One Single Change Would Wipe Out 90% Congressional Corruption

 

If you spend any time on social media you can only come to one conclusion, graft is everywhere except with the less that powerful. The wealthy get away with everything up to and even including murder, though murder is the toughest one to escape. Congress has far too many members who spend three terms, or even two, and if one is astute, one term and walk away as multimillionaires. Many people ask as to how this can be. Many understand and know why this can be and often is. Senators and Representatives are covered by laws which exempt them from insider trading. So if there is a defense bill coming to a vote and the members of Congress know that in six weeks it will pass, it will easily give company XYZ a multi-billion dollar contract which is hundreds of times more than their budget for the previous five years combined. XYZ stock is selling at $1.23 a share six weeks out, so many, but not all as they take turns according to seniority, buy a thousand shares. The bill passes and Wall Street lights up and within two days that stock now sells for $327.77 a share. The Congress members sell their stock at this point making over $325,000.00 for a six week and two day investment in a stock because they cannot be charged with insider trading. This simple trick goes for much more than defense legislation and at every level of government. In the little township, county, city or borough where you live they repair roads, bridges and build parking garages and hire companies to manage all kinds of government projects. Going into such contracts these are often small family businesses with under twenty-five employees and just initially making stock options. That places their stock initially on the volatile IPO (Initial Public Offering) market which is usually the home for high risk, high reward investors and not for the faint of heart. But when you know that a small operation is about to receive a multi-million dollar, multi-year contract that market becomes far less risky and investing becomes a sure bet. This is the sleight of hand, crooked investing which can be found throughout government at all levels. Often those who would prosecute such criminal acts are also clued in on investments when the opportunity is great enough to allow a broad group to make huge benefits without actually raising too much attention. This is why you find so much money going into governmental elections and influencing because the returns are far beyond the pittance invested. Giving a number of city electors a hundred thousand dollars into their election funding and then after they defeat their opponent who received one fifth the amount they will receive multi-million dollar contracts and the city electors investing wisely become millionaires within a few years and move to Tahiti if they are smart, or buy their own newly charted island and refuse extradition to the United States.

 

This is nothing new as it has been how the Senators in Rome maintained their wealth and how the Caesars ruled over these Senators distributing government monies to those who supported them and not the others. The first Caesar, Julius Caesar made a single mistake, he kept the money with the people and refused to feed the graft machine which was the Senate and the commanders of the legions. This resulted in his big day on the Senate steps where he was made into a pincushion using tens of knives as the pins with the final pin, some claim the fifty-first knife, plunged into Caesar’s back by Brutus, “Et tu Brutus?” Wars were fought throughout antiquity to steal the wealth and enrich the King and their closest advisors and generals who commanded the troops protecting the King and winning their wars. Eventually rulers figured out they could simply tax their subjects and by taking a small to modest amount from each subject reap great wealth. Some rulers made the fatal mistake of figuring that if a modest amount granted great wealth, then doubling the tax would double their wealth. That failed as once you cross a critical point draining from the economy the economy becomes unstable and the gravy train dries up and the people revolt. So many greedy kings found their people to be revolting right before they met the guillotine, the sword or other form of execution, some far less noble at the hands of the rabble. Governmental systems have changed, governing has not. Governing is still how to provide the people with sufficient services and comfort while stealing as much as the market will bear enriching the governing. Can this poisoning of government be rooted out and extinguished? Probably not for as Campaign Finance Reform should have taught the people of the United States is that no matter how you rig the game and what you do to take the money from the hands and supporting structures of the elected public servants, they will simply invent some way around the laws, appear not to actually control what they are forbidden, have an indirect but close knot control of these funds and will make away with the wealth in the end. What is more diabolical and evil are those high government employees who are just below the appointed position who are civil servants, thus presumably untouchable by those in power, gaining wealth through careful investing and manipulation of portfolios to take advantage of information which comes across their desks as part of enacting the particulars of legislations. This has gotten far more prevalent as the legislation leaves the entirety of the building and enacting the structures to fulfill the demands of vague legislations thus allowing much of the distribution of contracts and such to these civil servants. There is little chance that these civil servants are all so clean as to not make investments or find other means of enriching themselves. There are far too many very wealthy government employees whose salaries are less than twenty-five thousand dollars a year, how did they become wealthy? Little problem in figuring that out, is there.

