HOW TO TALK BACK TO RIGHT-WING EXTREMISTS
THE WRITINGS OF WILL C. JUSTICE
The time for silence is past.  Speak up.  They don't keep quiet.  Talk back.  Copy these responses and post them on your favorite blogs. Send them as emails.  Spread the word.

THE REAL ESTATE CRISIS: AN OPEN LETTER TO THE WHITE HOUSE FROM A FRIEND OF HOWTOTALKBACK
URGENT,
I voted for President Obama and want him to succeed.  Here are my strong recommendations:

One. Find and listen to high-level advisors who know how to buy and sell real estate.

You already have excellent macroeconomists and central bankers. But you need to get advice from top realtors and real estate investors who have had practical experience in the business.

Two. Find a way to loosen credit for house/condo purchases.

Formerly, regulations were too not tight enough. Now they are much too strict.

Raise the upper limit of FHA.

Create a new GI Loan program.

In today's market, realtors can find buyers but they can't find financing.

Three. Make existing and new mortgages assumable.

In the next few months, many unemployed home owners will not be able find jobs soon enough to save their homes. But they can save their credit if people with good credit can assume their mortgages with a simple assumption fee.

Eliminate the due-on-sale clause in mortgages.

Four. Get investors back in the game by eliminating the current mortgage restriction to just four mortgages.

I personally own several rental properties, but I cannot purchase more property or refinance my current mortgages in order to get a better rate because banks are prohibited from making loans to individuals with more than four mortgages.

Five. Do something now. This matter is urgent, urgent.

If there is a further drop in home values, millions of Americans who are barely holding on but still making payments will walk away from their mortgages.

The bottom of the bucket is about to collapse.

This catastrophe will be far worse than a rise in unemployment.

You absolutely must do something wise about the real estate market, and you must do it soon.

Listen to some top realtors ASAP and initiate something quickly.

And don't think that a renewal of the tax credit by itself will solve this problem.  The  standard Republican remedy for any problem in society is a tax credit. You must do more than renew the tax credit.

GLENN BECK AND THE TEA PARTY IS "RADICAL," NOT "CONSERVATIVE." 
CALL THEM WHAT THEY ARE.
These people are extremists, not conservatives. 
A conservative by definition is intent on preserving, not destroying.  A conservative doesn't do rash things or praise those who do, like displaying an automatic weapon at a rally. 

These "patriots" are like the barbarians that sacked Rome. This mob will destroy what it does not understand, including some of the most vital parts of the American experience.   This mob will overturn long-standing legal precedents.  This mob will privatize Social Security.  This mob will demand  judges who will turn  back the clock. 

The media misnames this mindless mob.  Conservatives they are not.  Call them right-wing extremists.  Call them radicals.  Call them John Birchers.  Call them anarchists. Call them Birthers.  But don't dignify them with with a good name.  They don't deserve a good name.

Next time somebody tells you some right-wing garbage, and adds, "I'm a conservative," say:  "You may be a conservative, but what you just said is right-wing extremism."

THE DANGEROUS BIGOTRY OF RUSH, SAVAGE, HANNITY, GLENN BECK, AND MUCH OF FOX NEWS.
AND WHY IT IS DANGEROUS
By Will C. Justice

The real danger is not that these wealthy low-lifes are dishonest, which they are.

The real danger is not that these noisemakers can panic the President, which they have been able to do.

The real danger is not that these pied pipers can lead tens of thousands of childish partisans to go to rallies, which they can.

The real danger is that they just might light the fuse of a dangerous explosive.

And what is that explosive?

It is race.

Race precipitated an awful Civil War.  Do not let anyone tell you that the Civil War was fought over states rights.

It is true that the Southern states seceded in the name of states rights.  But the states that seceded did so in order to keep slavery. 

States rights was the excuse, not the reason.

The memory of the awful cost of that war--the bloated bodies, the burned homes, the tens of thousands of homeless, orphans, and widows, the countless dead--has become sanitized over time.  But it was a deadly national quarrel about race that brought it on.

That was long ago, you say.  We are better now.  Really?

When Martin Luther King was assassinated, and for summers afterward--race lit America's cities in flames

Today, these selfish, clever ranters who stir up strife in the name of ratings just might do the unthinkable again.

Rush operates beneath the radar generally, but he is a constant malicious force in the tradition of Senator Gene McCarthy.  McCarthy used fear to keep his influence.  So does Rush.

Fox News has been able to get away with distortions and skillfully mis-edited videos as simply bad journalism.  But it is worse than that.  It is scary extremism.

One example will suffice.  Fox News has run a sensational story about the New Black Panther story at least 50 times.  And what is the story?  In November of 2008, two black men dressed in military garb stood at a polling booth in a project, where virtually every registered voter is an African American.

The episode occurred during the Bush administration.  If the  people at the Justice Department had felt that these two guys posed a serious threat to America's freedom, they would have done something decisive.  They had all of November 2008, all of December, and January to act.  In fact, Eric Holder was not installed as attorney general until March 27, 2009. 

The people at the Justice Department under the Bush administration could have instigated criminal charges.  But they did not.  The people at Justice rightly concluded that two kooky guys behaving menacingly did not pose a grave threat.

So why is Fox News all adither about the New Black Panther, which may number a few dozen people in a nation of many  millions?

Why now?  Why any time?

You've probably figured it out,  It helps ratings. 

But it's dangerous.  Extremely dangerous. 

Let them yell socialism, but tell them not to yell Race.

Really bad things could happen.  It has before.

The election of Barack Obama marked a high-water mark in America's race relations.  Many--white and black--never thought we would see it in our lifetimes. 

We must not allow such a bright promise to end in flames. 

Call these people what they are.  Dangerous strifemongers.

WHAT PEOPLE GET FOR LOW TAXES OR NO TAXES
By Will C. Justice
If you're deciding where to live or where to re-locate your business, it's a really bad idea to put low taxes or no taxes at the top of your list.  Put quality of life at the top of your list.

In society, as in business, it's stupid to think you can get something for nothing. 

If you make your choice based on low taxes, don't be surprised if this is what you find:  Poor government services, Third-rate schools, A poorly trained, low-caliber work force.  Incompetent government employees.  Corruption.

If teachers, police officers, firefighters, support staff for government offices, clerks, judges, inspectors, and all the other people who provide essential services are underpaid and disrespected, should it be a big surprise if you find a lot of incompetence and corruption?

A mature society is always willing to tax itself.

CUT THE NATIONAL DEFICIT NOW: A REALLY BAD IDEA
By Will C. Justice
The absolute last thing that Congress should be thinking about right now is paying down the deficit.  The urgent need is jobs, millions of jobs. 

There will be plenty of time to pay down the deficit when America's economic engine is running at full tilt again. 

Remember Bill Clinton.  We paid down the deficit during his administration; he actually left Bush with a big surplus that he promptly squandered on two unfunded wars, tax write-offs for big oil companies, and massive tax cuts for the very rich.

What the U.S. needs now is a massive, federally-funded program to rebuild the nation's infrastructure.  And I mean massive. 

Not something piddly.  Let's reinvigorate our tunnels and bridges and highways and railroads, and build new ones--great ones.

Who else can hire the millions of unemployed--except the government? 

Once upon a time, there actually were jobs in factories, but most of our factories are gone.  We don't make that much anymore.

So, what will happen if we spend this kind of money this way?

The workers on federally funded construction projects will spend their paychecks in the private sector, purchasing cars and refrigerators and homes. That's why government spending is called a "stimulus."

FDR knew what a stimulus was, and so did Eisenhower; so did Kennedy and Johnson.  FDR launched all sorts of government programs from WPA to CCC.  Eisenhower launched the Interstate highway program.  Kennedy and Johnson stimulated the economy big-time with zillions poured into the space program.

So, don't waste your time listening to fools who say, "You can't spend your way to prosperity."   Millions of entrepreneurs disprove that dumb-ass statement every day.  Restaurants spend money on steaks and fish and fresh vegetables to serve their patrons.  Software companies spend money to hire programmers and marketers for that next big app.  The essence of capitalism is spending money to make money. 

And if the government spends money, lots of money now, a lot of people will be able to pay their bills.  And, importantly, it will be a down-payment for a prosperous future.  We will be able to transport goods and services faster, easier, more cheaply.  Today's money will make money now, and tomorrow.

If anyone tells you that you can't spend your way to prosperity, say something like, "Nothing ventured, nothing gained" or "Your can't make money if you don't spend money."  Answer a fool's cliché with a cliché.

GLENN BECK TAKES BACK THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT.  RIGHT! 
By Will C. Justice

Beck, surely you jest. 

You say "we" produced the civil rights movement and "we" will take it back.  Who do you mean by "we?"  Surely not the angry mob of government haters that you lead like a latter-day pied piper.  

Martin Luther King was at the other end of the ideological spectrum from you.  King wanted government--yes, the big federal government--to come to the aid of Americans who were oppressed in the name of personal freedom. 

Surely you know that all over the South, in King's time, freedom-loving proprietors posted signs in restaurants with words like these:  "We reserve the right to deny service to anyone."  They called that a right, and it was a right,  their personal, individual right.  

