Mountain Views News          Saturday, December 4, 2010

11

OPINION

 MountainViews-News Saturday, December 4, 2010 

STUART Tolchin..........On LIFE

HAIL Hamilton My Turn

Mountain 
Views

News

Publisher/ Editor

Susan Henderson

City Editor

Dean Lee 

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Patricia Colonello

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Contributors

Teresa Baxter

Pat Birdsall

Bob Eklund

Howard Hays

Paul Carpenter

Stuart Tolchin

Kim Clymer-Kelley

Christopher Nyerges

Peter Dills 

Hail Hamilton 

Rich Johnson

Chris Bertrand

Mary Carney

La Quetta Shamblee

Glenn Lambdin

Greg Wellborn

Ralph McKnight

Trish Collins

Pat Ostrye

Editorial Cartoonist

Ann Cleaves

Webmaster

John Aveny 

DOESN’T THE PUBLIC HAVE A RIGHT 

TO KNOW WHAT’S GOING ON? 


Poverty: The Dark Side of the American Dream

We all know someone--a family member, a close friend--
that has fallen on hard times. With unemployment at double-
digit rates, and reports about personal bankruptcies, home 
foreclosures, business failures as common as daily weather 
forecasts it’s almost impossible not to know someone down 
on their luck. 

According to the Census Bureau, 43.6 million Americans 
live in poverty. This is the highest it’s been since the 1960‘s. 
The recent recession has put millions of Americans out of 
work, starting a cycle that has led to a series of climbing poverty rates. 

As many have lost their jobs, they have lost their employer-provided health 
care benefits as well, which has lead to mounting medical bills and prescription 
costs. After a long battle, congress passed a health insurance overhaul which 
has already made some improvements for seniors, students and those with pre-
existing conditions but many of the main provisions of the bill won’t go into 
effect until 2014.

Often times, when money is not coming in and bills need to be paid, people 
will turn to their credit cards. Medical bills, utility payments and even mortgage 
payments were being paid on credit cards as a short term solution to a long term 
problem.

However, the credit card companies themselves have become a nightmare for 
many consumers and there seems to be no solution to a problem that is driving 
many Americans further in debt at a very critical time in our nation’s history.

But even before the recession struck and before the economy started showing 
signs of falling apart, many households were already seriously in debt. We had, to 
use the cliché, “thrown caution to the wind.” In a little more than a decade we had 
taken on more credit, more payments and more cost than in reality we needed or 
realistically could pay back had anything unforeseen come up or gone wrong. 

In our desire for ever more money and the things it could buy, we have ignored 
the wise adage, “If something can go wrong, it will.;” and its corollary, “Don’t 
bite off more than you can chew.” In one generation we had gone from being the 
world’s largest creditor nation to become its worst debtor.

Of course everyone dreams big and wants more for their children than they 
had. Most people want the American Dream. But maybe it’s time to adjust the 
dream to reality.

Right now our sights should be aimed on the millions of people living in 
poverty. What is being done to help these people? Apparently, not enough. Just 
look around at the growing number of poor people subsisting on our streets by 
begging. Did you know that panhandling is a crime in most cities, even in Sierra 
Madre?

The number of poor grew from 39.8 million people in 2008 to 43.6 million in 
2010--a gain of 3.8 million! And most of us didn’t even blink. How many more 
poor Americans will it take to motivate the rest of us more fortunate to speak 
out on their behalf. 

Are the companies who received bailouts hiring back employees? Are they 
loaning money to small businesses and consumers? Or are these companies still 
giving multi-million dollar bonuses to people receiving multi-million dollar 
salaries? 

The Credit Card Act of 2009 was signed into law by President Obama to 
help protect consumers and force credit card companies to be more fair and 
transparent.

As Americans have been forced to look at their credit responsibilities, many 
have seen just how wrongly credit card companies had been treating them 
but also realized there is little they could have done aside from canceling their 
accounts.

With the Credit Card Act of 2009, the Health Care Overhaul, Americans are 
taking a hard look at what is being spent compared to what they are making out 
of the bargain. As a result, Americans are holding their state and national leaders 
more responsible for the decisions they make. 

