Israel and S. Arabia are using us

So why should the United States get all bent out of shape over Iran's nuclear program, which can't possibly touch us, when the two biggest powers in the region, Israel and Saudi Arabia, are ready and able to take care of their "Iran problem" themselves? All they want is America's diplomatic cover. They want us to do all the international jaw-flapping and finger-wagging for them, and then let us take all the heat for them from the UN and NATO, after they've carried out a preventive first strike on Iran. Now that's what I call a lose-win. Gee, thanks, guys.

Saudis give nod to Israeli raid on Iran

Uzi Mahnaimi in Tel Aviv and Sarah Baxter

July 5, 2009 | Timesonline.co.uk

URL: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article6638568.ece

The best health care (lots of) money can buy

We have the best health care system in the world. We are the envy of sickly Canucks crossing our northern border in wetback proportions in search of high-tech surgery on-demand.

Yeah, right. And we pay out the nose for it.

This is an industry where annual increases of 10-15 percent on premiums are considered "normal," but hikes of 23-32 percent are still considered "astronomical"... for the time being.

Anthem Blue Cross Seeks Large Rate Increase On Health Insurance For Individuals

By Diane Levick

July 1, 2009 | The Hartford Courant

URL: http://www.courant.com/business/hc-anthem-rates.artjul01,0,1022396.story

What do you expect of black students?

I like this better than one of Pastor Manning's sermons. Pitts makes the choice simple: Would we rather pay a little money now to help at-risk black students become law-abiding net producers, or would we prefer to pay a lot of money later to keep them locked up and become a net drain on society? None of us should let his principles stand in the way of supporting what works, even if it means spending more money and attention on black children than on whites to give them what they can't get elsewhere.

Bush was right to decry "the soft bigotry of low expectations" for black youth. Likewise, we should reject the belief that black at-risk youth are beyond saving, or that they don't respond in the same way as white youth do to the same stimuli: caring teachers, safe and nurturing schools, regular meals and medical care, opportunities to excel, praise and recognition from adults, and calls for personal achievement and responsibility.

Kids are kids, people are people, and we all want and need the same things.

Commentary: What do you expect of black students?

By Leonard Pitts, Jr.

July 3, 2009 | CNN.com

Back in 1972, on an episode of "All in the Family," Gloria posed the following riddle to Archie and Meathead.

Father and son go driving. There's an accident. The father is killed instantly, the son is rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery. The surgeon walks in, takes one look at the patient and says, "I can't operate on this boy. He's my son."

The answer to the apparent paradox eluded Archie, Meathead and the guys down at Kelsey's bar for the balance of the half hour. They floated theories involving stepfathers, sons-in-law, priests, adoptions and returns from the dead. All of which Archie apparently found more believable than the true answer which was, of course, that the surgeon was the boy's mother. "If that's the answer," he spouted, "that's the dumbest riddle I ever hoid!"

Thirty-seven years later it is, perhaps, difficult to appreciate why this riddle ever was a riddle, how so apparent an answer could have stymied Archie, Meathead and, I would wager, the vast majority of the viewing audience.

The riddle speaks volumes not just about how the world has changed in four decades, but also about how unconscious expectations can blind us to the obvious. In 1972, one expected a man when one heard the word "surgeon."

Much as, in 2009, one expects a white kid when one hears the word "scholar."

People will deny this, will say all the right and politic things. But the disclaimers will be as thin and transparent as Saran Wrap. Black, white and otherwise, we are all socialized by the same forces and all carry, by and large, the same unconscious assumptions. One of which is that a certain level of achievement is black and another is white.

This is what you are hearing when a black kid speaks standard English and another black kid chides him for "talking white." This is what George W. Bush was alluding to when he decried "the soft bigotry of low expectations." And this is what we need to address forthrightly if we ever hope to close the so-called achievement gap that looms between black kids and white ones.

In 2007 and 2008, I traveled the country for a series of columns called "What Works," aimed at profiling programs that addressed that gap.

I traveled between big programs and small ones, from the Harlem Children's Zone, which encompasses 90 square blocks of holistic education, family counseling, medical care and tutoring in New York City, to the Freedom Project in Sunflower County, Mississippi, which offers field trips, martial arts and academic enrichment in a rural county where the median income is $25,000 a year and the teen pregnancy rate is said to be 25 percent.

