The Case of the Missing Mail: The news reports today about the 225 days of missing White House email which just happens to have begun in 2003. How odd that just happens to be when the Iraq War began. How surprised am I? I am not surprised by anything surreptitious this administration has done. The press, in general, seems to have forgotten all about that curious coincidental lost email. Will it forget about the phony letter to justify the Iraq War, or the dubious Anthrax investigation, or the bogus aluminum tubes, or the non-connection between Al Qaeda and Sadam Hussein, or the lack of WMD in Iraq? The list of trumped up reasons the Bush administration used to justify taking a country to war and the illegalities attendant to that goes on and on and on and on. I won't extrapolate, too, about the exposure of a CIA agent because her husband had the audacity to say Bush's war was phony from the beginning and there was, in fact, no uranium sent from Africa. Ah, those16 infamous words George Bush, with his suspiciously shifting eyes, used to lie to Congress to commit US troops and so many others to die in a fraudulently perpetrated war. Does this administration know how to do anything else but lie? Have they ever in eight years told the truth? If so about what? I have yet to find the truth except the few times those within that corrupt White House, at great cost to their own well being, braved administration retribution to tell it like it really was.

From the day George Bush began campaigning for the presidency lying about challengers within his own party, when he used a listening device to cheat at a debate explaining a bulge in the back of his suit as a wardrobe malfunction, when he fixed the 2004 election with machines that were rigged, stole Florida in 2000 and Ohio in 2004 by perpetrating irregularities, George Bush knew how to win only by lying.

When he first set foot into the White House not heeding warnings about an Al Qaeda impending attack up through and including all the lies about the war when on God's earth has this Republican administration told the truth? From 2000 to 2006 there were nothing but lies from an immoral president assisted by an utterly corrupt Republican Congress with the help of a few Democrats too. Hasn't the American public had enough? How many more lies, how many more deaths, how much more money will be spent on fraudulently concocted policies to support political cronies who pay lots and lots of cash to ensure things remain the same and never change. It is up to the American public to not just ask for honesty but demand it by demanding an accounting of those we the people place in office for the egregious lies they tell and the illegal things they do. If not now when?

The Truth: Jeff Jacoby, I really do try to see your point of view. Sometimes, though, I wonder if we are living on the same planet or if our eyes are biologically constructed of completely different stuff. With all that has happened in Iraq, all that has been written, all the corruption, lies, half-truths and murderous behavior that has been exposed how you can write what you do I will never understand. How you can write in support of a policy that has wrought one of the greatest human disasters in modern history, with the exception of the Hitlerian era, is beyond me. Do you even realize the hundreds of thousands of human beings who have been decimated, how many millions have been uprooted not to mention the trillions spent and wasted?

There is often not one Iraqi family to be found who has not lost someone as a direct result of George Bush's Iraq war. While the insurgency is probably temporarily squelched, water, sewer facilities, electricity, hospitals and other modern constructs in Iraq are often non existent or spasmodic at best. Buildings are ruined, bodies are ruined and there is still the killing and still the death. Of course, as you put it, success is now measured by "just five Americans killed in combat in July 08." Just five -- mmm -- I wonder who those five are. Are they members of YOUR family? Are they YOUR son or YOUR daughter or YOUR wife or YOUR cousin? Who are those "just five?" How easy it is for you to talk about those "just five" as if those statistics were representative of merely lines on a graph. Moreover, and maybe more disturbing to our security is that US occupation of Iraq has destabilized the entire region including Pakistan, a nuclear armed country. It is evidenced today with yet another bombing there. Our preoccupation with Iraq and the reemergence of the Taliban in Afghanistan has even emboldened Russia as it knows the US can do nothing. We have no army left with which to do anything. The border of Georgia, a thoroughfare for possible nuclear enriched uranium contraband, is closed to US monitoring of possible terrorist smuggling. A dirty bomb, because of that, could find its way into the US. I am more than frightened I am horror stricken.

What is there in the conservative brain that is the missing link to a concern for humanity -- ALL humanity not simply American humanity. I would love to know where the missing synapse is located in the conservative cerebral hemisphere that sees only American life as valuable life or thinks it can bamboozle an uninformed public to think our country is benevolently spreading democracy all over the world. If there were no oil in Iraq we would not have cared a wit about democracy there. To the contrary at a different time in the history of Iraq and when the US found it convenient, Saddam Hussein was our friend even as he gassed his own people. I would love to know how you can eradicate truth so easily. How can you deny all the deceit? How can you not see all the evidence showing documentation of events -- letters fabricated, dubious anthrax investigations, cover ups galore, not to mention exposing a CIA operative and thereby compromising the efforts to uncover terror? There is, too, the ever-present advocacy and implementation of torture. Under different circumstances the perpetrators of these fabrications, lies and illegalities would be apprehended and tried by an international criminal court. I do not know how anyone, after so much that has been shown to be false, horrendously executed, woefully wrong about the nature of Iraq its real threat and the cultural realities of its people, could offer a rationale for this war and say if they could they would do it all over again. I am staggered by your utterly imperviousness to truth.

