MAD, SAD OR GLAD!

Valentine thoughts

2012-02-10T10:25:00.001-08:00

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Peninsula readers' letters: Feb. 10

From Daily News Group readers

Posted: 02/09/2012 06:02:52 PM PST
Updated: 02/10/2012 12:02:05 AM PST

Valentine thoughts

Dear Editor: History books tell us that during the Feast of Lupercalia, an event which evolved into the celebration known as Valentine's Day, it was the custom for Roman youths to cast lots to pick a girl to not only bestow gifts upon, but to court the following year. In this modern day and age, such a random way of selecting a sweetheart has been abandoned. Instead, on Feb., 14, lovers in many countries give cards and gifts to express their love to the one for which they have romantic feelings.

The Greek language has various words for love. One of them is agape, meaning love without expecting anything in return. This is not selfish or self-serving love -- it is selfless and unconditional. But is it possible? How can we not feel slighted when we don't receive the treatment we want or feel we deserve in return for some good deed? How can we not "keep score," or not desire recompense or at least a response?

What is real love? It is wanting the best for someone else. It is putting their welfare above yours. It is being happy when they gain what they wanted or worked for.

Ted Rudow III, MA

Palo Alto

Valentine thoughts

2012-02-10T10:25:00.000-08:00

Cuba

2012-02-07T13:16:00.000-08:00

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2012/02/07/18706850.php
Anniversary
by Ted Rudow III, MA Tuesday Feb 7th, 2012
There are no commemorations planned in Washington, D.C., but today marks the 50th anniversary of the U.S. embargo against Cuba — the longest-running embargo in the world. On February 7, 1962, President John F. Kennedy formally expanded the harsh regime of commercial and financial sanctions against Cuba that have continued to the present day.
-->
The embargo has been solidly bipartisan, notably intensifying under the Helms-Burton Act of 1996, which was passed by a Republican-controlled Congress and signed into law by President Bill Clinton, a Democrat. Castro's government has squelched people's freedom somewhat, and they have been intolerant of religious activity, but that's not entirely Castro's fault. It's largely the result of the influence of other elements in his government, as well as, at least in the beginning, pressure from his communist backers who support him. Most people think the way to get the few remaining Communist countries to open up more is not to isolate them, but to engage them in conversation, to have interaction with them. That's the way they've treated North Korea and other former Communist countries. But they're doing exactly the opposite with Cuba!--Mainly due to the Cuban-American lobby, which is very strong in Washington. It's a '60s policy toward Castro in a '2010s World. You know what's the worst thing about the U.S.?--Their hypocrisy!
Ted Rudow III, MA

Super Bowl

2012-02-05T10:50:00.000-08:00

Spartan Daily
February 1, 2012
News Sports Opinion A&E Multimedia
Eli is an elite quarterback
by Nick Celario Jan 31, 2012 8:28 pm Tags: Eli Manning, NFL, SUper Bowl XLVI

Throughout his career, New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning has been overshadowed by other quarterbacks who are considered to be the best in the NFL, such as Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees and Tom Brady.
Being constantly compared to his older brother Peyton, also considered to be one of the league’s finest, does not help his cause.
Earlier in the season, Eli said he considers himself an elite NFL quarterback, comparing himself to the likes of Brady.
According to ESPN, Manning has completed 61 percent of his passes, threw for 4,933 yards, 29 touchdowns and 16 interceptions during the 2011 regular season.
Manning also has an overall quarterback rating of 92.9.
During a playoff game against the 2010 Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers this season, he completed 63.6 percent of his passes and threw for 330 yards, three touchdowns and one interception.
During the same game, he had a quarterback rating of 114.5.
Manning has proven himself as one of the better quarterbacks in the league this season.
This Sunday, he has the opportunity to prove himself yet again as he and the Giants face Brady and the New England Patriots in a Super Bowl XLII rematch.
During that Super Bowl in 2008, Manning made a key play in the final minutes, avoided getting sacked then completed a pass to wide receiver David Tyree to convert on fourth down and sustain the drive.
He then capped off the game-winning drive with a touchdown pass to wide receiver Plaxico Burress.
In doing so, the Giants stopped Brady from winning a fourth championship and tying the record for most Superbowl wins by a quarterback.
The Giants also took away the Patriots’ chance of completing a season undefeated, an achievement that has not been accomplished since the 1972 Miami Dolphins.
Despite winning a championship, Manning was still not grouped among the league’s premier signal callers.
If Manning and the Giants beat New England again for a second Super Bowl five years, Manning ought to be considered elite now, right?
Winning a championship, let alone two, should allow him to be thought of as one of the league’s best.
Having one more championship than his old brother Peyton, a guaranteed future Hall of Fame quarterback, ought to put him in the company of the league’s elite.
Defeating Tom Brady, a sure-fire future Hall of Famer, in two Super Bowls should make a compelling argument for him to be considered as one of the greats in NFL history.
If the Giants win this Sunday, Manning should get the recognition he deserves and be distinguished as an elite NFL quarterback.
@TedrTed ·
There's nothing wrong with sports, and watching them every so often can be fun and relaxing. The Super Bowl and other sports really foster the spirit of competition.It's the spirit of the world, the "me first" spirit -- do what's best for yourself, win no matter who you have to hurt or step on in order to get ahead of the next guy. That's just the opposite of what Jesus wants to teach people -- to love your neighbor as yourself. Of course, some form of sports is fine. It's good exercise and can be good fellowship time with others. But things in the world are so different, and when athletes get to the professional level where they're being paid to win, it gets extremely competitive. It becomes almost a life-and-death spirit. For example, the soccer players in the World Cup practically ran themselves to exhaustion, suffered injuries and bruises, and still kept playing because they wanted to win no matter what it cost them physically.
Ted Rudow III, MA
class of 1996

Super bowl

2012-02-04T10:21:00.000-08:00

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Peninsula readers' letters: Feb.
From Daily News Group readers
Posted: 02/03/2012 05:59:16 PM PSTUpdated: 02/03/2012 11:56:25 PM PST
Super Bowl
Dear Editor: There's nothing wrong with sports, and watching them every so often can be fun and relaxing. The Super Bowl and other sports really foster the spirit of competition.It's the spirit of the world, the "me first" spirit -- do what's best for yourself, win no matter who you have to hurt or step on in order to get ahead of the next guy. That's just the opposite of what Jesus wants to teach people -- to love your neighbor as yourself.Of course, some form of sports is fine. It's good exercise and can be good fellowship time with others. But things in the world are so different, and when athletes get to the professional level where they're being paid to win, it gets extremely competitive. It becomes almost a life-and-death spirit. For example, the soccer players in the World Cup practically ran themselves to exhaustion, suffered injuries and bruises, and still kept playing because they wanted to win no matter what it cost them physically.Ted Rudow III, MAPalo Alto

Super Bowl

2012-02-03T10:32:00.000-08:00

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2012/02/03/18706519.php
Super bowl
by Ted Rudow III, MA ( Tedr77 [at] aol.com ) Friday Feb 3rd, 2012
There's nothing wrong with sports, and watching them every so often can be fun and relaxing. The Super Bowl and other sports really foster the spirit of competition.
It's the spirit of the world, the "me first" spirit--do what's best for yourself, win no matter who you have to hurt or step on in order to get ahead of the next guy. That's the spirit of the world, which is just the opposite of what Jesus wants to teach people--to love your neighbor as yourself. Of course, some form of sports is fine. It's good exercise and can be good fellowship time with others. But things in the world are so different, and when athletes get to the professional level where they're being paid to win, it gets extremely competitive. It becomes almost a life-and-death spirit. For example, the soccer players in the World Cup practically ran themselves to exhaustion, suffered injuries and bruises, and still kept playing, because they wanted to win no matter what it cost them physically!
Ted Rudow III, MA

History of Glass-Steagall

2012-01-31T11:52:00.000-08:00

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In 1933, Senator Carter Glass (D-Va.) and Congressman Henry Steagall (D-Ala.) introduce the historic legislation that bears their name, seeking to limit the conflicts of interest created when commercial banks are permitted to underwrite stocks or bonds.The new law bans commercial banks from underwriting securities, forcing banks to choose between being a simple lender or an underwriter (brokerage). The act also establishes the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), insuring bank deposits, and strengthens the Federal Reserve's control over credit. In the spring of 1987, the Federal Reserve Board votes 3-2 in favor of easing regulations under Glass-Steagall Act, overriding the opposition of Chairman Paul Volcker. In 1995, the House and Senate Banking Committees approve separate versions of legislation to get rid of Glass-Steagall, but conference negotiations on a compromise fall apart. The Citicorp-Travelers merger, which thanks to the removal of Glass-Steagall enabled the formation of the financial behemoth known as Citigroup. But even behemoths are vulnerable; when the meltdown hit, the bank cut more than 50,000 jobs, and the taxpayers shelled out more than $45 billion to save it. "The World provides enough for every man's need but not for every man's greed.--M. Gandhi
Ted Rudow III, MA

