I just posted another in my long line of rantings about how the republican party, in my view, is undermining this nation.  Those in the background of that party, the ones “pulling the strings,” have little interest in anything more than their own wealth.  This has been clear for years, but they have such a stranglehold on the “messaging” that takes place in America, that they’ve literally gotten away with “murder” over the years.  I’m saying that as I read “A Family of Secrets” for the second time, a book following the “Bush dynasty” as none other I’ve read, and while documenting the life of George HW (Poppy) Bush it sheds enormous light on the machinations of the American government’s “insiders” over the past 60+ years and leaves an alarming concern in my mind as to the “real” United States of America.  This book gives what appears to be a well thought out scenario of how the CIA, the oil industry, the eastern “elite,” and a group of right wing thugs have steered America in a direction that is almost opposite from what they’ve been able to foist on the public through the so-called “liberal media” and a Goebbels like propaganda campaign.

People like George HW Bush, Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, and others (many no longer with us) keep “popping up” and essentially making themselves wealthier and more powerful while spinning a sham on the rest of us that may never be totally uncovered.  The evidence, as I see it, is overwhelming that HW Bush spent the first half of his adult working life (after his Yale “Skull and Bones” years) as some type of agent for the CIA.  As opposed to Valerie Plame, it appears that “Poppy” Bush has managed to avoid being “outed” by the above mentioned “liberal media” that seems devoid of real investigative reporters.  As you read this book it’s hard not to come to the conclusion that both JFK and Richard Nixon were victims of our own CIA (which has been “connected at the hip” with the oil industry since its inception) – not to mention Martin Luther King, Jr. and RFK.  While it was hard for me to understand how they would “out” Nixon, the outing of JFK was not hard to understand.  In fact, the way that murder was “covered up” – officially with the anemic Warren Commission (which was stacked with Kennedy haters including, of all people, Allen Dulles who Kennedy had fired as CIA chief following the Bay of Pigs fiasco) shows that the problems with our investigative journalists goes way back farther than I had imagined.  When you see that Dulles (who was a certified Kennedy “hater”) was leading an investigation into an assassination that was probably pulled off by the CIA (which he had been in charge of) you can see why the murder is still “unsolved.”

The shocking part in all of this, to me, is the role that “Poppy” Bush seems to have played in this assassination.  And, more shocking is how he managed to cover his “tracks” to avoid scrutiny – and, as I think of the years following, how he has managed to avoid even investigations in subsequent untoward adventures that include CIA skullduggery.  I have to believe, for example, that Bush was right in the middle of undermining Nixon along with the Iran/Contra scandal of the Reagan years and hardly faced a question regarding his role in that illegal scandal.  This country has a history of allowing an elite group of people to operate outside the law for years, and I believe it continues to this day.  With the acquiescence of Bill Clinton and Barrack Obama I believe both Bush 41 and Bush 43 will never have to answer for their misdeeds – along with Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Karl Rove, David Addington, and I could go on and on – these are the “contemporary” members of this elite group of lawbreakers.  It’s like a government mafia (In fact, there’s ample evidence that this cabal – and their associates, many who are still probably totally covert – have many times enlisted the help of true mafia personnel to “handle” some of their more “unpleasant” duties – like assassinating foreign leaders such as Fidel Castro (obviously they failed on this one) and other “leftists” – with many “successes,” for example – Allende, Trujillo, Iran’s Mohammed Mosaddegh, and others  [click here for an alleged list of CIA atrocities] – beyond the shores of Cuba)

Another “must read” in my mind, Naomi Klein’s “Shock Doctrine,” gives a stunning accounting of the number of people who have disappeared as the result of alleged CIA actions and the methods of this “cabal” that is now operating on our own country.  Clearly, the CIA was set up to “fight fire with fire” in response to the KGB of the Soviet Union post World War II, but it has gotten so far out of control that we (Americans) have inherited the role of the Russians of the cold war – I guess in the name of national security.  Kind of the same mentality as what I heard today from the head of the NRA in response to the aftermath of the Connecticut massacre of small children by a person brandishing an easy to purchase assault weapon:  “The way to stop ‘bad people’ from killing with guns is with more ‘good people’ having guns.”  I’m not kidding you.  Also, it’s been suggested that teachers be armed and trained with guns.  I’m a teacher.  Are you kidding me???!  This, I believe, is the mentality that says that the CIA going around the world assassinating leaders who are “unfriendly” to the U.S. –  especially when they have natural resources that we want to usurp from them, or they have a business climate that doesn’t support American corporate interests – is acceptable. (not to mention mind altering experimentation of “expendable” people – what does this remind you of?)  The same mentality that says torture is OK in the name of “national security” – which, of course, has become the “stock” excuse of every U.S. administration in my lifetime for actions which they wish to keep from the public domain.

