Indictments Reveal How Dick Cheney Made Money in the Texas Gulag

The Texas GOP have 'corproratized' the execution of accused 'murderers' in the gulag state of Texas. It should not be surprising, then, that Dick Cheney would be indicted for his role in helping to pioneer the 'corporatization' of detainment and executions on industrial, corporate scales. It is surprising that his indictment was in Texas --the gulag state that took Hitler's idea mainstream! The GOP made the warehousing and killing of folk a business proposition as did Hitler's 'final solution' partnered with the likes of I.G. Farben. The GOP-Nazi 'business model' asks 'why just murder someone when you can murder them under corporate cover and make big bucks in the process?' It's the GOP/Nazi way!

Willacy County District Attorney Juan Angel Guerra spoke to two Texas television stations Wednesday night regarding his investigation of injustice within the prison systems which led to the indictment by a Texas grand jury of Vice President Dick Cheney and former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, along with other officials.

Cheney's stake in the Vanguard Group, which holds interests in the private prison companies that run the detention centers, was cited in the indictment. Cheney is accused of a conflict of interest and "at least misdemeanor assaults" on detainees through his ownership interest. Gonzales is accused of using his position during his time as Attorney General to block an investigation into abuses at the detention centers, located in south Texas.

Democratic state Senator Eddie Lucio Jr. is also named in the indictment, Willacy County District Attorney Juan Angel Guerra said. Lucio's attorney, Michael R. Cowen, called Guerra a "one-man circus." "In the March 2008 Democratic Primary," he added, "70 percent of the Willacy County voters elected to remove Juan Guerra...Now, with only a few weeks left in his term, Mr. Guerra has again chosen to misuse his position in an attempt to seek revenge on those who he sees as political enemies."
Guerra told KVEO 23, an NBC affiliate in Texas, that "elected officials were embedded into the prison business and that it goes all the way to the top."

--Texas DA reveals evidence against Cheney

Cheney is specifically indicted for conflict of interest in his 85 million dollar interest in Vanguard Group, a narrow charge that does not address the larger issues, the fact that the 'corporatization' of prisons itself should be made a felony. As some bloggers have urged: connect the dots to all those KBR built detention and holding centers that are used for unknown purposes.

This is a good start because at least he and Alberto are being charged Alberto with using his position as Attorney General to block an investigation at facilities in Texas. If this story does nothing else it does establish a Judicial Political connection that undermines the integrity of the entire system in one place where it should be held highest Jail. And just what are these private prisons all about any way? Oh yes privatisation

--The Cheney Indictment

As the Existentialist Cowboy recently reminded a Pew study of trends that had been embraced by Bush's Texas, primarily the rapid out-sourcing of prison construction and management throughout the US. As in Texas, crime rates over the period under study increased. Guilt or innocence is of no concern to corporate robber barons. It is an Orwellian nightmare of waste, graft, and fascism in which no one is held to account. It is time, indeed, to find out what --specifically --were the gulag of 'detention center's built?

As the GOP "Enronized" the great state of Texas, an assembly line criminal justice system, in cahoots with a medieval, privatized prison system, proved to be an oxymoron. It was "criminal" but hardly "justice". Despite the GOPs "worst" efforts, crime in Texas, always a topic of much discussion and study, has gotten worse. Texas is big on capital punishment, but even the industrialized application of the death penalty cannot kill off the criminals as fast as they procreate and multiply. The GOP may be seeking a "final solution".

...by year's end 1999, there were 706,600 Texans in prison, jail, parole or probation on any given day. In a state with 14 million adults, this meant that 5% of adult Texans, or 1 out of every 20, are under some form of criminal justice supervision. The scale of what is happening in Texas is so huge, it is difficult to contrast the size of its criminal justice systems to the other states' systems it dwarfs:

