Thursday, November 19, 2009

Brotherhood of Plunder: Snapshots of America's Criminal Oligarchy


"Twisted sense of entitlement": Police extortionist David M. Cohen (left), and his accessory, former Chief Manuel Cachopa (below, right).



David Cohen, a nebbishy, balding fellow from Stoughton, Massachusetts, seemed poorly cast as a loan shark.


Unlike Chili Palmer, the mob debt collector created by Elmore Leonard (and
played on screen by John Travolta), Cohen couldn't pry open the bank accounts of recalcitrant debtors simply by fixing them with a steely gaze and hissing, "Look at me."


Cohen was dispatched by a friend named Peter Marinilli to collect $9,000 from a businessman named Timothy Hills. Frustrated when his demand didn't reduce Hills to a puddle of compliant jello, Cohen -- a sergeant in the Stoughton Police Department -- tried a different approach: He placed Hills under arrest, handcuffed him, and detained him until the businessman signed a promissory note to Marinilli.



Hills had received $10,000 from Marinilli as an investment in a business deal, and he later admitted in court that he had taken the money under false pretenses.
During the same trial, one of Hills' former employees described him as chronically dishonest and entirely unreliable -- in short, a terrible credit risk.


Given that history it seems odd that Cohen had Hills sign a promissory note, a document that most likely wouldn't have been necessary had the debt to Marinilli been legally enforceable.
Cohen, a part-time attorney in addition to being a police sergeant, must have understood that the debt couldn't be collected without a legally valid contract.


What Cohen seems to have forgotten is that forcing a hostage to sign a contract at gunpoint is extortion.


Hills immediately filed a complaints against Cohen with the Stoughton Police Department, the Board of Bar Overseers and the Massachusetts Attorney General.


This prompted an investigation of Cohen by Lt. Michael Blount of the department's internal affairs unit. Blount's inquiry didn't sit well with Manuel J. Cachopa, who at the time was Chief of the Stoughton Police.


"Why are you trying to f**k this officer?" Cachopa asked Blount on one occasion.


Cachopa refused to cooperate with the investigation in any way, demanding that Blount simply "get rid" of it.


All of this took place between 2002 and 2004. During that period, Cachopa was demoted to Lieutenant after the town selectmen refused to renew his contract as Chief. Two of Cachopa's critics were removed in a recall election, and Cachopa was reinstated -- just in time to be hit with a felony indictment for being an accessory after the fact to Cohen's extortion attempt.




Up to this point, the damage done by this sordid business was limited to those directly involved in a dubious business venture and a handful of less-than-upright police officers. However, when Cachopa was indicted, the local taxpayers were cut in for a share of misery: Cachopa was placed on "administrative leave" from 2005 until his conviction in 2009, which means that he collected his full annual salary of $139,000 for doing
nothing while another paid official carried out the duties of Police Chief.


Cohen was convicted on four criminal counts and sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison. Cachopa was found guilty of acting as an accessory to extortion and given three years' probation, in addition to 1,000 hours of community service. Cachopa could have received a seven-year prison sentence.



Despite their criminal convictions, Cohen and Cachopa insist that they are entitled to nearly three-quarters of a million dollars from
the long-suffering taxpayers of Stoughton, Massachusetts -- most of it going to pay the legal bills they ran up during their own criminal trials.


Through his attorney, David Cohen -- who
was released from prison while appealing his conviction (a consideration not many convicted extortionists receive) -- has filed a demand for at least $113,000, a sum that includes "87 accrued vacation days, 125 unused sick days, 144 hours of compensation time accrued for not using sick time, 152 hours of supervisor comp time, 481 hours for court appearances related to his criminal case, 280 hours of overtime to prepare for his case, and least 61 percent education incentive pay for 2007, and 61 percent for accrued stipends and benefits," reports the Brockton, Massachusetts Enterprise-News.


