Definition Of Madness

I was thinking about my post today when I came across a story in Reuters. As some of you have been following, the United Nations have been in "crisis talks" to save the upcoming UN summit in New York from 9/14-9/16. I wrote an article about this on 8/26 and what the major issues are. Anyways, I was reading through this and all ready to blast John Bolton again, getting more and more pissed and then I came upon the last line. It read that Pakistan's U.N. envoy, Munir Akram said, "One of the definitions of madness is you keep doing the same thing but you expect different results."

That quote struck a cord with me. No matter how much we (lefty's) or the UN fight, the result is going to be the same on this summit. Bush has never cared for the poverty stricken, not only in this country, but worldwide and he never will. Do you think it is just a coincidence that poverty rates have risen every year under not only W but his father as well and rates fell every year under Pres. Clinton? Are you really that naive to think it's just bad luck?

Of course some type of "agreement" is going to reached and W, Bolton, and shoe shopping Condi are going to have their photo-ops with world leaders in New York, but it is almost already guaranteed that this summit is going to have no results. Why? Because to save the poorest in the world, means you have to take from the richest and that means oil and big business. And Bush likes his friends too much. You think it is just another coincidence that it was already in the papers by Thursday that Halliburton had been hired for cleanup efforts after Katrina?

This will come at no surprise, but oil companies are making record profits. In 2004, the nine largest integrated oil companies made $87 billion in profit, with Exxon Mobil alone making $25 billion, according to an August report by the Congressional Research Service. This year, Exxon Mobil reported profits jumped 32 percent to $7.6 billion in the second quarter compared to the same period in 2004. BP saw a profit increase of about 30 percent, totaling $5.6 billion in the second quarter, while Conoco Phillips earned $3.1 billion, a 55 percent increase in profits in the second quarter compared to the same period in 2004. The high profits are mostly driven by high crude oil prices, which jumped more than 60 percent in 2004, according to the congressional report.

Article Author: John A. Conley

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