OCCUPY WINTER: Michael Moore (his email below) is a precious asset. He tells us that Occupy Wall Street is here to stay in many venues. The harsh winter that the extremist, fanatical, uncaring and brutal right wing NUTS created by their stupid inattention to the FACT of science, climate change,will be a MINOR inconvenience. Do what you can as I will. Please forward this to anyone you like and please know Occupy Wall Street is on your side even IF you are part of the 1%. EVERYONE is a 99%er because this Great Recession the creation, made, bought and sold is the child of Wall Street and it affects EVERYONE even them but they are too greedy to notice it. Without a middle class a society becomes stagnant like a third world nation and without the American Dream which has slowly slipped away a brain drain here will be going to nations that have promise. DO NOT LET THIS HAPPEN.

Support Occupy Wall Street as best you can by Occupying Everywhere which is what we and the Occupy movement are doing. They cannot stop us, they cannot kill an idea, and they cannot kill our spirit.

Let's look forward to winter and USE it to show how utterly we are committed to the cause.

Best,

Natalie


MIKE'S LETTER:

The Winter of Our Occupation ...a proposal from Michael Moore

Tuesday, December 6th, 2011

Friends,

And now it is winter. Wall Street rejoices, hoping that the change of seasons will mean a change in our spirit, our commitment to stop them.

They couldn't be more wrong. Have they not heard of Washington and the troops at Valley Forge? The Great Flint Sit-Down Strike in the winter of 1936-37? The Michigan Wolverines crushing Ohio State in the 1950 Blizzard Bowl? When it comes to winter, it is the time historically when the people persevere and the forces of evil make their retreat!

We are not even 12 weeks old, yet Occupy Wall Street has grown so fast, so big, none of us can keep up with the hundreds of towns who have joined the movement, or the thousands of actions -- some of them just simple ones in neighborhoods, schools and organizations -- that have happened. The national conversation has been irreversibly changed. Now everyone is talking about how the 1% are getting away with all the money while the 99% struggle to make ends meet. People are no longer paralyzed by despair or apathy. Most know that now is the time to reclaim our country from the bankers, the lobbyists -- and their gofers: the members of the United States Congress and the 50 state legislatures.

And they're crazy if they think that a little climate chaos (otherwise known as winter in the 21st century) that they've helped to bring about is going to stop us.

I would like to propose to my Occupying sisters and brothers that there are many ways to keep Occupy Wall Street going through the winter months. There is perhaps no better time to move the movement indoors for a few months -- and watch it grow even bigger! (For those who have the stamina to maintain the outdoor occupations, by all means, keep it up -- and the rest of us will do our best to help you and keep you warm!)

The winter gives us an amazing opportunity to expand our actions against the captains of capitalism who have occupied our homes with their fraudulent mortgage system which has tossed millions of families out onto the curb; a cruel health care system that has told 50 million Americans "if you can't afford a doctor, go F yourself"; a student loan system that sends 22-year-olds into an immediate "debtors' prison" of working lousy jobs for which they didn't go to school but now have to take because they're in hock for tens of thousands of dollars for the next two decades; and a jobs market that keeps 25 million Americans un- or under-employed -- and much of the rest of the workers forced to accept wage cuts, health care reductions and zero job security.

But we in the Occupy Movement reject this version of the "American Dream." Instead, I suggest we shift our focus for this winter to the following actions:
OCCUPY THE WINTER

A proposal to the General Assembly of Occupy Wall Street from Michael Moore

1. Occupy Our Homes. Sorry, banks, a roof over one's head is a human right, and you will no longer occupy our homes through foreclosure and eviction because well, you see, they are our homes, not yours. You may hold the mortgage; you don't hold the right to throw us or our neighbors out into the cold. With almost one in three home mortgages currently in foreclosure, nearing foreclosure or "underwater," the Occupy Movement must form local "Occupy Strike Forces" to create human shields when the banks come to throw people out of their homes. If the foreclosure has already happened, then we must help families move back into their foreclosed homes -- literally (see this clip from my last film to watch how a home re-occupation is accomplished). Beginning today, Take Back the Land, plus many other citizens' organizations nationwide, are kicking off Occupy Our Homes. Numerous actions throughout the day today have already resulted in many families physically taking back their homes. This will continue every day until the banks are forced to stop their fraudulent practices, until homeowners are allowed to change their mortgage so that it reflects the true value of their homes, and until those who can no longer afford a mortgage are allowed to stay in their homes and pay rent. I beseech the news media to cover these actions -- they are happening everywhere. Evictions, though rarely covered (you need a Kardashian in your home as you're being evicted to qualify for news coverage) are not a new story (see this scene I filmed in 1988). Also, please remember the words of Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur of Toledo (in 'Capitalism: A Love Story'): Do not leave your homes if the bank forecloses on you! Let them take you to court and then YOU ask the judge to make them produce a copy of your mortgage. They can't. It was chopped up a hundred different ways, bundled with a hundred other mortgages, and sold off to the Chinese. If they can't produce the mortgage, they can't evict you.

2. Occupy Your College. In nearly every other democracy on the planet, students go to college for free or almost free. Why do those countries do that? Because they know that for their society to advance, they must have an educated population. Without that, productivity, innovation and an informed electorate is stunted and everyone suffers as a result. Here's how we do it in the U.S.A.: make education one of our lowest priorities, graduate students who know little about the world or their own government or the economy, and then force them into crushing debt before they even have their first job. That way has really worked well for us, hasn't it? It's made us the world leader in … in … well, ok, we're like 27th or 34th in everything now (except war). This has to end. Students should spend this winter doing what they are already doing on dozens of campuses -- holding sit-ins, occupying the student loan office, nonviolently disrupting the university regents meetings, and pitching their tents on the administration's lawn. Young people -- we, the '60s generation, promised to create a better world for you. We got halfway there -- now you have to complete the job. Do not stop until these wars are ended, the Pentagon budget is cut in half, and the rich are forced to pay their taxes. And demand that that money go to your education. We'll be there with you on all of this! And when we get this fixed and you graduate, instead of being $40,000 in debt, go see the friggin' world, or tinker around in your garage a la the two Steves, or start a band. Enjoy life, discover, explore, experiment, find your way. Anything but the assistant manager at Taco Bell.

3. Occupy Your Job. Let's spend the winter organizing workplaces into unions. OR, if you already have a union, demand that your leaders get off their ass and get aggressive like our grandparents did. For chrissakes, surely you know we would not have a middle class if it weren't for the strikes of the 1930s-1950s?! In three weeks we will celebrate the 75th anniversary of the workers in my hometown of Flint, Michigan taking over and occupying the General Motors factories for 44 days in the dead of winter. Their actions ignited a labor movement that lifted tens of millions out of poverty and into the middle class. It's time to do it again. (According to the Census Bureau and the New York Times, 100 million Americans either live in or near poverty. Disgraceful. Greed has destroyed the core fabric of our communities. Enough!) Here are two good unions to get your fellow workers to sign up and join: UE and SEIU. The CWA are also good. Here's how to get a quick primer in organizing your place of employment (don't forget to be careful while you do this!). If your company is threatening to close down and move the jobs elsewhere, then it's time to occupy the workplace (again, you can get a lesson in how to successfully occupy your factory from my movie).

4. Occupy Your Bank. This is an easy one. Just leave them. Move your checking and your credit card to a nonprofit credit union. It's safe and the decisions made there aren't based on greed. And if a bank tries to evict your neighbor, Occupy the local branch with 20 other people and call the press. Post it on the internet.

5. Occupy the Insurance Man. It's time to not only stand up for the 50 million without health insurance but to also issue a single, simple demand: The elimination of for-profit, privately-controlled health insurance companies. It is nothing short of barbaric to allow businesses to make a profit off people when they get sick. We don't allow anyone to make a profit when we need the fire department or the police. Until recently we would never allow a company to make a profit by operating in a public school. The same should be true for when you need to see a doctor or stay in the hospital. So I say it's long overdue for us to go and Occupy Humana, United Health, Cigna and even the supposed "nonprofit" Blue Crosses. An action on their lawns, in their lobbies, or at the for-profit hospitals -- this is what is needed.

So -- there are my ideas for the five places we can Occupy this winter. Help the foreclosed-upon to Occupy their homes. Occupy your college campus, especially the student loan office and the regents meetings. Occupy your job by getting everyone to sign a union card -- or by refusing to let the CEO ship your job overseas. Occupy your Chase or Citi or Bank of America branch by closing your account and moving it to a credit union. And Occupy the insurance company offices, the pharmaceutical companies' headquarters and the for-profit hospitals until the White House and Congress pass the true single-payer universal health care bill they failed to pass in 2010.

My friends, the rich are running scared right now. You need no further proof of this than to read this story from last week. The Republicans' top strategist met privately with them and told them that they had better change their tune or they were going to be crushed by the Occupy Wall Street movement. They didn't have to change their greedy actions, he assured them -- just the way they talk and PR the situation. He told them never to use the word "capitalism" -- it has now been made a dirty word by the Occupy movement, he said. Only say "economic freedom" from now on, he cautioned. And don't criticize the movement -- because the majority of Americans either agree with it or are feeling the same way. Just tell the Occupiers and the distressed Americans: "I get it." Seriously.

Yes, in just 12 short weeks we have killed their most sacred word -- Capitalism -- and we have them on the run, on the defensive. They should be. Millions are coming after them and our only goal is to remove them from power and replace them with a fair system that is controlled by the 99%. The 1% have been able to get both political parties to do their bidding. Why should only 1% of the population get to have two parties -- and the rest of us have none? That, too, is going to change. In my next letter, I will suggest what we can do to Occupy the Electoral Process. But first we must start with those who pull the strings of the puppets in the Congress. That's why it's called Occupy Wall Street. Always better to deal with man in charge, don't you think?

Let's Occupy the Winter! An #OWS Winter will certainly lead to a very hopeful American Spring.

