"U.S.A." - The United Sacrifice Act
(Dear Reader: In 2004, shortly before the national election, an email was widely circulated which touched me deeply and was the catalyst which prompted me to "go public". To my knowledge, its author was never revealed. In this article below, I added a few recent factual updates and did some very minor editing. But I admit that I have borrowed greatly (indeed, virtually entirely) from that brief but powerful unsigned work of 2004, presented below, because of how mightily it struck at the key cause of America's greatest problems. In the wake of the highly controversial and dubious "Patriot Act," this humble 2004 essay is indeed the magnificent seed from which grew the United Sacrifice Act, which I believe is the only public political movement that holds any hope of saving America from a horrendous future. I am heartened also to see how widely and powerfully this movement has grown. I hope that, somehow, that 2004 anonynous author may stumble across my own writings here, and accept my sincere thanks for his or her inspiration to me and so many others. - PQH)
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Countless Americans nationwide have grown increasingly concerned over America's downward-spiraling public services, local economies, budget-cuts, short-falls and endless private and public bankruptcies. Financial devastation has crippled America's schools, libraries, police departments, colleges, at-risk youth-programs, city/state governments, hospitals, clinics, streets, bridges, roads, highways, public transportation, anti-drug & anti-crime programs, victim advocate services, Red Cross and related agencies, etc., etc. A five trillion dollar federal budget surplus became a two trillion dollar deficit, virtually overnight.
Uncontrolled government growth and spending (most of it done by borrowing vast fortunes from future generations) has outstripped all the government growth and spending of America's entire history, clear back to 1776. Millions of decent good-paying family-supporting jobs have gone away - totally vanished or shipped overseas - while most new jobs are barely above minimum wage. Amid all of this, the richest 1% of people in America now have more money than the lower 80% of us down here in the trenches, combined.
What on Earth has happened to our nation? How did America fall so far in the hole in just three short years? Surely, 9/11 was a terribly tragic and a costly event, but that can't account for what has happened. So, let's first quickly explore the two popular explanations.
One camp of believers points out the multi-billion dollar "no bid" contracts that have gone to the corporations of politically-connected officials - countless billions of dollars spent to re-build a foreign nation that never needed to be blown to pieces in the first place. They show us numerous highly credible sources who maintain that America's military-related industries were very eager for something like 9/11 to happen (and may in fact have induced various powers to "drag their feet" in preventing such an attack) in order to re-direct hundreds of billions to the politicians, corporations, lobbyists and bankers who build, broker and finance war-planes, military equipment, weaponry, ammunition, artillery, trucks, tanks, gasoline, jet-fuel, and countless ultra-high-priced secret systems. Such witnesses detail additional multi-billion dollar fortunes that have gone to insider corporations and bankers who re-build the cities, bridges, factories, houses, office buildings, water & electrical plants, and countless other Iraqi and Afghani infra-structure essentials that the war has needlessly destroyed.
Those hundreds of billions of dollars came directly from taxes and budgets previously intended for America's schools, libraries, police departments, colleges, at-risk youth-programs, city/state governments, hospitals, clinics, streets, bridges, roads, highways, public transportation, anti-drug & anti-crime programs, victim advocate services, disaster/emergency services, and all the rest. All from your pocket - borrowed from your future. And your children's pockets, and their futures. And their children's pockets and futures. And their children's. And their children's.
People on the other side of this political issue disagree. They say that the above picture is distorted, that - while the above costs can't be denied - they were necessary to protect America. They say that all of the recent controversial policies and actions were done by political leaders and corporate executives who truly care only about what is best for America and average Americans.
Who should we believe? Fortunately, there is an extremely easy way to find out.
To begin, we first need a common ground upon which all camps can agree. One such simple statement of fact is that the people who most benefit materially and financially from any foreign war are the wealthy owners, investors, bankers, managers and financiers of the war's military industries, and the politicians and other officials who serve their interests. Conversely, the people who least benefit materially and financially from war are the troops on the front lines, whose bodies are maimed, whose blood is spilled, whose lives are lost, whose children are orphaned, whose families are shattered, whose parents and brothers and sisters are devastated, and by all the world's other friends and strangers who mourn their suffering and death.
This above simple truth and common ground is obvious. Having agreed on that, we need only to question if true Patriotism is being displayed equally by all the people in the above two groups.
We first learn that - amid all the many hundreds of members of Congress since 9/11/2001 - only one member has had a son or daughter serving in the US military in Iraq. One. And an even smaller percentage of military service is found amid the children of execs who run the corporations and banks that have profitted most from America's latest war.