History of Glass-Steagall

2012-01-30T11:28:00.000-08:00

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2012/01/30/18706081.php
History of Glass-Steagall
by Ted Rudow III, MA ( Tedr77 [at] aol.com ) Monday Jan 30th, 2012
In 1933, Senator Carter Glass (D-Va.) and Congressman Henry Steagall (D-Ala.) introduce the historic legislation that bears their name, seeking to limit the conflicts of interest created when commercial banks are permitted to underwrite stocks or bonds.
-->
The new law bans commercial banks from underwriting securities, forcing banks to choose between being a simple lender or an underwriter (brokerage). The act also establishes the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), insuring bank deposits, and strengthens the Federal Reserve's control over credit. In the spring of 1987, the Federal Reserve Board votes 3-2 in favor of easing regulations under Glass-Steagall Act, overriding the opposition of Chairman Paul Volcker. In 1995, the House and Senate Banking Committees approve separate versions of legislation to get rid of Glass-Steagall, but conference negotiations on a compromise fall apart. The Citicorp-Travelers merger, which — thanks to the removal of Glass-Steagall — enabled the formation of the financial behemoth known as Citigroup. But even behemoths are vulnerable; when the meltdown hit, the bank cut more than 50,000 jobs, and the taxpayers shelled out more than $45 billion to save it. "The World provides enough for every man's need but not for every man's greed.--M. Gandhi
Ted Rudow III, MA

Peace

2012-01-30T10:04:00.000-08:00

cross-referenced news and research resources about
peace researchers

images: google yahoo YouTube index to 5 peace studies pages about contact us Thu. January 26, 2012
Wanton waste Bay Area Indymedia January 5, 2012 by Ted Rudow III, MA ( Tedr77 [at] aol.com ) The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute reports that world military expenditures are averaging between $900 billion and $1 trillion a year.

Progress?

2012-01-27T13:37:00.000-08:00

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2012/01/27/18705762.php
Progress?
by Ted Rudow III, MA ( Tedr77 [at] aol.com ) Friday Jan 27th, 2012 Newt Gingrich’s recent rise in the Republican contest would have been impossible without the backing of one man: multi-billionaire casino mogul Sheldon Adelson. Adelson and his wife have donated $10 million to the pro-Gingrich super PAC
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He has a lot of money to spend. And he offered, essentially, to be the major donor for AIPAC for its new building. He’s very, very close to former prime minister, Benjamin Netenyahu, and to Natan Sharansky, who’s part of the Shalem Center in Israel, which is a Netanyahu-Likud kind of front think tank. And he founded his own institute there, the Adelson Institute, which is headed by Sharansky. The Washington Post reports Adelson and Gingrich met when Gingrich was House speaker and Adelson was lobbying to move the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Gingrich raised this very issue at last night’s debate when he was questioned about his past claims that the Palestinians are an "invented" people. Newt Gingrich is spouting in these debates, he’s making George Bush look like a walk in the park. I mean, it’s getting—I mean, we’re not—we’re supposed to be progressing in the peace process. We’re supposed to be moving forward. And what we are doing, and the GOP is doing, is moving back. So if the American people have any sense, we cannot let this guy go forward.
Ted Rudow III, MA

Privacy

2012-01-27T11:02:00.000-08:00

Spartan Daily

January 24, 2012

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ACTA, SOPA and PIPA would destroy the Internet

by Christian Gin Jan 24, 2012 3:15 pm Tags: ACTA, censorship, internet, memes, online piracy, PIPA, privacy, SOPA

Jasper Rubenstein, Spartan Daily
Christian Gin is a staff writer.

Imagine making a web slideshow video using your favorite music as the background audio.

By rule of the ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement), PIPA (Protect IP Act) and SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) acts, you are unable to do this because of copyright laws.

SOPA is a potential law that derives from the principles of ACTA and applies only to the United States.

The PIPA is the third potential act to affect the internet.

This proposed law in the United States would create the ability to take down websites that contain copyright material.

An owner can take legal action against any anyone who infringes on their material.

The Department of Justice would also have the right to demand search engines and social networking sites block those websites that have copyright material.

This would make sure that no one can illegally download their favorite music or movies or even pictures they like, or use any other material that is copyright.

Now it sounds like a good idea to make sure criminals don’t pirate any multimedia property that someone owns, right?

Well, there is a catch to this.

People can now be censored for even a simple picture of something in a slide show of theirs.

Videos would have to have only original content everywhere.

Whether it’s music, video or pictures, it has to be someone’s own material rather than a song by an artist or picture by a famous photographer.

An example of the ACTA movement is how the well-known website MegaUpload was taken down by the U.S. Department of Justice.

MegaUpload was a website known for posting various things like movies and television episodes.

The website was good for hosting videos and providing downloads of media content.

The United States Department of Justice defined MegaUpload as a website that had committed copyright infringement as it contained episodes from many television shows without their permission.

Because of the acts, several websites similar to MegaUpload will be tracked down by the Department of Justice and be killed off for good in the near future.

Their long term goal would be to kill off any peer-to-peer (P2P) websites that let others share any kind of music or media.

This would include the P2P music file sharing program Limewire.

People would also be unable to stream an event live using any kind of streaming website.

This would be deemed as illegal and not allowed.

The internet would not be what it is today, it would be only for serious things, and everything that is fun could be jeopardized by ACTA, SOPA and PIPA.

In response to this, Wikipedia put up a protest known as “A world without knowledge,” shutting down the English portion of Wikipedia for the entire day of Jan. 18, 2012.

Google also spread the word about PIPA and SOPA with information displayed on their website.

Google’s homepage displayed its logo being blacked out, and clicking on it would redirect visitors to a page containing videos they made explaining the dangers of PIPA and SOPA.

These acts would be horrible for anyone using the internet.

ACTA, PIPA and SOPA would censor everything on the internet making it illegal for people to do pretty much anything.

The ability to put something on YouTube would be very limited to things someone filmed with their camera.

Several websites would be shut down because they would contain a copyright images or music within it.

All of these acts would take away freedom of speech and violate the first amendment.

Everyone needs to take a stand and let everybody know that this is horrible.

Make your voices heard, that these possible acts are not acceptable for freedom of speech.

Sign the petition against these dangerous acts that will ruin websites and businesses at americancensorship.org.

Tell your congressman how dangerous the acts could be, and how it harms the future of the internet.

SOPA, PIPA and ACTA are jeopardizing all the great things about the internet and we have to stop it.

Ted Rudow III, MA on January 27, 2012 :

Fascism was founded during World War I by Italian national syndicalists who combined left-wing and right-wing political views, but Italian Fascism gravitated to the right in the early 1920s.

Italian Fascists described fascism as a right-wing ideology in the political program The Doctrine of Fascism.
Fascism promoted principles of masculine heroism, militarism and discipline, and rejected cultural pluralism and multiculturalism. Fascism has proved it is not one bit interested in the democratic process. The Christian right is a major political force in the West, supported by the Republican Party in the United States. This is born out in the Republican Debates.
Many topics of the debates are very bias in that. Fascism is the socialism of the rich in which the rich get together and cooperate to protect and keep their wealth and enforce their form of government on the poor. Let us never to go back to that!
Ted Rudow III, MA
Class of 1996

Career planning

2012-01-24T12:05:00.000-08:00

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Peninsula readers' letters: Jan. 24
From Daily News Group readers Posted: 01/23/2012 05:52:07 PM PSTUpdated: 01/24/2012 12:28:31 AM PST
Career planning
Dear Editor: The lack of career planning before a school is chosen, a major is selected and debt is borrowed is shocking to me. Not enough students -- and their families who are also taking on student loans -- are asking what their college major is worth in the workforce.In the "Hard Times" report, the center found that the unemployment rate for recent graduates is highest in architecture (13.9 percent) because of the collapse of the construction and home-building industry. Not surprisingly, unemployment rates are generally higher in non-technical majors such as the arts (11.1 percent), humanities and liberal arts (9.4 percent), social science (8.9 percent) and law and public policy (8.1 percent).A college education is not an investment in your future if you are taking out loans just for the college experience. It's not an investment if you're not coupling your education with training. It's not an investment if you aren't researching which fields are creating good-paying jobs now and 30 years from now.Ted Rudow III, MAPalo Alto

