Awesome Days: On the Jewish calendar at this time of year are marked serious moments called the Days of Awe. It is between the New Year, usually in September, of Rosh Hashanah, and, a week later, during the holiest day of the year for Jews, the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, in which the individual can evaluate his or her life and repent its wrongs. It marks a plea, nay a plaintive wail, which asks forgiveness so that one may be able to make right those wrongs which have been committed. All vows between creation and oneself become null and void so that we can try to begin again, wipe the slate clean and start anew. It is, in its solemnity, a beautiful time, whether one is religious or not, to look closely at one’s self and ask, with the utmost sincerity, have I been the best that I can be as a human being and, if not, can I do better.

I think most of the major faiths provide that avenue to a much flawed humanity. It is important, I think, for all people who know that the egregious behavior they may have committed or hurtful things they may have said during the year can be rethought, reevaluated, ultimately changed and forgiven by something bigger than ourselves. It enables us to get a fresh start and begin again to improve on, in this year, what we think, say and do. It is hoped, too, because of our earnest commitment we will, as the Jewish prayers ask, be sealed in the book of life to enjoy yet one more year and see the magical universe yet one more time.

A Happy New Year to all my Jewish brethren, a happy and healthy year to those who are not, and most certainly a fervent hope for our country to remain secure and free.

Dowd Does it Again: Yet again, Maureen Dowd, New York Times editorialist, brings her brilliant mind and translates her thoughts into creative writing often showing her mastery of literary masterpieces to create one of her own. I wholeheartedly agree with her editorial -- link below. The intellect and wit of Steve Allen, cerebral raconteur of the 1950's and 60's, wrote a book called "Vulgarians at the Gate" which illuminated the coarse crudity to which American culture had sunk. That fact is reflected in every arena, whether sport, music, radio, online blogs and now in the halls of Congress by Congressman Wilson, confederate flag waiver supreme as he rudely called the president a liar in a joint session of Congress, an act which had never occurred in a joint session before.

I believe in evolution but I also believe in devolution as a culture and a country reverse the the evolutionary assent toward perfection to a descent into verbal anarchy and cultural chaos. Mr. Wilson should be more than rebuked. He should be sent home by the voters of South Carolina.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/16/opinion/16dowd.html?ref=opinion

STUMPED: The posting is what is appearing on the Huffington post blogs. I will admit to having some misgivings about our president. I always have BUT publicly I do not write about them. This is, I think, the first blog I wax critical because I am dismayed and perplexed. I STILL do not know who Barack Obama is.

I cut and pasted if ANYONE cares or anyone reads these things. I think this is SERIOUS stuff. I am SO dismayed I think my head is spinning the speed of light. I have NO idea what is going on with him and what he is about. Either he doesn't care and just is in there for a laugh or it is just impossible to get anything done. I suspect he still thinks he's at Harvard Law Review and wants to make nice with the opposition OR he think or wants to be like Jesus and pull everyone together. There is time for Jesus but Washington is not IT. With the House, the Senate and the White House in Dem. control it staggers my mind to read these.

1. You are being very kind and polite to call the president naive, since, c'mon, you know that the man just isn't that naive; if he were really trying for reform, his proposal would have some sharp regulatory teeth which it doesn't. The speech is for show just like last week's health speech; they make it look like he cares and that he's trying, but we won't have even a public option and we won't have WS reform. I think he knows exactly what he's doing.

2. Then do you think that this president is UTTERLY duplicitous and that everything he told us is a sham that he said things simply to get elected and says things now he knows his base wants to hear but he has NO intention of forcing the issue?

My reply: Then what is this guy we put into office? What the hell is he? My whole family LOVED him and I osmotically believed what they were saying. I thought they say this guy is brilliant and more than that he is ethical beyond belief. So am I in Alice in Wonderland where up is down and down is up? I feel like I am going totally crazy with this guy? Who is he? What does he REALLY think? Does he care at all?

So far he is simply NOT what I thought he would be. Sometimes talks a good game but behind the scenes it is NOT what he has been about. He is IMPOTENT and ineffective and his adversaries he is trying to pull along and they kick him. I want to say Mr. President you are NOT Jesus Christ. You need to kick some posteriors. What is up with him? Your post makes me shake my head. Who is right you or my family? I just do NOT know. STUMPED!!

