One Can Envy the Young

One can envy the young,
Their futures before them,
Unfolding, uncertain, incomplete.
Let them envy the old,
Our ventures behind us,
Safe, secure, and replete.

Health Care Reform Person

I voted for Barack Obama, and I think he is doing a great job in the short time he has been president. I believe that there is a problem with the distribution of healthcare in the USA, and that problem needs fixing. Having said that, I have some concerns about the choosing of the person to lead us into health care reform. Senator Daschle seems like a nice guy, and probably would have been good at ramming whatever plan through Congress. Now that he is out of the picture, the television pundits are talking about various politicians as his replacement. President Obama chose a scientist rather than a politician to head the energy endeavor. Shouldn't he do the same for healthcare? Is it more important to choose a politician who can sheperd legislation through Congress, or to choose a healthcare person who is more likely to create a good plan? It is more important to have someone who can create a good product than someone who can sell the product.
Mr. President, I would like to make a suggestion to you. Oliver Goldsmith retired about 5 years ago from being the medical director of the Southern California Permanente Medical Group. He successfully led one of the largest medical groups in the USA through difficult times, was active in organizing the Permanente Medical groups at a national level, is a great speaker, and has a good sense of humor. I think he could give us a good product.

Israel Must Defend Itself

I see in the news that hypocrites all over the world are denouncing Israel because of the Gaza war. They don't care that Hamas has been terrorizing the civilian population of Israel by shooting rockets over the border for years and recently stepped up the pace. Israel left Gaza as a start of the peace process, but Hamas rejects the peace process. They insist on one Palestine under their rule from the Mediterranean to the Jordan River, in other words no Israel and no Two State Solution. What do they expect? Do they really think that the Israelis are going to voluntarily disappear for the convenience of Hamas. The plight of the civilians in Gaza is tragic just as is the plight of the Israelis who live near the border and have to live in bomb shelters. But who's fault is it? The surrounding Arab countries who regularly denounce every effort by Israel to survive are the very same countries that began the problem in 1948 by invading Israel/Palestine. At that time Israel declared its independance in its part of the U.N. partition and called on the Palestinian Arabs to do the same in their part. And when the war ended, Jordan and Egypt simply annexed the parts of Palestine that they had conquered. Where was the desire for an independent Palestine then? The tragedy is that for many years an approximate solution to the Israel/Palestine problem has evolved, and has become obvious to all rational people involved. I say approximate because there are details to be ironed out,but the rational people on both sides have actually been close for some time. The Clinton Plan which Ehud Barak offered to Yasser Arafat almost a decade ago when the good will between the Israeli and Palestinian people was at an all time high, and which Arafat rejected resulting in the Intifada, was very similar to the plan recently offered by the Saudi government. But Hamas rejects it, calling instead for the destruction of Israel. That plan involves returning to approximately the 1967 borders, the dismantling of most of the Israeli West Bank settlements, keeping the Israeli Jerusalem neighborhoods in what was once the West Bank in Israel, and allowing for some kind of Palestinian presence in East Jerusalem. There are differences in what and where the Palestinian presence in Jerusalem should be, but those things can be worked out. Israel also cannot allow the return of all Palestinian refugees to Israel. That would not work.
Hamas does not appear to be willing to accept the peace plan, but if they were only to stop shooting rockets into Israel, Israel would stop bombing them. They could simply remain a separate country from Palestine. Israel and Palestine on the West Bank could make a peace treaty without them, and things between Israel and Gaza could slowly evolve into some measure of normality.

Faith Based Soviet Union

The Soviet Union was a faith based government. Their faith was atheism. I believe that faith base was a contributing factor to their collapse. Because of that faith base, they made all other religions illegal and in so doing unnecessarily restricted the personal lives of their people. Had they been more pragmatic, less ideological, less concerned about pushing their ideas on everyone else, and had a true separation of church and state, the Soviet Union might still exist.

Which Party is Monetarily Responsible?

Listening to the Speeches at the Republican Convention, it is interesting to hear the old Republican mantra that they are for "lower taxes, less spending, and small government" as opposed to those Democrats who favor "high taxes, more spending, and big government." But this is so blatantly untrue. George Bush inherited a balanced budget and destroyed it. When it comes to spending, the Republicans are not shy about it. They just spend on different interests. In the past 8 years, the money we spent in Iraq makes any money spent on public welfare look like small change. And how did the Republicans spend so much without raising taxes? They borrowed the money. And who will pay this debt? You and I.

What is Best for Us as Jews

We Jews have historically fared best in communities that have enjoyed peace, quiet, and prosperity. In times of disruption and discontent, we have not fared so well. During the late Middle Ages and into the Renaissance times, my ancestors in the Kingdom of Poland were part of the fabric of that country, brought prosperity to Poland, and were able to live a better life than in most of the rest of Europe. That is why so many of us have an East European heritage. When the Polish Kingdom crumbled in the late 17th Century and ultimately was gobbled up by Russia, Prussia, and Austria in the 18th Century, the Jewish position deteriorated. We became unneccessary foreigners in the land which we had supported for centuries. We remained so in post World War I nationalist Poland and under communism in the Ukraine and Belarus which had once been the eastern part of the Polish Kingdom and were now part of the Soviet Union. These Jewish communities were ultimately annihilated by the holocaust brought by a Germany that was dissatisfied with the results of World War I and its aftermath, and which found the Jews a convenient scape goat.
Another example was the relative quiet that Jews enjoyed in the Islamic world of the Middle Ages when Islam enjoyed greater prosperity and enlightenment than Europe, and when Jews contributed greatly to that prosperity and enlightenment. In modern times with the decline of the Islamic world, Jews have become persona non grata. They say that the Israel-Palestine conflict is at the center of the problems in the Region. In other words, get rid of the Jews and everything will be just fine. Instead of embracing Israel and using its technical know how to develop their part of the world and to bring Islam back to what it once was, they have used it as a scape goat for their own shortcomings.
This brings us to our own country, the USA, where we Jews have fared well to a great extent because of our country's freedom and prosperity. Now in our present election, we must choose between 2 candidates for president. Both candidates have openly expressed support for Israel. Obama has the vision, intelligence, and leadership ability to bring normalcy to America and restore real prosperity. He also has at least a shot at bringing some measure of normalcy to the world including maybe the Middle East. Mc Cain, although he has a history of being a moderate Republican, since running for president, has abandoned moderation. He supports Bush's ill conceived and poorly managed adventure in Iraq which has allowed Al Queda to remain entrenched in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border area. Even worse, he has chosen Sarah Palin as his vice president candidate. She is a radical rightist who has supported Pat Buchanan (an enemy of Israel and probably Jews in general). Her radical policies and ineptness would bring continued war and financial ruin to our country. Mc Cain has a history of multiple bouts of melanoma. Do we really want that crazy lady to be a heartbeat away from an ailing old president?

An Uncomfortable Moment

Did you see the look on Mc Cain's face when he introduced Palin? He really looked uncomfortable. I guess he needs her to pander to the "Religious" Right. She is out of sync with the original Centrist Mc Cain and in sync with the new Rightist Mc Cain. Perhaps Mc Cain is uncomfortable with the new Mc Cain although it is politically necessary. Obama is fortunate in being really a Centrist who has been painted a Leftist. The move to the Center is easy for him because he has always been there.