Not content with collecting $600,000 in salary and benefits during his four-year "administrative leave,"
Cachopa is now demanding $549,000 to pay his legal bills, and $55,978 in vacation and sick pay. The Enterprise-News editorially lambasted Cachopa for his "twisted sense of entitlement" while pointing out that "the ill-considered contract language" agreed to by the City of Stoughton "is loose enough to give his lawyers a fighting chance in court."


"This is a union contract that clearly and unequivocally states that if charged with a criminal offense or sued, the town indemnifies you," insists Kevin Reddington, a member of Cachopa's legal team.


A much better arrangement would have been to put Cachopa on unpaid leave and, in the event he was cleared of charges, "give him back pay and benefits," observed the
Enterprise-News. "Instead, Cachopa was on extended vacation, able to collect his annual salary of $139,000 year after year while the town struggled to keep its financial head above water." Assuming that Cachopa and Cohen are able to force the town to make good on the terms of their union contracts, the resulting financial undertow may drag Stoughton down for good.


The "twisted sense of entitlement" displayed by those corrupt officers is entirely typical of the "public servant" class nation-wide. Yes, this self-serving arrogance is particularly acute among police, firefighters and other "public safety" employees, who --
statistical evidence to the contrary notwithstanding -- describe their jobs as so fraught with peril and stress that they shorten the life expectancy of those who somehow manage to live until retirement. But similar self-exalting attitudes suffuse government employees in every field that is blighted by the state's influence.


As Steven Greenhut of the Orange County Register documents in his infuriating new book Plunder! How Public Employee Unions are Raiding Treasuries, Controlling Our Lives, and Bankrupting the Nation, this pervasive sense of entitlement has been translated into financial burdens that are suffocating local economies.


During the past several decades, writes Greenhut, "politicians have been dramatically increasing the pay and especially the benefits for all categories of government workers [sic; I prefer the term "government
employees" -- WNG]. The pay structure also has a sort of multiplier effect. Because they receive such generous pensions, public-safety workers are encouraged to retire at an early age, thus leading to `shortages' in law enforcement in particular. The taxpayer gets hammered twice, as he pays full freight for retired employees and then has to pay for a full-time replacement."


The coprophagous grin of an impenitent parasite: Meet Glenn Goss, the pension-spiking millionaire police chief of Highland Beach, Florida. Remember that smile next time you look at your 401(k).

Chief Cachopa's case, in which he received a full salary for four years after being suspended following his criminal indictment, is a particularly obnoxious variation on the familiar scheme described by Greenhut. Another version that involves what has to be considered criminal fraud is the case of Glenn Goss, the Police Chief in Highland Beach, Florida.


In 2005, the same year Cachopa began his all-expenses-paid vacation, Goss retired from his $90,000-a-year job as a police commander in Delray Beach. At the age of 42 he began drawing a $65,000 annual pension -- guaranteed for life, indexed to inflation, and including full health benefits. Goss draws that pension in spite of the fact that he immediately took a better-paying job as Chief of the Highland Beach Police Department.


At age 47, this "poor, honest cop" is now a tax-fed millionaire -- merely one of countless others, Greenhut points out.
With increasing frequency, government employees "are made instant millionaires just for taking a job and sticking with it over their career," notes Greenhut. "This certainly is easier than taking the more traditional American route to becoming a millionaire, through risk-taking and entrepreneurship."


Government employment rewards creative deviousness, rather than risk-taking and productivity. Former Fullerton, California Mayor Mike Clesceri presents a splendid case study.


In addition to being mayor -- a part-time job -- Clesceri worked as an investigator for the district attorney. When he had a falling-out with his boss, Clesceri filed for a disability pension of $58,000 (complete with COLA), claiming that he was crippled by Barrett's Esophagus, a condition related to acid reflux.



While waiting for his disability pension to kick in, Clesceri "pursued a local police chief's job and remained on the job as mayor and ran a tough re-election campaign," recalls Greenhut. "He even had time to have his brother-in-law attorney send threatening letters to members of the community who commented on the absurdity of his disability pension."