3. Obama has betrayed us on healthcare and Wall Street reform. He will not be getting my vote when reelection time comes, and I will not vote to reelcet my democratic representative. I will vote third party or sit at home. If it cost the Deomcrats the election, perhaps they will finally learn that they have to keep their promises.


4. I think it WILL cost the Democrats the forthcoming elections, both 2010 and 2012. For a while I've felt deep down that BO is a one-termer. Wonder what he'll do after that? I see he's been lunching with Bill Clinton. Maybe he's getting a few pointers on life after the presidency? In any case, no change to health, no change to Wall Street, no c hange to war. An impotent president isolated and pushed into irrelevance by his opponents. Quite a sad thing to watch.


5. I'm afraid Obama, while well-intentioned, just doesn't have the backbone to fix or even instigate the numerous fixes we need, be they in health care or on Wall Street.
We elected a guy who wants to be class president. Alas, the times call for far something different. The first ominous clues were in the choosing of his economic team. Maybe, like his hero Lincoln, Obama will evolve and grow. But frankly, the challenges can't wait.
We need a genuine progressiv­e/populist third party. Perhaps our system won't allow for something like that. Or maybe, things will get so bad, society--the voters--will demand nothing less.
One can hope.

7. This has been our problem since Bill Clinton's term ended- no real leadership. Mr. Gore is showing his real colors, global warming is critical but he totally sold out for the money. John Kerry is well, John Kerry. Obama was pushed into the limelight far to early because no one else is stepping up. Hillary, my vote went to her, would have been a much better choice. I'm afraid, like with Carter, we're going to suffer for a long time when his one term is up. The speeches are fantastic it's the follow-up that's very weak.Heard an economist today say that all Obama's financial "reforms" will do is white wash the cracks. He gives good rhetoric but can't deliver on transformational change which means he will be merely a transitional President. The question is a transitional President to what? Given the ignorance of large swaths of the public, a corrupt and complicit 4th Estate and a political class motivated by their own self-interest and cynicism the most likely outcome is that of total corporate fascism. 200 + years in the experiment of self-governance would seem to be drawing to a close.

I have sent a sample of these blogs to the White House. They NEED to wake up before it is too late!

This letter to the Globe is in response to a letter to the editor by a Gifford Weber in the September 12, 2009 issue of the Boston Globe. The respondent criticized Kennedy most for his "public flaying" of Supreme Court rejected nominee Robert Bork and thought that took a back seat to even the Chappaquiddick episode. I thought otherwise.

It is inconceivable to me how Gifford A. Weber (letter to the editor September 12, 2009) thinks that the main reason one should not forgive Senator Kennedy is because he zealously tried to block the admission of Robert Bork to the Supreme Court. Logically, if Mr. Weber is to be believed, one should criticize the late senator for the barring of Justice Bork from a place on the Supreme Court more than, he says, Senator Kenndy's lapses at Chappaquiddick where a young woman died. I have made peace with the Senator's private life missteps. He more than atoned for them.

The barring of Justice Bork from the Supreme Court, in my opinion, was one of Senator Kennedy's best efforts. Robert Bork was a right wing extremist and would have rewritten settled law. He would have been an activist right wing judge something conservatives supposedly loath except when its decided in their direction. In my opinion, Justice Souter was a solid justice. He was a happy surprise to those of us who care about human rights and progressive causes and see the Constitution as a flexible not static document subject to interpretation. One can hardly blame Justice Souter for, as Mr. Weber puts it, the "poisonous atmosphere" in Washington. I suggest Mr. Weber look to his own right wing for that.

I wrote this in response to Washington Post editorialist Colbert I King. His article "A Dangerous Kind of Hate" concentrates on worrisome hate filled attacks actually calling for not only Obama's failure but chillingly his death. His article appears at the link below and my response is below that.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/11/AR2009091103274_2.html?sid=ST2009091103433

A Paliative Remedy for Hate: Mr. King, I read your article "A Dangerous Kind of Hate" and had chills running down my spine. I worry about our president every single day. It may be a few on the lunatic fringe who are the most vociferously poisonous but I worry about the Republican mainstream climbing in bed with the white nationalist cause.

