Leave it to the Beave?: "The Beaver," a new Mel Gibson, Jody Foster movie was reviewed by NYT. As is its custom a comment section is often made available for the reader or the viewer to write their thoughts. I have written on many of the issues of our time on many other NYT blogs. They most always, with great appreciation, are accepted and printed online.

In the movie review comment section, however, my view on the Gibson film "The Beaver," is not being printed. My opinion of Gibson's film (which I have not seen) is that I refuse to see it. I indict Gibson the man as a most malodorous anti-Semite which seals my decision not to view anything that is associated with him. I think my opinion is worthy of appearing on the NYT movie blog with other opinions that I believe, humbly, are not as thoughtfully composed. I offered it again for their consideration.

I will not view this film:

I DO make a value judgment about Mr. Gibson. Personally, even before his virulent anti-Semitic comments his type of film never really attracted me. However, I have always enjoyed most of Ms. Foster's (his female lead in "The Beaver") films. Still, there is no way, in view of Mr. Gibson's hostile and vituperative anti-Semitic rants often in an inebriated state, I would even consider seeing this film or any film connected to him. It is not his Catholicism to me which is at issue but his adherence to the most extreme branch of the faith long eschewed by more than one Pope. It is that sect of the faith which desires not only to return to the Latin Tridentine Mass but wants to emphasize the texts which significantly indict the Jew for the killing of Christ. As stated in The Sun by Gabriel Birkner on July 3, 2007 The Good Friday liturgy [to which Mr. Gibson would like to return] "contains a passage stating that Jews live in "blindness" and "darkness" and asks God to "remove the veil from their hearts."" I suppose, too, [that Gibson would like to reinstate] a reference to Jews as Ms. Birkner states "perfidious" which was excised from the liturgy in 1969." Those portions of the New Testament which have been treated as historical veracity are far from it as most academic scholars of religion know. This indictment of the Jew gave two thousand years of rationality to the most heinous accusation ultimately culminating in the Holocaust.

Mr. Gibson aside from being a consummate anti-Semite is also a Holocaust denier. Ms. Foster should consider well the type of people from whom she decides to earn a living. She can and should do better. It is not only his extremist faith that is at issue but all of the other scurrilous accusations to which he in Shylockian form subscribes and which his extremist father conveyed to his son. Mr. Gibson adheres to those most odious views which have plagued world Jewry since the earliest inception of Christianity. The fact that Rome had to be absolved for the New Testament execution of Jesus meant that Jews would carry that burden for a crime they did not commit if even one can believe the historicity of New Testament text. It would prove deadly to the Jewish people -- six million deadly.

Why would I, a Jewess, ever want to add to this deluded man's wealth? I do NOT and WILL not. So far, the film I have read is getting quite tepid reviews so I suspect I am not missing very much. If Ms. Foster decides to make another film that has no relationship to this fetid man, then maybe I will give it consideration.

I urge people in view of Mr. Gibson's heinous political, religious, personally tainted, psychologically incriminating and domestically violent character refrain from buying a ticket.

The Waiver: My sentiments waiver (so what else is new) about the special opp killing of bin laden and I also waiver as to whether OSBL's dead body should be released to the press. I put up on my blog an opinion entitled "Body of Evidence" which discussed the skeptical thoughts I have. I did not send it because I was not sure about its content and I still am not. But I have read many things that lead me to believe that the president, perhaps, is correct to not release the photos. It would, I think, indeed, be possible to incite people even more albeit some are already incited.

I am now of the opinion, until I read and deduce otherwise, that bin laden was killed on May 1, 2011 and that the unbelievably capable and brave US Navy Seals performed their job with the highest expertise. It is easy to Monday morning quarterback. How would anyone feel going into an atmosphere where one has NO idea what to expect? Even ONE man (or woman) with a gun is enough to pose a threat to the entire operation in the fog of war.

This action seems to have been executed perfectly and the withholding of the pic perhaps the correct thing to do. I still do wonder how on earth a middle aged man with kidney disease who needed dialysis could have lived six years in that milieu. That building although bigger than others looked squalid. How US helicopters which I have read allegedly perused the skies above the area years ago did not question what a house with barbed wire was doing there, I cannot know.

There will always be questions. I now believe we did, in fact, kill bin laden on May 1, 2011, and I now believe the president's rationales for not releasing the pics were correct. Until proven otherwise I commend the action but I do not like to act as a high school cheerleader of a football game and revel in the deaths of many during the entire theater of war.

These are serious actions for serious times. Careful scrutiny of national policy and US foreign policy should be our country's modus operandi. Because I am not in the decision-making theater of war it is very hard for me to judge the moral, the ethical and the legal conduct of the operations in which we engage. I simply HOPE and, indeed think, this president is better than the last. Maybe time will tell -- or maybe it won't!

Body of Evidence: I am dismayed that the pictures of the operation and elimination of bin laden were not shown. Frankly, I do NOT know what to believe. Am I thrilled he is dead? YES, of course. I was in euphoria Sunday night but there are many questions I have now that reason prevails. Will this be the ratcheting down OR UP the fear of and war on terror? Will the US now go into Pakistan because they allegedly knew about bin laden's hiding place and did nothing? Will this drive this nation into more HUMONGOUS debt?

They are saying he lived in a million dollar mansion and the press is parroting that. That is NOT what I see. I see a place of squalor and poverty. It was disgusting. Could a man with a physical malady of kidney disease on dialysis I have been led to believe he had live in such squalor for SIX years? Moreover, DNA evidence proved with 100% accuracy that it was bin laden? I thought DNA testing took weeks and not minutes. Many questions upon reflection which require answers.