I have watched Generation Kill -- an excellent HBO documentary which follows a company of marines as they invade Iraq during the first phase of the war. I am struck dumb by the stark difference between the two peoples who face each other in combat. The US military and the Iraqi citizen look like two different species from different planets. Each has no idea who the hell the other is. I think this captures the essence of why this war is utterly futile. The insurgent enemy is nameless, faceless, endless and alien. When one dies another is replaced. Life is cheap. Fighting terrorism, as Gore Vidal has quite rightly said, is like fighting dandruff. To wage a war against it requires continuous maintenance and can never be curtailed no matter how much professional military might is used. It needs prescient national and international localized police vigilance to capture or kill those few who would do great harm to this country and to others all over the world. It also needs, most importantly, insightful foreign policy behaviors which do not antagonize people but try to win them over -- hearts and minds and all. War does not do that. Winning a military victory or the glorious fight in Iraq is an ILLUSION. It will never happen. You are duped. The cruel immorality is you dupe others into believing up is down and wrong is right. I don't mind if you and your ilk sacrifice your own lives but the frightful thing to me is you will sacrifice my life and others I love for your blinded vision which does not see the truth.

The Pastor's Question: The media’s handling of Pastor Rick Warren’s exchange between Barack Obama and John McCain about abortion was obviously biased. The question that Pastor Warren posed: When does a human being get human rights is a TRAP question. The answer Barack gave "it is above my pay grade" meant, I believe, that he is not God, therefore, he cannot answer that question. Perhaps he could have answered that question more completely BUT I believe he meant that when life begins is a profound determination which each person has to make for herself. He could, and perhaps should, have said that decision is between her and God not her and the state or the president.

The media editorialized and called his answer flip. It was not flip. The media holds Obama to a different standard from McCain. Every word Barack Obama utters is parsed to try to "get" something on him. The news media made McCain, during that exchange, look direct and sure. That audience which is from, generally, the religious right, liked McCain's answer and, of course, as described, appreciated it.

Perhaps, Senator Obama should have said if abortion is made illegal many women, probably mostly poor women because the rich always find a way to do what they want, will seek abortions often times from a person who is not a doctor carrying the obvious risk of a full term human being dying from infection and other toxic occurrences. This was the fate of many women when abortion was illegal.

In addition, possibly, he SHOULD have said there are other very complex factors where the mother's life is threatened, other fetal complications occur, or when a pregnancy is conceived through rape or incest which MUST be taken into account when determining the fate of a pregnancy and the answer to that question.
The moral question should be: Do we want full term human beings being killed by abortions performed by unqualified persons in filthy settings for money?

I suspect most media moguls want McCain to win for their own avaricious reasons. If John McCain wins we will get a presidency which not only will attempt to sink Roe v. Wade but, most importantly, will sink this country with respect to the other grave life threatening issues we all face.

The audience in this decidedly biased arena espouses, generally, its well known view. One should try asking that same question at Boston University, Harvard, MIT or Yale and see the response one gets. I suspect it would be quite the opposite. Perhaps, John McCain should give his answer there?

The Victims of Victory: The horrific the consequences of Bush's Iraq War are evident. Nearly every single problem of magnitude we now suffer both domestically and in foreign affairs can be laid at the foot of the Iraq War. This quagmire has had extenuating consequences which include a trillion buck war responsible in pertinent part for an economy gone sour, nearly 5000 dead, thousands wounded, and yet thousands more returning home with significant psychological disorders. What victory have we won? I submit, victory in Iraq is an illusion.

We have almost no credibility throughout the world and no way of defending ourselves against anything as our military is stretched so thin. The Taliban have reemerged stronger than ever in the tribal areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan, probably harboring Bin Laden, and are out anyone's control. Iraq is a direct cause of the unrest in Pakistan (a country which actually has the bomb) and our guy Musharaf will either be gone, exiled or worse. The entire region is unstable with millions of Iraqi refugees having fled to Jordan and Syria, two countries which cannot support them. The refugees languish. Can you imagine the social consequences of that? Families have been ruined probably for generations.

Most importantly, Bush's war is directly responsible for the rise of Iran, a threatening country, which now has hegemony and great influence in the region and beyond. Iraq, too, is responsible for Russia's brazenness in the Caucuses i.e. Georgia and probably in other Baltic states soon. After the unilateral unprovoked invasion of Iraq, George Bush calling the Russian advance in Georgia aggression is laughable if it were not so utterly hypocritical and consequential. The Decider-in-Chief thinking he can flex his muscles with a "defense" system in Poland in response to that is idiocy. Russia will not stand idly by. It understands American weakness. The United States cannot, because of Iraq, devote its necessary attention elsewhere where it needs to.

The fact that bellicose McCain can even be thought of as a possibility for the continuation of the George Bush presidency is testament to the lack of the American public's understanding, foresight and lack of caring about issues which threaten all of us. If we elect the same as usual we will have only ourselves to blame if the usual remains the same. When times were tough our country often was blessed with great leadership. That needs to happen now. If we do not experience systemic change we may not have a country left to change. Potential war with Russia is serious business ... VERY serious. There needs to be someone in charge who has a degree of intellect and a penchant for systemic change if our nation is to survive. We have no time left.

