Thursday, October 30, 2008

Of Philanthropists and Con artists

The Council on Foreign Relations runs a think tank called the David Rockefeller Studies Program. This program was started by David Rockefeller, a patriarch of a strong American family with strong American values. John D. Rockefeller became the richest man in history by building up an oil empire, but he gave some wealth back to the people in the form of foundations, funding for the arts, colleges, and even a private research university. Today you can here his name nearly every day on the "liberal radio station" NPR.

Wait a second, did I say American values? I meant to say, self-serving capitalist values.

Jay Rockefeller (one of John D. Rockefeller's many great-grandsons) personally supports "granting the President new warrantless eavesdropping powers and granting immunity to lawbreaking telecoms" (http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/01/24/rockefeller/).

Keep in mind, this is just one of the richest families in the world. There are several families using their wealth and power in similar ways with the end goal of controlling the US economy and indirectly the people involved in that economy.

The same family worked to pass the Rockefeller Drug Laws in the state of New York (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockefeller_drug_laws) that have increased New York's inmate population by over 400% since their passage. According to drugpolicy.org "As of 2008, approximately 14,000 people are locked up for drug offenses in New York State prisons, representing nearly 38% of the prison population and costing New Yorkers hundreds of millions of dollars every year." (http://www.drugpolicy.org/statebystate/newyork/rockefellerd/)

Philanthropist, indeed.

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