I want the president to get the glory, I am GLAD that bin laden is finally deemed dead BUT the proof of that is necessary. The questions will keep coming and they will grow. I was ebullient Sunday night and now I am filled with questions, doubt and fear. I suspect others feel that as well. The question is does this administration care ENOUGH to answer these questions many will have.

I KNEW that the pictures of the body would not be released. I am a doubting Thomas NOT that bin laden is dead but that he was killed on Sunday, May 1. I am doubting my government. I vowed I would never be duped as I was when Bush touted WMD's. I believed it and it was not so. THOUSANDS of lives depended on that truth and they died because they believed in American power and exceptionalism as well.

Now I wonder will fear be ratcheted up again and will we be furious at Pakistan for not telling us about bin laden giving us the excuse we need to open up yet ANOTHER front on a nation that DOES possess nuclear weapons OR did Pakistan not get him because he was already dead. One news agency recently broadcast a segment about US retaliation for Pakistani negligence or betrayal.

I want the questions that others have and that I have now to be answered. I do NOT want this to be another scenario where so many lives are lost because the truth was never told. The pictures of the body and any video of the military operation which allegedly killed bin laden should be released!

The Master of a Masterful Action: An operation like the near flawless execution of one of the world's most heinous humans who occupied, to our chagrin, a place on this planet, is historic. This apprehension and killing of a murderer reminds me of the commando raid against the pirates off the coast of Yemen given at the president’s order. This is yet another example of a brilliant man who occupies the office today. The death of bin laden is BEYOND the former example times a million. The president is the most competent-of-competent commanders-in-chief. He knows EXACTLY what to do, how to do it and has the appropriate experts times 10 to perfect it.

The war against religious fanaticism goes on. But never forget a request by US Marines was made to take the bastard bin laden out in Tora Bora when they had him in their cross-hairs in 2001. It was denied by George W. Bush probably so that the Iraq War could continue. The negating of the order by Bush to get bin laden when they COULD have in Tora Bora in 2001 to me at the time was treason.

So yes, we can all come together BUT I am SURELY glad this was done on President Obama’s watch as I suspected when he was elected, it would be. He directed it and the Navy Seals executed it with PERFECTION.

My criticisms in the past of some policy take a back seat because the president has proven he KNOWS how to implement his YES WE CAN mantra. His administration is about reconciliation and compromise. Criticize him, as I sometimes do, I can also reverse course and laud him for his ability to do what he thinks is right even if it means compromising with, in my opinion, the oft disloyal and all-too-often racist opposition. I do not have to like that yearning for compromise but I can support this president as he has shown today and on countless other occasions that his policy uniting the nation is sharp, it takes precedence and implementing it is arduous but ever-so-necessary.

Kudos, Mr. President. You have my loyalty!

YES WE DID! An operation like this reminds me of the commando raid against the pirates off the coast of Yemen given at the president’s order. Yet another example of a brilliant man who occupies the office. The death of bin laden is BEYOND the former example times a million and proves that point to me. He is the most competent of competent commanders in chief. He knows EXACTLY what to do and how to do it.

Sure, the war on terror goes on. But never forget a request by US commandos was made to take the bastard bin laden out in Tora Bora and it was denied. The negating of the order to get Bin Laden when they COULD have done it in Tora Bora to me at the time was treason.

So yes, we can all come together BUT I am SURELY glad this was done on Obama’s watch as I suspected when he was elected, it would be. He directed and the Navy Seals executed it with PERFECTION.

My criticisms in the past of some policy are tucked away because the president has proven he KNOWS how to implement his YES WE CAN mantra. His administration is about reconciliation and compromise. Criticize him as I sometimes do I can also reverse course and laud him for his ability to do what he thinks is right even if it means compromising with the oft disloyal opposition. I do not have to like that but can support this president as he has shown today and on many other occasions that his policy uniting the nation is sharp and implementing it arduous but necessary.

Kudos, Mr. President. You have my loyalty!

Bin Laden DEAD!!!!!:More to come but off the cuff: They got bin laden...FINALLY .ten years later but nonetheless they did it!!When the president was going to speak at 10:30 p.m. at first I thought may be ground troops in Libya but as I thought about it more and more I began to think no this has to be even bigger and I said I bet they
caught bin laden!!! I've been waiting for 10 years to catch that scum bag excuse for a human!!! Such a happy day! I am SO proud to be American and I am so glad Obama did it on his watch. I KNEW he would I just knew it. I want to celebrate as they are in front of the White House. Still we are never totally out of the woods but still this is a MOMENTOUS day. I am crying with happiness and have waited and watched for SO long!! Here is a link:

Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/05/01/113442/osama-bin-laden-found-in-pakistan.html#ixzz1LAEm2Wkn

Confederate Pride? This is in response to the article entitled "The Confederate Flag is Still Flying High" on the web site The Grio (link below.) It is written stream of conscious because those who know me understand a fractured foot makes it painful to do most everything. My response is short and sweet .... well NOT so sweet.

I am white and flying the Confederate flag to me is as if someone flew a Nazi swastika flag. Would I say they have the right to fly it? MAYBE but I have just as much right to abhor, loathe and stand with others who feel the same as I in opposition to it. The confederate flag makes me see red and I laud the NAACP for vociferously and continuously without end protest it. They can fly that flag but no one says any person of moral integrity, (ESPECIALLY if they call themselves Christian as nearly all in the south do) has to like it. I THOUGHT Christianity was about in large part love and compassion engendering the ability to walk in the other guy's shoes.

For centuries that symbol has denied African Americans the right to THEIR heritage and WORSE even their right to live. The south was peppered with strange hanging fruit of black men hung from trees because they merely looked at a white person the wrong way. (listen to Billie Holiday's song on Utube: Strange Fruit Utubhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4ZyuULy9zs).