No Time Left: John Turman "What Counts as Success in Iraq" see link below, was right on the money. He is EXACTLY correct in EVERYTHING he says about the so called "victory" in Iraq.

The AWFUL the consequences of Bush's horrific execution of the Iraq War are evident. Every single problem we now encounter can be laid at the foot of the Iraq DEBACLE. A trillion buck war, an economy gone sour, 5000 dead, hundreds of thousands wounded, not to mention hundreds of thousands with psychological disorders. We have NO credibility and no way of defending ourselves against anything as our military is stretched SO thin. Worse the Taliban have reemerged stronger than ever in the tribal areas of Pakistan which will be OUT of Musharf's control very very soon. Iraq is a direct cause of the discombobulating of Pakistan (which actually HAS the bomb) and our guy Mussharf will either be gone, exiled or killed shortly. The WHOLE region is unstable with MILLIONS of Iraqi refugees in Jordan and Syria languishing. Can you imagine the social consequences of that? Families have been ruined.

MOST importantly Bush's war is directly responsible for the rise of Iran, and responsible for Russia's brazenness in the Caucuses i.e. Georgia and probably other Baltic states soon. The Decider in Chief thinking he can flex his muscles with a "defense" system in Poland in response to that is IDIOCY. SURE, the United States has as much credibility as NOTHING. The fact that bellicose McCain can even be thought of as a possibility is testament to the insipidness of the American thought OR lack of it. If we do elect the same as usual we will have only ourselves to blame for the coming catastrophe. When times were tough for our country often great leaders came to the our rescue. It better happen now. If we do NOT change our ENTIRE system, Republican AND Democrat alike, we will not have a country left. We may not even have our life. Potential war with Russia is serious business ... VERY serious. There needs to be someone in office who has a DEGREE of intellect. We have no time left.

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2008/08/15/what_counts_as_success_in_iraq/

The Love of My Life: Is there some kind of eternity life pill that we could give to Bill Moyers? What would we do without him? I have no idea. He is priceless. Bill, you are not just loved you are adored. Every time I tune in I learn something new. Every time I tune in what I learn new is yet another scurrilous episode of the rich and powerful or big business, big money or big media going wild at the expense of those who cannot fight back. Money always wins except when Bill Moyers and a few righteous others point their spears. Where, indeed, is the America that I knew as a child? Gone to graveyards everyone. It is no longer. Without Bill us little Americans would NEVER know how big America is ruining our lives. Long may you live, Bill. You are justice's only hope.

No time to waste:

A relative of mine asked me what I hoped to gain by an Obama presidency. I gave it a lot of thought. What did I really feel would change for our country through an Obama presidency? Often people say that it really does not mater who occupies the seats of power as things usually stay the same. George Bush has shown that to be false but will the Obama presidency really change anything?

I concluded after much thought that an Obama presidency WILL significantly alter the course of our nation. I believe the very core -- the very essence -- of Senator Obama is different from all others who have occupied or attempted to occupy the most powerful position on planet earth. I am HOPING and believing not only for a change to occur, I am hoping for an about face in the course of our ship of state.

I believe Barack Obama does not have to use, as George Bush and the Republican Party did, the word “compassionate” modifying a word conservative. The Democrat Barack Obama is ABOUT compassion. His party does not need a modifier explaining it as such. I believe compassion sits in the circumference and depth of Barack Obama’s heart because he has known difficulty, he has known disappointment, he has known loneliness and he has known rejection. Barack Obama has risen above the vicissitudes of life to create a movement unparalleled in US history and perhaps unparalleled in the world. The character of the man comes not from privilege or from marrying into great wealth but from appreciating what it feels like to be relegated to the back of the bus. He is an example to all.

I believe Barack Obama is about intellect. He has a LOT of it. He is about reading and searching for truth. He is about using science over ignorance to fight disease and to fight the melting of our planet. I believe he will not simply TALK about reversing global warming, stem cell research or alternative sources of energy he will DO something to create these life saving remedies. I believe in his heart he is about we the people those who gave a lot of money BUT more for those who gave five, ten or even two dollars to his campaign. There are reasons his presence brings so many adoring crowds and his campaign coffers are full.

He will change the course of this nation. I believe he will enact a new foreign policy. He will rely on not bombs, the superficialities of swagger and the bellicosity of war first but understanding, dialogue and negotiation with our adversaries. He will not be afraid to use our nation’s awesome force BUT only as a last resort. He will never relegate our country, its resources and its blood to a preemptive war based on lies with no end in sight.

By redirecting the course of our nation we could use its abundant resources to improve our human condition. Roads could be built, bridges could be repaired, a crumbling infrastructure could be renewed and healthcare, most of all, could be afforded to everyone and not to simply the few who were blessed with either money or good health. Never to have to worry about the onslaughts of disease mixed with the reality of poverty which seals a person’s fate will, I believe, truly be one of his greatest legacies.

