The Cynic's Journal Edition of The Daily Growler

Cynics Arise!
The nutjobs around the world are going squirrelly--especially the wildass Israeli nutjobs--but then, let's be rational, it is election time in Israel and we do have a new US president coming aboard--and in the meantime, G.W. Bush is still somewhere on his watch and we should be watching that--we should be all along that watch tower checking out this "evil" bastard and his posse of pals. I'm being warned by more cynical than I that G.W. ain't no fool. Uh-oh. I gotta reference this--it's from a new book out on the Bush Family--found that out yesterday mornin'--an almost-tell-all book that really doesn't tell all, except it does bring up a story that happened with old Pappy Bush back on November 22, 1963. Old Pappy was asked over teevee later where he was on that day and Pappy shook his wimpy head and said he didn't remember where he was that day. Here's a quote from Russ Baker, the AUTHOR of this new Bushwhacking book:

I am very careful not to speculate. What I do is begin with the curious fact that G.H.W. Bush has said he could not remember where he was on November 22, 1963. That makes him just about the only adult alive at the time who has that memory defect.

-- Russ Baker, author, Family of Secrets -- The Bush Dynasty, the Powerful Forces That Put It in the White House, and What Their Influence Means for America

You can read an interview with Russ Baker here (from BuzzFlash--still begging for money):

buzzflash.com/articles/interviews/140

I remind my audience once again that I've always maintained that unless you grew up in the Texas oilfields, those amidst the vast cotton fields and Hereford cattle ranches out where I come from, you don't perhaps understand how powerful oil is in our politics. Check out the Texas Railroad Commission and the corruption in Texas government since Texas became a state; if you don't know Texas oil, then you can't really understand the Neo-Cons, or Pappy Bush, or Unka Dick, or Halliburton, or KRB or Exxon-Mobil (both originally Texas oil companies) or Junior G.W. Bush or even OPEC. The Texas Railroad Commission took over the Texas oil industry in a regulatory sense, especially since the Pennsylvania oil wizards slumped into Beaumont, Texas, back in the early 1900s and this bunch of voodoo geologists (they believed oil was present under salt domes) developed the Spindletop Oilfield and they developed it (accidentally really--but the oil industry is based on luck--drilling is a gamble--finding oil is pure luck) into so great a bonanza the area became the ruling center of Texas oil and gas production, the site of the largest oil and gas refineries in the world, Beaumont being a deep-river port and on down the Sabine River, the ports get deeper and deeper, at Port Nederland, at Orange (for the color of the air and not the fruit), getting ocean deep finally at Port Arthur (Janis Joplin's hometown) in Sabine Lake that channels through narrow Sabine Pass where it then issues on out into the Gulf of Mexico--and the Intercoastal Canal is deep water all the way from Port Arthur over to Jacksonville, Florida, the Intercoastal Canal starting in the deep channel running over from Houston (the corporate oil capital of Texas), where Big Daddy Bush and Lady Babs Bush live in privileged splendor--plus Pappy and Mammy have the Kennebunkport Estate hanging off the bluffs of Power Elite-Maine overlooking some of the most beautiful blue Atlantic Ocean I've ever seen. The Bush Gang are heavily protected at the Kennebunkport Estate--We the People of the USA pay plenty to keep the Bush Gang safe--now two of these bastards will get Secret Service protection and free mail and free office and staff no matter the cost of the rent--like Slick Willie's Harlem office suites--only the best for the Slick One in Harlem--though Slick Willie and Sister Hill would never in their backwoods lives consider living in Harlem--though I'll betcha Hill and Bill are heavily invested in the white gentrification of Harlem that is going on as I type on this--long-time Harlem residents being evicted from apartments where they've lived over 40 years in some cases--being evicted from their apartments by order of our little prick billionaire mayor who's decided his goal as mayor is to shake this city up, to take Manhattan over for the filthy rich corporate crooks and the filthy rich foreigners with stolen money to burn, rich privileged Power Elite foreigners who use imported slave labor to do the dirty work while they rake in the cash, like the prissy little prince who's building that outrageously vulgar playboy's hobby of a city in Dubai--what a waste of money, but then that's what the Power Elite does--they conspicuously waste money. Why? you ask. Thorstein Veblen says, they conspicuously waste money because in this way they are proving to the other Power Elite that they are living pure lives of unproductive leisure, which of course is dependent on CHEAP LABOR--and what's the cheapest labor there is (throughout history)?--if you said SLAVERY, you'd be right. Peasant (serf) and slave labor built all the wonders of the world--from the Pyramids to the Suez Canal to the Colosseum at Rome to the Battery in Lower Manhattan (they dug the canal that's under Canal Street in Manhattan), to the US rail system at one time the greatest in the world, to the castles on the Rhine, to the mighty Egyptian Empire--in fact, all empires. So the royal families of Saudi-Arabia, Dubai, Oman, and the Arab Emirates are buying up as many buildings in Manhattan as they can collect--these guys, being former British colonists, too, love building and running hotels and palaces; and foreign investors are pouring in from Israel, Great Britain, and the People's Republic of Capitalist China--and wasteful rich asshole Americans like Donald Trump (mostly rump) are ruining neighborhoods with their luxury hi-rise (very tacky architecturally) hotels and condos and the big Manhattan real estate owners and developers like the Tischmans are buying up blocks of Manhattan like mad and evicting the old-time residents so that developers can build a memorial city to some wealthy crooked asshole like one of the Tischmans, or Harry Helmsley, or Leona Helmsley (who left the Helmsley fortune to her cat--how conspicuously wealthy is that!--and our laws allow it and teevee talking heads talk about how lucky the cat is and teevee comics make jokes out of it--in the meantime worst waste than leaving billions to a god-damn cat is going on). This developer madness is wastefully building housing that is totally overpriced against the average New York Citian who made this city great, those who have worked all their lives in this fucking town, having three taxes jerked out of their earnings every two weeks, paying outrageous public transportation fares and tolls, paying outrageous utilities bills, paying outrageous property taxes--HELL, it is no longer an island of fascinating in some cases one-of-a-kind neighborhoods--now every neighborhood is gentrified in favor of the White Power Elite and their inheritors and foreign friends.