King eloquently declared that there is a higher right than  the right of the restaurateur, and that is the right of the common good.  The federal government came down on the side of the common good.   The federal government said that every American citizen has a right to use a public facility. 

And if you know anything about American history, Mr. Beck, you know that it was bad ol' Washington--the feds, whom you despise--that changed America for the good.  Not states rights, and not individual proprietors expressing their freedom.  It was the government--Washington--that did it. 

QUESTIONS TO ASK LIBERTARIANS: A PRIMER ON LIBERTARIANS, ANARCHISTS, AND THE TEA PARTY   
(Hint. They all have the same core beliefs.)
By Will C. Justice

What they believe
They believe that the highest good is unregulated freedom.

They believe that the ultimate sin is coercion--that it is really, really wrong to make anybody do anything against his/her will.
They are opposed to socialism, communism, Nazism, fascism, and the liberal agenda

How they act
They profess to adore freedom and hate Washington—until a disaster like a poorly regulated off-shore drilling operation becomes a disaster.  You then will be able to spot them readily as the ones who yell loudest, “Where is Washington?”  “Where is the President?” 

They march under slogans such as “small government,” “business-friendly,” “Don’t tread on me,” and “states rights”—until they need a big federal government to save their hypocritical asses.  

ASK THESE GOVERNMENT-HATERS THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS

●Do you want the government to inspect the bridges you drive over and the elevators that you ride in?
How about tunnels, railroads, subways?
What about drinking water?  Meat?  Produce?
 

●Do you like it that the government regulates air traffic?  
Or would you prefer to leave these decisions to the discretion of individual pilots?  Then, whenever pilots see an open runway, they can just go for it.  First one there gets to use it. 
According to libertarian ideology, after enough crashes, the best pilots—the strong ones--will survive, and the incompetent, weaker ones will be gone.
 

●Do you think it’s a good idea for the government to prohibit racial discrimination at restaurants, hotels?  After all, they are private businesses. 
Shouldn’t they be allowed to exclude Jews, Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses-- or anyone whose skin color is of the wrong hue—if they want to?  According to libertarian theory, people do feel more comfortable with their own kind. 

●How about racial exclusion clauses in deeds and covenants?  Shouldn’t that be left up to the buyer and the seller?
 

●Does it make you unhappy that the government inspects gas pumps and taxi meters to see if they cheat?  Or would you prefer to leave this up to individual station managers, drivers, etcetera?
 

●Do you believe the government has the right to require a driver’s license?  Automobile insurance?

●Do you think it’s OK for students to take guns into classrooms?  Doesn’t that violate the Second Amendment rights of nice young people who are fully capable of deciding such things themselves without government interference?    

●Would you be OK if your neighbor decided to build a nuclear warhead in his/her basement?  Or the backyard?  Doesn’t your neighbor have the Constitutional right to bear arms?

●Does it bother you that cities and towns require garbage pickups?

●Do you approve of FDIC insured banks, or would you prefer to keep your money in a bank that is free to do whatever it wants with depositor’s money?  After all, there are banks like that out there, and you surely know that FDIC banks are subject to government regulation and audits, don’t you?

●Are you happy that companies can be fined or closed down by the government for fraud, deceptive advertising, stock manipulation, an insider trading?  Shouldn’t that be left up to an unfettered, all-wise, self-regulating, self-correcting market?
 

●Oh, and how do you feel about preventing businesses from dumping toxic wastes into sewers, streams, and rivers?  This government requirement drives up the cost of goods and services, which is not very business friendly.

●The questions could go on and on.  What is clear is that this fervently held ideology does not do well when it comes face to face with real-life situations.
These true believers live in an imagined world.   They dream of a future that never will be.  They inhabit a past that never existed—when everyone was honest and good, when nobody had locks on their doors, when America was a God-fearing nation, and everybody was a Christian.  

If all of us were good, perhaps this dreamy belief might have a chance of working.  But everyone is not good. 
The world is full of people who will cheat if they can, bully if they can get away with it, and destroy those who stand in their way. Many of them are shrewd and powerful, and need watching. 

Isaiah Berlin put his finger on the problem of an imagined society of absolute freedom, one without government, without coercion, without Washington: “Total liberty for wolves is death to the lambs.” 

WEAKNESS IS FATAL IF YOUR ENEMIES SMELL BLOOD.  By Will C. Justice
Dear Mr. President. 
I love you, but your continued attempt at bipartisanship makes you look weak, betrays your friends who've  taken licks for you, and emboldens your enemies.

You mean well, but your opponents are radicalized. They cannot support you even if they want to because they will catch hell from Rush and Fox News and the Teaparty.

Americans care more about results than a wishy-washy reputation for bipartisanship.

Get the bill done, get it done now, and fine tune it later--let Americans begin to see benefits, and the votes will follow.

The other side will eventually come around, just like they did with Medicare and Social Security.

But weakness won't get the job done.

"FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY:  AFGHANISTAN/IRAQ AND THE WAR TAX" by Will C. Justice
I just heard a CNN correspondent recommending that the President "do something big,"--like cutting entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare in the name of fiscal responsibility.

That correspondent must not remember the feckless campaign by Bush to privatize Social Security.  He must not have thought about what would have happened recently if Social Security had been tied to the stock market

He needs to read up on 1937.  If he did, he would realize that you can't do deficit reduction in the midst of a great recession/depression.

He also should understand that there is no way to reduce the national deficit while waging two wars WITHOUT RAISING TAXES. It can't be done.

Those who want to continue the wars should vote for a war tax. That's "fiscal responsibility!"

If a war tax were passed, two big events would occur. The deficit would decline, and two wars would be over within six months.

AN OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA ABOUT HIS "BIPARTISAN" AGENDA by Will C. Justice

Dear Mr. President:
You appear to have forgotten who brought you to the party.  But we haven’t. 

I once was your enthusiastic supporter, a believer, a defender.

But I, like millions of your supporters, have begun to give up hope.

Your decision to surge in Afghanistan made me heartsick. 

Trying to turn that land-locked, tribal, desperately poor society with a 10% literacy rate, no natural resources, no industrial base, and a century’s-old drug culture into a democracy is a fantastic dream, but an impossible one.  Perhaps a few centuries from now it might be feasible, but not in our lifetime.  

Your initial mistake, and a huge one, was your choice of top advisors.  You let Governor Howard Dean go. His Democratic strategy was one of the big reasons you are in the White House.

You have kept the Bush military team in place—Gates, Patraeus, Jones & Co, who actively opposed you.   Why didn't you use General Wesley Clark?  He knows how to lead a successful military campaign.  (NATO,, the Balkans)

A prediction.  If you follow the Bush team’s military strategy, you will get what Bush got.  Before long, an approval rating in the high 20s. 

It may not be too late to get better military advice, but time is running out.

Your decision about Afghanistan has already cost you millions  of supporters who remain fervently against the war. 

Presently you are copying Bush’s DOMESTIC policy.  Tax cuts for this, tax credits for that. 

Straight out of the Republican play book.   But has it gotten you a single ounce of Republican support?  If it has, it's not visible.

More importantly, what have your friendly bi-partisan efforts gotten you? 

Virtually nothing, because tax cuts and miniscule tax rebates do not work in this environment.   And they add to the deficit.

You can't leverage tax cuts the way you can leverage expenditures for rebuilding infrastructure. 

And what good are tax credits to people who are unemployed or about to lose their homes?   As for businesses, few businesses will hire on the basis of tax credits alone.  Certainly not businesses that are about to go under.

And now your latest horror.  You propose a freeze on domestic spending for everything but THE MILITARY, veterans affairs, etc.  For THREE YEARS!!!!

What are you thinking about, Mr. President? 

Why would you put handcuffs on yourself?  For the rest of your term in office?

Are you trying to appease Republicans and Tea Party zealots?  They hate you.  Are you over-reacting to the Massachusetts loss?

Only hubris could lead you to believe that you can turn today's Republicans and tea party zealots people into your supporters.  They have been radicalized.  You cannot reason with them, because they are ruled by passion and paranoia and misinformation. 

 If you doubt this, listen to Fox News.  Listen to Rush.  These bullies regard your friendly gestures as weakness, and these people eat weak leaders for lunch. 

Remember: He who tries to please everybody ends up pleasing nobody.

If you continue down your “bipartisan” path, and you will end up pleasing nobody.

Your friends, who would have fought for you, will be gone.  Soon you will be dealing with just enemies.  Your friends will no longer trust you.  

You need to be more than a college professor enjoying the vigorous exchange of ideas.  You may get points for winning a few debates, but that is no substitute for leading.   We gave you the mandate to lead.

 Do not lose your nerve because of the Massachusetts setback.

If you do lose your nerve, we won’t hate you.   And we won't become Republicans. 

We will just leave you alone.  And the ones whom you are courting will destroy you

GLENN BECK by Will C. Justice
Glenn Beck made the cover of Time Magazine, but let us not fall into the trap of thinking that Beck is bigger than he actually is. On Beck’s best night, his audience is some 3 million viewers, or about 1% of the population.  (The U.S. population in 2010 stands at about 305 million.)

To keep the numbers in perspective, David Brenner's TV show failed in syndication, and it had numbers of about 2.5 million--at midnight.   

