENRY - Candy Bar
ORTEGA - Taco Shells & Seasonings
ORTEGA FROZEN
ORTEGA SHELF STABLE
PEARSON'S NIPS
PEPTAMEN - Nutrition Supplement
PERUGINA - Chocolate
PERUGINA BACI
PERUGINA GIANDUIA
PERUGINA ORE LIETE
PETER'S BROC
PETER'S BROKEN ORINOCO
PETER'S BURGUNDY
PETER'S CHATHAM
PETER'S COMMANDER
PETER'S CREMA
PETER'S GIBRALTAR
PETER'S GLENMERE
PETER'S HAMILTON
PETER'S HERITAGE
PETER'S JEWEL
PETER'S MADISON
PETER'S MASTERPIECE
PETER'S MONOGRAM
PETER'S MONTEREY
PETER'S NEWPORT
PETER'S NO. 23
PETER'S PHOENIX
PETER'S RED GLO
PETER'S SUPERFINE
PETER'S ULTRA
PETER'S VIKING
PETER'S ZENDA
PIXY STIX - Candy
POWERBAR - Nutrition & Protein Bars
PROBALANCE - Nutrition Supplement
QUALITY STREET
QUE BUENO! - Mexican Food Products
RAISINETS - Candy
SNO-CAPS - Candy
STOUFFER'S - Frozen Entrees
STOUFFER'S ENTREES
STOUFFER'S FAMILY STYLE FAVORITES
STOUFFER'S FROZEN PIZZA
STOUFFER'S HEARTY PORTIONS
STOUFFER'S HOMESTYLE
STOUFFER'S LEAN CUISINE
STOUFFER'S LEAN CUISINE AMERICAN FAVORITES
STOUFFER'S LEAN CUISINE CAFE CLASSICS
STOUFFER'S LEAN CUISINE HEARTY PORTIONS
STOUFFER'S LEAN SKILLET SENSATIONS
STOUFFER'S OVEN SENSATIONS
STOUFFER'S SKILLET SENSATIONS
TASTER'S CHOICE - Coffee
TOLL HOUSE - Baking Chocolate
TOLL HOUSE MORSELS
TOLL HOUSE REFRIGERATED COOKIE DOUGH
TREASURES
TRIO - Food Products
TRIO SUPREME
TURTLES - Candy
WILLY WONKA'S - Chocolate
WILLY WONKA'S CHEWY RUNTS
WILLY WONKA'S CHEWY SPREE
WILLY WONKA'S DWEEBS
WILLY WONKA'S GOBSTOPPERS
WILLY WONKA'S LAFFY TAFFY
WILLY WONKA'S NERDS
WILLY WONKA'S RUNTS
WILLY WONKA'S SHOCK TARTS
WILLY WONKA'S SPREE
WILLY WONKA'S SWEETARTS
WILLY WONKA'S TANGY TAFFY

This is just ONE company, GE is much much more diverse, and some of these also have subsidiaries and they are constantly buying and selling brand names. Will you bring in an inch thick sheaf of papers with thousands upon thousands of names that you must check over each time you reach for a product off the shelf? And if every competitor choice is on that list? It is a losing shell game.

Sure you can target smaller local companies for about 10% of your needs at most. And you can shop at farmers markets for vegetables, but mostly you are forced to give profits to those fascist corporations because there is no alternatives available for anything that is produced that involves more than dropping a seed into the ground. And Monsanto is taking care of that as well.

...to the store, then maybe that's what we have to do.
If that's what it takes, and we don't do it, then we have no one to blame but ourselves.

I just looked over your list, and I haven't bought anything from any of those companies in a very long time, if ever. I tend not to eat that kind of stuff. Granted, when I eat out, I am no doubt eating stuff from companies like those, although the restaurants I tend to prefer use lots of fresh ingredients. I have no illusions that I am not also part of the problem, but I try, with most of the dollars that I spend, to go local, small-scale and eco-friendly. It's often more expensive, but it seems to be healthier and worth it. I give as few of my dollars as possible directly to corporatia. There is no excuse not to at least try.

Granted, I am lucky in that where I live there are alternatives to pure corporatia produced goods. I know that in huge swaths of the country, there is no alternative. Unfortunately, for the people who live in those areas, there is more work for them to do. They are being exploited more than I might be, so they might have more at stake.

I think it's a cop out to say "it's a losing shell game." You only lose if you give up...

I just don't see bringing sheafs of papers, of every 'bad' corporation and their subsidiaries and reading each label's fine print and thumbing through your compilation as a practical method, especially in this hurry up world (not by choice, but because of higher cost of living and working longer hours)

And what about my point about when even all the competitor choices are on your list? Even those No Name brands are just camouflage for big name brands. And what about the constantly changing brand names? You would have to be continually updating and printing out new pages.

I'm not saying do not do what you can. I guess we disagree on the amount possible, I say you can probably steer about 10% of your purchasing power to "local, small-scale and eco-friendly", you say "most of the dollars I spend". Good for you. And I mean that.

One example for me is that in the last throes of Apartheid in South Africa, after reading the biography of Steven Biko, I learned about how Shell was the last holdout of oil companies and they continued to fund the regimes tanks etc. that were used against any uprisings. Since that day I have boycotted Shell for my gasoline. (I need a car for working). But as the years go on I find other bad behavior from the other big oil companies. It's more a matter of finding the best of the worst. There is no "Mom and Pop" oil company to buy your gas from.

