The Bushes Thankyou this holiday season for being Stupid Voters

Making money from government service and war, and lining the pockets of family and friends
is a sacred creed in the Bush family. The Corleone family in “The Godfather” showed more
 restraint and was less inclined toward violence than the greedy gangsters the Bush crime
 family unleashed on the world.

Using public office and influence to make millions is so ingrained in the regime that they
don’t even think twice when they raid the public treasury to take care of themselves.

Vice President Dick Cheney cashed in as secretary of defense to rake in millions
 in government contracts as CEO of Halliburton. The no bid, cost-plus contracts Halliburton
subsequently landed in Iraq are just good business deals, expected spoils for imperial lords.
The fact that Cheney was still getting residual payments from the company should in no way
be considered a conflict.

The Bushes  they have much to be thankful for. Their family business thrives
and their wealth grows as the rest of the nation worries about having a job,
 making mortgage payments, having health insurance and paying for college tuition
concerns unknown and unfelt among the Bush brood.

Neil Bush, the president’s brother, is cashing in on the No Child Left Behind Act.
 Neil, escaped indictment for his role in the collapse of the Silverado Savings and Loan.
The taxpayers picked up the tab for his malfeasance.
 Failure in business means nothing when all you have to do is shake
down your daddy’s pals for your next entrepreneurial experiment.

Neil’s company Ignite! Learning is doing quite well. With his parents and their Saudi pals bankrolling
 the venture, Neil has been winning contracts all over the country from school districts anxious to buy
his software products. Over the last three years, Ignite! has brought in $20 million, charging $30 a student
for its signature product, Curriculum on Wheels, known as COW. But Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics
 in Washington (CREW) is wondering whether Bush’s family ties, not the quality of the software,
 may have something to do with the company’s success.

Under pressure from CREW, the inspector general of the U.S. Department of Education has agreed to
 investigate whether federal money is “appropriately being spent.” CREW is arguing that the Ignite!
product does not meet the legal requirements detailed in the No Child Left Behind legislation.

But education spending is just chump change. They know the real money is in war.
 The more war, the more money they make. Perhaps the legacy of the Bush era will
be the privatization of war and the profiteering that resulted.

Congress Joint Economic Committee estimates the true cost of Bush’s wars will amount to
a staggering $3.5 trillion when all the hidden costs are realized. That includes the costs of treating
 wounded veterans

The simple way to end the madness is for the Democrats in the Senate and House to insist
that the war be financed on a pay-as-you-go basis. No more war on the national credit card.
 Insist that tax revenues pay for military expenditures. What fiscally responsible lawmaker
 could oppose the proposal? Don’t saddle our children with unconscionable debt.
If you support the war, then pay for it. Of course, the Democrats don’t have the nerve to play that card,
and the Republicans don’t care about controlling government spending unless it’s for health care.

Blackwater Worldwide, the mercenary company, is the poster child
for the gold-lined war firms making fortunes through debt-financed government contracts.

 Even after the Nisour Square massacre, gunned down unarmed Iraqi civilians
on Sept. 16 in Baghdad, the company has lost none of its clout with the Bush administration.Blackwater is on the short list of contractors in the running to grab a $15 billion contract
 to wage war on the narcotics trade the Bush administration claims funnels money to fund terrorism.

Blackwater owner Erik Prince has been a major contributor to Bush and other Republican campaign
causes. Prince’s sister Betsy is married to Dick DeVos, the billionaire Amway heir

 The Cheney family and all the Bushes, war has brought them a good life
They have much money to be thankful for and they’ll repeat a phase that
 has profound meaning for them: “Please pass the gravy.”