Friday, May 29, 2015

No. 150 – May 28, 2015 – The Ghost of General Smedley Butler



by Melinda Pillsbury-Foster

General Butler, the most decorated American military figure of the first half of the 20th Century, wrote a book about his military service titled, “War is a Racket.” The corporate cabal, which reportedly included a du Pont and Prescott Bush, asked him to assist in removing FDR from office in 1934, were deceived by Butler's vocal criticisms of FDR, and unfamiliar with his belief his service to his country had actually made him an enforcer for the corporations. Smedley was alive to the impropriety of using America's military might to intimidate small central and south American countries for the profit of corporations controlled by these men.

Instead of handling their problem for these wealthy folks Smedley reported them to Roosevelt, who was well aware of the hazards of having the heads of houses of banking which included Morgan as well, arrested. FDR leaked word of the plan, which would have placed Butler in the White House, to the press.

This resulted in a Congressional investigation which achieved nearly as much as the Warren Commission would thirty years later. It was four years before the terrified men would publish their findings, marked for, “restricted circulation.” Sadly, the General, recipient of two Medals of Honor, died unexpectedly in 1940, just before our entry into World War II.

Charges conveyed by General Butler, which the committee confirmed, included the information a million people had agreed to join the insurrection using arms and munitions made available by a close associate of du Pont, Remington.

Many of those involved were still the heads of their various corporations when charges of doing business with German corporations during World War II surfaced. This continued to be true when departing president, Dwight D. Eisenhower gave his speech warning Americans of the dangers they faced during his farewell address to the nation on January 17, 1961.

Nothing had changed when John Perkins published his book, “Confessions of an Economic Hit Man,” in 2004. Perkins work ensured the continued flow of money from smaller and weaker nations into the same corporate interests who schemed to remove FDR in 1933 and who did remove JFK in 1963.

Since then occupiers of the Oval Office have been much less likely to make waves, understanding who is really in charge. Choosing between Jeb and Hillary is just picking between, “chocolate or strawberry.” They are both corporate ice cream, bad for us and America.

Thursday, May 21, 2015

No. 149 – Hats, Friendship, and Looking Back


by Melinda Pillsbury-Foster

In 2002 I had not yet met Mario – and he had not run into the enormous problem created intentionally by the mortgage industry to expedite foreclosures, using the housing market to create derivatives which could then be monetized, becoming an investment. Mario, whose training is in dress design of all kinds, solved his own problem and has helped thousands of other people keep their homes. He is that kind of guy, warm, compassionate, and determined.

Attorneys pay him to update them on foreclosures and how new case law is changing the outcome for many. Mario became obsessive on the subject and devoured law books when he realized how people were being harmed. Along with telling me about his work for people facing foreclosure Marion also mentioned to me in an off-handed way, he makes hats.

While I know any number of people who are struggling financially I only knew one other person with a passion for hats. Naturally, I introduced them. Tonight we chatted for nearly an hour tonight via conference call. Mario and Maggie got along like gang-busters.

Maggie once owned a hat shop and loved being a milliner. She is also in foreclosure herself. So, it was a very fertile conversation, so to speak. They are now planning a website to sell hats and help people facing foreclosure. Mario has shown many people how to handle their own cases. Good things.

Planning out deceptive behavior which takes people's homes should be a crime. Deceptive behavior is a problem in other instances as well.

I had just gotten around to reading “Rove Exposed,” by James Moore and Wayne Slater, published in 2006. But the story about Rove that arrested my interest was the sneak way he orchestrated the sale of invading Iraq. When it happened it was easy to forget the details, but in the book, there they were, with dates and who said what, documented and easy to understand.

But Slater and Moore left out the best part of the story. After the sales job done to persuade Americans Saddam had weapons of mass destruction in November, 2002 he contacted the Bush White House and offered to leave Iraq – if they just paid him. For me, the time line in “Rove Exposed” explained why Rove was so anxious to make sure Saddam did not go anywhere. And Saddam could never speak out.

Imagine that.