Most Americans do not pay any attention at all to people like Beck.  If they ever heard of Beck before Time put him on its cover, they do not listen to him, and they would not listen to him again if they ever heard him once. 

Regrettably, members of Congress continue to be intimidated by the noise that people like Beck can make.  His  “base” is an angry, lunatic, true-believing, bigoted, fear-mongering fringe movement.   Nothing more.  The nation decided that in the past election. 

Stephen King got it right when he once called Glenn Beck "Satan's mentally challenged younger brother."

One further comment about Glenn Beck.  A prediction.  Glenn Beck will self-destruct.   These people always do.  Unfortunately they also always do a great deal of damage before that happens. 

REPUBLICANS, HEALTH CARE, AND THE DEFICIT
by Will C. Justice

They profess to feel alarm at the deficit,  agonizing over the debt that is being passed along to their children and grandchildren.

But we did not hear a murmur from these same folk when the nation bankrupted itself under Bush, sending zillions to Iraq.  Then it was un-patriotic and un-American to raise questions about spending untold billions in Iraq. 

Now these same folks say it is reckless and irresponsible and socialistic to spend money at home. 

It just doesn't compute.

REPUBLICANS JUMPING SHIP: THE WAR IN AFGHANISTAN  By Will C. Justice
Republicans are openly muttering about loss of life and declining morale, and asking what we are doing in Afghanistan--the same kind of talk that they denounced as un-American and defeatist when uttered by Democrats during the Bush wars.

They now call this war Obama's Viet Nam. 

How hypocritical!  George W. Bush started the war.  They knowingly forget that Obama is just trying to put an end to what Bush started.

Frankly, I was worried when Obama kept the same old gang of top military advisors who were a part of the Bush machine.  If Obama did it to keep the support of the right, he is now seeing how much the right loves him.  The right never will accept Obama or give him credit for any accomplishment. 

In the meantime, please don't think that there ever will be a modern functioning Western-style democracy in Afghanistan, even if we stay a hundred years.

One big price Americans will pay for this war--besides the lives of Americans and Afghans--will be the Americans who will come home addicted to heroin.

So I say look for the first opportunity to get out, and concentrate on containing evil. 

Convince everybody in Afghanistan's neighborhood--Russia, Iran, Pakistan, India, and China--to make sure these mountain bandits and war lords and drug lords are not re-supplied with modern weapons and ammunition,  It is not in their interest, or ours, to have radicals armed with modern weapons on their borders. 

This is nothing new.  It's Rudyard Kipling's Great Game written for the 21st Century.  Get a copy of Kipling's "Kim" and read it for pleasure, for confirmation, and perhaps guidance.

IS HEALTH CARE IN THE U.S. CONSTITUTION?
by Will C. Justice
The writers of the Constitution knew that they could not possibly foresee all the needs of the country for all time.   So they chose words that would give future members of Congress the latitude to enact laws that were needed for future generations. 

One of those phrases is the "general Welfare of the United States." 

Subsequent generations of lawmakers have used this provision to fund Social Security under during the administration of FDR and the interstate highway system during the Eisenhower administration.  Here are the words of the relevant section:  "The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States...."Section 8, U.S. Constitution  (Italics added,)

WHY MANY ELDERLY AMERICANS OPPOSE HEALTH CARE REFORM  By Will C. Justice
I know from personal experience that my generation--senior Americans--is much more likely to resist a black president than those younger than ourselves.   My experience is borne out by the polls.  All the  polls that examine racial views of Americans, when broken out by age, show this pattern.

Elderly Americans were raised on fear of communism and socialism.  The threat of socialized medicine strikes fear in the hearts of the elderly, not very much among our youth. They are smart enough to realize that they are products of "socialized" education--they attended state universities--and they know that tens of thousands of America's physicians have been trained in state medical schools. 

Moreover, Fox News, with its distortions and misinformation about anything that has to do with the Obama administration, has an aging audience.  Look at the polls.  Its most devoted viewers are the elderly. 

In addition, every sociologist knows that the elderly are almost always resistant to major changes--unless the pain of not changing is very great.  There’s little pain among the elderly because they/we have health insurance—socialized medicine—Medicare.  We are not among the 46 million that have no coverage.  Why should we worry about their problem, unless there’s a chance that our own benefits might be cut?

This is not a communications failure of Barack Obama..  It’s a moral failure of my generation of Americans.  We are ignorant of our history, and selfish. 

THE BIRTHERS:  WHERE WAS OBAMA BORN?
By Will C. Justice

The "birthers" claim that President Obama was born in Kenya, and is not qualified to be the President of the United States.  Truth be told, Obama's mother was an American-born citizen at the time of her son's birth, and it does not matter where Barack Obama was born.  The definition of “natural born citizen”  makes the whole debate about the birth certificate moot.

Here's what the U.S. Constitution states: “No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President”

Who is a “natural born citizen”?  A natural born citizen is someone who is born in the United States or someone whose parent/s is/are a citizen of the United States, no matter where they happen to be born.  For example, a boy who is born in Germany whose mother is a native-born American is an American.    This happens all the time to children whose parents serve in the military.  It really does not matter where Obama was born.   What matters is, Was his mother an American citizen?

“This concept of citizenship by blood as opposed to citizenship by geography is a concept with a long history in British common law.”

WHAT SHALL WE DO WITH THE TERRORISTS AT GUANTANAMO?   By Will C. Justice
A lot of Republicans want to keep the "enemy combatants" in prison forever, and a few want to execute them.  Without a trial.  

I have two words to say to these people.  NELSON MANDELA

Nelson Mandela spent years and years in prison as a convicted terrorist.  When released, he became the father of a new South Africa.

Surely his is a story of redemption that should tell anyone who will listen that the terrorist of today has the capacity to be good and kind and wise.  And maybe even a great leader of a nation.

It all depends on the terrorists, and their keepers.

DO WE WANT AN "ACTIVIST" JUDGE ON THE U.S. SUPREME COURT?  By Will C. Justice
Republicans warn that it is unconstitutional for a judge to make policy.  That is the business of Congress, they say, not judges. 

I have five words to say to them:  BROWN VS. BOARD OF EDUCATION.

That decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1954, which declared racial segregation in schools illegal, quickly became policy that changed the nation--for the better.  It is one of the most important court decisions in the nation's history. 

That decision was rendered by "activist" judges. 

THE OBAMA ECONOMIC DEPRESSION: WHEN AND HOW WE GOT IN THIS MESS by Will C. Justice
"Republicans are like an arsonist who sets a building on fire, and then blames the fire department for wasting water."

Up until the presidential election last November, the economy was just humming along--hitting on all cylinders.  Then, as soon as Obama was elected, banks began to fail, the stock market plunged, real estate values plummeted, foreclosures cascaded, and American automakers discovered that they have some really big problems. 

That's what Limbaugh and Hannity and their right-wing disciples would like you to believe.  In fact, some of these buffoons allege that the depression began a few weeks earlier--in anticipation of Obama's victory. 

In order to counter these attempts to blame it all on Obama,  you need to know why things have gone to hell.  Here are three big reasons:

One.  Reducing taxes while prosecuting two costly wars.  Other American Presidents have known that taxes must be raised to successfully prosecute a war.  But not Bush, Chaney & Company.  They burned through the largest surplus in American history, leaving behind the largest deficit in American history. Simply put, they bankrupted the country.

Two.  Faith-based belief in "free markets."  Hannity still uses "Let freedom ring" as a theme-song for his radio show.   Free markets in practice means exporting millions of jobs overseas. 

Just think what has disappeared during the past few decades: textile manufacturing, TV and radio manufacturing; steel production; ship building--to name just a few.   Free-market pleaders say this is because American workers can't compete with overseas workers.  The truth is American workers will never be able to compete with $2-an-hour workers who work in unsafe, polluting sweatshops.

It's not a question of survival of the fittest workers, it's survival of the most exploited workers. 

Three.  Deregulation.  Complete freedom with no rules or regulations sounds very American.  Advocates argue that rules and regulations destroy the efficiency of bright managers and hard-working laborers. It's not business-friendly. 

The truth is, even dumb crooks like environments that have no rules, regulations, or enforcement.  And smart crooks absolutely adore them.   One fact to remember.  The one segment of the banking industry that has not missed a beat is the regulated part of the industry--FDIC-regulated banks.  The unregulated segments are on life support. 

It was not sub-prime mortgages that created the problem.  It was leveraging these mortgages into fancy unregulated derivatives and credit swaps that almost wiped out the banking system.

TORTURE: AMERICA SEARCHES FOR ITS SOUL
Throughout history, torture has been the rule, not the exception.  That is why it was such an important step in history when the inventors of the United States banned torture.   The Eighth Amendment--the Bill of Rights, no less--states: "Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted."

Today many nations still torture--they inflict cruel and unusual punishments--but it is illegal and unconstitutional for Americans to do so.  This is not to say that torture has not occurred under American auspices.  Sadly, it has, but it is a crime, whenever or wherever it has occurred.

Waterboarding is torture.  It is cruel and it is unusual.  American leaders--Republican and Democrat--who knew and said nothing were cowards and complicit in the crimes.  But their guilt does not compare to those who authorized and carried out torture. 