While GI's are dying for lack of adequate weapons, support, and body-armor, those same above corporations and execs (according to Forbes, Fortune and similar magazines) have seen their personal income and net worth skyrocket in the first 18 months following the Iraq invasion, and comfortably remain at those highly accellerated rates fully throughout 2005 and 2006 - along with the similarly healthy gains and "perks" enjoyed by the lobbyists, senators, congressmen and unelected officials who gave the bankers and corporations direct access to America's treasury. Even more audacious, they didn't even hesitate to grasp for even more inflated profits right before the 2004 national election, by requesting and receiving several billion dollars more to mop up the mess in Iraq - a hideous mess that never needed to happen in the first place. Several billion dollars more each month, that is. Every year. For unending years and decades to come.
All of which begs a more important question. Our brave men and women in uniform are willing to face horrible mutilation and death on the battlefield, to live in the most harsh conditions, to exist on subsistence wages, to tear apart their own families, to hock wedding rings for cash, and to go deep into debt just to maintain their children in near starvation. Thus we must ask where is even the slightest evidence of similar sacrifice or Patriotism by the bankers, execs, stockholders, lobbyists and politicians who profit so immensely from this war? At this writing, well over 3,000 - three thousand - brave American troops have paid the ultimate price of giving their lives to help America, and tens of thousands more have suffered devastating life-ruining injuries and mental/emotional traumas; meanwhile the super-wealthy who continuously lavish in hundreds of billions of our dollars have steadfastly refused to contribute or sacrifice one thin dime or one bit of luxurious comfort for our great nation.
Indeed, why don't those who profit the most from this war display similar sacrifices, instead of luxuriating in their countless millions and billions of dollars in salaries, bonuses, mansions, Mercedes, stock options, villas, townhomes, mountain chalets, beachfront condos, sailboats, yachts, private planes, country clubs and exclusive resorts that they shower upon themselves from their incredibly vast war profits? After all, GI's and their families must drain their meager savings, empty their children's piggy banks, and borrow money at high interest, just to eat and survive. So, why aren't corporations, bankers and Upper Echelon multi-millionaires and billionaires expected to use their bank accounts and assets to show their dedication to winning this war and helping America? Since they are already sitting on many hundreds of billions of dollars, why don't they provide or pay for the war-planes, military equipment, weaponry, ammunition, artillery, trucks, tanks, gasoline, jet-fuel, and all the rest - at no profit - to help defend America in our time of need?
Certainly, someone may say that these wealthy leaders and mega-corporations must earn a profit, because they have to pay business expenses and salaries, and that they deserve to be rewarded for their work. Fine. But when is the last time that they demonstrated even the slightest genuine sacrifice... genuine sacrifice? For example, if some exec accepts a yearly salary-cut from $100 million to $80 million, that certainly couldn't be called anything near a true sacrifice. Even giving up a full year's pay and living off of a $200,000,000 savings/investment nest-egg wouldn't exactly come close to "roughing it" and sacrificing like our military troops do every day. But, indeed, those corporate and political "leaders" never even offer to make even such miniscule and paltry sacrifices.
Please pause to again deeply consider the one extremely crucial question that nobody ever asks. In most of President Bush's recent speeches, he has said countless times that the war in Iraq will continue until we have won and that, until then, there will certainly be "much more sacrifice" for Americans to endure. That being so, why are members of the super-wealthy and powerful elite never expected to tighten their personal or corporate belts, or to endure any inconvenience or hardship, for the good and survival of America? Why are they considered to be some sort of god-like royalty who never need to dip into their savings and assets to help defend the country that has made them unimaginably wealthy and privileged?
Why does that upper 1% always assume that - regardless of who else in America may be struggling or starving or dying - the elite Upper Echelon is aways entitled to huge profits, first and foremost, before everyone else, while leaving all the penny-pinching and missed meals to common folks, and to the crippled and dying GI's and their struggling families? Why do all of these self-appointed princes always assume that their reward for being ivory-tower armchair wheeler-dealers should be a multi-million dollar yearly salary, while the reward for being shot at and blown up in endless war should be a few hundred bucks and a fifty-cent ribbon to pin on a dead hero's chest?
Some people may insist that these large corporations and execs must answer to their stock-holders, and pay them dividends. Great. Nobody is stopping those corporations and execs from dipping into their bank accounts and assets or borrowing money to pay dividends or anything else they wish, just like all of us and all of those GI's and their families do. If front-line GI's are willing to go into debt while they're also living in poverty and fighting and dying, the war-industry owners and managers and financiers can certainly handle dipping into their rainy-day reserves and hocking their jewelry while they are living their lives as millionaires and billionaires in their luxurious mansions and villas.
