Sir,
Soon the reckoning will come for Republicans AND Democrats. (THE POLITICS OF THE TAX CUT – Issue: 12/8/10) For the first time in any of our lifetimes (no one alive can recall it) we will have to buckle down and give back, take less, and sacrifice. Austerity will be the order of the day, and that day is nigh! Believe me, dearest columnist, your words will not only ring true – act or get out of the way – but the way the pendulum has swung once again right, after six years of a swing left, someone will have to answer for TARP and Bank Bailouts, an automotive industry bailout, and the insane build-ups to a broken military strategy and the Homeland Security boondoggle, of which I know you have railed against for about ten years now, not to mention the bankrupt Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and soon-to-be disastrous Health Care nightmare.
I know you have no interest to run for any office or put yourself in the quagmire of cable news nonsense, but yours is a voice of cold and impassionate reason that is needed in these times of syrupy overreaction and partisan bickering. People need to know they have become weak, lazy nationalist pigs and have waved the red white & blue until it has gone soft and broke.
Oh, there will be retribution, and the survivors will be the unlucky ones.
—Bradley L. Simpson Sr.
I cannot figure you out, Campion. What the hell does this drivel stand for, if anything? Are you just nuts or mean or half out of it? I fear people actually take this seriously, like that fat goober Mormon, Glenn Beck, or that snot-nosed wise-ass clown, Jon Stewart. Has every slice of commentary have to be fused with mayhem? Or maybe this is some kind of satirical jab at all that? I’m not sure. I am never sure. This whole Tax Cut column was so smarmy I was hardly able to finish it without throwing up. I am too confused to be infuriated.
Do us all a favor and please stop this and go back to the inhaling of cheap chemicals.
—DD Paulson
If the wealthy provide those jobs, then where have they been for all these years? I work for the unbelievably rich, and despite liking most of them personally, I have witnessed a major dwindling of jobs and a sharp lowering of wages for the last 5 years for the self employed. Why? Because they can and they know it.
So, while I struggle to hold onto my house, my healthcare, my phone (so I can do business), my TV (so I can watch football), they spend their money on the most expensive Mercedes and Andy Warhols. Trust me, the jobs are few, and the wage is meager.
The intended destruction of the middle class is complete. Yay for them!
—gerryfour
I totally disagree – extending all of the tax cuts is absolutely NOT their only option.
—Eric Lewis
Thank God you pointed out the obvious; this “change” in the liberal strategies of our president is forced and not coerced or debated or compromised. It is pure political survival. And what were the Republicans going to do, allow the tax hikes and not go in for this extended unemployment benefits and appear as if they are as heartless and clueless as advertised?
This is a sham, as all shams, as the original unpaid-for tax cuts were a sham. And do not be surprised, as you state, that the hypocritical assholes, which ran against the deadly deficit, continue to pile on the billions before they’re said and done.
—shelly149898
Good points, especially the one about the debt ceiling. I cannot wait to hear the steaming bullshit pouring from that lunatic Rand Paul when he has to go back and explain that move to the Fiscally Conservative Libertarians! Unleash Patty Buch’ and the dead Green Party goons on him! HA!
—Celly WWWW
Republicans wiping out the deficit????? What a bunch of malarkey. Republicans took a surplus and exploded it into a deficit in the first place. It’s like hiring a Catholic priest as a daycare monitor. What the fuck?
—SS Kramms
This is lovely! (LAST NIGHT THEY SHOT JOHN LENNON – Issue: 12/15/10) A wonderful eulogy.
—jyoung
The finest piece I have read on Lennon in years. You captured the period and the man beautifully. Hard to believe you wrote it that night. What insight. Really great. I was moved and plan on keeping it and reading it on the anniversary each year. No one should forget. Ever.
—Karen Heppel
With all due respect, The Beatles need to be chart toppers for another 1500 years before the “more popular than Jesus” thing holds water. When people are tortured for listening to The Jonas Brothers vs. The Beatles… scratch that. They’ve suffered enough already, haven’t they?
—The Doctor
Stands to reason you loved Lennon. Fucking Commie.
—Pikers Alley 101
Thanks for reprinting the John Lennon column from back in 2000. I have come to your work only over the past few years and I feel that your best work is in celebrating the great lives of influential artists or your interviews with musical personalities. It is easy to tell you leave the mockery to the less interesting subjects like politics. Am I onto something? Tell us…NOW!
—E. Franklin
Honesty, that’s what John Lennon always stood for. Even in his sillier and overly dramatic cause periods and his constant search for The Thing. It was that honesty, and how he paid for it, as all honesty is eventually rewarded (and I use the term sarcastically). Well done, sir. It is what I honor Lennon’s memory for the most. The honesty. Anyone who can listen to “Plastic Ono Band” without coming away changed or inspired doesn’t get Lennon. Apparently from these sentiments, you do.
—Joshua
James Campion is the Managing Editor of The Reality Check News & Information Desk and the author of Deep Tank Jersey, Fear No Art, Trailing Jesus, and Midnight For Cinderella.
