Why Newt Will Stay in the Race and A Poem by Sid

Why Newt Stays in the Race

If either Rick Santorum or Newt Gingrich were to drop out of the Republican Primary race, the dropout’s support would go to the other, dooming Mitt Romney’s candidacy.  Libertarian Ron Paul is there for the long haul and will continue to get his 10% to 20% of the vote until the convention when he will try to wield whatever power that base gives him.   Other than that, he is not a factor. 

But right now, it is unlikely that Santorum, presently riding high, will drop out.  As for Gingrich, however, it is important to Romney that Newt stay in the race, keeping his supporters from merging with Santorum’s.  That is why Mitt’s attacks are now being directed at Santorum rather than at Gingrich.  In fact, funding from Gingrich’s big financial backer in Las Vegas may be continuing precisely to keep it a three way race.  That is in Romney’s interest.  Recently, when asked a question at a Florida debate about his feelings toward Palestinians, Romney’s answer was almost as negative in regard to the Palestinians as Gingrich’s have been.  Perhaps that was a message from Mitt to Newt’s Las Vegas banker assuring him that as the ultimate nominee, his position regarding the Palestinians was as strong as Newt’s, encouraging Newt’s backer to keep him in the race long enough for Romney to get the nomination.

Jack Lippman

                                                              
                                                Venetian Hotel, Las Vegas, NV
                                                          

Sarah                          

Sid Bolotin

My friend prefers to read my fantasy stories, saying that

She has enough reality in her life

So I hesitated to write of this reality

Yet…and yet…I needed to

My recent read of Alice Hoffman’s At Risk

Involving the crisis of the family, friends and town

That erupts from eleven year old Amanda’s

Onslaught of AIDS from a run-of the-mill

Transfusion during an appendectomy five years earlier

Flashed me back twenty years to ten-year-old Sarah

Crippled by seizures since she was two

Eight years of treatments, conventional and experimental

Left her incontinent…able to only grunt and crawl

Tore apart the family and devastated Sarah’s mother, Carol

Mirroring the experience of Amanda’s mother, Polly

Suddenly I was again Carol’s trusted volunteer

Applying weekly techniques developed and used effectively

At the Option Institute in Western Massachusetts

For treating autistic children

Carol’s eight years of desperation searching for a halt, a reversal

Of the destruction of her child

Echoed that of Polly’s efforts for Amanda

Polly striving to keep Amanda out of the hospital

Carol fighting to keep Sarah out of an institution

So, there I was in my late fifties mirroring Sarah

Each week for three years I crawled with her

Replied to her grunts with my own

Played with her toys

Striving to join her in her world

While Carol observed through a one-way mirror

As with Polly’s loyal friends Carol derived much emotional support

And I benefited from the bonding with Sarah and her mother

Sadly, after three years it was evident to even Carol

As with Amanda’s Polly

That the Inevitable is the Inevitable

And Carol terminated the program 

                                                      

Racism on U-Tube

Have your read about the racist U-Tube video posted by a couple of white Gainesville (FL) teenagers?  Or seen it?  A lot of what they say is true, as seen from their perspective. They are reporting what they see around them in their 60% black high school, and it is pretty ugly.  Unfortunately, these kids do not yet have the maturity to see that these problems are things that society should be working to correct.  They report schoolmates who plan on getting pregnant, quitting school and going on welfare … and they identify them as being black.  They report schoolmates, again identified as black, coming from families collecting welfare but dressing in expensive high end clothing.  They see the injustices in our system and report them with the immaturity of teenagers reflecting what they see and hear around them, in school and perhaps at home.  These girls have been chastised for making their video, but I think they deserve some credit for at least being aware of the problems around them.  The next step in growing up would be for them to work for constructive solutions to these problems. And I bet they eventually do exactly that.  They seemed bright enough.  

(There was a similar U-Tube produced by two girls in a Palm Beach County school as well. Both are available on the internet if you search for them.)

And here in Florida, as an excuse to promote school prayer, the legislature is considering allowing daily inspirational messages originating from and delivered by students.  Considering what the students mentioned above did, this might be quite a Pandora's box they are opening.  Teen age judgement leaves something to be desired.

JL 

                                                              

                                                       

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Jack Lippman

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