I've been reading Naomi Klein's new book "The Shock Doctrine" subtitled "The Rise of Disaster Capitalism".

She points out so many lies and abuses of the political system that it's sickening to read.

Rumsfeld may have sold off some directly owned stocks in Lockheed and Boeing six months after assuming the position of Secretary of Defense, but he held onto shares in private investment firms dedicated to defense and biotechnology.
His shares in Gilead alone netted an increase of 807% by the time he left office.

Cheney sold off 18.5 million dollars of Halliburton but still held on to 189,000 shares and 500,000 unvested options.
He has collected many millions anually in dividends and a deferred income of $211,000 anually.
Thanks to the fortunate circumstances of the Iraq war and some no bid, cost plus contracts, Halliburton shares had increased 300% over the first three years of the war.

James Baker was brought back to public life as co-chair of the Iraq Study Group and also named Special Envoy on Iraq`s Debt. All while maintaining his law firm which represents the Saudi royal family, Halliburton and Gazprom and is one of the largest oil and gas law firms in the world.
While Baker was supposed to be persuading governments around the world into forgiving Iraq`s debts he was also acting on behalf of the Carlyle Group in assisting Kuwait in collecting $27 billion from Iraq.
This was with the understanding that Kuwait would invest $1 billion with the Carlyle Group.

Baker`s mandate from the US government was to reduce Iraq`s debt by 90 to 95%, instead, the debt was rescheduled and is still at 99% of the country`s GDP.

There`s a long list of profiteers in this `War on Terror` hiding behind the mantle of government.
This is not a fight to bring democracy.
This is a mad scramble between financial interests for profit and power.

...do you mean that you were actually surprised? I've been telling people that for ages...business as usual.

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Account frozen...

I'm Canadian and there's enough to do to try and keep up with what our own are up to. Our last Minister of Defence, Gordon O'connor, had been a lobbyist for defence contractors before taking office.
Our current Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, is Bush's cute little lap dog but is restrained by governing with a minority. He's attempting to push the opposition into a non-confidence position to force an election and I hope Canadians will see it as it is.
Never mind foreign country's problems. Although, the spill over from these Chicago School of Economics policies is being felt worldwide.

Of course, the scale of offences is much smaller in Canada but the game is the same. Use the religious right rapture kooks, the pampered wealthy elites and corporations to form an unholy alliance based on some strange theory that doesn't concern itself with anyone outside the club.

God forbid someone besides Iran makes money by selling bombs...

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Our first agreement...God should forbid.

Well thought out response. Business as usual for you.

Here is good presentation of where does corporate political corruption starts and results all kinds of humanitarian catastrophies (Sicko movie, wars, hunger, desease) around the world. Even all those suspected companies are listed. I wonder more than half of these companies are serious corruption sourcing companies in each respective countries.

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Mandtugai!

There`s a long list of profiteers in this `War on Terror` hiding behind the mantle of government.

Maybe it's time to 'tear down that mantle'... ;)

(OMG! I'm a terrorist!)

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It may not be 1984 but George Orwell sure did see the future . . .

Our first agreement...God should forbid.

Well thought out response. Business as usual for you.

Could be an honest reply, but it sounds more like sarcasm, so...

My biggest problem with your initial post is a foreigner being critical of our government and it's actions when your government/military is holding Afghanistan...and of course no Canadians are profiting from that, huh?

What's the Canadian term for hypocrisy?

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Our first agreement...God should forbid.

Well thought out response. Business as usual for you.

Could be an honest reply, but it sounds more like sarcasm, so...

My biggest problem with your initial post is a foreigner being critical of our government and it's actions when your government/military is holding Afghanistan...and of course no Canadians are profiting from that, huh?

What's the Canadian term for hypocrisy?

So if Americans can't be critical of our government and foreigners can't be critical of our government then that only leaves aliens. I guess that explains "Independence Day".

Oh, and the Canadian term for hypocrisy is 'Coors'.