Crony

2012-01-23T11:50:00.000-08:00

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2012/01/23/18705484.php
Crony
by Ted Rudow III, MA ( Tedr77 [at] aol.com ) Monday Jan 23rd, 2012
Crony capitalism is a term describing an economy in which success in business depends on close relationships between business people and government officials.
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It may be exhibited by favoritism in the distribution of legal permits, government grants, special tax breaks, and so forth. Crony capitalism is believed to arise when political cronyism spills over into the business world; self-serving friendships and family ties between businessmen and the government influence the economy and society to the extent that it corrupts public-serving economic and political ideals. We need not only a reinstitution of Glass-Steagall, but even a more serious limitation on banks. We want to have a way for, you know, average Americans to save money without taking big risks and not be worried about the failure of their banking institution, then there can be some narrow banks who do nothing except take deposits, make long-term loans or short-term loans of a standard, business variety. "Crony capitalism is about the aggressive and proactive use of political resources, lobbying, campaign contributions, influence-peddling of one type or another to gain something from the governmental process that wouldn't otherwise be achievable in the market. And as the time has progressed over the last two or three decades, I think it's gotten much worse. Money dominates politics." David Stockman
Ted Rudow III, MA

RTF Radio

2012-01-20T13:47:00.000-08:00

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Fascism was founded during World War I by Italian national syndicalists who combined left-wing and right-wing political views, but Italian Fascism gravitated to the right in the early 1920s. Italian Fascists described fascism as a right-wing ideology in the political program The Doctrine of Fascism. Fascism promoted principles of masculine heroism, militarism and discipline, and rejected cultural pluralism and multiculturalism. Fascism has proved it is not one bit interested in the democratic process. The Christian right is a major political force in the West, supported by the Republican Party in the United States. This is born out in the Republican Debates. Many topics of the debates are very bias in that. Fascism is the socialism of the rich in which the rich get together and cooperate to protect and keep their wealth and enforce their form of government on the poor. Let us never to go back to that! Ted Rudow III, MA

Very bias

2012-01-19T12:37:00.001-08:00

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2012/01/19/18705051.php
Very bias
by Ted Rudow III, MA ( Tedr77 [at] aol.com ) Thursday Jan 19th, 2012
Fascism was founded during World War I by Italian national syndicalists who combined left-wing and right-wing political views, but Italian Fascism gravitated to the right in the early 1920s. Italian Fascists described fascism as a right-wing ideology in the political program The Doctrine of Fascism. Fascism promoted principles of masculine heroism, militarism and discipline, and rejected cultural pluralism and multiculturalism. Fascism has proved it is not one bit interested in the democratic process. The Christian right is a major political force in the West, supported by the Republican Party in the United States.
This is born out in the Republican Debates. Many topics of the debates are very bias in that. Fascism is the socialism of the rich in which the rich get together and cooperate to protect and keep their wealth and enforce their form of government on the poor. Let us never to go back to that!
Ted Rudow III, MA

2012-01-15T12:49:00.000-08:00

RSN

King's Day

by Ted Rudow III Friday, 13 January 2012
Has his dream been realized? Has that dream come true in your life? Has that dream been fulfilled? Or have our ideals and our aspirations fallen by the wayside?
Where is the unity, the brotherhood, the oneness of heart and spirit? His dream can only become a reality through love, the supernatural Love of God! This is what brings unity. This is what brings equality. This is what brings mutual respect. This is what makes a man willing to prefer another and lift up another, and sacrifice of himself to improve the life of another. This is what makes a man willing to look past the color of the skin and see the heart and spirit, to see each man, woman and child as a creation of God. This is what motivates those that are in power to act justly and fairly, without seeking their own gain.
You cannot wait for legislation. You cannot wait for the lawmakers to make things right for you. Each one of you must make a decision in your own heart to reach out, to lift up, to care, to love, to strive with all that is within you to make the world a better place for the weak and the meek. Only through this love and compassion and caring for others will your dreams be realized, will you find the opportunities that you are looking for, will you find the equality that you seek, and will you find the self-respect and the self-esteem that you long for.
March with hearts courageous, as he marched on Washington! March arm-in-arm, shoulder-to-shoulder, and fight! -- Not with violence, not with guns and killing and pain, but with love and the truth, with respect for one another, and without prejudice toward the color of a man's skin. Lift up your eyes and look around you and see what you can do to change the world.

King's Day

2012-01-13T11:16:00.000-08:00

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2012/01/13/18704692.php
King's Day
by Ted Rudow III,MA ( Tedr77 [at] aol.com ) Friday Jan 13th, 2012
His dream been realized? Has that dream come true in your life? Has that dream been fulfilled? Or have our ideals and our aspirations fallen by the wayside? Where is the unity, the brotherhood, the oneness of heart and spirit? His dream can only become a reality through love, the supernatural Love of God! This is what brings unity. This is what brings equality. This is what brings mutual respect. This is what makes a man willing to prefer another and lift up another, and sacrifice of himself to improve the life of another. This is what makes a man willing to look past the color of the skin and see the heart and spirit, to see each man, woman and child as a creation of God. This is what motivates those that are in power to act justly and fairly, without seeking their own gain.
You cannot wait for legislation. You cannot wait for the lawmakers to make things right for you. Each one of you must make a decision in your own heart to reach out, to lift up, to care, to love, to strive with all that is within you to make the world a better place for the weak and the meek. Only through this love and compassion and caring for others will your dreams be realized, will you find the opportunities that you are looking for, will you find the equality that you seek, and will you find the self-respect and the self-esteem that you long for.
March with hearts courageous, as he marched on Washington! March arm-in-arm, shoulder-to-shoulder, and fight! -- Not with violence, not with guns and killing and pain, but with love and the truth, with respect for one another, and without prejudice toward the color of a man's skin. Lift up your eyes and look around you and see what you can do to change the world.
Ted Rudow III, MA

Wanton waste

2012-01-13T07:13:00.000-08:00

cross-referenced news and research resources about
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute

images: google yahoo YouTube about contact us
Wed. January 11, 2012
Wanton waste Bay Area Indymedia January 5, 2012 by Ted Rudow III, MA ( Tedr77 [at] aol.com ) The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute reports that world military expenditures are averaging between $900 billion and $1 trillion a year.

Better uses of war funds

2012-01-12T09:30:00.000-08:00

SFexaminer.com
Thursday, January 12, 2012

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Better uses of war funds
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute reported that world military expenditures average between $900 billion and $1 trillion a year. The $1 trillion figure would mean that an astronomical $2 million are spent worldwide on the military every minute — and U.S. military spending accounts for 42 percent of this.
A $30 billion, 10-year plan to provide clean water to the poor of the developing world would cost just 10 days of military spending. Eighteen days of military spending yearly could eradicate malnutrition worldwide. Experts believe that $200 million, or about three hours of military spending, could wipe out the diseases of diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, measles and polio, which together kill 4 million children every year.
Former President Dwight D. Eisenhower highlighted the wanton waste of war when he declared: “Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. The world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. … Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron. ... Is there no other way the world may live?”
Ted Rudow III, MAPalo Alto

Imperialistic attack

2012-01-11T10:33:00.000-08:00

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Peninsula readers' letters: Jan. 11

From Daily News Group readers Posted: 01/10/2012 05:52:37 PM PST

Imperialistic attack of Libya
Dear Editor: On June 15, three months after the NATO bombing of Libya began, the African Union presented to the U.N. Security Council the African position on the attack -- in reality, bombing by its traditional imperial aggressors France and Britain, joined by the U.S., which initially coordinated the assault, and marginally some other nations.
Theories about imperialism typically focus on the British Empire, with side glances elsewhere. For some, imperialism designated a policy of idealism and philanthropy; others alleged it was characterized by political self-interest, and a growing number associated it with capitalist greed. Their combined work informed the study of imperialism's impact on Europe, as well as contributed to reflections on the rise of the military-political complex in the United States from the 1950s.
"Careless assaults on the sovereignty of African countries are, therefore, tantamount to inflicting fresh wounds on the destiny of the African peoples. The African appeal can be found in the Indian journal Frontline, but was mostly unheard in the West. That comes as no surprise: Africans are 'unpeople,' to adapt George Orwell's term for those unfit to enter history." -- Noam Chomsky
Ted Rudow III, MA
Palo Alto