Then again, maybe they shouldn't have to pay those dividends, i.e., why are those stock-holders any better than America's struggling poor, middle class and GI's? Why aren't those stock-holders tightening their belts and likewise making their fair share of patriotic sacrifices during war-time? Why should they be collecting megatons of money - without lifting a finger, without risking danger, without helping to defend and repair their nation - during a war for America's very survival... while all of the hard-working teachers, nurses, police officers, fire-fighters, factory-workers and all of the other blue-collar backbone heros of this nation are sinking ever deeper into poverty... while GI's are being blown up every day overseas, and their families are falling apart back home?
America deserves a solid answer. Let us find out, once and for all, who are the true Public Servants and who are the pretenders, who are the Patriots and who are the parasites. The question is simple: Has America's treasury been looted to give hundreds of billions of dollars more to the wealthiest 1%, or has it not? The answer is just as simple. Here is a chance for the Upper Echelons to show their true patriotism, by helping America get back on her feet during her greatest time of need.
Please note that all of this has nothing to do with the stale old cliche of "class warfare". All we are saying is that nobody in that top 1% would come within a billion light-years of missing a meal, or losing their home if they tightened their belts to the same relative degree that American GI's and common folk have done. Those super-rich princes and princesses would still be extremely well off. Likewise, that elite 1% could easily prove their sincerity and patriotism by refusing to accept the huge and repeated tax-cuts that they have been given.
Likewise, military/industrial corporations - if they indeed love America - should not hesitate for one second to donate weapons and equipment to our nation in our gravest hour of need, until the war has been won, to spare America the crippling financial burden of war. After all, they have been pocketing many hundreds of billions of dollars each year, for many decades, while they keep insisting that their sole concern is the safety, security and welfare of Americans. Is there any better way to prove that they are telling the truth, and that they are as patriotic as the rest of us?
Oil companies likewise have many hundreds of billions of dollars in cash and assets; they could easily provide gasoline and home-heating fuel at greatly reduced prices, to lessen American's burden in this time of crisis, instead of forever raising prices to record levels to keep for themselves additional tens of billions of dollars in new profits. Indeed, just in the 3rd Quarter of 2005, while America's people and economy were being blown to shreds by an unprecedented deluge of hurricanes, the oil companies raised their profit margins and took in a staggering $32,000,000,000 (yes, $32 billion) in excess profits (not merely gross revenues) in just those 90 devastating days alone ... which equates to taking from American home-budgets an incredible $15,000,000 per hour, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, month after month after month. Just the money they bled from us in merely one single day of such excess profits could pay all the home-heating bills for the entire winter for 720,000 of America's neediest hard-working families. Yet all of those families (and more) are left with no choice but to pay for that essential heat by cutting back on their own or their children's medical care, or food, or clothing, or all of these necessities... all in the midst of a devastating, deadly and brutally icy winter.
And right after we learned that - during that very same winter - one single Exxon Oil executive took unto himself a $400,000,000.oo BONUS - almost half a billion dollars for just one man, on top of his already incredibly bloated salary. That single bonus alone could have been used to virtually cut in half last month's gasoline expenditures for well over three million hard-working American families.
Bankers could likewise display their patriotism - not by merely loaning our struggling America the money she needs at no interest - but by outright donating money to America's treasury, school districts, lunch programs, health clinics, libraries and all the other stuggling essential services. After all, unlike anyone else, for many generations bankers have gathered hundreds of billions to themselves without ever having offered any tangible product to anyone. Isn't it time they returned the favor to America? Any American who has ever had a bank account knows of the banks' endless, outrageous and ever-increasing fees and charges, and bankers' cold-blooded avarice that routinely kicks innocent citizens when they are down, as if they were less than the lowest of animals. Why is this? Common citizens would be rightfully thrown in jail for such lacks of compassion and remorse. Why aren't bank owners, executives and stock-holders expected to display their fair share of human decency, sacrifice and patriotism?
Likewise, top execs in every industry and profession - especially those who profit in any way from war and its killing-machines - could easily take a 50% cut in their pay and still be the best-paid execs on the planet, and still be far wealthier than you and I have ever dreamed.