I never like to compare histories because truly history is different depending on the perspective and the times but the echo of 1930's Germany keeps clanging in my brain. Race hatred and economic catastrophes are the toxic brew out of which weak democratic governments fail and sometimes implode.

I worry about our president and wish so sincerely that he take a more strength infused path, bypassing those who will hate him no matter how many hands he extends, and concentrate on the party and people who elected him and those who love him.

As a Jew I have learned the lesson that if one cowers in fear or continually HOPES one's enemies will extend their hand that hope is often dashed as all hands pull away and backs are turned. Intelligence coupled with STRENGTH is the only palliative remedy to stop these race-bating haters from gaining power. Our president needs more than prayers, he needs to present STRONG leadership and he needs our verbal offense which provides him a STRONG DEfense! Our power crazed opponents do NOT want to compromise with him. They not only want him to fail, but, indeed, some, horrifically unthinkable, want him dead. We live in dangerous times.

NO WE CANNOT: A case which is being revisited by the Supreme Court and which will, if decided for the corporation, have a huge influence on our lives and not, in my opinion, for the better. As Bill Moyers on his site says: "The case, Citizens United v. The Federal Election Commission has grown from a limited question about [the showing of] a political documentary [funded by an anti Hillary Clinton corporation] to a broad challenge to the government's right to restrict corporations from spending money to support or oppose political candidates." This is about putting the free speech of a corporation on par with the First Amendment free speech of a person.

The person in this country, historically, has had to suffer at the hands of the omnipotent corporations because, as individuals, a singular person does NOT have the resources available to him with which to fund opposition. The issue of corporate person-hood has waxed and waned over time. Today we know our representatives in Washington are smothered by corporation PAC money in every sphere from health care to oil. Corporations have undue influence on our bodies and, often, our lives. Now they want to usurp one of a person’s few remaining reserved elements of political power – the free speech of the First Amendment-- as a rationale and excuse to control the whole Washington enchilada.

Mr. Abrams and the ACLU (an entity I usually adore), are arguing before the Supreme Court the corporate side of the equation that this is a free speech First Amendment issue and that the corporation’s free speech should be equal to that of a person. It is, I submit, NOT a person and should NOT be subject to the same free speech rights. Elena Kagan, the Solicitor General of the United States is arguing that point.

What ordinary human being can compete with the money that the corporation has at its disposal? The corporation behind the film against the candidacy of Hillary Clinton took Mr. Abrams and the ACLU for all they were worth to find yet another way to legally insinuate itself into Washington politics. A decision for the corporation will free up the corporation to do and say anything it pleases with as much cash as it can muster.

I believe, this is NOT what our Founders meant by free speech. They meant that right to be reserved for real, live, breathing people to espouse anything anywhere no matter how odious. They did not mean for the corporation with its billions of loot to have the right to do the same and easily override the individual’s impact on policy.

The corporation should NOT be considered a human being. It has no feelings, it has no sense of fair play, it cannot get sick and it cannot die BUT we can. The corporation if the Supreme Court decides in its favor will have unlimited capital to advance its agenda.

This important case is about FAIRNESS. It is not fair to make MY opinion any less valuable than another’s. By endowing the CORPORATION with person-hood with respect to the free speech issue, the Supreme Court will put it on the same footing as everyone else. The corporation is NOT like everyone else. This case is about nothing less than the undue influence of MONEY in politics which is what the corporation has at its disposal to influence who occupies the seats of federal power. How can an individual compete with that? If the Supreme Court rules FOR the corporation in this case, the president's new mantra may as well become NO WE CANNOT no matter WHAT we do!

This opinion was prompted by an email I received from the Wiesenthal Center about an article which they saw in alJezeera Magazine entitled "Jane Fonda Joins Boycott of Toronto Film Festival over Homage to Israel" See link below.

