Foreclosure After 50

Dear Mr. President,

The lead story in the National section of yesterday’s New York Times was “Facing Foreclosure After 50.” It turns out that homeowners in their 50s, 60s and 70s are now the fastest growing age group facing foreclosure. 1.5 million of them have lost their homes to foreclosure and those most at risk are the oldest: “Among people over 75, the foreclosure rate grew more than eightfold from 2007 to 2011, to 3 percent of that group of homeowners.” Among those profiled in the article was Roy Johnson, 79, who had lived in his home outside Atlanta for 48 years. He could no longer make the mortgage payments and moved into his daughter’s basement. It had nothing to do with subprime loans—“most foreclosures are now the result of prime loans” —or living beyond his means—“most older Americans facing foreclosure are frugal but are unable to live on fixed incomes with the rising cost of living.” No, it’s because of the economic meltdown brought on by the Banksters of Wall Street and the grossly unequal distribution of wealth in America. “[O]lder Americans are losing their homes because of pension cuts, rising medical costs, shrinking stock portfolios, and falling property values…” Mr. President, you’ve done almost nothing about foreclosures, legal or otherwise. No prosecution of flagrant criminal activity, no regulation of banks to keep it from happening in the future, and no effective programs to help those in distress. In 2009 you announced a program to help homeowners in danger of losing their homes but it had so many restrictions and requirements that almost no one qualified. Then, in March of this year, you announced a $25 billion settlement with the 5 biggest mortgage lenders that would help underwater homeowners but almost none of it went to homeowners; instead, loopholes for banks diluted much of it and state governments siphoned off most of the rest. Once again, the people it was supposed to help were left to twist in the wind. But what do you care? You’re set for life, part of the 1%. You have nothing to worry about. That is, you have nothing to worry about, unless you’re indicted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity. I won’t hold my breath however. Justice has a double standard and people like you with wealth and power and friends in high places rarely find themselves hauled into court no matter how egregious their crimes. It’s why we need a new vision, a new era, a new leader. Jill Stein for president!

A Time of Austerity

Dear Mr. President,

Because of the Bush tax cuts you extended and the Dumb wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and your covert wars on who knows how many other countries, we live in a time of austerity. Not the 1%, they’re doing fine, thank you. The Banksters of Wall Street are rolling in dough, bailed out with U.S. taxpayer dollars and flush with cash from manipulating interest rates, charging exorbitant fees, and foreclosing on homes. The corporations and the fat cats too; they’re living the good life, another gilded age, the 1920s redux. It’s the rest of us, the 99%, who live in a time of austerity. And it’s a time of austerity because war and national security consumes 59% (or more) of our government’s discretionary spending. It’s a time of austerity because corporations are people, my friend, because they own the politicians and call the shots. It’s a time of austerity because corporations and the rich are paying the lowest tax rates in 80 years. It’s a time of austerity because you and your Republicrat colleagues in Washington and state capitals and city halls around the country turned your backs on We the People and dance to the tune of the well-heeled and powerful. It’s a time of austerity because the playing field is seriously skewed in favor of the rich. Austerity happens when governors cut Medicaid for 21,000 poor people (Maine), refuse federal money to cover almost 2 million uninsured (Texas), and give a $300 million tax break to businesses while ending $200 a month cash grants to 61,000 mostly disabled residents (Pennsylvania). Austerity happens when pensions are cut because government officials “borrowed” those funds and cannot pay them back. Austerity happens when jobs and tax revenues disappear and towns and cities lay off teachers and firefighters and cut services to pay fat-cat bondholders in the mistaken belief that to default on debt will spell disaster. Austerity happens when cities go bankrupt and there’s no help from state or federal government. Austerity happens, Mr. President, when you remain silent and do nothing as mean-spirited, short-sighted delusional Republicrats who have no concept of real democracy and no sense of fair play or equality or justice, cut and slash everything but “defense” which makes life even more miserable for the not-rich. Austerity happens while you campaign and mouth more empty promises and lies, while you dream of re-election, while you dream of war and glory, of empire and destiny. Jill Stein for president!