Lawyers and lobbyists can also donate their time and money to arrange and expedite all of the above donations, at no charge. They too - like all the others who possess far more money than integrity and patriotism - can also make very generous donations directly into our nation's sagging treasury, to help rebuild a decaying and suffering America and her essential human services and infra-structure.
But will they? Certainly not on their own, because they clearly have no sense whatsover of being any true part of America and all that she stands for. Thus far, they have displayed no maturity, no character, no integrity, no comprehension of being with us or a part of us, but only of working against us, only using us as cash-cows that they milk until our crumbling bones are bleeding.
Talk to your friends, family, relatives, coworkers, church congregation, everybody you know. Let them know of the noble grass-roots movement that has become known as "U.S.A." - the "United Sacrifice Act". Even more important than the mis-named and deceitful Patriot Act, the United Sacrifice Act smokes out and exposes America's unpatriotic pretenders and parasites. Its legally-binding demands are as easy as 1, 2, 3:
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1. Any and all individuals and corporations - whether executives and stock-holders of primary corporations, trusts, consortiums and/or holding companies, and any agencies or individual/corporate/other entities who directly or indirectly finance or profit from war activities, materials, weapons systems, logistics, operations or rebuilding of war-damaged targets and cities - will henceforward for the next four years (until the 10th anniversay of 9/11/2001) supply and donate at no cost all such war-related materials and military support, sparing American taxpayers all such costs.
2. On September 11, 2011, the tenth anniversary of 9/11, the status of the "War on Terror" will be reviewed by the U.S. Congress. If this War is declared officially over at that time (i.e., all US troops are gone and all US/UN combat and "advisory" operations have totally ceased), the provisions of Item #1 above will cease. If this War is still ongoing on 9/11/2011, then the provisions of Item #1 above will be renewed in full for another four years.
3. Any attempt by any individual or corporate or other entity (or elected or unelected U.S. official or private/public entity) to water down, diminish, eliminate or interfere with the above items - or any attempt to create or maintain any kind of diversion, loophole(s), or "laundering" or "re-defining" of funds, tax revenues or budgets, to circumvent or avoid compliance with the United Sacrifice Act - will be considered an act of Treason against the United States of America and its citizens, punishable to the full extent of the law under any/all pre-9/11 laws and any/all applicable provisions of the USA Patriot Act.
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Let everyone you know read this complete public posting. Look as hard as you wish for any flaw in the logic of these words, any fault in the reasoning, any shred of unfairness. Then, take action. Contact all of your elected representitives. Call radio and TV talk-shows. Send mass-mailings of email containing the Web-address of the words you are reading. Let the word spread far and wide that America belongs to Americans... that in a Democracy the leaders bow down to the wishes and service and convenience of The People, and never the other way around... that to be called an American means to be willing to sacrifice for America... that to loot and deceive America's families (or even to just refuse to contribute fairly to America's well-being and survival) is tantamount to treason, and negates any person's right to enjoy the privileges of being an American. Patriotism is a solemn duty and obligation of all Americans, especially those who have benefitted most from America; it is not just the thorny and painful cross for the poorest and bravest of our nation to bear.
We have now seen the extremely simple way to tell for certain if this incredibly costly Iraqi war was truly needed, or if it was contrived (or allowed to happen) to enrich a select few. If those elite Upper Echelons step up to the plate and are willing to contribute their fair share, tighten their belts, and (for the first time in history) help the rest of us rebuild a devestated America - out of their own enormously overflowing pockets - then we will know that they are sincere, that they are truly Patriots, that they are truly Americans. If they do not, then they will have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that they are ravenous, deceitful and inhuman looters, thieves, profiteers and traitors, and that they fully deserve every punishment that fits such heinous crimes.
Only you and I can take America back, and nurse her back to health. If the people lead, the leaders will follow. If we don't, Lady Liberty will die. Please don't let that happen.
May God Bless You, and May God Bless America,
Patrick Q. Henry
September 11, 2006
Patrick_Q_Henry@yahoo.com
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Countless Americans nationwide have grown increasingly concerned over America's downward-spiraling public services, local economies, budget-cuts, short-falls and endless private and public bankruptcies. Financial devastation has crippled America's schools, libraries, police departments, colleges, at-risk youth-programs, city/state governments, hospitals, clinics, streets, bridges, roads, highways, public transportation, anti-drug & anti-crime programs, victim advocate services, Red Cross and related agencies, etc., etc. A five trillion dollar federal budget surplus became a two trillion dollar deficit, virtually overnight.
