Yes. Yes I am. Part deux of Maureen Farrell's 3-part series is here, and she sets the record straight.
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
Tired of Being Lied To?
Sunday, November 27, 2005
It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year
Yay! Christmastime is here!
I didn’t hear my first Christmas carol until the day after Thanksgiving. It was Dr. John’s version of “Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer.” It was followed by all the classics by Bing, Frank, Dino, Ray Charles, John Denver and of course those lovable Chipmunks. Needless to say, I was SHOPPING.
Yes, shopping. That is how we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior in America. We shop. And shop and shop and shop. And fight and shop and fight. And shop.
And fight.
Four days ago, on my way home from work, I saw a man beating his son (presumably it was his son) while attempting to hang a string of Christmas lights on the front awning of his house. The string of Christmas lights was hopelessly tangled as they always are this time of year, and the boy, who looked to be about seven or eight years old, had carelessly walked directly into the massive snarl. The dad instantly dropped the focus of his labors and grabbed the kid’s sweatshirt with his left hand and walloped him repeatedly with his right. Jesus would have been proud.
Or he IS proud. That’s what I meant to say. I keep forgetting that he’s not some guy who got killed by the Romans 2,000 years ago, but a living, infinite being with whom I can forge a meaningful bond.
Anyway, to honor this Son of God who Died for Our Sins, we must shop. And decorate our dwellings with garish symbols of pre-Christian paganism. And shop.
And fight.
I have not yet heard of any occurrences of the annual separation-of-church-and-state fracases that seem to accompany this glorious season, but no doubt they are right around the corner. Some hyper-Christian civil servant will erect a manger scene in a government center somewhere and the Secularists will raise their angry voices in protest. The ACLU will be called upon, once again, to set the situation to rights and the Christian symbols will be replaced by pagan ones. But as Molly Ivins once famously observed, erecting a Nativity scene is probably the only way to get three wise men in a government building.
From all this, you might be inclined to believe that Big Daddy Malcontent hates Christmas, but nothing can be further from the truth. As mentioned above, Christmastime has pagan origins. The ancient Germans would mark the shortest day of the year by gathering with family and friends to eat, drink and be merry in an effort to fortify themselves against the coming winter doldrums. And, if times were good, they would exchange a gift or two in honor of the friendships without which life would be dreary. Decades of conflict with the Romans hipped Caesar to the tradition, proving that good can come from bad. As the Roman Empire morphed into the Holy Roman Empire, these German traditions became the accepted method for celebrating the birth of Jesus.
So, whether you’re celebrating Christmas, Hanukah, Kwanzaa or some nebulous incarnation of the seasonal merriment, the central theme remains the same: Peace on Earth and Goodwill Toward Men. Lack of it is at the heart of Big Daddy’s malcontentedness, so naturally he is Down with Christmas. Peace.
Blogging may be Hazardous to your Health
The things that we western bloggers take for granted! Slashdot reports:
"A Singaporean blogger, who pled guilty to sedition charges last month for posting anti-Muslim remarks in his blog, has avoided a custodial sentence, and has been placed on 2 years probation instead. According to the article, the 17 year old student is the third person to be convicted under Singapore's sedition laws in October. Singapore, which is unconcerned by wide criticism of its record of press freedom, appears to have been stepping up efforts against bloggers in recent months."This guy got off lightly compared to most. Often when I read reports like this I can't help but feel an affinity towards my fellow bloggers.
Indeed, blogging crosses all political, racial and religious boundaries putting us on a level playing field (excepting Pajamas Media elitists and their ilk of course :). That is what makes the blogosphere special. A blogging brother/sisterhood so to speak. The ties that bind and all that.
Perhaps it is also because I lived for a time in Malasia and I am reminded of when I lost a journalism job for merely voicing my opinion about the government. I should count myself lucky. Others have disappeared into the night for less.
I know first-hand the suffering that people in third world countries endure not having the luxury of freedom of speech that the west enjoys. There has been many a time that I wished there was more I could do besides providing lip-service. Then again, with the power of blog technology at least we can broadcast news items like this to the rest of the world, and if there is enough public opinion to bring to bear... who knows.
Saturday, November 26, 2005
Sayonara Mr. Miyagi
Sad to hear that actor Pat Morita, who starred as the wise 'Mr Miyagi' in the Karate Kid films, has died at the tender age of 73. He died at his home in Las Vegas, Nevada from natural causes.
Born to Japanese immigrants as Noriuke Morita, in 1932 they moved to California as fruit pickers. During World War II he was among thousands of Japanese-Americans who were sent to internment camps.