Jane Fonda and the Left's Error -- Its Case Against Israel: An article appeared in alJezeera Magazine entitled Jane Fonda Joins Boycott of Toronto Film Festival over Homage to Israel. The article states in pertinent part “… a letter [sent by Fonda and other artists] aimed at festival officials claims that Tel Aviv was built on violence, ignoring the suffering of thousands of former residents and descendants.” Fonda, therefore, joined a growing list of artists boycotting the festival.

Of course, no one mentions that the Jewish State emerged out of the 1948 UN mandate made because of Europe’s problem of left over suffering Jewish refugees of the Holocaust with its attendant wholesale slaughter of the six million. Nor does it mention that Jews had, for millennia, been a part of that land. Jane Fonda has gone back to being a jerk, as she joins this bleating segment of the herd without, yet again, thinking through her actions. Further, the Jewish artists who come out against Israel are shooting themselves in their own foot.

Some on the left and I part ways when it comes to Israel. I cannot, hard as I may try, understand how they would want to defend those who want to destroy the tiny state by force or by a ONE-state solution which also threatens the Jewish state AND by extension the Jewish people period. It is unacceptable.

A comparison of cultures makes crystal clear that the tyranny existing in the Arab world is staggering. Women are whipped, beaten and sometimes killed for the most minor "offenses." They are flogged because they wear pants, threatened or tortured if they go to school. They are stoned, sometimes to death, if God forbid they sleep with someone before marriage or with another other than their husband or even if they deny their husband sex. Homosexuals are killed or tortured in many of those lands in the most bestial ways. The atrocities abound as they do in Gaza itself and even between their own people. Women are treated horrifically in nearly every Arab country and Persian one as well. I cannot be blind to what my eyes see. Israel for all of its faults (and it is not without them) is an infinitely freer state. It fights to survive every single day as Jews have done throughout centuries.

Moreover, I hear nary a sound from segments of the left against the plethora of attacks committed by Islamic fundamentalists collectively against hundreds of thousands of innocents. We must bring REALITY back to planet earth and state what really IS as your eyes see it while not abandoning the many other humane and principled issues about which the left is concerned.

Israel is more advanced, freer and more democratic than any state in that mentally unhinged neck of the woods! I am not afraid to criticize Israel at times when it is not perfect but I do not know of a perfect place on earth. Do you?


See link below sent by the Wiesenthal Center: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/articles/34/Jane_Fonda_Joins_Boycott_of_Toronto_Film_Festival_.html

The genius of genius Glen Greenwald of Salon.com is my idea of a GREAT GREAT intelligent journalist and man. Read this column (link below) it is EXACTLY how I feel. Wonderful right on the money piece about why we MUST change our policy. Our tax dollar now is conducting war after war after war since after WWII and it won't work and we have killed THOUSANDS and paid TRILLIONS for nothing. Quagmires abound. We have become a belligerent state and the politics of our country shows. It is ANYTHING but it surely is NOT humanitarian. Just watch the recent town meeting where teabag nutjobs screamed at a woman in a wheelchair who needs health care.

There are some mean, hurtful, crazies out there and people who love to kill. Yes, they love war. Of course they love it as long as some OTHER guy's kid fights it. They love the flags, the marching bands and the macho hoopla but fight the war? Not so much. The policy makers don't fight and most others do not either. Only a small percentage wage our technologically crushing wars on a LOT of innocent civilians. Our public is deaf and blind to the havoc it plays. And then they wonder just why so many are down on the US. It's frightening. I thought our country was better than that! Click on or cut and paste into your browser the link below. Glen Greenwald gives a daily opinion on Salon.com.



http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/

I am writing this to various Congressmen who are, as of now, against a public option.

Dear Senator: I am writing you now after Senator Kennedy’s death to appeal to what, I think, is our common ground. When I was a young woman at Boston University in 1968, I heard Senator Kennedy speak. He told an audience of young people who sported often very long hair that some would have to cut their hair if they were going to credibly reach out to persuade the American public. I think that experience then defined Senator Kennedy for me. He was about the art of compromise so that adversaries could be persuaded. Some in the audience booed at his suggestion. Much later, as a mature adult, I saw exactly what he meant. It is in that spirit of understanding that I appeal to you now.