Uncontrolled government growth and spending (most of it done by borrowing vast fortunes from future generations) has outstripped all the government growth and spending of America's entire history, clear back to 1776. Millions of decent good-paying family-supporting jobs have gone away - totally vanished or shipped overseas - while most new jobs are barely above minimum wage. Amid all of this, the richest 1% of people in America now have more money than the lower 80% of us down here in the trenches, combined.
What on Earth has happened to our nation? How did America fall so far in the hole in just three short years? Surely, 9/11 was a terribly tragic and a costly event, but that can't account for what has happened. So, let's first quickly explore the two popular explanations.
One camp of believers points out the multi-billion dollar "no bid" contracts that have gone to the corporations of politically-connected officials - countless billions of dollars spent to re-build a foreign nation that never needed to be blown to pieces in the first place. They show us numerous highly credible sources who maintain that America's military-related industries were very eager for something like 9/11 to happen (and may in fact have induced various powers to "drag their feet" in preventing such an attack) in order to re-direct hundreds of billions to the politicians, corporations, lobbyists and bankers who build, broker and finance war-planes, military equipment, weaponry, ammunition, artillery, trucks, tanks, gasoline, jet-fuel, and countless ultra-high-priced secret systems. Such witnesses detail additional multi-billion dollar fortunes that have gone to insider corporations and bankers who re-build the cities, bridges, factories, houses, office buildings, water & electrical plants, and countless other Iraqi and Afghani infra-structure essentials that the war has needlessly destroyed.
Those hundreds of billions of dollars came directly from taxes and budgets previously intended for America's schools, libraries, police departments, colleges, at-risk youth-programs, city/state governments, hospitals, clinics, streets, bridges, roads, highways, public transportation, anti-drug & anti-crime programs, victim advocate services, disaster/emergency services, and all the rest. All from your pocket - borrowed from your future. And your children's pockets, and their futures. And their children's pockets and futures. And their children's. And their children's.
People on the other side of this political issue disagree. They say that the above picture is distorted, that - while the above costs can't be denied - they were necessary to protect America. They say that all of the recent controversial policies and actions were done by political leaders and corporate executives who truly care only about what is best for America and average Americans.
Who should we believe? Fortunately, there is an extremely easy way to find out.
To begin, we first need a common ground upon which all camps can agree. One such simple statement of fact is that the people who most benefit materially and financially from any foreign war are the wealthy owners, investors, bankers, managers and financiers of the war's military industries, and the politicians and other officials who serve their interests. Conversely, the people who least benefit materially and financially from war are the troops on the front lines, whose bodies are maimed, whose blood is spilled, whose lives are lost, whose children are orphaned, whose families are shattered, whose parents and brothers and sisters are devastated, and by all the world's other friends and strangers who mourn their suffering and death.
This above simple truth and common ground is obvious. Having agreed on that, we need only to question if true Patriotism is being displayed equally by all the people in the above two groups.
We first learn that - amid all the many hundreds of members of Congress since 9/11/2001 - only one member has had a son or daughter serving in the US military in Iraq. One. And an even smaller percentage of military service is found amid the children of execs who run the corporations and banks that have profitted most from America's latest war.
While GI's are dying for lack of adequate weapons, support, and body-armor, those same above corporations and execs (according to Forbes, Fortune and similar magazines) have seen their personal income and net worth skyrocket in the first 18 months following the Iraq invasion, and comfortably remain at those highly accellerated rates fully throughout 2005 and 2006 - along with the similarly healthy gains and "perks" enjoyed by the lobbyists, senators, congressmen and unelected officials who gave the bankers and corporations direct access to America's treasury. Even more audacious, they didn't even hesitate to grasp for even more inflated profits right before the 2004 national election, by requesting and receiving several billion dollars more to mop up the mess in Iraq - a hideous mess that never needed to happen in the first place. Several billion dollars more each month, that is. Every year. For unending years and decades to come.
All of which begs a more important question. Our brave men and women in uniform are willing to face horrible mutilation and death on the battlefield, to live in the most harsh conditions, to exist on subsistence wages, to tear apart their own families, to hock wedding rings for cash, and to go deep into debt just to maintain their children in near starvation. Thus we must ask where is even the slightest evidence of similar sacrifice or Patriotism by the bankers, execs, stockholders, lobbyists and politicians who profit so immensely from this war? At this writing, well over 3,000 - three thousand - brave American troops have paid the ultimate price of giving their lives to help America, and tens of thousands more have suffered devastating life-ruining injuries and mental/emotional traumas; meanwhile the super-wealthy who continuously lavish in hundreds of billions of our dollars have steadfastly refused to contribute or sacrifice one thin dime or one bit of luxurious comfort for our great nation.