The Confederate flag and so called "southern pride" is a symbol of all the evil that culture did to an entire race of people. It meant they could not vote, it meant they could not eat at the same table as whites, drink at the same drinking fountain as whites, swim in the same swimming pool as whites, go to the same bathroom as whites, enter the same door as whites, it meant they had to sit at the back of the bus, it meant that they could not vote, it meant that they could not go to the same school as whites, it meant that they had to give favor to whites to walk on the same side of the street, it meant having a difficult life and it meant sometimes not even having a life at all.

I say sure fly the lousy flag but others of humane mind do not and WILL not EVER like it!

http://www.thegrio.com/opinion/why-the-confederate-flag-is-still-flying-high.php

Radiant beauty and ugliness through the face of a child:

"Chernobyl's Legacy Radiates after Twenty Five Years" is the headline if one clicks on the link below. It is the picture of a child, with one arm, short short stubby legs and a BEAUTIFUL face but it is NOT a pretty picture so you are forewarned!

Still, like a picture of the Holocaust, I believe it is important to view because words on a page are simply black letters on a white background strung together which cannot hope to convey well enough the emotional seriousness of an issue.

They did not raise the classification of Fukishima to 7, the same level as Chernobyl, for nothing. I believe the nuclear disaster at Fukishima is many times worse than Chernobyl but political power and the money behind it will never tell you the entire truth. This picture on Huffington does the job to adequately convey nuclear power's threat.

J. Robert Oppenheimer, supervisor of the Manhattan Project during the development of the first nuclear bomb, was correct when he quoted from the Hindu Baghavad Gita after the first explosion of it: "Now I am become death destroyer of worlds."

Who said a picture is worth a thousand words? This proves they were right!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

TRUMPED by a child: I have a confession to make. For about 1/2 hour I gave Donald Trump consideration because I was so brokenhearted that the leadership I THOUGHT would transpire under Barack Obama was less than I expected. I was brokenhearted by the November 2010 Congressional so called “shellacking” and I thought it happened because the president had fallen leadership short. The president did not come out STRONGLY against the summer of corporately driven town hall MADNESS which wanted to kill desperately needed health care reform and by doing so kill the chances of a Barack Obama second term. I was brokenhearted that he did not explain well enough to the American public what his health plan entailed. He had the bully pulpit but I believed he did not use it effectively and often enough. He did not evoke the kind of leadership that was needed to negotiate through the maze of an intractable and disunited Congress but left it in their lumbering hands to hammer out the golden calf.

I was heartbroken that Wall Street got away with (and still is) highly unethical crimes and worse that the president picked for Treasury in his cabinet the very men behind the Wall Street fraud; he chose those who helped create it and who advocated for policies that fed the beast. He put the very foxes in charge of the coop they and their ilk nearly destroyed.

I was brokenhearted when the president said Lloyd Blankfein, and Jamie Dimon, two of the most sickening Wall Street CEO's from the worst of the worst institutions which gamed the golden egg goose, were touted by the president as "good businessmen." The president said after all some sportsmen make big money as if that could excuse what Blankfein, Dimon and his cronies did while people who lost everything committed suicide. Blankfein, Dimon and others laughed all the way to their respective mansions with taxpayer bonus millions they did not deserve and should not have gotten.

I was brokenhearted that the Middle East wars Obama promised to end do not but rather increase spilling young blood in perpetuity, costing billions each day and not winning any friends. I was brokenhearted that someone like Corporal Manning who whistle blew on heinous military conduct and did what the Nuremberg trials instructed the world to do by exposing crimes against humanity even if one’s own country is the perpetrator. Manning was and continues to be held without trial in this country, possibly tortured and convicted verbally by a president who taught civil liberties at Harvard in a country where innocent until proven guilty is the golden rule.

I wanted leadership -- STRONG leadership I hoped I would get but thought I did not. I wanted leadership which would resurrect the country and create the JOBS it so desperately needs, dismember the inequities and loopholes of the tax code, bring US corporations doing business overseas back by taxing them if they choose to set up corporations abroad. I wanted a strong stimulus package and received a weak one. I wanted strong bank regulation but Obama and the Congress he was supposed to herd could deliver only tepid reform.

After 1/2 hour considering Trump, feeling that his stand on birther and so called “conservative” social issues were merely pragmatism he does not truly believe, I decided against considering him a serious candidate. Why would I think otherwise as he allegedly tries to gain a Republican nomination or in the alternative boost his Celebrity Apprentice ratings. When he had the audacity to say the president was not Ivy League and when he called Robert DiNiro a man of little intelligence I KNEW jealousy is the blood coursing though Trump’s veins and that he does not deserve the honor that attaining the presidency bestows.

Trump is a mean and brash man; an uber egotistical blowhard with fake hair that is metaphor for the faker he is. Trump does not care whom he hurts or what he says to hurt them and he stoops as low as a tabloid newspaper journalist to do it. I suppose a businessman often does not care whom he hurts and we have the Great Recession to prove it. Trump, is in reality a LITTLE man a very LITTLE man who needs to puff himself up to prove to himself his worth. It is ironic for a man who supposedly measures his worth by the alleged billions he accumulates to feel the need to do so. Others measure worth by different yardsticks.

I will vote for Barack Obama in 2012 because I can have the adult conversation about which the Republicans talk ad nauseam. 1 Corinthians 13:11 tells us: “When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became an adult, I gave up childish ways.” As an adult I know one cannot get everything one wants. One must compromise and often.

I know Barack Obama has given us much we never would have gotten if a Republican held the oval office. I have faith that the president in a second term will do even more. I know Barack Obama is on our side and as the adult I am he will have my support.