 

Shine a Light on Corruption

 

Money is the grease which oils the wheels of government. That remains true to this day and will likely remain true far into the future. The opportunities to become wealthy from being in the right place to hear the next outlay of millions of dollars by government cannot be eliminated until the government is trusted to machines, and then the question will be who monitors and runs the machines. All we can do is alter where the weakest links are placed and thus who gains from inside information. The history of mankind has in part been the history of seeking perfect governance and the failure at virtually every juncture. There was once a governance which was as close to that perfection people seek but is unwieldy as the people must have the faith to trust their safety and protection from other nations and their invasions or other entreaties to an entity they cannot know and claim daily their inability to understand their ruling entity trusting the messengers who claim to be the sole recipients of that wisdom. This was the ruling by Hashem over the initial Israelite Tribes through the prophets and judges. There was not government largess to benefit from its wealth and how it was distributed as all was in the hands of Hashem and there were no government programs. Roads were made by people traveling between locations using the same route which eventually packs the ground making a clear and obvious path, not what you would desire to drive your brand new Lexus across but perfectly fine for your donkey. Even the advances far, far back around 1100 BCE forced the Israelites to demand to have a King like the neighboring nations to lead their army and protect them from the threats emerging around them and Torah records that Hashem told the Judges and Prophets that should the Israelites demand some form of governance to provide them security, then they should be permitted such governance. This resulted in their taking a king asking the leading prophet to anoint their king leading to King Saul. Saul was not the worst of kings or the best, but his reign led directly through some odd circumstance to King David and then King Solomon which was the shining period where the tribes of Israel were united into a singular nation which conquered lands up to the Euphrates River (see maps below showing Twelve Tribes, King David and Solomon conquest and the promised lands for Israel according to treaties from World War I). Following Kings were less successful with the eventual downfall which coincided with a king who was an idolater and placed idols inside Solomon’s Temple, a low point for the Tribes of Israel. Over the next centuries the Israelites managed to throw off tyrants or be granted autonomy under the sovereignty of a greater power. The Israelites were even permitted to build the Second Temple which included Herod building what is today the Western Wall, built over six hundred years before the founding of Islam and about a century before the birth of Jesus. Herod made himself great amounts of wealth, sufficient to build himself a mountain with a castle and burial crypt in the Northern Negev and live a lavish life of opulence simply by giving the people what they demanded, the Temple Complex, and collect taxes in order to provide the people their desires while fulfilling his own. This has been the formula of effective governance for centuries both before and since, especially since. Many of the iconic public works projects, if investigated and audited meticulously would reveal that many within the government and closely tied to people in the governance and especially with the planning of public works gained great wealth. Be the works be a huge clock in the middle of London, a great dock providing thousands of new jobs in Amsterdam or almost any public work one could mention.

 

 

So, how can the vast majority of this corruption, this theft of the public treasure be prevented? The quickest would be to subject politicians and public servants (government workers) to the same laws as the public and demand an accounting of their incomes and investments as well as careful auditing of all contracts. Make all government bids by law be the final price charged with no cost overruns, no additional surprises, and no adjustments or new demands during production that allow for fudging numbers and hiding payouts. Adding that whatever the estimated date of delivery be set such that any time overrun resulting in a percentage of the initial payments budgeted being returned to government as a means of compensating the public for these delays. This would force defense contractors to make realistic and exacting bids instead of making a lowball bid knowing they can increase the cost through delays and cost overrun demands after the initial bid is accepted. The F-35 JSF is a prime example with it coming to delivery a good part of a decade late with cost overruns and technical problems resulting in the price of each fighter costing a good deal closer to double the expected and quoted price. Had these costs been included in the initial bid it is quite possible that the bid might have gone to a competitor. The current development and bidding system used by government contractors, especially in the defense industry, is to guess at what it might cost and to make a bid at three-quarters of that estimate completely confident that the remainder and more sufficient to make the profit desired as well as cover any difficulties along the way. This is a legalized form for guaranteeing theft. If, on the other hand, contractors were made to provide what they promised for the price they bid, and not a plug nickel over, then the bids would be far more realistic and shades higher to cover the expected of the unexpected, or should we simply call it the unplanned snags and other complications. This would allow the government and the voting public, should they be interested, to understand, and know ahead of time, exactly what projects will cost. Currently the public knows that the quoted bids are a ruse and perhaps if they were guaranteed these bids would be the exact delivery price the public might take a real interest. As things are, why bother with the bidding when one really need wait as long as a decade to find out the actual delivery price because there is little or no actual oversight.