"Pension-spiking" scams of this variety are plentiful in California, a state being driven into financial ruin by its rampant "public employee" unions. Thanks to the terms of their union-negotiated contracts, many firefighters and police (particularly in the upper echelons) are afflicted with "Chief's Disease" -- a mysterious malady that causes those who suffer from its multifarious symptoms to go on disability pay during their final year of employment.



As the
Los Angeles Daily News pointed out, this means that the final year's salary is tax-free, which "creates an artificial boost in take-home pay, which is how the final pensions are tabulated. The [spurious] injury also paves the way for a disability retirement with half the income being tax-free. The bottom line is more money for firefighters [as well as police] during their lifetime pension at the expense of a public that will be lucky to retire on a paltry Social Security check."


Often several scams will operate in synergy, resulting in huge profits for tax-feeders and a much larger burden for the productive.
For example: A lucrative new pension plan for Orange County deputy sheriffs resulted in a wave of early retirements. At the same time, the Sheriff's Office, in compliance with union demands, went to a three-day "work" week. The Orange County Register described the predictable results: "After enhanced pensions led to a large number of retirements, deputies with four days a week off were happy to fill up the empty shifts with overtime."


Cops as Robbers: Remember Fahrenheit 451, in which the "Firemen" were sent to start fires? Police in Detroit today serve a similar function, stealing cars and other assets in order to make up for tax "shortfalls."

Orange County employs more than one hundred deputy sheriffs. Nearly all of them make more than $100,000 a year, despite the fact that "culture and discipline problems" are rampant in the department.

Scams of this kind are more plentiful in California than in some other states, but as Greenhut demonstrates, few if any municipalities have been spared from the ravages of omnivorous public employee interest groups.



"At all levels, state and local government employment grew by 13 percent across the United States from 1994 to 2004," he writes. During the past half-century, the country's population has grown 115 percent. During the same period, the sub-population of tax-feeders increased by 492 percent. The federal government is now the nation's largest single employer.


"I fear that the nation has reached critical mass -- the number of government employees at every level has gotten so high that it is politically impossible to roll back the bureaucracy and rein in the costs," Greenhut observes. Be that as it may, he suggests several very sensible reforms, among them the quite sensible proposal that "public employee" unions be banned.


Summoning the political will to enact such measures will be difficult, however, in an electorate long inured to the repellent notion that it's proper to live at the expense of others. This suggests that the parasite class will continue to propagate itself until it entirely kills its host economy. And then -- what...?


Robbed by the Police: Detroit resident Jacque Sutton, who was never charged with a crime, had to pay $1,000 to recover his 1989 Ford Mustang after it was stolen ("forfeited") by the police. "It's like legalized stealing," he complains. No, it is "legalized" stealing.



Michigan offers a glimpse of what may become a common future. In 2006, Greenhut notes, total government employment in Michigan exceeded the number of manufacturing employees for the first time in recorded history. Already teetering on the edge of the economic abyss in 2006, Michigan -- particularly Detroit and its immediate environs -- is now plummeting rapidly into the bottomless pit of a depression.


In Detroit, municipal authorities, led by the local police, have dealt with the downturn by resorting to undisguised theft.
The Detroit News reports: "Local law enforcement agencies are raising millions of dollars by seizing private property suspected in crimes, but often without charges being filed -- and sometimes even when authorities admit no offense was committed."


Between 2003 and 2007, Romulus, Michigan witnessed a 118 percent increase in forfeiture revenues (the theft, by police, of money and property from people not charged with criminal offenses) despite the fact that there has not been a corresponding increase in criminal activity. Well, make that
unofficial criminal activity. One township, Novi, went from $12,278 in 2003 to $2.7 million in 2007. The Wayne County Sheriff's Office netted $8.69 million in 2007, four times the haul its banditti seized in 2001.


Sgt. Dave Schreiner, who is in charge of Canton Township's forfeiture unit -- which is to say that he's the kingpin of that community's most notorious criminal gang -- is astonishingly candid:
"Police departments right now are looking for ways to generate revenue, and forfeiture is a way t offset the costs of doing business.... You'll find that departments are doing more forfeitures than they used to because they've got to -- they're running out of money and they've got to find it somewhere."