I toured Self Enhancement Inc. in Portland, Oregon, a KIPP (Knowledge is Power Program) School in Gaston, North Carolina, the East Lake Foundation in Atlanta, Georgia, and many others. In all these places, I saw black kids -- well-spoken, clean-cut and noon-sun bright -- making a lie out of other peoples' expectations.

Over the course of 13 months, common themes began to emerge whenever I would ask why kids such as these were doing such wondrous work in these places and substandard work elsewhere.

We have more power to fire bad teachers and reward good ones, they said. We require parental involvement. We have a longer school day and a longer school year. We mentor children that need it. We counsel children and families that need it. We are invested in them and make sure they know it.

Most of all, they spoke of the simple power of expectation: making it a conscious point to look for greatness in black kids in whom people had not thought to look for it before. What I came to understand in those interviews is that we already know the secret to improving academic performance for African-American children. What is missing is the will to do so.

And that, I think, is because where they are concerned, we have other expectations.

I asked Geoffrey Canada, founder of the Harlem Children's Zone, how he justifies asking for money to uplift poor kids in Harlem. His response struck me: "Someone's yelling at me because I'm spending $3,500 a year on `Alfred.' 'Alfred' is 8. OK, Alfred turns 18. No one thinks anything about locking him up for 10 years at $60,000 a year."

But then, we expect Alfred to be locked up, don't we? Expect it so blithely that we will not challenge the expectation even when it works against our own economic self-interest. Canada, after all, presents a rather stark choice: invest a smaller amount early and produce a citizen who pays taxes and contributes to the system or pay a much larger amount later for the upkeep of a citizen who consumes tax monies and contributes nothing.

That we consistently choose the latter says something about how we assess the educability, the salvageability, of African-American kids.

Thirteen months of interviewing young scholars left me more impatient than ever with a culture that writes off black kids because they are black kids. Somewhere between the 13-year-old in rural Mississippi who wants to go to Harvard and the second-graders in Harlem studying Vincent Van Gogh, I ceased being surprised and started being angry that what I saw was still the exception and not the rule.

Everywhere I went, there were black kids excelling. And at some point, you say to yourself: well, of course.

What did you expect?

Pastor Manning: White people, stop feeling gulity

Although I disagree with most of Harlem pastor JD Manning's "sermon," his key word is dialogue. Yes, we need a frank, open, and respectful dialogue in America about race. But when we sit around with our white/black buddies complaining about other races, that is not a dialogue, it is a monologue. When talking heads and pundits, like Rush Limbaugh or Al Sharpton, speak about race without representation from a different point of view, that is a monologue. Nor do two opposing monologues sailing past one another make a dialogue. For a courtroom analogy, take the plaintiff and defendent's opening and closing arguments: sure, both sides get a chance to air their views, but there is no sincere interaction, much less a desire for such, only choreographed opposition.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I daresay few of you yearn to stand in front of a large all white/black audience and give them this speech: "Let me tell you what's wrong with you people." If you do, I give you credit for having the biggest brass ones in America. There is nothing in the law preventing you from doing this; you should go ahead and organize it.

I'm all for racial dialogue, but it should not be conducted in such terms: "I'm an angry white/black guy and I want the freedom to complain, in my racial isolation, about other races without being called a racist." Well, I'm sorry, that is racist. Maybe nobody will find out about it, but let's call a spade a spade. And what's worse, it is not going to improve race relations one bit, as some race monologists claim.

What really irks some people is that they cannot make negative racial generalities in public without suffering social condemnation and stigma. Nobody can promise you freedom from the social consequences of your words. "You can't be worried about popular opinion," pastor Manning said. If you're not worried what people think about you, then by all means, go out there and preach the White/Black Man's Truth. As he said, "Stop walking on egg shells." Go out and tell some white/black people what you really think of them and their race. There is nothing in the law preventing you. I will stand in awe of your courage!

Reality check: if something you say to somebody, man to man, will likely earn you a punch in the face, it is probably not a respectful -- or wise -- thing to say.

