THE VAST CENTER CONSPIRACY
Re: The Prowler’s In Moderation:

The Republicans begin to show some backbone and, yet again, there stands Ol’ Arlen doing his snarlin’ weasel best to stop rational objection dead in its tracks; all the while not bright enough to catch the scoop over on The Prowler page that the Dems, again, bought his service against his party for nothing. Saving Arlen Specter is one of the greatest missteps of George W. Bush’s tenure.
— Reid Bogie
Waterbury, Connecticut

Specter, Snowe and Collins are not only Republicans In Name Only, but obvious fools who accept insults from the very people who use them for their stupidity without comment.

“There isn’t anything we cut that we would have fought over anyway,” says a senior Senate Democrat leadership aide. “If it makes the Republicans feel better cutting stuff we didn’t care about, then fine. In the end, we got everything we wanted and the ability to hang this on Republicans in two years if things continue to go south. This is now a bipartisan bill, whether they like it or not.”

If these three addled Senators still vote for this outrageous stimulus bill…well, what more can one say?

If Republicans think they are going to gain any respect from the electorate who are more than 50% against this stimulus, the next time Republicans caucus they should place someone at the entrance to the room and refuse these three admittance and actively work for their defeat next time they run for reelection.
— Andy Grego
Richland, Washington

CAN YOU DIG IT?
Re: W. James Antle, III’s A Growth Period:

A bit of country wisdom: when you find yourself stuck in a deep hole, stop digging. Yes, it’s a simple, homespun axiom, but Congress doesn’t seem to know anything about it.
— Ira M. Kessel
Rochester, New York
(Not exactly deep in the country)

They say the first step for someone whose digging a figurative hole for himself is to “stop digging.” This metaphor actually applies well to the catastrophe we currently call our political leadership — those in Congress and White House with such overt socialist tendencies are literally digging us so deep into central governmental planning that we”ll effectively dig ourselves all the way to [the government of] China. Talk about mixing metaphor and myth…
— Bill Attinger
Carlsbad, California

I wish you folks would wake up and start supporting a third party that is truly conservative. The Republicans and Democrats are just opposite wings of the same bird, both taking us to the same place. Bigger government; higher taxes; loss of sovereignty to the UN and other international organizations; loss of our constitutional rights; institution of a North American Union with a socialist country to our north, and a narco state to our south; rule by, of, and for the elites in corporate America and the banksters on Wall Street; more affirmative action; further dumbing-down of our educational institutions; loss of our industrial base; a huge current account deficit; etc. I could go on and on but I think you get the point.

I am a conservative, but I believe that George Bush will go down in history as one of our worst presidents. I for one will not be supporting the Republicans in anything. There is no difference between them and the Democrats other than their rhetoric. And I would just like to point out to you that mine is quickly changing from a minority view to a majority view.

I would also like to point out that we will only be able to get out of our present economic mess by producing our way out of it. This means that we will have to re-establish our industrial base, repeal NAFTA, repeal most favored nation trading status for China, and withdraw from the WTO. This does not mean we should not engage in fair trade. It only means we should stop living beyond our means on money borrowed from foreign nations and the banksters. I would also like to point out that eventually we won’t be able to borrow anything from them anyway. Once our dollar has been devalued beyond a certain level foreign nations will stop buying our debt. The dollar will then lose its reserve currency status and the economy will collapse. I would also like to point out that this is exactly where we are headed.

As for the post-industrial service economy those idiots in Washington and on Wall Street have been trying to sell to everyone; if you buy that I have some lake front property in Nevada I would like to sell you.
— Paul Martell

THE WRATH OF GRAPES
Re: Peter Wallison’s The True Origins of This Financial Crisis:

A heads-up to the people of Oklahoma: As the Pelosi Recession deepens, expect caravans of cars packed with indigent Californians — you will call them Calies, no doubt — looking for jobs in your better-managed, lower-cost state. Until then, man your border and prepare a Joad-like reception.
— David Govett
Davis, California

It is too bad the one thing that could be done to instill confidence in the economy is not even mentioned as it has gone away for a while. It is so blatant that a fifth grader could see it and that was the rise in gasoline prices to 4 dollars a gallon. That is when the people stopped buying cars and trucks because when you have that kind of price increase people quit buying the hog that uses the gas.