The Response: This is in response to my article that appeared in the MDN about Civil War celebrations. There are those rightwingnuts who are always there to protest even the most benign comment especially if a liberal presents it. "Proudliberal" offered a cogent response to many of those who posted. One extremist right wing blogger singled out in the end always uses the word "OUCH" (whatever THAT means) when making an attempt to voice his/her opinion. If you want to see the original article and the blog posts I enclose the link at the end.

The Response: I should not even address CLEARLY illogical and make-no-sense comments but I must. Some wingers on here would have something negative to say if one came out and said the bunnies on the lawn are cute. The most benign and indeed humane comments on some letters to the editor are opposed often with vitriolic rhetoric which is racist transparent. Scratch the surface of those who disagree on, for example, the viewpoint here and I suspect what would be found no not always but OFTEN -- too often.

I would not mind if the opposition was made in intelligent fashion like that which is written by David Brooks, Krauthammer, Jacoby, George Will and others with whom I largely disagree but it is the opinions which are personal attacks that are the most objectionable and I loathe stooping to that low.

I do not think EVERYONE in the south harbors secessionist thought. Nor do I think that everyone is racist and I do surely know racism exists here. One need only read the MDN blogs in response to opinions like the benign one above to know that.

Secessionist thought exists in MANY states and not just in the ones Kane mentioned although it exists there as well. It has been advocated in all states by one crank or another. Check out some recent talk -- sometimes very angry talk -- in states like S. Carolina, Texas by its governor Rick Perry, Nevada, and others. It EVEN exists in Alaska where Palin's husband allegedly was a member of a secessionist group. There have been numbers of Civil War commemorative celebrations and dances complete with Confederate uniforms and stars and bars Confederate flags some of which still fly in southern state capitols today and are pasted on vehicles everywhere.

While states rights can be argued from a Constitutional point of view it has historically and even in contemporary politics been intrinsic code for the abandonment of federal civil rights law secured by and for African Americans and others who have been socially and institutionally ostracized because of an ascribed status i.e. the color of the skin in which they were born.

There are states which want to return to the era of literacy tests but instead of calling it that they advocate for people to show licenses they may not have making it more difficult for the poor and others including African Americans and Hispanics, who are largely Democrats, to vote. Others want as proof of citizenship a requirement to appear on a ballot using the ad aburdium notion of showing baptismal certificates OR even the more laughable proof of all things circumcision. Jewish circumcision is done eight days after birth so conceivably (pardon the pun) one could be born in Somalia, eight days later come to the US to be circumcised by a rabbi and ultimately 35 years later run for president! THAT made me laugh. All of these, I submit, have racist animus.

There is a HUGE difference between arguing for a fair electoral count within each state than there is if certain states want to return to yesteryear to deny service, a home or a job to a selected minority, advocate for the so called 'southern cause' and couch that advocacy in veiled racist thought hiding behind the Constitutional concept of states rights. It is those profound equal rights for minority groups who have been historically excluded from the majority culture and debate that are and should be in this country universal. When they are not the courts need to intervene and can because Federal law ensuring egalitarian treatment gives teeth to those who can prosecute against it. Might I remind, for those who saw it, Rand Paul stumbling over the question of property rights versus human rights when asked if he, who supports property rights nearly universally, would support a business owner denying service to people of color. One could see and hear he did NOT know how to handle that simple question. For most of us the answer to that is easy. Human rights should prevail against property rights when a person simply wants to eat at a lunch counter, have a job, sit on a bus or go to an integrated school.

This is what the Civil War entailed; this is what the fight for civil rights meant; this is what is signified by resurgent secessionist thought; this is what is meant by the Confederate flag flying; this is what is meant by desiring the ability of states to use the 10th amendment to return to an era where states could enforce ANY law they passed no matter how discriminatory and prevail over any federal law which might legislate against it. The celebration of the Civil War and its attendant race issues are alive and well in our country trying to kick and scream their way into modern public policy.

November 2nd, I simply shake my head in incredulity. Your comment today takes the cake. Perhaps YOU should spend YOUR Easter thinking as YOU say 'Absolvi meam animam.' I am sure waxing repentant and getting things off your chest would be an oh so satisfying experience. I promise I won't say 'OUCH'!

Read more: http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/archive/x1294651583/Rosen-Lessons-from-the-Civil-War#ixzz1KXem34Nu

An Addendum to Noam Chomsky: In a previous blog I stated the following and since I finished Prof. Chomsky's Huffington Post article "Is the World Too Big to Fail? The Contours of the Global Order" I would like to append one more prescient thought Chomsky iterated at the end of his piece:

I said:

Love him or hate him, for those who are interested in American foreign policy he is a premier provocateur. Up is down and down is up. US foreign policy and Alice in Wonderland have much in common. Things are not always as they appear. Question everything!

Left of center politics aside I find Chomsky's views interesting and revelatory. You do not have to buy all of it but at least think about some of it. We live in a world shaped by forces larger by far than ourselves.

I add: Prof. Chomsky said: "All of this, and much more, can proceed as long as the Muasher doctrine prevails. As long as the general population is passive, apathetic, diverted to consumerism or hatred of the vulnerable­, then the powerful can do as they please, and those who survive will be left to contemplat­e the outcome."

NB: "Muasher doctrine": "There is nothing wrong, everything is under control." In short, if the dictators support us, what else could matter? Quoting The New Left Project -- "The guiding principle was articulated clearly by Carnegie Endowment Middle East specialist Marwan Muasher, formerly a high official of the Jordanian government:

Food for thought. I urge you to read his article and again the link to his opinion below.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/noam-chomsky/us-global-power_b_851992.html?page=3

A Sea Change -- the Middle East on Fire?: The news of the unrest in Syria challenging the power of Assad is astounding. It is jaw dropping and it is giving Iran, Syria's ally, a nervous stomach. Who would have predicted Middle East power structures falling like dominoes? The yearning to breathe free is a human common denominator. Ever since I was a child in elementary school I remember thinking how wonderful it was that I could ask my teachers absolutely anything. I was utterly free to speak my mind. Later when I realized that not everyone experiences that I thought how difficult it must be to censor one's thought.