When it can afford to, the Brotherhood of Plunder prefers to shroud its criminality in the sanctimonious argot of "public service." That veil is being lifted, and the Robber State is revealing itself in the full malevolence of its criminal corruption.



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Dum spiro, pugno!


29 comments:

Anonymous said...

Please add the "Share" button to your posts so that people can link them to Facebook.

Anonymous said...

To echo anon @ 328 - please add a facebook link. Whether my friends want to or not they will be reading these articles.
As always a great article - possibly one of the best.

CerpherJoe said...

Great Blog!

This is indeed one of the most egregious contributors to our transformation into a Socialist state.

Public employee unions must be made illegal. Unions were developed to support workers who had no redress for workplace grievances. This is clearly not the case with public employees; redress is simply one election away. If they feel their needs are not being met fairly, take it to the company owners and replace the management. They've got far more power than private sector employees.

Michael K. said...

Will,

Although not directly related to this article, I thought you might find this item interesting:

http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=148&sid=8732268

This article discusses the "findings" regarding the tasing of Brian Cardall back in June. That tasing resulted in Mr. Cardall's death and fits very well into your admonition to "never call the police for help".

Not too surprisingly, the policeman involved was found to have responded "...in a manner consistent with his training." What a surprise.

Also, not too surprisingly, many of the comments on KSL's comment board are supportive of the police, something which several months ago I pointed out was a disgusting take on this tragedy.

I'm afraid that as things continue to fall apart, we will only see more of these types of abuses of citizens.

Anonymous said...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4baPcpqpI4

Anonymous said...

An update on Stoughton PD from the Boston Globe:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/11/21/former_stoughton_detective_charged_with_lying_to_fbi/

AvgJoe said...

http://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/cup_detail.taf?ti_id=4063&_userreference=114544158055529F32D3D3C03C40ED90E0

Will, a book above has a world of information on this topic. Having laws passed to end government unions would end up in another USSC fight, if they took the case. Its said that we the taxpayers can not keep government employees from becoming union members because that would be an attack on their Constitutional rights. Never mind our rights as citizens who are forced to pay taxes with the threat of prison or death.
What you have hit on is the number one problem we decent hard working citizens face today, unionized parasites. Its going to get a lot worse before it gets better so hang on for the ride.

Tom Joad said...

Someone suggested here a while back that the economic depression would starve these thugs of cash and cause their decline and a curtailment of their activities. Now, it seems that on the contrary, they are just becoming more blatant in their thefts and shakedowns of the long-suffering public.

Any excuse will do: they can approach you, ask for ID, ask to search your car or your pockets, and if you refuse they arrest you, hit you on the head with a nightstick, accuse you of resisting arrest, and steal your car. They can break down your door and storm in, shooting anyone who does not drop to the floor. Even total meek compliance does not guarantee you won't be Tasered, just as a precaution to make sure you don't even think of talking back to them. If they find any significant amount of money, they steal that too on suspicion of it being the proceeds of crime. White or black, nobody is immune to their depredations any longer.

There is no loger any difference between criminals and "law enforcement". How long will we put up with this? When will we have to start protecting ourselves from all of these rival extortionist gangs - the criminal gangs and the police gangs?

They claim to be afraid of the public. If so, they must have a guilty conscience. The mere fact that they continue to get away with this while the public does not resort to flame-throwers, sniper rifles and IED roadside bombs against them shows conclusively that 99.9% of the public are law-abiding, even when unbearably provoked.

liberranter said...

Our only salvation from this plague will be the inevitable implosion of the dollar. At that point the public-sector parasites will have to resort to armed plunder (like much of the rest of the population), at which point the public WILL fight back.

Anonymous said...

