[lbo-talk] Hunter S. Thompson: Kerry's my man

[Carl Remick]

>From: "Joseph Wanzala" <jwanzala at hotmail.com>
>>Doug Henwood wrote:
>
>>Joseph Wanzala wrote:
>>>but why pay attention to what Hunter Thomspson says ... (snip)
>
>>He wrote some great books.>
>>Doug
>_______________________
>
>that's not what I wrote Doug, here's what I wrote:
>
>but why pay attention to what Hunter Thomspson says, after all, he just 
>another 'wacko' conspiracy theorist....no?
>
>transcribed from audio interview at
>http://abc.net.au/rn/talks/8.30/mediarpt/audio/hunters290802.ram
>starting around minute 22 or so. (Not perfectly transcribed but mostly 
>there)
>Note that the audio will not be available after a couple of weeks, so 
>listen now.
>
>Q: what I'd really like to know is your reactions on September 11th .. 
>could I get you to tell that story ... (snip)
>
>.... A: No, the event by itself would not have done that. I've seen planes 
>hit the Empire State Building before, I've been blown totally out of my 
>mind, people have been killed, but it was the way the administration was 
>able to use that event and use it as a springboard for anything they wanted 
>to do. Now that may tell you something. I remember when I was writing that 
>column, you sort of wonder when something like that happens, well, who 
>stands to benefit ...

Looking at 9/11 from the cui-bono POV inevitably leads to musings like this. 

  There is no denying that Bush and American capitalists in general 
benefited as much from 9/11 as ObL did.  The attack instantly changed the 
public's focus from the stockmarket collapse to national security -- it was 
almost as if the had US fast-forwarded from Oct. 28, 1929 to Dec. 7, 1941.  
No longer were "visionary" entrepreneurs and Wall St. financiers on the hot 
seat for squandering billions on cockamamie telecom, Internet and biotech 
schemes.  Quick as a wink, the public lost virtually all interest in 
corporate scandals and eviscerated 401-k investments, and started waving 
little American flags around and worshiping the military. The answer to who 
did what at Enron turned out to be:  Don't you know there's a war on?!

No one had a better understanding of the evil logic of capitalism, IMO, than 
Joseph Heller.  I often reflect on that great scene in Catch-22 where that 
arch-capitalist US Army Air Corps Lieutenant Milo Minderbinder orchestrates 
a Luftwaffe attack on his own air base because it benefits his private 
venture, M&M Enterprises.

Actually, I doubt that the nation's capitalist elite worked in cahoots with 
Al Qaeda, but they have every reason to be grateful that this bogeyman 
exists.

Carl