The Internet, Facebook, Twitter, cell phones that capture pictures must give power agida. It is hard to squash the truth when one has these technological wonders at one's disposal to record it all and there is NOTHING power can do to stop it. It does not mean, however, that power will not try their damnedest to hide at all costs the unspeakable things they know they have done to their own people. We cannot be so smug even here as the Wikileaks provider, Corporal Manning, could, I am sure, attest. Power does not give up its secrets easily. It is up to we the people to demand the truth from them and hold their feet to the fire to get it.

The biggest question I have about each Middle Eastern state that has fallen or is in the process of revolt is who are these rebels and where will they take their people. If they go the way of religious fanaticism then I say not much has changed but if they go the way of a truly free society with secular equality, free speech and the accompanying bill of rights then we will have witnessed a sea change for the better of repressive, totalitarian religious fanatical states. If the latter is the case then no wonder Iran has a queasy stomach tonight. It SHOULD!

How the Earth Works -- the wonder and the miracle of our planet: I live with a brilliant person. I cannot believe how intelligent and how humble-about-being intelligent she is. The enormity of things academic she brings into our home is astounding. I wish I possessed the kind of brilliance she does to not only view these things but remember all the things of various study and complexity we experience. The best I can hope for is that some of the intellectual gold mined is sifted and cemented in my middle age brain. There is, indeed, so much to learn and so little time in which to learn it.

She has bought many DVDs throughout the years from the Teaching Company which concentrate on various elements of study from math and science to history, music, religion and more. If you have not heard of the Teaching Company I highly recommend you take a look at what it has to offer. If you have children or grandchildren I cannot think of a better way to introduce them to and teach them about the wonders of our world.

This morning I woke up to the first of 43 lectures entitled "How the Earth Works" taught by Professor Michael Mysession. He is a professor of geophysics at Washington University in St. Louis. He presents a plethora of knowledge about yes, how the earth works, and he does it in a riveting way. It is presented, through a set of six DVDs which carry a series of academic classroom-type lectures. It is NOT like television programming one might see on PBS or the Science Channel complete with video and sound effects to capture the viewer's interest. The Teaching Company, rather, is about just that -- teaching. If you are interested in the subject matter, want desperately to be enlightened as we do, these lectures will provide endless hours of learning. The key is one has to want to expand one's mind by listening to experts in a particular field.

Learning to us IS entertainment even if it is devoid of the glitz and glamor of the contemporary media of our time. The Teaching Company lectures reflect, I think, what higher education is about. Through the DVD's of the Teaching Company one can do this in the comfort of one's living room neither running late to attend a lecture, tied to a classroom seat nor squinting for hours at a back-breaking computer screen to do so.

The Teaching Company has hundreds of lectures in various fields featuring a diverse subject matter. If you love learning as we do, you will be riveted by what these eminently qualified academics have to offer. IF you are interested I enclose its link below.

http://www.thegreatcourses.com/greatcourses.aspx?cm_mmc=affiliate-_-primarylogo_-na-_-na&ai=32675

"Is the World Too Big to Fail? The Contours of Global Order"-- by Noam Chomsky: Love him or hate him, for those who are interested in American foreign policy he is a premier provocateur. Up is down and down is up. US foreign policy and Alice in Wonderland have much in common. Things are not always as they appear. Question everything!

Left of center politics aside I find Chomsky's views very interesting and revelatory. You do not have to buy all of it but at least think about some of it. We live in a world shaped by forces larger by far than ourselves.

I post the link to his opinion below.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/noam-chomsky/us-global-power_b_851992.html?page=3

What IS war good for?: This is simply a stream of conscious, not well written as I do not have the time. It was provoked by pictures of Republican former presidential 2008 candidate John McCain prancing around Libya our new found war. It showed a semi-smiling McCain, an unafraid McCain in a sport coat, flanked by other men and it showed two Libyan men carrying American flags. (link provided below) What it does not show is that McCain, to go to Libya, had to do it in the UTMOST secrecy accompanied by a TON of protection. Most of our military and diplomatic professionals, including journalists who are there, as the article states, see a "stalemate." It evoked some thought!

Obama or McCain it makes not a whit of difference. This is just an ugly scenario and I cannot BELIEVE my eyes that Obama, a man who once eschewed war, in the Senate voted against the Iraq war, is now stepping up war in the Middle East. This is never ending, perpetual, permanent war for generations upon generations to come. It is NOT Medicare, Social Security or Medicaid that will bankrupt the US it is incessant war EVERYWHERE especially in the Middle East that even Obama let me say that again OBAMA will not end.

The military industrial complex that even a 1950's anti Communist Eisenhower told us to beware of sees an ATM machine cash cow in the Middle East. They probably licked their chops at 911 and KNEW the American people could easily be scared into forever war IF (1) it did not lead to a draft (2) their kids would not have to fight it (3) it made them SO rich and they would never have to pay for it as taxes which for them would be lowered.

In the final analysis, it is the MIDDLE CLASS, the WORKING CLASS and the POOR that will pay in blood and treasure for these utterly bankrupting and insane wars that go NOWHERE. Now it is reported that it is a stalemate in Libya. Now THAT'S a big surprise. Oh sure, the rebels carry American flags. Once they get into power IF -- I say IF -- they do many in their NOT-cohesive-movement will burn American flags.

