Dialogue

UNCLEAR ON THE CONCEPT

I don’t get it (“Texas Tea,” May 1): Where were the protesters for the last eight years as the “conservatives” burned the little guy and gave away the family farm to their agribusiness cronies? Where were those protesters when the federal deficit reached its highest level ever and the budget surpluses of the Clinton legacy were wiped out? The current administration has promised to reduce the tax burden on these yahoos in Alamo Plaza, and they’re protesting that? I used to have some regard for the Republican Party. Give me an Everett Dirksen or a Barry Goldwater any day over this bunch of cynical operators, who use the simpleminded as cannon fodder.

Jerry MathisPosted at www.texasobserver.org

There is nothing worthwhile in Texas that’s not subsidized by the federal government. Military bases and contractors, NASA, federal jobs, Social Security, Medical research … the list is endless. Without the feds, Texas will return to being the dung pile it was before FDR. Texas needs someone like Sam Houston, one of my wife’s ancestors, who opposed secession in 1860, instead of the knuckle-brains who are running it now.

Joe RossanoPosted at www.texasobserver.org

ENGINES OF DESTRUCTION

You have the catalytic drivers right (“Causes of the Crisis,” May 1), but you omitted the instruments of implementation: Rubin, Clinton, Greenspan, Summers, et al.

Sigmund KriegerPosted at www.texasobserver.org

One can talk regulation all one wants, but we did not have a true free-market system to regulate. Profits were privatized and losses socialized. Banks were forced to lend to people who could not pay the mortgage back, but it did not take to long for them to figure out it didn’t matter since they had no responsibility. Banks and lenders did not have ownership of the loan, so why worry?

James ZuckPosted at www.texasobserver.org

HITTING CLOSE TO HOME

I was very pleased to read the review of The War Comes Home, by Aaron Glantz (“Unjust Rewards,” May 1). In addition to lying to start the Iraq War fiasco, Bush had no plan to provide medical care for the 1.8 million troops deployed so far. When the first wave of casualties began using VA hospitals, the Bush administration actively fought against our veterans, as Glantz describes in detail. Here’s how bad it is now: To date, more than 400,000 Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans have become VA hospital patients. A similar number filed disability claims. Veterans for Common Sense estimates that the current wars in Afghanistan and Iraq will result in up to a million patients and claims, with a long-term price tag of up to $1 trillion.

We have a window of opportunity to fix the VA so the current generation of veterans doesn’t face the enormous challenges endured by prior generations.

Paul SullivanExecutive DirectorVeterans for Common SensePosted at www.texasobserver.org