July 30th *should be* Smedley Butler Day

[underpants]

:patriot:

Smedley Darlington Butler (July 30, 1881 – June 21, 1940), nicknamed "The Fighting Quaker" and "Old Gimlet Eye," was a Major General in the U.S. Marine Corps and, at the time of his death, the most decorated Marine in U.S. history.

Butler was awarded the brevet medal (the highest Marine medal at its time), and subsequently the Medal of Honor twice during his career, one of only 19 people to be awarded the MOH medal twice. He was noted for his outspoken anti-interventionist views, and his book War Is a Racket was one of the first works describing the workings of the military-industrial complex. After retiring from service, Butler became a popular speaker at meetings organized by veterans, pacifists and church groups in the 1930s. Butler came forward in 1934 and informed Congress that a group of wealthy industrialists had plotted a military coup to overthrow the government of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smedley_Butler#Military_career

Exposes the Business Plot
Main article: Business Plot
In 1934 Butler came forward and reported to the U.S. Congress that a group of wealthy pro-nazi industrialists had been plotting to overthrow the government of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in a right-wing military coup. Even though the congressional investigating committee corroborated most of the specifics of his testimony, no further action was taken.

[eleny]

1. Recommnded!

[IndyOp]

2. I'll support that!

WAR IS A RACKET

by Two-Time Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient: Major General Smedley D. Butler, USMC

WAR is a racket. It always has been.

It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives.

A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small "inside" group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes.

In the World War a mere handful garnered the profits of the conflict. At least 21,000 new millionaires and billionaires were made in the United States during the World War. That many admitted their huge blood gains in their income tax returns. How many other war millionaires falsified their tax returns no one knows.

How many of these war millionaires shouldered a rifle? How many of them dug a trench? How many of them knew what it meant to go hungry in a rat-infested dug-out? How many of them spent sleepless, frightened nights, ducking shells and shrapnel and machine gun bullets? How many of them parried a bayonet thrust of an enemy? How many of them were wounded or killed in battle?

Out of war nations acquire additional territory, if they are victorious. They just take it. This newly acquired territory promptly is exploited by the few – the selfsame few who wrung dollars out of blood in the war. The general public shoulders the bill.

And what is this bill?

This bill renders a horrible accounting. Newly placed gravestones. Mangled bodies. Shattered minds. Broken hearts and homes. Economic instability. Depression and all its attendant miseries. Back-breaking taxation for generations and generations.

For a great many years, as a soldier, I had a suspicion that war was a racket; not until I retired to civil life did I fully realize it. Now that I see the international war clouds gathering, as they are today, I must face it and speak out.

Read the whole essay "War is a Racket"

:patriot:

[Tom Joad]

3. Since corporate america owns the congress, from top to bottom

not likely to happen soon.

[Tom Joad]

4. Nothin' can prevent DU from making this a special day, however.

[EVDebs]

8. Right on brother Tom !

And a joint Eugene V. Debs and Gen. Smedley D. Butler day would make me SOOOOO proud ! Deb's "American Saint" and Butler's almost single-handedly saving the Republic make them Mt. Rushmore - ready.

[Ezlivin]

5. Here, here!

Definitely a good idea.

General Butler is badly needed today. He spoke truth to power and stood up for veterans.

[derby378]

6. God love ya, Smedley...

...but where are you now that we need you? The "White House Plot" never died; it just passed on the blueprints to its children, who have proven themselves a purer breed of evil.

[no_hypocrisy]

7. War Is A Racket

http://www.ratical.org/ratville/CAH/warisaracket.html

Read it the first time.

Read it again.

Share with a friend.

[shance]

9. So be it!** What do we do to make it a national holiday?

n/t

[wicket]

10. K & R

:kick:

[BornagainDUer]

11. And I know why "no further action was taken"....bwaaaaa

K&R

[TheCentepedeShoes]

12. I'm in!

:toast: :patriot:

[indepat]

13. Thank God in today's world we don't have to worry about wealthy RW industrialists

and media tycoons supporting and shilling for a fascist-type regime hell-bent on shredding our constitutional form of government.

[markk]

14. Happy Smelly Butt day

[TroubleMan]

15. This is the guy who was forced to retire because he would apologize to Benito Mussolini.

He publicy told a story about how Mussolini ran over a kid with a car and didn't stop. The USA was friendly with Italy at the time, so they court martialed him and ordered him to apologize. He refused, and they forced him to retire. He did apologize to the Secretary of State (the guy under Hoover), but he refused to apologize to Mussolini.

[shance]

16. I forgot about that.

Thank you for reminding me.