Will C. Justice Archives
"We are
close to a tipping point when millions of Americans will see that they have been
deceived. They--especially relatives and friends of the wounded and dead in
Iraq--will
turn in fury on this president. Until now, many have told themselves that a
sacrifice was made for a worthwhile cause. Let this man tremble for the day
when they admit to themselves that the cause was not worthwhile or necessary.
The responsibility for Viet Nam could be spread to Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson,
and Nixon. The responsibility for this war is one man's--George W. Bush."
--Will C. Justice
"It's
amazing that a willful, semi-literate president has been able to rule by
executive fiat, ignoring Congress, the Courts, and the majority of Americans
whenever it has suited him. But what is astonishing is how easily he has been
able to do it."
--Will C. Justice
"Bush has a blood lust
to attack Iran, excited by the neocons who beat the war drums louder and
louder. If this reckless gambler makes his move and uses his military toys to
strike Iran, the entire Middle East will break into flames. The Bush
administration will no longer be a disaster. It will become a catastrophe."
--Will C. Justice
"History and George W. Bush: History will place the blame for Katrina in Bush's Oval Office, where the buck famously stops--not on the black mayor and the female governor who became his scapegoats. It was his regime that allowed levees to weaken, permitted incompetents to bungle, and delayed the military from deploying. A wise and resolute President would have cut through bureaucratic rules and sent in the helicopters." Will C. Justice
"On this Memorial Day, we should remember that the Iraq War has already cost 4,060 lives, less than 400 American lives short of the deaths in the Revolutionary War (4,435)--with no end in sight. This tragic misadventure has claimed more lives than the War of 1812 (2,260), the Spanish-American War (2, 260) and the Persian Gulf War (382)." --Will C. Justice
Declaring war on terror is like declaring war on hand
grenades. Terror is a tactic used by countless groups, including American
colonists against the British during the Revolutionary War.
--Will C. Justice
"I don't think riding in a fighter plane and getting
shot down is a qualification to be president." --General Wesley Clark, "Face
The Nation"
Howtotalkback: "For the life of me, I can't
understand what all the fuss is about. Flying a fighter plane and becoming a
prisoner of war is an act of sacrifice, but it is not in and of itself a
qualification to be president." --Will C. Justice
Points to make in
discussing the 5-4 U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down the District of
Columbia's gun-control law.
Ask gun supporters, "Is there any restriction the government can legally place
on the right to bear arms?" If the answer is No, then ask if they are
comfortable with any American being able to own their own AK-47, rocket
launcher, nuclear weapon?
Few sensible people will reply Yes to these questions.
Yet the Court's decision opens the door to this possibility. Visit any
well-stocked gun store in many states for confirmation of your worst fears.
Ask the right-to-bear-arms enthusiast if he/she is comfortable with criminals
possessing powerful weapons. The mentally ill? Ask if he/she is comfortable
with law enforcement agencies being overmatched in fire-power.
Most sensible Americans know that freedoms require restrictions. The Second
Amendment guarantees free speech, but it does not guarantee the right to slander
or to incite to riot. Will C. Justice
"On the very same day that Senator McCain was calling
for the harshest penalties against Iran* and denouncing Senator Obama for being
willing to talk with Iran, Iraq's prime minister, whom the U.S. put in place,
announced that he's traveling to Tehran in a few days to discuss closer ties
between Iran and Iraq. If you can't see the irony in that development, it's
because you're blind."
--Will C. Justice (*before the American Israel Public Affairs Committee--AIPAC)
Howtotalkback believes it is folly for the United States or Israel to launch another war. We are already mired in two wars we have been unable to win and Israel is still smarting from its disastrous invasion of Lebanon.
Iran is the second-largest producer of oil in OPEC. It doesn't require much imagination to see what will happen to the price of gasoline if we do this foolish thing or allow Israel to do it.
But who knows what this mad, unpopular President is capable of doing in his final days?
We do believe it will be disastrous for Israel if millions of Americans begin to blame Israel for the horrendous problems that sky-high gasoline prices will cause. The United States is Israel's best friend, but Israel should not create huge problems for its friends.
Has
Israel forgotten what happened as a result of the 1956
Suez
War when Israel, France, and England ganged up on Egypt? Surely, someone will
remember.
--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
VOTING
REPUBLICAN
Many Americans support candidates and
parties that are committed to beliefs and practices injurious to them--a
phenomenon that social scientists call "false consciousness."
For example, I know an old guy who's facing his retirement years with absolutely no personal wealth. He rents, is in poor health, and has no retirement funds or health care plan. Yet he is considering voting for McCain.
This would make sense if he was rich, and if avoiding paying taxes was his number-one priority.
But he is not rich, not even close. During his last years he will be entirely dependent upon government services.
You would think he would vote for a party committed to protecting Social Security and Medicaid, but he is considering voting for a party that wants to privatize Social Security and cut back on government health-care services.
If he voted in his own self-interest, he would vote for the party and the candidates that believe government can be a source of good in society, not a party that believes government is evil.
He would look for candidates who are trying to attract good people to government so that government services will be provided by well-paid, qualified, courteous people. He would look for candidates who are committed to providing funds to better serve elderly Americans.
If this man voted in
his own best interest, you could be sure his vote would not be cast for John
McCain or any other Republican. But he probably won't. It's not because he's
unselfish. It's because he has no money sense and no political sense
. --Will C. Justice
THE 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
CONGRESS
Congress is certainly not "Democratic-controlled."
It is Republican-controlled because Republicans have the votes to sustain a veto any time they vote together--which is usually.
Democrats have a slim one-vote majority in the Senate and a large majority in the House--but Democrats do not have enough votes to override a Presidential veto.
Again and again
Democrats have tried to pass legislation on Iraq, the environment, a windfall
profits tax on oil companies, and have been thwarted by Republican members of
Congress who march in lock-step with America's failed president.
--Will C. Justice
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
Howtotalkback: "What is astounding is not that the numbers are so low, but that they are so high--that after seven years of evidence to the contrary, one in four Americans still thinks Bush is doing a good job. Just goes to prove that Lincoln was right--you can fool some of the people all of the time." Will C. Justice
"The same people who claim Obama is too inexperienced in foreign affairs to be president are adorers of Reagan, who never served a day in Washington or abroad before he became president." --Will C. Justice
"George Bush, who has an uncanny ability to look in the wrong direction, is off in Europe campaigning for sanctions against Iran while at home, foreclosures reach levels not seen since the Great Depression, gas prices soar, manufacturing jobs evaporate, the airlines are in bankruptcy, and 47 million Americans have no health insurance." --Will C. Justice
"What's happening at
the gas pumps? Maybe oil traders know something that the American public does
not yet understand--that if Iran is attacked by the U.S. as Bush keeps
threatening to do, or by Israel with Bush's blessing, the impact on oil
production will be major and global.
--Will C. Justice
THE PROPOSED
IRAQ TREATY
Negotiations between Iraq and the U.S.
are top-secret, but some of the specifics are beginning to leak out. 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