Later he abandoned a career as an aircraft technician to become a comedian in cabarets and television series, rising to fame in such series as "Happy Days" and "MASH".
But he is best known for his role as Ralph Macchio's mentor 'Mr Miyagi' in 'The Karate Kid' films, for which he received a best supporting actor nomination in 1984. Apparently he knew nothing about martial arts but managed to convince us as the quiet caretaker who guided Macchio to defeat his bullies.
You can find a fist of his film work history here.
Sayonara Pat.
Friday, November 25, 2005
The UN's Desire to Control the Internet
Following Political FootBall's theme of the UN's takeover bid of the internet, Steven DuBord wades in on the action.
"UN pirates sailed into Tunis this November 16-18, looking to take the helm of Internet supervision from U.S. hands.I couldn't have said it better myself...
Do you treasure the freedom to wade out into the vast sea of information that is the Internet and surf the World Wide Web? Then look out for what is coming over the horizon: a fleet of ships is bearing down on you and your little surf(key)board, and they are flying the blue Jolly Roger of the United Nations.
You will see among them such ships of state as Russia, China, Cuba, Iran, Sudan, and Zimbabwe, hardly paragons of liberty and human rights. All of them are waving their cutlasses in outrage that the United States is refusing (for now) to relinquish its supervisory role over the private-sector, not-for-profit Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). Even the European Union has revealed its true colors and fired a broadside of protest against supposed U.S. dominance of the Internet. The captain of this bunch is none other than the UN secretary-general himself, Kofi 'oil-for-food' Annan."
"Now, Captain Annan has his eye trained on this map, looking not only for control of cyberspace, but for the buried treasure of taxing access to it. To this end, he convened the first World Summit on the Information Society in Geneva from December 10-12 of 2003, and also a second such summit this November 16-18 in Tunis.Indeed, the next big war will be fought with 'boots on the ground' in cyberspace. You can read the rest of his article at TNA Online.
To get a good idea of what the summit in Tunis was all about, one need only pay heed to Senator Norm Coleman’s (R-Minn.) preview of the Geneva summit in the November 7, 2005 Wall Street Journal: “It sounds like a Tom Clancy plot. An anonymous group of international technocrats holds secretive meetings in Geneva. Their cover story: devising a blueprint to help the developing world more fully participate in the digital revolution. Their real mission: strategizing to take over management of the Internet from the U.S. and enable the United Nations to dominate and politicize the World Wide Web. Does it sound too bizarre to be true? Regrettably, much of what emanates these days from the U.N. does.” Sen. Coleman should know: his Senate investigation into the UN’s oil-for-food scandal has exposed the entrenched bureaucratic corruption of the world body.
Anti-American Audacity and Duplicity:
In “Make Way for the UNternet?” in our January 26, 2004 issue, this publication quoted the blunt statement of a UN official at the Geneva summit: “What we are looking at is the future management of the Internet. It’s [about] what is the best way to manage what has become a natural resource for all humanity.” The summit in Tunis took up where Geneva left off, holding fast to this course of audacity and duplicity."
Next Terrorist Attack will be from Cyberspace
The Quintessential 'Smart Bomb'?
According to Australian security expert Luke Howie, a terrorist attack from cyberspace is more likely than a suicide bomber and could create more havoc. Carrying out a deadly attack would need little more than a personal computer, hacking skills and an extremist ideology."All over the world, we have a very heavy reliance on technological infrastructure and technological systems; nearly every part of our lives is run by computer systems and essentially that creates a vulnerability".Remember Y2K when the world was going to end the year 2000? Well this time it could be for real.
"Once you have a technical system controlling a piece of infrastructure, something that could potentially cause damage if mismanaged, that technical infrastructure is automatically vulnerable to a (terrorist attack)," said Mr Howie, a research associate at the Australian Homeland Security Research Centre. "You can't station troops on an information superhighway."
I can't think of anything today that isn't controlled by computers in one way or another. Imagine the aftermath of hurricane Katrina on a national scale. Absolute KAOS!
Disruption of essential services like fresh water, electricity, food, transportation, communications, emergency services... the list is endless and could spell disaster if a coordinated cyber-terrorist attack were to be successful.
It would be the ultimate 'smart bomb'. So what are the authorities doing about it?
I'm not one for fear mongering but it is a frightening scenario.
Tuesday, November 22, 2005
Seems I'm Not the Only One
At least one other blogger knows the democratic process is a ruse. Check out Maureen Farrell's excellent post on Buzzflash. She displays several instances in which corporate hegemony played both sides of a conflict, just as I mentioned here.
