It's the Government's Job to Shake You Down

The "mob" --often called "the Mafia" --achieved mythic status in America thanks to movies, books, and the FBI. No expert on the mafia, I have in mind a rather simplistic Mafia business model --how it came about, how it grew, how it exploited "niche marketing". It's origins are usually traced to mid-nineteenth Century Sicily.

The Statue of Liberty greeted new arrivals with a promise of liberty. Many new immigrants, frankly, needed help. Many spoke little or no English and had equally limited job prospects. Many had families to feed. The character, Tateh, in E.L. Doctorow's Ragtime typifies a million stories. Ragtime paints the tragic picture of a promise broken. One of the film's most memorable scenes involved J. P. Morgan pontificating from a catwalk. Like today's GOP politicians he was holding forth about the American Dream. As a sea of immigrants reached out to him, the catwalk creaked and then collapsed. A desperate throng was crushed as they sought their dreams.

In some communities, in Sicily and in America, a godfather helped a new immigrant find a job or set up a business with small loans. He was often an advocate for the newly arrived. He offered them protection. At first, few regarded these men as criminals. They became, rather, role models and protectors. He filled the vaccum, offering protection when the "state" would not. Historian Paolo Pezzino wrote: "The Mafia is a kind of organized crime being active not only in several illegal fields, but also tending to exercise sovereignty functions – normally belonging to public authorities – over a specific territory..."

It was only the more odious practices that attracted the attention of government and prosecutors. Godfathers were shaking down small businesses, extorting money, collecting regular payments. No fair! Shaking down folk is the government's job!

Nation columnist Naomi Klein explores a key argument from her new book, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism: After 9/11 the Bush Administration launched a new economy, driven by the notion of an endless war against an undefined notion of evil. Read more in her 2005 Nation column "The Rise of Disaster Capitalism."

Global ShakeDowns-R-Us: James Baker-Carlyle Group Government-guaranteed Global Corporate Fraud doesn't get any better than this. Acting as a special "debt" envoy to Iraq as well as a senior "advisor" to the Carlyle Group, James Baker, the Bush Family bagman, has been enlisted to strong-arm nations into forgiving Iraq's debt.

"Sir" James Baker, partner of Baker Botts, is also an equity partner in the notorious Carlyle Group, which is part of a consortium trying to collect $27 billion on behalf of Kuwait, one of Iraq's biggest creditors. How? By twisting the arms of Iraqi debt holders.

Countries like the U.K., which is owed $1 billion by Iraq, is being urged by Baker into "forgiving" this debt.

George Bush Jr. appointed Baker, the US Secretary of State under Bush Sr., as an "unpaid envoy" (read bagman-fixer) on Dec. 5, 2003. However since Baker is also an equity partner with a reported $180 million stake in the Carlyle Group, the conflict of interest is at once stark and undeniable.

Published in the Nation Magazine, Naomi Klein's article (thenation.)--Global ShakeDowns-R-Us: James Baker-Carlyle Group

URI DOWBENKO

Readers of The Shock Doctrine know that one of the most shameless examples of disaster capitalism has been the attempt to exploit the disastrous flooding of New Orleans to close down that city's public housing projects, some of the only affordable units in the city. Most of the buildings sustained minimal flood damage, but they happen to occupy valuable land that make for perfect condo developments and hotels.

The final showdown over New Orleans public housing is playing out in dramatic fashion right now. The conflict is a classic example of the "triple shock" formula at the core of the doctrine.

- First came the shock of the original disaster: the flood and the traumatic evacuation.

- Next came the "economic shock therapy": using the window of opportunity opened up by the first shock to push through a rapid-fire attack on the city's public services and spaces, most notably it's homes, schools and hospitals.

-Now we see that as residents of New Orleans try to resist these attacks, they are being met with a third shock: the shock of the police baton and the Taser gun, used on the bodies of protestors outside New Orleans City Hall yesterday.