• There are more Texans under criminal justice control than the entire populations of some states, including Vermont, Wyoming and Alaska.
• According to Bureau of Justice Statistics estimates, one quarter of the nation's parole and probationers are in Texas. California and Texas, together, comprise half the nation's parolees and probationers.
• The number of people incarcerated in Texas (in prison or jail) reached 207,526 in mid-year 1999. Only California, with 10 million more citizens, has more people in both prison and jail.
• Texas has a rate of 1,035 people behind bars for every 100,000 in the population, the second highest incarceration rate in the nation (second only to Louisiana). If Texas was a nation separate from the United States, it would have the world's highest incarceration rate--significantly higher than the United States (682), and Russia (685) which has 1 million prisoners, the world's third biggest prison system. Texas' incarceration rate is also higher than China (115), which has the world's second largest prison population (1.4 million prisoners).
• If the US shared the incarceration rate of Texas, there would be nearly three million Americans behind bars (2,822,300)--instead of our current 2 million prisoners.
• The Texas prison population tripled since 1990, and rose 61.5% in the last five years of this decade alone. In 1994, there were 92, 669 prisoners in Texas. This number had increased to 149,684 by mid-year 1999.
• The Texas correctional system has grown so large that in July 2000, corrections officials ran out of six digit numbers to assign inmates, and officially created prisoner number 1,000,000.--An Analysis of Incarceration and Crime Trends in The Lone Star State

Texas is called the gulag state for good reasons. Certainly, justice in Texas is applied inequitably. Minorities --primarily black and Hispanic --are disproportionately represented in the Texas gulag system but under represented in the State legislature, the various city councils, and the state judicial system.

Black people represent only 12% of the Texas population but comprise 44% of the total incarcerated population. Whites make up about 58% of Texas' total population, but only 30% of the prison and jail population.

• While one out of every 20 Texas adults is under some form of criminal justice control, one out of 3 young black men (29% of the black male population between 21 and 29) are in prison, jail, parole or probation on any given day.
• One out of every four adult black men in Texas is under some form of criminal justice supervision.
• Blacks in Texas are incarcerated at a rate seven times greater than whites. While there are 555 whites behind bars for every 100,000 in the Texas population, there are an astonishing 3862 African Americans behind bars for every 100,000 in the state. This is nearly 63% higher than the national incarceration rate for blacks of 2366 per 100,000.
• If Texas' black incarceration rate was applied to the United States, the number of blacks behind bars on a national level would increase by half a million. There are currently an estimated 824,900 African Americans in prison and jail in the US The new figure, 1,346,370, would increase the number of African Americans incarcerated in the US by 63%.

Do you see the pattern? I allege that Bush deliberately SABOTAGED education IN Texas with budget cuts and other GOP idiocy SO THAT his corporate buddies could make a killing in the prison business!

The corporatization of the nation's prisons is called 'the Prison Industrial Complex. As we have seen, crime increases as education declines. Corporate prisons are, therefore, among the fastest growing industries in America. One should not be surprised to find among the corporate prison owners GOP robber barons in search of big bucks, a gravy train pay back for their loyal support of the GOP.

The Prison-Industrial complex consists of prison construction, staffing, operation. There is something in it for everyone lacking a conscience. Because profitability is directly related to the number of inmates, there is, then, no motive to improve education. Education costs money and corporations haven't yet found a away to exploit it. There are no good reasons for the explosive growth of a new industry --that of warehousing folk.

It should be clear to everyone by now --the 'war on terrorism' was a bloody fraud! There were NO 19 'Arab Hijackers', in fact, many were interviewed by the BBC after 911. There was absolutely no wreckage, no crash, no 757 of any type whatsoever in the infamous field in PA where only a tiny ditch and a backhoe was photographed. There was but ONE --not TWO --aircraft engines found on the otherwise pristine Pentagon lawn and NTSB released flight data indicates that Flight 77 was some 273 ABOVE the Pentagon at the time of the alleged crashed! In New York, there is clear and obvious evidence that thermate/thermite had been used to 'assist' the fall of the Twin Towers. 911 was a fraud perpetrated upon the American people was the so-called 'Anthrax Attacks' in which the government's own Anthrax was used to murder US citizens in an act of high treason!

I alleged that the GOP leadership conspired with George W. Bush and high officials in his administration to commit murder and wage war upon the people of the United States. This case must be made in addition to the murder case that has been put forward by former LA prosecutor Vince Bugliosi. The time has come to convene a Federal Grand Jury to pick up where the Texas panel has begun. It is time to bring these charges ---high treason, mass murder, war crimes and racketeering --against George W. Bush, the leadership of the GOP and high ranking members of the Bush administration, the GOP leadership in Congress et al! Start building a scaffold!