Today we know that Muslims have been tortured--often in the name of the deeply flawed "ticking bomb" argument.  And we know that some prisoners have died, some murdered.  (More on this is certain to come out.)  The great tragedy is that most of the individuals who have been tortured were not given the benefit of a fair trial.   They were found guilty by their captors, often on hearsay evidence. 

Ask yourself what  you would do if you were unjustly accused, and the torture began,

If Christian or Jewish Americans look the other way when Muslims are tortured, will they look the other way when Buddhists are tortured?  Will they look the other way when journalists who expose wrongdoing and do not reveal their sources are tortured? Will they look the other way when ordinary American citizens speak out against the next war that a President recklessly begins?

"First they came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew. Then they came for the Communists and I did not speak out because I was not a Communist. Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me." --attributed to Pastor Martin Niemőller  (1892-1984) about the inactivity of German people of good will following the Nazi rise to power --Will C. Justice

WHY REPUBLICAN LAWMAKERS HAVE SUCH A HARD TIME MAKING ANY MEANINGFUL CONTRIBUTION TO GETTING AMERICA BACK ON TRACK

The culprit is "The Pledge."   For years, Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, has been able to enforce a demand that Republican lawmakers take a solemn pledge not to raise taxes. 

What this means is that all these lawmakers can do is propose  tax cuts--to solve any and every problem--even when the past 8 years shows that trickle-down economics and tax cuts for the rich lead to economic disaster. 

Pledge-takers cannot support, even if the want to-- needed projects such as high-speed rails or rebuilding American's crumbling bridges and tunnels and highways or health care reform if it means raising taxes. 

What is the nation's main barrier to bi-partisan legislation?  It's not Obama.  It's The Pledge.

Pledge-takers need to know the words of Abraham Lincoln, the greatest Republican ever, who said:  "Bad promises are better broken than kept."

SETTING THE HISTORICAL RECORD STRAIGHT
Republicans are making a concentrated effort to rewrite history by alleging that F.D.R.'s stimulus spending harmed instead of aided efforts to end the Great Depression.  Gingrich is one of the Republican's most articulate and persistent spokesperson for this ideological argument. 

Below is a response to Gingrich that Time Magazine published:  "FORMER HISTORY PROFESSOR GINGRICH misstates some facts about the 20th century.   The Great Depression did not give rise to Nazism or Japanese militarism.  It was World War I and its aftermath that set the stage for both Mussolini's march on Rome and Hitler's attempted putsch in Munich.   By the time of the Depression, in 1929, the fascists had been in power for years, and the Nazis had been growing in strength for most of the decade.  Furthermore, Gingrich's description of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff seems to imply it was part of F.D.R's New Deal.  Smoot and Hawley were Republicans, and the act that bears their names was passed in 1930, during the Hoover Administration.  If Gingrich can't get his facts straight about the last century, why should we listen to his suggestions for this one?"  --Lee Poole, PHOENIX

AN OPEN LETTER TO RUSH LIMBAUGH FROM WILL C. JUSTICE
DEAR ALL-WISE RUSH LIMBAUGH:

I have been critical of you in the past, believing you to be a financially successful, cunning, deceitful charlatan. 

But now I realize that I need to examine your ideas more carefully.

I once heard you say that you hoped Americans would do away with all the programs that FDR began. 

That confuses me.  Didn’t FDR create the FDIC?   

I admit that the FDIC can coerce banks and require that they submit all their records to government agents for inspection.  These agents sometimes swoop in without warning, demanding to see everything. 

You are a libertarian, I’m told, and I understand that libertarians regard coercion as a very bad thing.  Does this mean that banks should be allowed to withhold any documents they don’t want to show?   

If that’s the case, isn’t it possible that there just might be some clever, dishonest people working for banks?  It’s untrusting of me to think such a thing, but experience has taught me that some people need to be watched, especially people who handle a lot of money.   An old farmer once told me, “Son, you get what you inspect, not what you expect.”  

So, even though FDIC does sound coercive, it gives me some comfort to know that the records of my bank get inspected.

Rush, please forgive me, but I have a problem with another of your ideas. 

Don’t libertarians believe that greed and selfishness are virtues?   My mother taught me not to be greedy and selfish. But I want to give your ideas a fair chance, so I will try to get what she taught me out of my head.

Finally, my money is currently in an FDIC bank.  Do I need to take my money out of this bank? It’s been good all these years knowing that my money was safe.  In fact, I don’t know anyone who has ever lost their money in an FDIC bank.  But discomfort may be the price I have to pay to be truly free. 

Thank you for teaching me that government is bad, and coercion is bad, and FDR’s programs are bad, and socialism is bad, but greed and selfishness are good.

Now I have a new outlook on life.  Thank you.  Thank you.

One final question.  If I withdraw my money from an FDIC bank, can you tell me where to put it?   Maybe, somewhere the sun doesn’t shine?  --Will C. Justice

THE MORTGAGE RESCUE PLAN AND THE CONSERVATIVE UNDERGROUND
By Will C. Justice

"Do these people not know that when a ship sinks, the good and the bad do down with it?"

They’re at it again.  You can hear them on hate radio and hate TV, venting about socialism, and Marxism, and bailouts for the irresponsible.

They work their followers into frenzy, urging them to bombard politicians with millions of messages, thereby creating an illusion that they are a massive populist majority--thus getting what they were unable to gain at the ballot box. 

In reality they are the right-wing fringe comprised of a few million obedient souls with lots of hate in their hearts and time on their hands.

These are the people who murmured ne'er a word about the billions and billions sent off to Iraq.  Nothing was heard from them then about passing along staggering debt to our children and our children’s children. 

These are the government haters who were content to let New Orleans drown until it was too much of a world embarrassment to ignore.  These are the ones who wanted government-friendly regulations, which worked beautifully for Enron, Madoff, and assorted mining companies. 

These are the laissez-faire people who believe that an omniscient market knows how to correct itself.  Left to itself, that may actually happen,  but God knows when. 

For the most part, these people call themselves Republicans, although some say they are libertarians, apparently not knowing that they really sound like Russian anarchists. 

Oh, they can be pious!  They make their mortgage payments, and are outraged that deadbeats get special breaks at the government's expense. 

Deadbeats.  That’s what one hate-radio personality recently called the people who are losing their homes.   This particular demagogue admitted that there might be a few exceptions, “but I don’t want to hear about the exceptions,” he huffed.

Deadbeats? Is that what one should call the unlucky millions who lost their jobs during recent dreadful months?  Over 680,000 “deadbeats” last month alone.  Could losing their jobs be the real reason they are losing their homes?  But that would be an exception, wouldn't it?

Do these people not know that when a ship sinks, the good and the bad do down with it?

Have these people contemplated what a calamity it will be if the housing market collapses completely?

Do they not know that those who drown will be those who faithfully made their mortgage payments, as well as those who couldn’t or didn’t? 

Do they not know that if there is a foreclosure sign in front of one's neighbor's house, that it adversely affects the value of their own house?

Do these people not know that this nation has a long and successful experience subsidizing mortgages?  

Like the G.I. loan. 

Oh, these people would probably call the G.I. loan socialism, too, because the government intervened on behalf of its citizens.   They would have to know that these loans was costly, that billions in subsidies were poured into them before the program ran its course. 

But the subsidized mortgages for G.I.s created an American middle class of home owners.

Besides, those mortgages helped untold thousands who weren’t veterans by  affording non-veterans the opportunity to assume a G.I. loan. 

Now there’s an idea.   Why not a big, new G.I. loan program, with low-interest mortgages and no down-payment and low closing costs for military people who served in Viet Nam and Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan, and  firefighters, and police, and teachers?

And why not make those mortgages truly assumable again, the way G.I loans and many other mortgages used to be.  A homebuyer with good credit could assume somebody else’s loan for a modest assumption fee, and did not have to pay thousands of dollars in funny money to attorneys and title companies to do duplicate work.

Do the people who sow hate, discord, and doubt not know that they are making the problem worse? 

Do they not know that the economy will not correct itself until Americans believe that it is safe for banks to make loans again,  and safe for consumers to spend and borrow again?   

Fortunately, fewer and fewer take the hatemongers seriously.   The election of 2008 proved it.   The hatemongers did everything in their power to smear and deceive and discredit. And they failed. 

One would think that they learned their lesson.   Perhaps they did.  They discovered that you can fool some of the people all of the time.  And they discovered that some of the people can make a lot of ugly noise.  --Will C. Justice

OBAMA'S HOUSING PLAN
I just watched a man on CNN who works at three jobs to pay his mortgage say that he wonders how he will benefit from handouts to people who aren't making their payments.

Answer: If this man's next-door neighbor is in foreclosure, and if others in his neighborhood are too, their problems bring down the price of his residence. By stabilizing the market, this man benefits when home prices stop falling and begin to appreciate again. Whenever it rains, it falls on the good and the bad. If this works, everyone will benefit.

John Donne answered his question long ago:  "Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee. "

HOW TO ANSWER PEOPLE WHO SAY THAT OBAMA IS A SOCIALIST
Ask if they believe in socialized education.  Chances are they will say No.  Ask them if they believe in public education or state universities, such as the University of North Carolina, UCLA, the University of Illinois, or any major state university. 