NOTE: It says "Part 1 of a 3-part series." Check back for the continuation.
Monday, November 21, 2005
Big Daddy Does Not Believe in Bigfoot
“Since thinking about conspiracies is neither illegal, nor immoral, nor fattening, I have often wondered why people have such a powerful taboo against examining who owns and runs this nation.” – Robert Anton Wilson
As you can probably tell from our last post, Big Daddy Malcontent has a conspiracy theory streak in him running deep and wide. This has probably alienated some of Big Daddy’s readers, since conspiracy theorists are typically viewed as paranoid stoners or rightwing survivalists. Rest assured, Big Daddy is neither; he simply believes that the corporate mindset is determined to systematically suck all that is good, honest and right out of everything it touches. Music, film, fashion, literature, journalism, art, politics, finance, industry, science and just about every other aspect of human endeavor bears the bite marks of the corporate vampire.
To put people’s minds at rest (or to agitate them further), Big Daddy has compiled this list of conspiratorial concepts in which he believes and doesn’t believe.
Big Daddy Malcontent believes…
that the main$tream media are controlled by a combination of covert government propaganda elements such as Operation Mockingbird1., and a narrow corporate agenda dictated by hawkish, self-absorbed social Darwinists like Jack Welch2., Rupert Murdoch3. and the Saudi Royal Family4.;
that America’s education system was set up by a military industrial complex bent on mass-producing ignorant, obedient soldier-laborers5.;
that the main purpose of television is to maintain a nation of frightened, paranoid consumers who relentlessly seek refuge in sports, junk food, unnecessary pharmaceutical products and unneeded material possessions6.;
that a significant portion of the car- and suicide-bombings in Iraq are actually being perpetrated by US and British elements bent on prolonging the conflict thereby maximizing profits for Halliburton and the Carlyle Group7., and that the dramatic increase in Afghanistan’s opium production in the post-9/11 era is directly benefiting said US and British elements8.;
that terrorist actions like the Lockerbie Bombing9. and the car-bombing that killed former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri10. were probably perpetrated by US and/or British intelligence agents, and that said agents have either created or infiltrated terror cells throughout the world which they use to eliminate threats and manipulate the public11.;
that the 9/11 attacks were orchestrated by elements within the Bush Administration led by Vice President Cheney, Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, Asst. Sec of Def. Paul Wolfowitz; Marvin Bush12. (the president’s brother), and various other government and corporate entities for the purpose of decreasing domestic civil liberties and increasing covert and overt military actions in resource rich regions throughout the world13.;
that the Pentagon is controlled by corporate interests;
that the assassinations of JFK, RFK, MLK, Malcolm X, Fred Hampton and others were carried out by a coalition of CIA, FBI, KKK and Mafia elements;
and that the international drug trade is, by turns, tolerated, condoned and operated by the same elements;
Big Daddy Malcontent does not believe…
in bigfoot;
in UFOs (however, belief in UFOs may have been manipulated as a cover for super-secret weapons programs);
that a massive UN army is poised for attack at the Canadian border;
that the UN is evil (however, attempts to usurp the UN for the benefit of dark corporate interests may have rendered the UN evil);
that water fluoridation is a communist plot;
Big Daddy Malcontent believes that even these conspiracy theories reveal both a well-justified mistrust of America’s leadership, and evidence that the media’s campaign to frighten and confuse the citizenry has been largely successful. Big Daddy believes you should turn off the television. And get some exercise. And read more. If you’re not sure what to read, Big Daddy recommends you start here14. And here15. And here16. And here17., here18. and here19.. Big Daddy Malcontent believes organized religion (not religious belief, mind you) exists to subjugate and manipulate the populace20.. As Gore Vidal once put it, “A cult is a religion that lacks political clout.”
The existence of conspiracies can hardly be argued. What can be argued is the nature of the conspiracies, and who is carrying them out. But, as Robert Anton Wilson observed, “most ‘good citizens’ would rather die, even in prolonged torture, than to face the facts.” Construction and deletion is how psychologists describe this phenomenon. We form mental constructs – that America stands for freedom and justice, for example – and delete any data that seems to contradict the constructs. As the central deity in the Church of the Sub Genius, J.R. “Bob” Dobbs instructs21., “The major errors by which most people are deceived are (1) the belief that our rulers are dumb, and (2) the belief that they mean well. They are not dumb and they don’t mean well.”