Our Constitution is our guide to fair play. It is our compass to show us the way to govern. It has been, though, at times, opaque and has forced our nation to make choices as to the role of government. When should go vernment act and when should it not have been our history’s conundrum.

In the politics of this era those sides have become divided as the Democratic and Republican parties retreat to their separate corners. Many, of course, think that government should play a very limited role in the life of the governed. Others, at critical times in our history, have seen government as the vehicle, the only vehicle, capable of addressing often life and death issues of a nation. In this time of combined health care and economic crises government must act to provide the life jacket for a suffering people.

There is no doubt that the concerns of reducing our federal deficit and enormous debt are of consequence. Our country, however, is obviously different than the Founders envisioned. A country of over 300 million people demands government oversight. Class distinctions are widening significantly and cannot be left to just simply work themselves out. Se nator Kennedy believed that providing health care reform with a strong public option would help, among other things, provide our country a systemic as well as an economic lifeboat which ultimately would help bring the soaring deficit down . He believed that by providing life-saving health care for all we could help save our nation from further economic catastrophe in the process.

I urge Republicans and Democrats alike who are against health care reform with a strong public option to rethink your position and join with your colleagues who support it to pass the kind of health care reform that Teddy Kennedy worked so very hard for nearly all of his life in the Senate to do. As former colleagues and friends of Senator Kennedy I fervently ask you to support his version of health care reform so that, finally, on this issue at this time we can join together and find some common ground to provide for the general welfare and the common defense of our nation as our Constitution instructs.

The Lion's Roar is Silenced: I cannot remember a time when MY life and our nation's political life was not filled with and touched by Kennedys. Memories flood my mind of Jack, Bobby and Ted teaming with life, running around playing touch football in Hyannisport. Those were the best of times.

We know what the worst of times bestowed upon them but Teddy had the good fortune to live much longer than his brothers. We the people of Massachusetts, the nation and, indeed, the world have been the beneficiaries of that.

I stand in amazement at a man who suffered so much but was an example for all of us when we experience the vicissitudes of life to simply persevere and go on. I will miss him as I miss his brothers still. I am so grateful that he was on the side of the poor and the dispossessed. I continue to hope that a health care public option bill for which he so long and so tirelessly worked to extend medical care to all Americans will have his name on it.

I thank this lion of the Senate and so many in the Kennedy family for what they have given and continue to give to our nation. I extend my heartfelt condolences to them all!

I wrote this on the New York Times blog after reading Frank Rich, its genius columnist's, editorial "The Guns of August" about the president's courting of those who are trying to, truthfully, kill him (Link at the bottom). President Obama tries to reach out to those Republican members of Congress who actually make excuses for the crazies who turn out with loaded guns where the president is speaking!! Rich lays part of the blame at the feet of Obama himself who bewilderingly makes nice to those who would love nothing more than to destroy him ... LITERALLY!


http://community.nytimes.com/comments/www.nytimes.com/2009/08/23/opinion/23rich.html#bozoanchor

The Horizon of Hope is Drifting: I am staggered and incredulous by what I read every day. I do not understand if the real Barack Obama was submerged until he reached the presidency and morphed into a different being, the one he really was or if this is a brilliant strategy carved by a phenomenally adept administration and that in the long run he will not disappoint those of us in his base who worked either by writing or on foot SO hard for him. We are not privy to the behind-the-scenes machinations and even the best journalist has no access to everything.

I still have hope. I have written many times at pinnacles of Obama's success how dazzled I was that the tide had seemingly turned. Night seemed to be turning into day. The tide, though, has gone out and I do not see it coming back any time soon. I'm depressed and I am sad. Maybe hope on the horizon but so far I don't see it.

I am sure the president is reading the New York Times especially vacationing in Martha's Vineyard while it is having a tropical storm. This is an apt metaphor.

If he sees these comments and he reads mine I say to him: Mr. President, remember us, your base, the ones who LOVED you? Like Kate Winslet said when the Titanic was sinking and her lover was floating away in the icy sea -- COME BACK, COME BACK, COME BACK!!

