DID YOU READ ABOUT THE TALIBAN ATTACK ON OUR KABUL EMBASSY THE OTHER DAY?
The following is the text of an Email I sent to President Obama and my Congressman on September 13, 2011. I am not bothered in the least by the fact that the only Presidential aspirant who apparently agrees with me is Ron Paul:
In view of today's headlines, I see no purpose in leaving one single American in Afghanistan at this point. Once our scheduled departure takes place in a year, there is no question that Afghanistan will be under the rule of those we now call "insurgents." Karzai will be history. So let's avoid any further American casualties there. I suggest the following plan.
Enough American air travel must be cancelled over the next week or so in order to make available sufficient airliners to fly into Afghanistan and return all of our troops to this country immediately. Equipment left behind should be destroyed. This will amount to something like the Berlin Airlift, but we ought to have all of our troops home by the weekend.
This would be a great use of an "Executive Order" to get it done.
Do you agree with me?
Do you agree with me?
Jack Lippman
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Loss
At twenty two months old
He’s learning to speak
Mama and dada
Suddenly dada is gone
Now he stands in his crib
Sobbing, sobbing, sobbing
So mama, the grieving widow
Recites endless stories
About times before and times after
Imprinting the tragedy
On his psyche
Ever more, ever more
Sid Bolotin
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HOW TO LOSE A SOLID DEMOCRATIC SEAT
The Democrats lost a Congressional election in New York City’s Borough of Queens this week to the G.O.P. This seat, which Congressman Anthony Weiner had held before his resignation, had been held by Democrats since the Harding presidency! And now it has a Republican Congressman. How did this happen?
Some voters, of course, repelled by Democrat Weiner’s perversions, voted Republican to punish the Democratic Party or just stayed home for that reason. The Democratic candidate, also, was less than inspirational.
Since the district is a heavily Jewish one, some voters took the election as an opportunity to voice their objection to President Obama’s attitude toward Israel. Although under Obama’s presidency our support of Israel with military hardware and technology has far surpassed that of any recent President, his pressure on Israel, particularly his treatment of Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu when he visited here, which was aimed at nudging Israel into an accommodation with the Palestinians resulting in a “two state solution,” did not serve him well. Many Jewish voters in the district support orthodox and conservative Israelis who still oppose such a solution, even though the majority of Israelis seem to be for it. And to show their displeasure with the President, they voted Republican.
Others voted Republican because they felt the President’s efforts at health care reform, job creation and resuscitating the economy were either failing or aimed in the wrong direction.
This election should serve to wake up the Democratic Party as to the importance of maintaining a closer relationship with Israel politically and sharpening their efforts aimed at job creation and getting the economy on track. It should wake up the President to the fact, which apparently he does not yet understand, that his agreeing to spending cuts of any kind in order to get his programs through Congress paints him as going along with Republican principles. If a voter wants to go along with Republican principles, all he has to do is vote Republican, and that is also some of the story of what happened in Queens.
(Another thought as to how the Republicans won this seat may be gleaned from re-reading the short story, “The Meeting,” posted on this blog on August 10. One of the rules promulgated at that meeting, the purpose of which was to preserve the unimpeded ability of the wealthiest men in America to accumulate even more wealth was to:
ally ourselves with groups who seem susceptible to adopting our ideology because they are already single-mindedly devoted to one cause or another. This blind devotion can be easily transferred to our cause. This will increase our numbers and believe me, this is very applicable to members of Congress and local legislators. The groups with which we must ally ourselves are endless. They include pro-Israel groups, pro-life groups, creationists, anti-fluouride groups, home schooling and pro-educational voucher groups, evangelical Christian groups, anti-immigrant groups, chambers of commerce, some professional societies, sporting groups, bankers associations and Second Amendment groups.
In this Congressional election, the Republicans took full advantage of the single-minded opposition of many Jews to the President because of his coolness toward Israel, allying themselves with pro-Israel groups, and thereby garnering many votes for the cause of reducing taxation of the wealthy and even reducing Government spending for the kinds of “entitlement” programs which are extremely popular in this district.)
JL
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This young lady has nothing to do with any of today's postings on the Blog, but she is pleasant to look at. How many of you remember the girls painted by Alberto Vargas in the 1940's many of whom were featured in Esquire Magazine centerfolds and calendars.
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PROBLEM SOLVING 101 - The Private Sector or the Government ?
When we look at the problems confronting the United States of America today, we all agree that we must seek solutions for them.