The CIA has become, almost since its inception, “aligned at the hip” with barons of the oil industry and the military industrial complex which Dwight Eisenhower so prophetically warned this nation about as he was leaving office.  The Bush family, led by George HW Bush, has been connected to the CIA since before its inception.  Prescott Bush, HW’s father, was affiliated with “intelligence” before it was officially a government bureaucracy and showed his willingness to put profit ahead of principle as he was selling armaments to the Nazi’s prior to our involvement in WW II.  In fact, the only thing that stopped him was a strong reprimand from FDR.  His grandson, George W Bush, showed us again that there are many in this “upper echelon” of the secret society who are more than willing to profit handsomely from war (people like Rumsfeld, Cheney, Feith, and others in the Bush/Cheney administration made HUNDREDS of millions from the Iraq fiasco – their “no bid” buddies like Halliburton and KBR made BILLIONS)  We’re talking here about the insiders who’ve gained a stranglehold on the republican party over the years and I can guarantee you they won’t “let up” until they’re forced out of “power” by the voters.  (They’re so incredibly rich at this point, that it will take years to make them go away – if that’s possible.  This recent display of “conservatism,” to me, is eerily similar to the late 19th century and early 20th century of the so-called “Robber Barons.”

The Bush “dynasty” represents only one of the elite “eastern establishment” families who seem to feel enabled to live above the law and believe the rest of us should be thankful for whatever “scraps” come our way.  In my mind, they confuse “The American Dream” with the possibility of getting rich as opposed to simply owning a home and being a functioning member of a strong middle class.  A perpetual society where families feel they’re part of a structure which gives their children an opportunity to do a little better than their parents – but, in the process, never losing their empathy for the less fortunate.  Being driven by a sense of empathy and thankfulness as opposed to greed.  Never losing track of the connection between whatever level of success they achieve to the society which makes it possible – and, in the case of extreme success, the obligation to give back to that society.

Many of these “rich” families, in my mind, have been more than willing to profit off of the great national infrastructure which was created post WW II, but seem to be unwilling to do their part to maintain that very infrastructure which, as I’m writing this, is crumbling in many parts of this great nation.  During the “Bush 43 years” the estimates I remember, to bring our infrastructure “up to code,” ranged in the 2 plus TRILLION range.  A daunting figure, yes, but also an opportunity to put so many unemployed Americans to work fixing the problem.  And, as I’ve seen in my lifetime, a sound infrastructure allows for a growing economy for all.  The special interests of the families (and people) mentioned above center on oil and defense spending.  And, as most people have come to realize, the American government is pretty much at the mercy of the lobbyists who are each fighting for the American taxpayer’s dollar (many while complaining about how much they despise the government – go figure) and busy buying off one politician after another.  This is why the struggle to avoid the so-called “fiscal cliff” is so difficult – first, it won’t happen without republicans violating their “Grover Norquist” pledge and second, there’s always someone to argue against “cutting spending” because of the plethora of lobbyists who seem to determine the “bottom line” legislation coming out of Washington DC.

For some reason, the debate has turned to issues such as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, unemployment, food stamps, etc. when the republicans are talking about spending.  How often do we feel obligated to put defense spending “off the table” when these people are talking about reduced spending and put the focus on the programs the help “the least of these?”  Yet, we’re a “Christian” nation, right?  The “fiscal cliff” debate will continue to “show its ugly face” in different forms as long as we allow the republican party to be run by these right wing, greedy corporate elitists who seemingly have no limits on how much wealth satisfies them.  When you consider that people like the Bush family have been pilfering our society for at least 3 generations with absolutely no consequences for their greed and misdeeds, and you look at the others at the “top” who are squeezing every last penny they can from America’s taxpayers – all the while claiming how bad government is – it’s hard to feel positive.  The sad reality is that those who are perpetrating this fraud on our nation won’t be deterred by a few election defeats.  We’ve (with the complicity of the Obama administration) allowed the Bush/Cheney administration to get away with torture, war profiteering, lying to congress, outing a CIA agent, undermining established government agencies after allowing the misdeeds of the Reagan administration.  The people behind this “movement” believe the “liberals” don’t have the “stones” (as Bill Clinton puts it) to hold them legally accountable, and I’m thinking they’re evidently correct.  JFK warned us that the only way this nation could be undermined was from “within,” and these right wing republicans are proving him prophetic.