Tevya's Response to Roman Catholic Leaders: Tevya of Fiddler on the Roof fame has been rolling around in his brain the latest mind numbing statement out of the Holy See and the response from major Jewish groups and rabbis:

On the one hand Bishop William Lori of Bridgeport Connecticut says "While the Catholic church does not proselytize the Jewish people, neither does she fail to witness to them her faith in Christ, nor to welcome them to share in that same faith whenever appropriate."

Tevya says: "On the other hand -- There is no other hand!! NO NO NO NO NO!"

Pope Benedict, what part of that response do you not understand?

Seeing CCFILE: I have, at times, listened to and watched CCFILE online to give its view a fair hearing. While I thought CCFILE made some believable points, I generally thought it often absurd, sometimes disgusting and generally an embarrassment. Its lack of articulate excellence is most pronounced. It is imbued with propaganda for the extreme right's point of view IRRESPECTIVE of their claim that they are "only about illegal immigration." I believe, they are NOT ONLY about ILLEGAL immigration. The tenor underneath the rhetoric is a deep-seated anger against those who may oppose their political points and to the immigrant community in this town from especially Brazil (legal or illegal) for the mere sin of simply being, most especially, here. I believe those that run CCFILE harbor a threatening hostility toward those whom they perceive to be the other but would never, of course, admit to that directly.

Who is not against illegal immigration? Most are against it and some views they espouse, as said, have credence but THAT show is more than about simply illegal immigration. The racism and other messages of hate not admitted as such on the show are clear for ANYONE who wants to really hear them.

I listened to a so called historian, interspersed on one show, lecture about his view of the history of US immigration. He explained that in his view the history of immigration was about letting into this nation those from countries other than Western Europe who posed an attendant danger by subverting the heretofore American Anglo (white Christian implied) way of life. He interjected, too, an oft articulated view by many in the anti-immigration movement, an anti-Semitism which sees the Jew, too, of course, as just another part of the many forms of the other who have invaded the American culture emasculating its Anglo roots and tradition, subverting our Founders’ original intent.

I thought it humorous, too, that the mouthpieces of a show that rails against immigrants who do not speak proper English were, in fact, guilty of gross grammatical error and poor English sentence structure themselves. At least new immigrants illegal or otherwise have an excuse. Since the narrators of the programs are self professed “true Americans” what is THEIR excuse? As Christ is alleged to have said “Judge not lest you be judged … why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Matthew 7.15

CCFILE is about illegal immigration yes BUT it is also about the halt, exclusion and even erasure of the influence of the other from, as they see it, the "American way of life." It is, I believe, this etiological essence that makes me cringe. All one must do is listen to the episodic content to hear what CCFILE has to say. Its message is often bombastic and confrontational. That, I believe, is the REAL threat plaguing our nation today.

This article in The Nation by Jeremy Scahill, link below, is chilling. Another article appears in the NYTimes today regarding the CIA paid connection to Blackwater linked below as well. If you do not want to read this please at least scroll down to the Department of Defense war statistics.

Erik Prince of the Blackwater fame is the president of the mercenary army the Bush administration hired to supplement US forces in Iraq and allowed to run wild. Blackwater has been a law unto itself accountable to no one. He is the closest thing to a true American fascist (I do not use that term lightly) I have seen who is actually employed by our government in Iraq especially under Bush. How much he operates now I do not know but it would not shock me to find his nefarious fingerprints in many places. He is a Christian crusader and because of a civil suit filed by Iraqis in the US Court in Virginia is being investigated for NUMEROUS murders of innocents in Iraq and is alleged to have committed possible murders of his own men who were potential whistle blowers. He allegedly has threatened many in his own organization with death and it is alleged had others murdered as depositions which are currently being taken under oath indicate as The Nation artic le below illuminates. We do not know if a grand jury has been convened to investigate these alleged dastardly activities as secrecy laws pertaining to grand jury investigations prevail. In addition, as the article states, he is known to use a variety of money laundering techniques skimming funds off for himself eluding criminal prosecution. The tide MAY be changing emphasis on may.