RTF

2012-01-09T09:38:00.000-08:00

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On June 15, three months after the NATO bombing of Libya began, the African Union presented to the U.N. Security Council the African position on the attack in reality, bombing by their traditional imperial aggressors: France and Britain, joined by the U.S., which initially coordinated the assault, and marginally some other nations.
Theories about imperialism typically focus on the British Empire, with side glances elsewhere. For some, imperialism designated a policy of idealism and philanthropy; others alleged that it was characterized by political self-interest, and a growing number associated it with capitalist greed. Their combined work informed the study of imperialism's impact on Europe, as well as contributed to reflections on the rise of the military-political complex in the United States from the 1950s. "Careless assaults on the sovereignty of African countries are, therefore, tantamount to inflicting fresh wounds on the destiny of the African peoples. The African appeal can be found in the Indian journal Frontline, but was mostly unheard in the West. That comes as no surprise: Africans are "unpeople" to adapt George Orwells term for those unfit to enter history." Noam Chomsky
Ted Rudow III, MA

"Unpeople"

2012-01-08T13:23:00.000-08:00

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2012/01/08/18704375.php
"Unpeople"
by Ted Rudow III, MA ( Tedr77 [at] aol.com ) Sunday Jan 8th, 2012
On June 15, three months after the NATO bombing of Libya began, the African Union presented to the U.N. Security Council the African position on the attack – in reality, bombing by their traditional imperial aggressors: France and Britain, joined by the U.S., which initially coordinated the assault, and marginally some other nations.
-->
Theories about imperialism typically focus on the British Empire, with side glances elsewhere. For some, imperialism designated a policy of idealism and philanthropy; others alleged that it was characterized by political self-interest, and a growing number associated it with capitalist greed. Their combined work informed the study of imperialism's impact on Europe, as well as contributed to reflections on the rise of the military-political complex in the United States from the 1950s. "Careless assaults on the sovereignty of African countries are, therefore, tantamount to inflicting fresh wounds on the destiny of the African peoples. The African appeal can be found in the Indian journal Frontline, but was mostly unheard in the West. That comes as no surprise: Africans are “unpeople,” to adapt George Orwell’s term for those unfit to enter history." Noam Chomsky
Ted Rudow III, MA

Wanton waste

2012-01-07T14:18:00.000-08:00

RSN

Wanton Waste

by Ted Rudow III , MA Thursday, 05 January 2012
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute reports that world military expenditures are averaging between $900 billion and $1 trillion a year. Using the $1 trillion figure, that means an astronomical two million dollars are spent worldwide on the military every minute! U.S. Military spending 42% of this.
A $30 billion, 10-year plan to provide clean water to the poor of the developing world would cost just ten days of military spending. Eighteen days of military spending yearly could eradicate malnutrition worldwide. Experts believe that $200 million, or about three hours of military spending, could wipe out the diseases of diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, measles and polio, which together kill four million children every year.
Former U.S. president General Dwight D. Eisenhower highlighted the wanton waste of war when he declared, “Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. The world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. ... Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron. ... Is there no other way the world may live?"

World's wanton

2012-01-07T13:31:00.000-08:00

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Peninsula readers' letters: Jan. 7
From Daily News Group readers Posted: 01/06/2012 05:35:49 PM PSTUpdated: 01/06/2012 11:01:16 PM PST

World's wanton waste on war
Dear Editor: The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute reports that world military expenditures are averaging between $900 billion and $1 trillion a year. Using the $1 trillion figure, that means an astronomical $2 million are spent worldwide on the military every minute. The U.S. military is spending 42 percent of this.
A $30 billion, 10-year plan to provide clean water to the poor of the developing world would cost just 10 days of military spending. Eighteen days of military spending yearly could eradicate malnutrition worldwide. Experts believe that $200 million, or about three hours of military spending, could wipe out the diseases of diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, measles and polio, which together kill 4 million children every year.
Former U.S. president General Dwight D. Eisenhower highlighted the wanton waste of war when he declared, "Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. The world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. ... Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron. ... Is there no other way the world may live?"
Ted Rudow III, MA
Palo Alto

Wanton Waste

2012-01-06T12:02:00.000-08:00

Palo Alto Weekly
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Wanton waste
Issues Beyond Palo Alto, posted by Ted Rudow III, MA, a member of the Palo Alto High School community
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute reports that world military expenditures average between $900 billion and $1 trillion a year. Using the $1 trillion figure, that means an astronomical $2 million are spent worldwide on the military every minute! The U.S. military spends 42 percent of this.

A $30 billion, 10-year plan to provide clean water to the poor of the developing world would cost just 10 days of military spending. Eighteen days of military spending yearly could eradicate malnutrition worldwide. Experts believe that $200 million, or about three hours of military spending, could wipe out the diseases of diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, measles and polio, which together kill 4 million children every year.

Former U.S. president Dwight D. Eisenhower highlighted the wanton waste of war when he declared, “Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. The world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children … Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron ... Is there no other way the world may live?”

Oil War

2012-01-06T10:48:00.000-08:00

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Tedr77 [at] aol.com by Ted Rudow III, MA ( Tedr77 [at] aol.com Friday Dec 30th, 2011 10:18 AM Iran, at loggerheads with the West over its nuclear program, said on Tuesday it would stop the flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf if sanctions were imposed ... The Talking Points ™
- Ted Rudow III, M - Much of the Persian Gulf relies on the Strait of Hormuz to export its petroleum and reach the ocean, making it one of the world's most important oil supply routes. - Actually about a 40% loss of oil since those happy carefree days of the one-dollar-a-barrel oil, which is all they were willing to give the Arabs for this very cheap black sticky dirty substance a mere 40 years or so ago. - And also, it's their one weapon they can really use effectively.

Wanton Waste

2012-01-06T10:18:00.000-08:00

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Letter: Wanton waste January 06, 2012, 04:07 AM Letter
Editor,
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute reports that world military expenditures average between $900 billion and $1 trillion a year. Using the $1 trillion figure, that means an astronomical $2 million are spent worldwide on the military every minute! The U.S. military spends 42 percent of this.
A $30 billion, 10-year plan to provide clean water to the poor of the developing world would cost just 10 days of military spending. Eighteen days of military spending yearly could eradicate malnutrition worldwide. Experts believe that $200 million, or about three hours of military spending, could wipe out the diseases of diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, measles and polio, which together kill 4 million children every year.
Former U.S. president Dwight D. Eisenhower highlighted the wanton waste of war when he declared, “Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. The world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children … Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron ... Is there no other way the world may live?”

Ted Rudow III,MA
Palo Alto, CA

Wanton waste

2012-01-05T10:40:00.000-08:00

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2012/01/05/18704168.php
Wanton waste
by Ted Rudow III, MA ( Tedr77 [at] aol.com ) Thursday Jan 5th, 2012The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute reports that world military expenditures are averaging between $900 billion and $1 trillion a year. Using the $1 trillion figure, that means an astronomical two million dollars are spent worldwide on the military every minute! U.S. Military spending 42% of this.
-->
A $30 billion, 10-year plan to provide clean water to the poor of the developing world would cost just ten days of military spending. Eighteen days of military spending yearly could eradicate malnutrition worldwide. Experts believe that $200 million, or about three hours of military spending, could wipe out the diseases of diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, measles and polio, which together kill four million children every year. Former U.S. president General Dwight D. Eisenhower highlighted the wanton waste of war when he declared, “Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. The world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. … Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron. ... Is there no other way the world may live?"
Ted Rudow III, MA

Inventing reasons to fight

2012-01-02T11:26:00.000-08:00

sfexaminer.com
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Inventing reasons to fight
The president is authorized to use military force against those who perpetrated the 9/11 attack and those countries who harbored those individuals. Now, more than a decade later, news stories anonymously quote U.S. officials saying al-Qaida, the group that perpetrated the 9/11 attack, is now demolished.
Only two leaders might be left in the entire Middle East. Al-Qaida is already rendered “effectively inoperable.” There is no more al-Qaida left in Afghanistan or Pakistan according to the U.S. military. We have left Iraq at the insistence of the elected Iraqi government.
The U.S. is actively using drone bombers wherever it pleases, often against groups that didn’t even exist at the time of 9/11. What we’re doing is not only going way beyond what we were supposed to be doing when Congress authorized military force, but we are constantly manufacturing the causes of our war.
Ted Rudow III, Palo Alto

