The following is a selection of recent letters sent to the World Socialist Web Site.
On “Evasions, half-truths and lies: Bush demands passage of Wall Street bailout”
The following is from an article in Forbes, in relation to the $700 billion figure for the bailout:
“It’s not based on any particular data point,” a Treasury spokeswoman told Forbes.com Tuesday. “We just wanted to choose a really large number.”
The mind boggles.
MB
San Pedro, California, USA
25 September 2008
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Back in the 1800s, horse thieves and cattle rustlers were lynched. I think the time for frontier justice has been reached. All the industries that are being bailed out by US taxpayers should be nationalized and forced to pay for these bailouts. The executives, the boards of directors, the salespeople, not to mention the financial people, should be held accountable for their crimes against humanity, their sabotage of national security, not to mention Racketeering Influenced Corrupt Organizations Actions, just for starters! Now that would be Economic Justice. They should get the same mercy that they showed their victims. And at their trials, all of their victims should be given every opportunity to give testimony on how their lives were ruined by these financial parasites.
HB
25 September 2008
On “Army deploys combat unit in US for possible civil unrest”
The need for this is well established by the CIA. Bush (and all the political whores to this ‘corporatist Empire’ that rules us behind this facade of their two-party, “Vichy” government) well realize that military force will be necessary to deal with “civil unrest.”
In fact, their own CIA publicly warns in its own Country Casebook that “countries with a GINI Coefficient Index over .45 in inequality of income risk civil unrest.” The US is already far beyond any developed country and above 0.48, and rising faster—and this ‘bailout’ will push our GINI index beyond the level of Robert Mugabe’s dictatorship in Zimbabwe.
The need for beating heads, and killing to keep the screwed masses in-line is clear by the CIA’s own advice!
AM
Sanford, Maine, USA
25 September 2008
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This unprecedented deployment of combat units internally in the United States must be considered as the literal culmination of the economic and legal “class warfare” that working people have endured.
This step, taken just now in light of ongoing economic collapse, is perfectly logical. With economic collapse comes rebellion of desperate masses, which is followed by barbaric repression.
JW
26 September 2008
On “California budget: $7 billion in cuts, tax breaks for big business”
Dear Mr. Schwarzenegger,
Thank you very much for your one-sided budget. I am an employee of the Los Angeles County Office of Education, but only as a temporary employee. I work from assignment to assignment. I have no benefits, and with your budget I will continue to live in fear of being homeless. So once again, thank you! You are doing exactly what you need to do for the wealthy. The sad thing is I am not.
JN
Los Angeles, California, USA
22 September 2008
On “Thirty years since the assassination of Tom Henehan”
Thank you for the memories. Tom was indeed an extraordinary person: honest, sensible and a revolutionary.
H
Humacao, Puerto Rico
22 September 2008
On “Record Christmas bonuses on Wall Street”
Maybe it’s time to reprint this story, and remind everyone how the big brokerages and banks felt about ‘debt speculation’ nine months ago...
D
25 September 2008
On “Marriott Hotel bombing: another sign of Pakistan’s deepening crisis”
Thank you for your articles reporting on violence in the North West Frontier Provinces in Afghanistan and the FATA in Pakistan. This region is home to one of the most beautiful and endangered animals in the world: the elusive snow leopard. The United States is responsible for pursuing a criminal war that threatens to destroy the mountain ecosystem and all the wildlife in the mad pursuit of oil pipelines and profits. These animals have nobody to speak for them. Americans know next-to-nothing about the culture, geography and exotic wildlife of the Central Asian regions.
For years I have supported the work of the Snow Leopard Trust, which sponsors conservation programs in these and many other Asian countries. Since the Trust’s conservation efforts depend upon the cooperation of the local population, the unstable military and political situation presents a terrible threat to these animals. The spring 2008 edition of their newsletter, “Snow Leopard Tracks,” reports on movements of snow leopards across the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, making them “vulnerable to poachers in Afghanistan eager to supply pelts to tourist markets. Although hunting snow leopards has been outlawed in Afghanistan since 2002, recent reports document an upsurge in poaching by impoverished residents of the war-torn country.” The Trust’s Managing Director of Field Programs, Dr. Tom McCarthy, is quoted in calling for “international collaboration between Pakistan and Afghanistan to establish a transboundary national park for saving this highly endangered species.” The efforts of the Snow Leopard Trust and its dedicated scientific staff deserve to be more widely known. Its web site is located at: http://www.snowleopard.org
LJ
Twinsburg, Ohio, USA
26 September 2008
Good to read in modern (WSWS) literature the lives and exploits of such men of philosophical commitment. My early educational experiences did not cover such readings, and it is good to find out that one is not alone in (differential) thinking related to church dogma (cum ruthless emotional, spiritual, and physical exploitation of the people the church supposedly “serves”). To be placed in the vulnerable position of the people is a simple process of generational indoctrination. Just as simply that generational belief system can be shattered in one moment of time when life as it is comes into conflict with life as belied by the church. Bruno persuades some people to question the “powers” that have rendered them “powerless,” whilst others avoid any critical challenging of doctrines because of fear instilled by the ‘demonic’ church.
MA
Victoria, Australia
19 September 2008