Trillions for Detroit!

Telling a robbed and beaten man to tighten his belt — that's Jack Lessenberry's "common sense" idea, in "Charting a Future" (June 20). 

Just what Detroit needs, another mugger armed with the "common sense" to steal the pensions from old ladies who are still "healthy."

Jack had quite a laugh at Detroit's City Council members Kenyatta, Watson, and Jones. He imagines them waiting "for Lyndon Johnson to come back and give them federal billions to spend."

Actually, federal trillions should be spent on Detroit and all the inner cities, right now. Martin Luther King Jr. said, "... America would never invest the necessary funds or energies in rehabilitation of its poor so long as adventures like Vietnam continued to draw men and skills and money like some demonic, destructive suction tube." Hubert Harrison said the same thing — in 1918. Harrison condemned America's willingness to send whole armies to Europe, to fight for "democracy," while denying everything, including democracy, to black America. 

White racist violence & theft has cost black America between $5 trillion and $24 trillion. That multitrillion-dollar bill was documented in the Harvard BlackLetter Law Journal, Vol. 20 (2004). Congress should pay that bill. 

You must remember that Congress just spent trillions on the destruction of Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine.

You must recall that Bush, Obama, and Congress just handed trillions more to Wall Street.

Why on earth shouldn't Congress spend the same trillions to rebuild Detroit and every inner city? —Blaine Coleman, Ann Arbor

Same as the old boss

Jack Lessenberry's question, "Why do you hate President Obama?" (May 30) is an obviously loaded question. That type of propaganda is guaranteed to get you extremist responses from all sides. It is definitely irresponsible to print — and probably on purpose too. Why should we distrust President Obama?

Because he's a warmonger. His support for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq go against his policies during his first campaign. In addition, he's started a war in Libya and may attempt to attack Syria and Iran. His decisions have killed more Africans than any American president since FDR.

Another good reason would be the National Defense Act of 2011. Despite his initial reservations, President Obama signed a bill making it legal to imprison American citizens without a trial. This is Obama's contribution to the Patriot Act. Our own Sen. Carl Levin helped to author the bill with John McCain. Not only do all Americans deserve a trial, but all human beings do too.

Not only has Obama kept Guantanamo open, but he's made sure Americans will end up there too. 

Party politics are easy to play. They pay the bills and might even keep your paper open. Overall, it's just propaganda to keep people fighting against each other while the oligarchs destroy democracy. This is a pattern as old as written history, and all Americans should be warned about it.  —Morgan Blank, Detroit

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