I believe he will turn this country around. I believe he will bring hope but more than hope I believe he will bring that hope to reality. He must do that as the time is short and our burden is heavy. I believe by changing the course of our ship of state, Barack Obama can deliver a NEW New Deal and keep our Titanic ship of state from its impending disaster. We have no time to waste.

George Bush's China Syndrome: It is the height of hypocrisy that George Bush is lecturing China on the birthright of freedom. This coming from a man that pushed for anything but in his own country with the Patriot Act, the Military Commissions Act, signing statements galore, torture and executive orders stripping one of the bedrocks of our republic, habeas corpus. It is utterly ridiculous for him to preach to anyone. While China has a lot of improvement to go incorporating a Bill of Rights and changing its policy toward most especially Tibet and Darfur, China has made ENORMOUS economic and cultural strides in their nation. They are PROgressing not regressing. The US is going backwards -- our economy in the tank, our infrastructure crumbling, our Constitution shredded, quagmired in a war for over five years based on lies for no reason which it cannot end.

The only thing positive taken from the failed presidency of George W. Bush is that presently Barack Obama is ahead in the polls and may win in November. I surely hope so. I am looking forward to a new day in my country I love. It will be a day without George W. Bush or one like him and a day which I hope sees to it that another president with an utterly corrupt agenda and savage bullying soul never crosses the threshold of our beautiful White House again. He never deserved the honor in the first place and has proven that over and over again. Go home from China, George, and take the speck out of your own eye before you criticize the one in anyone else!

What ME Worry?: I enjoyed Jeff Jacoby's editorial "What them worry?" in the August 6 Globe. I cannot argue with any of it. It was well written, as usual . There is truth to this one. Conservatives, though, start worrying me when they begin to wax on and on about the horrendous deficit and what they perceive are its causes. The similarities between I as a progressive and Jeff Jacoby as a conservative are that we both agree the Bush deficits are absolutely humongous and will be a horrific burden for future generations to undo. The difference between the two of us, though, is what government expenditures we would love to trim. When conservatives decry all the "entitlement programs" they are speaking about the various humanitarian programs government since the New Deal has employed. I then start to get nervous as those so called entitlements save my and the whole country's life. When conservatives want to cut entitlements they mean they want to cut programs for the poor, the sick, the elderly, the handicapped, the retired or the dispossessed. When I talk about balancing the budget I mean cutting huge wasted expenditures on a military and now a war industrial complex gone haywire. The operative word here, I believe, is humanitarian. I know, of course, a military is necessary so please do not think I am stupidly naive and want to cut out military spending to the degree it would put our country at great risk. Even Dwight Eisenhower, president and five star general, though, talked about the dangers of a bloated military and I believe Dwight Eisenhower was no liberal. If the cuts come anywhere, I believe, they should start trimming our military budget and revisiting nature of our foreign policy which gets us into purposeless no-end-in-sight wars which cost a fortune. That is the real culprit which puts this nation at great risk.

I tried to email benfurw as he asked me to respond to his comment about the Anthrax investigation and the alleged perpetrator's suicide. The email did not for some reason go through. So I will do it on my blog itself. Thank you for your comment.

If you read well what I said I never make a statement saying that there is proof positive that something conspiratorial occurred. I would NEVER do that without having absolute proof positive that it did. All I am saying is there are questions. I am NOT absolutely NOT a conspiracy theorist advocate usually ever. I am one of the few who believe Oswald actually acted alone. In the Bush's administration's case though the corruption -- documented corruption -- has been SO systemic and so part of this administration's modus operandi, I really said the thing about THINKING this government -- the Bush government -- complicit in the Antrax attack to push its insane war was that it really did NOT seem totally kooky. THAT is what I find surprising.

In Ron Suskind's new book, "The Way of the World", this administration, to drum up advocacy for the war, allegedly did impeachable and very illegal things. Yet more questioning occurs about this rancid administration's proclivity to, by any means necessary, do what they have to do to support their cause INCLUDING, according to Suskind's taped reliable sources, constructing a fake letter stating the connection between Mohammad Atta and Sadam Hussein. Of course, there was none.

This administration EVEN has US attorneys fired because they are not political enough in the right direction (Pardon the pun). Really, sir, there is ample proof of a thousand different scandals of corruption and manipulation of facts whether it's Anthrax or global warming or justification for Iraq. They even fudge science. This administration promulgated a war which we now know UNEQUIVOCALLY was falsely based on lies. Sir, we are talking LIVES. 4000 of them plus hundreds of thousands of others and horrendously wounded and a Middle East discombobulated like it needed to be discombobulated any more. Now Iran is a huge player and top dog and could gain hegemony in the worst of all possible areas, the Middle East.

The funniest part is that I, an ardent Democrat and more often than not a progressive, actually supported the Iraq war initially because I really thought in my stupidity that my president was telling the truth. I thought, what if what our government told us was true. Others more savvy and in-the-know than certainly I said it could be true based on the "proof" of what the government said. I even once entertained the idea that maybe it was divine purpose, even though I never supported Bush for the presidency, that he with his cowboy bully mentality was in there for a reason. I was so utterly angry and aggrieved by 9/11, I forgot to question everything this government said. I should have known better. Truth be told I suppose I am SO angry now that what I believed initially was so categorically false in every way. I look like an idiot to all my very smart friends and am constantly having to defend the indefensible.

