LOVE THOSE REPUBLICANS!

"YOU SHOULD VOTE REPUBLICAN IN 2008 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 racist and want to keep minorities in their place;

...you think that you can vote for the individual and not vote for the party;

...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. 

CUT TAXES: THE ONLY REMEDY REPUBLICANS CAN THINK OF FOR ANY ECONOMIC PROBLEM

A world-wide collapse of the financial markets?  Cut taxes.

Flagrant wheeling-and-dealing on Wall Street?  Cut taxes.  And for good measure, deregulate.  Get the government out of the marketplace. 

A looming depression.  Cut taxes.

Nonsense!  The only way to turn the economy around is not more tax cuts or rebates.  It's what Obama has proposed--a massive program to rebuild America's bridges, highways, and tunnels. 

A sensible Republican tried it years ago, and it worked.   The Republican's name?  Eisenhower.

American's got a new Interstate system, tens of thousands of jobs were created, private businesses flourished, tax revenues soared, and the cost of transporting goods and services was drastically cut.  

Sometimes the only way for the government to get out of a jam is to spend money, and spend it wisely. 

The government funds; the private sector builds; everybody wins.  It's a good deal.
--Will C. Justice

PERMANENT SOLUTION TO THE GULF COAST/NEW ORLEANS PROBLEM
"The situtation: Competent specialists from all over the world say that the wetlands south of New Orleans and along the Gulf Coast, which have been open to commercial development, need to be returned to their original function--as a natural barrier that slows massive surges of flood waters that rush inland in a big storm.

The solution:  A courageous President in the mold of Teddy Roosevelt could turn these wetlands into a great national park not open to commercial development.  Families now living in the new park would be allowed to remain on could be bought out (in much the same way that families have been allowed to remain or leave in other national forests), 

The costs would be enormous, and can not be considered as long as the U.S. is spending $10 billion a month in Iraq. 

But when the Iraq mess is concluded, a great Gulf National Park should be given top priority, for which succeeding generations will honor the name of the President who pushes it through. 

The cost of acquiring and maintaining a great national park along the Gulf Coast will be nothing compared to the costs of evacuating coastal inhabitants every time a big storm looms."--Will C. Justice

WHY THE BUSH-CHANEY RESPONSE TO KATRINA WAS A CATASTROPHE AND WHY THE REPAIRS AFTERWARD WERE DONE ON THE CHEAP
"When the government is run by a political party committed to the belief that government is always the problem, never the solution, that belief becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.  Key priorities are neglected; key functions are privatized, and key people, the competent public servants who make government work, either leave or are driven out."  --Paul Krugman

"Thank you for saying it so well, Mr. Krugman.  When will Americans learn that it is not how a politician looks on TV or how compelling their personal bio is, it is their core political beliefs that will determine what they do in office?"  --Will C. JusticeTHE MORTGAGE RESCUE
"Republican opposition to rescuing failing homeowners and lenders on the grounds that it rewards unwise borrowers and greedy lenders is like refusing to send assistance to the Titanic for fear that would encourage incompetent navigation." 
--Will C. Justice

FAILED BANKS AND REPUBLICAN IDEOLOGY
This week two more big banks failed, and were promptly and efficiently  taken over by the FDIC, thus avoiding widespread panic. 

In an ironic twist--with the American banking system teetering on the brink of disaster--scores of Republican members of Congress voted against emergency measures to bolster the system.  Why?

These loons gave as the reason for their opposition their belief that the government should not interfere in the normal functioning of financial markets. 

Their silly ideology keeps them from seeing that government intervention, regulation, and support, is all that supports our tottering financial house.  --Will C. Justice

"Let's call these rumors what they are: lies"  --New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg denouncing what he called a "whisper campaign" linking Barack Obama to Islam.

REPUBLICANS RIGHT OVER THE CLIFF
AP  "Senate Republicans blocked a global warming bill ( on June 6) that would have required major reductions in green-house gases, pushing debate over the world's biggest environmental concern to next year for a new Congress and president."  June 7, 2008
Howtotalkback can't help noticing that Republicans are on the wrong side of virtually every idea that's good and progressive.  The vote was 48-36, some dozen votes shy on the number needed to override Bush's veto.  Howtotalkback wishes the media would quit referring to this Congress as "Democrat-controlled."  An organized minority controls Congress.