One HOPES that he will get a post haste criminal prosecution. His crimes truly are reminiscent of fascistic international exploits of the Nazi variety except his crusade is against innocent Muslims in Iraq and really against Muslims no matter who they are everywhere. His hatred of and threat to those who oppose him even in his own organization are legendary. Blackwater's actions do NOT add to US interests internationally and that is an understatement, in fact, they contribute negatively to our already quite tainted image. I have seen him interviewed and he is the mind numbing prototype of a Knights Templar Christian crusader. What makes him truly frightening is he has access to a plethora of weaponry and even illegal weaponry such as grenades and explosives that detonate AFTER they are projected into the person. See Jeremy Scahill's book Blackwater:The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army for more information on this truly horrific entity that the Bush administration used with gusto and is an organization I have read which perhaps is STILL shockingly operating in Iraq and elsewhere.

All Christians, Jews, Muslims and non believers alike should be disgusted. Erik Prince is still a free man loaded for bear and he still wants to Christianize the entire world! Urge news organizations and especially news commentators to report on these issues, write the Congress, the President and the Justice Department or anyone you think to encourage bringing this man to justice for the crimes he is alleged to have committed and meet out the punishment he, in my opinion, so justly deserves!

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090817/scahill
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32484932/ns/politics-the_new_york_times/


See DOD (Department of Defense) statistics of a war in which the nation Iraq the United States invaded did NOTHING absolutely NOTHING to us to warrant it.

WAS IRAQ WORTH ALL THIS? Stats from DOD Derived from web site: http://antiwar.com/casualties/

See: http://antiwar.com/casualties/

I think most may agree with me. The Iraq War was NOT worth it and now the total number of lives it cost far exceeds the 9/11 deaths. This is an immoral, illegal horror show and those in power who began it unlawfully based on lies should be held accountable.

The fact that many of us in the beginning (including, I am sad to say, me) supported it because I believed the administration knew more than I. Most of our Congress voted to fund it (including Democrats) is a fact to be ashamed of for the rest of our lives AND it is the reason that in the future before a leader takes a country and serves up its young and its finest to be slaughtered there better be a DAMN good highly INVESTIGATED reason why we should do so! The MORAL of the story which I SHOULD have learned long ago: Never believe power. ALWAYS question it!

Evidence of a miracle?: I was in rational SHOCK as I read the August 15, 2009 Boston Globe Letter to the Editor of Judi Scherban entitled "Evidence of a Miracle." She espouses actual proof of the truth of Eucharistic adoration of the blood and body of Christ. What is this proof? Alleged by her a "miracle occurred in the year 700 in Lanciano, Italy when a priest plagued with doubt witnessed, before his congregation, the bread change into human flesh and the wine into human blood." Moreover, she says, this blood (type AB) and human flesh (muscular heart tissue)was subject to scientific analysis around 1971." So this blood Type AB and fresh human muscular heart tissue defied the laws of molecular biology and did not decay after 1277 years? I wonder, too, just who this priest was who had his vision. Perhaps he was merely schizophrenic? Perhaps, too, it was also determined that proteins were like those found in "fresh blood" because someone in 1971 tested a fresh sample? Does anyone question the events surrounding this preposterous so called "proof"?

Her belief she says is proven without question but question I do. This is yet again evidence of the dogmatic, unquestioning and blind acceptance of postulations of faith that keeps people ignorant. I hypothesize it will be the downfall of man who was given a natural cerebral synaptic brain so he can question, reason, and determine by scientific inquiry what the truth really is. Made up stories shot full of holes abound in all religions but this one, I must say, is a doosey!

Health Care Histrionics: Recently an editorial at the Metro West News decried the health care protesters as ones who are taking a page out of the left wing rants, sit ins and obstructionist tactics of the anti Vietnam War and civil rights struggle of the late 60's. I was among those who sympathized with the late 60's left wing demonstrators although I never was present at an office sit in and certainly I was NOT violent. Still, I empathized. So I rethought those days and wondered about the difference between the right obstructing at the health care forums and the left obstructing at an office sit-in of that era. I came to the conclusion that the philosophical issues of the left WERE different -- MUCH different -- BUT the ability to shut down debate whether from the right OR the left (although I am much more sympathetic to the left's cause) is still the same. It's unproductive and it gets one nowhere.