Democracy Now! has been covering this fight all week, with amazing reports from filmmakers Jacquie Soohen and Rick Rowley (Rick was arrested in the crackdown). Watch residents react to the bulldozing of their homes here.

And footage from yesterday's police crackdown and Tasering of protestors inside and outside city hall here.

The Shock Doctrine in Action in New Orleans

Ragtime: "There were no Negroes"

GOP, New Orleans, Government Incompetence, Terrorism

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Why Musharraf Lies About the Assassination of Benazir Bhutto

If you want to find a culprit, look among those who lie about the crime. Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf failed to provide security for Benazir Bhutto. Now --he's lying about Bhutto, his own role, and the so-called "lone lever" theory of her death.

Describing the ground ringed by numerous buildings as a "vulnerable place", Musharraf said: "This time she went of her volition, ignoring the threat." The President, who yesterday sought the help of Britain's Scotland Yard to probe Bhutto's death, ruled out the involvement of the country's military and intelligence agencies in the assassination.

"No intelligence agency of Pakistan is capable of motivating or indoctrinating a man to blow himself up," he said, adding one has to find out who gained the most from Bhutto's killing. "Would I and the government be the maximum gainer? Or is there someone else who could gain more?"

--Musharraf denies involvement of military, ISI in Bhutto murder

Clearly --Musharraf is trying to implicate the man who Musharraf said blew himself up. Clearly, the Pakistani Prime Minister has not read this blog, has not watched YouTube, nor any number of credible sources. Let's clear this up! Benazir Bhutto was not murdered by the man who blew himself up! She was not the victim of a "terrorist" attack! She was, rather, the victim of a professional hit. I saw at least one gunman on the video and saw at least two muzzle flashes. The explosion might as well have been on another planet but for the cover, the misdirection it might have provided the gunmen.

...the establishment media is already blaming Al-Qaeda for the assassination because ever since the attacks of 9/11 the media has blamed every government sponsored terrorist attack on this fictional organization. Al-Qaeda is nothing more than a front for government intelligence agencies that was originally formed in the 1970’s as a database of people who could be counted on to fight the Soviet Union’s occupation of Afghanistan. There have already been news reports mentioning how the Pakistani ISI has associations with Islamic extremists and members of al-Qaeda.

Bhutto Killing Points To Pakistani ISI, Lee Rogers, Rogue Government

Musharraf's statement follows two previous and equally absurd cover stories: 1) that Bhutto was killed by the shrapnel from the blast; 2) that she died of wounds sustained when she banged her head on a lever, the "lone lever" theory! The "official theories" are inconsistent with one another and inconsistent with the video tapes of the event as it happened. Benazir Bhutto was shot to death. The primary suspects are those, like Musharraf, who are telling transparent lies designed to deflect suspicion and obstruct objective investigation. Having already failed to provide adequate security, Musharraf has done both.

Officialdom wasted no time in trying to pin the murder on al Qaeda. At this point, one must ask: which al Qaeda? Are we talking about the al Qaeda as envisioned by Colin Powell, George Bush, and Dick Cheney? That al Qaeda is a rag tag mob of Islamic extremists trained in the mountains by Osama bin Laden. But there is another, a real al Qaeda, a "base", specifically a CIA database.

The intelligence service of Pakistan, a crucial American ally in the war on terrorism, has had an indirect but longstanding relationship with Al Qaeda, turning a blind eye for years to the growing ties between Osama bin Laden and the Taliban, according to American officials.

The intelligence service even used Al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan to train covert operatives for use in a war of terror against India, the Americans say.

The intelligence service, known as Inter-Services Intelligence, or ISI , also maintained direct links to guerrillas fighting in the disputed territory of Kashmir on Pakistan's border with India, the officials said.Pakistani Intelligence Had Ties To al Qaeda, US Officials Say

James Risen and Judith Miller, New York Times, Published: October 29, 2001

Clearly, Bhutto posed a threat not only to Musharraf but to western imperial powers to whom he is dependent and indebted. The Bush administration!