So to recap..it's not that I see the truth of an Anthrax government conspiracy staring me in the face. I don't -- not yet. There are questions though and more today in The Boston Globe as the FBI tried to PAY Iven's daughter to turn in her father. What is that about? So it's that it really does NOT seem preposterous that an attempt was made by this White House to either perpetrate the Anthrax attack or USE the Anthrax attack to sell its agenda. That I can even entertain the possibility of that is what is startling to me and says so much about this administration. They surely verbally tried to link the attacks to Iraq and Iraq to all things terrorist but surprise they were wrong. Iraq had nothing to do with anything. How could a government go SO wrong and the people let it happen?

My point is this government is capable (as probably all governments are) of anything and does, in fact, do unethical and even illegal things. True they do not do much well so it probably was not a conspiracy. I just thought this country was above going to the sewer or as Cheney characterizes it "the dark side". I'm all for "going to the dark side" IF there is some light shed on truth. MY mistake. That is what I am really so angry about.

Rakan's War: I have never read a more poignant overwhelmingly emotional story than the Sunday, August 3 Boston Globe front page story "Rakan's War". It is absolutely beautifully written and, I believe, says so much. It says much about man's kindness and abilities to do good. The sadness, too, was piercing. I read it with tears streaming down my face. It says all people Christian, Muslim and Jew are capable of such good. It is an incredible story that should, I think, be memorialized in film.

It is about most especially, too, our country's staggering Iraq invasion which after all is directly related to the young boy Rakan's ultimate fate. Although I do not often wax Biblical there are some things said within it that, I believe are true. I thought of two: Hosea 8:7 "For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind"; I might add: Father, forgive us for we know not what we have done! I paste the link below.

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/

Suicide? What do YOU think? The suicide of the Bruce Ivans the alleged perpetrator of the Anthrax attacks is problematic at best. Could our own government have had any knowledge of the 2001 Anthrax attacks before they even occurred? Could our government have been involved in the perpetration of these Anthrax attacks or in any way used these horrendous attacks which killed five people and sickened 17 others to help push its war in Iraq? Ask Valerie Pflame how far this government will go to silence its critics of the war. It is seemingly ridiculous to think our government could, in any way, be linked to the knowledge of the Anthrax attacks of 2001. Yet it is not ridiculous. It is believable. John McCain in 2001 said on the David Letterman Show that the Anthrax attacks COULD have been perpetrated by Sadam Hussein. Tell me another lie. For eight long years our government has lied, cajoled, corrupted, destroyed peremptorily and without cause a sovereign nation, destroyed our constitution and our nation has become the closest thing to a fascist state that I would ever imagine in my wildest dreams possible in this our once democratic country.

There are too many questions that are unresolved about the Antrax attacks. Who knew what and when did they know it? Why did it take so long and why did they harass and accuse initially the wrong man when the "right" man was in the same locale and cameras were always rolling in this top secret US government facility? Why were only liberals like Tom Dashle and Senator Patrick Leahy targets as well as Tom Brokaw of NBC News? Could the CIA and NOT the FBI have been involved in the Anthrax debacle so that the Iraq war would be wholeheartedly accepted by the American public in 2001? These are questions now that do not seem outrageous. They do not seem nutty. That is what is outrageous.

A government which can conduct a Bay of Pigs, remove an Iranian democratically elected leader and place in power the puppet Shah of Iran which led to the current Islamic fanatical regime, fib about the Gulf of Tonkin in Vietnam ultimately getting nearly 60,000 troops killed in a futile war, help defeat Allende of Chile who was ultimately assassinated putting the fascist Pinochet, then more to US liking, in power, try to poison Castro, conduct a war in Iraq based on lies, talk about dressing up Americans to look Iranian to shoot on American ships to provoke an incident, and the list of unthinkable documented behavior or considerations of behavior by our government against other governments as well as our own people which come back to haunt us, goes on and on and on and on.

Can we REALLY believe someone somewhere in highest echelons of the government knew about the Anthrax attacks? I ask YOU.

A Local Candidate for our times: While attending a couple of the Framingham-on-the-green concerts and attending a political event for a reception for Senator John Kerry, I had the distinct pleasure of meeting Dawn Harkness, a candidate for the office of State Representative from the Town of Framingham. I had seen her name around the area but never encountered her personally before then. I spoke with her about her candidacy and some of the issues facing the Town of Framingham, our state and even our nation. I was distinctly impressed by the depth of her knowledge of the issues, her verbal excellence and her humanitarian concern for our people.