Indeed, why don't those who profit the most from this war display similar sacrifices, instead of luxuriating in their countless millions and billions of dollars in salaries, bonuses, mansions, Mercedes, stock options, villas, townhomes, mountain chalets, beachfront condos, sailboats, yachts, private planes, country clubs and exclusive resorts that they shower upon themselves from their incredibly vast war profits? After all, GI's and their families must drain their meager savings, empty their children's piggy banks, and borrow money at high interest, just to eat and survive. So, why aren't corporations, bankers and Upper Echelon multi-millionaires and billionaires expected to use their bank accounts and assets to show their dedication to winning this war and helping America? Since they are already sitting on many hundreds of billions of dollars, why don't they provide or pay for the war-planes, military equipment, weaponry, ammunition, artillery, trucks, tanks, gasoline, jet-fuel, and all the rest - at no profit - to help defend America in our time of need?
Certainly, someone may say that these wealthy leaders and mega-corporations must earn a profit, because they have to pay business expenses and salaries, and that they deserve to be rewarded for their work. Fine. But when is the last time that they demonstrated even the slightest genuine sacrifice... genuine sacrifice? For example, if some exec accepts a yearly salary-cut from $100 million to $80 million, that certainly couldn't be called anything near a true sacrifice. Even giving up a full year's pay and living off of a $200,000,000 savings/investment nest-egg wouldn't exactly come close to "roughing it" and sacrificing like our military troops do every day. But, indeed, those corporate and political "leaders" never even offer to make even such miniscule and paltry sacrifices.
Please pause to again deeply consider the one extremely crucial question that nobody ever asks. In most of President Bush's recent speeches, he has said countless times that the war in Iraq will continue until we have won and that, until then, there will certainly be "much more sacrifice" for Americans to endure. That being so, why are members of the super-wealthy and powerful elite never expected to tighten their personal or corporate belts, or to endure any inconvenience or hardship, for the good and survival of America? Why are they considered to be some sort of god-like royalty who never need to dip into their savings and assets to help defend the country that has made them unimaginably wealthy and privileged?
Why does that upper 1% always assume that - regardless of who else in America may be struggling or starving or dying - the elite Upper Echelon is aways entitled to huge profits, first and foremost, before everyone else, while leaving all the penny-pinching and missed meals to common folks, and to the crippled and dying GI's and their struggling families? Why do all of these self-appointed princes always assume that their reward for being ivory-tower armchair wheeler-dealers should be a multi-million dollar yearly salary, while the reward for being shot at and blown up in endless war should be a few hundred bucks and a fifty-cent ribbon to pin on a dead hero's chest?
Some people may insist that these large corporations and execs must answer to their stock-holders, and pay them dividends. Great. Nobody is stopping those corporations and execs from dipping into their bank accounts and assets or borrowing money to pay dividends or anything else they wish, just like all of us and all of those GI's and their families do. If front-line GI's are willing to go into debt while they're also living in poverty and fighting and dying, the war-industry owners and managers and financiers can certainly handle dipping into their rainy-day reserves and hocking their jewelry while they are living their lives as millionaires and billionaires in their luxurious mansions and villas.
Then again, maybe they shouldn't have to pay those dividends, i.e., why are those stock-holders any better than America's struggling poor, middle class and GI's? Why aren't those stock-holders tightening their belts and likewise making their fair share of patriotic sacrifices during war-time? Why should they be collecting megatons of money - without lifting a finger, without risking danger, without helping to defend and repair their nation - during a war for America's very survival... while all of the hard-working teachers, nurses, police officers, fire-fighters, factory-workers and all of the other blue-collar backbone heros of this nation are sinking ever deeper into poverty... while GI's are being blown up every day overseas, and their families are falling apart back home?
America deserves a solid answer. Let us find out, once and for all, who are the true Public Servants and who are the pretenders, who are the Patriots and who are the parasites. The question is simple: Has America's treasury been looted to give hundreds of billions of dollars more to the wealthiest 1%, or has it not? The answer is just as simple. Here is a chance for the Upper Echelons to show their true patriotism, by helping America get back on her feet during her greatest time of need.
Please note that all of this has nothing to do with the stale old cliche of "class warfare". All we are saying is that nobody in that top 1% would come within a billion light-years of missing a meal, or losing their home if they tightened their belts to the same relative degree that American GI's and common folk have done. Those super-rich princes and princesses would still be extremely well off. Likewise, that elite 1% could easily prove their sincerity and patriotism by refusing to accept the huge and repeated tax-cuts that they have been given.