Bhutto's edited remarks have caused a bit of a stir of late. In a BBC interview --edited by the BBC --Bhutto stated that Osama bin Laden was dead, a statement that strikes at the very heart of George W. Bush's "war on terrorism". Recently, however, some have said that it no longer matters whether bin Laden is alive or dead.

But --it does matter. Truth always matters especially when it strikes at the very heart of "officialdom" propped up by lies and propaganda. Osama was, after all, the Bush administration's poster boy for world wide terrorism.

Bhutto’s claim that Bin Laden is dead may very well be true. Several MSM outlets have reported precisely that, and, inexplicably they have been ignored. The best example is the FOX report of Dec 2001, for example. All but ignored until recently —-even by Fox. The New York Times reported in 2002 that Bin Laden was dead and has apparently re-discovered their story. As of yesterday, it had been republished on the NYT web site.

My own opinion is that Bin Laden had been long dead by the time a "tape" surfaced just prior to the 2004 elections. Many believe the tape was faked. Whoever faked that tape had a dog in the race --George W. Bush! Qui Bono? George W. Bush? Who had lied most loudly, most vehemently and most often about "terrorism". George W. Bush! Again --if you want to find a culprit, look first at those who lie about the crime. Who lies? Bush. Qui Bono? Bush. Who is compromised? Certainly, the release of what is most certainly a "fake Osama" benefited one who presumes to rule by decree. George W. Bush.

Conspiracy theories, moreover, are most vociferously denounced by conspirators. The only world wide conspiracy that we are supposed to believe in is the one that has been promoted most vociferously by George W. Bush, Dick Cheney et al. What is al Qaeda, if not a conspiracy?

In the meantime, check Findlaw or the Cornell Law School library. Search for SCOTUS or Federal Court decisions having to do with ’conspiracies’. That’s a helluva lot of ink, time, and labor about something that does not exist. What is al Qaeda if not a conspiracy? What is an Islamcist radicalism, if not a conspiracy? Certainly --the GOP does believe in conspiracy theories. They believe and have a religious-like faith in many worldwide conspiracies of anti-war hippies, secular humanists, pornographers, liberals, feminists, academics, environmentalists, baby killers, and --during the Nixon years --nattering nabobs of negativism. The GOP leadership is a conspiracy of liars, graft-takers, and co-conspirators in the Military/Industrial complex, itself a conspiracy best described by St. Thomas More:

So God help me, I can perceive nothing but a certain conspiracy of rich men procuring their own commodities under the name and title of the commonwealth.

They invent and devise all means and crafts, first how to keep safely, without fear of losing, that they have unjustly gathered together, and next how to hire and abuse the work and labour of the poor for as little money as may be.

-Of the Religions in Utopia, St. Thomas More

The conspiracy described by More is as accurate today as a description of the Military/Industrial complex and the web of robber barons that comprised the GOP base. Of course, the GOP has a stake in making sure you don't believe the truth about them. If they truth were know about their party, a Republican candidate might never, ever get elected.

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Fox News/New York Times: "Bin Laden is Dead"

The Bush administration, it seems, has kept Bin Laden alive for about seven years now, despite reports by the Fox news network that the alleged terrorist mastermind has been dead for years. On December 26, 2001, the Fox network reported that Osama bin Laden died of "serious lung complications" in mid-December of that year. If so, it means that Benazir Bhutto was correct to say that bin Laden is dead but it does not mean that she misspoke when she said that bin Laden had been murdered. The original Fox report is as follows:

Fox News: "Bin Laden Already Dead"

Wednesday, December 26, 2001

Usama bin Laden has died a peaceful death due to an untreated lung complication, the Pakistan Observer reported, citing a Taliban leader who allegedly attended the funeral of the Al Qaeda leader.

"The Coalition troops are engaged in a mad search operation but they would never be able to fulfill their cherished goal of getting Usama alive or dead," the source said.