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Hopefully the cosmos is not trying to reverse the charges.
Moderation in all things.

To respond to the question of the thread, I'm not sure there really is a way to fix it. Since Government depends on contractors to supply war material, there will always be someone profiting on both sides. Maybe if the SEC did it's job better, we wouldn't have as many problems. Only the really smart ones could get away with it.

I'm reading through 'Denial of Reason' right now and I am amazed that we aren't in worse shape in Iraq than we are right now. I think future generations of military academy students will be studying the overthrow of Saddam as "How Not to Run a War". I thought Vietnam was screwed up but not like this.

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Hopefully the cosmos is not trying to reverse the charges.
Moderation in all things.

Our first agreement...God should forbid.

Well thought out response. Business as usual for you.

Could be an honest reply, but it sounds more like sarcasm, so...

My biggest problem with your initial post is a foreigner being critical of our government and it's actions when your government/military is holding Afghanistan...and of course no Canadians are profiting from that, huh?

What's the Canadian term for hypocrisy?

So if Americans can't be critical of our government and foreigners can't be critical of our government then that only leaves aliens. I guess that explains "Independence Day".

Oh, and the Canadian term for hypocrisy is 'Coors'.

Exactly where did you see me type they can't be critical of our government?

Seems to me the only "can't" around here is you can't read what's typed without spinning it into some cr@p that wasn't said or even implied.

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I have a proposal that right wingers may even like. I say stop all taxation and don't allow the government to rob its citizens. If they have no money, they would have no power. I agree with Bush that taxes are bad. I say cut all taxes, not just taxes on the rich.

I have a proposal that right wingers may even like. I say stop all taxation and don't allow the government to rob its citizens. If they have no money, they would have no power. I agree with Bush that taxes are bad. I say cut all taxes, not just taxes on the rich.

911, how may I help you.

A man just broke into our house and I think he has a gun!

Ok, I'll send a unit over. That will be $299.99. We take Visa, Mastercard and American Express.

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Hopefully the cosmos is not trying to reverse the charges.
Moderation in all things.

Our current Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, is Bush's cute little lap dog but is restrained by governing with a minority. He's attempting to push the opposition into a non-confidence position to force an election and I hope Canadians will see it as it is.

You Liberal fool. The conservatives are the best thing to happen to this country in years.

-Lower GST
-Action towards global warming

And incase you haven't noticed there have been no scandals such as the sponsorship scandal or paying friends companies ridiculous prices for stuff..

Not to mention the state of the economy under conservative rule...

~BoB

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Do you Good Search for Seti@Home? http://www.goodsearch.com/?charityid=888957
Or Good Shop? http://www.goodshop.com/?charityid=888957

The conservatives are the best thing to happen to this country in years.

The problem is that the blood hounds are masquerading as conservatives... ;)

(Beware of the wolves in sheeps clothing!)

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It may not be 1984 but George Orwell sure did see the future . . .

You Liberal fool. The conservatives are the best thing to happen to this country in years.

-Lower GST
-Action towards global warming

And incase you haven't noticed there have been no scandals such as the sponsorship scandal or paying friends companies ridiculous prices for stuff..

Not to mention the state of the economy under conservative rule...

~BoB

The GST is a consumtion tax. The more crap you purchase, the more GST you pay. Seems like more than fair to me because people with little money spend little, ergo, people with lots will spend lots. Think of it as a voluntary tax. You don't have to buy that 72" television or the F350 4x4 with duals on the ass end to run errands in town.

Global warming? The government of Canada signed the Kyoto Accord. That is an international agreement, but it would appear that the conservatives don't believe in contracts that might cause problems for their friends in big business.
No, the representation of the energy sector overides the needs of the international community, so we tear up this agreement and give lip service to the reduction of carbon emissions.
By not following our agreed position in the Kyoto Accord, Canada's international integrity is now drawn into suspicion.

The economy is hurting in spite of the fact our dollar is higher in comparison to the American buck.
Where are the manufacturing jobs? What do we make here anymore?
The only sector creating new jobs in any numbers is the service industry.

