Tuesday, September 13, 2011

An Insult from the grave: I am very dismayed at the release by Caroline Kennedy the tape recordings of her mother Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis which were less and complimentary about the great Dr. Martin Luther King. As a matter of fact I found them utterly insulting. Yes, I can appreciate no one is alive of power from that era and I can appreciate it as part of our history BUT I still think it would have been more prudent to have eliminated those thoughts about Dr. King from Mrs. Kennedy Onassis's rendition and sell a book and DVD to make money!

Truly, if what she said referred to Dr. King's personal life, the former late first lady had a NERVE to indict this towering figure. She should NOT have criticized the speck in someone else's eye when she had or CERTAINLY her husband (whom I supported decades ago) had a log in his own. How DARE she and how DARE Caroline or ANYONE besmirch in ANY way a leader like Martin Luther King whose statue we just venerated.

I can assure you I will make my thoughts known to both the publishers of her book AND to Caroline Kennedy herself. As a caveat I am a white Jewish woman who LOVED Dr. Martin Luther King. No matter what his personal life entailed
we as civil libertarians and humanists can only stand in the shadow of this man who was a giant among us.

I thank God for Dr. King every day of my life. He was a gift taken from us far too soon. Shame on the late Mrs. Kennedy for impugning his GREAT legacy!
Extremism in the face of liberty: That 1964 phrase said by Barry Goldwater at the Republican convention of that era: “… Extremism in the face of liberty is no vice! And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue” sunk his presidential prospect. It means, now, no job, no health care, no home and no one to help. I am not surprised at the extremist right wing oligarchical lean of the Republican Party -- so extreme that one might fall over if one is a part of it.

The religiously and economically corporate lobbyist corrupted nature of this party has been brewing since Pat Robinson ran for president and maybe even before then. Now the ugly decision of a right wing majority Supreme Court of "Citizen's United" put the lid on the coffin. I was worried then in the Pat Robertson days to the bemusement of some of my friends and I am worried now. I do not think my friends are laughing today.

I hope fervently that there are more in this country who are pro academics, intellectually astute, well read, and questioning so that in the long run someone as vile as most candidates in the Republican Party are they will not fare well in a general election.

The anti-intellectual crank thread, though, is an unfortunate mutation of the American DNA. Like cancer one can override their genetic proclivity to it by perfecting good behavior to avert it.

The Democratic Party is not absolutely antiseptic clean BUT it is leap years better than anything the Republican Party has to offer. THINK, America. If you were laid off from a heretofore decent job, you could not afford health insurance, your mortgage or even the necessities of life would you want to sink and probably die on your own OR, in the alternative, would you want the nation to act and help those who cannot help themselves? Think of the prospect that you will surely die if the nation does not offer the necessary life jackets. If it were YOU how would YOU feel with no job, no health care, no family to take care of you, a home repossessed and you are utterly alone? You think it cannot happen to you? You are wrong it can and it is happening to millions because of the malevolent and mendacious actions of a corrupted Wall Street run wild. That is what happens when regulations are lifted from corporate greed run amok. Many are now jobless, homeless and in debt they cannot hope to repay.

Go ahead, America, put your wages in the care of Wall Street and risk something will be there when you reach retirement, your body no longer works to earn enough to feed you and your stock market investment is tanking. See how good it will be with no money as the Wall Street shell game swallows it all and there is no Social Security which for 70 years has worked for this nation to ensure its elderly.

Extremism in the face of liberty is, well, EXTREMISM. Wakeup, America, to these Republican charlatan snake oil salesmen wolves in sheep's clothing. Your life may depend upon it that you do!

NOT ANYMORE

  I wrote this last week and for the most part sat on it because I did not want my writing to imply anything against Israel. As stated agai...