"We will seek confrontation on every front...The new Administration will divide Americans into red and blue, and divide nations into those who stand with us or against us."
Howtotalkback:  According to former Senator Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, this is what Dick Chaney told a group of moderate Republican senators within hours after the U.S. Supreme Court awarded Bush the presidency--from Chafee's new book "Against the Tide: How a Compliant Congress Empowered a Reckless President"

"President Bush opposes a new G.I. Bill of rights...As a long-term investment in human capital, in education and job training, there is no good argument against an expanded, generous G.I. Bill.
Mr. Bush--and, to his great discredit, Senator John McCain--have argued against a better G.I. Bill, for the worst reasons. 
They have seized on a prediction by the Congressional Budget Office, that new, better benefits would decrease re-enlistments by 16 percent, which sounds ominous if you are trying--as Mr. Bush and McCain are--to defend a never-ending war at a time when extended tours of duty have sapped morale and strained recruiting to the breaking point....
Congress should forcefully show how wrong he is by overriding his opposition and spending the money--an estimated $52 billion over 10 years, a tiniest fraction of the ongoing cost of Mr. Bush's Iraq misadventure. 
As partial repayment for the sacrifice of soldiers in a time of war, a new, improved G.I. Bill is as wise now as it was in 1944." 
--Editorial, The New York Times, May 26, 2008
Howtotalkback agrees with this superb editorial and urges our readers to read the editorial in its entirety. 

"This will stand as the epitome, the ultimate breach of that code of honor."
--comment about Scott McClellan's new book "What Happened"  by Mary Matalin, who formerly served as assistant to President George W. Bush and counselor to Vice President Dick Cheney

Howtotalkback wonders if Ms Matalin knows she has used a concept dear to the heart of the Mafia. 
Talkback has long believed that the Bush administration operates like the Mafia.  Now, one of their own confirms it.  Mario Puzo, author of the Godfather, in fact, wrote a book entitled Omerta, which refers to the Sicilian code of honor that forbids informing about crimes thought to be the affairs of the persons involved. 

Howtotalkback also wonders if anyone besides us has noticed that the response of Fox News and the White House has been a vicious attack on Scott McClellan--not a refutation of the charges that he has raised.
This is an old political trick.  Don't try to answer the messenger who reveals damaging information, but attack the messenger's motives and credibility.

John McCain sought the endorsement of the Rev. John Hagee, a televangelist, for more than a year and finally won it in February, only to have the Catholic League denounce Mr. Hagee for waging “an unrelenting war against the Catholic Church.  Mr. McCain has tried to argue that his embrace of Rev. Hagee was different from Barack Obama’s 20-year pastoral relationship with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr.
Talkback:   The big difference is that McCain eagerly sought the endorsement of John Hagee whereas Obama asked Wright NOT to participate in his campaign and even requested that Wright not be present when he announced his candidacy for the presidency."Today, if you're not rich or Southern or born again, the chances of your being a Republican are not great."  --Ed Rollins

GAS PRICES
Last week, as gasoline pumps broke records again, Senate Democrats called for a temporary special tax on oil companies' profits and a rollback of $17 billion in oil industry tax breaks.  The Democrats are also seeking federal penalties on energy price gouging. 
But guess who's blocking the efforts?  The White House and Republican in Congress, who when they stand together are veto-proof. 
Here is a quote from AP:  "Senate Republicans strongly oppose any additional industry taxes, which are widely viewed as unlikely to be enacted and would almost certainly prompt a veto by President Bush."
Talkback:  An excess-profit tax makes sense, and a rollback of the oil industry tax breaks is long overdue.  It is insane to maintain multi-billion-dollar tax breaks when prices are soaring and companies like Exxon-Mobile are recording the largest profits in the history of the world. 

"Exxon-Mobile hauled off $10 billion in first-quarter profits.  Shell grabbed $9 billion. BP took $7.65 billion, and ConocoPhillips made off with $4 billion. What are they doing with this ocean of money?   Well, they're pouring a few million dollars of it into Washington lobbyists, trying to hold on to about $1.8 billion a year that they get in subsidies from us taxpayers."--Jim Hightower
Talkback:  One letter to the editor blames ecologists for high gasoline prices.  According to this reader, oil companies were prevented from building more refineries.  What the reader appears not to know is that oil companies have made existing refineries more efficient.  But more refineries would not lessen the impact of the skyrocketing price of crude.  When George Bush and Dick Chaney took office, oil was $27 a barrel.  Both have direct ties to the oil industry and Saudi Arabia. 

