By now, many of you have read or at least seen the excellent diary by nyceve called "Murder by Spreadsheet." It's a perfect example of how a coldly applied business model can be used to justify killing far more efficiently than gas chambers or assisted suicide. It's more efficient, more effective and far more applicable to a wide range of situations.
Click image for source.
It's the first, best refuge of soulless bastards who want to hide their criminal intent behind a wall of unfeeling, uncaring numbers.
The basics of coldly calculated murder, performed and justified by numbers, are not new, nor are they limited to the health insurance industry. The concept of "Murder by the numbers" has existed for quite a long time; it's taken until now, with the control of the neoconservatives and the rise of the radical religious right in America, for it to assume the mantel of a perfected art -- Vice Presidential misfires notwithstanding.
Music to Murder By -- A Killer Accompaniment
In June of 1983, The Police released the album "Synchronicity" which included the single "Murder by Numbers." With regard to the song title, it was not the first use of the phrase "Murder by Numbers," but it does provide an excellent background frame for the context and content of this piece. If you have it availale, start it playing in the background as you read through.
Let's break it down lyrically and see how we're doing with regard to application in the "real world" of sociopolitical intrigue:
Once that you've decided on a killing
First you make a stone of your heart
And if you find that your hands are still willing
Then you can turn a murder into art
The opening lyrics need little explanation. For our context, once someone has decided that a life (or lives) provide less value than the elimination of same, it becomes a matter of framing to make the act of elimination a bit more socially palatable.
There really isn't any need for bloodshed
You just do it with a little more finesse
If you can slip a tablet into someone's coffee
Then it avoids an awful lot of mess
This, of course, can be seen exemplified in the recently popularized poisoning of Ukrainian opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko. Obviously, someone wasn't watching the dose levels. A more successful endeavor into the realm of poisoning can be seen by the death of former Russian K.G.B. officer Alexander V. Litvinenko.
It's murder by numbers, one, two, three
It's as easy to learn as your ABC
Murder by numbers, one, two, three
It's as easy to learn as your ABC
Yes, unfortunately, there really is a manual of murder. Several, in fact. "How-to" books exist in all shapes, sizes and languages -- and have for some time. There are even movies that popularize the theme.
Now, how does this apply to neoconservatism? Let's continue.
Now if you have a taste for this experience
And you're flushed with your very first success
Then you must try a twosome or a threesome
And you'll find your conscience bothers you much less
First off, let's take the death penalty. And no, I'm not saying that anyone who supports the death penalty is neoconservative, or even right or wrong. I offer, instead, the example of the death penalty and the role a governor would play with the option of the pardon; specifically, the role played by one George W. Bush in his stint as Governor of Texas.
He never pardoned a single convicted person, regardless of circumstance. What's even more telling, he reported ridiculed at least one after denying her final appeal. This from our "compassionate conservative" President, prior to his ascension to "God-Emperor" of the loons.
Because murder is like anything you take to
It's a habit-forming need for more and more
You can bump off every member of your family
And anybody else you find a bore
George W. Bush practiced his hand and built up his tolerance for murder while Governor of Texas. Laura Bush, his wife and our "First Lady" of murder, didn't quite kill family -- but she came close. Of course, once the relationship was over, she was free to marry George and participate vicariously through his training regimen.
Enough, however, with the bad-blood Bush sour grapes -- onward, "Christian" soldiers, onward:
Now you can join the ranks of the illustrious
In history's great dark hall of fame
All our greatest killers were industrious
At least the ones that we all know by name
Industry. Banking. The military-industrial complex. All have blood on their hands. From mining to Big Oil and on through to a Culture of Corruption based on a corporate backbone, murder is -- literally -- big business.
And Big Business uses numbers to justify murder. Perhaps not explicitly -- that would be crass after all -- but through the numerical justification of policies that dictate denial of service justified by sustainable business liquidity (read: "profit margins" and ROI). As mentioned in the opening paragraphs, the piece by nyceve provides an excellent illustration of how this technique is put to use, masking what is ultimately nothing more than unjustifiable "justification" of homicide. Call it whatever you will -- homicide, fratricide, matricide, suicide, genocide, casualties or even simply statistics -- it's still a matter of life and death. Usually death.
But there's a pinnacle to this pyramid, a peak level of achievement from which one may murder and commit mayhem, enabling all the lower levels to operate more openly and freely.
But you can reach the top of your profession
If you become the leader of the land
For murder is the sport of the elected
And you don't need to lift a finger of your hand
The Presidency of the United States, as embodied and foresworn by George W. Bush and arduously protected by the snivelling and snarling neoconservative cabal of his Administration and the neoconservatives of the GOP portion of Congress. (And Joe Lieberman, but he's in a class all by himself. It's called "Connecticut for Lieberman," in fact.)
Taking them to task, by the numbers
The neoconservative Republicans in our government are responsible for a tremendous amount of carnage in our world today. Girded by "loyal" Republicans, for whom "loyalty" to party trumps loyalty to country EVERY time, the neoconservative agenda has been in full swing since before the start of George W. Bush's presidency. It was at that time that they initially conceived of the plan to exert regime change over the Middle East in order to protect America's interests, which they found to be based in the oil and energy industry. The rogues gallery of infamous names who formed the PNAC (Wikipedia entry), many of whom continue to soldier on either directly in the Bush Administration or through a neoconservative think tank called the American Enterprise Institute, expressed their desire to invade Iraq and depose Hussein in 1998 through a memo to then-President Bill Clinton. (Joshua Micah Marshall of Talking Points Memo has an excellent analysis of this.) The PNAC plans didn't end there. They had quite a few more, pertaining to the restructuring of America's military and defense industries, as well as "insights" into National Security policy. These were all expressed in various ways, the most notable of which is their seminal document "Rebuilding America's Defenses." (Summary provided by Information Clearinghouse.)
