Sunday, December 28, 2008

Gaza & the Warsaw Ghetto?

As I hear the preliminary reports today on the deaths and woundings in
Gaza from the Israeli bombings there, I am horribly reminded of the
Warsaw Ghetto uprising of 1943:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsaw_Ghetto_Uprising
-- "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

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Madoff ---> Anti-Semitism?

Frankly, I don't see Madoff as an occasion for anti-Semitism as reported by this article. Rather it offers a critique of greed -- both Madoff's and many of those who profited from his scam -- until the floor collapsed. I go with those who see Madoff as an exposé of our money-making systems of late.

Marx must be laughing.

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

In Madoff Scandal, Jews Feel an Acute Betrayal
By ROBIN POGREBIN
Jews are sending up a communal cry over a cost they say
goes beyond the financial to the theological and the
personal.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/24/us/24jews.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

Monday, December 22, 2008

Obama, the Reconciler

Obama is not an African American burdened by a history of slavery and racial abuse. He is a man who has bridged various worlds -- those of his father and mother -- separate continents of birth, separate religions, separate racial identifies. His biography displays a man who was obliged to reconcile these disparate worlds from his earliest childhood days. His mother's ventures into worlds of the intellect and distant geography further exposed him to yet new challenges -- Indonesia and its cultures and a stepfather, too.

It should be no surprise, then, to find Obama bridging our divided political parties and when in office seeking to reconcile the various conflicting nations, religions, and cultures out there. As such he is a man the world very much needs. Let us hope that he is not destroyed by the haters of our world who prefer war to peace.
--
"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

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Between Two Eras?

As we stand on the brink before entering Obama country, I find my impulse to speak out quelled and my attention drawn rather to innumerable instances of human suffering both in this country as well as abroad. I have seen some of these face to face. Some are caused by general forces and others by direct human abuses.

What makes things difficult to predict is that he (we) are facing incredible burdens. This is not a time of miracles and we may not be able to resolve some of the most critical human needs -- only to push in the right directions.

I end with that ancient Chinese curse referring to us living in interesting times. But may the gods smile on us for a change!
--
"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.netAs we stand on the brink before entering Obama country, I find my impulse to speak out quelled and my attention drawn rather to innumerable instances of human suffering both in the country as well as abroad. I have seen some of these face to face. Some are caused by general forces and others by direct human abuses.

What makes things difficult to predict is that he (we) are facing incredible burdens. This is not a time of miracles and we may not be able to resolve some of the most critical human needs -- only to push in the right directions.

I end with that ancient Chinese curse referring to us living in interesting times. May the gods smile on us for a change!
--
"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

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Iraq Waste Disclosed at Last!

The horrendous record of waste in Iraq has not been top secret. We have had cherry picked bits and pieces of it disclosed here and there, e.g. a 60 Minutes report on the massive theft by Iraqis from the military funds which set a host of them up with large estates in Europe where they departed; the Blackwaters -- private militias supported by Bush and Co. to fire wildly into crowds. Monies intended to rebuild were used for anything but. The really sad story here is these facts are only now being reported summarily -- too little and too late.

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

Report Spotlights Iraq Rebuilding Blunders
By JAMES GLANZ and T. CHRISTIAN MILLER
An unpublished federal history of the U.S.-led
reconstruction of Iraq depicts the effort as crippled by
poor planning, waste and deception, leading to a $100
billion failure.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/14/world/middleeast/14reconstruct.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, December 13, 2008

Catholics Need a Modern Thomas Aquinas

The Catholic Church was once a progressive force in Western culture when under the influence of the best minds of an era it blended traditional theology with the latest insights into man and his world. St. Thomas in his day incorporated the speculations of a leading secular mind, Aristotle, to bring the church into the future:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Aquinas

Neither Aristotle nor Aquinas had it all right, but the blind dogmatists were held in check.

Sadly the Roman Catholic Church since Vatican II was aborted have been suppressing the best mind of their church such as Hans Küng:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Vatican_Council


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_K%C3%BCng


Theologians who skirt the party line are ousted from Catholic colleges. Most Catholics either depart this church or its doctrines.

How sad to see such a proud tradition trampled by its self-appointed authoritarian leaders.

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

Vatican Issues Instruction on Bioethics
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN and ELISABETTA POVOLEDO
The text reinforces the church's opposition to human
cloning, in vitro fertilization and other procedures.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/13/world/europe/13vatican.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

Friday, December 12, 2008

The Hoover Mentality

To give it a more positive label than it deserves, it looks as though the Congressional Republican are attempting to leave the nation in the worst possible shape for Obama to repair when he assumes office next month. What other games will they play in addition to sabotaging the auto rescue efforts of even their own president?

This is not the party with which I was raised which proffered such honorable representatives as Robert A. Taft who was defeated by Eisenhower as presidential candidate who, himself, was a decent man. There are still some caring Republicans, but they are scattered few and far between and shouted down by their destructive colleagues.