The GST is a consumtion tax. The more crap you purchase, the more GST you pay. Seems like more than fair to me because people with little money spend little, ergo, people with lots will spend lots. Think of it as a voluntary tax. You don't have to buy that 72" television or the F350 4x4 with duals on the ass end to run errands in town.

Global warming? The government of Canada signed the Kyoto Accord. That is an international agreement, but it would appear that the conservatives don't believe in contracts that might cause problems for their friends in big business.
No, the representation of the energy sector overides the needs of the international community, so we tear up this agreement and give lip service to the reduction of carbon emissions.
By not following our agreed position in the Kyoto Accord, Canada's international integrity is now drawn into suspicion.

The economy is hurting in spite of the fact our dollar is higher in comparison to the American buck.
Where are the manufacturing jobs? What do we make here anymore?
The only sector creating new jobs in any numbers is the service industry.

If GST is so voluntary then please tell me where you can get toothpaste/deodorant/soap etc. without GST?

Excuse me????? Who did NOTHING to help meet the goals of Kyoto? Liberals... While they were in power CO2 emitions actually increased rather than decreasing... even if you shut down the whole country allowing no CO2 emitions the Kyoto goals still couldn't be met on time.

If the economy is hurting so bad then why isn't our dollar going the same way as the American dollar?

As a comparison... 2.08 USD = 1 GBP vs 1.93 CAD = 1GBP
It used to be around 1.5 USD = 1 GBP and 2.5 CAD = 1 GBP

So the USD has gone down and the CAD has gone up..
Oh and lots of products are still made here in Canada... (Hockey equipment, natural resources, high end technology (manufacturing and development), beer, etc.)

~BoB

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Do you Good Search for Seti@Home? http://www.goodsearch.com/?charityid=888957
Or Good Shop? http://www.goodshop.com/?charityid=888957

Global warming? The government of Canada signed the Kyoto Accord. That is an international agreement, but it would appear that the conservatives don't believe in contracts that might cause problems for their friends in big business.
No, the representation of the energy sector overides the needs of the international community, so we tear up this agreement and give lip service to the reduction of carbon emissions.
By not following our agreed position in the Kyoto Accord, Canada's international integrity is now drawn into suspicion.

Pfffft. No one made their Kyoto targets. No one. And that from countries that supposedly WANTED to make those numbers.

Surprise, surprise. And yet China has surpassed the U.S. as number one emitter and it is STILL building a dirty, coal-fired, power plant per week.

The economy is hurting in spite of the fact our dollar is higher in comparison to the American buck.

That's because your tax burden is extravagant. You know, "free" health care and all that.

Where are the manufacturing jobs? What do we make here anymore?
The only sector creating new jobs in any numbers is the service industry.

And union membership is dwindling as well. Maybe they could make trees.

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Cordially,
Rush

elrushbo2@theobviousgmail.com
Remove the obvious...

If the economy is hurting so bad then why isn't our dollar going the same way as the American dollar?

As a comparison... 2.08 USD = 1 GBP vs 1.93 CAD = 1GBP
It used to be around 1.5 USD = 1 GBP and 2.5 CAD = 1 GBP

BoB

Our dollar isn't in the tank because of Prime Minister Trudeau.
Thankfully, our dollar is not pegged to the American dollar as other forms of currency are. Countries that have their currency pegged on the US dollar are all finding their values dropping.
The Canadian dollar is independent of the US dollar which is why we are not dropping at the same rate internationaly.
This gives us the illusion that we are doing well because we in Canada, are not in the tank, like the Americans are with their 6 trillion dollar deficit with China.
Another reason for our seemingly strong dollar is that the Chinese are buying Canadian dollars for that reason.
We have the resources that the world wants, one of them is oil.

We have the resources that the world wants, one of them is oil.

You might want to keep that under wraps... ;)

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It may not be 1984 but George Orwell sure did see the future . . .