The Lily-Pad Strategy

Dear Mr. President,

David Vines’ recent article on the Pentagon’s “Lily-Pad Strategy” is a real eye-opener. Contrary to public perception, the military is not shrinking, simply reconfiguring, downsizing some huge bases and eliminating others (all 505 in Iraq when we were told to leave) while new smaller, secretive, inaccessible facilities are being built around the globe, a network of “Lily Pads” from which troops (heavy on Special Forces which is rapidly expanding) can deploy quickly to any hot spot nearby. Some new bases are for drones, others house Special Forces and CIA teams who fight shadow wars unacknowledged by you or your administration and none of them debated in congress. We are taking casualties from the Horn of Africa but few know about the AFRICOM bases we’ve established in Ethiopia, Uganda, Nigeria, Sudan, etc. whose mission is to “protect Americans and American interests,” i.e., oil and other natural resources. We have more than 1,000 military bases outside the U.S., a military presence in at least 150 countries and a Pentagon budget that consumed 52% of all government discretionary spending this year, $700 billion. Homeland Security plus the 17 intelligence agencies which spy on everyone everywhere, has a budget of over $80 billion—the exact numbers are secret. Under your watch, Mr. President, we have become the most militarized nation on earth. We have militarized the CIA, the DEA, the ATF and almost every other government agency. Even the State Department now has a “security force” and diplomats spy and approve Special Ops raids and air strikes in their host countries. Who are we fighting anyway and why? Are “insurgents” and “enemy combatants” 8,000 miles away still an imminent threat to the United States? When someone defends his or her home against an invader, are they an enemy combatant or a patriot? How would we react if Pakistan flew armed drones over our towns and cities every night? What if Russia or China built missile sites and Lily-Pad bases in Mexico and Canada? The real problem is not 8,000 miles away. The real problem is right here at home. We the People did not elect you to wage war and commit war crimes and crimes against humanity. We elected you to end war and wage peace, to end the neocon dream of American Empire. You promised to do this but your promises were lies, a ruse to get elected. You were, all along, in service to the 1%, a protector of corporations and the military-industrial complex. Jill Stein for president!

Dumb Wars (continued)

Dear Mr. President,

“War has no winners except those who feed off death and destruction; the arms makers and dealers, and the politicians who use war to gain and maintain power.” That started yesterday’s letter. It is a fundamental fact. The White House web site limits messages to 2,500 characters (including spaces) so I had to cut yesterday’s letter short. This continues my thoughts on Dumb Wars. My question is, since diplomats and government officials, even the generals now say that Afghanistan is a lost cause, that there will be no change, no democracy in place when we leave in 2014, no self-sustaining economy, no defeat of the Taliban, and no end to the misery and destruction that occurs, and will continue to occur there every day, why is it that by the end of this year we will still have more troops there than when you took office in January 2009? Why are we still killing and being killed there? Why do Americans still come home in caskets  or with mangled bodies? With arms and legs missing, faces blown off and minds ravaged by violence? Why do we continue to spend $10 billion a month on a war that was long ago lost? Why do we spend money for war but not for peace? Why do you continue the charade of a measured drawdown and handoff to the Afghan Army when you know they cannot possibly prevent a civil war without ongoing massive U.S. aid? We have given their Army, militias and police Humvees that cost U.S. taxpayers $160,000 each but when they break down they have no parts and no knowledge how to fix them. Most recruits are illiterate, most have no loyalty to the corrupt Karzai government. And the cost to equip and maintain their Army is approximately $8 billion a year, double Afghanistan’s entire GDP. The Filkins article quotes official after official saying that the only thing that will prevent civil war is a strong Afghan Army but few doubt they will collapse within months, the government’s corrupt leaders will take flight to their luxury estates in Qatar and other Middle East countries with their looted U.S. tax dollars, and we will have destabilized yet another area of the Middle East. We have a lousy track record with our vaunted military might. Iraq is now an ally of Iran, nuclear Pakistan is more enemy than ally, there are now twice as many “al Qaeda-affiliated insurgents” in Yemen as when you stepped up your covert war there. Do we learn nothing? Do you learn nothing? Or do you only dream of power and glory, of Empire, of ruling the earth?

