Proud Day: Old Glory flying again over Cuba

Watching the US flag rise again in Cuba brings a redemptive bookmark on our 56 year war of hate and fear over the Cuban revolution which ended decades of US capitalist and underworld exploitation of that beleaguered island. JFK nearly blew up the world in his obsessive drive to overthrow, indeed murder Fidel Castro, for seeking end to our domination going all the way back to our murderous, criminal war against Spain in1898, that acquired Cuba as a prize for Uncle Sam to plunder, first as a possession, extending long into its conditional independence. Substituting one tyrant for another was no bargain.

If we didn't want Russia to put nukes on our doorstep, what were we putting nukes on Russia's doorstep in Turkey. Then to save face, we forced Russia to pretend we weren't trading Cuban nukes for Turkish nukes. Let Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio slug it out for the elderly and dwindling Cuban vote in Florida based on fear and loathing of the Castro regime. The rest of the world left them behind decades ago. Can't wait to see all those pre Castro American car classics still tooling around Havana before being scarfed up by collectors free to do business in Cuba, and American car makers making a mint selling their 21st century versions.

Another day, another transformational bit of progress from the greatest president in my lifetime (FDR included).

Roskam makes taxpayers fund vicious IRS hit piece

If my congressman Peter Roskam were a capitalist instead of a career politician, he'd make his company go broke faster than your can say ENRON. That is because his first brilliant idea for success would be to look at the Accounts Receivable department and...slash its budget. 'They're a bunch of thugs exploiting the beleaguered small businessmen who owe us money', Roskam would pontificate.

Silly, you say? Not in the least. Roskam is at it again, sending dog whistle mailings at our expense to inflame his anti IRS, anti taxation base who, like Roskam, care not a whit about the commons which breaths life into our society.

Roskam and his GOP have been at war with the IRS for two decades now, and their war is paying off handsomely for the only crowd they serve. A new study estimates 400 billion is lost annually  from tax cheating. Most of that could be recovered but for one silly detail: Roskam's GOP keeps cutting IRS funding. This April they extracted $600,000 in cuts to the IRS in return for not shutting down the government over the spending bill. This year the IRS is $1.3 billion short of funding needed to close the tax cheat gap. Yet, every dollar the IRS spends on enforcement brings in ten dollars of legitimate taxation. And guess who gets the biggest break in a decimated IRS? Yep, the greedy rich. A GOP crippled IRS hasn't a chance against their high priced mouthpieces so they now primarily audit lower income taxpayers unable to afford F. Lee Bailey. When the GOP failed in its attempt to permanently repeal the estate tax, it retaliated by forcing layoffs of IRS lawyers responsible for estate tax enforcement. Yet, the meager audits of large taxable gifts found Uncle Sam got shortchanged 85% of the time, prompting the Treasury Department to tell Congress that its major problem was tax cheating by the highest earning Americans. Tax fraud by the wealthy creates a "non-compliance tax" on the average household of $2,700 a year; a fun fact you'll never get in Roskam's irresponsible taxpayer paid IRS mailing.

Returning to the idea of Peter Roskam as capitalist I have advice; stay a career politician. Companies don't hire CEO's who consider collecting the lifeblood of continued existence a frivolity.

Walt Zlotow
Glen Ellyn

Jeb doubles, triples down on criminal war

In a 15 person field of dreadful GOP candidates, none can match the mendacity of Jeb Bush. He is utterly incoherent when asked to second guess his brother's criminal war in Iraq, which left hundreds of thousands dead, including 4,500 GI's. He's hired many of his brother's neocon advisors, and promises more troops, more bombing, more regime change and utterly no negotiation in the world's most volatile region. He blames all the current carnage on the Obama, Clinton team for withdrawing from his brother's criminal war, conveniently forgetting brother George negotiated the withdrawal from Iraq in order to keep Gi's from being prosecuted by Iraqi authorities for their random torture and murder of Iraqi civilians. Jeb is defiant about sabotaging the Iran nuclear deal, substituting ever severe sanctions instead, oblivious that the rest of the world will gleefully scarf up the billions in trade that Jeb leaves on the table. The're done with America's fear and war mongering over Iran.  

George W. Bush's support for brother Jeb's presidential bid involves more than politics and family loyalty. He knows Jeb will leave any investigation of his war crimes off the presidential 'to-do' list. Giving George W. a pass on his war crimes may be Obama's single most disgraceful policy, and  it likely won't be touched by any one else who might ascend the presidency. But Jeb's lust to riff off his brother's criminality and promote a scorched earth policy against anyone he defines as terrorists in the region his brother destabilized is the worst choice possible in 2016.