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Mockingbird
2. http://makethemaccountable.com/coverup/Part_04.htm
3. http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=122948
4. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,136143,00.html
5. http://4brevard.com/choice/Public_Education.htm
6. http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/2003/brainwashing.htm
7. http://www.proliberty.com/observer/20050606.htm
8. http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2002/3/28/95240.shtml
9. http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a39220cfa18c5.htm
10. http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=22&ItemID=7315
11. http://www.namebase.org/books65.html
12. http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0204-06.htm
13. http://www.wanttoknow.info/050504davidraygriffin
14. http://harpers.org/
15. http://www.motherjones.com/
16. http://www.namebase.org/
17. http://www.cfr.org/
18. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
19. http://www.crooksandliars.com/
20. http://bigdaddymalcontent.blogspot.com/2005/10/why-are-christians-so-fucking-dumb.html
21. http://www.subgenius.com/
Sunday, November 20, 2005
Lawyer Faces Discipline for Blogging
Blog's Demise May Chill-Out Other Lawyers' Online Commenting:
Whether or not David Lat loses his job for dishing out the dirt about federal judges, the abrupt end to his weblog may be cause for concern for other lawyers' online creativity.How many others out there may find themselves in a similar predicament? Could Glenn Reynolds be next? Hardly, but then again one less lawyer in the blogosphere might be a good thing.
Case in point: Judges and many politicians are lawyers, but look where we are today.
Friday, November 18, 2005
Reporters Without Borders’ Secretary General banned from Tunis Summit
Think I'm overreacting? The Secretary General (Robert Ménard) of Reporters Without Borders was banned from attending the United Nations WSIS (World Summit on the Information Society) for discussions about control of the internet.
I wonder why?
Wednesday, November 16, 2005
Nations Meet for Control over the Internet
Say NO to Censorship and Keep the Blogosphere FREE:
Here we go. It's Potsdam all over again. The United Nations is meeting to discuss control of the internet. When I read this it was as if I were hit by a lightning bolt.| "Tunisia is preparing to host the United Nation's World Summit on the Information Society, and the United States is bracing for a brawl. While the Internet grew out of U.S. military research, more nations want a greater say in how cyberspace is regulated, the BBC reported Tuesday." |
The Tunis meeting, which starts Wednesday, is nominally scheduled to explore ways to extend Internet use to poor nations. But Washington expects opposition to its influence over the Internet to be the real focus of the meeting.
'The rest of the world doesn't want to see U.S. hegemony here, in large part just for symbolic reasons,' says Jonathan Zittrain, chair in Internet Governance and Regulation at Oxford University.
'So there's one set of countries, anchored by Iran, Cuba and China, that would like to see some process by which governments of the world have a much larger hand in controlling the shape of the Internet.'
What did we tell you?
| "Mark my words. The blogosphere is on the fast track to being hijacked by the control freaks and big business interests. More restrictive laws and government intervention. Acquisitions and mergers, IPO offerings, get-rich-quick dot-com scam artists, media moguls, ABC, MSNBC, FOX, Pajamas party, whatever." |
So why do we need government sticking it's nose in the internet in the first place? Obviously China, Iran, North Korea et al want to silence the human rights activists.
And what's the US's interest? To protect it's turf? Well, maybe. To brainstorm new ways of taxing us? Getting warm. Or maybe Bush just wants to put a stop to us making caricatures of him, all in the name of Homeland Security. Yeah, that's probably it.
There I go being cynical again. But seriously, this is a subject that we bloggers need to watch closely. Although it doesn't mention anything about the blogosphere directly, whatever affects the internet affects bloggers as well.
Let's be real. This isn't an issue about fairness amongst nations. It smells more like governmental control and dividing up the spoils than anything else.
It starts with your rights being eroded one bit at a time, until one day you wake up and find that you have no more rights.
Anything that encumbers openness and transparency in the blogosphere is akin to a good old fashioned book burning. It is censorship any way you look at it.
Are any bloggers attending the meeting? You can bet the farm Bill Gates' entourage will be there in one way shape or form.
The blogosphere is the last remaining FREE democratic organism in a world without borders. Let's keep it free fellow bloggers. This is the time to stand up for your rights and say YES to freedom of speech.
tags: blog weblog blogging blog tool blog search diary computing internet computers and internet technology tech political football news in the news news headlines headline news current affairs current events opinion rant ramblings random thoughts news and politics politics political media law legal censorship internet human rights freedom of speech tunis tunisa united nations
Monday, November 14, 2005
The Hegellian Dialectic In Action
Whenever someone utters the word, ‘philosopher,’ most people think of Plato, Aristotle, John Locke, Baruch Spinoza, Rene Descartes, Immanuel Kant, Friedrich Nietzsche, Jean-Paul Sartre and so on. But I would argue that there is a philosopher that has had a much greater impact on modern history than any of these gents. His name is Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel.