"They claim to be afraid of the public."... TJ

Now that has to be a hoot. You have armored "gladiators" with weapons the common prole literally has to beg to get, or not permitted at all, and THEY're the ones shaking in their jackboots! If they fear anything its that the citizenry pushed daily by their incessant propaganda and bullying will one day "snap" and unload on them with righteous fury. It would be best for any decent and rational human being to extricate themselves from the bowels of such forces way before the day all hell breaks loose and seek to make a living not sucking off of the public.

Anonymous said...

Is anyone surprised by the flagrant self-interest of the oligarchs (and their minions) at this point? I mean, really . . . does anyone find this surprising anymore?

I have had an active bar complaint before the Idaho Supreme court for over three years now and no progress. Oh yes, I shouldn't fail to mention that the attorney in question's son is a sitting member of the Idaho Supreme Court (unfortunately, Daniel E. will probably wait till daddy dies to allow a ruling on the matter).

Corruption - the law we live with.

Sic Semper Tyrannis

Anonymous said...

I should have known better. Last Saturday I was riding my bike in a very upper-middle-class neighborhood ( I am a 62-year-old female) when I was run into and knocked down by an adolescent male on his bike. Both bikes and the kid fell on me. He was at fault. I was quite banged up and so was my bike. The kid's father and brother were riding with him. The father became very defensive and eventually abusive and threatened to strike me. This because I asked for information to contact him if I needed to. He rushed his sons away as I called him a coward. I then called the police and I rue the moment. A young girl cop arrived on the scene who treated me like I was the culprit. She asked for my driver's license, asked my SS number. Took a picture of my damaged finger and tried to take a picture of my face. I refused that and she acted accusatory because I refused. She asked me to fill out a report but I threw it away. Never call the cops.

PresidentDon said...

Just wait until our nation is turned over to the United Nations. Right now Calif takes in over $3 billion in confiscation, and laughing all the way to the bank. You had a chance last year to elect Don Cordell for President to stop this, and you didn't
It is time to stop the cops in our nation of Tyranny. I'll restore our Bill of Rights. Without me you will get Martial Law, confiscation of all belongings for the New World Order government. If you do not believe me, google my name and then do some research. I'm telling you how it is, and what is coming.
30 million out of work, where are the jobs? How many more each month to break our nation? Are you Patriots or Cowards? It is time to Revolt/Revote

Anonymous said...

Don - You and about 10,000 other false prophets are always telling us how it is going to be and lecturing us on what cowards we all are. You want to know what I think - you're a nobody like the rest of us. So give up your Messianic complex.

Anonymous said...

Ammonium nitrate fertilizer. Diesel oil. Propane tanks. (Hold upside down for use as flamethrowers.) Hunting rifles. Shotguns. (Legal if cut down with a hacksaw to any length over 18 inches - great for clearing a room.) Double-zero buckshot. Better yet, take out the buckshot, add some extra powder and pack the shell with dimes. For those who love money, see how they like money approaching at 1,000 feet per second.

A few grams of sodium metal in a glycerine capsule, and a drum of gasoline with a few inches of water on the bottom. Screw down the stopper. Then run like hell.

All readily available and not yet restricted from purchase by the oppressed peasants.

Utility poles and a chainsaw make perfect roadbocks. (Especially if there is no more power anyway.) Roadblocks make sitting ducks. Sitting ducks make lots of feathers.

Time to lay in some survival stocks. When the SHTF, it will be too late.

Anonymous said...

Fighting them merely plays to their strengths. We can't beat our masters and their lackeys using violence, as they have far more of it at their disposal and far better means of delivering it.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous @ 11:24am,

Ah, but you see, money and comfort is what they crave. Chaos, mayhem and riot will cause their property values to decline, their businesses to go bankrupt, their banks to fail, and their wives and children to quake in fear behind barred gates, and to be unable to go out and play tennis or golf or ride the horses.

Yachts sink very easily. Rolls-Royces and Maseratis burn equally easily. Private planes at little airports make wonderful bonfires.