We're still following that blueprint.
The neoconservatives used the 9/11 attacks as "the new Pearl Harbor" to expedite the changes proposed in that document. Regardless of whether they were simply supremely incompetent and criminally negligent, or complicit in any way, 9/11 was the "best thing to ever happen" for their plans. While George W. Bush was quoted as claiming -- prior to his election -- he wouldn't waste a chance to invade, and -- as President -- that he was going to "take Saddam out" (while claiming that he'd not yet made a decision regarding Iraq in the runup to the invasion), Rumsfeld and Cheney began battening down the hatches. Propaganda became a primary tool, and the evolution of Republican spin was brought to completion.
The White House is still lying by ommission. The true details about the progress of the Iraq occupation are being suppressed, and now the White House is pushing for a surge while insisting that their buildup in the Persian Gulf has nothing to do with Iran. In spite of that fact, their own pundits give voice to their lies. And people are still dying.
The GOP members of Congress are still giving cover to the Administration, themselves and their dirty contacts. DailyKos diarist dengre has been one of the primary bloggers covering Jack Abramoff and his associated dealings for a while now. Just dipping into that steaming pile for a few seconds illustrates just how profoundly corrupt the whole Republican culture has become.
Fully vested and vetted with GOP comes the Military-Industrial Complex and Big Oil, which the GOP bolsters through political appointees to the DOJ who provide cover (and here) for them and their cronies, and the removal of same from positions that could do them damage.
Do not be deceived. These elements are not simply criminal aspects of the neoconservative agenda. All these elements are intimately linked together, ultimately and unabashedly embodied by the Republican representatives who push an agenda that favors the corporate over the corporeal citizens of this nation. Perhaps the most illustrative example of this synergy can be found in the new cries of war profiteering that are slowly rising in intensity, both inside and outside the beltway.
War profiteering is the most blatant expression of "murder by numbers" as practiced and supported by Republicans today, neoconservative or not. Other industries -- Agriculture, Pharmaceutical, Energy -- also provide examples of how the protection of corporate profits has resulted in protecting those things which are actually harming the citizens.
Isn't the purpose of a nation to nurture and protect the people? At least, in a democracy, I thought the preservation of the people was at the core foundation. Apparently, however, that is not the case with neoconservatives -- and certainly not with the Rubberstamp Republicans who support them.
That, of course, is the whole gist of this article. The Republicans who support this Administration -- neoconservative, conservative or otherwise -- are not interested in our nation or our people. Those who support the war in Iraq, or the buildup in the Persian Gulf, or the protection of the corporations from accountability -- they are not Americans first, but "Republicans" first. They care not for the original tenets of Republican ideology, nor for the people who make this nation great. They support the people, the policies and the politics that desensitize the public to the realities of the carnage wrought in our very midst.
They encourage "murder by numbers" because that way they can sleep at night, safe and secure in the knowledge that they have preserved their piece of the American dream, and having sold support of their "numbers" to the outspoken moral relativists of the theocratic Right they feel justified in their peaceful slumber.
These are the true enemies of our nation.
They consist not only of politicians and businesspeople but also of media pundits and extreme fundamentalist preachers; they could be anyone who listens to the propaganda and thumps their chests in rhythm with the bleating sycophants without stopping to apply their "God-given" mind to the drivel that coats them with the oily red stain of lives lost.
It is not, however, the purpose of this piece to beat down the blinded, arrogantly deluded masses. It isn't their fault they are too weakminded and weakwilled to stave off the mountains of propaganda they devour with delight, devoid of thought or circumspection. It is their right to be ignorant, and demand that information -- good, bad or indifferent -- be force-fed through their narrow-band intellectual feeding tubes.
I'm targeting this to the enablers.
The media pundits and the GOP Congresscritters who enable, protect, provide cover for and lip service to the most heinous and criminal Administration ever in the history of this nation.
They are the worst of the worst, for they enable those who cleverly murder by the numbers to keep their own hands relatively stain-free.
With regard to the Chief Executive and the Administration serving him, know this: once the investigations are properly underway, there is no escape, no refuge, for those who seek to expand your twisted dreams of power and conquest. There is no freedom from the price you must, ultimately, pay for the horrors you have unleashed. There can not be any further denial of your intent, nor your culpability.
Know, too, that there will be no escape from Justice for those who have participated and supported -- and continue to support -- the murderous neoconservative policies of aggression, hypocrisy and deception. There is no relief, no surcease, no comfort for those who voted along party lines and claimed no knowledge of the consequences. There is no way, in ways or means or by deceptive practice or sleight of hand, that the blindly loyal and unquestioning followers or the pundits who cheer them ever onward can hide from the face of the reality of the horrors they have spawned -- horrors countenanced by their very own faces.
For those of you who continue to hide behind a false promise of plausible deniability, whether you are directly or indirectly behind this grievous, terrible curse placed upon our nation and the world, know this: we've got your numbers now.