[Peace-discuss] The Clintons, Trump and the parasitic nature of the US body politic

Tue Jan 5 09:22:16 EST 2016

Monday, January 4, 2016

The Clintons, Trump and the parasitic nature of the US body politic 

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<http://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-makes-a-lot-of-money-for-a-spee
ch-2015-8> Source: Business Insider

By Richard Mellor

Afscme Local 444, retired

It is no wonder the average American is so cynical about politics and
politicians.  We have the most corrupt and bribery riddled democracy of all
the advanced capitalist economies.

I don't know how many times we hear from US politicians in the two Wall
Street parties about how the millions, sometimes hundreds of millions, in
political donations they take from corporations or individual billionaires
do not affect the decisions they make. At Hillary Clinton's confirmation
hearing for secretary of state, she promised she would take "extraordinary
steps.to avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest." WSJ 12-31-15.

Why bother making a statement like this? Even when it's as clear as the nose
on one's face that there's a conflict of interest, they say the money
doesn't affect their decisions and that's the end of it, nothing happens.  A
message to our readers abroad: No American worker with any brain cells at
all believes them when politicians of the 1% like Hillary Clinton, Jeb Bush
or whomever makes these statements.

Not only are these state sponsored lies, there is other money, money these
people make giving speeches for example.  Not long after Hillary said all
this, her husband Bill was paid more than $8 million for speeches. The
bribers were corporations as well as one foreign government, Abu Dhabi; and
this was during a period when the donors had matters before Ms. Clinton's
State Department.  "Abu Dhabi and its sister emirate, Dubai are the places
where investors go to escape the deadly politics of the Middle East and
focus on making money" Bloomberg BusinessWeek wrote last month, and Dubai
and Abu Dhabi have horrendous human rights records when it comes to workers.
<http://weknowwhatsup.blogspot.com/2013/07/rape-victim-sentenced-for-being-r
aped.html>  In 2013, a Norwegian woman who was raped was sentenced to 16
months in prison for her transgression--------having sex out of wedlock.

This was when Ms Clinton was US Secretary of State.  The Emirate government
was seeking an inspection facility that could, "..clear travelers for U.S.
entry before they boarded planes so they could avoid delays when arriving in
the U.S."
<http://www.wsj.com/articles/speaking-fees-meet-politics-for-clintons-145150
4098> according to the Wall Street Journal. The deal was eventually agreed
to and one week after the "US officials signed the letter of intent.", Bill
Clinton gave a 20 minute speech on climate change to the Abu Dhabi
government and was paid $500,000 for his efforts. A year or so later, Bill
Clinton spoke again in Abu Dhabi, this time to the World Travel and Tourism
Council and sponsored by the government.  Bill gave the keynote address and
was paid $500,000. As a matter of interest, a major sponsor of this
conference was the Emirate Airline Etihad Airways, a direct beneficiary of
the aforementioned facility.

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In 2009 bribers/lobbyists for the Biotech industry pressured Clinton's State
Dept. to "get diplomats to oppose rules against genetically modified foods."
She helped out telling diplomats to ".push an 'active biotech agenda'".
She meant by that, one that would protect US farmers and exporters, not the
health of the consumer. Some months later she was paid $175,000 at the
Biotech Industry convention and after leaving the State Department she spoke
at the trade group's convention for another $335,000 fee.

None of this indicates any wrongdoing and neither should it arouse
suspicion.  These are important prestigious members of the US ruling class
and government; they go to church.  Important people make this very clear if
the reader takes the time to read the Journal article.

Not only did Ms. Clinton stress that nothing she does comes close to
conflict of interest, the Wall Street Journal, ".found no evidence that
speaking fees were paid to the former president in exchange for any action
by Mrs. Clinton."  

Brian Fallon, a Clinton spokesperson told the Journal that, "no evidence
exists" that would link ".actions taken by Mrs. Clinton's State Department
to organizations hosting Mr. Clinton's speeches." To suggest such a thing
with regard to the opening of the Abu Dhabi facility was "farcical" he said.

No evidence, farcical, within the confines of the law.  And on and on. 

The Clintons are not alone.  The whole system is mired in corruption and
graft, the best democracy money can but as they say. This is why it is
extremely rare for them to be punished by the phony ethics committee or
conduct this thievery in the open and with complete contempt for the
American taxpayer and working class----they're all at it in either party,
from top to bottom. To defend her actions with regard to the cable sent to
diplomats pressuring them to object to anti-GM rules, Hillary Clinton's
mouthpiece tells the WSJ, "a similar diplomatic cable was sent under the
Bush administration."  Of course, the office is a cash cow for whoever's in
it.

In the period of Ms. Clinton's tenure as Secretary of State, Bill Clinton
was paid for more than 200 speeches. If he intends to continue this gravy
train while Hillary is campaigning for president Bill told NBC, "Oh, yeah. I
gotta pay our bills."

The American working class allows this to continue.  Too many heads are
still buried in the sand. Too many union members complain about their
leaders but do nothing about it. Too many let others fight battles alone
satisfied it's "not happening to me" rather than joining them before it is.
The rich, militant history of the struggle in the US has been driven deep in
to the subconscious and the mass media, the mindless focus on shallow
celebrities, sports, millionaire movie stars and now the diversion of
terrorism and foreign enemies, hordes of immigrants all act to suppress this
history and the domestic war against US working people that has been fought
for centuries.  

Don't whine, organize.

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