She is a Wellesley College graduate, an attorney and the expertise of her background, indeed, shows. In addition, I tuned in to the Audrey Hall Show and the David Hutchinson Political Discussion on local Framingham cable programming where she was interviewed. Yet again, I was significantly impressed by Dawn Harkness's command of the issues. She has a refreshing and, I think, unique way of addressing those issues absolutely on point without political evasion understanding the detailed intracies and nuiances of everything about which she was asked. I told her I thought her abilities were so impressive she should go far in the political arena. Because of my perceived excellence of her candidacy, I have decided to give her my vote. I urge the people of Framingham who care about the issues facing our town and state to give her your consideration. If you want more information about her go to her web page (www.dawnharkness.com) and I hope, ultimately, you will decide, as I have, to give her your vote. I think it will be a vote well spent. She is, I believe, a credit to our town, understands the issues extraordinary well, is independent of thought and would do her best to serve. I believe she is the choice for our times.

I attach a link -- http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/opinion/letters/x2109423246/Rosen-Hope-for-the-futurel
to the Metro West News where there are some oppositions to my opinion letters supporting Obama. I inclusively responded to them the following:

It is impossible to talk about THIS election without mentioning George W. Bush or John McCain. This election is, after all, ABOUT electing either John McCain or Barack Obama. This election is in RESPONSE to the presidency of George W. Bush and Republican party policies. Unfortunately, to court the religious right, McCain whom I admired in 2000, is an anathema to me now because he tries very hard to reflect that less-than-thoughtful mostly religious base of the Republican party. It is impossible to address issues without mentioning both George Bush and John McCain. They are nearly mirror images of one another. In my opinion, George Bush has ushered in the most corrupt and utterly tyrannical administration in this history of this country. He has put all of us at great risk. The policies one spoke of (including 9/11) that were so disastrous happened on his watch. Pelosi, et al while admittedly APPEARING weak in some ways did not have the numbers to overrule the Bush disaster.

Moreover, I am, after 59 years, most assuredly not so naive as to think Barack Obama is the savior for everything. Of course, I know that. I regret if I gave that impression. I do not think that. I do not believe in messiahs. However, last civics book I viewed mentioned that third parties were rather ineffective in this country. In view of that, the choice now is between two candidates. I do believe of those two that Barack Obama is by far the better choice. He is, of course, younger and, in my opinion, more intellectually astute. He will support not only a foreign policy I agree with more but a social policy that is more acceptable to me as well.

I can assure one insulting blogger that when taking 'civics', I did NOT 'look out the window'. My minor in college was political science. That most assuredly does not make me an expert. It does though, I would like to think, make for opinion that, hopefully, has a background of expertise which cultivated it. Over decades I have given my opinions much thought as I waxed throughout the years from the left to the right and back again.

We define differently what we think is good policy for our nation. I want a more just, more humane, and less belligerently bellicose country. I think that Barack Obama and the Democratic party can best provide more of what I want than can John McCain and the Republican party. Barack Obama certainly, though, cannot and will not do it all. George Bush and his cronies have assured us of that.

I added another comment addressing a point I omitted.

Calling Obama Osama is not only insulting to the senator it is juvenile. It reminds me of children on a third grade playground. If I said More of the Same Pain McCain, for example, people would criticize me and quite rightly so.

In addition, Biblical quotations are ineffective when arguing politics. For every quotation one can find and equal and opposite Biblical phrase. The Bible is filled with contradictions. As stated in my previous response, I do not think Senator Obama is a savior and I do not believe human beings messiahs. Rather, Senator Obama promulgates policy and belongs to a party that is more in accord with my political beliefs. He has voted, by my standard, correctly on most issues.

I do realize that both the Republican and the Democratic parties are guilty for the mess our nation is in. However, it is clear, and has been for decades, that there is a DECIDED difference between the two parties although both admittedly depend inordinately on monied interests for their survival. Despite that, I submit, for example, the Iraq invasion and occupation would NEVER have occurred if Gore had been the victor in the Supreme Court presidential choice of 2000. We would have four thousand men, who are now dead, alive. Moreover, we probably would have captured Bin Laden, the REAL perpetrator of the 9/11 tragedy. I even postulate that 9/11 may NOT have happened since a President Gore would most likely have heeded the myriad of clues and one prescient memo which said 'Osama Bin Laden to attack the US.' Bush smugly and stupidly ignored that crucial memo and a number of other warnings from outgoing Clinton administration officials regarding the danger of Al Qaeda.

I can point, too, to other social issues which might have been different had a Democrat held the reins of power. A relative of mine, a former Harvard College, Harvard Medical graduate, a physician and person of professional/personal excellence has a debilitating disease similar to Lou Gherig's disease which shortened his career, placed him in a wheelchair, and relegated him to a life of much suffering. A Gore presidency might have helped, through stem cell research, cure his tragic malady. Our nation could have been, for the past eight years, at the forefront of research and cures for hideous diseases through the use of stem cells. Can you imagine, too, the effort a Gore administration would have devoted to the environment and reversing global warming? Instead of life AFFIRMING policies the Bush administration has been responsible for the unnecessary death of thousands many of whom are children and other innocents. For ALL these things and so much more, I believe the Democratic and Republican parties are more than SIGNIFICANTLY different. They are LIFE SAVING different.

I disagree with you. All politicians are NOT the same despite many being placed into office by corporate interests. The common people like you and I (as you put it), do occasionally get a vote.