Oil War

2011-12-31T11:44:00.000-08:00

rsn

Oil War
by Ted Rudow III ,MA Friday, 30 December 2011
Iran, at loggerheads with the West over its nuclear program, said on Tuesday it would stop the flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf if sanctions were imposed on its crude exports. Iran has already informed the World that if it does, she's going to block the Strait of Hormuz, which is to bottle up most of the Mideastern oil, which would be a severe blow to the entire World and World economy, almost the worst thing that could happen outside of actual war--to stop the flow of oil, the thing the whole World has been fearing for years now. About 15 million barrels of crude oil pass through the Strait of Hormuz on a typical day. About a fifth of the world's oil supply goes through the strait. Much of the Persian Gulf relies on the Strait of Hormuz to export its petroleum and reach the ocean, making it one of the world's most important oil supply routes. So, the World's supply of oil has already been cut down considerably and is rapidly being cut down further. The scarcer it is, the higher prices they can get. And also, it's their one weapon they can really use effectively.Actually about a 40% loss of oil since those happy carefree days of the one-dollar-a-barrel oil, which is all they were willing to give the Arabs for this very cheap black sticky dirty substance a mere 40 years or so ago. The shortage becomes so serious, it may even precipitate the Oil War in the West's effort to secure the oil that it needs to survive in its present rich, industrialised condition.

Oil War

2011-12-30T10:20:00.000-08:00

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/12/30/18703638.php
Oil War
by Ted Rudow III, MA ( Tedr77 [at] aol.com ) Friday Dec 30th, 2011
Iran, at loggerheads with the West over its nuclear program, said on Tuesday it would stop the flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf if sanctions were imposed on its crude exports.
-->
Iran has already informed the World that if it does, she's going to block the Strait of Hormuz, which is to bottle up most of the Mideastern oil, which would be a severe blow to the entire World and World economy, almost the worst thing that could happen outside of actual war--to stop the flow of oil, the thing the whole World has been fearing for years now. About 15 million barrels of crude oil pass through the Strait of Hormuz on a typical day. About a fifth of the world's oil supply goes through the strait. Much of the Persian Gulf relies on the Strait of Hormuz to export its petroleum and reach the ocean, making it one of the world's most important oil supply routes. So, the World's supply of oil has already been cut down considerably and is rapidly being cut down further. The scarcer it is, the higher prices they can get. And also, it's their one weapon they can really use effectively. Actually about a 40% loss of oil since those happy carefree days of the one-dollar-a-barrel oil, which is all they were willing to give the Arabs for this very cheap black sticky dirty substance a mere 40 years or so ago. The shortage becomes so serious, it may even precipitate the Oil War in the West's effort to secure the oil that it needs to survive in its present rich, industrialised condition.
Ted Rudow III, MA

Put a Little Love in Your Heart

2011-12-24T10:24:00.000-08:00

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December 21, 2011 Columns & Blogs » Letters to the Editor
Rhapsodies & Rants: Dec. 21, 2011
Put a Little Love in Your Heart
Many poor folks in the world haven't yet found the real meaning of Christmas. So many people are lost, lonely, downtrodden, weak and weary. Some are weak in their bodies, weary in their flesh; others are weak in their minds; and yet others are weak in body, mind and spirit. There are the trampled-on, the poor, the persecuted, the hungry; those who are victims of war and crime and exploitation; those who nobody wants and for whom nobody cares; those who have so little in the way of worldly goods, who are lacking in food, clothing and shelter—even the basic necessities.
Then there are others who do have material goods and who appear to have it together in the eyes of the world They're weary and heavy-laden with problems, stress, fears and phobias; those who appear to be rich and increased in goods, but who are found wanting; those who wear a smile on their face, yet ache inside; those who are engulfed in a sea of emptiness. We can spread a little more love and light and cheer!
"Lift up your fellow man, lend him a helping hand. Put a little love in your heart."
—Ted Rudow III, MA
Palo Alto

Invented people

2011-12-21T17:02:00.000-08:00

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Peninsula readers' letters: Dec. 21

From Daily News Group readers
Posted: 12/20/2011 05:29:18 PM PST
Updated: 12/20/2011 11:06:24 PM PST

Invented people'

Dear Editor: Republican presidential front-runner Newt Gingrich stood by his assertion that the Palestinians are an "invented people." His use of the term "invented people" when referring to the Palestinian people is derogatory. Gingrich sought to court the pro-Israel vote by claiming the Palestinians do not deserve a state. This is a distortion of history; a historical and cultural misappropriation of a nation's past and future for political gain.

Currently, there are almost 4 million Palestinians living under Israeli occupation within the occupied territories, and an additional 1.5 million living inside Israel itself. I have long supported the right of Israel to exist. I firmly believe Israeli citizens have a fundamental right to be able to live their lives in peace and security, free from the loud bang, the searing heat and explosion of a random car bomb or suicide bomber.

However, Palestinians have this right also, for they are people dispossessed, a people whose only desire is a homeland where they too can live with their families, free from fear of the helicopter gunship and nighttime raids, free from the cloud of phosphorous gas that burns their children's throats and lungs.

Ted Rudow III, MA

Palo Alto

RTF

2011-12-19T12:42:00.000-08:00

Republican presidential front-runner Newt Gingrich stood by his assertion that the Palestinians are an "invented people,"

RTF RADIOlive 24/7 var so = new SWFObject('http://www.raisethefist.com/streamplayer/player.swf', 'streambaby', '150', '20', '9');// comment Republican presidential front-runner Newt Gingrich stood by his assertion that the Palestinians are an "invented people," His use of the term invented people when referring to the Palestinian people is equally derogatory. Gingrich sought to court the pro-Israel vote by claiming that not only do the Palestinians not deserve a state. This is a distortion of history; a historical and cultural misappropriation of a nation's past and future for political gain. Currently there are almost four million Palestinians living under Israeli occupation within the occupied territories, and another 1.5 million living inside Israel itself. I have long supported the right of Israel to exist. I firmly believe Israeli citizens have a fundamental right to be able to live their lives in peace and security, free from the loud bang, the searing heat and explosion of a random car bomb or suicide bomber. However, Palestinians have this right also, for they are people dispossessed, a people whose only desire is a homeland where they too can live with their families, free from fear of the helicopter gunship and night-time raids, free from the cloud of phosphorous gas that burns their children's throats and lungs.
Ted Rudow III, MA

Jamaica Observer

2011-12-19T12:15:00.001-08:00

Monday, December 19, 2011

Jamaica Observer.com
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Letters to the Editor

War is such a waste

Monday, December 19, 2011
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Dear Editor,
Over the past nine years, the US invasion and occupation has left a bloody toll on Iraqi civilians and foreign troops. Nearly 4,500 US troops died, and another 32,000 were wounded. An accurate toll of Iraqis killed may never be known. Iraq Body Count says at least 104,000 Iraqi civilians have died, while some studies have put the death toll at over one million.
After 20 years of war and sanctions, Iraq's infrastructure has been devastated. Hundreds of thousands of more Iraqis died due to the crippling sanctions in the years between the 1991 Gulf War and the 2003 US invasion. But the UN estimates 3.5 million Iraqis are still displaced from their homes, and again, many widowed, many orphaned, and environmental damage that is yet to be assessed.
Imagine what Iraq could have done with all those billions of dollars which were spent on destroying it. Imagine the food it could have bought, the water treatment plants it could have built, the medicine it could have purchased to help heal its sick and suffering.
One reason US politicians are often so reluctant to turn down a war, even though they may protest otherwise, is that it's good for their constituencies and the big businesses that support them and donate to their campaigns. It's incredible that the governments of the world are on track to invest nearly a trillion dollars a year in killing people. War is such a waste!
Ted Rudow III, MA

Encina Ave

Palo Alto, California
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/letters/War-is-such-a-waste_10417713#ixzz1h0giz8k2