 

Government needs to become a business, not a joke, a poke in the dark where truth is a rare commodity and concealed misappropriation the rule of thumb. If a butcher ran his store as governments are run his scale would be off by 10% and he would often have his thumb on the scale as well. Nothing would be as it appears and the rule of buyer be wary would be most necessary. Governments, when designed in democratic based nations, are presumed to be open and to be overseen by the people who by being informed can make solid and reasoned votes for their representatives. Oh, if only this were true. The reality is we elect our candidates or parties, pending on whether we have a representative democracy or a parliamentary system, according to elaborate shows designed to thrill and titillate the public with elaborate deceptions designed to sell the product making it appear more responsible than the governance’s results. The entire production is very Hollywood and just as much a fantasy. This all results in a governance just as deceptive as are the campaigns and the people depicted therein. There is an easy way which we can attest from our experience in running a campaign for the United States House of Representatives where we spent at most $10,000 and received more voted per dollar than either of our high priced opponents despite not quite garnering 3% of the vote (still the record for third party candidates where we ran). Now we feel it is important to point out that this was a campaign for a job which pays $174,000 per year (current salary) for two years for a total of $348,000 total before having to run again. Our two opponents each spent very close to the same amount on their campaigns which was estimated to have been that one spent $1,200,000 and the other spent $2,200,000. These figures for our opponents do not include PAC and Party funds and advertising. Please explain how that explains spending for a job paying $348,000 which only one of us had even a dream of showing a profit unless something else was going on. And Americans complain they cannot figure out what is wrong with their governance. Of course this is not something peculiar to the United States but exists in every government across the world. Democratic nations probably suffer the least from such deception as they do kind of have to answer to the people and when the people get upset, that distress trumps all else. In dictatorial regimes the difference is far more marked as the ruling elite get the best of what is available, that is when there is a best of available to be had. In those places suffering the worst governances imaginable, such as North Korea and Venezuela, eating and having even the necessities can be considered an extravagance. Until we return to Hashem ruling the people or machines keeping humans as their pets, there will be those people using the government for self-enrichment. Always has been and always will be, or so it appears.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

It is All a Debate of Dates (Part II)

Part 1

 

The Arabs refuse to recognize anything anywhere in the world where their feet have tread should ever be ruled by any others and must remain an Arab Waqf for all eternity. This is why in many Arab countries a map of the world does not contain the nation of Spain and instead shows a nation named Andalusia. This name was what the Moors who conquered Spain used to name that area and that was the name until 1492 when Ferdinand and Isabella who reconquered Spain for the Church and initiated the infamous Inquisition. This warring between Christianity and Islam had continued for centuries with the most famous were the Crusades to return the Holy Lands for Christianity with their emphasis on Jerusalem and secondary targets of Nazareth and Bethlehem. The Muslim conquests had reached from Spain into France being turned at the battle of Tours. The invasions in Eastern Europe reached Vienna twice where the Muslims were turned back and the Ottomans returned eventually retreating back into what is today Turkey. World War I brought an end to the Ottoman Empire and in a number of first ever treaties the lands were turned over to rule other than that of the conquerors with most returned to what were believed to be the indigenous peoples. The most striking was the reestablishment of the Jewish State in its ancient homelands. These new nations were to be guided by Mandates assigned to the European allied victors of World War I.