P.S. -- Pastor Manning had the freedom and audacity to call Obama's mother "white trash who brought this devil in the world." He called First Lady Michelle Obama "ugly" before apologizing. He called Oprah Winfrey, Obama, and Rev. Wright the Trinity of Hell. (I can maybe agree with him about Oprah, but that's another discussion....) If that's the kind of refreshing and reasonable dialogue you want, then by all means, go out there an imitate him.

Pastor Manning has been interviewed by FOXNews, Michael Savage, Howard Stern, CBS, and I don't know how many other media outlets, plus he has dozens of diatribes on YouTube, so obviously his radical views -- just as radical as Rev. Jeremiah Wright's -- are getting wide exposure. Freedom of speech is alive and well.

Outraged at lack of outrage?

This letter (see below), which has been bouncing around conservatives' inboxes and blogs for months now, is a real "everything but the kitchen sink" diatribe. It worries me that some Americans seem so outraged and frightened at so many things. They're seeing a different America than I do. 

 My comments:

- George Soros, Al Gore, and Barbra Streisand (the Usual Suspects?) all have money and power, but there are people on the right, left and middle with lots of money who try to influence our country. America's monied elite is not solely a liberal group, not by a long shot.

- The whole "press 2 for Spanish" thing is an example of the free market at work. Hispanics have disposable income, too, and U.S. companies want their business, hence they try to make it easier for them to spend their money. That's capitalism. If there were 45 million American consumers speaking Swahili, you'd hear "press 3 for Swahili." Laissez-faire conservatives, take note.

- People who can't communicate in English are already marginalized, socially and economically. And they know it. Immigrant parents want their kids to learn English and enjoy the fruits of America and the English-speaking global economy, not speak their native language at school and be left behind. Indeed, we should assume that immigrants who were willing to abandon their native country, friends, family, and customs and endure untold hardships to come to America had nothing but the future on their minds; they were not thinking about what would be the easiest thing for them in the short term.

- Maybe America is in moral and ethical decline, I don't know, but by what measure? Who's to judge? The number of Americans who call themselves faithful, attend church regularly, practice abstinence before marriage, avoid illegal drugs, volunteer in their communities, etc. is no less than it was 20-30 years ago, and is by some indications even greater. Or is she complaining about our politician's morals, like Sanford's? Or perhaps Wall Street's morals? If so, she has a legitimate beef. Personally, I think it's a normal phenomenon for aging people to see change as negative and equal to moral decline. "Things were better back in my day," is something older folks have been saying for generations.

Contrary to the hell-in-a-hand-basket myth, take note that we don't lynch our fellow Americans anymore. We don't deny anybody the right to vote. We don't let children work in sweatshops all day. We protect our kids from pedophiles better than ever. We recognize that there really are workplace behaviors called "sexual harassment" and "racial discrimination" and we seek to minimize them. Almost all U.S. corporations now acknowledge, and sometimes even practice, the concept of "corporate social responsibility." Our rivers don't catch on fire anymore. We don't allow our old and infirm to wallow in isolation and excrement anymore. We don't ignore it when priests molest our kids anymore. I could go on, but you get the point. We might be declining in some respects, but America is getting a heck of a lot better in many respects.

- All I will say about Iran/Ahmadinejad is this: we can't debate this topic until you folks come out and say what you want. Why can't you be forthright about it? You want to start a preventive war against Iran. If you neoconservatives have the courage of your convictions, and you're certain talking to Iran is "appeasing a madman," then please don't dance around it. It insults my intelligence.

- If Tyson wants to give its Muslim workers day off, that's their right. It's America! What, would conservatives have Big Government step in and prevent them?

- The Jewel of Medina was indeed published in 2008. What, would conservatives have Big Government step in and force Random House to publish a book? Companies do cowardly things for PR/marketing reasons all the time. When they cave in to one of conservatives' demands, it makes them happy. When they cave in to some liberal constituency, or some whacky group, conservatives cry "moral decline!" In business everything comes down to profit. In a capitalist system, you have to take the bitter with the sweet.

- We can debate the science or practicality of environmentalism, but 99.99% of environmentalists believe that they are doing the right things for the right reasons. That is the very definition of personal ethics. There is no conspiracy.

- "I don't even feel like my vote counts, I am so outnumbered by those who disagree with me," she concluded. I hope to goodness she is outnumbered.