Likewise, military/industrial corporations - if they indeed love America - should not hesitate for one second to donate weapons and equipment to our nation in our gravest hour of need, until the war has been won, to spare America the crippling financial burden of war. After all, they have been pocketing many hundreds of billions of dollars each year, for many decades, while they keep insisting that their sole concern is the safety, security and welfare of Americans. Is there any better way to prove that they are telling the truth, and that they are as patriotic as the rest of us?
Oil companies likewise have many hundreds of billions of dollars in cash and assets; they could easily provide gasoline and home-heating fuel at greatly reduced prices, to lessen American's burden in this time of crisis, instead of forever raising prices to record levels to keep for themselves additional tens of billions of dollars in new profits. Indeed, just in the 3rd Quarter of 2005, while America's people and economy were being blown to shreds by an unprecedented deluge of hurricanes, the oil companies raised their profit margins and took in a staggering $32,000,000,000 (yes, $32 billion) in excess profits (not merely gross revenues) in just those 90 devastating days alone ... which equates to taking from American home-budgets an incredible $15,000,000 per hour, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, month after month after month. Just the money they bled from us in merely one single day of such excess profits could pay all the home-heating bills for the entire winter for 720,000 of America's neediest hard-working families. Yet all of those families (and more) are left with no choice but to pay for that essential heat by cutting back on their own or their children's medical care, or food, or clothing, or all of these necessities... all in the midst of a devastating, deadly and brutally icy winter.
And right after we learned that - during that very same winter - one single Exxon Oil executive took unto himself a $400,000,000.oo BONUS - almost half a billion dollars for just one man, on top of his already incredibly bloated salary. That single bonus alone could have been used to virtually cut in half last month's gasoline expenditures for well over three million hard-working American families.
Bankers could likewise display their patriotism - not by merely loaning our struggling America the money she needs at no interest - but by outright donating money to America's treasury, school districts, lunch programs, health clinics, libraries and all the other stuggling essential services. After all, unlike anyone else, for many generations bankers have gathered hundreds of billions to themselves without ever having offered any tangible product to anyone. Isn't it time they returned the favor to America? Any American who has ever had a bank account knows of the banks' endless, outrageous and ever-increasing fees and charges, and bankers' cold-blooded avarice that routinely kicks innocent citizens when they are down, as if they were less than the lowest of animals. Why is this? Common citizens would be rightfully thrown in jail for such lacks of compassion and remorse. Why aren't bank owners, executives and stock-holders expected to display their fair share of human decency, sacrifice and patriotism?
Likewise, top execs in every industry and profession - especially those who profit in any way from war and its killing-machines - could easily take a 50% cut in their pay and still be the best-paid execs on the planet, and still be far wealthier than you and I have ever dreamed.
Lawyers and lobbyists can also donate their time and money to arrange and expedite all of the above donations, at no charge. They too - like all the others who possess far more money than integrity and patriotism - can also make very generous donations directly into our nation's sagging treasury, to help rebuild a decaying and suffering America and her essential human services and infra-structure.
But will they? Certainly not on their own, because they clearly have no sense whatsover of being any true part of America and all that she stands for. Thus far, they have displayed no maturity, no character, no integrity, no comprehension of being with us or a part of us, but only of working against us, only using us as cash-cows that they milk until our crumbling bones are bleeding.
Talk to your friends, family, relatives, coworkers, church congregation, everybody you know. Let them know of the noble grass-roots movement that has become known as "U.S.A." - the "United Sacrifice Act". Even more important than the mis-named and deceitful Patriot Act, the United Sacrifice Act smokes out and exposes America's unpatriotic pretenders and parasites. Its legally-binding demands are as easy as 1, 2, 3:
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1. Any and all individuals and corporations - whether executives and stock-holders of primary corporations, trusts, consortiums and/or holding companies, and any agencies or individual/corporate/other entities who directly or indirectly finance or profit from war activities, materials, weapons systems, logistics, operations or rebuilding of war-damaged targets and cities - will henceforward for the next four years (until the 10th anniversay of 9/11/2001) supply and donate at no cost all such war-related materials and military support, sparing American taxpayers all such costs.
2. On September 11, 2011, the tenth anniversary of 9/11, the status of the "War on Terror" will be reviewed by the U.S. Congress. If this War is declared officially over at that time (i.e., all US troops are gone and all US/UN combat and "advisory" operations have totally ceased), the provisions of Item #1 above will cease. If this War is still ongoing on 9/11/2011, then the provisions of Item #1 above will be renewed in full for another four years.