A related story of police brutality becoming common place in the police state that 'Amerika' has become.

Bush's Unitary Executive Ends the Rule of Law, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the Separation of Powers

Bush has decreed his "long term plan" for Iraq, committing the US, without Congressional authority, to a permanent presence. His decree is a poke in the eye to the public, the congress, the rule of law! Bush believes himself to be above the rule of law, the authority of Congress and the courts. When England was confronted by Charles I, a monarch who likewise presumed to be above Parliament, the English simply marched Charles out onto an improvised platform at the Banqueting House in Whitehall where they proceeded to chop off his head!

President Bush's plan to forge a long-term agreement with the Iraqi government that could commit the US military to defending Iraq's security would be the first time such a sweeping mutual defense compact has been enacted without congressional approval, according to legal specialists.

After World War II, for example - when the United States gave security commitments to Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, and NATO members - Presidents Truman and Eisenhower designated the agreements as treaties requiring Senate ratification. In 1985, when President Ronald Reagan guaranteed that the US military would defend the Marshall Islands and Micronesia if they were attacked, the compacts were put to a vote by both chambers of Congress.

By contrast, Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki have already agreed that a coming compact will include the United States providing "security assurances and commitments" to Iraq to deter any foreign invasion or internal terrorism by "outlaw groups." But a top White House official has also said that Bush does not intend to submit the deal to Congress.

--Boston Globe, Bush plan for Iraq would be a first

I had wondered why I am so bored with the primary process, this field of candidates, the coverage, the speeches, what passes for debate. I am bored because it's all as beside the point as the medieval debate about how many angels can dance on the head of a pin! It might as well have been scripted and given what I've learned about political consulting --it is scripted! I've heard all the talking points in focus groups. I can predict every question and every answer. This 'election' is for show! This election is a sop to those who have not gotten the news: American Democracy is over. Bush rules by decree. If he should decide to hang around, who's 'gonna' throw him out? The Military? Nope! The Congress? Nope! The Supreme Court? Stop me! My sides are hurting!

Everyone is just playing their roles. It is as if the candidates of both major parties had a conference and decided: we won't talk about how George W. Bush has ended, perhaps forever, the rule of law in the United States. Constitution: R.I.P! You won't know what you had until it's gone.

Unless something is done, you will just have to get used to more stories about how innocent folk get tasered, jailed, or roughed up for daring to practice 'free speech'. Get used to a permanent US presence in Iraq! Get used to Bush's evil smirk! Get used to GOP bullshit! Get used to being spied on at the mall, in your car, even at home with devices that can literally see through walls. Those devices exist.

Everyone, it seems, from Bill Maher on Larry King Live to Virginia Tech Professor Theodore Fuller, believes Bush will be remembered as the very worst President in US history. Fuller's list includes the perpetual nature of Bush's obvious failure in Iraq. It includes Bush's failure to reform Social Security, though I am suspicious of efforts to "reform" what is, in fact, the Government's only success story. What I have not heard except via the 'blogosphere' is why! The 'why' should top the list and should have been blazened atop every major daily in the nation. Instead, the truth is whispered if at all: Bush destroyed the very concept of the "rule of law" and, more specifically, "Due Process of Law" because he is the tool of America's moneyed 'elite'.

It's not that they lied about justifications for war, but in their failure to allow oversight into the processes that produced those lies. It's not in the firing of federal attorneys and the refusal to substantiate the firings, but in the pure partisanship of their actions. It's not their countless refusals to comply with subpoenas from Congress or Freedom of Information Act from the people, but in their arrogated stance, setting themselves above the requirements themselves.

Once when challenged for his unwillingness to submit to the rule of law in an obvious snub of the Constitution, Bush screamed, "Stop throwing the Constitution in my face. It's just a goddamned piece of paper!"

And thus our Constitution has now become what Bush has made it. This annihilation of the foundational document of our republic was orchestrated by a president who swore an oath of honor to protect it, a devout Christian who promised to restore honor and integrity to the Oval Office.

Congress, in its acquiescence and subservience, is equally culpable. When Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi announced, "impeachment is off the table," she not only absolved Bush of all previous transgressions but paved a figurative superhighway for any to come. There's a reason Congress's approval ratings are even lower than the administration's.