Hegel was fascinated with the idea of conflict in thought, as in, self vs. other; authority vs. freedom; knowledge vs. faith, etc. He felt that the human mind was the only place where the different stages of these conflicts could exist simultaneously, forming a mélange that made up the individual’s worldview. This conflict between a thesis and an antithesis forms a synthesis that incorporates elements of both; Hegel called this phenomenon ‘dialectic,’ which comes from the Greek word dialektikē, which means ‘art of debate.’
When applied to world events, the Hegellian Dialectic can be used to intelligently observe conflicting ideologies and accurately predict or even influence the conflicts’ outcomes. The well-positioned string-puller – Aristotle Onassis or the Carlyle Group, say – can even benefit by aiding both sides in the conflict.
A number of private organizations have been established for the purpose of doing just that. The Trilateral Commission, The Bilderberg Group, Skull and Bones, Council on Foreign Relations and other more obscure organizations exist to control the debate – to prevail no matter which choice is made by the masses. Whether the masses choose the liberal, anti-war candidate (Kerry) or the conservative hawk (Bush), the winner is an insider – a member of the club. If the winner fucks up, the way Bush has, the masses go running into the arms of the other guy – in this case, John Kerry, or, more accurately, his running mate, John Edwards.
It’s good cop-bad cop. Target or Wal-Mart. Coke or Pepsi. No matter which one is chosen, the power structure that produced the choice triumphs, and outsiders lose.
It is interesting to note, for example, that lumber baron Frederick Weyerhaeuser and early environmentalist Gifford Pinchot were both Skull and Bones members, as, of course, were 2004 presidential campaign rivals John Kerry and George W. Bush. Arch conservative British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and “New Democrat” Bill Clinton each got early political boosts following visits to the Bilderberg Group. And Cecil Rhodes’ scholarship fund, established – according his will – for the purpose of “the extension of British rule throughout the world,” has aided such conservative stalwarts as CIA director R. James Woolsey and Supreme Court Justice David Souter and such noted liberals as Kris Kristofferson, Bill Bradley and Strobe Talbott.
But these organizations weren’t established out of some diabolical desire to rule the world; on the contrary, the impulse was altruistic. It’s just that from the relatively narrow perspective of the early bankers and industrialists, the masses – especially the non-white ones – needed guidance that only their superior intellects could provide. As Carroll Quigley observes in Tragedy and Hope, these “were gracious and cultured gentlemen of somewhat limited social experience who were much concerned with the freedom of expression of minorities and the rule of law for all, who constantly thought in terms of Anglo-American solidarity, of political partition and federation, and who were convinced that they could gracefully civilize the Boers of South Africa, the Irish, the Arabs, and the Hindus, and who are largely responsible for the partitions of Ireland, Palestine, and India, as well as the federations of South Africa, Central Africa, and the West Indies.” So, it seems today’s predicament is more a failure of good intentions than a design of bad ones. But that doesn’t make things any better for us. If anything, it makes things worse because it is so difficult to tell where the incompetence ends and the shameless profiteering begins. Exacerbating matters is the fact that the bankers and industrialists who started this scam are long gone, and in their place is a coterie of shallow thinkers who are in every way inferior to their predecessors.
The latest incarnation of the Hegellian Dialectic is the sudden effort by Democrats to capitalize from the Bush Administration’s blunders in Iraq. First, war profiteer Dianne Feinstein tells Wolf Blitzer she was duped into supporting the war. Next, former vice presidential candidate and Bilderberg guest John Edwards declares he “was wrong” to support the war in Iraq. What we the people are supposed to believe is that voting the Democrats back into office will constitute a real change in leadership, but nothing could be further from the truth.
As Quigley famously opined, “The argument that the two parties should represent opposed ideals and policies – one, perhaps, of the Right and the other of the Left – is a foolish idea. Instead, the two parties should be almost identical, so that the American people can throw the rascals out at any election without leading to any profound or extensive shifts in policy. The policies that are vital and necessary for America are no longer subjects of significant disagreement, but are disputable only in detail, procedure, priority, or method.”
So, while the voting half of the republic argues about pointless side issues like gun control and abortion, the corporate locomotive chugs along unhindered. The tragedy isn’t simply that the electoral process into which so many have invested their aspirations is a hoax; the tragedy is that things like the environment, education, healthcare and true human progress – if considered at all – are merely done so as products that generate profits for two wings of the same corporate power structure. I doubt if that was what Hegel had in mind.