To show you how stupidly ignorant our New York City mayor is--he's so rich he believes he's our redeemer--this morning he was on teevee tooting about how he's behind Israel (hell yes he is, he's a Jew, dammit) 100% against the fleabitten Arab dogs in Gaza--and he was pledging his and the City of New York's support for Israel and the Chosen Ones--and he had his billionaire-serious look on his face--he despises anyone beneath him--he's a typical-acting Power Elite privileged, unblameable one--His Majesty--and when a member of the press asked him did he condone the killing of 450 Palestinians as opposed to 4 Israelis killed by Hamas rockets--Hiz Blessed Rich-Bastard Honor got extremely angry serious and he said, "Suppose Hamas was lobbing rockets into New York City, don't you think I would and Ray Kelly [our Shanty Irish crooked little police commissioner--check out the indictments against him when he was head of US Customs] and the New York Police Dept. would retaliate?--we would go after them, too, same as Israel...." I was thinking, "You almighty little-man jerk, you wouldn't have the power to have the New York City Police Dept. retaliate against a rocket attack on New York City? You stupid jerk. If that's the case, why didn't the New York City Police Dept.--those fat-bellied suburban cops--go after Bin Laden--you know, form up squads and go after al-Queda--with Commissioner Ray "Shanty Irish" Kelly and Commander-in-Chief Billionaire Mayor and Power Elite superstar leading the attack! What a cruel and unusual way to defend the actions of the mass murdering Israeli (American paid for) Army."

We keep following these rich fools? They got rich by inheritance or creative accounting, by tax loopholes, by investing in T-bills, by investing in land and capital assets, by creating tax-exempt foundations, and not by being smart. You think our Mayor Bloomburg is a smart man? He's a lucky son of a bitch, I'll give him that.

I am politically forced to rave on and on as though under a constant full moon, bringing out the growling mad wolf in my animal instincts. I feel like old John Brown must have felt back when he was one of the bravest son of a bitchin' hero Americans I've ever read about. Blacks should honor John Brown as a hero--a true American in the true American tradition--the tradition of the Transcendentalists like Emerson, like Henry Thoreau, like the Alcotts--human beings and their intelligent ideas about liberty and freedom of thought and expression--and about a caring for Mother Earth--and that most of all, if there is a god at all, it's the god of our own design--that emulating organ that dwells, as D.H. Lawrence said, in our solar plexuses.

