Saturday, August 30, 2008

Witch from the North

Sarah Palin looks to be the archetypal right wing protégé on the move -- anti-abortion, pro guns, etc. Probably a smart move by McCain to prop up his waving right ring support, but imagine what a disaster should she get to replace him as president. Off to war with? Absolute support of big business. Down with taxes. A Supreme Court from the 19th Century. And g-d help the rest of us.
--
"A war is just if there is no alternative, and the resort to arms is legitimate if they represent your last hope." (Livy cited by Machiavelli)
--
Ed Kent 212-665-8535 (voice mail only) [blind copies]
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CollegeConversation
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PeaceEfforts
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EndingPoverty
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/440neighborhood
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/StudentConcerns
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AcademicFreedom
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PrivacyRights
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Israel_Palestine
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FindingHumaneJobs
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/OurStupidEconomy
http://BlogByEdKent.blogspot.com/
http://www.bloggernews.net

Monday, August 18, 2008

One Track Mind of Bush and Co. Does It Again

The Bush administration's obsession with Iraq and its oil has done it again. See Latin America, much of Africa, and now Russia and its border states -- all of which we have essentially left out of our strategic planning. Ed Kent

...................

Pledging to Leave Georgia, Russia Instead Tightens Grip
By MICHAEL R. GORDON
American officials said the Russian military has been
moving launchers for short-range ballistic missiles into
South Ossetia.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/18/world/europe/18georgia.html?th&emc=th


..................

U.S. Watched as a Squabble Turned Into a Showdown
By HELENE COOPER, C.J. CHIVERS and CLIFFORD J. LEVY
The U.S. seemed to have missed -- or gambled it could manage
-- the depth of Russia's anger and the resolve of Georgia's
leader to provoke the Russians.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/18/washington/18diplo.html?th&emc=th


..................
--
"A war is just if there is no alternative, and the resort to arms is legitimate if they represent your last hope." (Livy cited by Machiavelli)
--
Ed Kent 212-665-8535 (voice mail only) [blind copies]
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CollegeConversation
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PeaceEfforts
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EndingPoverty
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/440neighborhood
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/StudentConcerns
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AcademicFreedom
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PrivacyRights
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Israel_Palestine
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FindingHumaneJobs
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/OurStupidEconomy
http://BlogByEdKent.blogspot.com/
http://www.bloggernews.net

Saturday, August 16, 2008

Bush and McCain Trumped by Russian Georgia Move

It is less than ironic that the Russians are taking advantage of our military and economic weakness to make a move on Georgia -- and by extension all the other nations in the region. The Bush and McCain military approaches to other nations have precisely inspired the Russian imitation. How can we complain following the Iraq invasion as model? And our military are in real jeopardy now with potential explosions towards us in Iraq and Afghanistan which McCain may or may not know flank Iran. I would hate to think of the outcome should, say, the Israelis panic and launch an attack on Iran.

How stupid can these guys get? The 'surge' mentality has more or less
done us in and put our interests and those of our allies at greatest risk. I wonder how long it will take for our public to awaken? Presumably our news commentators are fully aware of the mess that we have made of our leadership role in the world -- now when we particularly need its moral authority. Condi complaining cannot carry us very far. Where will the Russians stop -- next with perhaps an alliance with Iran. Help!
--
"A war is just if there is no alternative, and the resort to arms is legitimate if they represent your last hope." (Livy cited by Machiavelli)
--
Ed Kent 212-665-8535 (voice mail only) [blind copies]
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CollegeConversation
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PeaceEfforts
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EndingPoverty
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/440neighborhood
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/StudentConcerns
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AcademicFreedom
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PrivacyRights
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Israel_Palestine
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FindingHumaneJobs
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/OurStupidEconomy
http://BlogByEdKent.blogspot.com/
http://www.bloggernews.net

Saturday, August 09, 2008

Busting Bigotry Then -- Racism Now?

From my personal experience racism is still deeply embedded in American culture. We have been making tremendous headway since the days of lynching which ran past the middle of the 20th century. But xenophobia aways dies hard since it is instilled in children before they have reached an age to make decisions about people on their own.

I recall my father, a stock broker in the era when Wall St. was neatly divided by corporate religious dispositions proclaiming that some of his best friends were Jews. I don't particularly recollect any of them, but he was showing respect for his own family heritage which had in fact fought against anti-Semitism. One of my grandfathers had as a leading scholar opened the doors to Jewish and African American scholars long before the civil rights era and the other, as a small businessman in Hanover, NH, had fought the Klan in the 1920s when it was thriving all over America.

Our immediate family has been engaged in fighting against racism one way or another since my wife and I were college students. Our family has intermarried with all of the principal minority groups. So we know the experiences that people still have.

As a reminder the election of 1960 was a battle to elect our first Catholic president. I venture that we are seeing a similar race today with a brilliant African American contending with a guy who would not make a sound small business owner -- can't cope with computers -- he married all those hundreds of millions, remember. Hopefully Obama can pull it off.

.............................