Friday, November 11, 2005
Thank You
Thank you to everybody who has sent me their well-wishes.
Just a brief explanation:
I have dedicated so much time and effort to my blogs (I have several) that I neglected certain issues in my life that can no longer be ignored. Some of this has to do with health issues as well as financial.
It is times like this that serve as a reminder that we are only just human after all.
From the bottom of my heart I appreciate your concern and hope to resume blogging shortly. I don't know if I will be able to write daily, but I will do the best I can under the circumstances.
If anybody would like to contribute to this blog and help with some of the heavy lifting I will be happy to hear from you.
Thank you again for your support.
tags: political football
Wednesday, November 9, 2005
Who is Ahmed Chalabi?
Ahmed Chalabi is a scoundrel of the first order. He is a central figure in the "Cheney-Rumsfeld cabal" that former Colin Powell aide Larry Wilkerson says has hijacked American foreign policy.
So, what is he doing in Washington today?
Why, he's there to help is cabal-mates get their story straight amid a wave of scandal regarding falsified pre-war intelligence, of course. This guy's rap sheet is so long, it is a miracle of modern politicking that he is even still alive, let alone poised to assume the reins of the country he helped ruin.
With the help of Chalabi, Diebold and the administration's minions in the supposedly liberal media, America's reins of power have been siezed in a (mostly) bloodless coup d'etat.
Tuesday, November 8, 2005
The Trickle-Up Theory (part 3)
The other monolithic figure of early modern banking was the House of Morgan. Led by the notorious J.P. Morgan (junior and senior), the Morgan bank stood atop the international financial world for over a century, controlling railroads, telegraph networks, mining concerns, shipping lines, lumber, oil and steel conglomerates and greatly influencing the politics of four continents. At its height, the House of Morgan simultaneously symbolized all that is good and bad about American capitalism. J.P. Morgan was an original patron of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, gave generously to the American Museum of Natural History and St. Luke’s Hospital, kept a seldom-occupied box at the Metropolitan Opera and helped launch the legendary Groton prep school. At the same time, his bank loaned money to fascist Italy, bankrolled Mussolini’s American P.R. campaign and financed wars on at least three continents.
Morgan, along with the other influential banks of the day, National City Bank, Kuhn Loeb and Co., and Brown Bros. Harriman, ushered in the era of globalism that now dominates international trade; and their “gentleman Banker’s Code” would be considered insider trading by today’s standards. Nevertheless, for good or ill, the House of Morgan was instrumental in America’s rise to its present position as the world’s lone superpower.
Like the Rothschilds before it, the House of Morgan has humble beginnings. Originally called the House of Peabody, the bank was founded by a rags-to-riches Baltimore dry-goods merchant named George Peabody. Peabody dropped out of school when his father died and went to work in his brother’s shop to support his widowed mother and six siblings. His flair for business gained him the capital to move to Baltimore and buy into a partnership with successful merchant Elisha Riggs, whom he met while fighting in the War of 1812. Together, Peabody and Riggs worked their way to the top of Baltimore’s merchant class.
In 1835, like most of the other former British colonies, Maryland was saddled with debt. They had taken out loans from London banks to finance railroads and canals, which they hoped would spur business and foster trade. When the new commerce failed to materialize, Maryland, like several other states, found herself in a financial pickle. Local hatred toward foreign bankers caused state legislatures to threaten to renege on the loans, and Peabody was selected to lead a commission to renegotiate the debt. Peabody successfully argued that only more loans would assure repayment of the old ones, and secured an additional $8 million for Maryland.
While in London, Peabody fell in love with the business and lifestyles of the city’s merchant bankers, and he decided to move there and form his own bank. In 1837, with a loan from Riggs, he did just that, setting up Peabody, Riggs and Co. at the prestigious address of 31 Moorgate in London. Now he was shoulder-to-shoulder with such banking luminaries as the Baring Brothers, who had financed the Louisiana Purchase, and the aforementioned Rothschilds.
But it was an uphill battle for Peabody in this new enterprise. State after state reneged on interest payments, and five American governors formed a debtor’s cartel leveraging for debt repudiations. Peabody’s partner, Riggs, wanted out of the arrangement, and Peabody was forced to go it alone. Moreover, entry into the celebrated society of British bankers – already difficult for an American – became impossible under the cloud of defaulted American loans.