Political gain

2011-12-18T10:50:00.000-08:00

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/12/18/18702991.php
Political gain
by Ted Rudow III, MA ( Tedr77 [at] aol.com ) Sunday Dec 18th, 2011 10:48 AM
Republican presidential front-runner Newt Gingrich stood by his assertion that the Palestinians are an "invented people," His use of the term “invented people” when referring to the Palestinian people is equally derogatory. Gingrich sought to court the pro-Israel vote by claiming that not only do the Palestinians not deserve a state.
-->
This is a distortion of history; a historical and cultural misappropriation of a nation’s past and future for political gain. Currently there are almost four million Palestinians living under Israeli occupation within the occupied territories, and another 1.5 million living inside Israel itself. I have long supported the right of Israel to exist. I firmly believe Israeli citizens have a fundamental right to be able to live their lives in peace and security, free from the loud bang, the searing heat and explosion of a random car bomb or suicide bomber. However, Palestinians have this right also, for they are people dispossessed, a people whose only desire is a homeland where they too can live with their families, free from fear of the helicopter gunship and night-time raids, free from the cloud of phosphorous gas that burns their children’s throats and lungs. Ted Rudow III, MA

War is waste

2011-12-16T11:12:00.000-08:00

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/12/16/18702869.php
War is waste
by Ted Rudow III, MA ( Tedr77aol.com ) Friday Dec 16th, 2011
Over the past nine years, the U.S. invasion and occupation has left a bloody toll on Iraqi civilians and foreign troops. Nearly 4,500 U.S. troops died, and another 32,000 were wounded. An accurate toll of Iraqis killed may never be known.
-->
Iraq Body Count says at least 104,000 Iraqi civilians have died, while some studies put have put the death toll at over one million. After 20 years of war and sanctions, Iraq’s infrastructure has been devastated. Hundreds of thousands of more Iraqis died due to the crippling sanctions in the years between the 1991 Gulf War and the 2003 U.S. invasion. But the U.N. estimates 3.5 million Iraqis are still displaced from their homes, and again, many widowed, many orphaned, and an environmental damage that has yet to be assessed.
Imagine what Iraq could have done with all those billions of dollars which were spent on destroying it. Imagine the food it could have bought, the water treatment plants it could have built, the medicine it could have purchased to help heal its sick and suffering. That's one reason U.S. politicians are often so reluctant to turn down a war, even though they may protest otherwise. It's good for their constituencies and the big businesses that support them and donate to their campaigns. It's incredible that the governments of the world are on track to invest nearly a trillion dollars a year in killing people. War is such a waste!
Ted Rudow III, MA

Silobreaker.se

2011-12-15T10:06:00.000-08:00

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Published Dec 13 2011 by San Jose Mercury News

Peninsula readers' letters: Dec. 13

Can the downtown plan
Dear Editor: It is endless. On top of the nearly $ 900,000 the city has already paid consultants working on the Menlo Park El Camino Real/Downtown Specific Plan, the planning department is now asking for an additional $225,000 for the same...
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What others report on the same story
Can the downtown plan [Published Dec 13 2011 by Palo Alto Daily News]

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Quotes
...As I said, "At Christmas time, let the guns of war fall silent and even enemies share a brief but blessed moment of 'peace on Earth, good will toward men.' " As one reader stated... Peninsula readers' letters: Dec. 13 [San Jose Mercury News - Dec 13 2011]

War on drugs?

2011-12-14T19:55:00.000-08:00

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/12/14/18702787.php
War on drugs?
by Ted Rudow III, MA ( Tedr77 [at] aol.com ) Wednesday Dec 14th, 2011 Manuel Noriega is back in his Panamanian homeland after nearly 22 years, sitting in a prison cell in a country he ruled as a personal fiefdom until U.S. troops invaded and hauled him off to a Florida jail. Noriega, who served 17 years in U.S. prison for drug trafficking and nearly two years in France for a money-laundering conviction, now has begun serving three 20-year sentences in Panama for the killings of political opponents in the 1980s.
-->
How could the U.S. have been willing to invade a tiny little country like Panama with tens of thousands of soldiers just because of one man that they abhor, and kill thousands of innocent Panamanians in the process? They have a huge big drug business, and the Panamanian banks were profiting tremendously from money laundering. So decided they wanted Panama and its drug trade and its money laundering banking business. So who is running the U.S. drug trade?--The U.S., of course! While they're spending billions on the so-called "war on drugs," The U.S. is supposed to be fighting drugs and carrying on a war against drugs, when in actuality it's probably running the biggest drug trade in the World and getting billions of profit from it. Ted Rudow III, MA

Defending human rights

2011-12-13T11:04:00.000-08:00

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Peninsula readers' letters: Dec. 13
From Daily News Group readers Posted: 12/12/2011 03:45:02 PM PSTUpdated: 12/12/2011 11:57:47 PM PST

Defending human rights
Dear Editor: As I said, "At Christmas time, let the guns of war fall silent and even enemies share a brief but blessed moment of 'peace on Earth, good will toward men.'" As one reader stated (Letters, Dec. 10), "Ted Rudow III's Dec. 8 letter relies on the unreliable Palestinian Center for Human Rights for statistics on civilian deaths in Gaza and then reminds us that Christmas is near and that good will is needed from all sides."
Raji Sourani, founder of the Palestinian Center for Human Rights in Gaza City in 1995, began his human rights career challenging Israeli prison conditions and defending Palestinians facing deportation in Israeli military courts. As a human rights defender, he was detained by Israeli authorities on multiple occasions, prompting Amnesty International to name him one of their "prisoners of conscience" in both 1985 and 1988.
Today, Sourani is one of the foremost human rights lawyers and advocates in the Middle East. With the creation of the Palestinian Authority in the 1990s, Sourani's work took on another dimension, exposing and documenting human rights violations on the part of both Israeli and Palestinian officials. While this even-handedness was not always popular, it demonstrates Sourani's commitment to a universal standard.
Ted Rudow III, MA
Palo Alto

Spartan Daily

2011-12-12T14:23:00.000-08:00

Spartan Daily

last update 1:44 am
December 9, 2011

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A&E

There Will Be Snacks: It could be a whole lot worse.

by Matthew Gerring Nov 28, 2011 5:12 pm

Matthew Gerring

So it looks like most of us survived Black Friday. The dust has settled, blood has been mopped from the aisles and credit card numbers have sailed on insecure connections over the treacherous waters of the Internet on yesterday’s “Cyber Monday”, and we are now firmly in what we call the “Holiday Season” these days.

Speaking of traditions of dubious merit, the War on Christmas is back, along with the weird phenomenon of NORAD running a “Santa Tracker” on its website, both adding dashes of creepy militarism to an otherwise joyous holiday.

According to a blog post on the Fox Nation blog, not only is the War On Christmas still happening, “we” are winning! Questions of who constitutes “we” and what, exactly, “we” won are left as an exercise for the reader.

I haven’t picked a side in this war, but I find it fascinating. For the moment, let’s put aside the fact that there are several gift-giving holidays from multiple faith traditions that take place between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day. Let’s also just forget that whether Jesus’ actual birthday was on Dec. 25 is a matter of some dispute. Let’s assume, for the sake of argument, that Christmas is the only holiday to celebrate in December, and that retailers are unfairly “secularizing” it.

So much “War on Christmas” rhetoric focuses on what retail workers say to customers — that is, whether it’s “Happy Holidays” or “Merry Christmas” — but what would happen if the machinery of commerce fully embraced the religious origins of Christmas? What other consequences would come with that?

Imagine the advertising bonanza it would create! The Bible is rich with stories and metaphors, ready to be exploited in the service of commerce — the possibilities are endless.

“A sale fit for the King of Kings! Free two-day Super Savior shipping!” the ads would say, or better yet, “Shop at Walmart, your price savior!”

I see nativity scene mannequins sporting cable-knit sweaters, performance fleece and cute graphic onesies. In the aisles, sales associates would flit about, spraying people with Frankincense, by Paris Hilton.

And think of the TV commercials!

Joseph and the Virgin Mary are frantically searching Bethlehem for a place to sleep, and everyone is turning them down. Sheep and goats are wandering around the streets for effect. They finally find their room in the manger, but Mary is obviously displeased.

She gives Joseph one of those emasculating stares that women are only capable of in advertising — one that says “Can’t you provide for me? What is wrong with you?” — so Joseph reaches into his cloak and pulls out his smartphone, miraculously finding a four-star hotel just a few blocks away.

Samsung smartphones, it would say, with Google, where the “Os” are halos, or perhaps crowns of thorns, two for one for this Christmas season.

The Three Wise Men are huddling around a fire in the desert, and they see a brilliant light glowing in the distance. They journey toward it for many days and finally arrive at an idyllic shack in the snow. Inside is a Sony flat-screen plasma TV with the baby Jesus sitting in front of it, watching Baby Einstein (or maybe Baby Solomon?) videos, only $8.99 on clearance because they were proven to be totally useless.