But rich fools by robbing us blind have complete control over us now. And the Bush Family is a traditional Power Elite family that has robbed us blinder than any US Power Elitist branch since Herbert "Rich Fool" Hoover tried to bring the walls down on We the People back in the Wall Street Follies of 1929. Plus, these assholes are now showing We the People voters how they have complete control over us by being in control of our president-elect, Barack Obama. When asked about his feelings on Israel attacking Gaza City he said, "Hey, we only have one president...no comment." A Clintonista (probably David Axelrod) had Obama's nuts in a tight grip--moving him around like you give motion to a remote-controlled robot. Obama has had no trouble talking about his plans for the economy; he's talking openly about when he's president what his bailout plan will be concerned with. Yet, when it comes to Israel trying to wipe out the whole of the Palestine saying these dogs of humans have no right to toss half-ass Russian-or-Chinese half-ass rockets at Israeli settlements across from the Gaza Strip--land that at one time belonged to Palestine.

Soon as he's president, you watch, Barack Obama will redefine what he meant by change when he was campaigning so brilliantly. Blacks are beginning to question Obama--especially over this Israeli bullshit against the Gazan Palestinians. Two of the four Israelis killed by Hamas rockets were Arab-Israelis. That's how stupid all this is. Of course, that transplanted American Jew, Nutjobyahoo (Netanyahu), is right in the big middle of this. His Likud party is in the lead in the run for Israeli prime minister going on as this invasion is going on. And there, too, is old Simon Perez still spewing out his silly Israeli-fear-of-Arabs bullshit (and the Arab armies have never been effective against the Israeli (American paid for) Army in all the confrontations they've had since 1946)--and Nutjobyahoo says Israelis are scared to death of Islam because it says it wants to annihilate Israel, you know, wipe it off the face of the earth. So, old Ben Nutjobyahoo says, let's wipe out the filthy dog Palestinians as a start (like that old Israeli asshole that's in a coma wiped out several thousand Lebanese citizens in Israel's war on Lebanon).

Why not tax religions? There ya go!

And since OIL is our religion in this country, why not tax Exxon-Mobil, Texaco-Chevron, etc., big time--bring them down to earth?

Why don't we make these corporations (promoters of fossil fuel-combustible engines)--even Ford, GM, and Chrysler--report their offshore earnings? Why don't we put some kind of tax on foreign imported cars if we want to really help our automobile industry?--the industry that millions of hard-working po'ass Americans of all races helped to make the world's greatest automotive industry--and then Ronnie Raygun came along with his trickle-down economics (free market economy) (Voodoo Economics--David Stockman's failed idea) and the auto industry sold us out to its Japanese interests and then Slick Willie and Robert Ruben and Larry Summers opened up the gates to cheap foreign goods with NAFTA and our auto industry moved out of the country--moved their plants to Mexico, to plants called maquiladores on the La Frontera! And Barack Obama is a NAFTA supporter--I heard him say it. He's also a proponent of the wastefully built US-Mexican border security wall--I've heard him say that, too, while he was down near Brownsville, Texas, making a speech.

From Yahoo Answers--a damn good definition of maquiladores:

A maquiladora is a Mexican corporation that operates under a maquila program. This program is approved by the Mexican Secretariat of Commerce and Industrial Development. The maquila program entitles the company to temporarily import materials without paying export tax on the products they produce.

A maquila program entitles the company, first, to foreign investment participation in the capital -- and in management -- of up to 100% without need of any special authorization; second, it entitles the company to special customs treatment, allowing duty free temporary import of machinery, equipment, parts and materials, and administrative equipment such as computers, and communications devices, subject only to posting a bond guaranteeing that such goods will not remain in Mexico permanently.

How sweet it is, eh?