The Audacity of Joan Vennochi: For those of you who do not know Joan Vennochi is a very popular Boston Globe columnist. Often I agree with her sentiments but it seems the times I disagree with her I do so with great ire. Her article in the Sunday, July 20, 2008 Boston Globe entitled "The Audacity of Ego" was such a time. She brazenly stated, among many other unflattering things, that "Obama has a crush on Obama." She goes on to give her irrational rationales. I stated the following in an email to her:

Try as I might not to be paranoid about the real mission of the corporate media to defend its own corporate interests and keep things Republican, I cannot. Although many articles you write are well done yet again I find myself enraged by your Sunday editorial The Audacity of Ego, concentrating on the alleged uber ego of Barack Obama.

Now, really Ms. Venocchi, I do not know of a political candidate, now or in history who does not or did not have an abundance of ego. In fact, I might aver that a certain amount of ego is necessary. I cannot in all of US history find the meek among our presidents. I am quite sure Senator Obama has ego but I am MORE than sure John McCain has a substantial amount of that as well. In addition, if what I read in the news and from what people I meet say who actually have had contact with John McCain is true, not only does he have ego but he has an abundant supply of profanity and insults toward most especially women. In addition, I have heard from some reputable sources that he treats his support staff abysmally and generally has a mean temper-filled temperament.

We know, too, that he has not done much to ensure the sanctity of marriage as he divorced his first wife and married his second turning in his first wife for a healthier and younger specimen. His oft-told vituperative profane comment to his current wife is well known and a recent horrific joke he does not deny saying but has conveniently forgotten is up for discussion and allegedly verfied by some. This truly says something about John McCain.

John Mccain has MUCH to answer for that Senator Obama does not. Whether its his constant flip flops on policy, lack of knowledge of international events and facts, lack of understanding on things economic or his profane behavior towards women I'd say John McCain has audacious ego and PLENTY of it!! How about commenting on that?

The Joke is on us: I am no apologist for John McCain. I am an ardent Democrat and support the Democratic presumptive nominee Barack Obama. However, whether it is McCain's bad joke or the New Yorker Magazine's bad cover page, we must eschew the media's attempt at sensationalizing and pop culturizing absolutely EVERYTHING a candidate says and every movement he makes. It is the media's attempt to get viewers to watch and by doing so it is their attempt to make themselves very very rich.

Ad infinitum commentary on a joke, a fist bump, a turban picture, a minister's utterances have no importance in relation to the desperate issues facing our country and the world today. We are a nation facing an abyss. Wasting time talking about things ridiculous will be tragic for our nation. We face a probable recession if not depression, we face eternal war, we face killing and dying, we face a planet melting, we face systemic corruption and an erosion of the essence of what makes us free. In short, we face a tyrannical Orwellian world. The American public must take an interest in the forces of history and understand just what it will mean if a particular candidate takes office. We must recognize what is important and concentrate on the nuance of policy not the insanity of superficiality. We must discuss the issues and the issues alone. Our lives, our planet's life and our country's life depend upon it. Wake up, America, before it is too late.

Our Only Hope: I had polio in 1954 which left one leg completely paralyzed. I, through, my father's work with the March of Dimes and his love for Franklin Roosevelt, saw the wonder of the profound changes one man could bring. The changes Franklin Roosevelt initiated affect my life today. Because of three fractures of my polio affected leg and complications of post polio syndrome I no longer could work at a job I did for nearly 30 years. I can see how one man influenced for the better the lives of millions as his work walked from generation to generation. Without social security I would be lost.

We live, I believe, in a mirror image of that catastrophic time where looming war fused with disastrous economic conditions is born out of corrupt Republican policies and philosophies which do not work. Those policies did not work in 1929 and they do not work now. Government is not the ONLY answer but it is ONE IMPORTANT answer to profound difficulties which are beyond the ability of the suffering many to improve. We have an economic system because of the disastrous policies of George W. Bush which has run wild and we have a war which will cost trillions. Recession if not depression is looming and horrendous debt emanating from a war which should not have been waged is the reality. Barack Obama truly is our hope. The hope in me was born from a man with polio whom I never knew. He lifted this nation up, restored its vitality and GAVE us a reason to hope.

I never thought I would see again the hope my father saw in FDR those many years ago. I was wrong. I DO see hope again. Hope is here. Hope is now. I can only pray the country sees it is here too by electing Barack Obama its next president. Lives are at stake, our country is at stake and the world awaits a better day.

A Killer: HBO's "Generation Kill" is phenomenal. It is a dramatization of an embed experience with US soldiers while en route in 2003 to Iraq. As the series progresses it is supposed to reflect the milieu of the US soldier as they slog through the Iraq War experience. I do not know how the film crew got the logistics together so expertly or how they acquired such a perfect cast but they did. It is probably one of the best if not THE best docudrama ever shown.

The violence, at least in the first episode, was NOT an issue for me as the episode concentrated on the relationships and the character of the group more than what they were there to do i.e. kill. Despite the possibility of watching violence as the war unfolds, I believe this drama is a must see.

