Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye

You haven't an arm, you haven't a leg,
Haroo! Haroo!
You haven't an arm, you haven't a leg,
Haroo! Haroo!
You haven't an arm, you haven't a leg,
You're an eyeless, noseless, chickenless egg.
You'll have to be put out with a bowl to beg.
Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye!

This Irish tune which dates from the early 1800s, comes from the Irish that fought for the East India Company.

It appears to me that it is a fitting song for our day and time. Just as the Irish were fighting in a war for a profiteering corporation, our soldiers are in Iraq and soon Iran, are fighting for Halliburton. Both generations of soldiers are fighting, dying and being maimed so that corporations, that are essentially in the carrion industry of war profiteering, can see quarterly profit growth.

As they fight and bleed, and are coming home with missing parts, our politicians use this opportunity to posture, collect graft and earn many other personal rewards for sending young men off to fight to make rich men ever wealthier.

Bush has now made it clear that the US is in the business of starting unprovoked wars. In a recent speech he declared that the US may now pre-emptively attack a soveriegn nation, even if it's unknown whether that nation will attack, where it may attack or when. We have essentially declared that if Bush imagines that we might be attacked by someone, someday, then that gives us the right to attack them now.

And as Bush announces that our new doctrine is to start wars to prevent wars, the rhetoric against Iran has taken on a new tone. I believe that war is inevitable.

And it's been inevitable for some time. After all, Halliburton and other carrion industries have a responsibility to their stockholders to increase their business. The only way for them to do this, is for the US government to give them more no-bid contracts. The best way to get a lot of new no-bid contracts is to have a new war. Halliburton then has a duty to it's stockholders to encourage the US to start new wars. And one of the ways that a business encourages the US Government to give them more business is to lobby. As part of the defense industry's lobbying efforts, Halliburton and other carrion industries bribe politicians to start wars.

If Halliburton didn't bribe politicians to start wars, they wouldn't be returning good stockholder value. They would not be satisfying their responsibilities to their stockholders. They would lose market share and their stock value would begin to dip.

So from their perspective, and from the politicians that accept bribes from them, every US Citizen that comes back from a war for profit, in a coffin or with metal tubes for arms and legs, is a success story. When a man comes back from Iraq with his legs missing, it's more money for our congressmen and senators.

And when the public begins an outcry against this in any form, then the bribes need to be upped to keep politicians voting, to keep the death and maiming going. And there's plenty of money to bribe a lot of people with. These wars are going to end up costing the US taxpayers, trillions of dollars before they are over. There's plenty of room in that expense for some money to trickle back.

So the boys from 19th century Ireland and today's young men that are losing their lives, limbs and sanity, can rest assured that their sacrifices are putting lot's of dollars into the pockets of folks like George Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfield, Condaleeza Rice, Hillary Clinton and Pete Sessions. These folks are taking your sacrifices and turning them into cold hard cash to pay for their limos, new paintings, new cars, caviar, and any other luxury their hearts may desire.

Your lost limbs and broken hearts make their dreams come true.

May the road rise up to meet you, may the wind be ever at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face and the rain fall softly on your fields. And until we meet again, May God hold you in the hollow of his hand. - Irish Blessing