Loyalty Is Not A Virtue

Loyalty, or a tendency to be loyal to groups, people, family, tribe, political party....whatever...is not, in and of itself, a virtue. No where is it listed as one in any scripture I have ever read.

It is a personality trait, that can be virtuous, but is equally likely to lead to trouble, and stand in the way of true faith, which has to do with faith in one's own mind and in the basic goodness of others, even when that goodness in not so much in evidence.

For example, loyalty is highly valued among organized crime families; trusting your own mind is not.

Old Texas Friends "Rewarded With Plum Jobs" For Loyalty To Bush

The New York Times SHERYL GAY STOLBERG February 20, 2007 at 08:10 PM

READ MORE: Texas, George W. Bush, Dallas

Israel Hernandez was a fresh-faced college graduate from the Texas border town of Eagle Pass in the summer of 1993 when he landed a job in Dallas as the personal aide to the part-owner of the Texas Rangers George W. Bush.

Together, they spent months driving the dusty back roads of the Lone Star State to promote the team, Mr. Hernandez behind the wheel of Mr. Bush's Lincoln Town Car.

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(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. I.U. has no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of this article nor is I.U endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)


The Nazis, Fascists and Communists were political parties before they became enemies of liberty and mass murderers.

Bush's Uncle Under Investigation (surprise, surprise)

I can remember when we all thought that the idea that the Bush famliy, itself, was a sort of Ma and Pa crime ring sounded ludicrous. Yep, even knowing that old Prescott had, sort of, laundered money for the Nazis, even after the U.S. entere the fray.

It's true. The Bushes and Walkers even had their assets frozen.

Nevertheless, we now, to a number, believe that the Bush family, including close family allies, friends and business associates, who are usually guilty of something, themselves, make up the biggest, most dangerous crime family in American History

I see it as almost poetic justice that it is the eldest, self-confessed black sheep of a dark dynasty who finally OUTS a whole damn bed of rattle-snakes, as a result of his high-brow, barely hidden these days, incurious, intellectually challenged, frat boy-routine, as he drags the nation further and further down into an bottomless hell pitt.


By Tim McLaughlin
Reuters

Feb 7, 2007 — NEW YORK (Reuters) - President George W. Bush's uncle, William H.T. "Bucky" Bush, was part of a group of outside directors at a defense contractor who realized about $6 million in unauthorized pay from an options backdating scheme, according to U.S. securities investigators.

Bush and other non-employee directors who served on the board of Engineered Support Systems Inc., now owned by DRS Technologies Inc., are not accused of any wrongdoing in a civil complaint filed on Tuesday by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The SEC complaint, however, says the non-employee directors benefited from stock options not approved by shareholders.

"As a result, the company provided significant additional compensation to its outside directors beyond what shareholders had approved," the SEC complaint said. "These same directors later realized approximately $6 million from the exercise of their addtional stock options."
The complaint did not break out how much Bush and the other outside directors received from a total of 132,000 shares of unauthorized shares.

Bush, whose brother is former President George H.W. Bush, was unavailable for comment. He served on St. Louis-based ESSI's board from 2000 until the St. Louis defense contractor was acquired last year for nearly $2 billion by DRS, which sells engineering services to the U.S. military.

Bush served on ESSI's audit committee and received $2,500 a month in consulting fees, an arrangement that later was ended for him and other outside directors. Bush also received a fixed amount of ESSI shares each year for his work on the board.

Before the DRS deal was approved in January 2006, Bush held ESSI shares worth $3.8 million, SEC filings show.

Between 1995 and early 2005, ESSI's stock climbed nearly 900 percent as the company sold cargo loaders, generators and trailers to the Pentagon. ESSI's board was politically connected and included several retired generals.

The SEC on Tuesday accused ESSI's former chief financial officer, Gary C. Gerhardt, and former controller, Steven J. Landmann, of orchestrating a backdating scheme that spanned six years. In all, executives and directors netted $20 million in unauthorized pay, according to the complaint filed in U.S. District Court in St. Louis.
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(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. I.U. has no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of this article nor is I.U endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)


The Nazis, Fascists and Communists were political parties before they became enemies of liberty and mass murderers.