And then later, on an infomercial in the wee hours of the morning: Joseph and Mary, hard up for cash, look at Jesus — adorned with the Wise Men’s gifts — and suddenly an angel with the likeness of Ron Paul appears, shouting, “Sell Your Gold!”

Instead of bleak news reports warning Americans of the collapse of the economy if they don’t shop to keep retailers in the black, anchors might deliver news of a message from Creflo Dollar of Creflo Dollar Ministries, preacher of the Prosperity Gospel, warning people to shop and spend lavishly or else face eternal damnation.

Would people still die every year in the pandemonium created by “doorbuster” sales? Would people still take the opportunity to gift themselves first? Would anything else really change other than the decoration retailers put on this bizarre and terrifying ritual?

I invite those of you who take offense at being told “Happy Holidays” to consider — do you really want to put the face of Jesus on this mess?

As long as retailers still prefer “Happy Holidays” to “Merry Christmas,” the religious traditions of Christmas get to remain totally — and appropriately — separate from this country’s annual retail orgy. For the sake of Christianity and good taste, let’s please keep it that way.

One thought on “There Will Be Snacks: It could be a whole lot worse.”

Ted Rudow III, MA on December 12, 2011
Back in A. D. 274 an emperor of the old Roman world chose December 25 as “the birthday of the unconquered sun.” He recognised that at this midwinter date it reaches its lowest point in the Southern sky and begins its gradual movement Northward again. The annual rebirth of nature was closely linked to the Roman new year and planting season. Houses were decorated with greenery and candles, and presents were given to children and the poor. In time, Christians made this a holy day of their own. By A.D. 336, the church had decided that all believers should celebrate the birthday of the Lord Jesus, the Son of righteousness on December 25.
Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has plenty; not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.
-Charles Dickens
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
Ted Rudow III, MA
Class of 1996

RTF

2011-12-12T11:18:00.000-08:00

As I said, "At Christmas time, let the guns of war fall silent and even enemies share a brief but blessed moment of "peace on Earth, good will toward men.

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FEATURE THIS
by indybay.org Sun Dec 11 09:50:33 PST 2011
As I said, "At Christmas time, let the guns of war fall silent and even enemies share a brief but blessed moment of "peace on Earth, good will toward men." As one reader stated, "Ted Rudow's III's Dec. 8 letter relies on the unreliable Palestinian Center for Human Rights for statistics on civilian deaths in Gaza and then remindsus that Christmas is near and that good will is needed from all sides."

The founder of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights in Gaza City in 1995, Sourani began his human rights career challenging Israeli prison conditions and defending Palestinians facing deportation in Israeli military courts. As a human rights defender, he was detained by Israeli authorities on multiple occasions, prompting Amnesty International to name him one of their Prisoners of Conscience in both 1985 and 1988.
Today, Raji Sourani, one of the foremost human rights lawyers and advocates in the Middle East. With the creation of the Palestinian Authority in the 1990s, Sourani's work took on another dimension, exposing and documenting human rights violations on the part of both Israeli and Palestinian officials. While this even-handedness was not always popular, it demonstrates Sourani's commitment to a universal standard.
Ted Rudow III, MA

2011-12-11T09:38:00.000-08:00

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/12/11/18702446.php
As I said, "At Christmas time, let the guns of war fall silent and even enemies share a brief
Peace
by Ted Rudow III, MA ( Tedr77 [at] aol.com ) Sunday Dec 11th, 2011 but blessed moment of "peace on Earth, good will toward men." As one reader stated, "Ted Rudow's III's Dec. 8 letter relies on the unreliable Palestinian Center for Human Rights for statistics on civilian deaths in Gaza and then reminds us that Christmas is near and that good will is needed from all sides."
-->
The founder of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights in Gaza City in 1995, Sourani began his human rights career challenging Israeli prison conditions and defending Palestinians facing deportation in Israeli military courts. As a human rights defender, he was detained by Israeli authorities on multiple occasions, prompting Amnesty International to name him one of their Prisoners of Conscience in both 1985 and 1988. Today, Raji Sourani, one of the foremost human rights lawyers and advocates in the Middle East. With the creation of the Palestinian Authority in the 1990s, Sourani’s work took on another dimension, exposing and documenting human rights violations on the part of both Israeli and Palestinian officials. While this even-handedness was not always popular, it demonstrates Sourani’s commitment to a universal standard.
Ted Rudow III, MA

raisethefist.com

2011-12-08T10:22:00.000-08:00

RTF RADIOlive 24/7 var so = new SWFObject('http://www.raisethefist.com/streamplayer/player.swf', 'streambaby', '150', '20', '9');// so.addParam('allowscriptaccess','always');so.addParam('allowfullscreen','true');so.addVariable('type', 'mp3');so.addVariable('autostart', 'true');so.addVariable('title', 'true');// so.addVariable('file', 'http://raisethefist2.dlinkddns.com:8030/listen.pls');// Icecast stream - Proton Radioso.addVariable('file', 'http://raisethefist2.dlinkddns.com:8030/;stream.nsv');so.write('player');
Share comment FEATURE
The Muslim Brotherhood's political arm on Thursday distanced itself from a more conservative Islamist party as early vote tallies indicated that the two factions would claim the two largest roles in the first Parliament elected since the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak. The Society of the Muslim Brothers often simply "The Brotherhood" or "MB") is the world's oldest class and one of the largest Islamist parties, and is the largest political opposition organization in many Arab states. It was founded in 1928 in Egypt by the Islamic scholar and schoolteacher Hassan al-Banna and by the late 1940s had an estimated two million members. Its ideas had gained its supporters throughout the Arab world and influenced other Islamist groups with its "model of political activism combined with Islamic charity work" The Brotherhood's stated goal is to instill the Qur'an and Sunnah as the "sole reference point for ...ordering the life of the Muslim family, individual, community ... and state". Since its inception in 1928 the movement has officially opposed violent means to achieve its goals. The MB's non-violent stance has resulted in breakaway groups from the movement, and been criticized by al-Qaeda for its support for democratic elections rather than armed jihad. The Brotherhood's nonviolent stance has resulted in breakaway groups from the movement, including the Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya and Al Takfir Wal Hijra. Osama bin Laden similarly criticized the Brotherhood, and accused it of betraying jihad.
Ted Rudow III, MA

Peace on earth

2011-12-08T10:01:00.000-08:00

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Peninsula readers' letters: Dec. 8
From Daily News Group readers Posted: 12/07/2011 05:26:30 PM PSTUpdated: 12/07/2011 11:22:24 PM PST

Peace on Earth
Dear Editor: The Palestinian Center for Human Rights says 825 people have been killed by drones in Gaza since the capture of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who was released in October. Most of those killed, according to the organization, have been civilians mistakenly targeted or caught in the deadly shrapnel shower of a drone strike. By comparison, the New America Foundation says U.S. drones have killed at least 1,807 militants and civilians in Pakistan since 2006. And also since 2006, Palestinian rocket fire has killed 16 Israelis, the vast majority of them civilians.
People of many religions and people of no religion associate this season with that which is dearest to the human spirit -- love, loved ones and the giving of oneself. At Christmas time, let the guns of war fall silent and even enemies share a brief but blessed moment of "peace on Earth, good will toward men."
Ted Rudow III, MA
Palo Alto