Will these programs make a difference for the millions of poor Americans 
that need help NOW? Or are these programs too little and too late?

Poverty is not picky. It is an equal opportunity affliction that can choose 
anyone at anytime. However, I can’t help wondering where the 43.6 million 
poor Americans would be today had the Bush and Obama administrations 
implemented a recovery plan more along the lines of FDR’s New Deal than a 
rehash of Ronald Reagan’s failed program of trickle-down Reaganomics?

In his column last 
week Hail Hamilton 
presciently commented 
on the probable 
existence of secret 
governmental 
conspiracies continuing 
throughout our 
lifetimes. This week the 
big news has been the 
publication of secret CIA and governmental 
documents. The big surprise this week has 
been that there have been no big surprises—
but it’s still early in the week.

My big surprise this week was learning that 
Jon Stewart (for many the most trusted 
man in America) has an older brother 
who has a fairly important job—he is the 
Chief Operating Officer of the New York 
Stock Exchange no less. I discovered this 
frightening and disturbing fact by Googling 
November 28, the birthday of my two 
children two years apart (yes to answer your 
unstated question==once a year whether 
we wanted to or not) and noticed that Jon 
Stewart was born on this same date. So 
like any twenty-first century person sitting 
in front of a computer I followed this up by 
googling Mr. Stewart and learning that he 
was born with the name John Stuart (like my 
own name) Liebowitz. I learned that there is 
great dysfunction within the Liebowitz family 
and that there is little known communication 
among family members. Perhaps this is the 
reason the Daily Show Host changed his 
name but there may be other reasons. I have 
some doubt as to the continuing popularity 
of a daily program announced as the Daily 
Show with John Liebowitz. I similarly doubt 
that the Larry King show would have been as 
popular had his actual name been used but 
that’s another story.

But really it’s the same story. There’s a lot 
going on that’s kept secret from the public. 
Last week Mr. Hamilton speculated about 
conspiracies and secret motivations. This 
week it’s my turn. In 2008 before the election 
I speculated that the selection of Sara Palin as 
a Vice-Presidential Candidate demonstrated 
that the Republicans did not want to win the 
election. Their selection of then Governor 
Palin was intended to guarantee that loss. 
The thinking behind this strategy was the 
Republican realization that the country was 
in such a mess that whoever was selected 
as President would not be able to cope with 
the immense problems and would shortly 
become unpopular thus allowing the 
Republicans to regain power while escaping 
responsibility for creating the mess in the first 
place. Do you remember that when Clinton 
left office there was actually a huge surplus?

Moving on, why haven’t War Criminals like 
Bush and Cheney been compelled to answer 
for their knowing lies to the American 
People? This weekend my wife and I went to 
the movies and learned the lovely facts that 
the Bush Administration had knowingly lied 
to the American People. The lies were for the 
purpose of justifying invading a sovereign 
nation so as to dispose of weapons that were 
known not to exist. The war has cost trillions, 
killed hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and 
still continues today. Didn’t the appearance 
at the World Series and on all the talk show 
seem kind of strange? .Ex- President Clinton 
was impeached for matters concerning a 
sexual liaison; ex-President Nixon was forced 
to resign for activity related to attempting to 
obtain information regarding the strategy of 
a political opponent. Folks this stuff was not 
about phony wars and unnecessary killings. 
Revered hero of today, ex-President Reagan 
admittedly allowed a secret illegal war to be 
conducted from the White House Basement 
and no criminal charges were ever brought 
against him. Yes I know there is nothing 
new about any of this but as Mr. Hamilton 
said last week the presentation of truth to 
the public should not be dependent upon 
political expediency.