These schools are all examples of "socialism"--state supported education.   Chances are, even the most devout right-wing Republican or Libertarian will have to admit that there are some good state-supported schools.

American have long believed in policies that are "socialistic" in the broadest sense of the word:  Social Security, Medicaid, public schools, public highways, and a graduated income tax that was begun under that great socialist Teddy Roosevelt.

WHERE CAN LIBERALS, PROGRESSIVES, AND MODERATES GO FOR IN-DEPTH TELEVISION NEWS?  
We strongly recommend MSNBNC. Unlike Fox News, MSNBC is really fair and balanced, with articulate critics--conservative as well as liberal. 
Unfortunately, MSNBC is not available on Comcast in some markets except as expensive add-on packages.  
We urge you to contact your local cable company and let them know that you want MSNBC.  
You'll be glad you make the effort.   There is no comparison between their coverage of the debates and the other guys. 

REPUBLICANS AND THE NEXT GREAT DEPRESSION

I am not a young man, but never in my lifetime have I seen anything as reminiscent of Hoover's Great Depression as America today--banks failing and hundreds of thousands of Americans losing their homes.  For the first time in my lifetime, people are worried about whether the money they have in the bank is safe. 

This nation cannot afford four more years of Republican rule.  And there's one big reason. 

Forget personalities, inexperience. racism, sexism, and war hero talk.   It's the ideas that the candidates and the parties cherish that really matter.

The same ideas that produced the Hoover Depression are alive and well in today's Republican party--no taxes for the rich, subsidies for big corporations, no government regulation by the federal government, and the supremacy of states rights. 

Change the name from Hoover to McCain to Palin on  the economy, and the answers they give are interchangeable.

I personally heard Rush Limbaugh say that it was his goal to undo everything that FDR did. 

Now it's no secret that nobody has more influence over Republican thought than Rush.  And it's no secret what Rush believes: government is bad and federal regulation is a plague. 

But I wonder if Rush realizes that the FDIC--a program of the federal government put in place by FDR--is the main thing right now that's keeping America from an economic collapse.

One of my friends asked me why I wasn't voting Republican.  "Don't you want to keep more of your money?"

My answer?  If the nation follows Republican ideology and the banks fail,  neither she nor I will have any money to keep.

What we need is a President who sounds like FDR, not a Hoover sound-alike.
--Will C. Justice 

OBAMA AND LINCOLN COMPARED
"The next time somebody says Obama hasn't had enough experience to be President, ask them if they ever heard of Abraham Lincoln.  Ask if they think Lincoln was a good President.

There are important parallels.  Lincoln had no executive experience. Neither has Obama.  Lincoln was an Illinois lawyer.  Obama is an Illinois lawyer.  Lincoln served 8 years in the Illinois legislature.  Obama served 8 years in the Illinois legislature.  Lincoln served 2 years in Washington, in the U.S. House of Representatives.  Obama has served in the U.S. Senate since 2005."--Will C. Justice

OBAMA AND 'SOCIALIZED MEDICINE"
Last evening, when I told a woman some 65-70 years old, and a staunch Republican, that I planned to vote for Obama, she said:  "Don't you know that a vote for Obama is a vote for socialized medicine."  

When I asked her what was wrong with "socialized medicine," she replied:  "It's not the American way," and then went on to explain that the American way involved individuals helping one another without government assistance.

I pointed out that we already have "socialized medicine," if by "socialized" she meant government-financed health care.  (She admitted that she is a participant in Medicare. )  And I pointed out that Americans are justly  proud of our "socialized" universities, like UCLA and the University of Georgia and Georgia Tech and the University of Michigan, and Illinois and hundreds of other fine state schools.

As for "the American way," there was a time many decades ago when most Americans lived on farms and in small towns; when  doctors made house calls, and a trip to the hospital might cost $100; when most people knew their neighbors.  Then state-financed health care might have been superfluous.  Maybe not even then. 

But today, when 45 million Americans in a nation of 302 million lack health insurance; when a trip to the doctors office plus filling the prescription for the flu might come to $200 or more; when an emergency trip to the hospital can cost $1000 or much more for the first few minutes, please don't tell me that something drastic is not needed, even if it's "socialized."  --Will C. Justice

THE SURGE AND THE IRAQ WAR
"Last week I heard Neil Boortz, a mean-spirited, right-wing talk-radio host, tell us that the Iraq war has been "won." A few days later, The New York Times carried a front-page article about Bush's courageous decision to support the surge--sending an additional 21,500 troops to Iraq. 

If those two stories are to be believed, never in the history of the nation have so few done so much.  It seems almost unbelievable  that a mere 21,500 troops could rescue a war that seemingly had been lost.  And all the time, many Americans believed George W. Bush to be a reckless, pig-headed fool.  Shame on us!

Now that the war has been "won, " pardon me if I ask a few questions. 

One.  If the war has been won, why is it that because of security concerns Condi Rice's recent visit to Iraq was kept secret until the very last moment?  If the enemy has been vanquished, why would this be necessary?

My second question.  If the war has been won, why hasn't the Iraqi government been brave enough to show itself in public?  It still hunkers down in the Green Zone. 

My third question.  How were a mere 20,000 troops able to do so much?   Is it because the real reason for the drop in violence is the hundreds of millions of dollars the U.S. is paying militants not to shoot people. 

According to a report in USA Today, the U.S. hired 36,000 former militants at $8 per day to help us--and that's just what the U.S. pays the grunts.  Who would know how much we are paying the leaders and the Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr to be nice?

Using the figures in the USA Today article, 365-day coverage with all 36,000 comes to roughly $2,016,000 per week or about $105,000,000 per year.  And again, that's just for the low-level people.

In a subsequent article on the subject by The New York Times, it is reported that these Sunni insurgents on the U.S. payroll are now being hunted down by the Shia government.  Understandably, the turn-coats feel betrayed by the U.S.

Yet The New York Times article on the surge and Bush's courage did not tell us about the huge protection racket the U.S. has been engaged in, and the real reason behind the drop in American casualties.

One final thought.  If 20,000 troops can do so much, too bad we didn't know that in Korea or Viet Nam.  Those wars could have been won with a surge, too."   --Will C. Justice

REPUBLICANS AND BAD GOVERNMENT.
It's a cherished article of Republican faith that government is bad.   Their mantra is "Limited Government." With no touch of irony, Republicans take government office to make sure this belief comes true. 

Bear in mind that the executive branch of government--George Bush & Co at the federal level and  governors at the state level--is responsible for running the government.  Not Congress. George Bush is the CEO of the federal government.  The buck stops in the Oval Office or at Crawford, Texas or whatever stage prop is convenient, even though George Bush always blames Congress, or his predecessor.

So what do these Republican latter-day anarchists do?  They under-fund and under-staff government agencies.  They appoint total incompetents to the highest executive positions in the agencies.  They issue restrictive executive orders to handcuff the agencies--and make sure that the public loses faith in the ability of the government to perform. 

The evidence is everywhere.  Just connect the dots. 

The VA and Walter Reed General Hospital became a national disgrace until Congress intervened and there was a firestorm over conditions and lack of service.  Air Controllers--under-funded.  Mine safety--under-funded and regulations un-enforced.  FAA--under-funded and under-equipped. 

Republicans really hate Social Security and want to see the whole system privatized.   What better way to achieve that goal that to sow seeds of doubt about the viability of the fund and, importantly, to make sure Social Security underperforms. 

Case in point.  In Georgia, according to a report just published in the Atlanta Journal Constitution (August 27, 2008) "on average claimants wait 793 days for a decision from the agency's North Atlanta office and 769 days from its downtown Atlanta office."  Over two years for a decision!
--Will C. Justice

FIGURES DON'T LIE, BUT LIARS CAN FIGURE
The headlines tell you that the number of Americans with no health care coverage dropped from 47 million in 2006 to 45.7 last year. 

What you may not have read:  the number of uninsured Americans is 7.2 percent higher than in 2000--the year this dreadful regime began.

The headlines told you that the income for the typical American household rose for the third year in a row. 

What you may not have read is that median family income last year was still 0.6 percent less than it was in 2000.

Republicans have to take full and complete responsibility for the recession.  From 2000 to 2006,  Republicans controlled the White House and both houses of Congress.  In 2006 Democrats achieved a majority in Congress, but the margin is so slim that George Bush can still veto at will.  It's a Republican mess.
--Will C. Justice

"YOU SHOULD BE A REPUBLICAN IF ANY ONE OF THE FOLLOWING DESCRIBES YOU.  OF COURSE, IF SEVERAL ITEMS DESCRIBE YOU, YOU COULD BECOME A LEADER OF THE PARTY.  If...
...you are very rich and want to avoid paying any taxes;

...you are a polluter or run a fraudulent business and want to avoid governmental regulation;

...you are a bigot and harbor deep suspicions and resentments against minorities;

...you believe the Bush administration has done a good job;

...it doesn't matter to you that today's Republican Party has been hijacked by Southern racists, radical religious fundamentalists, and the top leaders of what Eisenhower called the military-industrial complex.

Background:  The Republican Party of today is far different from the Republican party that chose Lincoln.  The Republican party was originally formed to prevent the spread of slavery into the western territories and new states.  Republicans were the liberals and the radical left of their day.