Unemployment, Poverty, Health Care Funding, Social Security, the National Debt and the annual Deficit, the Stock Market and the Financial Industry, International Trade, the nation’s Infrastructure, Energy, Immigration, Government Regulation, National Defense, dealing with catastrophes, Banking, Education, the Environment, Global Warming, Job Creation and Business Growth are some of the often interrelated problems which must be addressed.
Many believe that the Federal Government must play the primary role in solving these problems. Others believe that the less the Federal Government is involved, the more it is likely that solutions can be reached by the private sector of our economy with government involvement, where necessary, being on the State and not the Federal Level.
A corollary to these beliefs is that if the Federal Government is play the primary role in addressing (note that I didn’t say “solving”) these problems, they must have the financial resources to do so. This means higher taxes. If, however, the private sector is to play the primary role, they must be afforded the financial resources to do so. This means tax relief for the wealthy and businesses. It very well may be that some of these problems are best addressed by the private sector and some by government. Hence, a mixture of of tax increases and tax relief will be necessary. Remembering that the Republican Party is generally anti-tax and the Democratic Party willing to increase taxes, this creates a problem with which, right now, Congress seems incapable of dealing,
My personal opinion is that the majority of these problems would be best addressed by the Federal Government. This, unfortunately, is not going to happen. The Republican Party, as presently constituted, will not support the tax increases needed to enable the Federal Government to attempt to solve some of the problems facing the nation, even if there is simultaneous tax relief to enable the private sector to attempt to solve some of the other problems. (I don’t feel that the 2012 elections will change this very much, regardless of who is in the White House.) And since most of these problems are interrelated, many of them cannot be ignored. They all must be somehow addressed.
The danger as I see it, in the context of the way our government is now working, is that we will, as we have been doing over the past few years, attempt to solve these problems mostly through the private sector, financed with tax relief for the wealthy and businesses with the assumption that the money thusly made available to them would be poured back into the nation to solve many of the problems, particularly the economic ones, listed above. Direct Federal involvement, such as the stimulus programs which helped Wall Street, the banks and the auto industry in 2009 are unlikely to be repeated because of the tax burdens they involve. Problems like Global Warming, Education, National Defense and the Infrastructure would be put on the proverbial back burner.
Compromises between the Democrats and the Republicans have up to now amounted to the Republicans acknowledging that there is a problem to be addressed, making the Democrats happy, and then going about attempting to solve the problem through the private sector, with tax relief, making the Republicans happy.
This approach will fail. Remember, you read it here. Sooner or later the Republican Party will realize that there are certain things that Government must do in times of crisis (and we are in such times right now) and that it is their job to see that the Government is properly funded with significant new tax revenues to do the job. At that point, when this becomes eminently clear, the Republican Party will disintegrate, with those who believe that the only way to solve the aforementioned problems is by tax relief for the wealthy and businesses which they hope will “trickle down” forming their own party, and the remaining Republicans who recognize the need for increased taxes on the wealthy joining with the Democrats. The Tea Party adherents, most of whom have been fooled into believing that government is evil and an infringement on their Constitutional rights, will go along with the anti-tax people of course.
Crucial to the country’s future is how long it will take for this to happen. If the Republicans wake up and realize that they should put their country before their party within the next few years, our nation and its economy will be saved.
If however, the anti-tax, “trickle-down,” leave-it-to-the-private-sector faction holds sway for the next ten years or so, it will be too late. By then the country will have sunk to such economic and social depths that a legislative solution will no longer be possible.
A leader will then come forth, through a peaceful revolution, as happened in Italy and Germany in the 1930s, saying that in view of the failure of efforts made up to that point, only the a government with totalitarian powers can solve the nation’s problems, and that we must depend on a such a regime to salvage what will be left of America. (Huey Long, populist Louisiana Governor and Senator, stood in the wings during the Great Depression in the 1930s, poised to fill this role before he was assassinated.).
Huey Long
And then our problems will be solved. But we will have many new ones with which to deal, the chief of which will be how to restore democracy to the United States.
Jack Lippman
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This blog continues to be read all over the world. During the seven day period ending at 11 a.m. on September 16, beside 60 views from the United States, Jack’s Potpourri was looked at by two viewers each from Germany, the United Kingdom, Romania and Russia, and one viewer each from France, China, Latvia, the Phillipines and Poland. The overseas “hits” are probably attributable to topics covered in the blog showing up on Google or similar search engines and the viewer checking us out.
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