OP-ED COLUMNIST
Racism and the Race
By CHARLES M. BLOW
So why is the presidential race a statistical dead heat?
The pundits have offered a host of reasons, but one in
particular deserves more exploration: racism.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/09/opinion/09blow.html?th&emc=th
--
"A war is just if there is no alternative, and the resort to arms is legitimate if they represent your last hope." (Livy cited by Machiavelli)
--
Ed Kent 212-665-8535 (voice mail only) [blind copies]
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CollegeConversation
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PeaceEfforts
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EndingPoverty
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/440neighborhood
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/StudentConcerns
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AcademicFreedom
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PrivacyRights
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Israel_Palestine
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FindingHumaneJobs
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/OurStupidEconomy
http://BlogByEdKent.blogspot.com/
http://www.bloggernews.net

Thursday, August 07, 2008

How to Save Money on Gas

During WW2 we had gas shortages and gas rationing which, as I recall, divided into 3 categories -- A was for those who needed to drive to a store from home for food and got enough gas to do so about once a week, B for driving to work, and C for unlimited use such as police or or fire departments.

Supplementing all of this were two marvelous practices -- hitch hiking and car pooling. The first involve sticking up one's thumb pointing in the direction one needed to travel and people would pick you up and carry you in that direction. I traveled hundreds of miles this way as a teen and had only one old dude put a hand on my knee at which I asked out at the next cross road with no problems. Unhappily a decade or so after the war ended there were some grim tales of abuses and the practice faded away.

Car pooling was the other gas saving practice. Guys would share car uses to get to work and such. I recall as late as the late 1950s guys car pooling to the factory where I was working in East Hartford, Conn. from as far away as Vermont and New Hampshire -- hundreds of miles round trips and great gas savings.

Perhaps we should redo some of these saving devices? There could be some hazards with hitch hiking, but probably not that many if one uses one's smarts in choosing riders and people to ride with.

What do you think?
--
"A war is just if there is no alternative, and the resort to arms is legitimate if they represent your last hope." (Livy cited by Machiavelli)
--
Ed Kent 212-665-8535 (voice mail only) [blind copies]
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CollegeConversation
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PeaceEfforts
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EndingPoverty
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/440neighborhood
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/StudentConcerns
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AcademicFreedom
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PrivacyRights
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Israel_Palestine
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FindingHumaneJobs
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/OurStupidEconomy
http://BlogByEdKent.blogspot.com/
http://www.bloggernews.net

Tuesday, August 05, 2008

An Interesting Read on Obama and Affirmative Action

[RACHEL L. SWARNS was until recently the NY Times Bureau head for South Africa where similar issues exist. Personally I, too, would want to see AA extended beyond race to class and gender. What do you think? Ed Kent]

IF ELECTED...
Delicate Obama Path on Class and Race Preferences
By RACHEL L. SWARNS
Barack Obama's background may make him a bridge between
racial sensibilities, but the issue is treacherous.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/03/us/politics/03affirmative.html?th&emc=th
--
"A war is just if there is no alternative, and the resort to arms is legitimate if they represent your last hope." (Livy cited by Machiavelli)
--
Ed Kent 212-665-8535 (voice mail only) [blind copies]
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CollegeConversation
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PeaceEfforts
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EndingPoverty
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/440neighborhood
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/StudentConcerns
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AcademicFreedom
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PrivacyRights
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Israel_Palestine
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FindingHumaneJobs
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/OurStupidEconomy
http://BlogByEdKent.blogspot.com/
http://www.bloggernews.net

Saturday, August 02, 2008

Nero Fiddled While Rome Burned

I recall after WW2 a number of our basic industries dallied while Europe was both rebuilding and modernizing its own and basic services such as delivery of medicine to all. At the same time the U.S. found medical services blocked by the right wing A.M.A.'s slogan decrying "socialized medicine" and such industries as steel maximized profits without updating their facilities. We Americans suddenly found our steel industry out bid by cheaper European production due to modernization there and our medical system has evolved into both the most expensive and least efficient of any developed nation.

The current recession/depression looks frighteningly like the real thing -- a rerun perhaps of the crash of 1929 also based on greedy divisions of wealth and deprivation first of the poor and then increasing numbers of hard working people suddenly stranded by a failed economy. I hope such is not a repeat of times past, but the prospects look increasingly grim from all honest reports such as those below.

..............................

More Arrows Seen Pointing to a Recession
By PETER S. GOODMAN
The American economy slowed from April to June, while numbers for the last three months of 2007 were revised downward to show a contraction.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/01/business/01econ.html?th&emc=th

...............................

OP-ED COLUMNIST
Can This Planet Be Saved?
By PAUL KRUGMAN
The skirmish over drilling is the opening to a much bigger fight over environmental policy.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/01/opinion/01krugman.html?th&emc=th
--
"A war is just if there is no alternative, and the resort to arms is legitimate if they represent your last hope." (Livy cited by Machiavelli)
--
Ed Kent 212-665-8535 (voice mail only) [blind copies]
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CollegeConversation
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PeaceEfforts
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EndingPoverty
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/440neighborhood
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/StudentConcerns
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AcademicFreedom
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PrivacyRights
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Israel_Palestine
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FindingHumaneJobs
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/OurStupidEconomy
http://BlogByEdKent.blogspot.com/
http://www.bloggernews.net