Reply #14: Hey, Bruce! Remember what Cicero said about war?

[Octafish]

Jesus was pretty profound on similar subjects, as well.

On Bush Nepotism And American War-Profiteering

By Evan Augustine Peterson III, J.D.
February 25, 2005

"For what shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?"
- Jesus the Christ, The Bible at Mark 8:36 (NJKV)

"The sinews of war are endless profits."
- Cicero, Orationes Philippicæ, v (c. 60 B.C.)

How have the upper classes in every ostensibly Christian society managed to sustain the blatantly immoral practice of war-profiteering?  In the American context, this question can be reduced to a twenty-first century version of Cicero's maxim: "How does our military-industrial complex make predatory killing so lucrative for its war profiteers?"  Toward answering that question, it will be useful to examine the Bush Family Dynasty's most recent war-profiteering activities. <1> <2>

A Glimpse Into The Bush Family Dynasty's War-Profiteering Modus Operandi.

George "Dubya" Bush's paternal uncle, William H.T. "Bucky" Bush of St. Louis, recently managed to profit from his nephew's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in the amount of $450,000.00.  How?  Through his seat on the board of a St. Louis-based defense contractor, Engineered Support Systems Incorporated ("ESSI").  

"Bucky" Bush was appointed to ESSI's Board of Directors in 2000, for which ESSI promptly remunerated him with 8,438 stock options. <3>  Over the next five years the price of ESSI's stock soared 1,000%.  Why?  Largely because the Bush administration, beginning in 2002, had awarded several hundred million dollars worth of no-bid, sole-source, gold-plated military contracts to ESSI.  Hence, Bucky's stock options were worth nearly a half million dollars when he decided to cash them in on January 18, 2005.

Bush Nepotism 101.

Dan Kreher, ESSI's Vice President for Industrial Relations, acknowledged that: (1) his company routinely lobbies for government defense contracts in Washington, DC; and (2) "Having a Bush doesn't hurt. ... It certainly doesn't hurt to have people who know who to talk to."  When translated from Corporatespeak to colloquial English, this means: "Uncle Bucky sure did create a gold mine for ESSI when he got his nephew, Dubya, to punch our ticket on the war-profiteers' gravy train!"

Unsurprisingly, Bucky has denied that he telephoned anyone in Washington to win those government contracts for ESSI.  Quoth the uncle: "I don't make calls to the 202 area code!"  Sure.  As if we didn't know that plausible-denial-through-linguistic-trickery is an indispensable component of the Bush Family Dynasty's oeuvre!  Perhaps Bucky is merely floating this sophomoric Whopper of Mass Deception: (1) while he himself called neither the White House nor the Pentagon directly; (2) he failed to disclose that he did call Houston, whereupon he successfully persuaded his older brother, George H.W. "Poppy" Bush, to telephonically lobby at least one key Washington official -- like, say, Dubya or Rummy -- concerning ESSI's pressing contractual needs.

CONTINUED...

http://nuclearfree.lynx.co.nz/bushnepotism.htm

http://english.epochtimes.com/news_images/2005-1-18-tiananmen-tank(classic).jpg

Thanks, DU Friend Bruce McAuley! All the best to you and yours!