Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Ravages of war

Tuesday
February
26
2008

San Mateo Daily Journal


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Ravages of war


Editor,


Three young men, all former soldiers in the Israeli Defense Force, founded “Breaking the Silence” to do just that. It is a forum for former combat veterans — most of them in their 20s and early 30s — to talk about the way a brutal occupation made them brutes. Soldiers Avichai Sharon, Yehuda Shaul and Noam Chayut organized an exhibition of photographs and soldiers’ testimonies from their military service in the West Bank city of Hebron. They acted for the sake of their own mental health and, they say, to force Israel to confront the truth about its policies.


“What haunts me? It’s the memories of 6-year-old, 7-year-old Palestinian children watching with tears in their eyes (video) when you’re tossing their rooms, breaking their walls, taking their father and slamming him into the wall before arresting--Responsibility is to every human being in the world, and for sure for Americans, because in the end of the day for all what Israel does, there is only one country in the world that, you know, the chief of staff and the prime minister of Israel has to report in the end of the day, and that’s the United States of America.”


One of the main supporters of the backward policies is AIPAC, or the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, that describes itself as the most important organization affecting the U.S. relationship with Israel. With a budget of $65 million, and membership now standing at over 100,000, it is no wonder that congressional staffers consider it one of the most powerful and effective lobbies on Capitol Hill. Including AIPAC’s support for U.S. military aid to Israel, which amounts to over $3 billion per year.


Ted Rudow III,MA


Menlo Park

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Tuesday, February 26, 2008


Letter | Academics are more important than sports for the university?

Abstract:
...
Sports should be secondary. Why give athletics an increase in funding? Academics are important and the university should facilitate the students with faculty and classes/courses. Let's facilitate the students' educational career instead of the seemingly habitual and persistent impediment of invaluable educational growth.
Jesus Angulo
Mexican-American StudiesGraduate Student

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The only escape for me, I thought, was sports. So I practiced and practiced basketball until I received many offers included West Point! I recieved an athletic scholarship to attend the University of California at Berkeley, in 1970.
The Vietman War was going on, and Berkeley was the hot-bed of radical resistance. I was on the honor roll and was voted first-team all-Northern California freshman in basketball, Captain and Most Valuable Player in 1971.
I felt pressures on many sides to really put out all my time and energy towards becoming a basketball star in college and pressing toward a professional career. On the other hand, deep within my heart, I felt that there was something wrong with all this!I felt caught between two worlds,one with the teachings of Jesus and His commandment to love thy neighbor,while in the other world, I was told to gain a near-manical desire to win and to physically punish my opponent in a defeat!
Time after time,scientists and social scientists had determine that sports actually aggravate conflict and aggression,as well damage bodies! My former U.C. Berkeley basketball coach,(1970-2), was verbally abusive and he got fired for hitting a player at another college! Did you know that the Nicargua-El Salvador war,in which 20,000 people were killed,started over a football game? In fact,Ernest Hemingway,who spent so much time in Latin America and Spain,said you could eliminate most Latin American wars and their causes by simply banning football or soccer!
Competitive Sports is war in disguised.
Ted Rudow III,

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