"The right-wing group Citizens United has said that it will run ads portraying Obama as yet another 'limousine liberal.' But these are the spasms of nerve endings in an organism that's brain-dead."
--George Packer

MCCAIN ON FEDERAL JUDGES: READ THIS AND BE WARNED
Excerpt from Senator McCain's speech at Wake Forest University (NC) on May 6, 2007 in which he railed against "activist judges":  "With a presumption that would have amazed the framers of our Constitution, and legal reasoning that would have mystified them, federal judges today issue rulings and opinions on policy questions that should be decided democratically.  Assured of lifetime tenures, these judges show little regard for the authority of the president, the Congress and the states.  They display even less interest in the will of the people."
Talkback:  Mr. McCain was speaking in North Carolina and should have known that it was an activist U.S. Supreme Court, under Chief Justice Earl Warren, that struck down racial segregation in the schools of that state--against the opposition of North Carolina's members of Congress and the determined will of the majority of citizens in North Carolina at that time.  "We have an emerging consensus that we need to have some legal authority to detain people without trial, and that's wrong."
--Ben Wizner, staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union
Republicans, with bizarre illogic, approve spending whatever is needed to achieve "victory" in Iraq but oppose providing government assistance for needs at home. 

"Senator McCain's solution for every problem seems to be cutting taxes. 
Mortgage crisis?  Not a problem. Cut taxes. 
Jobs fleeing this country to China?  Not a problem. Cut taxes.
Largest budget deficit in US history?  Not a problem.  Cut taxes.
High gas prices?  Not a problem. Cut taxes.
Mr. McCain seems not to have thought about taking away the billion-dollar tax breaks he voted for the big oil companies, one of which--Exxon-Mobil--recently reported the highest profit ever for an American company.  ($11.7 billion in quarterly profits--a historic record)   Or initiating an excess-profits tax.
Don't forget that Exxon-Mobil can't blame all the pain at the pumps on those greedy A-Rabs jacking up the price of crude. 
Exxon-Mobil produces crude!  And refines crude!  And sells the products from the crude!"
--Will C. Justice

THE NEW YORK TIMES EXPOSES HIDDEN LINK BETWEEN NETWORK MILITARY ANALYSTS AND BUSH ADMINISTRATION
In a major story ("The Hidden Hand of Pentagon Helps Steer Military Analysts") that will probably receive a Pulitzer Prize, The New York Times on April 20, 2008 reported that many network military analysts have been manipulated by the Bush administration.  Worse, some of these analysts represent more than 150 military contractors either as lobbyists, senior executives, board members or consultants.  These companies are all part of a vast assemblage of contractors scrambling for hundreds of billions in military business generated by the administration's war on terror.
Talkback:  Look for a vicious attack on The New York Times aimed at diverting attention from the revelation.  Howtotalkback believes that it is vital to have an independent and critical press in a democracy.  How, pray tell, can there be a viable government of the people if the people are allowed to get only administration propaganda from the press?

Let's See What John McCain Does
White House spokesman Tony Fratto on Wednesday February 6 said the CIA could use waterboarding with Bush's approval.  Independent legal experts have called the technique torture and said its use is barred by U.S. laws and treaties under all circumstances.  Sen. John McCain and two other Republican senators said in a letter to (Attorney General) Mukassey in October that "we were personally assured by Administration officials" that a 2000 law that government interrogations by the CIA and other agencies "prohibited waterboarding."
Talkback:  Senator McCain has a history of taking courageous stands (on torture and immigration) and then caving under pressure from the far right.

"McCain favors privatizing parts of the Social Security system, an idea so deeply unpopular with actual people that it never flew in Congress, even when the Republicans were in control and the nation had not yet deduced that the president was permanently out to lunch....His economic vision makes absolutely no sense whatever.  He's going to keep the Bush tax cuts, continue our $3-trillion-and-counting war in Iraq and decrease corporate taxes."
--Gail Collins

"The international evidence on health care costs is overwhelming: The United States has the most privatized system, with the most market competition--and it also has by far the highest health care costs in the world."  Paul Krugman
(In response to Senator McCain's latest idea of health care coverage:  harnessing "the power of competition to produce greater coverage for Americans.")