A very simple thing would be to open drilling up any where the oil can be found and allow the oil companies to come in at very reduced lease rates and start drilling. The billions set aside for ACORN could be used for refineries, soon the confidence in the economy would rise to the point the workers would be recalled and working again. No doubt the Wall Street mess has a share in this but the cost of gas hits home to the every day working man and woman. It is something they see that takes real money out of their hands and they do without to buy gas. Also, Obama needs to stop his fear mongering and be positive about things.
— Ken Roberts
Lebanon,Ohio 

THE PITTS
Re: Brent Pittman’s letter (under “Imagine a World With No Bailouts”) in Reader Mail’s Builders’ Bawling:

Wow. Mr. Pittman you really nailed it on how to fix the economy without taxpayer bailouts or economic stimulus plans. I wonder, however, if I could get some clarifications on a couple of your points:

1. You say we should repeal tax incentives for companies unless they pay a living wage of $14/hour. Not sure where that figure came from. Wouldn’t things be a lot better if we forced companies to pay $34/hour or maybe $44/hour instead? If not, why not?

2. You say we should enact a windfall profits tax on oil companies, but give them a rebate through tax incentives for drilling. I thought congress and the current administration have pretty much blocked drilling anywhere offshore, in ANWR and in most of the western states. Where would you recommend the oil companies drill to get these tax incentives?

3. You say we should increase taxes on fuel guzzling vehicles. Since every gallon of fuel already has federal and state taxes on it, aren’t owners of fuel guzzling vehicles already paying more taxes compared to people who are driving more fuel efficient vehicles?

4. Finally, you say wealthy individuals should pay more to fund the Wall Street bailout and the Iraq war. The current administration keeps lowering the amount you can make to be considered wealthy. What is your definition of wealthy and how much do you think they should pay?
— Garry Greenwood
Gearhart, Oregon

A RELIGIOUS RIGHT HOOK
Re: David Fisher’s letter (under “Delayed Reactions”) in Reader Mail’s Builders’ Bawling:

I assure David Fisher that there is a long list of things I am “fed up with” our fellow Christians. Among them is the “baptizing” of the liberal left agenda as God’s own demand for justice and righteousness. This version of holy agenda that all Christians rigidly were supposed to be obligated to was on the scene long before the Supreme Court’s radical “liberalizion” of abortion — a profound provocation which led to conservative Christianity’s break with its historic “quietism”.

I am old enough to remember that as long as religion was in support and in active advocacy of liberal causes, the mixture of Church and State was just fine. Beforehand, Liberals used to feel all superior that they were engaged in the big societal issues and their conservative counterparts were not. It was only with the emergence of the Christian Right that all of a sudden our self-righteous and self-serving “deep thinkers” began to have “grave” objections to the appearance of the bible-thumpers on the political forum. Not the least of liberal churchmen’s anger at their conservative brothers and sisters was that liberal influence on Capital Hill was greatly diluted. No longer could they claim to speak for the entire Christian Church as they once had.

Most Christians — both liberal and conservative — are acutely aware that God has HIS own purposes beyond our political disagreements. While we all are influenced by our faith, the church is one kingdom and the “prince” is quite another. In the realm of politics and care for God’s creation, we are left to be guided by prudential judgment in governing a very imperfect world. The faith tells us what justice is. Prudential judgment tells us just how much justice we can afford and withstand.

Don’t like the influence of the religious crazies?” Too damn bad. What can you do about it? Engage in the fight. Welcome to America.
— Mike Dooley