And then there are the cattle - a thousand pounds of meat just walking around without any padlock or key. Not to forget their horses - the French eat horses, so why not hungry Americans? A million-dollar racehorse makes good steaks. So do champion Rotweilers. Those taste just like chicken.

And then the shops - ah, the shops! Perhaps Beulah would like a diamond necklace? Maybe Troy would like a 60" plasma TV? Who needs money? Money is SO old-fashioned. All those groceries just sitting there all night on the shelves....

What will they do? Have their goons shoot everybody? Then who would be left to shine their shoes and wash their windows? Who would drive their cars and work in their sweatshops? Who would tend their gardens and mind their livestock?
They think they are indispensable. No, it is we who are indispensable.

The man who has nothing, and thus has nothing to lose, and has given up aspiring to anything, is strong. The man who wants much, and has much to lose, is weak.

That is why this has not yet happened. Ordinary Americans still have much to lose. They-whose-shit-does-not-stink know that, and fear the day when ordinary Americans have lost everything. You think they want the economy to improve because they care a rat's ass about YOU? Oh no, they know what is coming down the road, and care only about themselves.

Finally, there are a lot more of us than there are of them.

A small cloud now sits on the horizon. Behind it comes the hurricane.

Sans Authoritas said...

Anonymous @2:04, violence must be reserved for those who pose an immediate threat only. None of this revenge and looting garbage.

-Sans Authoritas

Anonymous said...

Anonymous 2:04 PM,

I think the big boys will just get on their jets and fly to their armored compounds halfway around the world and bask in the lap of luxury while the stuff hits the fan here. They won't be bothered one bit by what happens here. In fact, they'll probably get a big kick out of watching it on TV.

RC

Anonymous said...

As anti-gov't as I am (and I am very much so) I have to wonder if Anonymous @ 11:24am might be an 'agent provocateur'. It wouldn't be a unique occurrence.

Those of us who desire the knowledge of 4G tactics know where to find the information. To post it in an apparent attempt to elicit a response leads this one to question motives . . .

Sic Semper Tyrannis

William N. Grigg said...

Sic Semper -- Without addressing the merits of the comments under discussion, I'd like to point out thatI'm working on a fairly major piece about agents provocateur....

Anonymous said...

As much as I can see violence as being how it will all end I can honestly say that it isn't something I would wish upon anyone. Having said that it is important to revisit history and see that even our own nation was born out of violence and not by mere voting or a casual discussion over afternoon tea and biscuits. The message was driven home by copious amounts of flying lead. Same for elsewhere in the world whether by forces fighting for independence or imperial legions on orders from their "leaders". This country has spewed enough shrapnel on people who never deserved such a thing with nary a tear shed by the common man in the street because it was out of sight out of mind. I don't blame the man in the street for all this. It's enough to keep ones head above the waters much less keep track of the latest evil escapades the elite roll our way. As soon as we come to grips with how we're being bamboozled they set up another straw man to fall and yank the nations chain once more. Left and right, up and down, round and round, this way and that. Its all designed to keep you off kilter and poorer with every passing year. When folks say that "violence only plays into their hands"... I have to say that if thats so then why in the world was there ever a revolution of 1776 to begin with? It's absurd. I've also heard the argument that the fight will last "longer than our lifetime"... Really? Can someone please ressurrect George Washington, Jefferson and the rest of them and see if they ever said such nonsense. THAT is the very propaganda, the very spirit of this age, rambling on. It's that sort of mindset that really doesn't mind the velvet covered chains.

Anonymous said...

People that cheer on chaos, looting and general mayhem - would do well to read books/stories of people who have lived through similar circumstances. For example those who have lived through the liquadation of farms in Zimbabwe, the crisis in Argentina, the reign of terror under the Shining Path in Peru.
These stories make abundantly clear that government will at all cost preserve itself and its servants while the rest of us are left to the wolves. None of these periods were nirvana nor was the resistance by the "peasants" of any use. Instead propogation of the Gospel, fostering a sense of community with those of like mind, practicing peace with those around. All of these measures were much more practical than looting or destruction. Violence if you can call it that was best reserved, according to the stories of those who lived through these periods, for those thieves who chose to steal one's personal property or cause harm to one's personal life or to the life of those whom they loved.