Yours,

Michael Moore
MMFlint@MichaelMoore.com
@MMFlint
MichaelMoore.com


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Another Letter to my Japanese Friend--Fukishima Revisited: To My Good Friend: I just saw this on the Associated Press (on Huffington Post) (Linked below). It reiterates and reinforces all that I have written about Fukishima and the corporate controlled news which now even in the US reports nothing on it until they must and governments both here and in Japan cover-up the continuing bad news. It is my feeling the public MUST be kept informed even if it seems we can do not much. Our voices, though, have some power as Occupy Wall Street here has shown during this man-made economic Great Recession, despite the corporate controlled negative news coverage. OWS has been a force for great good.

It is so important for others to keep aware of this nuclear madness so that (1) they can take necessary precautions such as washing food well and dawning protective gear where necessary and (2) so that NO more nuclear energy plants are built..NONE, NADA, EVER. They are NOT safe especially in a climate changed world and especially at sites near faults or oceans. Nothing nuclear is fail-safe.

My sources tell me foods here on the west coast are showing signs of radiation contamination. Yet NOTHING is said by the media or the president. I personally cannot confirm that BUT one particular source called the Fukishima blast and melt down correctly exactly when it first happened. He has said it was leaking then and suffered a major China Syndrome-like meltdown. Moreover, he has said radiation has been detected here.

The TEPCO plant leaked CESIUM, one of the most toxic substances known to man. TEPCO is shameful as is our own government and media in the US for not continually focusing a revelatory light on this catastrophe.

Stay safe and well.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/05/fukushima-daiichi-nuclear-power-plant-leaks_n_1128868.html

Razing Cain: Yes, the spelling of razing is correct as the pestilence that was Herman Cain's feeble run for the highest office in our land was RAZED ... i.e. destroyed. Praise the lord! What must others watching American "presidential" politics think of this nation? The Republican slate is a carnival of candidates that makes the word stupid seem benign. It is shameful. I am embarrassed that this is the BEST the so called loyal opposition can do. They are so disastrously moronic.

This group puts forward opinions which will appeal to the small but vociferous radical right wing religious extremist base because they know they must if they want nomination. What a system this is that puts NOT the MOST qualified up for a vote but the most UNQUALIFIED trying to seek the most powerful position in the world with his finger on a button that could obliterate all of us in a nanosecond.

It is true we have had others who were LOW on the academic scale but this slate puts even them to shame. Shame on the Republican Party for calculating the best way to get Romney elected is to put stupids around him, shame on the candidates who hold such erroneous and deadly beliefs -- those who deny the undeniable of climate change or evolution.

These issues are not up for grabs they are FACT. Simply because they go against an academically challenged segment of our illustrious country does NOT make those things any less true and NOT up for debate. The earth is NOT flat and the sun does NOT revolve around it. Just because you would like to make the earth flat or the center of our galaxy does not make it TRUE.

Wake up America these candidates are HAZARDOUS to your health!

Power Governments Cannot Suppress -- Howard Zinn Back to the Future There is no one who had a more fundamental impact on my own politics than Professor of History at Boston University, the late Howard Zinn. I perused FORATV for my own edification and came upon a 2007 lecture at Brandeis University three years before his death and one year before Barack Obama won the presidency.

His words STILL resonate with me today. His words are uncannily prophetic, infinitely humane and no less true today then they were when he uttered them. What he says sings to me and compels me as they did in 1968 to take the positions I do. I provide the link below for you to learn as the title of his popular book "A People's History of the United States." It is the history of our country looked at from a different perspective with a critical eye of government, its policies and its consequences. He was a profundity to me unlike any other. I miss him so even until this day.

Occupy Wall Street is a look back to a time that was not different from our day in 1968 and it is a look to the future of our nation as well. I am sure Howard Zinn would approve of it and reiterate what he so often did that power comes NOT by who is in the White House but who stands in front of it that counts.


http://fora.tv/2007/01/28/A_Power_Governments_Cannot_Suppress#quickreply

The Case for Evolution: This (link below) is a brilliant lecture by the evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins. He is a scholar, an author and a professor at Oxford. His newest book is "The Greatest Show on Earth" and his book written in 2006 is entitled "The God Delusion." Here is his lecture at the Berkley Arts and Letters.

Evolution, he says, is FACT -- undoubted, endlessly provable FACT. It cannot be debated, he says, and is so with more surety than even the historical fact of the Holocaust.

I think this lecture is worth listening to and it will allow you, as I already have, to come to the conclusion that there is NO doubt and cannot even be debated, that evolution is fact ... not theory ... not supposition ... FACT. If you have any doubt about that I urge you to listen.

http://fora.tv/2009/10/07/Richard_Dawkins_The_Greatest_Show_on_Earth#fullprogram

Extremism in the Face of Liberty is a Great Vice: Barry Goldwater's acceptance statement during the 1964 Republican presidential nomination "Extremism in the face of liberty is no vice; Tolerance in the face of tyranny is no virtue" sank him.

Egypt voted yesterday in its first democratic election. One of the most compelling Egyptian statements was spoken in the interview of a taxi driver in Cairo about his opinion on the Muslim Brotherhood, for whom he voted, winning big. “They look to God,” the tax driver said “They must be just.”

I am dismayed by this statement but I am not shocked by it. It is what one gets when many if not most of those who vote are illiterate; so illiterate that pictures had to be drawn on ballots so they could more easily vote. The essence of those cultures easily elect those who in reality are the least democratic among us, tolerate no dissension of belief, view things in black or white and act accordingly violent when anyone transgresses or violates their prevailing belief. When the uneducated vote in our times they often vote for religious leadership. The patent absurdity of the notion “They look to God,” because “They must be just” is obvious to those of us who are critical of power, critical of religion and critical of dogma no matter who says it.

One need only look to our own country which sports some of the most religiously extreme candidates in the world from the Christian extremist right. It does not matter whether it is Islamic, Christian or Orthodox Judaic religiosity. When people from these groups win man as a whole looses. The ability to exchange a diversity of opinion even if that opinion eschews religious mythological belief becomes impossible. The essence of what it means to be a free speech democracy is severely compromised if not lost. Cultures who do this remain stuck and even regress into reactionary nationalist politics. They are uncompromising, extreme and, often, extremely violent.

There is nothing better than an educated populous that attains a balanced understanding of world history and the events that follow. A nation based on a religious litmus test is a nation which cannot and will not advance. It is only through secular leadership that man can develop his natural and genetically ordained ability to think, create, and scientifically grow using the intellectual gifts all of man is fortunate to possess.

In sum: those in the west who wish for "democracy" in the Middle East ought to be careful. You may get what you wish for and often it is not whom you want!

Algorithms in the Theater of War: The link below is about the headline in “McClatchy News”: “Pakistan blocks U.S. troop supplies after NATO kills 24 near Afghan border”

The US, of course, will continue to deny it and use as the excuse that US troops were fired upon. What is the truth? We cannot know if we are not in the theater of war. What I do know is the US will continue to deploy troops long after troops are needed and where the US goes, it stays, let's face it, for decades or, perhaps, never leaves. One need only to look at Europe and Japan after WWII. We are still there as occupiers perhaps once removed. Will we EVER be totally out of Iraq? Answer: NO. Bin Laden is dead. Will the US pack up from Afghanistan and monitor its actions from afar? Answer: NO.

The US can control a LOT BUT what it cannot control is other variables it cannot calculate into its algorithms of war. Iraq is proof of that. Our neoconservative jackasses thought the invasion of Iraq would be a war to pay for itself, over in matters of weeks and that the Iraqis would greet our soldiers with sweets and flowers. The sweets and flowers never came but civil war did erupting after the mother of all shock-and-awe invasions based on lies flatlined. Not only did the Iraqis not greet us with sweets and flowers they established Shiite control hand-holding with the Shiite mullahs of Iran giving Iran much greater power than it had when they were at war with Sunni Muslim Sadam Hussein’s Iraq from 1980 – 1988. Hussein was even supplied arms by the US.

Moreover, the US could not control the outcome of its Iraq War disaster or a million widowed Iraqi women. It could not control the millions who were refugees into a destabilized Syria with no money and no work many forced into prostitution. If women refugees die from disease or if Syrian security forces jail or kill them it is simply the collateral damage of war. These are expendable people; people who do NOT count.

Moreover, and MOST importantly, pertinent to the headline above, the US cannot control the stability of nations its own Iraq War destabilized, including and most important of all, the nuclear-armed Pakistan. I quote from the December 2011 issue of the Atlantic Magazine:

A country [Pakistan] that is home to the harshest variants of Muslim fundamentalism, and to the headquarters of the organizations that espouse extremist ideologies, including Al Qaeda, the Haqqani network, and Lashkar-e-Tayiba, nuclear bombs capable of destroying entire cities are transported in delivery vans on congested and dangerous roads. And Pakistani and American sources say that since the raid on Abbottabad [in May this year to kill Osama bin Laden], the Pakistanis have provoked anxiety inside the Pentagon by increasing the pace of these movements. In other words, the Pakistani government is willing to make its nuclear weapons more vulnerable to theft by jihadis simply [in a bid] to hide them from the United States, the country that funds much of its military budget".

The actions of the United States of America matter. If the US and its satellite NATO continue to dot the Arab landscape with boots and bombs then we will continue to read alarming bylines stating that Pakistan closed its border to Afghanistan so US troops cannot get supplies.

The US was the nation that pushed for the Nuremberg trials which demanded the individual, when necessary, oppose illegal, unconscionable, inhumane acts of governments even in the theater of war. It did not say with the exception of the US.

I do not want, of course, to sacrifice my own nation or its security but its security is enhanced when the world looks to the US as the penultimate moral compass. Our moral compass has been broken for years and in need of significant repair. It needs a change in direction. If we do not change our direction we become a nation of hypocrites sowing the seeds of our own destruction.

In the Internet age the world watches, the world waits and it listens. America controls a lot but it does NOT control it all!

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/11/26/131396/nato-forces-kill-at-least-24-in.html#ixzz1epvJS3Mn

MEDICARE: As much as I might disagree with my relative on certain issues I have to admit he gets his predictions right a LARGE percentage of the time. He is a Wharton School of Business graduate, has had much business experience, and has appeared on NUMEROUS radio, TV, the Progressive News Hour and KNOWS what he is talking about.