But Peabody’s neighbor, the Barings Bank, was also stuck with defaulted bond issues, and together the two houses concocted a scheme to get the states back on good footing. The plot involved such shameless acts as paying newspapers to run editorials in favor of debt repayment, establishing a political slush fund to be used for electing (mostly Whig) pro-debt repayment legislators and even convincing clergymen to preach on the moral sanctity of contracts. They even bribed the orator and statesman Daniel Webster to make speeches on the topic.
The ploy worked. With a couple of exceptions, the depreciated state bonds that Peabody had bought up resumed interest payments, and Peabody reaped a fortune. Later, with revolution in Europe, a gold rush in California and a war with Mexico, American securities became the safe bet and the House of Peabody’s standing among the London merchant bankers was cemented.
Though known for his philanthropy later in his life, Peabody was friendless miser. “I have never forgotten and never can forget the great privations of my early years,” he once told an acquaintance. This scar upon his memory greatly affected his attitude toward money, and some have observed that the philanthropy for which he is remembered today was little more than an attempt to repair his reputation as a tightfisted loner.
Junius Morgan, who had become Peabody’s partner in 1854, later recounted an episode that perfectly illustrates Peabody’s stinginess. Upon arriving to work one morning, Morgan found Peabody at his desk looking pale and feverish. “Mr. Peabody, with that cold you ought not to stick here,” Morgan suggested. Peabody reluctantly agreed and proceeded home. Twenty minutes later, while on his way to the Royal Exchange, Morgan came upon Peabody standing in the driving rain. “I thought you were going home,” exclaimed Morgan. “Well I am, Morgan,” Peabody replied. “But there’s only been a two-penny bus come along as yet and I am waiting for a penny one.”
Peabody’s Parsimony extended to other matters, as well. In 1854, when Junius Spencer Morgan became Peabody’s only partner, part of the agreement was that in ten years’ time, Peabody would leave the reins – and the firm’s name – to Morgan. After nearly 30 years of work, the House of Peabody had become one of the pillars of international finance; continuing the name would help assure continued success. But in 1864, even as he was donating thousands to charities all over the world, he refused Morgan use of the Peabody name.
“It was, at that time, the bitterest disappointment of [his] life that Peabody refused to allow the old firm name to be continued,” Morgan’s grandson recalled. Morgan reluctantly changed the name to J.S. Morgan and Company.
Despite Peabody’s stinginess in personal matters, he was generous in his endowments to a wide variety of charities. He formed a trust fund to build housing for London’s poor. Called Peabody Estates, they had gas lamps and running water, unlike the fetid hovels that had hitherto served as the city’s poorhouses. The trust fund continues today, financing subsidized housing in London. He endowed a natural history museum at Yale, an archeology and ethnology museum at Harvard and an educational fund for emancipated southern blacks. Each of these gifts bore the Peabody name, which is why he is remembered even today for his philanthropy.
“Unlike later Morgan benefactions, often anonymous and discreet,” notes The House of Morgan author, Ron Chernow, “Peabody wanted his name plastered on every library, fund, or museum he endowed.” Unfortunately for Morgan, this did not extend to his banking house. “Perhaps in his new sanctity,” Chernow adds, “he wanted to erase his name from the financial map and enshrine it in the world of good works.”
When Peabody died in 1869, the British government prepared a grave for him at Westminster Abbey in an effort to recognize his generous endowment to London’s poor. But Peabody’s wish was to be buried in his birthplace, Danvers, Massachusetts. So, Queen Victoria arranged for his body to be transported stateside upon The Monarch, England’s newest and most formidable warship.
In 1946, Thomas Lamont, chairman of J.P. Morgan and Co., asked Lord Bicester, senior partner of Morgan Grenfell, the London branch of the bank, for a copy of Queen Victoria’s letter thanking Peabody for aiding London’s poor. Bicester replied in part:
“I have always understood that Mr. Peabody, though known as a great philanthropist, was one of the meanest men that ever walked…I believe he left several illegitimate children unprovided for.”
Check back later for more on J.P. Morgan and Co.
Monday, November 7, 2005
We Pause for Station Identification
We are temporarily out of circulation. It seems that karma has decided to make trouble for us.
Should only be a temporary inconvenience and thank you for not giving up on us. We shall return. Promise.
tags: political football
Sunday, November 6, 2005
Protests? What Protests?
I was living in San Francisco during the first Gulf War. One Saturday there was an immense protest march starting in the Mission district and ending downtown where a long list of speakers and performers had gathered to lash out at Bush the Elder. Most estimates put the crowd at around 500,000—nearly the population of the city itself—and indeed at the crest of every hill one could see marchers 20 or 30 abreast snaking endlessly through the streets. Aging hippies, skate punks, nuns, soldiers, teachers, bikers, dykes-on-bikes, blacks, Hispanics, Asians and just about every other human category was well represented.