What I've been trying to say, the Texas Oil barons have been ruling this country since John D. Rockefeller heard about the discovery of oil in Oil City, PA, when he was an accountant in the woods of old Ohio and went down to Titusville and formed the Standard Oil Company of Ohio (Sohio), of Pennsylvania (Pennzoil), of New York (Socony-Mobil), of New Jersey--and the Texas Railroad Commission became the biggest oil production regulator (HAH!) in the US! Pappy Bush and his end of the crooked Bush Family became a politician due to his connection with the Texas oil industry.

From Wikipedia:

As is suggested by its name, the [Texas] Railroad Commission was initially created to regulate railroads, terminals, wharves and express companies within the state. Pipelines were added to the commission's jurisdiction in 1917, followed by the oil and gas industry in 1919 and gas utilities in 1920. It does not have jurisdiction over public utility companies; that falls under the jurisdiction of the Public Utility Commission of Texas.

The East Texas oil field’s [Spindletop in Beaumont, Texas; the Corsicana Field in East Texas] discovery sparked a boom in production that sent prices plummeting. After a lengthy battle, the Railroad Commission won the right to limit the production of oil to keep the price of oil from falling too low. Because of this regulation, the commission was important to the national and international energy supply until the 1970s. It also served as a model in the creation of OPEC.

____________________________________________________

There ya go, folks--the Texas Railroad Commission started the limiting of production of oil in order to keep the prices for crude oil and gas at the pump up! A model for OPEC! And Pappy Bush and his Houston oil cronies began messin' in Texas politics--an old old story that began back when a one-armed geologist convinced drillers there was oil in Beaumont, which then spread up East Texas all the way up from Beaumont to Kilgore, Texas.

Spindletop, Texas

The famous Lucas Gusher, 1901 click here to enlarge this picture and learn more. photo courtesy of the American Petroleum Institue

The modern oil industry was born on a hill in southeastern Texas. This hill was formed by a giant underground dome of salt as it moved slowly towards the surface. As it crept, it pushed the earth that was in its path higher and higher. This dome was known by several names, but the one that stuck was "Spindletop". Through the later half of the 19th century, Pennsylvania had been the most oil-productive state in the country. All that changed on January 10th, 1901.

Spindletop's Boiler Avenue, 1903

click here to enlarge picture and learn more
photo courtesy of the American Petroleum Institute

The Beaumont Building of The Texas Company, early 1900's. click here to enlarge and learn more photo courtesy of ChevronTexaco Corporation

After a short time, the frustrated and confused drillers set about to clean up the mess and see if anything could be salvaged. All of a sudden, a noise like a cannon shot came from the hole, and mud came shooting out of the ground like a rocket. Within a few seconds, natural gas, then oil followed. The oil "gusher" - greenish-black in color, doubled the size of the drilling derrick, rising to a height of more than 150 feet (about 50 meters). This was more oil than had ever been seen anywhere in the entire world. Captain Lucas had been hopeful that this well might produce 5 barrels per day. In fact, this well, "Lucas 1", flowed at an initial rate of nearly 100,000 barrels per day, more than all of the other producing wells in the United States COMBINED!

There was much money to be made at Spindletop, but there was even more money to lose. It is estimated that $50 million dollars was made from Spindletop, compared with investments equalling $80 million. As had happened in other booms, there were many frauds and cheats, and Spindletop was renamed "Swindletop" by some of the less fortunate and more cynical locals. The population of Beaumont swelled from 10,000 to 50,000 in a matter of months. Before the end of the year, Lucas's well was joined by over 200 other wells, all fighting for space on top of Spindletop. These wells were owned by more than 100 different oil companies. The gusher at Spindletop was responsible for creating several companies that were to become giants in the oil industry, including Gulf Oil, Amoco and Humble Oil Company, which would later become an arm of Exxon.

www.priweb.org/ed/pgws/history/spindletop/spindletop.html

It's all about oil--STILL--it's still all about OIL--even the bullshit going on in Afghanistan is about OIL! The American-goon president of Afghanistan is a former oil company executive.
Even the Israeli-Palestine conflict is about OIL, of which Israel has none!

The Power Elite in the USA is masterminded by the oil cartel--Wall Street, our banks, our government--our automobile industry--our utilities industry--our music industry--all regulated in terms of profits and losses by the price of OIL!

thecynicalgrowlingwolf
for The Daily Growler

AND BY THE BYE, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!