This is my prediction based upon Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan who today said NO US predator drones and now a Libyan stalemate. God knows where else we are dropping bombs. I am SURE we are in more live ammunition wars than we can count. Our wars ALIENATE more than they pacify and they condemn us to an eternal hell we have never known. There is no hell after death. There does not have to be. Our leaders will provide us with it for money in their pockets, power and now most of all oil. They do it EVERY time even the once liberal Obama.

Do you think these corporate cows want clean energy so we do NOT have to depend on Middle East oil -- NO WAY. So it will go on and on and on and on until someday MAYBE the American people will WAKE up or the country will collapse from humongous debt.

The Republican Party, the leaders of the Tea Bag Party and some in the Democratic Party are NOT interested in YOU. They do NOT care about you. Vote for people who are NOT tied to the corporate trough, who do not need corporate money and who will get this nation OUT OUT OUT of permanent never ending bankrupting war! Our country's life and YOUR life depend upon it! As the old 1960's anti-war song goes: "War what is it good for? ABSOLUTELY NOTHIN!"

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42715776/

This opinion was posted in the NYT blog and is in response to an article in it today entitled "Poll Find Few Favorites as GOP Fights for Presidency" (link below)

The Republican Party of the Absurd: It is astounding to me that in a country of 350 million people, there is absolutely NO ONE, in my opinion, in the Republican Party whom I would deem a strong, smart, and credible candidate. I am not a Republican BUT if I were the major horror I would feel is that the party has turned into something uncompromising, extreme and alien. The Republican base, from which the candidate is chosen, is, in my opinion, representative in this country of all that is intellectually bankrupt and academically absurd.

Donald Trump, who is no doubt a smart man, as he so frequently reminds us, had to morph into a crank touting birther nonsense and pro life stances that heretofore he rejected. He voted for Barack Obama once. A man who held strong views on the culture issues representative of the extremist right in the Republican Party could, I think, never do that. Both he and Romney, smart men, flip flop because they know to be considered by the Republican Party one must reverse one's more liberal or moderate stands and therefore reject rational thought.

Even worse they must reject science. If Trump stands up in a debate with other Republicans he will be asked the inevitable absurdity does he believe in evolution. Science is abundantly clear on that non-issue but Trump will have to morph into some position that is palatable to the extremist religious fanaticism of the Republican base which thinks everything instantaneously was created by a sky god of myth. Denying evolution is much like denying the existence of gravity. There is no question in the academic world of scientific truth evolution is a FACT and not supposition. It can be proven over and over again in many of the biological, anthropological and other sciences but the Republican presidential possibilities must reject everything that social and cultural advancement bestows.

This is, as I see it, the ENORMOUS obstacle the Republican Party faces. It must rely on an ignorant base to choose a credible and worthy candidate to occupy the presidency. It cannot be done and still look rational and intelligent to the larger American electorate and to the international community with whom that candidate must work.

If I were Republican I would work within my party FAST to develop CREDIBLE candidates who possess solid economic and foreign policy awareness. I would make intelligence acceptable and even mandatory while I would rid the party thoroughly of those who want to regress to the Middle Ages or at best the 18th century. As much as many in our culture are sadly undereducated I still believe that a country of 350 million some of whom are historically normal Republicans and moderates can manage to do that and save its party from the madness of reactionary and regressive thought IF one is to live with 21st century truths!

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/22/us/politics/22republicans.html

Alarming New Fukushima Reports - by Stephen Lendman on Tuesday, April 19, 2011 at 6:52pm

Five weeks after Japan's disaster, reports suggest worse, not improved conditions. It portends serious regional and global trouble ahead, besides what's already happened.

On April 16, AP headlined, "Radioactivity Rises in Sea Off Japan Nuclear Plant," saying:

"Levels of radioactivity have risen sharply in seawater near (Fukushima), signaling the possibility of new leaks at the facility, the government said Saturday."

The announcement followed a 5.9 level aftershock rocking the country early Saturday. So far, no additional damage reports were issued. However, seawater radioactive Iodine-131 spiked to 6,500 times above normal, up from 1,100 times Friday, and Cesium-134 and 137 rose nearly fourfold.

Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) raised the possibility of worrisome new leaks, admitting that tracking them is difficult. Nonetheless, they still claim no threat to humans or sea life despite numerous independent experts raising dire warnings of spreading global radiation, including plutonium, the most deadly substance known, a microscopic speck enough to cause cancer.

Japan's Kyodo News reported the same news, saying pumping water into reactors and storage pools created large contaminated puddles with high radiation levels inside the reactor containment and turbine buildings. As a result, restoration work is hampered because even short-term exposure is extremely hazardous.

On April 14, Global Security Newswire (GSN) headlined "Japan Plant Emits More Radiation After Cooling Lapse," saying:

The increased radiation explained above "indicates the fuel in storage there had been compromised," suggesting worse trouble than so far reported.

On April 15, GSN headlined, "Japan Plant Fuel Melted Partway Through Reactors," saying:

It settled into lower sections of containment vessels, "raising the specter of overheated material compromising a container and causing a massive radiation release," according to a newly released Atomic Energy Society of Japan (AESJ) report.

On April 15, Japan Times writer Kanako Takahara headlined, "Fuel rod fragments at bottom of vessels," saying:

"If too many....puddle at the bottom, they can generate enough concentrated heat to bore a hole in the pressure vessel, which would result in a massive radioactive release to the environment." In fact, there's no assurance it hasn't already happened but isn't being reported.

Downplaying a serious reactor breach, AESJ claimed only small amounts of fuel so far melted and dispersed uniformly across the lower sections of Units 1, 2 and 3. Minimally, months of restoration work lie ahead, perhaps years based on what's already known. According to some experts, we're in unchartered territory, dealing with a unprecedented disaster.

