The World Bank

THE WORLD BANK
OR
I GOT RHYTHM AND I LOVE THE WORLD

I'LL GET THEM HEATHENS FER YOU, MY DECIDER

Illustrations: One is of Bush sending Wolfy on his way to be the head of the Organization to Spread Capitalism and Hegemony. The other is of the Decider showing his rhythm, proving he really cares for other cultures.

UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES

OR

The right thing for the wrong reasons

I am continually amazed and happily surprised when certain things happen, but I’m always bewildered as to how they come about.

The most recent is the troubles both Gonzales and Wolfowitz are facing right now. Let’s start with Wolfie.

Wolfowitz is a perfect example of a maxim by Bernard Shaw in his REVOLUTIONIST’S HANDBOOK: “Follow all the little rules and you can break the big ones.” For example, I have seen the book titled BUSH’S BRAIN wherein Carl Rove is singled out as the main confidant. Seeing the Decider talk extemporaneously, one must surmise that at least part of his brain his disconnected from his physical presence, but Wolfowitz should not be excluded here.

Wolfy was one of the original architects of the Iraq war and occupation. He advised war with Iraq before 9/11 and kept pushing it. He was so much of a hawk on the subject that even Chomsky thought his move to the World Bank was a good thing, mainly because it got him out of the State Department. However, as insane as his overall views are, he always was careful to comply with any and all regulations that applied to him. Along with Richard Perle (remember him), he was the conceiving force behind the Iraq war.

Now he is at the World Bank and actually started to reform it. His “girlfriend” also worked there so he informed the Board of Directors, the Ethics Committee, etc. and asked for guidance. He finally helped her transfer to the State Department, a lateral transfer, where she helps translate Arabic and other stuff. That’s why he is being attacked and may actually be sacked. He should be sacked from public life, but not for that reason.

Actually, the World Bank needs to be dissolved or reformed. Right now, the countries in South America, including Argentian, Brazil, Venezuala and others are forming a “Bank of the South” to replace it and will also be demanding refunds form it. Their main mode of operation is to loan money to poor or underdeveloped countries, collecting interest, with string attatched such as not spending it on healthcare, housing for the poor, and privatizing (ie, selling them to corporations in developing countries) their natural resources. The activity has gone so far as to include water, privatizing the water supply, let alone oil, diamonds, and uranium, etc.

Gonzales reviewed the Geneva Conventions to determine the truth about our torturing people we kidnap or capture. He decided the Conventions were “quaint” and we should go ahead. He also decided that putting people in prison for years without a charge, attorney, or trial was perfectly constitutional. Reason enough to want him out of the way.

The scandal as Attorney General has to do with firing some prosecutors “for cause”. Actually, it turns out it was perfectly legal to fire them just for the hell of it, but not for cause. Now he is in trouble. He will remain so until Karl Rove decides he no longer acts as a lightening rod for Bush.

At a university were I once served, a bunch of white male liberals campaigned to get this woman made Chancellor, a term used by Hitler. She turned out to be an adversary of the faculty (without which you have no university). She never grasped the fact that there were applied statistics geared toward various fields and wanted to eliminate all but one type of statistics. Several well-qualified faculty were denied tenure. She froze all salaries (which she had to do because of the legislature) including those on Federal Multi-Year Grants or Contracts (which was a violation of the terms of the grant), and several of these faculty were supporting ten to twenty other faculty and graduate students. About half of them left and managed to take their grants with them. Meanwhile, she spent all sorts of money making things look “pretty”.

At one time she had four chief football coaches on the payroll and the team was loosing. She was fired.

Nixon prolonged the Vietnam War 5 or 6 years (it did not end until Ford took office). He put Pinochet in power, killing Aliendne. More Americans died in Viet Nam under Nixon than under Kennedy and Johnson combined. He and Kissinger planned the East Timor disaster. He bombed Cambodia and ultimately was responsible for Pol Pot. People think he was impeached because of Watergate, but it more likely was the “enemies list” with the names of many powerful people on it that did him in.

For that matter, why was Clinton impeached? For getting a blowjob? Or did the health insurance industry have something to do with it. Wasn’t his destruction of Welfare a more pressing reason for impeachment?

Over and over, the right thing for the wrong reason.

Whose next? Rove and Cheney? Since they should, they probably won’t, and if they are, it’ll be for stealing postage stamps or something like that.

No guest article right now. There are many good ones available, but not on this subject. I’ll pass some along in the future.