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This letter was sent to the Wall Street Journal on August 8, 2008 by Alisa Wilson, Ph.D. Of Beverly Hills , CA in response to the Wall Street Journal article titled "Where's The Outrage? Really." that appeared July 31,2008.

Really. I can tell you where the outrage is. The outrage is here, in this middle-aged, well-educated, upper-middle class woman. The outrage is here, but I have no representation, no voice. The outrage is here, but no one is listening for who am I?

I am not a billionaire like George Soros that can fund an entire political movement.

I am not a celebrity like Barbra Streisand that can garner the attention of the press to promote political candidates.

I am not a film maker like Michael Moore or Al Gore that can deliver misleading movies to the public.

The outrage is here, but unlike those with money or power, I don't know how to reach those who feel similarly in order to effect change.

Why am I outraged? I am outraged that my country, the United States of America , is in a state of moral and ethical decline. There is no right or wrong anymore, just what's fair.

Is it fair that millions of Americans who overreached and borrowed more than they could afford are now being bailed out by the government and lending institutions to stave off foreclosure? Why shouldn't these people be made to pay the consequences for their poor judgment?

When my husband and I purchased our home, we were careful to purchase only what we could afford. Believe me, there are much larger, much nicer homes that I would have loved to have purchased. But, taking responsibility for my behavior and my life, I went with the house that we could afford, not the house that we could not afford. The notion of personal responsibility has all but died in our country.

I am outraged, that the country that welcomed my mother as an immigrant from Hitler's Nazi Germany and required that she and her family learn English now allows itself to be overrun with illegal immigrants and worse, caters to those illegal immigrants.

I am outraged that my hard-earned taxes help support those here illegally. That the Los Angeles Public School District is in such disarray that I felt it incumbent to send my child to private school, that every time I go to the ATM, I see "do you want to continue in English or Spanish?", that every time I call the bank, the phone company , or similar business, I hear "press 1 for English or press 2 for Spanish". WHY? This is America , our common language is English and attempts to promote a bi- or multi-lingual society are sure to fail and to marginalize those who cannot communicate in English.

I am outraged at our country's weakness in the face of new threats on American traditions from Muslims. Just this week, Tyson's Food negotiated with its union to permit Muslims to have Eid-al-Fitr as a holiday instead of Labor Day. What am I missing? Yes, there is a large Somali Muslim population working at the Tyson's plant in Tennessee . Tennessee , last I checked, is still part of the United States . If Muslims want to live and work here they should be required to live and work by our American Laws and not impose their will on our long history.

In the same week, Random House announced that they had indefinitely delayed the publication of The Jewel of Medina, by Sherry Jones, a book about the life of Mohammed's wife, Aisha due to fear of retribution and violence by Muslims. When did we become a nation ruled by fear of what other immigrant groups want? It makes me so sad to see large corporations cave rather than stand proudly on the principles that built this country.

I am outraged because appeasement has never worked as a political policy, yet appeasing Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is exactly what we are trying to do. An excellent article, also published recently in the Wall Street Journal, went through over 20 years of history and why talking with Iran has been and will continue to be ineffective. Yet talk, with a madman no less, we continue to do. Have we so lost our moral compass and its ability to detect evil that we will not go in and destroy Iran 's nuclear program? Would we rather wait for another Holocaust for the Jews - one which they would be unlikely to survive? When does it end?

As if the battle for good and evil isn't enough, now come the Environmentalists who are so afraid of global warming that they want to put a Bag tax on grocery bags in California; to eliminate Mylar balloons; to establish something as insidious as the recycle police in San Francisco. I do my share for the environment: I recycle, I use water wisely, I installed an energy efficient air conditioning unit. But when and where does the lunacy stop?Ahmadinejad wants to wipe Israel off the map, the California economy is being overrun by illegal immigrants, and the United States of America no longer knows right from wrong, good from evil.. So what does California do? Tax grocery bags.

So, America , although I can tell you where the outrage is, this one middle-aged, well-educated, upper middle class woman is powerless to do anything about it. I don't even feel like my vote counts because I am so outnumbered by those who disagree with me.

Alisa Wilson, Ph.D. Beverly Hills , California