His latest article the following is chilling. If you do not think YOUR medical care is on the chopping block unless you have incomes like Bill Gates then you are wrong. This is why it is IMPERATIVE to overturn the Tea Bag and a Republican led Congress while keeping the presidency progressively Democratic as well.

In short they want those who cannot work, who cannot afford insurance to die. Yes, it sounds histrionic i.e. excessive but I can assure you it is NOT. George Carlin was quite correct in his American Dream Utube. Look it up.

Read this opinion for your own health and welfare and that of your children and act accordingly. The title of the opinion and the link to his blog is below. If you think it cannot happen to you you are wrong. It CAN and it WILL.

Bipartisan Deal to Slash Medicare and Medicaid - by Stephen Lendman

http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/

Thanksgiving Day Thoughts: There are so many issues in our country and the world with which we must grapple. Thanksgiving, I think, gives us pause to stop and reflect upon those things in life that should gain prominence and separate for us what is significantly important from what is not. I think of Thanksgiving as our national day of meditation that should calm us, force us to reflect, be with those we love and lead us to rationally think about what we do and the consequences of how we do it.

In this Internet age information, true or otherwise, is sent in the second of an eye’s blink. One can say one heard a giraffe reading “War and Peace” and someone somewhere would believe it true. Facts in our culture are often taken as fiction and fiction is believed to be fact.

From the whirling dervish of Sandusky, the alleged Penn State pedophile, to the explosions in the Middle East, economic upheaval that is much of Europe and the barbed vitriolic division at home is enough to drive a sane man into the snake pit of insanity. How can we right these most egregious wrongs? I am as guilty as those I criticize for allowing my passion for critical analysis to appear as angry in tone as it is razor sharp in message. For that I apologize.

What is wrong with man that he cannot control his appetites for money, his lust for power and the anarchy of his sexuality? Those facts of life, necessary to cultural advancement if unchained lose their rationales for being and propel man to his inevitable destruction. Greed is necessary to help us create new things, money is a necessary tool of man’s economic advancement and sexuality, of course, is necessary to continue the species. And yet we use these necessary things to excess, hurting those we claim to love and even killing those with whom we may disagree.

There are those in human history who come at opportune times to show us a better path. They gain notoriety for what they say but as man is wont to do he perverts the goodness of their words honing them into a destructive force. I am not Christian. I have, though, loved the many elements of Christianity’s teaching. It is a humane compass. Jesus is supposed to have said “He who has not sinned cast the first stone.” Jesus is supposed to have said “Why worry about a speck in your friend's eye when you have a log in your own? Jesus is supposed to have said “I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” Jesus is supposed to have said "But I say to you, do not resist an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also."

I will never be a member of any organized religion or even accept other elements of faith but the purity of the words of Christ handed down through the ages, albeit difficult to follow, give a roadmap directing us how to treat the other who occupies the same planet as we. Thanksgiving for me is the Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement without the fast) of our nation because it teaches us to appreciate what we have, apologize for the caustic things we do or say, change the things we can and vow to do better next year. Happy Thanksgiving.

If you do nothing else please click on the link--guaranteed to inspire!-- something positive from ME? yes!: Guaranteed to amaze and inspire even a curmudgeon like ME! ;-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bg0_ITG01bs

The Greatest Good--a Thanksgiving Hope: We all need meaning in this life and life has certainly thrown many curves my way but despite my sometimes curmudgeon-like attitude and, perhaps, often because of it, I try to improve the lemonade and make a sweeter drink.

I attempt to use my writing skills to convey humanitarian political and philosophical sentiment and promulgate humane principles that advocate the greatest good for the greatest number. (See the interesting link below on Jeremy Bentham -- a Utilitarian and 18th century influence of modern political thought. He was way ahead of his time!) I am hoping some of my ideas are read, considered or even used as a yardstick for future generations who may study this era to understand what some thought. I am hoping my written opinions will be seen advocating ideas which try to live up to our Constitutional creed that brilliant men wrote in a flicker of history and inscribed on the hearts of our nation and the world. They created a path for man to choose discourse, debate and compromise instead of war.

It did and does not always work with ease as we can see. It often takes time; sometimes generations and we become impatient. The Constitution is though, I believe, our road map to a better life. The nation has gone through many trials in its journey but even in the harshest period the road was cleared and the path made better; improvements made and prepared by one generation for the next.

I hope we persevere through this difficult economic and violent period. I have thought often about Ted Kennedy's words he spoke in eulogy of his assassinated brother Senator Robert Kennedy delivered on June 8th, 1968. He described his brother as a man "who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it." And so that sentiment which I heard so many years ago has become imprinted on my heart to advocate for politics which can best create the greatest good for the greatest number.

I can think of no better legacy to leave nor better thoughts to impart. It is through that dialogue the maladies of today’s night can evaporate into tomorrow's morning mist and it is my hope the generations which follow will do better than those they leave behind.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Bentham

Who are the 1%? If you want to know who the 1% are and against whom the 99% are protesting click on the link below. Not only does it name names but it tells you exactly what they are worth and what they perpetrated to arrive at this dubious distinction as the worst. It is from Brave New Foundation a group the puts out documentaries telling the truth of often egregious events. This group wanted people to vote on who they thought were the most significant ones responsible for the dire economic state of not only the US but the world.

It is a most interesting cast of characters AND you can be a part of the vote. Democracy in action!

If you cannot click on the link cut and paste it into your browser

http://whoarethe1percent.com/

Captivating Performance—J. Edgar: Saw the film J. Edgar and loved it. I think Leonardo DiCaprio is becoming one of this country's premier actors. He can play just about anyone and playing J. Edgar was no exception. I was in particular riveted to his performance and consider it Academy Award worthy. In addition, Judy Dench’s performance as Hoover’s domineering over-protective rather cruel mother was her usual great.

I gave it an eight star out of ten review on the IMDB site. I love various eras in post WWI US history, knew many of the issues presented in the film, knew about Hoover's alleged homosexuality and his life-long relationship with Clyde Tolson. We will never know, I suspect, if that relationship was consummated but the affection both clearly had for one another was obvious. Contrary to what interviews of the director, Eastwood, suggest I think the film does NOT elude to Hoover's homosexuality it shouts it and that the love of his life was Clyde Tolson. It is crystal clear from various scenes and emotional moments between Hoover and Tolson and because a straight man usually would not subvert his desire not only for sex but for having a family life ESPECIALLY if one were in a high position of power like Hoover was. In addition, the two men were never out of each other's company whether it was lunch every day or after hours. Moreover, and even more telling Hoover left nearly his entire estate to Tolson and finally they were buried close to each other in the same cemetery. If it looks like a duck, sounds like a duck it’s a duck! His relationship vis a vie the film I think made it CRYSTAL clear where Mr. Hoover's inclinations lay.

In essence the film depicts Hoover as an Oedipally neurotic hypocrite. He went after other people's suspected immoralities but kept his own proclivities secret. It is because of his homosexuality AND also because he wanted to keep his job that, I believe, he created his secret file. According to the film that file was shredded by his loyal secretary Ms. Gandy when Hoover died. An article in the Washington Post says all of his secret files can be read. Why the discrepancy I do not know.

Was the film perfect? Probably not but I came away from it feeling about Hoover what I felt the many years since the protests against the Vietnam War and that was that he was a paranoid anti-Communist seeing one in every closet, was a tortured man, tyrannical in nature and prone to valuing the supremacy of the state over the civil liberties of the individual destroying lives in the process. His lust for power and his temper were brutal and his idiosyncrasies obvious. I admit to his creation of a superior national police agency, the FBI but I loathed him in life and 40 years after his death and viewing the film I still do!

I recommend it for those who love the history of that period, love seeing excellent acting and for those who find Hoover's tyranny -- J. Edgar that is – entirely fascinating.

Monitor the Vote: Huffington Post has an excellent link which is entitled and says:

"What are the campaigns doing where you live?"

It further states:

"The 2012 races are already out in full force in many early primary states. We want to hear about the campaign ads, robocalls, mailers and signs you're seeing in your community. Tell us about it here or send us information via email at offthebus@huffingtonpost.com."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/20/mitt-romney-defends-aides-purchasing-hard-drives_n_1103585.html

I sent them and the Democratic Party the following:

I think this is an excellent thing to do.

It is VITAL as the Republicans have utterly NO scruples and will stop at nothing no matter how unethical, fraudulent and
possibly illegal to try to deprive those who would vote Democratic of doing so. They even gerrymander districts to get it out of Democratic hands. They MUST be scrupulously monitored in every single state by those of that state who want to see fair elections while trying to get the most who can vote TO vote especially in minority, Hispanic, and young voters of all ethnic groups who often vote Democratic. When the time comes Democrats need to have a legion of volunteers to help people get to the polls especially the elderly, the disabled or those who may not have transportation who usually ARE or vote Democratic as well.

We should have armies of professionals including lawyers who know the law in each state. If any crap that Republicans are known to do like telling voters the election is on a different day or that they must have certain identification documents they do not need is found to be suspicious or unethical an immediate PUBLIC inquiry should be illuminated and begun.

Further, our people should be advised of people like James O'Keefe who nefariously brought down the Democratic voting registration group ACORN unjustifiably. We should NOT have capitulated on that one. O'Keefe's photo and others who may be his assistants should be WELL known to Democrats so that they do not get caught by him as he "investigates" Democrats and will show only selected bits of what he has done to make Democrats look as bad as possible.

I do not have to tell you Republicans are VICIOUS, mean and subversive to us. They are utterly Machiavellian and will use any means necessary and I do mean ANY means necessary to subvert and defeat Democrats. DO NOT LET THEM!!!

A Manifesto to Undermine the Occupy Wall Street Movement: At Rachel Maddow’s suggestion we taped “Up With Chris Hayes” early this a.m. on MSNBC. In case ANYONE on planet earth had any doubt, the Goliaths are coming to slay the Davids of Occupy Wall Street. The memo acquired by MSNBC/Chris Hayes (linked below) exposes the law firm of banksters and lobbyists Clark, Lytle, Gedulig and Cranford offering their memo and a method to undermine the Occupy movement. I also provide an MSNBC link to the story itself.

Exposing the memo is one of the greatest media efforts to uncover the truth of just whose wealth is attempting to control the 99% and impart justice to its smarmy cabal which has perpetrated the greatest economic fraud on our nation. It illuminates the power of both Cable and the Internet to sometimes work for the collective good.

The memo exposes the lengths the big banks and those that represent them will go and the behavioral treachery they will manifest to destroy the people's movement of Occupy Wall Street. Clearly, the 1% are scared. We, of course, assume there are hundreds of memos like it using other firms to undermine Occupy Wall Street.

I urge my political allies to read it and send the link below to those whom you know will understand the importance of exposing this treacherous behavior and hopefully they will send it around to their friends and allies too.

I spare no one not even those on the left who do not meet my high standards. Rachel Maddow and her many colleagues at MSNBC including people like Melissa Harris Perry professor at Tulane University as well as the commentators like Keith Olbermann and soon Cenq Uygur at Current TV have NEVER disappointed me. Occupy Wall Street and the progressives at MSNBC and Current TV are in the process of saving lives and saving our country along with them as well.

They are ALL party of my daily routine.

http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/msnbc/sections/news/CLGF-msnbc.pdf

http://openchannel.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/19/8884405-lobbying-firms-memo-spells-out-plan-to-undermine-occupy-wall-street

The Sinking or Saving the Ship of State--America at a Crossroad: I awoke to read the following MSNBC headline: "Middle-class areas shrink as America divides into 'two-tiered society' of rich and poor." This is just plain sad. It makes me sick at heart. I remember another America down at difficult times but rising to meet the challenge. Will we do so again? The country is at a crossroad and had a choice after 2008 of living or dying during this Great Recession era with its passenger eternal war. In our nation's history during trying times of great peril -- the Revolutionary War, Civil War, The Great Depression and World War II -- it drew the lucky number. I thought by the election of Barack Obama in 2008 the country had drawn the lucky straw yet again. But, it seems this time, we did not.

The American people in their infinite wisdom -- with a little help from the seditious Koch Brothers billionaire money men -- created a Tea Bag monster party and from stupidity and/or racist ideology installed an intractable obstructionist Congress. It seeks to sink the country not save it. The Republican goal: to defeat this country's first black president by any means necessary. Consequently, what was needed could not get done. Moreover, my hope, Barack Obama, decided to place in the most important financial positions the very foxes that killed the chickens -- Geither, Summers and their cronies of Goldman Sachs, et al of Wall Street. Not only did they protect their buddies on Benedict Arnold Street but they saw easy prey in Obama himself and refused to do what he ordered -- Read Ron Suskind's book "Confidence Men" which reveals this utter failure of leadership and back room treachery betraying a naive president.

Since a Republican Romney or anyone else in that sorry mess of Republican presidential candidates will sink this country deeper into its quicksand and elevate the rich higher all of these god forbid potential presidents are UNACCEPTABLE. It will be, if any of these rancid Republicans are elected, the icing on a poisonous cake. PERHAPS and it is a BIG PERHAPS this president and this obstructionist Republican Congress know they will be kicked from here to kingdom come if something is not done to ameliorate the country's fatal disease. Perhaps there is finally a righting of the ship of state -- PERHAPS.

I say this with great fear and trepidation that it is not so. I hope I am correct that these egregious wrongs will be righted because IF I am not right all or certainly most of us in the 99% know our very lives are at stake -- especially so for the young! Empires come and empires go. Many stay for the, at first, happy ride but those of us who are unlucky will be on board for its fall and will get to experience a tragedy the likes of which we have never known.

Recall the Vile governor Scott jerk Walker of Wisconsin Please donate if you can by clicking on the link below to the Democratic Party of Wisconsin to unseat the vile Scott Walker. Then get prepared to unseat Kasich of Ohio, Scott of Florida, Rick Snyder of Michigan and LePage of Maine. Send them a message they will NOT forget. The left is here and we can dwarf the fascist tea baggies. Do NOT let them win. Support Occupy Wall Streets everywhere by supporting the Democratic parties everywhere. They are not perfect but they are a damn site better than the disloyal opposition. We have just begun to fight!

http://www.wisdems.org/?no_splash=1

Cough Cough: Jeff Jacoby never ceases to amaze me. Now he is advocating for the tobacco industry against graphic medical depictions of the effects of smoking on a box of cigarettes. In his November 13 editorial "We can Still Breath Deep on Free Speech" he yet again runs true to form. He thinks the harsh medical depictions on the box are just too much, go too far and are not needed in preventing smokers and others who are thinking of taking up the dastardly habit not to do so. I used to be a smoker as a teenager many years ago. My relative who is a pulmonary specialist later pleaded with me to accompany him on rounds to see the carnage that smoking tobacco creates.

If Jeff's Jacoby's daughter or son was thinking of taking up the habit and saw on a cigarette box the man with his chest cut open for treatment due to the effects of smoking wouldn't he be THRILLED that that grotesque picture of reality was something they saw and because of it avoided by decades their own suffering and early death caused by the effects of tobacco use? Those amazing rough pictures on the pack are TRUE and they SHOULD be seen. It is too bad some judge somewhere thought they went too far. If they prevent even one death I say they are worth it but we know the depictions would prevent many more than that and the tobacco companies stood to lose a lot of money if those pictures were allowed to remain. It is why they fought so hard against them.

I consider it a kind of free speech used by the state to do something good for the people. I guess Jeff cares only about the rights of corporations he thinks are people instead of the flesh and blood real human beings who are saved by any means necessary from buying the poison the tobacco corporations are
just dying (pardon the pun ) to sell!

Occupy My Heart—A Letter to Occupy Boston: Yesterday, arduous as it was for me, we decided to see what Occupy Boston which braves the harsh elements was about. We brought lots of food, even made a ginger bread cake and packed a rather heavy bag (which I did not carry) and commuter railed it into Boston. It was difficult for me but because it was a joint effort many hands made lighter work. We were THRILLED we made the trek. I felt like the cloud of our depression about things political evaporated into the mist. I wrote a letter to Occupy Boston and OWS, of course, and post it now on my blog to convey my sentiments about this, in my opinion, wonderful movement.

To the OWS workers: I cannot convey how much we appreciate what so many all over the country are doing within the Occupy Wall Street movement to change this rancid, corrupt, sickening hand-holding between those who are entrusted by us with great executive and congressional power and those on Wall Street who buy them off at our expense. If Occupy is a success you will have saved the nation from a fascist-like tyranny that is the essence of the American rightwing and save the country also from the oligarchy of the present. We know some Democrats along with most Republicans are involved in this deception. I TRULY believe that you, collectively, are the FDR of our time coming just in the nick of time at this our hour of need. We are forever in your debt.

I also believe, too, that we must utilize the institutions which are in place to create the change our nation desperately needs. As much as we criticize our president, and I have done so on numerous occasions, he is who we have and has done much good. It would be MUCH better for our cause and our country if he served a second term than it would be if a Romney, Gingrich or god forbid a Perry wins first term. There could be two Supreme Court justices who may need replacement during an Obama second term and we know more Wall Street regulation must occur. We know it will NOT occur under a President Romney, Gingrich, Perry or unthinkably Cain.

I am old enough to remember and, indeed, took part in many anti-war demonstrations in the late sixties. The left was fed up with Johnson’s Vietnam and the country’s racial inequality so they took it out on LBJ’s Vice-President and 1968 presidential hopeful, Hubert Humphrey. The left made the Democratic convention in Chicago a shambles and violence was everywhere. It ensured that the better of the two candidates, the Democrat, Humphrey (who would have ended Vietnam,) lost. Instead the country elected Richard Nixon the corrupt. Change was made alright but understatedly NOT the change we desired or needed and many thousands more needlessly died overseas. It is my opinion that we who wish for systemic humanitarian change MUST work pragmatically with whom we now can to ensure NO Republican EVER gets near the oval office.

President Obama has been remiss at times and I have been vociferously critical of him when I needed to be BUT, in truth, many good things have been enacted under his leadership that never would have been enacted if a Republican McCain and the insipid Palin won. Under the President we repealed the noxious DADT, signed the Lily Ledbetter law for women’s rights and the president nominated and achieved the installation of two very good Supreme Court justices one of whom is the first Hispanic woman to sit on the nation's high court. That made history. Under this President we attained more solid legislation including some needed reform in health care and even, some reform on Wall Street (admittedly not yet enough.) A second Obama term I believe will be much more fruitful.

I ask and I hope that the Occupy movements all over the country do NOT take their righteous anger out on this President. He has had to endure the most obstructionist Congress in the nation's history with the exception of, perhaps, the Congress in the pre-Civil War era. The nation after that tumultuous time has not seen the kind of incorrigible division that exists today.

I HOPE progressives show up en masse in 2012 to re-elect the President BUT he must know that he must help create more of the changes he promised. He MUST take Wall Street out of the Oval Office and WE MOST importantly must take Wall Street OUT of the Congress by turning Congress progressive blue. Strict Wall Street regulatory legislation along with a functioning consumer protection bureau and a no nonsense SEC must be installed. He must LEAD to take corporate money, greed and a bought off Congress OUT of the electoral milieu. This cannot be done overnight.

We KNOW what the President should have done BUT that DOES NOT matter now and we know the good that he HAS done which does matter greatly. We must play the ball where it lies and we must NOT be caught sleeping on the sidelines allowing again the election of Know Nothings who created in 2010 a Republican impenetrable brick wall of obstruction and hate.

The 2011 mid-terms showed us that the giant left wing is STILL there and the movement of Occupy Wall Street proves it. We MUST show up to vote, carry the middle class with us in 2012 and NOT hand an election to Republicans who will destroy our country and its once proud American Dream. Yes, I believe there is a huge difference between the two parties. Democrats are not perfect but our two-party system is the system we have. We, I believe, must not give up on those who CAN and install those who WON’T while those who won’t take everything for the top 1% and leave nothing for the masses of us.

Thank you, Occupy Wall Street and Boston, for occupying my heart. Thank you for diminishing my sadness and for instilling hope once again. As George Bush the Incompetent said -- although he certainly did not mean it to refer to a group like Occupy Wall Street – We MUST NOT FALTER and we MUST not fail. I appropriate that quote for those who share OUR vision and hope that OUR vision is clearer and our hearts stronger than those who have no heart and consequently no vision at all.

The Genius of Glenn Greenwald: Last year I had the distinct pleasure of listening to Glenn Greenwald speak at Harvard. It was, of course, an honor to be able to listen to someone so brilliant, so eloquent and so well versed in the concept of civil liberties which are central to our democracy and our way of life.

I enclose the link at the bottom for your listening pleasure and urge you if you have the time to do so. It was a lecture he gave and a question and answer session at Brown University in April, 2011.

Glenn's writings appear regularly at Salon.com and many of his talks, debates and discourse can be found on Utube. I found the Utube below to be particularly interesting and informative as to the nature and concept of civil liberties. We throw around that word very often and take pride in our nation which was founded on civil libertarian principles enumerated within our Constitution which bestows certain rights the people enjoy and certain prosecutorial prohibitions beyond which the government cannot go.

Glenn is a master of civil liberties and according to Salon is a former Constitutional and civil rights litigator and is the author of New York Times Bestselling books on the Bush and Obama administration’s executive power and foreign policy abuses. If you Google Amazon books and put his name in the search you can see the gems he has written and read samples of them.

I offer the link below as an introduction to one of the premier intellects, historians and civil liberties attorneys of our time. If you listen I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Kirz_vGQeI&NR=1

The Gaffe Heard Round the World: Last evening’s Republican debate was the most hilarious “debate” I have ever heard or seen. Larry O’Donnell, the brilliant MSNBC political pundit, called Rick Perry’s gaffe one of the worst gaffes in the history of presidential debates. As I see it, it goes down with Nixon's sweaty lip except better.

This week has been a GIFT to Democrats. Between the Republican gaffe-filled so called “debates” and the 2011 Republican failures in the midterms, I HOPE once the Christmas party is over, the president can take advantage of the anemic Republican field and keep the momentum up.

If the Republican Party itself were not so mean and hypocritical rotten with the exception of perhaps John Huntsman and, yes, I suppose the flip-flopper-in-chief, Romney, I would not get joy in Perry’s mistake because, truthfully, it was uncomfortable to view. It could not happen, however, to a more cerebrally pathetic and unqualified candidate than Rick Perry.

Herman Cain could not have provided better ammunition to help prove the veracity of the sexual harassment accusers in this circus of sexual harassment by calling the former Speaker Nancy Pelosi “princess Pelosi.” That condescending insult to the preeminently qualified woman Speaker Pelosi put the icing on his exploding cake. I do hope more accusers come forward to buttress Ms. Bialek’s accusation but if they do not it does not matter. Cain is through.

Add to the insanity is Newt Gingrich’s horrible record with women having had numerous extra-marital affairs. Gingrich is a man who served his former wife divorce papers when she was hospitalized undergoing cancer treatment. Trying to squirm around the problems presented by Cain in this field of supposedly "family values" candidates is an unmitigated disaster. Jay Leno could not have written a more comedic script BUT admittedly what Gingrich did is not funny. It is tragic in this tragi-comedy of Shakespearean proportions!

There is a pathetic quality to the 2012 Republican slate. Add to that the disastrous showing of the Republicans in the midterm ballot initiatives and loss in state legislatures it proves the strength and organizational skills of Democrats with the help of the Occupy Wall Street movement.

The Republican Party has NOTHING and the one candidate they do have, Romney, must fit the round peg of his true beliefs (assuming anyone knows what they truly are) into the square hole prison the Know Nothing extremist Republican base has made.

I link the video of the Perry gaffe below so one can see the pathetic quality of the 2012 Republican slate. Add to that the disastrous showing of the Republicans in the midterm ballot initiatives and loss in state legislatures it proves the strength and organizational skills of Democrats with the help of the Occupy Wall Street movement.

FINALLY a smile was brought to my face. I HOPE we will be able to kiss the Tea Bag Party with is cruelty and often racist mantra good bye and none too soon, indeed. Enjoy! :-)

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/

The Three Shames: There are no words to describe the sickness of what took place at Penn State. The stupidity and the insanity of men who are responsible for the protection of students entrusted to their care witness or are told of this most egregious behavior of child rape and come to the conclusion that the institution with all its money, power and prestige is more important to save than saving the vulnerable minors they have a moral obligation to protect. This is an abomination.

The Catholic Church, too, when the hierarchy KNEW that young boys were being sexually molested by priests decided in their infinite wisdom to IGNORE the very children of their flock and came to the conclusion that the institution was more important to save than those innocents who depend upon that institution for their spiritual life. Instead of reporting the perpetrators to police they decided to protect their most egregious behavior by moving the perpetrator priests around to protect the wealth, power and prestige of the religious institution they served. It was and still is an abomination.

Herman Cain when faced with FOUR female accusers telling similar stories about his alleged assaults says that because he did not harass thousands those four allegations of the woman should be disregarded. He is an abomination.

The institutions and people MUST be taken to the watershed of public punishment and we as a country and as a people need to decide who we TRULY are. It is a disgrace for the entire world to see this nation based on such lofty ideals fall from that grace in so many ways too innumerable to count.

Our Founders who gave us a gift lie in their graves but we the living must live with who we have become. It is a sad day for our country which is SUPPOSED to be the shining city on the hill, an example of ethics and good government. Who are we?

Shame on you the lofty Joe Paterno for looking the other way when you KNEW children were raped and did nothing. Shame on the leadership of the Catholic Church for moving pedophile priests from district to district and state to state so they could perpetrate their sickness on so many other children and reward Cardinals that allowed that behavior to continue by giving them cushy jobs in Rome. Shame on YOU Herman Cain for NOT addressing the seriousness of the charges levied against you. Instead you had the unmitigated gall to disrespect the former speaker Nancy Pelosi and call her princess Pelosi. You sealed your fate with that comment. You, sir, cannot even walk in her shadow.

Shame on ALL of you who give institutions a pass before the very people, including so many children, you are entrusted to protect. You all truly are an abomination!

Not Neutral on Net Neutrality: The corporate behemoths are ready to strike again. This time they want to control the flow of information on the Net. Do not let them. Net neutrality is vital to keep our Internet alive and FREE. They will if they get the Congressional votes be voting on whether to be able to charge a fee for certain things on the Internet. The
Internet is NOT theirs to bargain away. It is First Amendment BLACKMAIL. Hit the submit button below and then pass it on.

It is IMPERATIVE unless you want to receive slowed down Internet service If you do not pay. The nerve of them is beyond belief. Yet AGAIN the oligarchy wants to choke yet another forum off from our purview. DO NOT LET them...Tell your congressman to SUPPORT net neutrality.

Here is a link explaining the issue in neutral terms. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_neutrality_in_the_United_States

Then read the Credit Union email below explaining our side of the issue. Sign it and send and then forward to any you deem would support net neutrality or others who need convincing.

-----Original Message-----
From: Consumers Union

Sent: Wed, Nov 9, 2011 10:47 am
Subject: Net Neutrality

Consumers Union, Policy & Action from Consumer Reports
Dear Natalie,
Are you thinking about giving someone a nifty tablet computer for Christmas so they can watch movies anywhere? The streaming internet is an amazing experience.
But it could become a lot more expensive if the Senate pushes through a bill to end net neutrality. This bill will soon to come to a vote--as early as tomorrow.
Tell your Senator to support net neutrality and vote NO on the Congressional Review bill this week!

Net neutrality? What does that have to do with watching movies? Everything. Right now, anyone can deliver content to you because the internet itself does not impose any restrictions on your access.

So companies have to compete for your business based on the quality of their content, the ease of delivery, the service they provide. That's how it should be.
But passage of this bill will give the big cable and phone companies a different kind of internet, one where they can charge you more for access to a competitor's content.

Today's internet is a driver of real competition -- people invent better products and services, and you decide whether the price is right.
Help us keep it that way! Tell your Senator to vote NO!
Do you have friends who also want to preserve net neutrality? Please forward this message to them. We only have a couple of days to generate a huge wave of consumer opposition before this vote!

Sincerely,
Bob Williams
HearUsNow.org
A project of Consumers Union
1101 17th Street NW, Suite 500
Washington, DC 20036

THE BELL WEATHER: Stream of Conscious written last evening before the final tally: The REJECTION of the rancid Governor Kacich's Ohio union stripping bill is won the day. Same day voting in Maine the Republican rancid Gov. LePage tried to negate is being reinstated. Other wins for Dems are happening EVEN in Mississippi. This may be a GOOD indication of how strong we TRULY are. Occupy Wall Street has given us our enthusiasm back.

This is shaping up to be a GOOD night to be a bell weather for 2012...WE MUST get out the message and turn the Congress progressive BLUE again so that the president can do what he has promised. I am CONVINCED that we would be out of the economic soup IF Republicans gave him a chance. They did NOT they are intractable and HOPEFULLY god I HOPE they have sowed the seeds of their own destruction.

Get that message out that the ill economy is NOT the President's fault. The economic fraud was conceived under Republicans and happened under Bush. Our president has TRIED his damnedest to get us out of the ditch but Republicans are intractable and venomous. They MUST be defeated next November and he elected. This is NOT going to be a cake walk for Republicans; FAR from it.

Get the word out that the economic doldrums it is NOT the president's fault but it is the Republicans fault for saying NO to everything despite the good it could do for the country. The tax cuts for the TOP 1% must be rescinded, troops for a war machine must come home, programs for the poor, the elderly the disabled must be kept in place and most importantly JOBS which the president wants for infrastructure WILL happen IF we get the Republican evil OUT of Congress--OUT of the House and keep the Senate blue!

You do NOT want a conservative Supreme Court for decades...that is the damage that these weasels do. Spread the word and most of all help do what you can to UNSEAT the rightwing lunatic extremist agenda for you, for your children and once and for all for everyone.

The Waxed Lid: One of the women Cain allegedly harassed called him a "monster." I believe her. Keep going, Mr. Cain, PAHLEESE, we Democrats love it as it puts the spotlight on these cerebral nincompoops and truthfully makes the ENTIRE Republican field look disastrous. It does them no favors and anything that does them no favors does Democrats big favors. Add to that some stupendous wins for Dems on ballot issues (see link below) and some singular elections as well, this is the happiest I have been since 2008. I hope that happiness does not fade.

Cain is THROUGH and some GREAT victories yesterday for Dems came true BUT the fight goes on. The Koch Brothers of right wing billionaire fame put MILLIONS into defeating us but it did NOT work. We through unions and other strong left of center groups with money can play that big money Citizens United game too and hopefully will. Kacich, Walker, LePage and Republican malevolents like them have energized the once defunct union movement which I HOPE is revived and stays honest.

Giving what you can to organizations like Occupy Wall Street, AFL-CIO, and others groups dedicated to making sure these virulent, mean and intrinsically sick Republican right wing extremists do not take the oval office. Moreover, turn the House blue again and stop sending our country into an oligarchic tyranny dedicated to the interests of corporate behemoths against we the people -- the 99%. We need to unseat the nasty Tea Bag and other Republican elements that are radical and subversive to our country at best. One can find groups on the web, Facebook or Twitter to help our cause.

Moreover, today I hope the other four women will come out against Cain and put the sealed wax lid on this rancid pickle jar!

If you cannot give WRITE! Literally YOUR life and everyone else's IS at stake!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

Lowering Cain: Today, if you have not already heard ad nauseam a woman present herself to the media making very credible statements about the sexual harassment she says she suffered literally at the hands of Mr. Cain, the Republican now top tier candidate for the presidency of the United States, I offer my thoughts about it.

This is SO disgusting on so many levels it is hard to count the ways. I am not a prude but I did squirm when she very believably described what Mr. Cain allegedly did sexually to her. I do not know how she had the courage to stand in front of a microphone and tell the immediate world the smarmy details which I would have a difficult time uttering to a trusted friend but she did. I believe her as I did the anonymous three others who have not yet come forward two of whom settled civil cases against Cain. I am even more astounded at the many men who think it just fine to say and do anything sexual that would satisfy their immediate desire. Are there not any inhibitions left? Do a woman’s feelings about something so personal not count? Might a man if he were so inclined ASK permission of a woman before doing something so sexually intimate?

What that woman before cameras said to the world says something about our country as to the drought and the paucity of candidates for the presidency ESPECIALLY on the Republican side of the isle. It is astounding. Is this is all that party has to offer to put up for the highest, most powerful, most prestigious office in the land? This is who could have his finger on a button that could end the human race as we know it? Herman Cain is a man whom one would want to show to the world who did NOT even know China has possessed nuclear weaponry for a very long time? It is astounding on those counts.

I am an equal opportunity employer though. When I woke up one morning and heard the first story of the day about the Monica Lewinsky blue dress proof positive implicating Clinton in a sex scandal in the White House I thought I would THROW UP. I voted for him TWICE! What have we become? What passes for credible candidates, what passes for journalism, what has happened that things once considered vulgarities are now spoken with ease? Is it ALWAYS about the money, the film rights, or the books that someone will write?

I am SICKENED at the level of discourse in this country. Something is very wrong; very most TERRIBLY wrong and instead of raising Herman Cain to the presidency he should be lowered from attaining it post haste!

Walking Away: Boston Globe columnist Joan Wickersham's editorial (War Stories in Real Time) was never more on point then when I viewed "Sixty Minutes" last evening. I attach the link below if you did not happen to catch the segment. It was entitled "Operation Proper Exit" and speaks to her editorial loud and clear as to the divide between those who stay at home during war and those who fight the fight in its theater. The "Sixty Minutes" segment was such a moving and disturbing piece that someone who watched it with me had to walk out of the room before it ended.

I never walk away from seeing the reality of war and its atrocities both physical and emotional whether it is the crucible of D-Day, the ovens of Auschwitz, the obscenity of Hiroshima or the hell of Iraq. If I did not dare to see the unseeable I could not have formulated a left-of-center political philosophy and belief that war -- nearly all war -- in modernity is man's insanity at its worst to be avoided at all costs. We refuse to watch at our peril only to be immersed in the cesspools of that insanity again and again and again.

Here is the link if you did not view "Sixty Minutes" yesterday and you think you should.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7387332n&tag=contentMain;cbsCarousel

As many of you may know my partner’s mother suffers from Alzheimer’s. Although it is tragic to all, including the families of those afflicted with this insufferable disease, I believe it is particularly tragic where her mother is concerned because she was the most intellectually astute and artistically creative person I knew. She composed her own puppet theater for children, she knew the arts, and she was a thinker of many things true to her Unitarian Universalist tradition.

I was shown a poem written thirty years ago by her the thoughts of which not only reflect the essence of who she was before this onslaught of tragedy but also is a poem to which most – even the Doubting Thomases among us – can relate, have contemplated and at one time or another shared . It is entitled:

Prayer

We seek Thee, Lord.

Through the darkness of doubt and confusion,
We reach out to Thee,
Longing to know that Thou art surely there.

We seek help in times of trouble,
Strength in our weakness
And a deeper sense of purpose for our lives.

O Mysterious Power at the heart and center
of this universe,
All around us and within,
Yet silent, invisible, inscrutable,
Teach us how to know Thee.

In the silence, speak to us through the voice
of the human spirit,
In our alone-ness, touch us through the communion
of shared lives,
In Our despair, bring hope with the promise
of new tomorrows,
In our doubt, reassure with the law and order of this, Thy world.

So may we feel anew the wonderful miracle
of life
Which recompenses struggle and makes all
successes joyful.
So may we glimpse through the darkness the
light of Thy true presence
And grow, day by day, in our knowledge of Thee.

We seek Thee, Lord,
And, in seeking, find.

To that I say Amen!

The demise of an interesting and humorous man--thoughts on Andy Rooney: Andy Rooney of 60 Minutes fame died at the age of 92. I loved that man. I love 60 Minutes but truthfully I often watched just to get to the end where Andy Rooney topped it off like desert. He was 92 and it seems on the face of it he had a wonderful life and worked nearly until he died. Emily Rooney I believe his daughter is on WGBH Boston. What more could a man ask for and yet darned if I am irritated that he died. He was 92 why am I irritated? I don't know. I felt the same way when Jack LaLane the physical fitness exercise guru died at 96. His ideas were famous LONG before it was known he was correct on most everything he said in the 1950's when people smoked like the proverbial chimney.

His death was proof positive that no matter what anyone does we all will die. But I knew that OF COURSE. Still maybe there is that secret part of me that hopes it is not so especially if we do the right things, not smoke and eat vegetarian (which I nearly do) one can achieve the fountain of youth. Alas, we cannot. Say it ain't so.

Would I truly want to live forever? No, at least not with the physical ravages of age and the poverty that age can create BUT those who contribute so much to humanity become almost a part of our family. Yes, like all of us they do not live forever but I suppose I think they SHOULD!

RIP Mr. Rooney. You were an ever -so-interesting and enjoyable man!

War Stories in Real Time: I loved Joan Wickersham's editorial "War Stories in Real Time" which appeared today in the Boston Globe (link below). It was creative, well written and spoke to the gut wrenching reality about war. No matter what technological advancement the culture enjoys connecting both the warrior at the front and the family at home, there still is a wall of separateness between loved ones who are immersed in the reality of brutal conflict and those who experience the quietude of day-to-day life at home.

Letters read during Ken Burns's PBS exquisite historical narration of "The Civil War" speak to the distance that separates loved ones in war not only in miles but in emotions. It is a heart wrenching reality whether it is in 1860, in the letters to war widows of 1917 World War I, World War II newsreels or 2011 computer technology connecting soldiers in Iraq/Afghanistan to home through Skype.

The sentence at the end of the editorial that sums up Ms. Wickersham's wonderful piece is perhaps the one I love the most. She says: "Technology may appear to erase distance, but the experience of war still creates distances that can never be erased." This poignant sentence surely is true for the Iraq War when our people at home were told by an opaque administration not to change their lives at home while soldiers had their lives irreparably changed forever over there.

I long for the day when the brutality of war is rejected as a dispute resolution tool. I long for the day when as the late 1960s' war protest song said: WAR, what is it good for? Absolutely nothin!

http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2011/11/03/war-stories-real-time/ZkLxWkByFa3zkpfsAwyGuK/story.html

The Beast of Child Brutality--The sin of the father: I will have some comments soon on the unconscionable belt-strap whipping and beating a young girl with cerebral palsy no less, suffered at the hands of her Texas judge brutal father. I saw the video [will post the 7 minutes of it below] and subsequently after viewing it became nauseated by his sin. The "storm" in the northeast knocked our power out for days and discombobulated our life. It has taken a long time to get back to normal but once I do I will write about this.

For any of you who have children or have them through an extended family who love them dearly and would not even THINK of disciplining a child in that violent way even if the child did NOT have cerebral palsy, for those of you who may have experienced such violence and unconscionable parental rage against your own being, and for those of you with no children who would have given up everything to have one, my opinion will be written with you in mind.

Hug the children in your life, love them and support the good in them. They will soon enough grow up to see what Thomas Hobbs the 16th/17th century philosopher saw that life is "nasty, brutish and short." Certainly even today, with the advancement of civilization, life is still similar and too short for despicable behavior like this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLvQyAwl8do

The Personal is Political: I am a Boston Red Sox fan to the end. I needed to clarify that lest anyone think anything else not that anyone would care. Having said that I will give you the rationale as to why I am even bothering to watch the Series this year in view of my beloved Red Sox -- well what shall I call it? -- EVAPORATION. It almost sent me to the psych ward! I jest and digress.

I am watching the series now because it is actually fun not to have too big a dog in the fight. It is simply enjoyable to concentrate on the fine points. Having said that there is a method to my madness for the team for whom I actually am rooting this time and that would be St. Louis!

I have three reasons why I am rooting for them. First, Texas means George Bush and I will not go into my angry, negative and Vesuvian eruptive thoughts I have about him. Second, Make that a ditto for Rick Perry except double the intensity. Third, the news opinionator Keith Olbermann picked St. Louis. If he says it I believe it. Since I love, adore, hang on every word he utters, think he is the best thing since the invention of the wheel and sliced bread I am HOPING he is correct.

Funny, the personal is political. I judge everyone and everything as to how much it leans politically left of center (not entirely but a lot). I cannot help it. I am a child of the late 1960's and marched to many a protest beat. I LOVED that era as it shaped all that I am. I even had to counteract my rock ribbed Republican father. However, even HE if he saw the rancid Republican field would vote Democratic and root for St. Louis too.

Nader is Correct!: I am no fan of Ralph Nader because I believe he ensured a Bush 2000 win even though the Shrub did NOT really win. Republicans of course steal things...if it's money or power they will steal it. They steal power to get YOUR money.

Digressing again. Read Raph Nader's message below for this year 2011 and if you think as I you will see he is right on point!

The question confronting the Occupy Wall Street encampments and their offshoots

in scores of cities and towns around the country is quo vadis? Where is it
going?

This decentralized, leaderless civic initiative has attracted the persistent

attention of the mass media in the past five weeks. Television cameras from all

over the world are parked down at Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan, two blocks

from Wall Street.



But the mass media is a hungry beast. It needs to be fed regularly. Apart from

the daily pressures of making sure the encampments are clean, that food and

shelter are available, that relations with the police are quiet, that

provocateurs are identified; the campers must anticipate possible police

crackdowns, such as that which has just occurred in Oakland, and find ways to

rebound.



There are enough national polls showing broader support for the Occupy people

than for the Tea Party people. Additional communities are installing their own

Occupy sites right down to small towns like Niles, Michigan (pop. 12,000) and

Bethel, Alaska where Diane McEachern is occupying the tundra. But, there is

trouble ahead.



First, police departments in other cities will be observing the nature and

reaction of mass arrests in places like Denver, Chicago and Atlanta. The

plutocrats’ first response is always to push police power against the people.

The recidivist violations of the ruling class are rarely pursued, yet the

rumbles of the lower class are often stifled. With the onset of colder weather

and looming police pressure, the protestors need new venues for their

demonstrations



Activists need to vary their tactics. I suggest citizens surround the local

offices of their Senators and Representatives. The number of Americans fed up

with a gridlocked Congress, beset by craven or cowardly, both marinated in

corporate campaign cash, can motivate an endless pool of activists who want

their voices to be heard.



We know that the Occupy people want to keep their opposition on a general level

of informed outrage and not get to the specific policy level. Fine. The 535

people in Congress, who put their shoes on every day like we do, are quite

susceptible to a fast rising rumble from the people. They don’t need specifics.

They know all about the savagely avaricious corporate paymasters and their

swarming lobbyists on Capitol Hill wanting ever more varieties of goodies and

less corporate law enforcement. What they need to know is that you’ve got their

number and that people are fed up and on the move.



More members of Congress than one might expect, with their finger to the wind,

start readjusting their antennas when they sense voter agitation. It is just

that for years, there has been nary a breeze from that crucial source, while the

corporatists have had their party year after year with their governmental

toadies on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue.



Make no mistake; support for the power shift espoused by the 99 percent movement

is now only a breeze but a windstorm is coming. The protesters are feeling their

way – demonstrating before big banks and closing out their accounts in favor of

smaller community banks. Protests in front of the Manhattan mansions of the

superrich from the big media and the big hedge funds also make sense.



Each new protest gives the protesters new insights. The protestors are learning

how to challenge controlling processes. They are assembling and using their

little libraries on site. They are learning the techniques of open, non-violent

civil disobedience and building personal stamina. They are learning not to be

provoked and thereby win the moral authority struggle which encourages more and

more people to join their ranks.



In the Arab Spring of Cairo, Egypt earlier this year, it was said that a million

people in Tahrir Square lost their fear of the dictatorship. It can be said that

in this “American Autumn,” some 150,000 people have discovered their power and

rejected apathy. They have come far in so little time because the soil for their

pushback is so fertile, nourished by the revulsion of millions of their

countrypersons moving toward standing up and showing up themselves.



This vanguard of larger protests to come is building on the personal stories of

desperate but failed attempts to find work; stories of heart-breaking inability

to pay for healthcare for themselves or their families’; stories of being

defrauded of their pensions, their tax dollars, their savings and their rights.

They demand accountability for the culprits who lied, stole and got away with it

destroying the economy. And they want Congress to never bailout the Wall Street

crooks, swindlers and speculators with taxpayer dollars.



Shining the light of the 99 percenters on the operations base of the corporate

supremacists and their Congressional minions in one location after another both

empowers and further informs those Americans who are seeing that showing up is

half of democracy.





---------------------------------------------------------------------

Tell your friends to visit http://www.nader.org/ and sign up for Ralph Nader's

weekly column.



Just click on the link that says: Sign up for Ralph Nader's Column

or click on the following link:



http://nader.org/index.php?/categories/9-Sign-up-for-Ralph-Naders-Column

The Disease, the Antibiotic, and the Cure—Occupy Wall Street’s Manifesto as I see it: Occupy Wall Street wants to know WHEN WILL the unconscionable dupes of the Tea Bag movement understand that the Republican Party is NOT about them? The Republican Party is about the top 1%. Most of us do not fall into that category. When will they realize that it was the massive DEREGULATION and insertions of too-big-to-count tax loopholes for the corporations (not the regulation of Wall Street) over decades that led to the too-big-to fail banks poisoning the body politic? When will the ignorant understand that it was the overturning of the Depression era Glass Steagall legislation and the insertion of the Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act, also known as the Financial Services “Modernization” Act of 1999 (look them up if you do not know what they are) merging the investment banks and savings banks that is an integral part of our too-big-to fail problem?

FINALLY, the occupation of Wall Street movements all around the nation and the world have begun and will NOT stop.

Basic things are needed: The true, real and not planted part of the Tea Bag movement must know that the Koch Brothers, Karl Rove, Dick Army, entities such as "Freedom" Works and those like them, decades before, created this mess. Today they want to sustain this system which works ONLY for the extraordinarily rich. We, the middle and working classes, must join forces to get those Republicans and Conservadems alike, who are perpetuating the problem, OUT. They will NOT solve our financial quagmire but will ADD to it as their kind has created it over time.

We must work within the existing structure of our political system. It is a GOOD system but it has been hijacked by big money, big banks and big corporate behemoths helped by a quid pro quo Congress who conspired to take the people's money. They dismembered we the people who bailed them out, they ate their bonuses for lunch while the rest of us now cannot walk and are starved.

We must use our existing structure within the functioning parts of the Democratic Party and MAKE THE CHANGE THAT WAS PROMISED. Nothing else will work and time is of the proverbial essence. This HUMONGOUS problem was honed over decades and therefore it can be rectified only by the institutions we have in place. Replace the Know Nothings with those who DO know something.

In the biological sciences one trusts what works. The antibiotic developed to cure certain infections works but believing in the power of magic does not. Trust EXPERTS such as Paul Krugman, Robert Reich and people of their ilk who understand well the disease and know the cure. They should become part of the non-violent Occupy Wall Street leadership. Read Matt Taibii's "Griftopia." Read Elizabeth Warren and other intellects who understand the plethora of problems and know what to do. Within the existing structure of a Democratic Party we must elect politicos who AGREE with them. We must show our president, who I believe is with us but has had intractable Republican opposition, that catering to Wall Street CANNOT and MUST NOT STAND!

There needs to be the following: a return to Glass Steagall, the SEC needs to monitor the banks to within an inch of their life, prosecution for those economic crimes against the republic, hopefully convictions and finally jail for those banksters and others behemoths who committed crimes against not only us but global humanity as well. Congressional legislation accompanied by presidential signature is the only thing that can cure our disease.

Moreover, and importantly, the corruption of money MUST be driven OUT of the political sector. The president needs one more Supreme Court justice to overturn the sickening malady of the Citizen's United decision handed down by the five conservatives on the Roberts Supreme Court. That decision introduced BUCKETS of corporate money into the political system lethally infecting all who drink the poison.

ALL these things and more -- as stated by the Krugmanesq experts -- must be done with all deliberate speed if our body politic is to survive!

A Letter to Glenn Greewnald – a writer of profound excellence: The progressive scholar and civil libertarian lawyer, Glenn Greenwald, writes a daily column for Salon.com unless his demanding schedule dictates otherwise. Glenn wrote an October 22, 2011 article for Salon entitled “A Remaining Realm of American Excellence.” I think I have never read a more precise, insightful and well-written article explaining the present-day character of this nation. He has an ability to convey, in the written word, that which few possess and his critical analysis of contemporary events is, in my opinion, unparalleled. I post the following link to the article and urge you to read it if you are the least bit interested in the direction of our nation and the fate of the generations which will come after us. If you cannot click on the link simply Google Salon and click on Greenwald. It appears at: http://www.salon.com/2011/10/22/a_remaining_realm_of_american_excellence/singleton/

I also wrote a letter to him conveying my complimentary thoughts:

Glenn, if there is a more significant and well written article than "A Remaining Realm of American Excellence" I have for quite some time not read it. This was a brilliant piece and an exemplar of quality political insight. I, too, have some thoughts explaining American belligerence about which you write so eloquently.

I think in part our national character has been carved into the sinew of the American DNA for nearly four centuries. Our wild-west mentality of the American 19th century with the violence of our westward expansion is not far from its door. It crushed an indigenous Indian population and removed anyone else who got in its way.

A rationale for our collective violent reaction now is, as I see it, an emptiness of the American character obsessed with the latest reality or dumbed down morning television, radio and no news news shows. Many times in the discussion of things political especially of economics, the source of our torturous predicament, our national eyes glaze over and turn the channel to the next mindless American Idol show or to an unfair and completely biased news channel. Few understand much if anything historical let alone the etiology of our recent economic plunge, what is responsible for that plunge and how the catastrophes of war fit into the explanation of its landscape. I would be willing to bet most do not know that the economic collapse occurred in 2007 on George Bush's watch. Bush who? I think most think President Obama to be the single creator of our economic meltdown when, in fact, it took decades to create by philosophical charlatans who wanted everything for just a few while leaving little for the many while the many slept.

Moreover, and more pertinent to your article, the US has not been in the right where its foreign violent entanglements are concerned since WWII. WWII was such a magnanimous victory, so pure in its accomplishment and America so beloved for fighting a foe who knew no negotiation and who, if not destroyed, would have certainly destroyed whatever vestiges of humanity that existed in that time. America, yes, along with some allies literally saved the world. That is a hard act to follow but we certainly try.

The intoxication of the WWII victory led this nation to make permanent its ebullience by conducting never-ending permanent war. It is the only product this nation sells. Korea, Vietnam, certainly Iraq, and even most probably Afghanistan have been abysmal failures incurring much death to so many innocents and our own while it infuriated an explosive regional Middle East tinderbox. I believe somewhere in the American psyche there is guilt for a stain on the American conscience which, like Lady Macbeth’s damn spot, cannot be washed out. It has become now our fatal flaw. Add to this the utter humiliation of 9/11, the viewing of the falling Twin Towers, huge edifices of American money and power, and the loss of 3000 innocent lives America again feels like it has been kicked in her collective teeth while still looking for the moral victory and accolades of WWII that elude us. It tries to find that adulation for the post World War II incompetence of American foreign policy and it will now do so by any means necessary collateral damage be damned.

We have gone from a colossal winner to a huge loser on the international and national stage. The only act to follow in this our American tragedy is the successful killing for sport of dreamed-up adversarial replacements for Adolph Hitler. The nation as of late does not conquer the cancer of war but spreads its violence with its American footprint. Its footprint is, of course, nearly everywhere. It is sad commentary for the evil of empire building. I have never in my 6 decades of life seen the country with the most rapaciously rancid ethos that not only allows but, indeed, loves to get its insatiable pound of flesh in the Coliseum of endless war.

I spend my life wondering how we got this way. I am getting tired and truly want to hand the baton of regeneration over to you, our next progressive generation. Voices like yours are the only ones that give me hope. You are, truly, as one man said of you when I heard you speak at Harvard, a national treasure!

Over There? President Obama announced today the extrication of all forces from Iraq by December. The one position I regret that I took after 9/11 and after observing the American political scene for decades is naively and with astounding stupidity I believed George Bush and his Iraq WMD phony claim convincing most (including me) that Sadam Hussein was an imminent threat. Some may even say today Sadam Hussein who? Tom Ricks, according to Foreign Policy Magazine is a Senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, a bipartisan think tank, contributing editor to Foreign Policy Magazine, special military correspondent to the Washington Post and author quite correctly named his book about Iraq during the height of its fury "Fiasco." We can see now how apropos that title was. We can observe how destructive, how murderous, how deceitful, sending troops to wage a war based on lies against a country which did NOTHING to us was.

The US, under the dreadful leadership of George W. Bush, paid for this mistake in much lost blood and treasure conveniently ignored by Republicans today when assessing their perceived horror of the deficit. Clearly, George W. Bush was woefully unprepared for the presidency. At his order the US nearly singlehandedly destabilized an entire region, handed Iran the keys to the kingdom of power and broke a nation. Now we allegedly are leaving Iraq and see how difficult it is to do that. Colin Powell, Secretary of State under Bush, was quite correct when he said “if you break it you own it.” We shattered it without knowing what to do to fix it.

When American troops leave Iraq -- as the president today says they will by December -- and it does not explode into civil war it will be miraculous. How Iraq maintains a continuity of power with so many factions at each other’s throats I do not know. Can it meet the needs of its people or will it fracture into a million pieces destabilizing the region further with a nuclear Pakistan? I will breathe a sigh of relief if Iraq works with a semblance of normalcy and non violence. Until then, I need a tranquilizer to calm my fear! Never again will I believe a leader simply because he says it is so. As Ronald Reagan, a man I seldom quote, said: "Trust but verify." Next time I surely will and so should everyone else.

Money can’t buy you love so the Beatles song said--the flaw of Steve Jobs: I am reading various pieces about Steve Jobs. A tell-all book about him, being released soon, makes visible his warts and all. Understatedly, his ego was IMMENSE. He was a self absorbed, often angry, caustic man many times cruel to those with whom he worked and certainly to those he competed against. Yes, genius can make that of men but that is no excuse to me. I can appreciate what is created by great minds but if one does not have compassion -- even to one’s competitor­s -- then to me the genius means nothing. I am SURELY glad I never worked for him nor competed AGAINST him. He was an explosion waiting to happen perhaps a creative psychopath. Umpteen BILLION was not enough money for him. He had to devote much of his energy fighting Google because Jobs alleged it copied his product. When someone copies me I consider that flattery but Jobs considered it war. If he had to he was going to devote his entire company fighting Google perhaps even decimating the jobs of his own employees (and Google's) to do so. He sounds like a brutish man.

As Tevya would say IF I were a rich man I would … give all my family five million, all my friends five million and then distribute the rest to humans crying out for help, for food, for shelter for a JOB both here and around the globe as Bill and Melinda Gates are doing. Jobs cannot walk in Gates's shadow. Steve Jobs turned from humane liberal to stone cold conservative wanting to give corporations a break with the elimination of regulations; he wanted to gut unions, teachers, and other public servants’ positions who make EVERYONE’S life livable even his own short one.

He could have given to the little kids who pan for gold in Africa; kids who die doing it because the work is so brutal. They wade into a mud containing immense amount of mercury and ultimately get poisoned by it. He could have set up humane conditions so people can work like human beings for which unions advocate instead of humanity working like barbaric animals. I care nothing about all his creative gadgets when the ethics of his leadership and the policy for which he ultimately advocated hurts people but helps people like he create billions more to buy not jobs but yachts. He neglected his own children because his massive ego was more concerned about a NON human company to make what more billions?

Steve (I know you cannot hear me) but you should have given most all your money away before your death to those who are so desperate. NO ONE needs billions of bucks to live the good life. I would create MORE jobs and do for our county what the president cannot because of an obstructio­nist Congress. I think the LSD the formerly liberal Steve Jobs claimed helped create his insight destroyed the compassion center of his brain! John Kennedy said: “We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's future. And we are all mortal.” Steve Jobs was, indeed, mortal. Alas, death, the great equalizer of man, got him too. It knows no money, no social class, no massive egos but comes to all of us in the end even to Steve Jobs. Too bad he was not known as simply a nice man but money cannot buy quality of character.

Instead of advocating for the non-human corporation turning himself into an uncompassionate conservative he should have dedicated his life to installing a Congress which really DOES care about humanity instead of being bought for the all mighty buck. He rudely kept the president waiting days for a meeting insisting the president call HIM disrespecting the high office of the presidency and our country.

How come this genius did not realize that DECADES of Republican rule favoring the deregulated banks conservatives love so much decimated this economy? How come he did not realize what corporations and Wall Street did to hijack the pensions of its workers? How come Steve Jobs did not know what the financial, real estate sector and rating companies did to ruin our middle class, the poor and the American Dream? Who cares about Steve Jobs’s genius? In my opinion, he was a lousy human being.

A Taboo Mix -- Religion and State: If there is a better editoralist than James Carroll I have not read one yet. Carroll is brilliant and his editorial this week in the Boston Globe: "Monotheism doesn't mean 'we're No. 1" (link below) is exactly correct. More, I believe, have been killed over the centuries (including the 2000 year etiology of the Holocaust) in the name of relgion than have been saved by it and the killing continues unabated.

I truly believe that organized religion is the source of divisive evil on earth from Jerusalem, to Europe, even, dare I say, to the stage of the Republican debate. The assault of its Republican verbal inanity does damage to one's ears.

The pièce de résistance last evening was Herman Cain's postulation that Jesus was killed by liberals. That in and of itself reflects the bone chilling absurdity of tying religion to the state. Many of our Founders knew that truth.

God help us, as nothing else, it seems, can!

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2011/10/17/monotheism_doesnt_mean_were_no_1/

[I wrote too quickly when I found out Shalit was freed. I was simply thrilled he was after so many years in captivity. I realize how lopsided the trade was and in NO way want to bless anyone who would want the demise of the Israeli state so I amend my sentiment]


Can Jeff Jacoby support anything that is good and has the word peace attached to it? The release of the Israeli Soldier Gilad Shalit is a GOOD day.This is a GOOD day but Jacoby will say Israel gave up too much. I say RUBBISH! Israel has been giving up too much after sixty unrelenting years of constant violence and threat of violence with no peace in sight. Israel has had to turn inside out to guard its security.

Let's not make this day into anything but a GOOD day when an Israeli soldier five years in captivity is finally free. How I YEARN for and want so much for there to be peace and in some way for both sides to agree. I am a Jew and Israel is my ardent love BUT I want the killing to stop!

We have ONE small little life that fades in an INSTANT. Where is the genius that man can show and just give a little bit, bend a little and accept one human being for another? The tree boughs are many and the limbs can withstand much and still not break. The larger tree withstands even more so that the tree lives. Let us be like that. I wish and yes pray for that each see the other as human beings worthy to live another day!

It was a lopsided trade, indeed, as Israelis got one prisoner for hundreds of Palestinians. STILL I am tired of the endless going nowhere arguments on both sides and I am simply jubilant to see Gilad Shalit freed after such a LONG time in captivity. We have much to learn from each other. We could give so much one to the other. We need to TRY just TRY.

Shalom and thank you to all who made this GOOD day possible!