I am of the belief that the Powerful ones 
never want We the People to ever know what 
really goes on. We are always manipulated 
to do the bidding of our rulers. Without 
an informed electorate our Democratic 
institutions become meaningless. We need 
transparency and we need new political 
parties. How is it that the Democratic 
Party selects Presidential Candidates like 
Kennedy and Kerry who are among the 
richest people in the nation...? Even good 
old seeming-Progressives like Californians 
Diane Feinstein and Nancy Pelosi are among 
our wealthiest representatives

In, conclusion it’s wonderful that California 
voters rejected someone like Meg Whitman 
who had nothing going for her except 
money. Still, one must wonder about 
a system that allows a person without 
political experience, a person who has never 
voted, to become the Candidate of a Major 
Political Party for Governor. Maybe you’re 
thinking that, hey, these aren’t conspiracies. 
Everybody already knows this stuff but 
we’re too distracted or drugged to really 
care. I guess I’d rather it was a secret. Really 
there is nothing worse than indifference. 
Can there be a Conspiracy of Indifference. 
Maybe we really care but this fact is being 
hidden from us. 

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By the way, this is my son Aaron whose birthday was last week the same 
as Mark Twain’s. Happy Birthday Aaron!

RICH Johnson

Stuart Asked Me To........


Stuart forwarded 
me a copy of his 
column and asked 
my comments on 
the Wikileaks. So 
this column is his 
fault for conspiring 
with me:

 He asked me my 
opinion regarding 
Wikileaks. Hmmmm, let me think.

 First, are there people put in harm’s 
way because of these disclosures? Do 
we want people to act as eyes and ears in 
secret monitoring the antics and activities 
of people and governments who have a 
cavalier attitude and intolerance of those 
not in lockstep with them? 

 Is there room for hidden negotiations 
and "secret deals" between governments, 
when peace and stability are the goal? Do 
now open disclosures, such as the Middle 
East's desire to hold back Iran's nuclear 
program, end the ability of nations to 
conspire in secret to foible the activities 
of rogue nations? You can probably guess 
from the questions I pose that I think 
the Wikileaks release of information was 
dangerous, careless and reckless. 

 Stuart also wonders why former President 
Bush and Vice President Cheney aren’t 
being prosecuted for war crimes. Somehow 
Stuart is sure they knew there were no 
weapons of mass destruction. Interesting, 
because to this day Great Britain is still 
convinced there were. And Saddam 
Hussein sure acted like a guilty man playing 
cat and mouse with the inspectors. He sure 
looked like he had something to hide. Not 
to mention (as I have mentioned over and 
over again in the past) that Iraq fired over 
750 ground to air missiles at British and 
U.S. fighters patrolling the Northern and 
Southern no-fly zones in Iraq. To me each 
one of those firings is an overt act of war.

 But why single President Bush out? On 
November 25, 1941 Admiral Yamamoto of 
the Japanese Navy sent a coded message 
to his warships. Part of the November 25 
message read: “...the task force, keeping its 
movements strictly secret and maintaining 
close guard against submarines and 
aircraft, shall advance into Hawaiian 
waters, and upon the very opening of 
hostilities shall attack the main force of 
the United States fleet in Hawaii and deal 
it a mortal blow...” Evidence exists that we 
intercepted and decoded these messages. If 
this is true then Franklin Delano Roosevelt 
knew beforehand about the pending 
attack on Pearl Harbor. The suspicion is 
he intentionally did nothing because he 
needed an attack like this to get a stubborn 
U.S. into the war. And permitting the 
Japanese to successfully kill a few thousand 
people would help garner public support. 
Should an investigation be mounted to 
verify this? He also knowingly conspired 
with a government (Soviet Union) equally, 
if not more guilty of the same type of 
atrocities of which the Nazis were guilty. 
What did he (FDR) know and when did he 
know it? He was greatly responsible for the 
USSR getting a major toehold in Eastern 
Europe resulting in the subjugation of 
millions of people over 40 years.

 What is really being determined here 
is whether it is ethical and moral to have 
clandestine meetings with dubious people 
and governments with the good intentions. 
Is it? You and I are the judges of this.

 Finally, I once recommended you access 
local blogs, one in particular to round out 
your flow of information in an attempt 
to ascertain the truth. I have to apologize 
and retract that recommendation when 
it comes to “The Tattler.” It has proven 
to have little interest in the truth. At least 
those of us who write in this paper don’t 
hide behind the moniker “anonymous.”


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