Greed Runs Hollywood
Thomas Francis, thank you so much for that great article "Selling Hollywood Sky" (April 9). Greed is the operative word, and you said exactly what we've been preaching to the City Commission for months. Lobbyist Alan Koslow is running this city, and he's running it right into the ground.
Cynthia Greene Eason
Hollywood Beach
The Fishy Business Cycle
The information in your article "Fishy Business" disgusted me (Tim Elfrink, April 9). What disgusts me more is that it happens over and over and will keep happening despite the articles written to expose such scams/political buyoffs. What your article doesn't say explicitly but maybe should is that, despite the continued failure of our elected officials to protect taxpayer money, the tax payers still reelect them. Who's to blame?
Please keep up the good work. Hopefully more exposure to this stuff will wake taxpayers up!
Carolann Mazza Bartholomey
Fort Lauderdale
Editor's note: Posts on TheJuiceBlog.com last week about the tax day "tea party" protests got dozens of heated comments from readers. A sample:
Libertarian Lawyer says:
What a smarmy bit of reporting this is.
Problem one: Yeah, President Obama is no tyrant and George W. Bush was no Nazi. Did that stop liberals from calling him one? No. Do you think I can find an article by Michael J. Mooney pointing out the ridiculousness of comparing Bush with Hitler? No? I didn't think so.
Problem two: Let's see, so if the protesters can't cite the dollars and cents of debt per person, they don't know what they're talking about and their points are worthless? Riiiiight. And citing inefficient government bureaucracies like the Post Office and construction projects (bridge to nowhere, anybody?) not only doesn't counter the protesters' points; it's a pretty piss-poor argument for taxes anyway. If the gov't does such a good job delivering roads and education for your tax dollar, why not have it run the food system as well, Mooney?
Problem three: Mooney is right, it's ridiculous to think we're in a totalitarian system. But again, show me an article by Mooney that points out the ridiculousness when all the liberals said the Patriot Act was turning the country into Russia under Stalin. Where is it?
huh? says:
All of the subprime loans and the problems that caused the recession happened under President Bush. The first bailouts happened in the fall, before the election, under Bush. Paulson and Geithner and all these people — they all were part of the financial establishment even under Bush. So why do these people insist that our woes are all somehow Obama's fault?
Angelia says:
Not sure if I am more disgusted or amused.
Let's go with disgusted first. As long as the agenda of the protest is that of the very biased liberal media, it's patriotic. And even if only ten people show up, a grand success. But if, heaven forbid, those of opposing opinions protest or speak out, they are "hooligans." Keep in mind no one was stopped from doing their jobs yesterday, nor were any buildings vandalized — unlike what has happened when some of the liberal groups like code pink protest.
Now the amused. For those of liberal leaning, such as yourself, to respond so vocally and negatively to these tea parties, you all must be scared to death. We the people of the United States are paying attention, and we are making our government representatives aware that they work for we the people and will be held accountable at the polling booths!
Uncle Sam is not going to play sugar daddy on my dime anymore!
TamGuy says:
It's not surprising to hear Michael J. Mooney sound off on his awe of the anger at the tax parties. Like many, he is totally oblivious to what the bailouts have done to this country. He has no idea how absolutely unavoidable the upcoming hyperinflation is. The Tea Parties aren't going to change that; nothing will.
All along, Michael has been convinced that Fox and Beck and all the others are simply being paranoid about the future of our country. Too bad he doesn't do his homework. We doubled the total amount of U.S. currency with the $700 billion bailout in 2008 before Obama came into office. Now with the several trillion-dollar bailouts he's pushed, we can count on the dollar being absolutely worthless. I bet he really believes we can somehow pay this back and even halve our deficit by 2013 like Obama promised. I must say, I'm going to enjoy seeing these "journalists" eat their words.