3. Any attempt by any individual or corporate or other entity (or elected or unelected U.S. official or private/public entity) to water down, diminish, eliminate or interfere with the above items - or any attempt to create or maintain any kind of diversion, loophole(s), or "laundering" or "re-defining" of funds, tax revenues or budgets, to circumvent or avoid compliance with the United Sacrifice Act - will be considered an act of Treason against the United States of America and its citizens, punishable to the full extent of the law under any/all pre-9/11 laws and any/all applicable provisions of the USA Patriot Act.
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Let everyone you know read this complete public posting. Look as hard as you wish for any flaw in the logic of these words, any fault in the reasoning, any shred of unfairness. Then, take action. Contact all of your elected representitives. Call radio and TV talk-shows. Send mass-mailings of email containing the Web-address of the words you are reading. Let the word spread far and wide that America belongs to Americans... that in a Democracy the leaders bow down to the wishes and service and convenience of The People, and never the other way around... that to be called an American means to be willing to sacrifice for America... that to loot and deceive America's families (or even to just refuse to contribute fairly to America's well-being and survival) is tantamount to treason, and negates any person's right to enjoy the privileges of being an American. Patriotism is a solemn duty and obligation of all Americans, especially those who have benefitted most from America; it is not just the thorny and painful cross for the poorest and bravest of our nation to bear.
We have now seen the extremely simple way to tell for certain if this incredibly costly Iraqi war was truly needed, or if it was contrived (or allowed to happen) to enrich a select few. If those elite Upper Echelons step up to the plate and are willing to contribute their fair share, tighten their belts, and (for the first time in history) help the rest of us rebuild a devestated America - out of their own enormously overflowing pockets - then we will know that they are sincere, that they are truly Patriots, that they are truly Americans. If they do not, then they will have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that they are ravenous, deceitful and inhuman looters, thieves, profiteers and traitors, and that they fully deserve every punishment that fits such heinous crimes.
Only you and I can take America back, and nurse her back to health. If the people lead, the leaders will follow. If we don't, Lady Liberty will die. Please don't let that happen.
May God Bless You, and May God Bless America,
Patrick Q. Henry
September 11, 2006
Patrick_Q_Henry@yahoo.com
posted by Patrick Q. Henry at 9:12 AM
1 Comments:
Hello Pat and all,
Here's some pivotal knowledge (wisdom) so you and others can stop focusing on symptoms and obfuscatory details and home in like a laser on the root causes of and solutions to humanity's seemingly never-ending struggles.
Money is the lifeblood of the powerful and the chains and key to human enslavement
There is a radical and highly effective solution to all of our economic problems that will dramatically simplify, streamline, and revitalize human civilization. It will eliminate all poverty and the vast majority of crime, material inequality, deception, and injustice. It will also eliminate the underlying causes of most conflicts, while preventing evil scoundrels and their cabals from deceiving, deluding, and bedeviling humanity, ever again. It will likewise eliminate the primary barriers to solving global warming, pollution, and the many evils that result from corporate greed and control of natural and societal resources. That solution is to simply eliminate money from the human equation, thereby replacing the current system of greed, exploitation, and institutionalized coercion with freewill cooperation, just laws based on verifiable wisdom, and societal goals targeted at benefiting all, not just a self-chosen and abominably greedy few.
We can now thank millennia of political, monetary, and religious leaders for proving, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that top-down, hierarchical governance is absolute folly and foolishness. Even representative democracy, that great promise of the past, was easily and readily subverted to enslave us all, thanks to money and those that secretly control and deceptively manipulate all currencies and economies. Is there any doubt anymore that entrusting politics and money to solve humanity's problems is delusion of the highest order? Is there any doubt that permitting political and corporate leaders to control the lives of billions has resulted in great evil?
Here's a real hot potato! Eat it up, digest it, and then feed it's bones to the hungry...
Most people have no idea that the common-denominator math of all the world's currencies forms an endless loop that generates debt faster than we can ever generate the value to pay for it. This obscured and purposeful math-logic trap at the center of all banking, currencies, and economies is the root cause of poverty. Those who rule this world through fear and deception strive constantly to hide this fact, while pretending to seek solutions to poverty and human struggle. Any who would scoff at this analysis have simply failed to do the math, even though it is based on a simple common-denominator ratio.
Read more here...
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