Dumb Wars

Dear Mr. President,

War has no winners except those who feed off death and destruction; the arms makers and dealers, and the politicians who use war to gain and maintain power. Iraq was a war based on lies with no purpose other than to protect our “national interests,” i.e. “business interests”—access to oil. Iraq was no victory. It accomplished nothing. It left a nation in tatters and chaos. It was a dumb war, Bush’s war. Afghanistan is also a dumb war, Mr. President, and that one is your war, your responsibility. Afghanistan, like Iraq, like Vietnam, like all wars based on lies and hubris, ignorance and injustice was long ago lost and everyone knows it. Even the generals have given up. Dexter Filkins’ article, “After America,” in last week’s New Yorker, paints a grim picture of Afghanistan, far different than the “progress” you proclaim: U.S. diplomats who don’t dare go beyond the guarded walls of their compound and have no knowledge of the people or conditions beyond the gates; Taliban openly operating unhindered within a few miles of U.S. and NATO bases; huge swaths of the country ceded to Taliban rule. He describes a meeting of provincial officials with a U.S. Lieutenant Colonel whose ignorance, arrogance and dismissiveness is stunning. A militia leader describes U.S. support this way: “Once a month, an American drives out here in his Humvee with a bag of money.” It’s common knowledge that the Afghan Army is incapable of holding off the Taliban without U.S. support. After America, the government will collapse, civil war will erupt, the Taliban will take over and everything will be as it was before our invasion. Mission not accomplished. Here’s the view from an Afghani businessman: “The Americans have failed to build a single sustainable institution here. All they have done is make a small group of people very rich.” Afghanistan was bin Laden’s base in 2001 but no politician has ever publicly asked why they attacked us. There has been no debate, no investigation of root causes, no change of failed policies. We have learned nothing. We continue to terrorize the world and the poison of war and injustice infects our own society. There is no justification for war, Mr. President. All wars are dumb wars and your covert wars in Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen, the Philippines, your Targeted Assassinations, your Kill Lists are all war crimes. You have turned us into a nation of militarized barbarians and terrorists. You are a stain on America, a disgrace to humanity.

Obama for America?

Dear Mr. President,

I received your letter yesterday. Heavy, expensive manila envelope with nothing but “Barack Obama” for a return address and a fancy red, white and blue stamp, not a regular stamp like us little people use, and no value on it, just “presorted standard” in gold letters. On the back a gold-colored sticker on the flap with “44” printed on it, like the old-timey official seal of kings and queens. I wondered what you’d say to any of my recent letters—I realize you don’t personally reply; one of your staff does that, cuts and pastes boilerplate paragraphs on a computer—but when I opened the envelope, there was a four page scare letter telling me how bad it would be if Mitt won in November and urging me to stick with you and send money to your Obama for America campaign. Yes, I realize Romney would be a disaster for America but you’ve been a disaster for America too—illegal wars, targeted assassinations and drone strikes, conversion of the CIA into a paramilitary force, secret military bases all over Africa, the Patriot Act extended and expanded, the NDAA that lets you incarcerate anyone anywhere without trial, legislation that outlaws protests and demonstrations at federal buildings, the NSA collecting all our emails and phone calls, legislation forcing the FAA to allow drones in U.S. airspace, the persecution of government whistleblowers, the Bush tax cuts extended and sweetened for the rich, the Wall Street Banksters bailed out and America left holding the bag… the list goes on and on. Far as I can tell there’s not much difference between a Democrat and a Republican nowadays. As I said in yesterday’s letter, I’m supporting Jill Stein and the Green Party this year. You fooled America once with your slick lies and sweet promises of Hope and transformation, but you turned out to be a Trojan horse for the 1% and business-as-usual with some frightening twists. You turned out to be a warmonger and a war criminal instead of a peacemaker, and you should be in jail, not the White House. You can send your pleas for money to some other fool; I want nothing to do with you. I want a president who knows right from wrong, justice from injustice, freedom from repression, and democracy from tyranny. That’s not you, Mr. President, you’ve got it all twisted and distorted. You’ve gutted the Constitution and ignored all law, you kill without qualms and terrorize without remorse. We thought you were our savior but you turned out to be just another False Prophet.