I believe the confrontational tactics of the left in the 60's was responsible for the election of Richard Nixon and a slew of right wing presidents that meant the ultimate ruination of our country. Further, it solidifies our divide as the anti bellum pre Civil War cause did. I believe, too, and said so last evening to a political ally, that the right is sewing their own demise. They may LOOK powerful as the demonstrators in the 1960's did but real power will allude them. This country is NOT extreme left or extreme right and the demographics are changing. Elections are won by winning over moderates and moderates do NOT like the health care histrionics they see on the 6:30 p.m. news. They like rational debate. That wins the day. The so called tea baggers will lose their cause for themselves.

I should not be so revelatory because, of course, I WANT them to lose. So I rephrase what I just said. Keep going, tea bags, its fun to watch you tactically hang yourself as THIS time the opposition will not be silent either. The president has tried for six months to reach out much to our liberal chagrin but his hand keeps getting slapped every single time. The definition of stupidity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results. One thing THIS president is NOT is stupid so I am hoping he soon will learn. His base like I and millions of others count. So tea baggers keep doing what your doing, it plays right into our left wing hands!

Question Asked: The president is having forums even today and throughout August. MSNBC has a place to ask a question on the recovery. This is what I asked. It probably will not be asked of him but if I do say so myself I think it is a good one and it does not hurt to try. Even though they probably will not pose it if you happen to catch it on any station please let me know.


I am thrilled by your election. Having said that I worry about our economy. I worry because it seems you have put at the helm of our recovery efforts many of those people who were instrumental in actually causing the economic disaster you inherited. I worry that those people who were at the Wall Street pinnacles of power when the bubble burst are entrusted with our recovery. Indeed, Wall Street continues to reap enormous profits and bonuses from TARP even while most Americans on Main Street suffer. What efforts have you made to ensure that the economic policies which Mr. Geither, Mr. Summers or their mentors espoused creating the endless bubble and bursting bubble scenario we now face, will never happen again?

Happy Birthday, Mr. President: Happy birthday, President Barack Obama, indeed! Although I criticize policy from time to time I am thrilled Barack Obama is our president. I have to pinch myself every time I hear the words Mr. President and know they are talking about Barack Obama and not Bush. Bush’s nightmare is often embedded in my synapses like a recurring nightmare. I have to keep telling myself over and over again Barack Obama is president Barack Obama is president. My next nightmare would be Bush’s return in another form. THIS time Democrats EVERYWHERE must ensure, as Jews do about the Holocaust, NEVER AGAIN, NEVER AGAIN, NEVER AGAIN.

This country could not recover from the insanity of another Republican presidency. We must uncover their lies and continuing efforts to subvert democratic ideals by phony Republican bought-and-paid-for efforts to numb and control the public mind. We must stop their manipulation of town hall discussion forums and their multi-million dollar campaign to usurp the corporate media. We must contribute to Democratic causes and oppose through our own strong voices their attempts to subvert justice and promote immorality. Finally, we must ensure another Bush-like presidency with a Republican-elected Congress cost NO more in blood and treasure. Control of the American seats of power by the inundation of extremist right wing politics and its attendant Constitutional subversion must NEVER happen again. I remain ALWAYS vigilant!

Miracle in North Korea: I do not know how anyone on planet earth cannot think the release of the two journalists from a twelve-year prison sentence at hard labor is anything but great. Here is a nation with a nuclear arsenal threatening that region even threatening our west coast and former Ambassador Bolton from the Bush administration thinks it was a bad idea to negotiate with terrorists? When would he like to negotiate with a nuclear power when it has launched its first attack? If it were HIS daughter would he feel differently? I suspect so.

Bill Clinton negotiating the prisoners' release is a wonderful thing and I believe there is an opportunity opening up to talk with an enemy no matter how obnoxious the smell. The fact is lives could be saved. Sometimes nations like people simply want to be acknowledged. Let's acknowledge them. War with a nuclear armed nation is NOT an option.