 

Also redrawn were the borders of Eastern Europe with Germany and the Austria-Hungarian Empire being broken into new nations and borders adjusted with the allies and their defeated ally Poland gaining area at the cost of Germany and the Austria-Hungarian Empire. The Arab claims that the Europeans after World War I crippled and altered the Arab world while leaving Europe unchanged is not a valid claim and the reason the Arab world appeared to be more altered was the area of the Ottoman Empire compared to the Austria-Hungarian and German lands combined. The alterations in both lands were relatively equal in their depth and altering of influences. In Europe they set the ground for the remilitarization of Germany and World War II. The problems in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) was caused largely because each of the nations drawn on the map placed several tribes within the same borders and even cut some groups such that their peoples were spread amongst several nations. Probably the biggest losers from these borders were the Kurdish People who, despite being promised their own lands of Kurdistan, they were cheated and their tribes spread between Iran, Turkey, Iraq and the former (and potentially future) Syria. This has caused great amounts of friction especially with Turkey and Iraq where the Kurds were often targeted by their own governments. The Kurds in Syria have been facing an extermination assault by Turkey on top of fighting the Islamic State as well as other independent units and the Syrian government and allies. When reading about the Kurds it often appears that like Israel these people are also fighting the entire world with the main difference is at least the United Nations ignored the Kurds.

 

According to the Arab history of the world there was nothing before Islam. There were no great empires of Persia, Greece, Rome, Babylon and so forth. All these lands came into history upon their conquest by the Arabs and Islam. All the former and undeniable peoples from the bible were all Muslims. This may appear to be an anachronistic view of the world but the way this is established is that Allah founded the universe and gave Adam the perfect faith, Islam and when Abraham was to sacrifice his son, that son was Ishmael and there is little if any mention of Isaak. Abraham was a Muslim, Moses was a Muslim and the Torah he wrote was really the first writing of something resembling the Quran but the Jews altered the writings given them by Moses corrupting it and the Christians took that and corrupted it further all to such an extent that Allah had to provide the original all over again to Muhammad. Thus Islam is the only true religion and thus has been promised to be given the entirety of Earth to rule as the only ones who have truth. This is the reality under which the Arab Muslims perceive the world and insist this is the truth and their truth must be the only truth. Anybody who refuses to accept their truth is a heretic and under Islam such a blasphemer needs to be silenced by all and any means necessary. All of this comes to a head over Israel and the focus of Arab war with the developed world and the Western world and culture. Islam had made a number of offences with their first the most successful and is now at the leading edge of their third surge (see map below). This latest offensive is using numerous efforts including warfare, terrorism, infiltration (refugees) and using democracy against itself and the equality and protections of religion to spread political Islam. Until Western nations realize that Islam is a religious-political system where the political Islam supremacy is hidden within a religion where it retreats whenever challenged demanding their religion be respected and pressing those who propose to tell the truth are then attacked as Islamophobic and thus ridiculed as anti-religious or bigoted haters. Thusfar their methods have been working exactly as they planned and will continue until either the Western World succumbs or wakes up and treats Islam as a political supremacist totalitarian system threatening the developed world.

 

Islamic Expansion

 

Concerning Israel, the Arabs have directed their main efforts on the heart of Israel realizing that Israel is the tip of the defense of Western World civilization. To target Israel they are aiming for the heart of Israel which is Jerusalem and targeting the beating heart of Jerusalem, the Temple Mount and Old City all of which is all encompassed in Eastern Jerusalem and thus beyond the Green Line. But what is this Green Line and why is it so important? The Green Line is the line between the IDF and the Arab forces on the Jordanian front at noon of the final day of hostilities. This was an Armistice Line and the Arab League at that time insisted that the Green Line was only to be the demarcation of the end of fighting and never, ever, ever to be considered as a border nor was it to be even used to form or delineate in negotiations a border and Israel was never to have an eastern border. The reasoning was that as long as Israel was denied any of its borders it would not be a real nation and thus the Arab world could maintain that Israel was not a nation and did not exist and was really just part of southern Syria. The Arabs reject the Mandates as having been legal and claim that the Europeans were the longest and most vile colonialists in all of MENA. What they are ignoring is the fifteen-hundred-years of Arab colonialism which continues to this day. The Europeans began any colonialist possession of the areas of MENA during and after World War I in 1914 through 1917 and then took responsibility for nation building as these areas were under Arab and then Ottoman dictatorial rule since the latest around the year 700 up through 1914, 1200 years, and have returned to Arab control as these nations were released from European influences (see map below). Judging from the longest colonial possession by Europeans of MENA lands hangs around half a century with most far less. The biggest lie about European colonies in the MENA lands is that Israel is a European colony, the big lie.