Anonymous said...

Aononymous @ 8:53 am,

Your non-violent idealism is impressive. It is how Gandhi got the British to leave India, and in a few other instances political non-violence has worked.

But in the vast majority of cases, non-violence rolls right off the backs of the oppressors. Turn your other cheek and it will just get smacked.

Pol Pot in Cambodia, Stalin in the Ukraine and Russia, Mao in China, Sani Abacha in Nigeria, Mobutu in Zaire, Marcos in the Philippines, all these killed millions of their own people who only wanted to mind their own business and live in peace.

And even though it has not happened here yet to us, our own governments down through the years have killed millions of people in OTHER countries who had no quarrel with us and only wanted to live in peace. Usually it was becaue they had something our corporations wanted and did not want to pay the going rate for - sugar, cocoa, coffee, oil, gold, bauxite, minerals, whatever. Usually, people do not like being robbed, so our government has always used violence when their corporate friends were robbing the people of other countries, to ensure their compliance.

Now they are robbing us. They always have, but these days their greed knows no limits. (Partly because everybody always turns the other cheek. They are not impressed.) Before too many more years, we will see tens of milllions around the world and even here dying of hunger so our CEO's can get ten-twenty-thirty-million-dollar bonuses.

Dying meekly of avoidable hunger or disease is very non-violent and noble. But the hearts that are moved thereby are usually not those of the people responsible.

God bless you for your peaceful spirit. One hopes you can sustain it when your wife or children are killed by bad prescription drugs or drafted to murder little brown people or dying from hunger or freezing to death under a bridge in the winter. After all, those politicians and businessmen responsible for your dead children ARE children of God themselves.

Right?

Anonymous said...

PS: I just read a history of the French Revolution. The curtailment of Louis XVI's power (the one married to Marie Antoinette) was begun by the middle classes and the merchants, instigated and led by the king's brother, the Duke of Orleans, who hoped to have the king deposed so he could take over the throne.

When the chaos got out of hand, the common, uneducated, and violent masses having risen up and taken over, the instigators of the Revolution all fled and left France to its fate, which was horrible. Nobody's head was safe on their shoulders, be they noble, rich, poor or peasant. Scores of thousands were guillotined. Then after hundreds of thousands of deaths, Napoleon took over as dictator, later proclaiming himself Emperor. His wars of conquest cost millions of lives, including well over a million Frenchmen.

After Napoleon was finally defeated and France was utterly crushed by the Russians, Austrians, and British, twenty-five years and miilons of deaths later, the monarchy was restored under the Duke of Orleans, reigning from 1815-1825 as Louis XVIII, the last king's dead little son having been counted as Louis XVII.

So in the end, the man who, for personal ambition and greed, had started the whole disastrous catastrophe, got what he wanted - to be king.

No doubt he slept exceedingly well on his feather mattress in his golden bed, his dreams never being disturbed for one second by the many millions of deaths it had taken, including those of his brother and all his brother's family, to elevate his title from Duke of Orleans to King.

So the nature of greed always has been, and so it always will be. Here, there and everywhere. The wicked prosper, because we let them.

Because we let them.

Because we let them.

Only because.... we let them.

Anonymous said...

Will,
Excellent article. How were you able to get a copy of "Plunder"? It's not available on Amazon and I can't find it anywhere else (Borders, Barnes & Nobles, etc.)

BK

Jimmy Jo Jibberjab said...

The agents provacateur are coming round teh bend! All on the Hasbarat payroll or was it the nation of islam? Grip your canned goods and potable water close, tune in your Alexi Jonestein tinfoil hat sonic reducers for further instructions.

William N. Grigg said...

BK, thanks for the kind comments. "Plunder" hasn't been released yet; its publisher sent me a review copy of the galleys. It should be out at the beginning of 2010.

white hat said...

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