Letters to the Editor
JPerry2
Published Letters: 3
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The reason I will never vote for Hillary
[Read the article: Bill Clinton explains immigration]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]She and Bill are both as corporatist as their neo-con peers. Neither of them get it, they refuse to address how wrong NAFTA was and is. They keep piling on one bad idea after another.. well, we can't afford them any more.
There is massive poverty, even malnutrition in the US, and American citizens are suffering from it. Anemia is on the rise at rates approaching the numbers from the great depression, and it's not because poor Americans lack information on what constitutes a balanced diet, they can not afford fruits and vegetables, or adequate amounts of protein. Poor American women are restricting themselves to one meal a day to stretch their meagre supplies of food to feed their children. They can't earn enough of a living to keep pace with the rising costs of rent, utilities, food and more.
During a time when our job supply is shrinking at rapid pace, the congress is debating whether to add more competition for the jobs that remain. If you ask me, we have to blame congress and get on their backs about it ASAP.
Call your congressional reps and senators and tell them that you want them to stop the so called immigration reform bill because it is little more than corporate welfare. Tell them to secure the border and to get off their behinds and work to strengthen our economy, by creating more jobs for American workers.
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Code Stink's of hypocrisy
[Read the article: A new front in Berkeley vs. the Marine Corps ]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]In 2000, at an Al Gore rally in San Francisco, a handful of children held a banner that endorsed a Gore presidency as being best for their future. They were speaking about the very real threats a Bush presidency would impose, cuts to education, a loss of environmental protections and the threat of war. Medea Benjamin shouted over their young voices, through a bullhorn, screaming that they should "shut up, shut up, shut up!!!" When challenged about these very real threats, given Bush's record as governor of Texas, especially war, Benjamin snarked that "we won't let him".
Benjamin, like other Nader supporters back then rationalized a Bush presidency. They claimed Gore was no different than Bush, and that the American people have the cold shower a Bush presidency would rain down upon them.
Anyone who lives in the real world, who has more than a few brain cells to rattle around should be aware that Benjamin, then as now, was interested in the opportunity to exploit the pain, suffering and instability that would emerge from a Bush administration. It provided many opportunities to exploit. She has the same blood on her hands as a result of the Iraq war, as George W. Bush and his cohorts in the military industrial complex. She even takes funding from organzations that are funded by the Carlyle Group. She created Code Pink, and co-opted the legitimate anti-war protests that were credible. She pushed Iraq war vets against the war out of the spotlight, so instead of the voices of those who represented the truth, being heard, her easily dismissed tinpot loons could exploit a movement to help demean it's importance.
The Marines do not control the war. They have had recruitment centers for decades, the sham protest shenanigans in Berkeley achieve nothing but treat the discussion about ending the war like a bad joke, and create further divides in our country.. which serves the purposes of the Carlyle Group very well.
Pathethic, dramatized publicity stunts, like those held in Berkeley aren't protesting those who control and profit from the war. They are attacking members of the military who have no say in it. They are assigned in their jobs of recruitment. They too have fought in Iraq, Afghanistan and in earlier wars. They aren't the bad guys, they are citizens who for their own reasons signed up to commit to serve our nation in times of threat. These are also the men and women who are on the front lines pitch in with the National Guard when there is an environmental, weather or other catastrophe in our country.
We no longer have a draft in the US. Had there been a threat of a draft, Bush never would have been able to get away with his rush to put our troops in Iraq. The upper middle classes and many of the wealthiest in the country would have been a loud voice against it. As things stand, where the poorest and the struggling middle classes are the only ones with skin in the game, the affluent and elites feel they have nothing to lose.
Our constitution calls for the entire citizenry to share in the sacrifice of lives in time of war. It's an obligation we all should share in. I guess I can understand why how some, like Congressman Charles Rangel have spoken out about the need to reinstate the draft. How there should be no deferments for college. It seems to me that the affluent and comfortable on the left, as well as on the right are not sharing in the sacrifice, and treat the lives of the poor and struggling who are our troops as something cheap, something to spit on, just as some "anti-war" protestors in the '60s spit on returning troops back in the day.
This isn't about what a republican member of congress wants, it is about how many Berkeley and area residents, who while not supporting the Iraq war, were veterans who've felt the disrespect shown to our troops, parents and family members of those who have served and those who are serving now, and other citizens who recognized the hypocrisy, injustice and the plain irrelevance of the attack on the Marine Recruiting Center, how it's just another show to get media attention for those who are hoping to reap profit and power from the war and misery they helped bring about.