Hopefully their disastrous actions now and attempts at same in years to come will send their party as far into the wilderness as did Hoover.
--
"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)

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

Senate Abandons Auto Bailout Bid
By DAVID M. HERSZENHORN
Senate Republicans refused to support a bill endorsed by
the White House and Congressional Democrats.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/12/business/12auto.html?th&emc=th
--
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

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Costs of Wars Not Fought

A Fighter Jet's Fate Poses a Quandary for Obama
By CHRISTOPHER DREW
Two of Barack Obama's goals - creating jobs and cutting
waste - may collide in a decision over the F-22 fighter.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/10/us/politics/10jets.html?th&emc=th

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

One of my student days summer jobs was at a major scrap metal company operation. For about two two weeks I and another student worker there spent our days destroying the high priced (brass) fuses for bombs left over from WW2. We would whack them with a hammer at about the rate of 6 a minute. Such are the waste products of war and the preparation for same.

The U.S. currently is the major producer (and seller globally) of weapons from earlier eras -- some such as cluster bombs and land mines which go on killing innocent civilians decades after they are employed in this or that dispute -- Israel dumped a million or so of the former on Lebanon during its recent incursion there.


Eisenhower warned us of the "military industrial complex" which gobbles up an enormous proportion of our nation's wherewithal and which continues as the above article indicates to thrust aside more worthy uses of our monies on such things as education and health. I wonder who will get to scrap some day in the future our currently being produced weapons for wars never to be fought?
--
"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

Costs of Wars Not Fought

A Fighter Jet's Fate Poses a Quandary for Obama
By CHRISTOPHER DREW
Two of Barack Obama's goals - creating jobs and cutting
waste - may collide in a decision over the F-22 fighter.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/10/us/politics/10jets.html?th&emc=th

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

One of my student days summer jobs was at a major scrap metal company operation. For about two two weeks I an another student worker there spent our days destroying the high priced (brass) fuses for bombs left over from WW2. We would whack them with a hammer at about the rate of 6 a minute. Such are the waste products of war and the preparation for same.

The U.S. currently is the major producer (and seller globally) of weapons from earlier eras -- some such as cluster bombs and land mines which going on killing innocent civilians decades after they are employed in this or that dispute -- Israel dumped a million or so of the former on Lebanon during its recent incursion there.


Eisenhower warned us of the "military-industrial complex" which gobbles up an enormous proportion of our nation's wherewithal and which continues as the above article indicates to thrust aside more worthy uses of our monies on such things as education and health. I wonder who will get to scrap some day in the future our currently being produced weapons for wars never to be fought?
--
"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

Sunday, December 07, 2008

12/7/41

I was eight going on nine and listening to one of the late afternoon kids' programs of those times (Jack Armstrong, All American Boy?) when the announcement came that our fleet had been hit by a Japanese sneak attack at Pearl Harbor. I rushed to our kitchen to tell my parents.

We were particularly caught off guard as a Japanese delegation had been in Washington that week negotiating peace arrangements. Hitler and Mussolini soon joined the Japanese by declaring war on us. As most of our fleet's aircraft carriers had been destroyed and the German subs were sinking ships in the Atlantic, we felt doubly exposed on both ocean flanks. Quickly an aircraft warning station was set up in our front yard (we lived on foothills of Avon mountain with a wide view to the West and I soon became an expert on war planes -- ours and theirs -- from models of same that were supplied that I put together. I became a teacher for adults on 2 hour shifts on how to report planes seen or heard to Washington. My father, as many businessman, took on an extra job in a factory nights -- that practice was ended quickly as such were more nuisance than help.

We then mobilized for a war that for us ended a short 4 years later with the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Yes, we welcomed the atomic attack with revenge motivations that no longer respected civilians.

And so that war went.
--
"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, December 04, 2008

Split in Christianity

Episcopal Split as Conservatives Form New Group
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
Conservatives alienated over the ordination of an openlygay bishop said they would create a rival denomination.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/04/us/04episcopal.html?th&emc=th

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

When I studied theology under such as Reinhold Niebuhr and others mid 20th c. and through book reviewing thereafter I discovered that there were really two competing and frequently opposed faiths dating from the earliest Christian origins -- that of Jesus and the perverse version of St. Paul. The former is expounded in the 4 Gospels with variations there and the latter exposed by the Letter of Paul to the Romans with its authoritarian overtones, viciously anti-gay and more subtle anti-Semitic threats against Jews who did not convert.

One finds this division reflected in the current splits and manifested hostilities of the latter day Paulines such as that above. The Pauline apocalyptic vision destined Christianity to become the most murderous of the major Western religions -- wars between competing Christian sects and nations as well as 'pogroms' against religious 'enemies. Such is the fate of religions all too often exploited by criminals and haters.

Ed Kent
--
"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