Bin Laden, according to the source, was suffering from a serious lung complication and succumbed to the disease in mid-December, in the vicinity of the Tora Bora mountains. The source claimed that bin Laden was laid to rest honorably in his last abode and his grave was made as per his Wahabi belief.

About 30 close associates of bin Laden in Al Qaeda, including his most trusted and personal bodyguards, his family members and some "Taliban friends," attended the funeral rites. A volley of bullets was also fired to pay final tribute to the "great leader."

The Taliban source who claims to have seen bin Laden's face before burial said "he looked pale ... but calm, relaxed and confident."

Asked whether bin Laden had any feelings of remorse before death, the source vehemently said "no." Instead, he said, bin Laden was proud that he succeeded in his mission of igniting awareness amongst Muslims about hegemonistic designs and conspiracies of "pagans" against Islam. Bin Laden, he said, held the view that the sacrifice of a few hundred people in Afghanistan was nothing, as those who laid their lives in creating an atmosphere of resistance will be adequately rewarded by Almighty Allah.

When asked where bin Laden was buried, the source said, "I am sure that like other places in Tora Bora, that particular place too must have vanished."

If Fox was correct, then Bin Laden could not have issued a video tape of October 29, 2004 --just two days before the US election. It was a tape that many pollsters and pundits believe swung the election to George W. Bush over John Kerry.

On October 29, 2004, two days before the US elections, the Arab television network al-Jazeera sprung an October Surprise by broadcasting a videotape of a healthy looking bin Laden addressing the people of the United States in which he took responsibility for the September 11, 2001 attacks. He also condemned the Bush government's response to the attacks, and presented the attacks as part of a campaign of revenge and deterrence begun after personally seeing the destruction of the Lebanese Civil War in 1982. See 2004 Osama bin Laden video.
President Bush opened up a six-point lead over John Kerry in the first opinion poll to include sampling taken after the videotape was broadcast. [21] Walter Cronkite found the video very convenient for the Bush administration, and said of it “I'm a little inclined to think that Karl Rove, the political manager at the White House, who is a very clever man, he probably set up bin Laden to this thing.” [22]

--Colin Bett, A 'Conspiracy Theory' Too Far?

Not only Fox, but the New York Times also reported the death of Bin Laden.

Osama bin Laden is dead. The news first came from sources in Afghanistan and Pakistan almost six months ago: the fugitive died in December [2001] and was buried in the mountains of southeast Afghanistan. Pakistan's president, Pervez Musharraf, echoed the information. The remnants of Osama's gang, however, have mostly stayed silent, either to keep Osama's ghost alive or because they have no means of communication. Click for full sized image
With an ego the size of Mount Everest, Osama bin Laden would not have, could not have, remained silent for so long if he were still alive. He always liked to take credit even for things he had nothing to do with. Would he remain silent for nine months and not trumpet his own survival?

--New York Times. July 11, 2002

NYT has apparently re-published the story. The original publication date was: July 11, 2002. Fox, it would appear, scooped the NYT but, apparently forgot what they had reported.

The issue of bin Laden's pulse surfaced recently when the venerable BBC clearly censored remarks by Benazir Bhutto to the effect that bin Laden had been murdered. It still fair to ask why the BBC would have deleted only that portion of the interview. Following is the original, unedited version in which Bhutto states that Bin Laden had been murdered.

The BBC's Censored version can be found here.

A fallacious rationalization has surfaced: Bhutto misspoke, that she had meant to say "Daniel Perle". There is absolutely no logical reason to believe that Bhutto misspoke. She did not pause. She did not struggle to find a name. Secondly, only an idiot would mistake Bin Laden for Perle. Bhutto is not an idiot. Even if Bin Laden were alive, it would not prove that Bhutto misspoke, only that she was wrong. Not the same thing. In fact, Bhutto was probably correct that Bin Laden is dead but wrong about the cause of death.

An essential resource: Can someone with no flight training safely land an airliner? Plus: Pilotless planes, overpaid pilots and other aviation myths.

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