Steven Tyler would sing to you, too ...

Silja J.A. Talvi

… if you had this much money to blow on a birthday party. A teenager's birthday party, no less. As we wrote in Alls or Nothings back in October, David H. Brooks is the CEO of DHB Industries. Brooks pocketed $70 million from selling bulletproof vests to the U.S. war machine last year, in addition to selling company stock worth $186 million. Over 5,000 of the vests were recalled by the Marine Corps because of questions about shoddy construction, but Brooks still walked away with his hefty bundle. Recently, United for a Fair Economy brought it to our attention that Brooks threw a TEN MILLION DOLLAR b-day party for his daughter on 11/26/05, with the likes of Aerosmith, Kenny G and 50 Cent performing. It's so nice to know our tax dollars are ultimately ending up in the greasiest--and greediest--of hands.

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Silja J.A. Talvi, a senior editor at In These Times, is an investigative journalist and essayist with credits in many dozens of newspapers and magazines nationwide, including The Nation, Salon, Santa Fe Reporter, Utne, and the Christian Science Monitor.
Illustrated cover of Gaza issue. Illustration shows an illustrated representation of Gaza, sohwing crowded buildings surrounded by a wall on three sides. Above the buildings is the sun, with light shining down. Above the sun is a white bird. Text below the city says: All Eyes on Gaza
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