On April 13, on Democracy Now, Physics Professor Michio Kaku called Fukushima reactors "ticking time bombs," saying Tokyo Electric (TEPCO) "has been in denial, trying to downplay the full impact of this nuclear disaster."

He explained a mathematical formula to determine an accident's level, saying this one "already released something on the order of 50,000 trillion becquerels of radiation," warranting a Level 7 rating.

However, radiation keeps leaking. "The situation is not stable at all. So, you're looking at basically a ticking time bomb." The slightest disturbance causing more damage could increase the disaster's magnitude manyfold.

He described a full core meltdown this way:

"Think of driving a car, and....all of a sudden (it) lunges out of control. You hit the brakes," but they don't work because "the earthquake wiped out the safety systems."

"Then your radiator starts to heat up and explodes. That's the hydrogen gas explosion. And then, to make it worse, the gas tank is heating up, and all of a sudden your whole car (bursts into) flames. That's (a) full-scale meltdown."

"So what can you do? You drive the car into a river (what TEPCO did by using seawater to cover the) top of the core." But its salt corrodes the radiator. So what then? "You call out the local firemen" and use "Japanese samurai warriors" inside the plant on a suicide mission, trying to keep water over "melted nuclear reactor cores."

That's the current situation. So when TEPCO says things are stable, it's only "in the sense that you're dangling from a cliff hanging by your fingernails. And as the time goes by, each fingernail starts to crack. That's the situation now," extremely dangerous and uncertain.

Moreover, radiation contaminates air, water and soil. "Cows then eat the vegetation, create milk, and then it winds up in the milk. Farmers are now dumping milk right on their farms because it's too radioactive. Foods (also) have to be impounded in the area."

So "let's be blunt about this: would you buy food that says 'Made in Chernobyl?' Japanese people are saying: "Should I buy food that says 'Made in Fukushima?' We're talking about the collapse of the local economy. (Yet) the government tries to lowball all the numbers, downplay the severity of the accident, and that's making it much worse."

Further, Japan's limited evacuation zone is "pathetic." America recommended 50 miles for US personnel, and France advised their nationals to consider leaving Japan altogether.

Moreover, radiation levels are rising far beyond the evacuation zone. Expect large future cancer increases. "That's the inevitable consequence of releasing enormous" amounts of radiation into the environment.

As for TEPCO and government officials, "(t)hey're literally making it up as they go along. We're in totally uncharted territory. You get any nuclear engineering book. Look at the last chapter, and this scenario is not contained in....any nuclear engineering textbook on" the planet.

As a result, "we are the guinea pigs for this science experiment that's taking place. Then it could take up to 10 years to finally dismantle the reactor. The last stage is entombment....over a period of many years....in a gigantic slab of concrete."

Other concerns include sea water radiation "millions of times beyond legal levels" and radiation readings throughout much of the country, including Tokyo drinking water. Concerned people wonder if they should leave. Some "are voting with their feet. A lot of people are voluntarily evacuating from Tokyo "because they simply don't believe....consistently lowballed" TEPCO and government radiation level reports.

Kaku also said people, including Americans, aren't told the truth about nuclear power hazards. Now a new generation may be built at risk of meltdowns like older reactors. In fact, the potential for nuclear disaster is so great that insurers won't underwrite it, so Washington under the Price-Anderson Act does it at taxpayer expense for an energy source too dangerous to exist.

As a result, noted experts like Helen Caldicott warn of inevitable disasters as great or worse than Fukushima, the more operating plants, the greater the danger.

On April 12, her London Guardian article headlined, "How Nuclear Apologists Mislead the World Over Radiation," saying:

It "emanates from radioactive elements which enter the body by inhalation, ingestion, or skin absorption. Hazardous radionuclides (like) Iodine-131, Cesium-137, and other isotopes....bio-concentrate at each step of various food chains," from algae to crustaceans to small fish to bigger fish to animals to humans, as well as vegetation.

They then affect specific bodily organs, including the thyroid, liver, bone and brain, "where they continuously irradiate small volumes of cells with high doses of alpha, beta and/or gamma radiation, and over many years, can induce uncontrolled cell replication."

That's cancer!

In addition, nuclides stay radioactive for generations, causing increased incidences of cancer and genetic diseases. There's no such thing as an acceptable radiation level. In any amount, radiation is harmful, cumulative, permanent and unforgiving.

Experts also worry about possible re-criticality, defined as a return to a point at which a nuclear reaction becomes self-sustaining or unstoppable. In late March, the IAEA warned that "(t)here might be re-criticality at Fukushima," though so far there's "no final assessment."

On April 11, environmental expert Dr. Ilya Perlingieri's article headlined, "Fukushima's Nuclear Disaster: One Month and Counting," saying:

So far, "(n)othing is even remotely improved. In fact, things are dramatically worse." Hazardous reactors like GE's Mark 1 place entire populations at risk where they operate. "The radioactive consequences of" four Fukushima reactors "far exceed(s) Chernobyl."

As a result, the consequences for all Japanese residents will be enormous. But they also affect others as "various radioactive elements travel (by wind and water) around the globe." Potentially, everyone may be affected to a greater or lesser extent, including future generations.

In addition, dumping thousands of tons of radioactive water into the ocean is an environmental crime. Contaminated water "will now travel across the (Pacific) to North America's West Coast," contaminating the entire food chain in the process.

Then, as "water goes through its cycles, it will evaporate, and radioactive air will be carried around the globe. We are all in grave danger."

Moreover, because EPA closed many of its monitoring stations, including on the West Coast, the public won't get vital information. "How much more deception and deceit can we take?" Fukushima is the worst disaster "we have faced in our lives." Potentially millions of cancer may result.