 

Dates that the MENA nations received their independence after colonial rule many since the times of the Persians or even earlier

 

The truth is there is no evidence from the population statistics of Israel by which one can prove it to be a European colony. Approximately forty percent of the Israeli population comes from the MENA nations that forced the vast majority of their Jewish population from within their borders, some with the belief that they could drown Israel with these destitute refugees who were denied their wealth as their valuables and monies were confiscated before they were allowed to depart. Often they were limited to one or two suitcases per person and these suitcases were all inspected for anything of value or desirability. Over half of Israeli population is constituted from non-Europeans within other than MENA Jews there are the Menashe from India, the Ethiopian Jews and many others. Lastly, of the non-Mena populations the largest single population is from the former Soviet Union. The claims are that Israel is made up of Jews from the Concentration Camp survivors that the Nazis did not murder and that they are destined to complete the work of the Nazis.

 

Let us go to the reality for a moment as we have been reporting so much of the strange and untrue, well, a lot of untrue mixed with sufficient truth to make everything have just that taste of the possible. Much of the rest is accepted largely on the mistrust of Jews or outright anti-Semitism. Before the year 600 the Arabs resided almost exclusively along the coasts of the Arabic Peninsula. They were idolaters and Islam was not yet an idea emerging from Muhammad’s experiences in that cave. Meanwhile, the Jews had survived their experiences in Egypt and were led by Moses into the desert where for forty years they prepared the population for becoming a nation and to conquer the Promised Land. Moses led them to the Jordan River and from there Joshua led the assault into the Promised Land. First Jericho then Ai and onto the remainder of the lands (see map below). The conquest took longer than a single lifetime and culminated with King David and King Solomon centered around the year 1000 BCE (see map below). By the time of King David and King Solomon all the Canaanite tribes were defeated and the Israelite enemies now were Greeks, Egyptian and Babylonians. The Israelites were driven from their lands twice, the first by the Babylonians and the second by Alexander the Great and his Greek armies. From that second conquest there came the Roman rule which executed what they considered to be the deathblow being delivered to the Israelites, who by this time were merely called Judeans which eventually became Jew. The punishment the Romans delivered was the scattering of the Judeans (Jews) throughout their Empire and even banishing many Jews to beyond their frontiers expecting they could never survive. This resulted, over time, with Jews living virtually throughout the world. Meanwhile, many Jews also sought home along Northern Africa to escape Roman brutalities resulting in a sizeable Jewish population being spread throughout North Africa when the Arab forces burst from the Arabian Peninsula and conquered this area. Some Jews even followed this migration into Spain where they met Jews who had been dispersed and reached Spain from the Roman frontiers.

 

Cities Conquered by Joshua as Recounted in Kings
In the Hebrew Bible the Old Testament

 

Eretz Yisroel as formed after the conquests by the Kingdoms of King David and King Solomon; both of whom allowed the Principalities of Edom, Moab and Ammon to be semi-autonomous as long as they and their armies supported Eretz Yisroel

 

The history of the Western Jews and the history of the Jews under Islam had many similarities where the forms of government and names of the rulers were different but the results identical. In Europe the Jews were chased from nation to nation and even from kingships to kingship and baron’s lands to baron’s lands and even from town to town. The plight of the Jew was well told in Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice where the Jew is a moneylender whose client has refused payment. For the rest, read the play or go to the theater for the full story, dinner at 11:00 PM. Jews were permitted a select few professions and were forbidden to own land, what was considered the ultimate sign of wealth. This placed Jews as the initial provisionors and retailers. This would grant the Jews great advantage in a much later time while others were just first reaching the cities where the Jews were already established. The Islamic world was ruled locally in many ways similarly to the European world with the main difference being that the entirety was under the rule of one person who seldom ever visited much of their lands. This left the rule and tax collecting from which they often took a great cut for themselves. Often these local leaders would enact Islam only laws pressing the Christians and Jews to flee with little or nothing more than they could hastily gather and carry. Sometimes these restrictions and persecution were targeting Jews alone; it is so much fun to be the chosen people. The areas under each Sheikh, Emir and other titles whose moniker would change depending on the Caliph and the ruling Islamic branch would each make decisions which affected the non-Muslims, especially the Jews, residing within their territories. The similarities between the lives of Jews under Islam and Christianity were far greater than were the differences as far as the average Jew and their security, or lack thereof. The problem for the Jews is we were seldom permitted weapons when we most would need them and never had the numbers of population to provide ourselves with much hope of protecting ourselves beyond taking flight when trouble brewed. With Israel things are different as now we have equal footing though our numbers are limited, our determination is not and we will not be driven from our lands ever again, and that is our intent.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

