building the margins
Thursday, February 24, 2005
  all in the family

i knew it felt like we're living in a Bu$h-controlled world, but this is ridiculous.

As Fuzzy Puppy pointed out, W's uncle Bucky (formally known as William HT Bush) recently cashed in on over $400K worth of shares from defense contractor Engineered Support Systems, Inc. (ESSI) which apparently has done very well recently thanks to contracts for W's war on Iraq. Bucky has been on ESSI's board since 2000.

According to news reports, there is nothing illegal in our president's uncle getting rich (richer?) off his nephew's war. However, ESSI's contracts are being investigated since they were supervised by a former Air Force acquisition manager who was sentenced for "improperly aiding" contracts with Boeing.

Also of interest is that Bucky was a "pioneer" for Bush in 2000 and 2004, raising over $100K for his dear nephew's reelection each time. (Note: according to GOP.com, Bucky was a "super Ranger" which means that he has raised at least $200k - I'm not certain if that is total for all elections, or just for 2004.)

Now, it may be perfectly legal for a close relative of the president to sit on the board of a company which received a whole lotta work due to the president's foreign policy.

But legal and ethical are not necessarily the same thing. The Bu$hies seem to be awfully good at business dealings that may pass muster (or heck, they have enough power to change the laws to suit their family's needs) but what they suck at is avoiding unethical situations.

Exhibit B: W's brother Marvin Bush. From 1993-2000 he sat on the board of a company that had security contracts at the World Trade Center in NY. When he left there, he joined the board of HCC Insurance, an insurer of the World Trade Center. He is also the co-founder of Winston Partners which owns shares in Sybase, a company that markets software to banks to help them comply with W's anti-terrorist-money laundering provisions.

None of that may be illegal, but hey, if the tin foil hat fits, I say wear it!

And the bottom line is that it is just morally wrong for the Bu$h family members to be getting richer on the backs of our soldiers fighting W's war. Every single family who has lost a loved one in Iraq should realize that W's uncle (and many other people) are making a ton of money while good American soldiers are lying in their graves.

 
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