--Michael Abraham, Bush's legacy is the end of law

Bush could not have put himself above the law without help from Republicans of all stripes as well as timely betrayals and sellouts by key Democrats. Without effective opposition, Bush-Cheney have enabled a "unitary executive"! A dubious doctrine without precedent in American history, it is the belief that the "President" is above regulation, above oversight or supervision, above the decisions of the courts, including the Supreme Court, above laws passed by Congress, above all responsibility to the people.

"[Since Watergate] I have repeatedly seen an erosion of the powers and the ability of the president of the United States to do his job. ... One of the things that I feel an obligation [to do] ... is to pass on our offices in better shape than we found them to our successors."

--VP Dick Cheney, [Interview with Cokie Roberts] New York Times, Recent Flexing of Presidential Powers Had Personal Roots in Ford White House, SCOTT SHANE. January 2002,

I submit to Bush, Cheney, their NEOCON base, the Republican party, and assorted enablers inside the Democratic party that this "doctrine" is utter bullshit! Not even European monarchs --at the very height of their power and influence --could boast or wield such power.

It is ironic that at the height of his "power", Bush is among the least popular "Presidents" in American history. What then is the source of his power? Bush, addressing a gathering of well-heeled Republicans and other representatives of corporate power called them "his base". And --so they were. 'They' are an increasingly tiny elite which alone benefits from GOP tax cuts and the enrichment of the Military/Industrial complex.

The influence of the cabal begins at Yale, where Skull and Bones has appropriated university funds for its own use, leaving the school virtually impoverished. Skull and Bones' corporate shell, the Russell Trust Association, owns nearly all of the university's real estate, as well as most of the land in Connecticut. Skull and Bones has controlled Yale's faculty and campus publications so that students cannot speak openly about it. "Year by year," the campus's only anti-society publication stated during its brief tenure in 1873, "the deadly evil is growing."

The year in the tomb at Yale instills within members an unwavering loyalty to Skull and Bones. Members have been known to stab their Skull and Bones pins into their skin to keep them in place during swimming or bathing. The knights (as the student members are called) learn quickly that their allegiance to the society must supersede all else: family, friendships, country, God. They are taught that once they get out into the world, they are expected to reach positions of prominence so that they can further elevate the society's status and help promote the standing of their fellow Bonesmen.

--Alexandra Robbins, George W. Bush and the Brotherhood of Death, 'Secrets of the Tomb' Skull and Bones, the Ivy League, and the Hidden Paths of Power

The movies have discovered Skull and Bones. The most recent entry, The Good Shepherd, directed by Robert de Niro, explores a symbiotic relationship between Yale's super secret Skull and Bones and the equally secret CIA. Another thriller advertises itself with a Hollywood logline: A secret society so powerful, it can give you anything…at a price., the subtitle to The Skulls, a new thriller by Rob Cohen.

Interestingly, both CIA and Skull and Bones are called "brotherhoods". Both apparently control those inside by compromising them. Both exhibit all the characteristics of kooky cults. In all, the individual is subordinated to the group. The Faustian term for this is "selling your soul". There are more prosaic descriptions but none as accurate. Both "Skull and Bones" and its ally, the CIA, are evil cults. [See: Ronald Reagan is Still Dead!, and The Role of the Psychopath in the Generation of Global Evil]

The Good Shepherd is an Academy Award-nominated 2006 film directed by Robert De Niro and stars Matt Damon and Angelina Jolie. The main story lines are credible and set against historical events. If it is not literally "the untold story of the birth of counter-intelligence in the Central Intelligence Agency", it is most certainly true in terms of the relationship of Skull and Bones to the CIA and in terms of the evil, pernicious effects both have had on the US, indeed, the world!

The film is most powerful when it traces the common origins of the CIA and the Skull and Bones and compares the dark results of both. I defy any rational person not a part of either cult to watch this movie and resist the conclusion that both the CIA and the Skull and Bones are evil organizations, cults in fact, that have harmed this nation, the people, the rule of law, and civilization itself. Down with both!

The following is a video playlist beginning with a trailer for the film "The Good Shephard", followed by two clips from a well-sourced documentary series exposing the Skull and Bones cult, and, at last, "We Do", the Simpsons brilliant lampoon at every cult from Bilderberg, Tri-Lateral Commission, to Skull and Bones:

An addendum: writer Alexandra Robbins recalls her 'encounter' with a bonesman.