Imagine the Return to a Revolutionary Ideal

 

Once upon a time there was the Black Robe Regiment which was the name given by the British to the Colonial Preachers who supported American independence. Not only did they preach independence, they very often were officers in the militias against the Red Coats. The British did all they could to murder these preachers and many gave their lives for the Revolution but the danger did not curtail the Black Robe Regiment preachers who refused to be cowed and were one of the main inspirations of the American revolution. Their sermons inspired and often their brash and brave actions kept the Revolution alive and brought a number of victories against the odds with their bravery and words motivating their fellow congregants often at the most crucial of moments. The United States owes much of the founding in the fighting and the religious basis of the Founding Fathers and the state legislators whose input and approvals were required in the formation of both the federation of America and then the Constitution which was the foundation for the United States of America. There is a possibility that the Revolution could have failed without the local inspiration and organization which was often centered around the churches and their Black Robe Regiment preachers.

 

Black Robe Regiment

 

All that changed in 1954 at the behest of Texas Senator Lyndon Baines Johnson’s proposed legislation to amend the tax codes affecting houses of worship such as churches, synagogues, mosques, or temples and other nonprofit organizations with 501(c)(3) tax exemptions. The amended tax code limited the freedom of speech by members of organizations and entities who had tax exempt status under 501(c)(3) regulations making any political speech such as supporting a candidate, party or other specified political speech. The amendment to the tax codes was named for its presenter and is called the Johnson Amendment. Particularly prohibited was conducting political campaign activities to intervene in elections to public office or other sermonizing which may be perceived as backing a candidate or party. The language was vague and unspecific enough that many clergy were silenced from mentioning even certain Bible passages near election times as they might be construed as taking sides on a campaign issue and by doing so backing a particular candidate or party. Such brought to an end political preaching from the pulpit, at least in theory as some such still exists but as long as the parishioners are singing the same tune, nobody complains and such activity continues. This was specifically used to target and silence clergy from endorsing candidates. Over time this embargo on political speech became partisan in nature in too many locations as a ban against conservative politicking while backing leftist causes or progressive Democrat candidates. Still, care was taken to never mention any names and instead to often mimic campaign slogans working them into sermons or choosing verses carefully for recitation which would appear to back one candidate’s positions or damn the opposing candidate. Still, clergy still need be far more reserved and careful and a far cry from the history of clergy, especially when one remembers the Black Robe Regiment.

 

Texas Senator Lyndon Baines Johnson

 

Should Donald Trump as president keep his word and successfully repeal the Johnson Amendment thus freeing certain tax exempt institutions and their personnel from conducting any political activities, especially campaigning or endorsing candidates, imagine the consequences. We would witness the liberation of the clergy and the resultant rebirth potentially of a new Black Robe regiment preaching and supporting political positions more aligned with their religious beliefs. There need be no great fears from secularists as they won’t be in houses of worship forced to hear any sermonizing, especially political sermonizing. Rescinding this regulation, expunging it from the tax code, would be a strike for freedom of speech. Placing a political muzzle on the clergy and threatening their tax exempt status was a bad idea from the start, one might even say criminal. But then Lyndon Baines Johnson was not exactly known for tact or freedom of expression for anybody disagreeing with his views. He was better known for strong-arming political rivals by any and all means at his disposal. This was most evident during his time as President which also served to allow his passing every piece of legislation which became the backbone of his “Great Society” and a remaking of the social safety net and the start of an increased welfare system. Some have blamed this for many societal problems being faced by American society currently. Just maybe a little moralizing before Election Day voting would serve as a positive influence. Just Maybe.

 

Beyond the Cusp