But a few decades ago, Richard Nixon created a Southern strategy designed to lure white Southerners away from the Democratic party and into the Republican Party.

The plan was successful.  Those who responded were from the Ku Klux Klan and the White Citizens Councils and racist sympathizers.  Gradually these "conservatives" rooted out the liberals and the moderates in the Republican Party, and took over. 

Core beliefs of today's Republican Party

One.  Low taxes or no taxes for the very rich and big corporations

Two.  "Limited government"  This is a Republican code word for cutting, eliminating, or privatizing all government programs, including Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare, Head Start, veterans programs, children's health care programs, public schools, the post office, etc., etc.  It also is code for weak regulatory agencies for the environment, mine safety, airline safety, etc.

Three.  "Free markets"   This is a Republican code word for a doctrine that encourages American capital to flee to foreign countries to purchase products and services, while closing American manufacturing facilities that produce textiles, steel, automobiles, etc. by well-paid American workers.

Four.  "Wedge issues" such as gay marriage, immigration, and patriotism.  Republican strategists employ wedge issues to divert attention from the big-three issues.  Like a carnival magician,  Republican strategists and demagogues play upon the fears and prejudices of Americans to distract them from what is really at stake.

YOU SHOULD NOT VOTE REPUBLICAN IF...
...you are middle-class or upper-middle class.  The Republican Party will throw you sops, like $600 tax rebates to make you believe that they are fighting high taxes.  But their core belief is If you were any good at all, you would be rich. 

...you are employed by a public school system.  The Republican Party would like to privatize the public school system;

...you are employed by a state university or college.  Remember the core belief of today's Republican party.  They believe that anything done by the government could be done better privately:

...you are a student at a state-supported university;  (See above.)

...you own or run a small business.  The Republican Party scorns anti-trust, anti-monopoly laws and regulations.  Their leaders believe it is part of the divine order for small businesses to be crushed by big ones. 

...you are a government employee of the federal government.   The Republican Party hates the federal government.  That's the reason Republican demagogues constantly tell you that Washington shouldn't tell you what to do.   They know they can manipulate state governments easier than then can the federal government; 

...you believe in extending federally funded health care to 47 million Americans who lack health-care coverage;

...you are a recipient of Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, VA, or children's health insurance benefits.   Rich Republicans believe you should have saved enough on your own so that you don't need these government benefits. 

...you think of yourself as a liberal or a moderate.  Don't be stupid.  There are no Republican liberals or moderates left in the leadership of the Republican Party.

...you are not a racist or a nativist.  However, if you really don't like people who look, think, or talk different, you will feel right at home in today's Republican party."  --Will C. Justice

THE TRUTH ABOUT OFF-SHORE DRILLING
The Illusion.  If the environmentalists will just shut up, and oil companies can start drilling in Alaska and off-shore, gas prices will come down and the United States will no longer have to purchase oil from nations that do not like us. 

Over seventy percent of Americans believe this illusion is true. 

The truth.  If all the oil untapped in Alaska and under the waters of the outer continental shelf were drilled, according to U.S. Department of Energy data, the yield would be 18 billion barrels. 

(The U.S. Department of Energy is neither Republican nor Democratic.  If there were any tilt politically, it would be Republican because the top administrative positions are Republican appointees.)

18 billion barrels of oil sounds like a lot. But at the current rate of global consumption, 18 billion barrels would be completely consumed in 7 months.

Oil is purchased in an international market, so it is conceivable that all 18 billion barrels might be purchased by China or Japan or India or some other oil-poor nation, certainly some of it.

But If by some stretch the United States managed to keep all the 18 billion barrels for itself, 18 billion barrels would last about 28 months. 

If drilling began today, it would be 2013 before any significant amount of new oil would hit the market.  (Main source, Fortune Magazine , August 18, 2009, p. 23,  The New Yorker, August 11 and 18, p. 28, 29)

Help get the truth out.   You can cite the material above with confidence. 

BUSH'S REVERSE-MIDAS TOUCH
Everything King Midas touched turned to gold.

Unlike Midas, everything this man Bush touches turns to shit.

The budget surplus, gone; the Katrina rescue, a catastrophe; the hunt for Osama Bin Laden, a joke; Iraq and Afghanistan, quagmires; the banking system, shaky; mine safety a tragic disgrace, the airlines in bankruptcy.  Yet this man Bush wanders the corridors of the White House pondering his place in history.  And Americans, the foolish ones, are concerned that Obama lacks experience."
--Will C. Justice

REPUBLICAN ECONOMIC CHICKENS COME HOME TO ROOST
"The only good economic news during the past seven years has been housing.  The housing boom kept many Americans from noticing that hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs were disappearing under the banner of open markets.  
And now the housing boom has evaporated!  

The good jobs are gone, the plants are shuttered or turned into lofts that people have stopped buying, and highly skilled workers are driving taxis or flipping hamburgers. 

Hoover Days are here again. "  --Will C. Justice

THE COST OF AN ISRAELI OR AMERICAN STRIKE ON IRAN;  ENORMOUS
The following is an excerpt from an AP story by Steven Gutkin, released August 6, 2008

"The cost of an attack — by the U.S., Israel or both — is likely to be enormous.

Iran could halt oil production and shut down tanker traffic in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, which could send the price of crude skyrocketing and wreck Western economies.

It could stir up trouble for the U.S. in Iraq by revving up Shiite militias there just as Washington is showing some important gains in reining in Iraqi chaos.

It could activate its militant proxies in both Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, from where Israel could come under heavy rocket attack. And it could strike Israel with its arsenal of Shahab-3 long-range missiles — something Israel is hoping to guard against through its Arrow missile defense system.

Perhaps most importantly, any strike on Iran — especially if it's done without having exhausted all diplomatic channels — could have the opposite of the desired effect, "actually increasing the nationalist fervor to build a nuclear weapon," said Meir Javedanfar, an Iranian-born Israeli and expert on Iranian affairs. "
Howtotalkback believes the costs far outweigh the benefits.

SELF-REGULATION, DEREGULATION, AND NO REGULATION
“The lesson we have learned is that self-regulation means no regulation.” 
--Nouriel Roubini, an economics professor at the Stern School of Business at New York University, quoted in The New York Times, Sunday July 27, 2008, business section, p. 7

HOOVER DAYS ARE HERE AGAIN???
i once heard Rush Limbaugh state that he was committed to overturning everything that Franklin Delano Roosevelt put in place.

Well, it's a good thing Rush and his good buddy George Bush and the Republican enablers didn't get their wish.   Because, if they had completely succeeded, we would now be in another Hoover depression. 

In fact, just one of FDR's innovations--the FDIC--has kept our shaky banking system from complete collapse.  If it weren't for the FDIC, banks would be failing right and left.  The IndyMac Bank failure would be just one of thousands. 

It's the UNREGULATED part of the banking industry that's the problem, stupid. Yet Rush, Bush, and the Republican enablers foam at the mouth about "government regulation."

These fools have even created a sacred shrine for the economic ideas of Herbert Hoover--The Hoover Institution--at Stanford University. 

It is something to behold when these true believers try to explain away the Great Depression, blaming it on everything but the real reason--the economic ideas that Hoover believed in.

A Herbert Hoover Institution for Economic Policy makes about as much sense and a Benedict Arnold Institution for Patriotism.
--Will C. Justice

IRAN
Just about the time the United States has begun to show wisdom by sending a high-ranking representative to talk to Iran instead of threaten it, Israel is making dangerous noises about launching an attack against Iran.
 
Americans believe Israel has the right to defend itself, but Americans do not believe Israel has the right to initiate attacks on every unfriendly nation around Israel. 

Israel's leaders should have learned a lesson from the recent disgraceful misadventure in Lebanon when it virtually destroyed that little nation--and Bush acquiesced.  The attack made heroes out of the radical Islamists.

Israel is close to a tipping point,

If it continues to bully and bluster, to treat Palestinians with contempt, to steal their land for settlements, to thumb its nose at the UN and the World Court, it might just stir up a revolt among Arabs on the inside of its wall, it might just send oil prices into the stratosphere, and it just might lose America's unqualified support.

 The latter possibility has already begun.  President Jimmy Carter, a fair-minded and honest man, and a friend of Israel, was attacked mercilessly when he used the word "apartheid" to describe what he witnessed in the occupied territories.  Most American Jews do not know that he told the truth.  If they find out, by checking for themselves, there will be a great soul-searching in the United States.  The day of blank checks will be over.

If Israel wants Iran to cease and desist its nuclear program, it might begin by offering to destroy its own arsenal of nuclear weapons.  --Will C. Justice

QUOTES WORTH KEEPING
"Someday, the country will recognize the true cost of its war on illegal immigration.   We don't mean dollars, though those are being squandered by the billions.   The true cost is to the national identity: the sense of who we are and what we value...
"A nation of immigrants is holding another nation of immigrants in bondage, exploiting its labor while ignoring its suffering, condemning its lawlessness while sealing off a path to living lawfully.
"An escalating campaign of raids in homes and workplaces has spread indiscriminate terror among millions of people who pose no threat. 
"Immigrants in detention languish without lawyers and decent medical care even when they are mortally ill..."
--Editorial, The New York Times, June 3, 2008
Howtotalkback agrees with this eloquent lament and can't help noticing that  the meanest, harshest enemies of illegal immigrants almost always are Republicans. 

