The letters to this article would start out sounding reasonable and degenerate as soon as the right wing group got out the word on their e-mail trees. Then the barrage would start. Socialism. Calling names. Obama this and that.

A good deal of all of this is greed, but a lot of it is racism. If John McCain had been elected and done exactly the same things the whole outlook would be different for the majority of these negative people. You betcha!

Racism and elitism, pure and simple, masquerading as a lot of other things.

Here citizens is a nationally televised example of what the Republican Party has become and really is. Karl Rove didn’t start it, but he made it perfectly acceptable to shout down opponents with lies. Sarah Palin polished the discourtesy to a high gleam by allowing party hacks planted in her audiences to shout out threats. And now this rupture in the congress when the president is addressing all of us. Obviously this Joe Wilson does not deserve his seat in government. I suspect that more than half of his hatred is race based. If John McCain had given this speech word for word Wilson would have been on his feet applauding wildly.

How many children watching took note of this whole debacle? The message is that it’s okay to scream down people who don’t agree with you.

The good people of South Carolina have a duty. Time they got going on a recall.

Reading your article about truth I have tears in my eyes and want to know why Dick Cheney and George Bush haven't been called up to answer.

It’s way past time to get the congress out of the back pocket of the banks, Big Pharma, Big Oil and Big Med for starters. Get rid of the lobbies. This is not a free speech issue, it is a bribe issue. Corporations are not people. None of this will happen unless we take action. Peaceful demonstrations if you are angry enough. Work for new candidates if you’d rather. Harass the senators and congress critters who are on the take. They will not police themselves. Make it easier to recall them.

Meanwhile, back on thread. I have four cards. All of them have done this little trick, and I am fortunate to be able to pay them all off and chop the cards to pieces. Which I have done. I did not cancel the accounts because that can grossly affect your toxic FICO score (another scam that needs our attention). I got a card my credit union with a small $1K limit at 6%. I use that for travel and buying things on the Internet or to tide me over at month’s end. If I owed thousands and didn’t know what my interest rate was going to be I could not budget or sleep at night.

Remember if you get written off at Big Bank or go bankrupt, then you get to deal with the IRS because that amount you didn’t pay is taxable.

Angry enough yet?

@pragma

"I carry a large balance, so that the money I would use to pay off the card can be more profitably employed in the stock market."

I'm old enough, pragma, to know exactly how this strategy will play out. Write again after the impending crash and let us know how you're doing. K?

This has been a very enlightening read. Things I’ve long suspected about Beck, drug burn-out and mental illness are amply illustrated. The fact that this not-so-balanced entertainer can influence supposedly rational voters into paroxysms of irrational behavior such as the 9/12 demonstrations in DC, I think demonstrates how really bad our educational system has become. How divisive people like Karl Rove and Tom DeLay have made politics. Instead of discussion our national political stage has become a screaming match with people like Sarah Palin leading the cheers. It’s disgusting. Worse, floating over it all and raking in the money is Glenn Beck, Fox News and the rest of the fear merchants.

The example of Clear Channel becoming a major, an almost monopoly in the broadcast market is an excellent reason to bring back the Fairness Doctrine, one with real teeth in it. Freedom of speech is not a license to incite violence.

I can't wait until he really cracks up on the air.

A lot of posts here have suggested that one way to get rid of Glenn Beck is to Boycott the sponsors of his *show*. It couldn't hurt, but until the boycott spreads to Fox Infotainment and all of the News Corp scum, Rupert Murdoch won't see the light.

I boycott as many Fox advertisers as possible. One computer company just lost out on a 2K deal, and another home products outfit sells 19 items that I have found in my home. When this stuff is gone it will be replaced with products from some other company or I will do without. I stopped reading the Wall Street Urinal when Murdoch bought it.

I still believe that Beck will overstep and be dumped.