BARACK OBAMA AND THE PREACHER
The latest attempt by the hard right to Swiftboat a Democratic presidential candidate has backfired--loudly. 
Just a few days ago, messages were circulating on the Internet telling us that Obama was a Muslim, and giving reasons why a Muslim should never be elected President. 
Now the whole world knows that Barack Obama is not a Muslim, that he attends the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, a mainline Protestant church, and that the Reverend Jeremiah Wright has been his pastor for 20 years.  All this thanks to an attack on him.  Obama's brilliant response stimulated countless Easter sermons on race and tolerance. 

Talkback:  (Contributed)  Obama should not be judged by what his pastor or his friends believe and say, but what he himself believes and says.   I have a long-time friend who disagrees with me on virtually everything political.    But he  has been kind, generous, and loyal to me.  No one who knows us judges me by his political views, and I will not desert him.

BUSH ON HIGHWAYS, BRIDGES, AND TUNNELS IN THE U.S.
(2-26-08)  "A bipartisan group of governors is pushing for major road and bridge projects as a way to create jobs and foster economic development. Gov. Edward G. Rendell of Pennsylvania who is vice chairman of the National Governors Association stated: 'There are tens of billions of dollars of infrastructure projects ready to go.  I asked the president if he would support spending on those projects as part of a second stimulus package, and he said no.'" 

Governors said Mr. Bush had told them that he wanted to see the effects of his economic stimulus package before supporting new measures. The White House later stated that the President will not  accept any bill that raised taxes to finance such projects.  A spokesman for the Transportation Department said that rather than asking for an increase in federal highway spending, governors should seek additional money from the private sectore....He said that he was exploring public-private partnerships. 

Transportation Secretary Mary E. Peters told governors: "The federal role in transportation should be more limited than it is today."

Talkback:  You need go no further to find why the Bush Administration has been a disaster.  Bush and his people, because of ideology, cannot see the positive role the federal government can play and they are ideologically bound not to spend tax dollars at home, even for the most worthy projects. 

If the highways and bridges were in Iraq, there would be no problem. 

Meanwhile the infrastructure at home continues to crumble.
Talkback:  Eisenhower was a Republican.  Eisenhower understood that building the Interstate system was an effective way to stimulate the economy.

Talkback:  Let Republicans continue to reject a sound idea.   Come November, Democrats will sweep them from power and will get a chance to create a real economic stimulus program--and get  credit for it.

Talkback: What these people mean by "public-private partnerships" is more toll roads.  If Republicans could do it, they would form public-private partnerships to charge for the air that we breathe.

CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY 
The Acting Head Of The Consumer Product Safety Commission Rebuffs Efforts By Congress To Strengthen The Agency

"The top official for consumer product safety has asked Congress in recent days to reject legislation that would strengthen the agency that polices thousands of consumer goods, from toys to tools...

"Nancy A. Nord, the acting chairman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, has asked lawmakers in two letters not to approve the bulk of legislation that would increase the agency’s authority, double its budget and sharply increase its dwindling staff.

"Ms. Nord opposes provisions that would increase the maximum penalties for safety violations and make it easier for the government to make public reports of faulty products, protect industry whistleblowers and prosecute executives of companies that willfully violate laws."   The NYTimes, Oct. 29, 2007

Talkback:  It is unheard of for a governmental leaders not to seek more power and more resources funds for their respective organizations.  So, we should ask Why does Ms. Nord not want more power and more funds for her organization?

It's because the Bush people do not want the government to regulate anything, whether it's mine safety or children's toys.  They are delighted when incompetents run governmental agencies, because when the organization fails, they can say "Just another example of governmental incompetence." In fact, the Bush administration has elevated incompetence to the level of Republican party doctrine.    Oct.30, 2007

 Mukasey On Waterboarding
"Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey said on Wednesday (January 30, 2008) that while he would consider it torture if he underwent the harsh CIA interrogation technique known as waterboarding, the practice was not necessarily illegal, and he would not rule out its use in the future....Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, who had initially championed Mr. Mukasey's nomination...appeared exasperated by Mr. Mukasey's refusal to say whether waterboarding was torture and should be outlawed...."I find it hard to understand how you personally, when asked for advice, would not be able to say that something that's repugnant should be outlawed.  You say it's repugnant.  I don't understand how you can now say, Well, I have to ask a whole lot of other people."  (The NY Times, January 31, 2008)
Talkback:  If Mr. Bush endorses someone enthusiastically, you can be sure that there's something seriously wrong with that person.