"The Bush Administration has done everything in its power to ensure that the American people do not fully understand the running daily cost of the war in Iraq, in terms of American lives.  They sneak the body bags back under cover of darkness.   They pressure the press not to photograph the flag-draped coffins, reportedly out of deference to the families, but effectively reducing all our war dead to unknown, unseen soldiers.   When this madness ends, we will have lost much more than the human toll will suggest.   We will have lost a connection to our better selves...."  --Richard Kenyada, (of Smyrna, GA, is a Vietnam veteran)

"Personally, as an American Jew, I don't vote for president on the basis of who will be the strongest supporter of Israel.  I vote for who will make America strongest.  It's not only because this is my country, first and always, but because the single greatest source of support and protection for Israel is an America that is financially and militarily strong, and globally respected."  --Thomas Friedman

The new treaty proposed by the U.S. is startlingly similar to the disastrous treaty between Iraq and Britain in 1930.  That treaty was ratified by a docile Iraqi Parliament but was bitterly resented by nationalists.  Riots, uprisings and coups became regular events for the next quarter century.  Two major military bases were leased to the British, who were empowered to station their forces throughout Iraq.  British personnel were granted immunity from local prosecution.
Howtotalkback:  "The Bush administration cannot learn from history because it does not know much history, and the little history it knows it treats with disdain." Will C. Justice

THE TRUTH ABOUT BARACK OBAMA
There are many things people do not know about BARACK OBAMA.  It is ever American's duty to read this message and pass it along to all of their friends and loved ones.

Barack Obama wears a FLAG PIN at all times.   Even in the shower.

Barack Obama says the PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE every time he sees an American flag.  He also ends every sentence by saying "WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL" 

Every weekend, Barack and Michelle take their daughters HUNTING.

Barack Obama is a PATRIOTIC AMERICAN.   He has one HAND over his HEART at all times.  He occasionally switches when one arm gets tired, which is almost never because he is STRONG.

Barack Obama has the DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE tattooed on his stomach. It's upside-down, so he can read it while doing sit-ups.

There's only one artist on Barack Obama's iPod: FRANCIS SCOTT KEY.

Barack Obama is a DEVOUT CHRISTIAN. His favorite book is the BIBLE, which he has memorized. His name means HE WHO LOVES JESUS in the ancient language of Aramaic. He is PROUD that Jesus was an American.

Barack Obama goes to church every morning. He goes to church every afternoon. He goes to church every evening. He is IN CHURCH RIGHT NOW.

Barack Obama's new airplane includes a conference room, a kitchen, and a MEGACHURCH.

Barack Obama's skin is the color of AMERICAN SOIL.

Barack Obama buys AMERICAN STUFF. He owns a FORD, a BASEBALL TEAM, and a COMPUTER HE BUILT HIMSELF FROM AMERICAN PARTS. He travels mostly by FORKLIFT.

Barack Obama says that Americans cling to GUNS and RELIGION because they are AWESOME.

THE WAR ON TERROR:  AN UPDATE ON AFGHANISTAN THAT YOU WON'T HEAR RUSH TALK ABOUT

The Taliban controls 10-11 percent of the country, Karzai's government controls and 30-31 percent.  According to an AP account, Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell recently told the Senate Armed Services Committee that "more than six years after the U.S. invasion to oust the Taliban and establish a stable central government, the majority of Afghanistan's population remains under local tribal control." 

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS ARE BOLSTERING THE  SOCIAL SECURITY SYSTEM

In its annual report issued last week, the trustees of the Social Security program noted that illegal workers "are expected to bolster the program over the coming decades."

How much?  According the report, the taxes paid by illegal immigrants will close fifteen percent of the system's projected long-term deficit.  Fifteen percent!

How can this be? 

Because a great many  undocumented workers pay Social Security taxes,  but  never collect benefits.  Moreover, these immigrants generally are much younger and have more children than the general population.  The result is an  increase in working-age people who pay taxes, but a relatively smaller number of people who collect the benefits. 

Talkback: Those who are  hysterical about deporting illegal immigrants hope that you won't learn that illegal immigrants are actually helping the Social Security system. 

The only sensible solution is to make it very easy for Mexicans to become citizens--through a massive increase in the quota for immigrants from Mexico and drastic reduction in the cost of applications and fees. 

THE REIGN OF ERROR
SEVEN CANNOTS THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION HAS IGNORED
by Will C. Justice

You cannot succeed if you wage wars you cannot win.
Bush seems to believe he can wage preemptive war against any ruler he happens to dislike, regardless of the cost or loss of human life.

You cannot win wars without reliable intelligence.
American intelligence in the Middle East is limited and flawed, compounded by occupying forces that understand neither the languages nor the cultures.  You must not kick down doors unless you know who is behind them.

You cannot wage wars without raising taxes.
The cost of the Iraq war is astronomical and has been passed along to succeeding generations in the form of an enormous national debt.  No American President before Bush has dreamed of waging a war without increasing taxes.

You cannot expect puppet governments to be strong.
Bush’s puppet government is so weak that it dares not appear in public outside the Green Zone. Even the Vichy government, Hitler’s French collaborators, functioned in public.

You cannot create democracy at the point of a gun.
Individual freedoms contract rather than expand during armed conflict, and extremists drown out voices of reason.

You cannot expect good government if you mock government.
Bush scorns the federal government while drawing a federal paycheck.  To create a good society, you must attract good people to serve in it.  

You cannot always to depend on market forces.
The Bush administration has made a god of market forces, but market forces do not have a brain or a heart.  Sometimes market forces help you, sometimes they do not. Sometimes you must intervene.

THE COST OF BUSH WARS
To date, more than 1.6 million American troops have been deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan operations.   More than 4000 have been killed.   More than 65,000 have been wounded or injured, or have contracted a disease.  Of the 750,000 troops who have been discharged so far, some 260,000 have been treated at veterans' medical facilities.  Nearly 100,000 have been diagnosed as having mental-health conditions."

Talkback: Wars cost, and wise rulers count the cost before the war begins.  "What king, going to make war against another king, sits not down first, and consults whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that comes against him with twenty thousand."  Luke 14:31 

Talkback: "  I find it interesting that you identify 158,000 U.S. troops still stationed in Iraq but make no mention of the mercenaries we support there.  Their number are significant, but one never seems to get an accurate count.  I've seen stimates of 150,000 to 180,000.  Also, since they are paid three to four times as much as the average soldier, their cost is significant.  --Betsey Miklethun, letter to the editor  Atlanta Journal-Constitution  

More in Bush Archives 2008

Kristol on the Virtues of Conservatism
William Kristol, a staunch proponent of the invasion of Iraq, recently wrote that conservatives alone resist "big government" and stand for self-reliance, duty, honor, and traditional virtues.  
Talkback:  A reader replied:  "But aren't the conservatives the ones who support eavesdropping on fellow citizens without a warrant?  Holding suspects in secret prisons?  Condoning torture?  Handing out billion-dollar not-bid contracts to political allies?"

WHY THE AMERICAN OCCUPATION OF AFGHANISTAN AND IRAQ IS IN DEEP TROUBLE
After years of warfare and billions and billions of dollars spent, American forces and the puppet governments they have put in place still hunker down in bunkers, fearful of showing themselves in public.

Talkback: A recent article about an American outpost in the Korengal River valley in Afghanistan contains two sentences that go to the heart of why the American occupation will ultimately fail--woefully poor intelligence. Because Americans do not know the language or the culture, they must depend upon unreliable informants, and get sucked into tribal blood feuds: 

"The reality is that bombs are only as accurate as the intelligence on the ground....By now, seven years of air strikes and civilian casualties, humiliating house searches and arbitrary detentions have pushed many families and tribes to revenge."  (Elizabeth Rubin, "Battle Company is Out There,"  The NY Times Magazine, 2-24-2008, pp. 38ff.)
More: Bush Archives 2008
 

You Won't Hear About This On Fox News
Mine Safety:  (AP) "The federal agency that regulates the nation's mining industry says that it has failed to issue penalties for hundreds of citations issued since 2000.  This is a perfect example of the way what Republicans mean when they talk about a "business-friendly" administration. 
More in Republican Archives 2008

GEORGE W. BUSH AND THE RECESSION
For seven years Bush bragged about how his economic program brought America back after the dot-com bubble fiasco under Bill Clinton.  Talk about karma, or chickens coming home to roost, or boomerangs! 

Talkback:  Free markets.  Isn't it interesting that the worshippers of the Free Market God seem not to find it inconsistent for them to ask for big infusions of government assistance when the free market sputters?  Why aren't  they willing to let the economy just correct itself?

Talkback:  Prediction from Talkback.  This stimulus won't work.  After Democrats turn these people out to pasture, they'll have a chance to do something that will work. 

INHERITANCE TAXES, THE ESTATE TAX, THE "DEATH TAX"

Republicans would dearly love to repeal all taxes on inheritance.
Talkback: Repealing inheritance taxes would do irreparable damage to the American way of life, which is based on democratizing opportunity.