How many people are already "eating radioactive fresh fruit, or drinking water and milk? High radiation levels have been found in rain, snow, and drinking water. Radioactive Iodine-131 and Cesium-137 have been found in US milk."

Perlingieri quoted from Dr. Janette Sherman's "prophetic scientific paper" written six months before Fukushima, saying:

"Given profound weather effects (earthquakes, floods, tsunamis, etc.), human fallibility, and military conflicts, (it's) only a matter of time before there is a nuclear disaster. Nuclear fallout knows no state or national boundaries....The economic costs of radioactive pollution and care of contaminated citizens are staggering. No country can maintain itself if its citizens are economically, intellectually, politically, and socially impoverished."

Nor can it if the health of its people is gravely, preventably, and permanently harmed. Nature's laws can't be reversed, nor can the effects of contaminating radiation, a destroyer of life too dangerous to exist, but it proliferates because corrupted politicians and industry profiteers are too unprincipled to stop it.

I have recently been assisting as an English writing adviser to a Japanese woman who is a post doc at Harvard School of Public Health. She asked me if I would help in editing a few documents which have been translated into English regarding the nuclear disaster at Fukishima. I naturally said yes because the small editing I do possibly could help save lives. She is currently working with a physician's forum which is dedicated to the harnessing and collection of plant workers' stem cells.

See links below

http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2011/04/should-japan-bank-stem-cells.html?ref=ra

and

http://www.savefukushima50.org/?lang=en

I Am: I was made aware of a film soon to be released called “I Am.” It is directed by Tom Shadyac the maker of “Ace Ventura,” the “Nutty Professor” and other comedic films. We who see so much negative and depressing in the news about our conflicted and hostile world, need a relief to see something which emphasizes something positive and tells us what we CAN do and not what we cannot. Shadyac emphasizes through this entertaining documentary what is right and not what is wrong with us. He interviews some of the major thinkers and humanitarians of our time – Desmond Tutu, the late Howard Zinn, Noam Chomsky, talk show host Thom Hartmann and more.

Mr. Shadvac is a very successful man by the monetary standards of our time. After having a near death experience, he decided to devote his work to a different perspective. Instead of making his usual comedic films, he decided to focus on what was RIGHT about the hard wiring of man to help us and the planet we all share and need to live. He tried to understand through discussions with these great thinkers our ability to work together through our connective DNA which unites us all. He uses, I think, science to fuse the biological with the sociological.

Instead of illuminating the depressing bad we so often see in our never ending negative news cycle he illuminates the intrinsically good which can help us work together to save us and our beautiful planet as well.

I attach a trailer preview of the film “I Am” below. I hope it convinces you as it did me to see it so that we can glean something good amid all the carnage and sadness we see every day to give us hope for a better, kinder and gentler world. There is no question in my mind that we need it!

http://iamthedoc.com/

Nuclear Power Catastrophes and Stem Cell Collection: The following is an article written by my friend Miwako Hosoda, Phd. who is a Research fellow at the Harvard University School of Public Health. The subject of the article concerns preventive steps which could be taken by government and corporate interests to reduce the dangers encountered by first responders of nuclear power accidents through the storage of their stem cells before maladies, most especially, cancers develop. I believe it has relevance to not only the workers who risk their lives in the effort to clean up after toxic nuclear accidents such as Fukushima but to all of us who live in this nuclear age.

"An urgent plea to protect nuclear power plants workers in Fukushima "

The employees of Tokyo Electric Power Co. and other workers have been trying to resolve the crisis-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. They are facing, as many know, exposure to high levels of radiation. There have been a series of aftershocks in that area which contain potential risk of another accident, and it is estimated it will take several years to resolve. The health risk management for workers is considered to be insufficient because the internal radiation dose of workers has not been measured.

In an effort to respond to the possible health-related risks of the front line workers because of massive exposure to radioactive material, some specialists are urging the collection and storing the workers’ own hematopoietic stem cells (HSC), especially peripheral blood stem cells (PBSC), to try to protect them.

Shuichi Taniguchi, the Head of the Hematology Department at Toranomon Hospital on March 25th, 2011 has said "We have to protect the workers. Anything could happen at the nuclear plant, so preparation is important." He therefore, has proposed an idea for this purpose. Once a person is exposed to high levels of radiation his/her ability to form blood is lost. A bone marrow transplant would be necessary. If one’s HSC can be stored in advance, they can be used for a bone marrow transplant. The cells will be preserved in a frozen state. Saving one’s own stem cells is better than receiving HSC from other persons because it avoids the risk of rejection.

The Japan Society for Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation has supported this idea and announced that 107 transplant teams are standing by to collect and store the own HSC on March 29th.

However, according to Mito Kakizawa, Member of the House of Representatives of Japan, the Japanese Government decided not to take this course of action after consulting the Japanese Nuclear Safety Commission and the National Institute of Radiological Science. The reasons they have given are: it is not a standardized treatment internationally and collecting one’s own HSC contains risk itself.

Takanori Teshima, Associate Professor at Center for Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Kyusyu University Hospital, gave other reasons such as workers would not be in danger as long as the limit is carefully monitored, it is considered less important than other severe crises and this treatment might exaggerate the fear of workers. Takanori Teshima also said “To do our best [for the workers] by using any resources is our responsibility. The storing of stem cells should be one of the first tasks in preparing a response to high level radiation exposure anywhere in the world, and could be a standardized prevention method in the future. We are proposing to be ready to support the workers in danger.”

Syuichi Taniguchi has been receiving several applications to ask this HSC procedure be done. Protecting the workers from high radiation exposure remains essential. However, as a risk management procedure, collecting and storing one’s own HSC would be worth considering.