How To End the War, Part One: Full Disclosure Bush's admission during the SOTU: "Mistakes have been made". Note the passive tense--it's amazing that accepting responsibility without acknowledging his role in it passes for an apology. Would that cut it with Judge Judy, Rick? I think Bartcop's Rule #1 Applies Here: "Anytime someone makes a "mistake" that makes them millions of dollars, expect them to make that same mistake again and again". Exxon's 2006 profits were up 39.5 Billion in 2006. Other oil companies posted similar results. You don't suppose any neocons own stock or sit on the board of directors, do you? The only way we're going to stop this war, and future wars of choice, is by taking the profit out of it. Let's take Smedley Butler's sugggestion and conscript the businesses and their employees that stand to profit from war prior to the soliders that will fight and die for those profits: Let the workers in these plants get the same wages – all the workers, all presidents, all executives, all directors, all managers, all bankers – yes, and all generals and all admirals and all officers and all politicians and all government office holders – everyone in the nation be restricted to a total monthly income not to exceed that paid to the soldier in the trenches! Let all these kings and tycoons and masters of business and all those workers in industry and all our senators and governors and majors pay half of their monthly $30 wage to their families and pay war risk insurance and buy Liberty Bonds. Why shouldn't they? They aren't running any risk of being killed or of having their bodies mangled or their minds shattered. They aren't sleeping in muddy trenches. They aren't hungry. The soldiers are! Give capital and industry and labor thirty days to think it over and you will find, by that time, there will be no war. That will smash the war racket – that and nothing else. Here's a modest step in that direction: Why not enact conflict of interest legislation that compels legislators and all public figures advocating war to fully disclose any holdings they have in companies that stand to profit from proctacted military conflict? Read

The Return of Shameless Stay tuned for the grand re-opening of The Shameless Antagonist on Monday, February 5th.