Major General Smedley Darlington Butler, one of the most colorful officers in the Marine Corps, was one of the two Marines who received two Congressional Medals of Honor for separate acts of outstanding heroism. General Butler was born in 1881 and raised as a Quaker. He was still in his teens when he was commissioned as a second lieutenant for the war with Spain and served in the Philippines, China, Puerto Rico, Panama, Nicaragua, Mexico, Haiti, France, and, after a stint as Director of Public Safety in Philadelphia, in China again. General Butler died at the Naval Hospital in Philadelphia on 21 June 1940. At the time of his death he was the most decorated Marine in U.S. history. A great man.
When I started the Smedley Butler Society over ten years ago, out of admiration for the man and a desire to prolong his memory, I conducted an imaginary interview with General Butler based on his sayings. A small portion of it:
Don Bacon: What do you think of the current political situation in Washington, with the military in control of the government and their talk of continuous war?
General Butler: Back in my day we had similar people. In Italy there was Benito Mussolini, who said: "Fascism . ..believes neither in the possibility or the utility of perpetual peace . . .War alone brings up to its highest tension all human energy." As you may know, I was arrested and threatened with court-martial for criticizing Mussolini at the time. Later on, I stopped the bankers' putsch against Roosevelt.. See, some Wall Street big shots wanted to topple President Roosevelt and the New Deal. I was a life-long Republican, and they knew that I was a soldier's general, so they approached me and wanted me to lead an army of five hundred thousand veterans to overthrow the government. We'd do the whole thing from Civilian Conservation Corps camps, which were already set up. If I refused, they were going to get MacArthur. Well, I blew the whistle on them. I always sided with the underdog against the rich and powerful with their damnable wars, and I'd do it again. ...
A racket is a service that is fraudulently offered to solve a problem, such as for a problem that does not actually exist, that will not be put into effect, or that would not otherwise exist if the racket were not to exist. Conducting a racket is racketeering.[1] Particularly, the potential problem may be caused by the same party that offers to solve it, although that fact may be concealed, with the specific intent to engender continual patronage for this party. An archetype is the protection racket, wherein a person or group indicates that they could protect a store from potential damage, damage that the same person or group would otherwise inflict, while the correlation of threat and protection may be more or less deniably veiled, distinguishing it from the more direct act of extortion.
Racketeering is often associated with organized crime, and the term was coined by the Employers' Association of Chicago in June 1927 in a statement about the influence of organized crime in the Teamsters union.[2]
Contents [hide] 1 The RICO Act 2 See also 3 References 4 External links
The RICO Act[edit]
Main article: Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act
On October 15, 1970, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (18 U.S.C. §§ 1961–1968), commonly referred to as the "RICO Act", became United States law. The RICO Act allowed law enforcement to charge a person or group of people with racketeering, defined as committing multiple violations of certain varieties within a ten-year period. The purpose of the RICO Act was stated as "the elimination of the infiltration of organized crime and racketeering into legitimate organizations operating in interstate commerce". S.Rep. No. 617, 91st Cong., 1st Sess. 76 (1968). However, the statute is sufficiently broad to encompass illegal activities relating to any enterprise affecting interstate or foreign commerce.
In a speech delivered in 1933, General Butler said: I helped make Mexico, especially Tampico, safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefits of Wall Street. The record of racketeering is long. I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912 (where have I heard that name before?). I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. In China I helped to see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested. During those years, I had, as the boys in the back room would say, a swell racket. Looking back on it, I feel that I could have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents.
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ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteSo true
ReplyDeleteMajor General Smedley Darlington Butler, one of the most colorful officers in the Marine Corps, was one of the two Marines who received two Congressional Medals of Honor for separate acts of outstanding heroism. General Butler was born in 1881 and raised as a Quaker. He was still in his teens when he was commissioned as a second lieutenant for the war with Spain and served in the Philippines, China, Puerto Rico, Panama, Nicaragua, Mexico, Haiti, France, and, after a stint as Director of Public Safety in Philadelphia, in China again. General Butler died at the Naval Hospital in Philadelphia on 21 June 1940. At the time of his death he was the most decorated Marine in U.S. history. A great man.
ReplyDeleteWhen I started the Smedley Butler Society over ten years ago, out of admiration for the man and a desire to prolong his memory, I conducted an imaginary interview with General Butler based on his sayings. A small portion of it:
Don Bacon: What do you think of the current political situation in Washington, with the military in control of the government and their talk of continuous war?
General Butler: Back in my day we had similar people. In Italy there was Benito Mussolini, who said: "Fascism . ..believes neither in the possibility or the utility of perpetual peace . . .War alone brings up to its highest tension all human energy." As you may know, I was arrested and threatened with court-martial for criticizing Mussolini at the time. Later on, I stopped the bankers' putsch against Roosevelt.. See, some Wall Street big shots wanted to topple President Roosevelt and the New Deal. I was a life-long Republican, and they knew that I was a soldier's general, so they approached me and wanted me to lead an army of five hundred thousand veterans to overthrow the government. We'd do the whole thing from Civilian Conservation Corps camps, which were already set up. If I refused, they were going to get MacArthur. Well, I blew the whistle on them. I always sided with the underdog against the rich and powerful with their damnable wars, and I'd do it again. ...
And General Butler posed for my gravatar.
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ReplyDelete>
ReplyDeleteRacket (crime)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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A racket is a service that is fraudulently offered to solve a problem, such as for a problem that does not actually exist, that will not be put into effect, or that would not otherwise exist if the racket were not to exist. Conducting a racket is racketeering.[1] Particularly, the potential problem may be caused by the same party that offers to solve it, although that fact may be concealed, with the specific intent to engender continual patronage for this party. An archetype is the protection racket, wherein a person or group indicates that they could protect a store from potential damage, damage that the same person or group would otherwise inflict, while the correlation of threat and protection may be more or less deniably veiled, distinguishing it from the more direct act of extortion.
Racketeering is often associated with organized crime, and the term was coined by the Employers' Association of Chicago in June 1927 in a statement about the influence of organized crime in the Teamsters union.[2]
Contents [hide]
1 The RICO Act
2 See also
3 References
4 External links
The RICO Act[edit]
Main article: Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act
On October 15, 1970, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (18 U.S.C. §§ 1961–1968), commonly referred to as the "RICO Act", became United States law. The RICO Act allowed law enforcement to charge a person or group of people with racketeering, defined as committing multiple violations of certain varieties within a ten-year period. The purpose of the RICO Act was stated as "the elimination of the infiltration of organized crime and racketeering into legitimate organizations operating in interstate commerce". S.Rep. No. 617, 91st Cong., 1st Sess. 76 (1968). However, the statute is sufficiently broad to encompass illegal activities relating to any enterprise affecting interstate or foreign commerce.
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DeleteIraq war is the most typical Racket
DeleteMy favorite story of profit-making from the Iraq racket is--
DeleteUncle Bucky Makes a Killing
In a speech delivered in 1933, General Butler said:
ReplyDeleteI helped make Mexico, especially Tampico, safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefits of Wall Street. The record of racketeering is long. I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912 (where have I heard that name before?). I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. In China I helped to see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested. During those years, I had, as the boys in the back room would say, a swell racket. Looking back on it, I feel that I could have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents.