"A Cry from the Heart": The writing below was sent to me by a Middle East scholar with whom I sometimes correspond. He is well known for his support of much of the Palestinian cause. He sends me a daily opinion called "Informed Comment." Often he and I do not agree but his scholarship is well beyond the scope of mine. Sometimes I must defer to his views or remain silent as they are based on much more than my capacity to, with veracity, disagree.

He sent to me one of the most beautiful writings I have ever had the pleasure to read. It appeared in the French newspaper Le Monde on January 19, 2012. I would entitle it as the sender did "A Cry from the Heart." Read it and cheer for a Tunisian Jew, a supporter of the Arab spring but haunted by the brutal ever-present chant in Jewish historical memory of "Death to the Jew" uttered yet again this time by a band of Tunisians greeting at the airport a Palestinian leader from Hamas.

No matter which side of the plethora of Middle Eastern issues you fall this brilliant piece written by Hélé Béji captivates in poetic form, the Jewish crucible, the Jewish heart and Jewish history. It is why, in my opinion, the Jew remains skeptical of renewal and rebirth in the Arab world. It is why Never Again, the chant in response to the Holocaust, must never die. The article is attached below.

Hélé Béji, a prominent woman writer from an old notable family in Tunis, was outraged by an incident in early January when a small crowd of religious extremists at the airport in Tunis to greet a visiting Hamas leader chanted “Death to the Jews.” She published this cry of the heart in Le Monde on January 19, and kindly consented for it to be translated and appear at Informed Comment in English.

Tunisians do not betray the ideals of your revolution!
by Hélé Béji, writer.

Tunisians, you rose up against tyranny and injustice with true hearts: you were righteousness. You have illumined the world of the flame of your dignity: you were humanity. You made your streets ring with cries of generosity: you were fraternity. You have rekindled the sense of valor of the next generation: you were goodness itself. You have won the esteem of all by your panache: you were pride. You smiled with your million different faces: you were tolerance.

But recently at Tunisia’s Carthage International Airport, you were not fair, or fraternal, or worthy, not great, neither good nor human. By pounding your raised fists and shouting “Death to Jews!”—or worse, “Killing the Jews is a duty”– you offered the spectacle of a crazed phalanx that plunges us into stupor and affliction. Not only have you failed in your endeavor, but you have insulted the Palestinian cause, in deploying slogans as mordant as those used by their enemies. You have betrayed the message of your faith.

What? Within the space of a few months? Your peaceful nature turned fanatic? Within a few months you have changed your character? In the world of feelings, it is only a few seconds. Within seconds, the infectious bite of human wickedness turned you toward low fellowship of racist impulses. Suddenly, your friendly faces took on a gloomy mien. Your bright eyes were draped in black. You are few in number?

A tiny minority, they tell me? Maybe, but I do not want to know, I do not care. You have made possible the unbearable, by voicing the very idea of the mass murder of the Jews of Tunis. This is enough to degrade us all. You have begun to distil a dark poison in the credulous soul of a good-natured and kind people.

I do not recognize you, Tunisians, I do not recognize you. You have frozen in my veins that admiration to which you had given birth, you have spoiled the taste in my mouth of our land of birth, you have rendered me indifferent to its light, you have ruined the image of your heroism, you smothered the music of our nation that had played in my heart. Are you the same, Tunisians? Are you the ones who shouted in chorus: “Muslims, Jews, Christians, we are all Tunisians”?

Between this and that other, joyous crowd, what resemblance? Who are you, lovers of humanity or fundamentalists? Which of these portraits is most accurate? Which one will win? You made the first romantic revolution of the twenty-first century, with the inimitable skill of thwarting violence by playful and tolerant means, you are not Tunisians for nothing. And now you’re trying to glorify violence by obscure undertakings, with the torment of which you have already well acquainted.

Victorious victims

You have caused a regime to fall, guided by an inspiration higher than ethnicity, identity, religion, or tribe. You placed yourselves above chauvinism and prejudice. Your liberty was delivered from narrow identity. Or rather, that was your identity, getting rid of the last vestiges of decolonization. You did not make your revolution against Western culture, against imperialism, against Zionism, against the infidels, against the Jews. No. You revolted against yourselves.

And now what are you doing? Behind the wall of fear that you broke, you erect ferocious sentinels, who chant odious slogans. Have you entered into a reign of dignity, only to make it so undignified? Have you embraced equality, only to better snuff it out? Have you ascended to freedom only to track it down now with a pack? Despotism, formerly concentrated in one person, has now left the head of the body politic to course through all the nerves of that body, giving it frightful shocks. The damage was limited today, but it ramifies through the branches of our being, it is the responsibility of all.

One of two things. Either: you bestow on your minorities rights just as sacred as your own, and you forbid yourselves to inflict on them the sort of exile you suffered. Then you would show that your dreams have not in vain raised the hopes of those who, throughout the world, recognized in you their conscience. Or: your reason is abandoned for the idolatry of racism, sexism and xenophobia, and you ruin your morality with infractions of a sort committed by the crudest members of society, in a primitive cacophony.

I know that victorious victims may one day go over to the executioners. This is the reproach you launch at the Israelis. But you, do not be blinded by the rage of historical revenge. Remain at the heights of the Enlightenment of your revolution. Does not endorse the guilty who are chasing innocents to degrade and persecute. Do not drive the revolution backwards, nor consign your minorities to hell. You who have known the secret police, do not be self-described agents of Heaven armed with the swords of inquisition and punishment to terrify your brothers. Journalists, academics, women, French speakers, the Jews … that’s a lot of people that you blame, denounce, assault, beat, molest. It is too much.

Remember that it only took one pariah, who was among the walking dead, for all Tunisians to be reborn. Now it only takes one Tunisian Jew to be insulted for us all to be insulted, without exception. The offense is collective, the answer is unanimous: “We are all Tunisian Jews.”

Hélé Béji is also the author of “We, the decolonized” (Arlea, 2008) and “Islamic Pride: behind the veil” (Gallimard, 2011)
Article published in the 1/19/12 edition of Le Monde.

In Memoriam: The blog I sent about my much loved relative who much loved the President reinforces how important it is to vote for him. She was, indeed, the most fervent supporter of our president I have ever known. The only one who supports our president more I think is his wife.

I am posting this because the person who loved President Obama so much is testament to how good the president really is despite the criticisms levied sometimes even from the base. I wrote it not only for the values it expressed but to reiterate that which some of us in our desire to get things done ignore. My relative, friend and fellow blogger, Bonnie, never did. She remained steadfast loyal to our president until the end of her life which life a vicious cancer took in five months.

I believe it is a truth ALL of us should heed to make sure no Republican toxicity and brutality yet again invades our land. If you want to and can support this campaign I enclose a link to re-elect President Obama. http://www.barackobama.com/obama-for-america-2012-campaign?source=OM2012_LB_G_Obama2012-search_bo-reelect_d1c&gclid=CIKOxojy7a0CFULe4AodFnok7A

Feel free to send this to anyone you choose to catapult everyone to the polls November, 2012 to re-elect the president and while you're at it I enclose a link to the Democratic Party to imperatively turn the House of Representatives blue again! http://www.democrats.org/?nosplash=true

Reflections on the Loss of a Family Member and a Friend--My Ode to HER Immortality: On Saturday, a family member and friend in my life died well before her time. Her name was Bonnie. I am finding it difficult concentrating on things political when the person whom I knew and who loved politics as much as I is not here. She was responsible for much of my analysis as nearly every day we volleyed the various opinions we shared on our respective blogs. She was a strong personality and an equally strong supporter of our president. It was that which brought us even closer within her decades-long marriage to my cousin. I considered her not only related to me by marriage but also a friend by her nature as well. We were very much alike in our strong ethical and humanitarian views as well as in our personality strength. It almost seemed at times as if we were a DNA genomic match.

I have not been able to write since her death because nothing seems that important to me at the moment. I think, though, she would want me to keep writing as I have, getting published at times, becoming a guest on a talk show and posting on my blog. I hope I will continue to do that despite my bereavement. Even when I think there is nothing more about which I want to write yet again some synaptic connections appear. They are today thoughts about her and the realities we all face or will at one time or another.

It brings up to me the many usual feelings of how short life is and how no one knows the way or the hour. It emphasizes that which we often hear – if you love someone tell them now. If you dislike someone forgive them and yes, if possible, turn the other cheek. The regret I have now is that, perhaps, I did not tell her enough that I loved her, that I did not tell her enough how much her views meant to me, that I did not tell her enough how talented she was and, perhaps, I even did not apologize enough when we disagreed.

Perhaps I did not do enough of all of those things so I will do them now publicly and eternally for my blog. I say to her spiritual essence: I love you, Bonnie. I will never forget your thoughts, I will never forget your loyalty to our president, I will never forget your ethical values of honesty, loyalty, passion of purpose and most of all caring about the generations who follow whether your own or those of our nation.

I will miss you, Bonnie, more than I can say and will think about you every day. Your voice will be sitting on my shoulder when I write as you say write but write carefully and ditch the CAPS. I will try to implement much that you have said as a testament and as an honor to your wonderful legacy. It is my ode to your immortality and, perhaps, to my own as well. You have taught me much and as difficult as it will be to write on my tear-stained keyboard I will. I will do it always with you in mind!

All my love,
Nat

Discrimination of Gays in Israel?: I offer the link below my relative sent to me which is in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. It is about discrimination of homosexuals in Israel. This is what reinforces my point always that is it is not a specific religion that runs roughshod over this time gay people wanting to eliminate or deprive "the other" in general of their rights and even their life but it is the fundamentalist varieties of religious belief which are the toxic poison.

The positive thing about Israel in this instance is at least they can print a story like this and not be taken down ... yet ... and at least there are more than a few in Israel who deplore and are against this type of discrimination. STILL, it is worrisome that these orthodox groups and extremists are gaining power in Israel.

If so, as much as I love Israel, I will be against those groups and the Israeli policy they engender as forcefully as I am against any other Christian or Islamic fundamentalist belief -- really ALL religious orthodoxies which are cruel, inhuman, just plain irrational and whose adherents are often psychologically pathological if not insane!

As the subtitle of Christopher Hitchen's book says -- "How Religion Poisons Everything!" Never truer words uttered. Orthodox religious fanaticism will kill us all.

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/shameful-discrimination-in-israel-1.408256

Republican Paintball: Romney, Gingrich and all in the Republican presidential primary circus sure are slinging the mud. It is almost what I envision Paintball to be like. It will not kill you but when it hits the spot it makes one feel vulnerable.

The problem with Republicans is that the essence of the Republican Party means that they are utterly in bed with corporate behemoths. The meaningless platitudes they spout fall FAR short of what they practice in their own life. Romney is an example of that getting his money as a corporate raider first venture then vulture capitalist, trimming companies and firing, he says, he simply loves to do. He says he loves to fire insurance companies but I bet that love spills over to people as well. After all he believes corporations are people too. Well, if so then many have had their ears lowered by Willard Mitt Romney. Moreover, he has set up off shore accounts and has been doing, in his illustrious career, the very things from which our economy suffers. Worse still, he does not want to release his taxes. I submit he does not want to release them for a reason. I suspect his tax submission will be Paintball shot with tax loopholes to reveal that the income tax he pays is minimal for the wealth he has acquired and worse far below that which most in the country pay. In sum, the 1% do NOT pay their fair share.

On the other side of the Republican mantra are ethical moral – mostly sexual – values to which few are capable of adhering. However, when it is one of the reasons that separates one party from the other and you do not conform, as many times Gingrich clearly has not, the hammer is lowered and rightfully so. One is Paintball vulnerable yet again.

Republican values are economically middle class dismembering, often unethical and Great Recession inducing. Its social values are humanly impossible to strictly follow. Thus, the Republican Party candidates are mud slinging each other because the Republican Party's platform allows for SO much mud to be slung! Who will win the Paintball game? That is yet to be determined. One thing for sure is that all the Republican candidates will come out looking like one big mess!

Torquemada Torture – the Selection of a President: The American selection of a president is water boarding torture. It goes on and on and on much too long. I am so sickened by it often I turn news about it off even when my favorites like Olbermann, Maddow whom I love, Ed Schultz, Cenk Uygur, and even Ratigan are on. Yes, I tape and watch them all. No wonder my brain, from this Republican clown show circus, is in revolt. I feel like two symbols are being smashed between my ears.

Skip this insane two year torture-on-the-rack extended primary and cut to the chase. Hold primaries on two weekend days to satisfy religious prohibitions (Saturday and Sunday) for all the states.

Too bad if the candidates, before the primaries, must go to the states to campaign in a short time period. They chose to run in the grist mill. The presidential campaign begins TWO YEARS before the election and is torture by Torquemada. Romney is the Republican nominee. Ron Paul, who has a very big following, should get OUT of Republican Party land and run on a third party. Paul may have more chance than one might think.

Romney, although the primary winner, is hated by much of the base and is winning because there are five candidates who are glued to the podium and it appears he is the only one who can beat the president (I doubt he will) because most of the country hates the flip-flopper-in-chief Romney too. A third party Paul candidacy could matter.

Moreover, why should one small Iowa caucus give anyone the influence advantage? Shorten this torture mill primary selection process, vote collectively on two weekend days and maybe someone’s sanity could be saved -- mine!

The Globes: The Golden's were enjoyable. I was a bit disappointed for "The Help." I thought it would get best pic. I did love the Descendants but not as much as The Help. Viola Davis always goes up against difficult competition. She is among the best. Happy for The Help's supporting actress Octavia Spencer who played the character Minny. Meryl Streep is a legend and I will see "Iron Lady" as quickly as possible.

Gervais without the bathroom humor and sex jokes is very entertaining. I say bring him back next year! Oh yes, I am not one to care about fashion BUT the women's gowns were CLASSY and utterly GORGEOUS! Some looked like they were poured into them. UGH I can wish for that in my next life!

AMEN: The evocative headline in the news today -- "Towering legend, flawed man? King's image evolving. Some fear civil rights leader's legacy is lost on many."-- Surprise MLK was a human being. This is the media's way of inflating a story (linked below) that Dr. King smoked, drank and used a swear word or two so it can push its headlines to sensationalist proportions, like a drug lord pushes drugs. Guess why. Answer: Money. Now, that is a shocker!

It won't work. Dr. King's work is done and he has left the shoulders of a giant upon which generations have stood and future generations will stand to take advantage of the wonderful things he said and freedoms we acquired by the legacy he left.

I love Dr. King for creating a movement not only for the African American but for ALL people -- the disabled, the poor, the suffering masses and the unlucky who get kicked to the wayside by a nation that promises otherwise and by a world which STILL has much to learn. He gave us a foundation for good and pointed out the evil among us. He led a people to Olympian Heights, a mountain few thought they could climb. For that, the justice that prevailed because of him and to Dr. King's spirit I say an emphatic AMEN.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46005503/

The Ship of Fools: As the link below indicates Jon Huntsman, the Republican moderate presidential candidate, is quitting the race. He was by far the most intelligent, most qualified and best candidate running for the presidency on the Republican side . But when has that ever been a prerequisite for the Republican nomination for the highest most powerful and, indeed, most dangerous, office in the world? Answer: Never.

Knowing this truth it was the smartest thing for Huntsman to do. It would be a waste of his time not to mention money to continue in a race where Stephen Colbert, the political comic, had higher ratings than he. Huntsman is running in a party that is not deserving of his intelligence, his experience and his wisdom. The field of Republican candidates is pitiful and God pity this nation if they in their infinite wisdom choose to elect anyone from this ship of fools.

Mr. Huntsman, whatever monies you have left from this campaign I suggest you donate to those who have no houses, no food, no clothing and will because of the Wall Street made economic cesspool never get an education and sometimes not even survive.

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/15/huntsman-says-hes-quitting-g-o-p-race/?comments#permid=17

Colbert for President and Romney the Ripper: Scroll down and listen. Shows you how much money can buy! Great Utube by Stephen Colbert, candidate for president -- why does this remind me of Pat Paulson?


http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/01/15/colbert-super-pac-attack-romney-is-a-serial-killer/

Divine Intervention: I said a prayer for Tom Brady before the game. I guess god was a New England Patriot yesterday. We in New England never were Doubting Thomas's for a minute!!

Awesome is too weak a word for the Patriots victory over the Broncos. The Pat's defense was bone CRUSHING and except for the one measly pass intercepti­on by the Broncos, Tebow would have been held to single digits. I have NEVER seen such a phenomenal­ly solid game from New England in my life. It was one of the most exciting I have ever witnessed. The ENTIRE New England team was Tyrannosau­rus Rex. They took the Denver team and had them for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Brady was near perfection.

I am happy for the win but ordinarily I would not care as much if the event did not become more than just a simple game. Tebow is a wonderful person and does laudable things with his life outside the gridiron. I compliment him for that but the political refuse of religious wingnutism follow him and was an element of the pregame insanity. Last week's Bronco win in sudden death overtime was nearly divine for them, Tebow and his fans but offered no "proof" a sky god is using Tebow for his second son. Explanations exist in science. All rational signs point to the fact that if there is a god who created it all he is NOT involved in the day-to-day activities of man most especially in a meaningless football game or really in anything else.

Beyond sports, if a god were involved in man's day-to-day-activities and so many prayers were said for the sick, the dying, the war ravaged people in war torn nations, the hungry and the dispossessed all over the earth an amelioration of those horrific conditions or at least some of them would have happened and there would be repeatable evidence using the scientific method that prayers when said are answered. Earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, tsunamis, Titanic catastrophes would not occur or if they did, at the very least, innocent human beings would not be devastated.

Things happen for verifiable reasons. Science compounded by the psychology of men in a football game gives better rationales for outcomes than does anything else. I repeat my own credo: we are all subject to Newtonesque laws of science for everything and science offers a better explanation for the physical realities of life. Belief is simply belief it is NOT science. Six billion humans inhabiting this planet will have six billion answers to the eternal questions that plague us and which give a foundation for religious often fanatical belief. It allows the fanatical believer to do anything no matter how cruel to impose one belief over another even if they have to kill humanity to do it.

The right wingnut organization Focus on the Family, which loves to deny human rights to innocent others with their alleged Biblical "proof," paid for what probably was a multi-million dollar ad promoting Christianity during this game. Now that is something of which I am sure Jesus would have approved -- NOT!

That is why this game held such enthusiasm. It became a battle between science deniers verses science worshipers. The latter would describe people like ME!

GREAT video and very well done. Romney, hey if you can't stand the heat get out of the kitchen where you cooked up your own negative ads to slam Gingrich. Romney, the flip flopper slime former governor of Mass. whom I loathed because he was an EMPTY suit and still is.

Watch this incredible video!

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/01/12/watch-when-mitt-romney-came-to-town/?utm_source=Raw+Story+Daily+Update&utm_campaign=66b02af165-1_12_111_12_2012&utm_medium=email

A Glass Half Full: One of my friends whom I consider a very intelligent man in addition to being one of the nicest sent a very positive email to me about one of my opinions. We share many of the same values but I am sure few of his opinions are as pessimistic as mine. Really, you say? No kidding. In my defense there are reasons for everything. I digress.

In response to one of my diatribes perhaps the one loathing Bain Romney -- or as another friend humorously calls him Mitten or Ron Mitney and whom I call Willard, his first name, -- sorry I digress again with a bit of humor, my friend sent a more positive note. Whatever opinion of mine it was that prompted his response, truthfully, my words are often not happy ones. Admittedly they are words of anger, pessimism and are a cynic's view of our nation.

I would like to quote what he said below to present a different view from the bridge. He is quite right if one takes a broader look at US history one can see the positive changes that have occurred despite great opposition mounted to defeat them. The late Howard Zinn, my favorite historian, used to say to me that change comes from the bottom up and that it is created by millions of people who push for that change sometimes risking their own lives advocating for it.

The always-wise Zinn said it does not matter who is IN the White House but who is in FRONT of it that counts. It is up to us, to hold our leaders accountable and secure those rights our Constitutional contract, I believe, can be interpreted to say, we rightfully deserve. It is the beauty of our American system that has honed a way, over centuries of conflict, to do so. We must utilize maximally our Constitutionally guaranteed rights of free speech and free press and never give up.

In keeping with that thought I offer a more positive view that my friend quite correctly stated. He said:

I share your frustration with the nation, but am reminded of Martin Luther King's comment: "The arc of history is long, but it tends toward justice."

There is still plenty of craziness out there, and we can't let down our guard, but slowly we're making progress. We have finally elected a black man president, and after his second term, maybe a woman; Don't ask don't tell has been repealed and LGBT people are accepted enough to show up in TV shows without causing riots; the Arab Spring is a tinderbox, but could also spread the flame of democracy; occupy is finally challenging tea party; the economy still needs help, but it's not in free fall, in spite of Republicans' efforts to derail everything the president has tried; so there is hope.

I know there IS hope and that it springs eternal. Thank you, my friend, for forcing me to see a glass half full and by that making it a better day!

Field of the American Dream: Again, Paul Krugman writes an insightful NYT article “America’s Unlevel Field” (linked below) and is correct as usual. At the end of the editorial he says: … [Romney and the Republicans] “seem to prefer a society in which your station in life is largely determined by that of your parents — and in which the children of the very rich get to inherit their estates tax-free. Teddy Roosevelt would not have approved.”

It makes a sad me even sadder as I view the US problems as nearly insurmountable and cemented in division. I try to look at the nation’s historical long-view which has often dictated success against the odds. If I were an abolitionist in 1860, which given my values now I surely would have been, I would be despondent that a humanity in our free nation was brought against its will under horrific conditions, stripped of their person hood to labor under the lash and without compensation. Ultimately a war (lost in its beginning) needed to be waged to reverse this evil. I might have given up but justice prevailed.

If I were the Jew that I am in 1941 I would have felt despair that my country, not prepared for war, opened up wars on two fronts first with a militarized honorary Aryan Japan and second with a mighty German war machine dedicated specifically to my elimination. Justice against the odds prevailed yet again.

No matter how dark things look now, no matter the odds of reactionary politics saturated with racist animus I continue to place my faith in the president against Lincolnian odds facing a Republican Congress, dripping with the words of interposition and nullification referenced by Dr. Martin Luther King in 1963, this time potentially reversing decades of civil rights progress and compounding the threat of another economic collapse where the 1% wealthiest control it all. Even worse there is the specter of a clear existential nuclear threat if our foolish nation dares attack again a tinder box Middle East.

America , where is your sanity and where is our field of dreams? The American Dream must not become the American nightmare. This nation must come to grips with its ugly truths, its reactionary politics, its economic frauds, its tepid social safety nets or lack of them and this latest nuclear threat, ultimately, to its very life.


http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/09/opinion/krugman-americas-unlevel-field.html?_r=1&ref=global-home#commentsContainer

Romney, the “Bain” of Our Existence: In case you did not get the pun “Bain” was the name of the company Romney, the allegedly expert businessman, ran – Bain Capital. That corporation was in the business of trimming assets of companies facing bankruptcy, buying them, selling the entrails and DESTROYING jobs. Romney became filthy 250 million dollar rich because of it. Romney does not want to release his tax records every other candidate for president has released. Why you ask. Because, as part of the top 1% he probably loop-holed his way out of paying taxes that the middle class has to pay.

The Republican so called "debates" are a joke and an embarrassment. The press has nothing to offer the voters but softball inane questions to the candidates making sure they do not deliver a question the complexity of which would be beyond the candidates' ability to answer. The Republican Party has nothing to offer but racist obstructionism and do nothing politics.

If this country is so unequivocally insane to elect any of these stupendous know nothing Republicans as president then there is no hope. I either need to pull the covers over my head for years or do something more drastic like moving to the North Pole. The thought of four or more years of Republican rule sickens my stomach after suffering through nearly 30 years of Republican acid rain. We cannot endure more never-ending war nor can we survive the 1% billionaires controlling ALL the wealth creating an even bigger bubble to run the country into an even bigger ditch than they did during the first decade of the new millennium.

President Obama did not do everything I wanted but he is infinitely more intellectually astute and, I would argue, more effective handling the cats of Congress in view of the Mount Everest of Republican obstructionism he had to climb.

I am hoping America is wiser than to let the insane of the coo coos nest asylum control the country and run it over another cliff. We have been bleeding since the bursting of the Bush bubble and a Democratic tourniquet had to be applied. It has stopped some of the flow but not all of it. Republicans have a proscription to line their pockets with billionaire bubble bucks and return us to a double dip Greater Recession. Do you REALLY want to go through that economic avalanche yet again? And do you REALLY want your sons and daughters to fight yet another huge Middle East country with nuclear bombs in tow? Go head elect Republicans and have a party but it may be the last party you and your children ever have.

The Epiphany: I sent a letter to a professor who is very pro Palestinian. I reflected on my views about Israel perhaps because I was asked by a friend to attend a Feb. 29 meeting about church/state separation at a mosque. I agreed and I thought about why I am so stuck in my views about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. I thought about my feelings and why my blood runs cold when I think about that issue. I turn my back on most criticism of the Jewish state. I really had to do some soul searching because I am often at odds with the left part of the political spectrum a place where I reside but a place which is particularly harsh on the Jewish state. Again, I ask why. I came up with the following explanation why I have felt the way I have and wondering if I can make a change. I said the following:


I had an epiphany today. I am as I always say a left of center progressive. I am also Jewish. My entire political life and the forming of my belief system as left of center revolved around two major issues: (1) the Holocaust and the rise of Nazism (2) the antiwar years of the late 1960's. My beliefs have wavered a bit over the years but not that much. I want to consider myself a humanitarian and I want to support those things which ensure most especially Constitutional civil liberties. Sitting on the left side of the spectrum those things are, of course, compatible.

My first encounter with Nazism was as a child maybe age 10 or 11 when I saw a newsreel in the movies which were popular at the time shown before the main film. I saw footage for the first time of Jewish people from all walks of life, men, women and children being rounded up, shot or herded into the cattle cars and shipped off to the camps. The newsreel showed me a picture of the camps which was needless to say ghoulish and excruciatingly painful to watch. Then it showed the gas chambers with the Zyklon B and then it, of course, showed the mounds of bodies the Allies encountered when they liberated the camps. I became nauseated and threw up.

My uncle was in the US Army in Europe when he liberated a camp and had the photos to prove it. There is NO event in human history let alone in Jewish history which is parallel to the Holocaust in terms of its inhumanity and brutality. The six million is an unfathomable number. Recently I saw a film "Sarah's Key" based on a book the discussion of which I led at a temple group where even in France -- modern France at that time rounded up Jews in the Vel d' Hiv a little known part of French history because they do not WANT to remember it.

The Holocaust and its aftermath was the single most centrifugal event that solidified my later political beliefs. It has continued to be a surprise to me that the left leaning groups I agree with for the most part are extraordinarily anti-Israel with a huge bit of anti-Semitism mixed in for good measure. It is why I turn a cold shoulder to most all anti-Israel sentiment and why I never did wax supportive of the Palestinian cause. I simply could NOT betray the State of Israel formed by so many after the event that rocked the foundation of the Jewish world.

Why can I not come to the support of those Palestinians who feel so aggrieved and who as they say have been allegedly brutalized by Israelis? That answer is I cannot ADMIT that Israelis would perpetrate inhumane acts purposefully on innocent people. I did not WANT to believe it because for Jews to do that means that the lessons of the Holocaust are not learned and we MUST learn them so it never happens again. I have always held Israel to a higher standard because of this singular event which NO ONE in history has experienced on such a massive and historically continuing and stunning scale.

I have dear Jewish friends, the nicest people, whose daughter (Jewish) married a Palestinian man. He is a darling man but I would simply avoid discussion of the Palestinian situation which usually does not come up anyway. On Feb. 29 (yes it's a leap year) they asked me to attend a local mosque which I have been up until now adverse to do.

For the first time I have decided it is time to visit the mosque no matter what my strong feelings of support are about Israel. It is TIME for NO MORE violence. It is TIME for us to act in a humane fashion. If not now when? We must as Jews be the best human beings we can be even when it is most difficult to be so. The essence, as I see it, is even within Christian teaching -- Matthew 5 says ... "whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. And give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away." One does not have to be Christian to believe in these thoughts. One needs to be empathetically human to understand them.

I still am a Jew and I still support the State of Israel BUT that does not mean I am impervious to suffering. No, to the contrary, BECAUSE of the Holocaust one must ameliorate suffering wherever it exists.

If I could write a book perhaps the title would be: "Enemies No More -- a Way for Jews and Palestinians to Unite!" How much would I love a cessation of hostilities between our two peoples to happen in the New Year? Answer: -- I would give anything. Acting in a more humane and understanding manner on both sides would save Jewish lives, it would save Palestinian lives and perhaps it would even save the world entire as it lurches closer and closer to an apocalypse.

A Hole to Hide In: Not well written but CORRECT: Iraq civil war beginning and a US war policy of IDIOTIC proportions I posted this on the MSNBC News site.

MSNBC HEADLINES: "Iraq Bombings: Wave Of Explosions In Shiite Area Of Baghdad Kill At Least 27, Wound Dozens" -- linked below "A wave of explosions struck two Shiite neighborhoods in Baghdad on Thursday, killing at least 27 people and intensifying fears that insurgents are stepping up attacks after the U.S. troop withdrawal that was completed last month..." striking fears of civil war."

And here's why:

This is just a TERRIBLE thing...simply awful. Think about this you misguided death wielding Republicans. We were there FOR NINE...count them NINE years with over 5,000 of our men and women DEAD, thousands wounded, hundreds of thousands Iraqi dead and wounded, and exiled all over the gd place, we destabilized the Middle East but good and here's some worse things to get through your thick heads: Sadam Hussein was a Sunni -- Georgy the Idiot Bush did not even KNOW what Sunni was and the difference and ancient hatred between Sunnis and Shiia. Hussein and the Sunnis were a minority who held power HATED Iran...fought a decade long war with them and kept them in check. NOW LOOK WHAT WE HAVE...just LOOK it's mind BLOWING...Sunnis, the minority under Hussein because of our invasion to get rid of him were obliterated and Shiia took over and are in power with Malaki and NOW they are allies with Iran. IRAN was handed the keys to the kingdom is the power broker there with a nuke-filled Pakistan and Iran is threatening to block world oil by blockading the Strait of Hormuz an act of war.

It was hard enough to get TRILLIONS of bucks for the military and supplies over to fight these wars and Afghanistan is still going. How on god's earth does ANYONE think IF Iran does this or worse that we are going to haul our posteriors over to that HUGE country twice the size of Iraq with difficult terrain and NOW more militarily sophisticated with a spent army. HOW? This is the neo Con IDIOTS revamping of the Middle East? This is what they thought would be so ducky....We could NOT stay in Iraq for another twenty years without going bankrupt nor would the Malaki government guarantee immunity to us so Obama HAD to pull out and Bush stated a pull out by now.

We are in BIG trouble there as Pakistan is angry and blocked supplies getting in to Afghanistan. We cannot be without supplies TO wage war and the Republican STUPIDS want to just bomb Iran?..Guess what you utter stupendous morons ... THERE ARE CONSEQUENCES when you drop bombs on people's heads! Furthermore Israel is at absolute risk without US military ability. We are a DONE empire because of our moronic military excursions from Vietnam to Iraq, et al.

I am NOT a Ron Paul supporter because I cannot stand his other positions BUT on foreign policy he is DEAD (pardon the pun) ON CORRECT.

This is what happens when you have INSANE unstatesmen-like leadership. You get death, destruction on an epic scale and a BIG threat if not to us directly to our economy and WWIII if we bomb Iran. How does a draft sound now? Not so good I bet. The American people are SO united -- NOT. A draft would go just swimmingly. Where is a hole I can hide!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45881411/

Defying Republicans, Obama to Name Cordray as Consumer Agency Chief -- GOOD!! The president with the appointment of Cordray as Consumer Agency Chief (link below) and with any other important policy he deems necessary to the protection of the Republic should do whatever is possible BY ANY MEANS necessary to thwart this mean, vituperative, caustic, racist Tea Party malevolence in the House and Congress that a few Americans in their infinite wisdom saw clear to elect. They are NOT representative of the country as a whole and November, 2012 will show exactly that. The president WILL be re-elected with MASSIVE amounts of people voting for him (maybe even more than 2008) who see the Republican SHAM for what it is.

This president, under the worst racist House imaginable, with the exception of the pre-Civil War era, has managed to get through under the most difficult circumstances legislation which will benefit the entire nation. Even when the Democrats held it all they STILL even then had Democrats in name only obstructionist bought low-life like Lieberman, Nelson, Landrieu and many others who impeded him from creating what he truly desired and what would have help the country. ANYONE on planet earth who thinks that the Republican Party will do one thing for them is sadly mistaken if not delusional.

The Democratic Party should be LASER focused on (1) re-electing this president who has suffered immensely from a virulent obstructionist Congress (2) turn the HOUSE PROGRESSIVE BLUE (3) KEEP the Senate in Democratic hands and win a few more to solidify it. Then the president in his second term will show the true face of his genius!!

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/04/defying-republicans-obama-to-name-cordray-as-consumer-agency-chief/?emc=na

A NO vote to Romney: Romney wins by ONLY FOUR votes -- FOUR-- the biggest win is Obama.

The Democratic Party has a LOT to save and MUST turn the Congress blue and get rid of Romney the complete chameleon, and empty suit! These lack of empathy Republicans will gut Social Security and Medicare. People WILL die. Republicans are the true death panels.

Republicans are AGGRESSIVE in foreign policy that means war with Iran and spend more money we do not have. Nor did we "win" in Iraq nor in Afghanistan either. Our army is spent and a draft to fight Iran will ultimately be a must to move an army across vicious terrain with some nations still not allowing American supplies to pass. This would cost billions if not trillions. Do you want your children to fight in World War III with NUKES on the line? If it's bad for Israel now just wait. It will be the end of that nation with America SO weakened by perpetual war and a populous that WILL be in revolt!

If the American people do not see how flawed this party is and how much worse than the Democratic party they are then they get what they deserve. If you want
your children to not make it then vote Republican. They are a rancidly divided party and their ideas are thought by those who do not think, cannot think or who simply do not care about anyone except themselves. If Republicans win there will probably be World War III and nuclear war...yes, I said it ... think about it before you think about casting votes for right wing extremist fundamentalist Republicans.

They are extremist insane.

Eye on Iowa: A University professor, Stephen Bloom, wrote an article for the Atlantic link below, about Iowa, a place he has lived in for twenty years. Brian Williams talked about the unflattering-to-Iowa piece because it has stirred up a hornet's nest of protest from some Iowans and because of it the professor had to go into hiding over the holidays. One of the paragraphs that Williams quoted from the article was the object of much Iowa vitriol. It said:

But relatively few rural Iowans are employed in the business of wind energy. The bulk of jobs here are low-income ones most Iowans don't want. Many have simply packed up and left the state (which helps keep the unemployment rate statewide low). Those who stay in rural Iowa are often the elderly waiting to die, those too timid (or lacking in educated) to peer around the bend for better opportunities, an assortment of waste-toids and meth addicts with pale skin and rotted teeth, or those who quixotically believe, like Little Orphan Annie, that "The sun'll come out tomorrow.

I followed with a blog of my own on the Atlantic site:

I am a Massachusetts Bostonian from my toes to my hair. Some say I am a northeast snob because I rate people not by money but by their academic status, where they attended college and most of all how they write and the grammar they choose to string two sentences together.

I took a trip across country many years ago which included passing through Iowa. The trip was in February and there was no snow on the ground. I remember my first impression was that I was astounded as to how many tractor and feed stores I saw and how flat the ground was. I did not see a tree within sight. I asked the driver if people really lived here as it seemed so empty, gray and lonely. He rejected that assessment and told me how rich the land was and how it was some of the best farmland in the world.

Professor Bloom's assessment, though, rings true. I did not stay overnight in Iowa nor did I chat with many but I rode away from that state missing Massachusetts to my core. Upon return to my great state, I as my grandfather did when he came to America, wanted to kiss every rocky road and tree-lined highway in the state. I could not wait for the beautiful foliage of spring to be followed by even more glorious color in fall. Iowa may be a decent place to visit but I would not want to live there. I love my state, its diversity and its liberalness. I could not imagine living anywhere else! :-)


http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2011/12/observations-from-20-years-of-iowa-life/249401/1/

A Letter to Occupy Wall Street:

I am a left of center progressive and have supported the Occupy Wall Street movement as best I able given my personal circumstances. I love this movement and think it is beyond necessary; it is vital. Forming our mantra as the 99% against the 1% is brilliant. It is something to which people can relate and understand so keep saying it.

Having said that I am old enough to remember the 1968 Democratic convention which ensured the Republican Richard the lawbreaker Nixon the presidency as the electorate saw televised violence perpetrated by radicals on the left at that particular convention which the protesters stupidly, in my opinion, chose to attack. It alienated much of the electorate and drew many into the Republican Party with the selected title of the "Moral Majority." A law and order right wing movement was born and has reshaped party politics for generations. It lives today in the extremist politics of the religious right at the Republican base and brings along with it in side-car tow other very dangerous and racist right wing groups.

I ask you -- no I implore you -- to pass the word to Occupy movements all over the nation not to make the same mistakes that were made in the summer of 1968. Do not give the opposition propaganda to paint false pictures of who we are and what Occupy is about.

This time we have many of those who once were not on our side standing with us because they too have been crushed by the Wall Street banksters and fraudsters. Court union support! Unions can have immense power and those who comprise them are the ones whom Republican state governors like the malevolent Walker, Kasich, Scott, LePage and others, managed to alienate with their poisonous wolf-in-sheep's-clothing politics. Moreover, the egregious things that were done by the banksters on Wall Street have been ruinous to the blue collar masses as they have to most everyone. The Unions are our allies and it is for them and the rest of the 99% we work. Walk in solidarity with them.

There must not be any violence at the Democratic convention or the Republican Convention in the summer. Reality dictates that it is from these two parties that the presidential race will be taken. Whatever our president has done with which progressives find fault it must not be for one second thought that Romney (the apparent Republican nominee to be) or any Republican would be a good thing. The Republican extremist Party is the opposite of a good thing and they vowed before our president did one thing to unseat him. Do not hand the election to these hucksters of malfeasance. Be careful of people from the other side who may incite you to violence. Republicans lie all the time and will stop at nothing to plant treason among you as history has shown. Be smart use the tactics of Gandhi and Martin Luther King. It will serve us much better.

A Republican, if elected, will select two or maybe more justices for the Supreme Court. Additional so called "conservatives" on this right wing tipped court will make things infinitely worse.

Spread the word absolutely no violence at the Democratic convention and no violence at the Republican convention. You do not want to give our opposition any ammunition they can use against us and win power they should not rightly have.

Happy New Year to you all and thank you very much for what you do!

A stream of consciousness plea:

I am a left of center progressive and have supported the Occupy movement as best I can from where I am. I love this movement and think it was so necessary. Forming it as the 99% against the 1% is brilliant. It is a mantra people can understand. Keep pushing it.

Having said that I am old enough to remember the 1968 Democratic convention which got the Republican Richard the lawbreaker Nixon elected due to the violence the country saw. It alienated much of the electorate and drew them into the Republican Party as the "Moral Majority" and a law and order right wing movement was born. It lives today as the radical religious fundamentalists at the base of the Republican Party. There are, of course, some differences in that the politics of that era were generally about the Vietnam War and black civil rights. Much of white America loathed it and loathed what they saw as a lack of patriotism on the left. It is why even today we on the left get painted with that false unpatriotic brush.

I ask you -- no I implore you -- to pass the word around to whomever are with you and Occupy movements all over the country do not make the same mistakes as we did in the late 60's. Do not give the opposition propaganda to paint false pictures of what we are. This time we have many of those who were the moral majority on our side because they too have been crushed by the Wall Street banksters and fraudsters. Court union support! It is from where immense power comes and those who comprise it are the ones whom state governors like the malevolent Walker, Kasich, Scott, LePage and others managed to alienate with their poisonous wool- in-sheep's-clothing politics. This is the opposition's big mistake. The egregious things they did on Wall Street are ruinous to the huge blue collar masses. The Unions are your friends and it is for them and the rest of the 99% that we work. Reach your hand out to unions and walk in solidarity with them.

There must not be any violence especially at the Democratic convention in the summer. Reality dictates that it is from these two parties that the presidential race will be taken. Whatever our president has done with which progressives find fault it must not be for one second thought that Romney (the apparent Republican nominee to be) will be a good thing. He's the opposite of a good thing. Do not hand the election to him and the Republican Party. Much of that party is filled with right wing racist extremists. He, if elected, will pick two or maybe more Supreme Court. appointments. More so called "conservatives" on this rancidly tipped court will end this country as we have known it. Do not be violent to ensure that happens. And be careful of people from the other side who may incite you to violence. Republicans lie all the time and will stop at nothing to plant treason among you as many have shown. Be smart use the tactics of Gandhi and Martin Luther King. It will get you and us so much more.

Spread the word ... No absolutely no violence at the Democratic convention and no violence at the Republican convention either. You do not want to give our opposition any ammunition they can use against us.

Happy New Year to you all and thank you much for what you do!

Suggested Viewing -- I AM: I'll bet you are wondering as I did what is I Am. “I Am” was shown on Oprah’s OWN network this afternoon. It is a documentary by Tom Shadyak former extraordinarily successful comedy writer for the comedic greats such as Jim Carey, Eddie Murphy and Robin Williams. Shadyak’s life was reversed in a nanosecond by a bicycle accident which left him with a severe concussion, fractures and many difficult long-lasting post-concussive aftereffects.

I suspect one could think about the title "I Am" as I did metaphorically. Moses, as the tale is told, confronted God from a burning bush on the mountain of Sinai in the age old from-slavery-to freedom story in the Old Testament book of Exodus. He asked God when he came upon Him "Who shall I tell the people you are and who has sent me?" A voice told him: "Tell them I Am that I Am, tell them I Am has sent you." The film relates to the awe inspiring interconnectedness of all humanity and humanity’s affect on our universe. He uses science to reinforce some of his uncovered truths. This film is a search for that which connects us all which has profound effects on every other living thing and even on the universe itself.

He ultimately asks the questions most of us ask in our lifetime trying to discover the meaning of it all and why so much seemingly has gone so wrong. He went on his own world-wide journey asking those questions of some great sages and also asks them what we can do to fix it.

The conversations he had with a variety of people such as the late Howard Zinn, Noam Chomsky, Desmond Tutu, scientists and many others had a profound impact on even a curmudgeonly skeptic like me. I hope if you view it, it will do the same for you. Perhaps, we can even talk about it some day.

I post the link to it below.


http://iamthedoc.com/

Twitter, Twitter Little NON Star: I strongly agree with Joan Venocchi's Sunday, January 1, 2012 Boston Globe editorial "Twitter, Twitter, on the wall" (linked below.) I tried to get into Twitter several times to understand its concept and its rules. When contemplating an issue I typed over the 140 character limit by about 10,000 characters I knew it was at the top of my list of those things reflecting our culture that drive me berserk.

McDonald's has been, until now, my symbolic prototype for the nation's addiction to instant gratification and a mirror-reflecting example of much that I believe is wrong in our land. Twitter, perhaps, now is taking its place at the apex of my list as the number one detestable computerized example of exactly who we are and how repugnant it is. Twitter is utterly devoid of substance on issues that often need encyclopedic discussion. America, in particular, has no time for that with its attention span lasting at best 10 minutes, its historical memory lasting maybe 20, and its need to watch Kim Kardashian's wedding (or is it divorce) above listening to Yo Yo Ma at Symphony Hall.

How did so many of us get so vapid, vacuous and, well, just plain dumb? When one's life is devoted to not just saying but needing to say "Justin Beber's hair was out of whack and so is mine" instead of reading and discussing in depth the relevance of Dickens's "Hard Times" or Tolstoy's "War and Peace, or the content of Ron Suskind's book "Confidence Men" then I feel blessed that I missed entering this earth in, as Dickens's Tale of Two Cities might contend, the worst of all possible times -- the era of stupid!

http://www.bostonglobe.com/staff/vennochi

A Man for All Seasons: I enclose the link here to an article which is an Op Ed from the UK's "Guardian" written by Glenn Greenwald. It is entitled: "Vote Obama – if you want a centrist Republican for US president"

"Vote Obama – if you want a centrist Republican for US president.
Because Barack Obama has adopted so many core Republican beliefs, the US opposition [Republican] race is a shambles"

It gives one pause for thought and I do not mind saying a degree of regret and oodles of increasing surprise. STILL the Republican field, as Greenwald notes, has had to tack so far to the right that they fall off a cliff because there is hardly a thing, from a Republican perspective, about Obama's governing style that they can criticize. The Republican race because of that has become happily Theater of the Absurd and a laughable cirque du soleil.

One should not dismiss, I think, the accomplishments that Obama has had with respect to the Ledbetter Law, Don't Ask Don't Tell repeal, certain aspects of the health care law, middle class tax cuts, extending unemployment and inserting many other necessary regulations into law. These are, from a Democratic perspective, praiseworthy.

Most importantly the 5 to 4 fractured-down-the-middle right wing extremist Supreme Court could become sane again as Obama would have, in his second term, the ability to select more justices for this all important branch tipping the balance, happily for me, to the left. He probably will have at least two appointments in his second term and, perhaps, more. Hopefully, then, it would mean eradicating, destroying and blowing up the deadly Citizens United malodorous decision which made corporations people and placed money -- BIG BIG money - at the center of our political "choice."

For those reasons alone President Obama is, in my opinion, the only man for our electoral season!

Fundamentalist Farce -- this time in Israel: These are my quickly formulated thoughts about the Israeli woman who wanted to sit in the front of the bus and was spat upon by an Israeli ultra orthodox sect and the prospect of the ultra orthodox in Israel gaining power. I wrote Haaretz (Israeli newspaper) and know I am not alone among the secular of Israel AND most importantly many if not most Jews in the US who support the Jewish state. I stated the following:

I am a Jewish American and a strong supporter of Israel even though I am left of center. I stand alone often in my views and written opinions about Israel on that part of the political spectrum. My most important view is church/state separation and the issue I care most about is religious extremism world wide. I can tell you my support IF the ultra orthodox extremists of Israel go the way of world-wide Islamic fundamentalists the Jewish state WILL lose my support and that of many others in the US and elsewhere.

Israel for some is on difficult ground regarding what some think about its actions surrounding the Palestinian situation. So far my main love for Israel is the fact (a) it is a Jewish state for ALL Jews and (b) it is generally secular in the mainstream of its religious and political practice with a small minority of irrational religious fanatics.

If these religious fundamentalist fanatics gain power and Israel goes the way of Islamic fundamentalism and even Christian fundamentalism I will be through supporting Israel. I will withdraw my support of Israel if the religiously fanatic gain power when my main argument for Israel is that it is a secular, democratic, and an advanced state. I as a Jew am so proud of what Israel has accomplished in the face of annihilation from its enemies that surround it and because of the our unique existentially threatening history during the Holocaust.

Think twice though, my Israeli brethren, of letting backward reactionaries rule. Be smart and reject the power of ultra orthodox religious adherents and reject them en masse.

The Face of Evil -- A Walk in Bradley Manning's Shoes: [A letter to the Metro West News] The photograph and the report by Time Magazine of an Afghanistan woman's mutilated face at the hands of the Taliban for the "sin" of adultery is so chilling and so mind boggling it defies my anemic ability to describe this bestial behavior perpetrated by them.

In light of this photograph, the depths of its depravity, the Islamic suicide blasts all over the world killing thousands perhaps hundreds of thousands of innocents, I say this is the way of our world in this era. This is the culture the nation must protect itself against as there are those who want to do nothing more than to take us down. This is not an illusion. How long would vocal critics of the nation, as I have been many times, survive in any Islamic country on planet earth given one's critical political views? Answer: Not long. Yes, we have been changed by 9/11. I am not happy about it but there are realities one cannot deny. It occurred period end of sentence. Assessment of good and evil nations is one of degree because man does not know perfection. There is no perfect nation on earth.

Bradley Manning revealed classified documents about this country and its allies. There were so many documents released it is with little certainty that we know if in fact damage was done despite some dubious claims that there was not. At the expense of whom would these hundreds of thousands released documents be?

From which country would those who are placing Manning in hero status wish to report? There must be something good about a country that allows a commentator to speak or write critically without being jailed. Could you or I be jailed for what we write? I suppose we could. Do I think we will be? No, I do not but I know for sure if I lived in Iran (or any Islamic nation) my life would be worthless and not only because I am a Jew. The left is at times blind to Islamic tyranny and easy to assign blame without critical analysis if it has the US and Israel's imprimatur attached to it.

Manning probably is being made an example by the US government. Bradley Manning was hoping to give the adversaries of this nation fuel to add to the rage that already runs deep in the veins of the Middle East. Where would Bradley Manning like to live given the fact that his sexuality is an issue? Would he like to live in Iran where they hang homosexuals or perhaps Saudi Arabia where life imprisonment or death would await? Would he like to live anywhere else in the Middle East where there is no place a homosexual can hide (with the exception of guess where? Right, if you guessed Israel!) He wants to help indict an adversary which would not permit him to take a breath. He must be either deranged or significantly stupid.

If Bradley Manning must be made an example to the rest of the country of what the country will do if it is betrayed then so be it. We are talking about preventing an entity Al Qaeda and friends of Al Qaeda from obtaining a nuclear device which they would run not walk through the nearest entrance and deliver to a place near you. This does not mean I support blindly everything the nation does. Clearly, I do not BUT no one forced Manning to
join the military. It was his choice. When one signs an oath -- a voluntary oath at that -- one does not betray it especially if the adversary on the field of battle is steroidal tyranny times 10.

I am not afraid to write, to phone, to blog or to say anything critical about my country and have done so numerous times. It is because of that fact that I believe our nation is worth saving and why if I walked in Bradley Manning's shoes I never ever would have betrayed it.

Palsied Paul: If anyone thinks Ron Paul is the Messiah reincarnated for the early twenty-first century, I advise you to think again. While this article from the Atlantic (link below) written by Conor Friedersdorf entitled: "Grappling with Ron Paul's Racist Newsletters" is rather lengthy and its conclusion is not exactly one to which I agree, it is a MUST read for those who are flirting with supporting this, in my opinion, dangerous Libertarian politico. All that glitters is not ... well you know the rest.

Ron Paul is, in my opinion, the fox dressed up in the sheep's clothes. Apologies for the cliches but if you read the post you will know what I mean. Even if one ignores the possible racist Paul, if elected, Paul would reduce government, if he even could, to the size of a Grover Norquist postage stamp eliminating all the ever-so-important regulatory institutions which, in fact, work well and are necessary to the nation's survival.

If you are thinking of voting for Ron Paul should he appear on the ballot, I advise re-thinking this inadvisable action which would give this mentally palsied man your vote!

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2011/12/grappling-with-ron-pauls-racist-newsletters/250206/

Against All Odds: This is a stream of consciousness forgive the lack of prudent sentence construction but I am FIRED UP and ready to go!

I smell blood in the water. I am beginning to think the president will win and big. (DARE I hope)
Rachel had a clip of another Romney flip flop so EGREGIOUS that I'm beginning to let myself think an "O" win might be significantly there. I, yes, am praying for it. (Here is the clip Romney flip flop so horribly on Iraq in 2008 and 2011!) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/22/mitt-romney-iraq-war-position_n_1164384.html

Maybe there is a god. The sicko RepbuGlicRATS have boxed themselves into a corner by the rejection of the payroll tax cut their OWN mantra. It shows they are ONLY interested in unseating our first black president. I am CONVINCED beyond a shadow of a doubt they used that remnant of white racism that is part of our country's horrific inheritance to attain power and turn our country back to the late 19th century or worse. But that racism is waning as the country turns THANKFULLY less white and more mixed. The Republicans used it to get themselves elected to power maybe for the last time. That Tea Bag movement is nearly all white and I think maybe dying (maybe). The blacks who are Republicans like Cain, West, Steele, Keys, are aberrations and tokens. These Republican swine strain credulity and would NEVER ever let a black man into the presidency from the Republican Party.

What they have done to our president has been unconscionable! Republicans have been the meanest, racist pieces of humanity that ever existed in our country since before the Civil War. These are genetic malformations and Mitch McConnel spouting his insulting words that his main goal was to see the president unseated is nearly treasonous and will be played over and over again during the campaign. Yes, and if he had to see the country drown no problem he will. These humans have NO empathy, no heart and not one cell in their bodies that has some humanity -- and tan man Boehner proves it as he cannot handle his position. The guy who handed out cigarettes once on the house floor maybe is putting his own nails in his own coffin by not understanding how to wield power. He cannot contain his cats, they are running wild. Rachel Maddow showed him to be the incompetent he is. If you did not see her program last night Google it.

My fervent prayer is that those jerks lose and lose big. Forgive the passion and god forgive my hate but I loathe them more than words can say for what they have put our president through. They have been BRUTAL beyond words. He TRIED to do good, he tried but that 2010 election of those stupids of stupids tea idiots to take over the House made his life hell. He encountered an opposition rivaled only by our country in 1854.

My heart breaks for our president because I do not think in his heart he is a center right person. What could he do? They are incorrigible and obstructionist to the extreme. The fatal error was not pouncing on them in the summer of the town hall Tea Bag anarchy in 2010 with the full bully pulpit of the presidency. They ran Miller of Alaska out, they ran Christine idiot O'Donnell out and they got the NY 26 a formerly Repub district blue and don't forget Engel that no brain fool out. Wisconsin will recall that jerk Walker, and already recalled many Republicans. They put back the pro worker mural in Maine and there are more instances of Dem strength in 2011 with a renewal of unions on our side. Thank god for Harry Reed too!!

So I think they might get their rotten asses whipped but I am afraid to say it so I'm not sure BUT I know we MUST MUST work to re-elect the president with all the strength that we have and had in 2008. We need MORE strength than even then. Our country is at stake. DO NOT let the Republicans sink our country as that is what they will do. Bush was living proof of that! The Supreme Court too is at stake with conceivably THREE more justices to ultimately be nominated. Either they can swing the court back and nullify their formerly unconscionable Citizens United decision putting HUGE money into politics, making corporations people or they can get even worse than that, nullifying health care, nullifying rights for gays, nullifying right for women, other minorities and eradicating Roe v. Wade. It nearly already is. Money in our political system is its death knell. If Romney wins all the gains we have worked so hard over decades to get will be gone and our country will be lost. Even Social Security and Medicare is at stake! Utube George Carlin's "American Dream" and although a bit of pepper in his language he got it EXACTLY right.

Every one of us should be sporting Obama stickers AND do NOT FORGET ELIZABETH WARREN TOO! She will be the greatest senator in the history of the senate IF she wins. Brown, the aberration, is running scared. BRING TEDDY'S SEAT BACK to Dems where it belongs. I take shelter in the substance of what Massachusetts is and has always been. Let's keep it that way.

We have HUGE HUGE fights to win. DO NOT GIVE UP, DO NOT FALTER AND DO NOT FAIL! Forget what you may think the president compromised on and see him as a besieged person trying to do a Herculean task and the best he could with huge opposition and against all odds.

Insanity and the Death of Kim Jong Il: Kim Jong Il, the narcissistically neurotic “Dear Leader” tyrant of North Korea, died yesterday. It would be nice if N. Korea could have a N. Korean spring. I doubt very much that will happen or that things will significantly change if the tyrant Kim Jung Il "groomed" a successor son, Kim Jung Un, to be his clone. Still, one can wish a ray of hope shines through to that sadly beleaguered and hungry nation. No one will know the true metamorphosis of this event for quite some time.

It is interesting that few Communist states have survived under the so called cult of personality. When one thinks of the Soviet Union under Stalin and a line of others, or China under Mao Zedong, states which were supposedly of utmost threat to US freedom, one sees barely a remnant of those states existing in Communist form today. Castro's Cuba may ultimately, after his death, go the way of China. The Eastern Communist block exists no longer and even Vietnam, where 50,000 US dead bled on its soil, is on a capitalist track. Why? Because Communism as an economic philosophy is unworkable. It stifles competition, impedes progress and slaughters or politically imprisons its own people.

So why did the US round up so many so called "Communists" in its own witch hunts of yesteryear anyway? What was so frightening that this country had to spend billions/trillions in treasure and tens of thousands in gallons of blood fighting this "menace" which was in truth no menace at all. It was an excuse, as extremist Islam is now, to ramp up a US military/industrial Goliath that is capable of striking preemptively at will and has.

I submit the few Communist states remaining and now certain Islamic extremists states have more to fear from the US than we do from them. 9/11 never would have happened had one George W. Bush taken his Presidential Daily Briefing seriously which warned him bin Laden ready to attack the US. In true cerebral brilliance his response: “Thanks, now you've covered your posterior” and then decided to go on vacation.

How many more US soldiers will volunteer to be used to fight phony wars for trumped up rationales? Let's hope from all of this, including the utter failures in Iraq, we have learned a bitter lesson. Perilously, though, the American historical memory is exceedingly short and it people's knowledge of history sorely lacking. Some day, in the not too distant future, an American president will dupe its people again into the Bush-like six gun mentality of preemptive war shooting first, asking questions later convincing us that certain nations are an imminent threat and we must invade. The nation then will follow blindly like sheep to the slaughter and repeat the same mistakes over and over again. Albert Einstein (according to Snopes.com) is often credited with the maxim, "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

In Memoriam to Christopher Hitchens. I am very saddened by Hitchens's death. I LOVED this man. I loved his brilliance, his acerbic wit and his willingness to look at the issues of life without mythological beings explaining what science knew not to be true. He fought for the dissemination of truth through his writings, speeches, and appearances. He was a true intellectual, a giant academic and I will miss him VERY much!!

If you do not know who he is I suggest you Google his name, find out what he wrote and read it with an open mind. Whether you believe what he said is the truth does not matter. At least he will give you endless hours of great reading and profound thoughts to contemplate.

Sum Total Deadly: I am a Glenn Greenwald fan. Occasionally, though, I differ with him by degrees not yards. I offer my opinion on his latest blog: "Exploiting the Anti-Semitism Smear now Backfiring" appearing in Salon.com (www.salon.com/2011/12/1 /exploiting_the_anti_semitic_smear_now_backfiring/singleton/#comments) in which he talks about the usurpation and even the elimination of critical Israeli policy analysis on the left by Neocon and pro Israeli factions on the right. He concludes, too, generally, that a discussion of Israeli policy is often shut down by even the most liberal news commentators. I am stunned by that accusation because these political commentators most critical of Israeli policy support nation states and political groups which are the most significantly religious, undemocratic, politically censoring and death wielding entities on planet earth.

Curiously enough the left (of which I am a part), whose philosophy has always been supportive of the oppressed and was, to its credit, vociferous during the perilous Nazi period stridently condemning the German war machine and its battle to finally eliminate the Jew not just from the land but from life itself, finds itself supportive of anti-democratic groups with fascist-like religious agendas simply because those groups are anti-Zionist or economically disadvantaged.

SOME, if not most, on the left, now are SO hypercritical of Israel and its policies that it falls, in my opinion, into the shadow of the old European Antisemitism. While some writers (including me) are critical of SOME Israeli polices most on the academic left now spawn an antisemitism (which they ardently deny) by claiming they are not anti Jew but merely anti Zionist or anti Israeli policy. That I submit is a Trojan Horse. The virulent criticism of Israel and antiZionist thought often gives those, particularly in the Arab world, the kerosene they need to flame the fires of the old Christian antiSemitism but this time it is in a new venue. The "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" a Russian phony document written in the early 20th century, which those whose brainchild for the Final Solution of Europe's Jews ULTIMATELY embraced, was an intrinsic ingredient to its plethora of rationale for death of the six million. The Protocols like the composer Wagner before it were favorites among the Nazi elite and Hitler himself. "The Protocols" can be found as a best seller in bookstores everywhere in the Middle East.

While Christian Antisemitism now seems to have become nearly fossil extinct its spawn in the Arab world flourishes. It is like a relay race where the baton of Jew hatred is passed to a new generation that exists all over the Islamic world. The old Jew cabalistic conspiratorial canards which meant death to the Jew in the Europe are now used prolifically ALL over the Middle East. It is as if today the Jew is time-machine transported to that ugly period. It is sometimes difficult to tell the difference between then and now.

If one can wrap one's mind around the SIX MILLION number NO WONDER Jews are just a little bit edgy about living through that kind of malevolent hatred yet again. The thought of living in a world then that existentially slaughtered nearly 2/3rds of the Jews of Europe makes a rational brain convulse.

Martin Luther King so eloquently in 1967 said what happens when one looks beneath an anti-Zionist one finds an Antisemite (link below). Perhaps, that is why many in the mainstream media are careful when criticizing Israel. Looming in the crevices of their most knowledgeable minds are images of Dachau and Auschwitz incapable of synaptic erasure but wanting that memory expunged. It's memory, though, is indelible and the Jew is forever sadly attached to its legacy and the Antisemitic legacy of 2000 years of historical review.

I maintain Israel is used as a punching bag for the same tired Antisemitism of old Europe except now it is in a different place. It meant existential death to the Jew then and it means existential death to the Jew now. It merely morphs into a different milieu but its equation is the same and its sum total just as deadly.

http://www.cdn-friends-icej.ca/antiholo/ml_king.html

Tyranny in America: I have written on my inability to come to a definite conclusion about the now pending National Defense Authorization Act giving the president HUGE powers to detain indefinitely ANYONE based on the president's say so alone who is suspected of terrorist activities -- that means -- you, me, my 92 year old aunt -- ANYONE can be snagged and thrown in jail indefinitely with NO ONE, NOBODY, NADA able to come to one's defense. It will soon be on the president's desk for him to veto or sign.

In view of the recent story carried by MSNBC News today "Immigration Crackdown also Snares American citizens under the Secure Citizen's Act" -- linked at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45665156/ns/us_news-the_new_york_times/ this becomes ESPECIALLY troubling. These acts have Orwellian names because they ARE Orwellian when they are used to snag INNOCENTS UNJUSTLY to protect and exacerbate power. They are ESPECIALLY egregious if they trap innocents and US citizens simply because they LOOK Mexican, Hispanic or Muslim. It is EXACTLY about which our nation is NOT supposed to be and it is exactly the case in states like Arizona, Alabama and others which have enacted some of the most stringent anti-immigrant legislation. The case for the misuse of the law targeting specific types is infinite.

It is the height of hypocrisy and injustice that the criminals who took down Wall Street, the middle class's 401Ks, pension funds and sank the world wide economy get away with a type of murder but the federal government is going after the powerless often who are innocent. Why? BECAUSE THEY CAN. It is the same reason this nation used YOUR money and mine to invade and kill hundreds of thousands (including 5,000 Americans wounding thousands of others) in Iraq, a country which did NOTHING to us. What have we become? Glenn Greenwald, a civil liberties attorney and writer, posts many opinions about these vital issues on Salon.com. He can be read at http://www.salon.com/writer/glenn_greenwald/

Those who know me understand I try to look at issues from both sides and KNOW as I have said many times this is no ordinary time because the life and death stakes are so high. BUT when the state detains for days or indefinitely the innocent based on APPEARANCE or minor infractions alone and the right hand of the federal government does not know what the left hand of the state is doing offering no Fourth and Sixth Amendment Constitutional protections even to its own citizens, it makes my head explode.

Pastor Martin Niemoller, a German theologian who experienced 1930's Germany first hand, is said to have written his famous words about that period:

First they came for the communists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me.

I enclose the following article for you to critically view these issues. I do not know if I agree with all of it but the issues it presents are important for you, they are important for me and they are important for ALL the generations that come after us if you want a country dedicated to the Constitutional protections of the rule of law to prevail.

Legislating Tyranny in America - by Stephen Lendman.


Obama won't prosecute CIA torturers, Wall Street crooks, other corporate criminals, lawless war profiteers, or other venal high-level civilian or government officials.

Instead, expect him to sign into law (or at least tacitly approve) indefinite military detentions of US citizens allegedly associated with terrorist groups, with or without corroborating evidence.

Post-9/11, US freedoms and other democratic values dramatically eroded. Enactment of police state provisions in the FY 2012 National Defense Authorization Act comes closer to ending them entirely.

On December 5, the ACLU headlined, "Indefinite Detention, Endless Worldwide War and the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)," saying:

Enactment of this measure will authorize "the military to pick up and imprison people, including US citizens, without charging them or putting them on trial."

Secretly with no hearings, both Houses are rushing to complete a "joint version" before leaving for Christmas break. "Fundamental American values and freedoms are on the line." Given the stakes, they're perilously hanging by a thread.

On December 13, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) urged Obama to veto NDAA in its present form. Otherwise, he'll "be responsible for signing into law one of the greatest expansions of executive power in our nation's history, allowing the government to lock up citizens and non-citizens without the right to fair trials."

Indefinite detentions violate core democratic freedoms, including fundamental Bill of Rights ones already gravely eroded.

On November 27, 1941, Franklin Roosevelt issued Proclamation 2524, declaring December 15 Bill of Rights Day to commemorate its 150th 1791 ratification.

At the time, he hailed "America('s) charter of personal liberty and human dignity," including "freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, and the free right to petition the Government for redress of grievances."

Although American freedom then was far less than he claimed, today it hangs by a thread and may pass entirely any time for any reason.

In response to global imperial wars, corporate favoritism, unbridled private sector criminality, and political corruption at the highest levels, causing economic crisis conditions at home, thousands began protesting nationwide for social justice.

In response, militarized police confront them violently as NDAA heads for enactment to stop anyone from challenging US hegemony and corporate power by throwing them indefinitely in military dungeons to rot.

Equity and justice are fast eroding entirely to advance America's imperium. On May 26, the House passed HR 1540, 322 - 96. Doing so took a giant step toward abolishing freedom entirely.

On December 1, the Senate's S. 1867 followed suit, 93 to 7. Both versions assure no one anywhere is now safe, including law-abiding US citizens.

Enactment means anyone anywhere, including US citizens, may be indefinitely held without charge or trial, based solely on suspicions, baseless allegations or none at all.

No reasonable proof is required, just suspicions that those detained pose threats. Under subsection (b)(1), indefinite detentions can follow mere membership (past or present) or support for suspect organizations.

Presidents will have unchecked authority to arrest, interrogate and indefinitely detain law-abiding citizens if accused of potentially posing a threat.

Constitutional, statute and international laws won't apply. Presidential diktats will replace them.

US military personnel will be authorized to arrest and indefinitely detain anyone globally, including US citizens. No one anywhere will be safe.

Due process, civil protections, and judicial fairness will be null and void. Presidents could order anyone arrested and imprisoned for life without charge or trial. Abuse of power will replace rule of law protections. It can happen in days.

Ahead of their holiday break, leaders from both Houses are meeting secretly to resolve final language differences before sending NDAA to Obama to sign.

Promising a veto, he lied. He broke every major promise made. This one's no exception at a time he can go either way, given enough congressional votes to override him.

Moreover, Senate bill sponsor Carl Levin said administration officials, in fact, lobbied against language excluding US citizens from indefinite military detentions without trials or due process. According to Levin:

"The language which precluded the application of Section 1031 to American citizens was in the bill that we originally approved....and the administration asked us to remove (it) which says that US citizens and lawful residents would not be subject to this section."

"It was the administration that asked us to remove the very language which we had in the bill which passed the committee. (W)e removed it at the request of the administration....It was the administration which asked us to remove the very language, the absence of which is now objected to."

In other words, Obama wants US citizens indefinitely detained in military prisons whether or not charged. He fully supports police state repression. Only his disingenuous rhetoric says otherwise.

Earlier by Executive Order, he authorized indefinite detentions with or without military commission trials for persons designated national security threats. Intended specifically for Guantanamo detainees, it could be stretched to include anyone.

In addition, he authorized CIA operatives and Special Forces death squads to kill targeted US citizens abroad. As a result, they may be hunted down and murdered in cold blood for any reason or none at all.

Outspoken Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, a US citizen living in Yemen at the time, was killed for opposing Washington's imperium, not alleged or committed crimes. His murder comes perilously close to replicating assassinations at home, whether covertly or openly.

In fact, administration lawyers called US citizens legitimate targets if deemed national security threats, with or without corroborating evidence. As a result, indeed no one's safe, whether or not NDAA passes in its current form.

According to CIA counsel Stephen Preston and Pentagon lawyer Jeh Johnson, US citizens at war with America have no immunity. Executive branch officials, not courts, will decide guilt or innocence issues.

In other words, anyone voicing opposition to America's imperium risks being targeted for arrest, detention or assassination.

With regard to Obama's NDAA position, his White House November 17 Statement of Administration Policy said:

"The Administration supports Senate passage of (NDAA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2012."

"Section 1031 attempts to expressly codify the detention authority that exists under the Authorization for Use of Military Force (Public Law 107-40) (the "AUMF"). The authorities granted by the AUMF, including the detention authority, are essential to our ability to protect the American people from the threat posed by al-Qaida and its associated forces...."

"Because the authorities codified in this section already exist, the Administration does not believe codification is necessary and poses some risk....While the current language minimizes many of those risks, future legislative action must ensure (against) unintended consequences that could compromise our ability to protect the American people."

Senate bill S. 1867, Section 1031, affirms the "authority of the armed forces of the United States to detain covered persons," including US citizens.

Section 1032 requires suspects held in military custody, outside constitutionally mandated civil protections, without habeas rights, due process, and other judicial procedures.

Obama may object to legislative language, not its intent. As a result perhaps, wiggle room wording changes may assuage his concerns, while leaving sweeping indefinite military detention authorization unchanged.

In other words, presidents henceforth may order anyone indefinitely detained in military prisons uncharged, including US citizens.

A Final Comment

Even before 9/11, Washington began militarizing police forces nationwide. Sophisticated weapons and training are provided, including military robots, M-16 assault rifles, helicopters, armored vehicles, grenade launchers, and other weapons previously used only by military forces.

In 1997, the so-called 1033 Program (formerly the 1208 Program) let the Defense Secretary "transfer, without charge, excess US Department of Defense (DoD) personal property (supplies and equipment) to state and local law enforcement agencies (LEAs)."

As a result, they've been supplied with land, air and sea vehicles, weapons, computer equipment, body armor, fingerprint equipment, night vision equipment, radios and televisions, first aid equipment, tents, sleeping bags, photographic equipment, and more.

In 2011 alone, about $500 million in military related hardware was supplied. Next year's amounts are expected to increase fourfold. Doing so coincides with OWS crackdowns.

More than ever, America is being militarized to quash popular social justice protests at a time equity and justice are fast disappearing. Moreover, military forces may intervene if local cops need help.

Post-9/11, police state terrorism was institutionalized. It's being hardened more than ever to crush dissent.

Constitutional, statute, and international law protections no longer apply. Planned tyranny will replace them, leaving no one safe anywhere henceforth.

Dr. Jekyll, Animal Farm, and No Ordinary Time: I used the titles of the works of classical authors Robert Lewis Stevenson, George Orwell and contemporary historian Doris Kearns Goodwin because their works offer, in content, much of what I thought about the latest civil liberties elimination bill.

Glenn Greenwald embedded video within his opinion “The Real Definition of Terrorism” (See link below). Senator Carl Levin’s comments on the Senate floor offers proof that the president will sign NDAA 1031 Citizen Imprisonment Law in a few days. It also offers proof, according to Greenwald, that “Carl Levin claimed as part of the debate over the detention bill he sponsored with John McCain that it was the Obama White House that demanded removal of language that would have exempted U.S. citizens from military detention without charges”

At first glance I was overwhelmed that a president whom I ardently supported, worked for, wrote endless opinion in support of, and in whom I completely believed, may be the Mr. Hyde of the infamous Dr. Jekyll. It is hard if not impossible to accept and yet, this bill indicates our President, a Harvard Constitutional Law professor, could be just that.

The bill he is about to sign would strip ALL of us of our civil libertarian rights most especially under the Fourth and Sixth Amendments by giving the president UNLIMITED executive power to detain for an unlimited time, without trial, and now even execute a person on the president’s say so alone even IF that person is an American citizen and even IF that person is on US soil. It would eradicate The Fourth and Sixth Amendments to the US Constitution as we know it. This bill is eerily Orwellian in its conception.

Our Fourth and Sixth Constitutional Amendments in order state:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defense.

This soon-to-be latest grievous usurpation of power given by Congress to our president tosses to the wind our Constitutional Bill of Rights mandates. This would be in any other ordinary time a clear infringement and a destruction of the pillars upon which our form of government stands. I agree it would be – in any other ordinary time. But what if this is NO ordinary time?

With the benefit of hindsight we are able to see what our nuclear age looks like. We are able to see this since an actual nuclear bomb was exploded by the US and used on Hiroshima/Nagasaki Japan to end World War II. The US is the only nation to have ever used this device on human beings and their environment in the theater of war. We can see clearly now what the word nuclear means by its evidence.

The unparalled destruction from those nuclear blasts had, in history, never been seen by man. It reached far into the future causing not only the physical destruction of land, buildings and the death of 250,000 people but also included the perpetration of hideous birth defects and cancer for future generations of Japanese who were first exposed.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki shows the extent of damage the explosion of a nuclear device (size small by all accounts) can do. Hiroshima is a mirror for mankind to see what happens when our nuclear age moves out of the text book into reality.

May we say our enemy, the so called terrorists whoever they may be, would IF they could explode, at the very least, a dirty bomb on this nation? We know for certain as Al Qaeda has said that IF they could get their hands on such a device they would NOT hesitate to use it. Some Islamic clergy have given their religious permission slip for such an action. One could argue US egregious actions have prompted such permission but that does not matter now. What matters now is that it exists.

I suggest our Founders wrote our Constitution in quite an ORDINARY time. That is they wrote it when warfare was quite different. We as a nation could bathe in the luxury of Constitutional principle because the consequences of that age were by comparison to present time not dire. No one then, could know what the development of nuclear weaponry was or what it would mean for the survival of not only a country but for the survival of man on this planet.

Glenn and others (including me) academically argue comfortably in the security of an auditorium, classroom or home the notion that our country is stepping on its sacred document. We do not consider that this is no ordinary time. It is not the time in which our Founders lived, nor is it even the time in which our 20th century World War I president, Woodrow Wilson, lived.

What if our so called enemies whether here or abroad obtain a nuclear device with the intent of using it on us? What would YOU do? What lengths would YOU go to prevent this? Are the heretofore sacrosanct edits of our Fourth and Sixth Amendments worth the utter destruction of this nation of 300 million plus and its generations to come?

These are notions I believe we must consider as Pakistan becomes more and more an enemy and less a friend. Pakistan has nuclear weapons. This world could not be known to our Founders and not known for generations which came after them but now it is very well known to us. What are we willing to do and what are we willing to give up to protect this nation from an enemy who knows no boundaries? What are we willing to do to protect our nation from the perils of our age and MOST importantly is it really necessary to alter if not destroy our constitutional principles to do so?

http://www.salon.com/writer/glenn_greenwald/