A relentless process would begin in the United States that would put the nation's wealth, especially its land, under the control of a few super-rich families. 

Huge estates have long dominated the landscape (and the politics) of England, Ireland, Italy, Spain, all of Latin America, and much of Europe.  One reason immigrants came to America in the first place was because they could not acquire land in the Old Country. 

A nation that allows its  land to lie untaxed and undeveloped is in decline. 
 

In addition, there would be a huge drop-off in bequests to museums, national parks and other philanthropies--which often are often motivated by tax issues.

The estate tax is not a death tax.  Calling the inheritance tax a "death tax" is a clever ploy to help the super-rich avoid paying any taxes whatsoever.  The tax is paid by people who are very much alive--people who reap huge benefits from the deaths of relatives.  In many cases, those gains of the deceased were never ever taxed.   They were avoided or deferred. 

Why shouldn't society be paid for making the wealth possible?  The government provided police and fire protection, courts that made contracts possible, and an infrastructure that made communication and financial transactions safe and efficient.  Those who enjoy great wealth should pay for the resources that make it possible.
More in Republican Archives 2008  

GEORGE W. BUSH 
More in Bush Archives 2008

Click here to see a comparison of Abraham Lincoln and George W. Bush written by a Lincoln expert.

Click here to read "The Sad and Dangerous Legacy of George W. Bush"

IRAQ  
More on the Iraq War

The U.S. is considering arming Pakistani tribes against Al Qaeda--
following the model that has been used in the Anbar Province in Iraq, which has been hailed as a great success.
Talkback:  Do these geniuses not know what happened the last time the U.S. trained and equipped the Pakistani tribes for modern warfare against the Russians?  Those warriors morphed into the Taliban.

Vice-President Dick Chaney On Iraq
In a private meeting in September 2002, Chaney tried to convince Dick Armey, the Republican House majority leader, who was skeptical about a war in Iraq.  Here is Chaney's prediction: 
"We have great information.   They're going to welcome us.  It'll be like the American Army going through the streets of Paris.  They're sitting there ready to form a new government.  The people will be so happy with their freedoms that we'll probably back ourselves out of there within a month or two."  
Source: Robert Draper: Dead Certain: The Presidency of George W. Bush, Free Press, 2007)
Talkback:  Nothing needs to be said.  Just quote the fool.  November 5, 2007

We are at war.  
Talkback: America has been at war with somebody for over 60 years, Yet the nation got through a Cold War with a nuclear-armed, long-range-missile-equipped super-power without power-grabs by Presidents.  Just because the nation is fighting a war does not mean that its people should give up long-cherished freedoms or allow  the President the powers of a dictator.

Talkback: There’s a qualitative and quantitative difference between being at war and being in a war.  A big difference.

If we pull out now, we will give the radical Islamists a safe haven. 
Talkback: If Americans pull out now, the radicals will lose their most effective recruiting tool--an occupying army.
Talkback:  Somebody should have thought about the consequences of failure before trying  to occupy and destroy the social infrastructure of an existing society.  
Talkback: Radical Islamists already have safe havens all over the world— in Sudan, Lebanon, the Northwest Frontier of Pakistan, Syria, Iran.

If you break it, you own it.  
Talkback: This is sometimes  true in very little shops, but even in a little shop, if you keep breaking things, you will be asked to leave...and never come back

If we pull out, the extremists will take over. 
Talkback: They already have.  The longer Americans stay as occupiers, the more likely the radicals will gain strength.  Moderates are fleeing Iraq by the tens of thousands. 
Talkback: The American occupation has become a rallying cry, a stimulus to radicalize ordinary citizens.  Every poll shows that Americans today are absolutely hated in that part of the world--a dangerous sea change of opinion.
Talkback: The American occupation has created an Iraqi mafia. The parallels are striking.  The mafia was formed in Sicily as a secret resistance movement to protect native people from successive waves of invaders.  
Talkback: "There will be no Saigon moment in Iraq.  Iraq's Shiite-led government is in no danger of losing the civil war to al-Qaeda....Iraq's Shiites are three times as numerous as Iraq's Sunni Arabs...Iraq after an American defeat will look very much like Iraq today--a land divided along ethnic lines into Arab and Kurdish states with a civil war being fought within its Arab part."  Peter Galbraith, The New York Review, August 16, 2007. p. 4

We need to finish the job. 
Talkback: The definition of 'the job'  keeps changing. 

The war against terrorism has now morphed into a war against radical Islam. 

One important "job" that seems to have faded is to establish democracy throughout the Middle East.  It was trumpeted that Iraq would become a model of democracy for  that part of the world.  Some model, huh!

The 'job de jur' now seems to be to enable the puppet government of Iraq to survive.  

Who knows how the "job" will be defined tomorrow.

Frighteningly, the insurgents seem to be the ones who are finishing the job, not Americans—draining the treasury dry at the rate of about $11 billion a month, destroying the army and marines, and driving out an occupier.

Americans have never cut and run. 
Howtotalkback: We left Viet Nam in a hurry?  We left Lebanon.  After 244 American military personnel had been killed in Beirut in the bombing of Marine barracks in 1983, President Reagan vowed to remain in Lebanon.  In 1984 Reagan ordered the withdrawal of American forces.

IMMIGRATION  
More on Immigration
Many religious people, Christians and Jews, believe in using tough measures against illegal immigrants.

Howtotalkback:  Anyone who oppresses illegal immigrants is not following the clear teaching of the Bible:  "But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God."  Leviticus 19:34)
  
"Thou shalt not vex a stranger, nor oppress him: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt."  Exodus  22:21,)

All Illegal immigrants should be deported.
Howtotalkback:  According to an October 2007 CNN poll, only one in three Americans believes in deporting illegal immigrants.

Illegal immigration is not a partisan issue; Democrats and Republican alike support tough measures.
Howtotalkback: Polls consistently show that the issue is significantly more important to Republicans than to Democrats.  If you read about a really harsh measure that's proposed or executed, you can almost always be sure that a Republican is behind it. 

Howtotalkback: Republicans turn harshly on anyone who says a kind word for illegal immigrants, even their own.  Senator McCain, a war hero, was roundly booed at the South Carolina Republican debates shortly after he supported a Senate measure for a path to citizenship for  illegal  immigrant workers. 

Howtotalkback: The reason illegal immigration ignites such passions among Republicans is not difficult to understand.

Control of the Republican party has shifted to the South, where racist views have prevailed for decades.   Thanks to Nixon's strategy to capture the South for Republicans, most white racist Southerners have gravitated to the Republican party.  Nationally, thanks to Goldwater and later to Gingrich and company, liberals and moderates within the Republican Party have been purged.   There is virtually no Republican left to say a kind or a generous word.

Illegal immigrants do not pay taxes.
Howtotalkback:   Of course they pay taxes.  Whenever they purchase gasoline or a Big Mac or clothes at a department store, they pay taxes.  If they buy a house, they pay taxes.

It's costly to have illegal immigrants in this country: schools, medical care, etc.
Howtotalkback:  Of course it is, but the money a society spends on children is an investment in its future.   In just a few short years--if the investment is generous and wise--those same children will become the society's nurses, doctors, carpenters, mayors, police, and serve in our armed forces. 
Howtotalkback:  Social Security.  Because most illegal immigrants are young workers,  they pay Social Security taxes, which makes the system more viable.  At the present time, too many Americans have begun to collect Social Security benefits, and not enough young workers are contributing.  Illegal immigrants would help solve the problem because most of them are younger workers.

Illegal immigrants should not be allowed to obtain driver's licenses.
Howtotalkback:  Preventing them from purchasing driver's licenses is a classic example of cutting off one's nose in order to spite one's face. 

Millions of illegal immigrants are going to drive cars, one way or another.  If they can't get a license, then they can't get insurance, and if they become  involved in an accident, guess who pays? Law enforcement officers know that licenses make it easier to enforce laws.

There is no viable solution for the illegal immigrant problem.
Howtotalkback:  Of course there's a solution.  Raise the quota for Mexicans who want to enter the U.S. and drastically lower the cost of obtaining citizenship.  Presently just a trickle of immigrants can enter legally.   Small wonder that many thousands come illegally.  Make it easier for people to obey the law, and they will.   Most American immigrants in the past came when there was virtually no distinction between "legal" and "illegal."   They just came.

IRAN
Iran is a threat to the United States.
Talkback:  Isn't one war disaster enough?  The same identical people and organizations that told us Iraq would be a cakewalk now propose that we take out Iran.  Even if a military response were justified, how can the United States even think about beginning another war and hope to win? The  military is stretched to the breaking point now.  September 10, 2007

We need to promote regime change in Iran.
Howtotalkback:  The Iranian people are clever enough to see how much it cost  their next-door-neighbor Iraq in blood and treasure to be "liberated." 

Fox News
"Fox New is a fair, balanced, and patriotic source of news."

Howtotalkback: Fox News is anything but fair and balanced.  Fox News generally picks spokespersons who are friendly to the Bush administration.  Whenever Fox does pick someone unfriendly, that person is interrupted and harassed.

Howtotalkback: If you believe being patriotic means that you consider all Americans traitors who who don't agree with you, then Fox News is just right for you.