I have very mixed emotions. I am a realist. I know the realities of an often brutal world. Our soldiers, I believe, are the only ones standing between us and world assault against us. However, their culture as depicted in the film, and often their views, are hard for me to take. This film presents an image of our military which while showing its incredible strength and phenomenal professionalism also shows a condescending cruelty, some extreme right wing political philosophies, love for the fight and love for killing to which I cannot relate. There is plenty of white supremacism thrown into the mix with the verbal constancy of crude vicious hatred of all things homosexual and insults spewed often towards women.

Their views toward Iraqis are often ones of indifference and a lack of cultural understanding. They are incredulous by what they see. The military hierarchy in its ineptness sees fit to give them but one Iraqi translator. Didn’t someone in the Pentagon think that our soldiers just might want to communicate with those they confront, capture or wound? I cannot even imagine how an Iraqi felt as they cowed their head in fear of the alien American assault. The two humanities saw each other but did not understand what they saw. It seemed as if the two peoples were from different planets.

Perhaps underneath all of the crudity, profanity, significant racism and sexist comments lies a profound fear for what the Marines are about to encounter. Perhaps, in the final analysis, our soldiers are more than Marines. They are human beings and young boys with incredible energy, Herculean bodies and brute strength playing the war games they loved as a child. This time though the stakes are higher. They cannot end the game when they want and go home to mom. War transcends the macho machismo that feels and looks so good. War means death, it means disability, it means fear and it means tragedy. It means making the once invincible vincible. It means encountering things made only of nightmares. No war can avoid that. I think these Marines despite their bravado know that deep down underneath. These soldiers are in the military because they WANT to be. Why they do is beyond me. This program is riveting. It is, uniquely, television at its very best.

Bill Moyers on his blog asked the following: "We're asking our guests and our viewers what is their vision for the future of the American Dream — and how we can achieve those visions."

The American Dream, in my opinion, has always been and, I believe, continues to be an idea of hope. It is the hope that one's economic progression can can spread and, indeed, improve from generation to generation. It is the idea that the achievement of a comfortable existence can cut across class and social lines. The old rigid class monarchical structure that was much European and world history is not, at least ideally, cemented in the American system. Our system allows for the possibility or at least the hope that one can, irrespective of class and, in more recent history, race, incrementally achieve a better life. It is the hope that the ossification of a rigid class system will not prevent that achievement.

The ideals of that hope, though, walk hand-in-hand with the freedoms and Constitutional protections our form of government provides. The security that prevents the threat of government usurping those freedoms without just cause makes, in my opinion, our American Dream possible. It allows the individual the opportunity to devote his or her energy to that personal improvement and to that pursuit of happiness making the expenditure of the adrenaline imperative of basic physical survival unnecessary. Our Constitutional protections ALLOW us the luxury to develop our own happiness. I believe, the American Dream is not possible without one ensuring the other.

A Nuclear Nightmare: A UTUBE of Ron Paul discussed the absolute eventuality of a blockade, an attack and an eventual nuclear attack of Iran. He makes a convincing case that it is at hand. I responded on that possibility in a blog.


It is beyond my imagination that this country, after Afghanistan and the debacle of Iraq with little capacity to wage more war, would even contemplate striking Iran much less bomb them ultimately with nuclear weapons. I feel completely powerless. What can the average person do? Ron Paul is in the Senate, has some power, has a somewhat large following and yet he really is impotent when one looks at the national stage. Libertarians and progressives simply do not make up enough of the national psychic reality to reverse our course.

I believe there is a segment of this country especially within the Republican party which loves war. Let me rephrase that. They love the victory of war. Unfortunately, since WWII those victories have been few and far between because American foreign policy since then has been so stupidly and without foresight conducted. I think most Americans are angry for 9/11, so angry for the failure in Iraq (and Vietnam too), so angry at the pulsating furor of the Arab/Middle Eastern world against the west, and so angry for huge oil prices that they truly want to annihilate. I think many, if honesty could prevail, want to visit a nuclear obliterative war upon the Middle East without regard and without understanding the nature of their own desires, the countries involved and what the consequences will be.

Ron Paul has said and I believe it is true, Iran WILL strike back in some capacity. Other powers, albeit nuclear powers, may engage and our troops, 160,000 of them, will be caught in the middle. The Israelis will be caught in the middle too as nuclear dust and nuclear winters have regional and even world-wide consequences. Nuclear fallout knows no boundaries. The price of oil, of course, will be in the stratosphere and the dollar will be worthless. Our country, too, is not immune from the physical and medical consequences of a nuclear exchange.

I am reminded of Shakespeare's Macbeth: "If it were done, when 'tis done, then 'twer well, it were done quickly" as we will all suffer the hellacious consequences. Severe burns, starvation, disease, cancer and death are some of the poisons nuclear war will bestow. Ridiculous to even say, no one will be converted and lifted into heaven. The destruction of billions of years of evolved life and the ruin of our beautiful planet is impossible to understand but understand it we must. I simply hope that somehow the better angels of our nature prevail among those who have the real power to do something. There are a few voices who want to stop this insanity. We must become the many before it is too late as the hour I fear draws near.