Afterwards, my roommates and I raced home to see if we could catch a glimpse of ourselves or any of our friends on the evening news. To our naive surprise, the local news spent about 15 minutes of its broadcast—an eternity in the TV news biz—interviewing the dozen or so pro-war demonstrators who had gathered near the Alameda naval base. At the very end of the broadcast, the slick Beautiful Person who was reading the TelePrompTer that evening said, “Several thousand demonstrators marched to protest the war. Now this.”
“Well, those news guys know which side their bread is buttered on,” quipped my older and more jaded roommate.
I am therefore not surprised that the main$tream media utterly ignored Thursday’s anti-war demonstrations across the country. A little nudge from the Fourth Estate is all it would take to send George W. Douche and his coven of cronies toppling, but General Electric, Disney, Viacom and the other oligarchs won’t allow it.
The main$tream media aren’t driven simply by greed and laziness as Al Franken contends; they are driven by blatant pro-corporate, pro-administration, pro-war ideology. The only reason anything ‘liberal’ ever makes it into primetime is the M$M’s desperate attempt to maintain the illusion of objectivity, and the dumber we get, the easier their job becomes.
Wednesday, November 2, 2005
Will "Scooter" Libby Rat-Out Bush?
At Least That's what the Washington Post thinks.
Today's Headline Reads: "Trial Could Pit Libby's Interests Against Bush's". (They can only wish.)
Libby might cop a plea to avoid a public trial:
"Obviously, the best thing for the Republican Party is to have this all end as quickly as possible," said former representative Vin Weber (R-Minn.), a close White House adviser. "But at the end of the day, you cannot ask a guy who all of us think is an upstanding and honorable guy to give up his legal rights."
Bush dodged a bullet:
A senior White House adviser, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive topic, said the Bush team believes it dodged a bullet when Fitzgerald charged only Libby on Friday and then pointedly said in his news conference that the indictment should not be read as a condemnation of the war or its run-up.
Rove is left dangling:
Fitzgerald appeared prepared to indict Rove heading into last week for making false statements, according to three people close to the probe. But that changed during a private meeting last Tuesday between Fitzgerald and Rove's attorney, Robert Luskin. It's not clear precisely what happened in that meeting, but two sources briefed on it said Luskin discussed new information that gave Fitzgerald "pause."
Much a do about nothing:
Political FootBall suspects at the end of the day and after millions of tax dollars spent it will all be for nought.So shoot me.
Tuesday, November 1, 2005
Bush's Integrity on the Line
Apparently most Americans agree with us -- that Scooter's indictment is indicative of a much broader issue. It also seems obvious to us that the Washington Post reads Political FootBall:
Last week here at Political FootBall we said:
"However, that is all secondary to the larger issue. And that is the Republican's ousted Clinton on a platform that was supposed to bring integrity back to the Oval Office. So recent events must be of great concern to Bush as well as the American people, no matter which party you are beholding to."Today the Washington Post states:
"The ethics findings may be particularly upsetting to a president who came to office in 2000 vowing to restore integrity and honor to a White House that he said had been tainted by the recurring scandals of the Clinton years."Now doesn't that sound familiar? Thanks for reference guys, but a link would have been appreciated.
"A majority of Americans say the indictment of senior White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby signals broader ethical problems in the Bush administration, and nearly half say the overall level of honesty and ethics in the federal government has fallen since President Bush took office, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News survey.But we wouldn't go so far as some of our fellow bloggers to tar and feather everyone just yet. Everybody has the right to presumption of innocence unless proven otherwise.
The poll, conducted Friday night and yesterday, found that 55 percent of the public believes the Libby case indicates wider problems "with ethical wrongdoing" in the White House, while 41 percent believes it was an "isolated incident." And by a 3 to 1 ratio, 46 percent to 15 percent, Americans say the level of honesty and ethics in the government has declined rather than risen under Bush."
"In the aftermath of the latest crisis to confront the White House, Bush's overall job approval rating has fallen to 39 percent, the lowest of his presidency in Post-ABC polls. Barely a third of Americans -- 34 percent -- think Bush is doing a good job ensuring high ethics in government, which is slightly lower than President Bill Clinton's standing on this issue when he left office."Bush's low approval ratings will be of major concern to the White House. And that's not good for the country because he will be more distracted with improving his tarnished image than governing.
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