But keep up the good fight, and I will also make an effort as I can, as we all should.

It's called FASCISM.

Simply put, these people seek an end to what remains of the Republic. To call them "Republican" is doublespeak at best.

Read it and weep?

Haven't we known about this for decades?

The mainstream media is finally getting around to saying it?

'The Wrecking Crew: How Conservatives Rule' to be released august 5th. (he also wrote what's the matter with kansas)

maybe i'll see if the newstand has a copy of harpers. it looks interesting.

I hope they're happy.

Meanwhile, my 14-year-old niece (who knows the truth) had to put up with her Foxhound grandfather telling her that "liberals are ruining America". I'm glad he's not raising her.

I see nothing that can reverse the damage. Certainly not the Democratic leadership.

We need purges, pogroms, pitchforks, nooses, conflagrations, and torch-bearing mobs.

I'm about this-close to advocating for a new kind of Helter Skelter.

So far, our vaunted Democratic Vichy Congress gives every indication of rewarding this wrecking crew. If the rewards are so grand, what's to stop it from continuing?

of criminals and freaks.

"the hallucination is dazzling, awesome. for most of the past three decades these insurgents have controlled at least one branch of government; they were underwritten in their rule by the biggest of businesses; they were backed by a robust social movement with chapters across the radio dial. still they remain the victims, the outsiders; they fight the power, the establishment, the snobs, the corrupt. john mccain rails against washington as the "city of satan"--which in any sober theology would make him lucifer's lieutenant. fred barnes, the author of rebel-in-chief, is such a well-known washington fixture that he hosts a tv show called the beltway boys. karl zinsmeister, the editor of a magazine published by the ultra-insiders at the american enterprise institute, reviled the people of the capital in 2004 as "morally repugnant, cheating, shifty human beings." soon afterward he was rewarded for his adherence to the fantasy by being appointed chief domestic-policy adviser to president bush."

it talks about the college republicans.
and abramoff's friend grover norquist

"what the rising conservative sensibility of those years treasured above all else was "confrontation" with the left. it called for a quasi-military victory over liberalism; it owuld have no truck with civility or fair play; and it made heroes out of outrage-courting lib-fighters like reagan's communications director pat buchanan, the organizer howard phillips, and the young jack abramoff.

"the first and most noticable characteristic of this new militancy was an air of swaggering truculence. there are, of course, bullies from every walk of life and every political persuasion, but on the right bullying holds a special, exalted position. it is no accident that two of the movement's greatest heroes--tom delay and oliver north--had the same nickname: "the hammer."

"jack abramoff filled this bill perfectly. he had reportedly been something of a bully in high school and had now grown into a "hard-charging" and "dynamic" leader, in the assessment of conservative magazines, an ass-kicking weight lifter who could quiet the commies with his fists if they got out of line. the gangster fetish of his later years is by now familiar to the whole world--his constant references to the godfather, his black trench coat and fedora, his meyer lansky memorabilia, the murderer argot that will no doubt serve him and his friends well during their prison years.

"abramoff himself derided the moderates he had ousted from control of the CRs--college republicans--as "wishy-washy country-clubbers" and insisted that he had transformed the organization into an "ideological, well-trained, agressive, conservative" outfit. "fighting the left with a goal of victory" became the offical, stated purpose of his college republican cadres, according to an essay abramoff worte for the group's 1983 annual report. the crs were "fighting america's last stand" he blustered; they would "defund the enemy whenever possible," one of his lieutenants added. according to the hournalist nina easton, cr officers had their underlings memorize the gory opening monologue from the movie Patton, only with the word "democrat" standing in for the word "nazi."

"war was the order of the day, from president reagan's fight with the air-traffic controllers right down to the college campus, where abramoff became famous for his declaration: "it is not our job to seek peaceful coexistence with the left. our job is to remove them from power permanently."


(well--now there's an enlightening idea. i think the liberal motto should be something like: it is not our job to seek peaceful coexistence with the right. our job is to remove them from power permanently.)

--i copied the article at the library. thought i'd type up a few things from it. i like the ending:

"there is so much money in conservatism these days that karl rove rightly boasts: "we can now go to students at harvard and say, 'there is now secure retirement plan for republican operatives.'" the young people who, like jack abramoff before them, have answered conservatism's call over the past three decades were obeying their conscience, perhaps, but they were also making a canny career move.

"canny career moves are just about all we can expect from conservative government these days; tax breaks for wealthy benefactors, wars started and maintained for the benefit of american industry, fat contracts granted to the clients of the right consultant. like bush and reagan before him, john mccain is a self-proclaimed outsider, but should he win in november he will merely bring us more of the same: an executive branch fed by, if not actually made up of, lobbysists and other angry, righteous profiteers. washington itself will remain what it has been--not a babylon that corrupts our pure-hearted right-wingers but the very seat of their Industry Conservatism, constantly seething and effervescing, with tens of thousands of individuals coming and going, each avidly piling up his own tidy pile but between them engaged in an awesome common project.

"take a step back, reader, and see what they have wrought."

Just driven. Driven to remove these cons, criminals and charlatans from power.


It will happen.