"Who controls the British crown?"

"Who keeps the metric system down? "

"We do! We do. . . "

" Who holds back the electric car? Who makes Steve Guttenberg a star? We do! We do. "

Certainly, Skull and Bones does cross boundaries in order to attempt to stay out of the public spotlight. When I wrote an article about the society for the Atlantic Monthly in May 2000, an older Bonesman said to me, “If it’s not portrayed positively, I’m sending a couple of my friends after you.” After the article was published, I received a telephone call at my office from a fellow journalist, who is a member of Skull and Bones.

He scolded me for writing the article—”writing that article was not an ethical or honorable way to make a decent living in journalism,” he condescended —and then asked me how much I had been paid for the story. When I refused to answer, he hung up. Fifteen minutes later, he called back.

“I have just gotten off the phone with our people.” “Your people?” I snickered.
“Yes. Our people.” He told me that the society demanded to know where I got my information.

“I’ve never been in the tomb and I did nothing illegal in the process of reporting this article,” I replied.

“Then you must have gotten something from one of us. Tell me whom you spoke to. We just want to talk to them,” he wheedled. “I don’t reveal my sources.”
Then he got angry. He screamed at me for a while about how dishonorable I was for writing the article.

“A lot of people are very despondent over this!” he yelled. “Fifteen Yale juniors are very, very upset!” I thanked him for telling me his concerns.
“There are a lot of us at newspapers and at political journalism institutions,” he coldly hissed. “Good luck with your career”—and he slammed down the phone.

--Alexandra Robbins, Secrets of the Tomb

Timely updates: Just recently, Northcom, announced on their web site its readiness to implement martial law in the US.

USNORTHCOM’s official response to Commission on National Guard and Reserves Final Report

February 1, 2008

PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. -- U.S. Northern Command’s primary mission is Homeland Defense, and the command stands ready to respond to any homeland defense or civil support mission requirement.

“The U.S. military absolutely has the capacity to respond to potential threats within our nation today. It will get better in this coming year and continue to improve beyond that,” said Gen. Gene Renuart, USNORTHCOM commander.

Established in 2002 as a result of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, USNORTHCOM has dramatically expanded DoD’s focus on all aspects of Homeland Defense, including planning and exercising, as well as organizing new headquarters and units that are specifically tailored for domestic response.

...

---USNORTHCOM’s official response to Commission on National Guard and Reserves Final Report

Hannity’s Afternoon Meltdown

Boy, oh boy. Something is happening with the ‘true’ conservatives on AM Talk Radio. I tuned into Hannity see what had happened today and the guy just went off on what can only be described as a lick-spittle tirade! Apparently Rich Galen wrote a piece today and noted how conservatives tearing down McCain is basically doing the liberal media’s work for them. It is a fair if slightly exaggerated point to make, especially after years of the right tearing down El Presidente Jorge Bush for disagreeing with them.

But something inside Hannity snapped over this and he was in the throws of insanity. He claimed those who question his actions are pompous, arrogant, hanger-ons who are simply trying to angle for jobs in the new administration and have sold their principles for money. And he was just getting started! The most hilarious (and pathetic) part came where he declared himself and other angry and raving talk show hosts the future of America! You could almost see him stand up and salute himself.

Clearly Hannity and his sharp-tongued friends are not as able to take criticism as they are at dishing it out (with insults and demeaning undertones). Geez, it was just one man’s view of the coalition self-destructing. I think what was most bizarre was how he kept trying to claim he was upbeat and things were great through out his tirade (Dude, there was so much anger and hurt I don’t know who you think you are kidding?). He also started the whole thing by claiming he got all these media calls today - as if to prove to himself he is still relevant. He then went on to say he had the power of the airwaves and people in DC better be careful or he would close their access. The threats were really something else and went on for quite a while. ...

Additional resources

• By way of Crooks and Liars: How George torpedoed Jeb's presidential hopes and sank the family's political dynasty.
• New CIA Protocol to Legalize Torture
• Philip Roth: 'Bush Is Too Horrendous To Be Forgotten'
• Bush believes he is above the law
• Who Controls the CIA Controls the Media
• MSNBC/Today Show:‘Secrets of the Tomb’

GOP, Bush, Government Incompetence, CIA