PP&J

2011-12-07T10:24:00.000-08:00

Peninsula Peace and Justice Center
www.PeaceandJustice.org
Tonight! ... Be a part of the studio audience!
Other Voices TVShopping With a Conscience: Finding Socially Responsible GiftsTuesday, December 6, 7:00 PMCommunity Media Center900 San Antonio Road, Palo AltoFREE and open to all. Wheelchair accessible.
Craig Wiesner and Derrick KikuchiFounders, Reach and Teach
The holiday shopping season is upon us and U.S. consumerism is in full swing. How can we be sure our purchases are socially responsible? What makes for good gifts for the activists on your list -- old, young or in between? How can we be sure an item really is "fair trade" or "green"?Shopping With A Conscience
Our guests are the founders of Reach and Teach, the peace and social justice learning company. Reach and Teach specializes in "teachable moments" -- gifts that offer learning as well as amusement, that spur a social conscience rather than just more consumerism.
In addition to exploring the ins and outs of shopping for a better world, we'll also have a product demonstration of some of Reach and Teach's neatest and coolest items! I phoned up and mention that the Peninsula Peace and Justice Center needed your support!
Other Voices TV can be seen live at 7:00 PM on the first Tuesday of each month on mid-Peninsula cable channel 27. The program is also streamed live on the internet (select channel 27).
On demand video streaming is available on our website beginning two days after the initial broadcast.
The current program is rebroadcast throughout the month on cable channel 27 (an internet webcast can also be seen at these times):Tuesdays 7:00 PMWednesdays 2:00 AM & 10:00 AMThursdays 11:00 PMFridays 6:00 AM & 2:00 PMSaturdays 4:00 PM http://www.peaceandjustice.org/programs/Other_Voices_TV/
Holiday Peace & Social Justice Crafts & Info FairSunday, December 1111:00 AM - 2:30PMFellowship Hall, First Presbyterian Church1140 Cowper Street, Palo AltoFREE and open to all. Wheelchair accessible.
Celebrate the great work being done by organizations in our community and around the world!
Toys ~ Fair Trade Crafts ~ Books ~ Art ~ Music ~ DVDs ~ Games ~ Puzzles ~ Jewelry ~ Decorations
* Help promote fair trade while doing your holiday shopping!* Learn about great social justice & peacemaking organizations!* Reduce your carbon footprint this holiday season* Enjoy free holiday snacks & beverages
Have fun!
Sponsored byPeninsula Peace and Justice Center & First Presbyterian Church of Palo Alto
http://www.peaceandjustice.org/programs/Holiday_Fair_2011

Spartan Daily

2011-12-07T10:11:00.000-08:00

Spartan Daily

last update 10:17 pm
December 6, 2011

News
Sports
Opinion
A&E

A little bit of insight: Don’t lie to me

by Nate Morotti Dec 6, 2011

Nate Morotti

I would like to start this article by saying that I am not an alarmist.

I don’t see the apocalypse around every corner, nor do I have a secret bunker stockpiled with food and weapons or believe in government conspiracies, but that does not mean I believe that everything is fine in our world.

We are in the middle of a gigantic economic downturn and we, as a nation, are still trying to recover from the gaping wound that the housing crisis left in both our bank accounts and our morale as a country.

And to top it all off we are now facing a huge attack on our civil rights with the passing of the National Defense Authorization Act.

So why is this a big deal?

Should the act, which has already been passed by the Senate with a vote of 93 to 7, pass into law (which is assuming it will not be vetoed by the president) it will effectively remove several of the powers that the Bill of Rights grants to U.S. citizens, including the right to due process and a fair trial.

The act is a list of martial powers granted to the military branch of the U.S. government every year, and dictates their restrictions and abilities.--------

Perhaps we could use a good, old fashioned police state to regain control over all these lazy occupiers and promoters of the liberal agenda, because those are the real enemies of the state, right?

I really do hope all this political satire doesn’t fall on deaf ears, because with the way things are going, it may be the last time we have the freedom to satire politics.

As I stated before, I am not an alarmist by any means, but a practical man would start setting up his affairs for when the s*** hits the fan

One thought on “A little bit of insight: Don’t lie to me”

Ted Rudow III, MA on December 7, 2011
Big Brother is on his way, not just in the U.S. but all over the world. There just happens to be more hoopla and uproar in the U.S. about privacy issues. The power that be knows that if he can enact some of these surveillance and eavesdropping measures in the U.S. and put them into practice there, it’ll be much easier to do so in other countries which are also resisting these things. This entire glorification of war-as if the whole and only purpose of the government and the country were to fight wars-smells of fascism. The news media glorify the war and militarism; we get the same dose on television, in the movies and in video games. If the American people aren’t careful, they will wake up one day to find out they’ve become a nation of mindless heel-clickers.
Ted Rudow III, MA
Class of 1996

Peace on earth

2011-12-06T14:29:00.000-08:00

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/12/06/18701894.php
Peace on earth
by Ted Rudow III, MA ( Tedr77 [at] aol.com ) Tuesday Dec 6th, 2011 2:18 PM
The Palestinian Center for Human Rights says 825 people have been killed by drones in Gaza since the capture of Gilad Shalit, who was released in October. Most of those killed, according to the organization, have been civilians mistakenly targeted or caught in the deadly shrapnel shower of a drone strike.
-->
By comparison, the New America Foundation says U.S. drones have killed at least 1,807 militants and civilians in Pakistan since 2006. Since 2006, Palestinian rocket fire has killed 16 Israelis, the vast majority of them civilians. People of many religions and people of no religion associate this season with that which is dearest to the human spirit -- love, loved ones and the giving of oneself. At Christmas time, let the guns of war fall silent and even enemies share a brief but blessed moment of "peace on Earth, good will toward men."
Ted Rudow III, MA

Spartan Daily

2011-12-05T11:45:00.000-08:00

Spartan Daily
December 4, 2011 News Sports Opinion A&E Multimedia Wes Side Stories: God doesn’t play sportsby Wesley Dugle Dec 4, 2011 6:24 pm Tags: Basketball, football, God, NBA, NFL, Ray Lewis, Religion, Sports, tim tebow, Wes Side Stories Wesley Dugle,
Spartan Daily"Wes Side Stories" is a weekly column that appears on Mondays.
A while back, on Sunday night of week nine of the NFL season, a game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens took place in one of the most heated rivalry games of the modern era.The game saw true grit on both sides as both teams traded leads back and fourth and fought to the bitter end, and was capped off with a thrilling 26-yard touchdown pass by Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco to wide receiver Torrey Smith to put the Ravens on top 23-20 with eight seconds to go, thus sealing the game.In the post-game interviews, Flacco answered an NBC reporter’s questions with the typical answers you usually hear from a pro athlete regarding the team’s chemistry and “taking one game at a time.”Then, Ray Lewis steps in for his own post-game chat, talking about his advice to Smith and what he said to keep his head in the game.“You know, position yourself, so when God gets ready to pour out his blessings, that you are in position to receive those blessings.”Lewis basically just said here that Torrey Smith literally “received” God’s blessings in the form of a touchdown pass.At this point I groaned and rolled my eyes and said, “Well if God’s your quarterback how can you not win?”This is probably one of the best examples of one of my biggest pet peeves in pro-sports — athletes claiming that God helped them win a sports game.Now before you start thinking this is going to be an attack on religion — it isn’t. I’m agnostic, but I have no problem with pro-athletes being Christians, Muslims, Jews, or whatever.But when one of them claims God is helping them win a few petty, insignificant sports games that are pointless in the grand scheme of things — that’s when I get upset.I would like to think, if there is a God, that he’s working a little harder on ending world hunger, violence and racism than some stupid football game.Ray Lewis isn’t the only one though who considers himself religious in the NFL.With the recent emergence of Denver Bronco’s quarterback Tim Tebow, God and football has taken the spotlight as Tebow is easily the most religious player in the league and also wears his religious pride on his chest, praising the Lord for each of his wins.Quarterback Jon Kitna too, back in his “prime,” sometimes would say that God was even “testing” him in his defeats.Huh?This guy makes millions of dollars to throw a football around, while people less fortunate pay tons of money just to see it, and he means to tell me God is testing him?Sorry, Kitna, but you are not Job.Buffalo Bills wide-receiver Steve Johnson probably had the biggest religious flub of them all.In a 2010 game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, after dropping a game-winning touchdown pass in the closing seconds of regulation, an angry Johnson took to his twitter stating “I PRAISE YOU 24/7!!!!!! AND THIS HOW YOU DO ME!!!!! YOU EXPECT ME TO LEARN FROM THIS??? HOW???!!! ILL NEVER FORGET THIS!! EVER!!! THX THO…”Now praising God for your small victories is one thing, but calling him out over a loss is just really petty and shows a lack of maturity on Johnson’s part.I highly doubt God was trying to spite you, Steve.God in sports is not limited to just football, however.I remember before game six of the the 2006 NBA Finals, Dallas Mavericks’ shooting guard Jason Terry said his team would pull even down three games to two to the Heat because “God is on our side tonight.” Then came the irony when the Heat clinched the NBA title and Finals MVP Dwyane Wade stated in his post-game interview “God was watching over us tonight.”Hmmm, all this talk would imply God takes a side in these matchups.Does Wade mean to tell me God has a Miami Heat Jersey hanging up in his room in the clouds somewhere? Or would Terry profess otherwise now that the Mavericks took the most recent NBA title?It’s not the fact these people are religious that bothers me, it’s that they seem to believe God takes time out of his busy schedule to help them win a meaningless sports game when there are far more important things that I would think a being of higher power would care more about.Does God take prayers from these guys and go “Sure I will help you win the Super Bowl, I’ll get back to helping starving African children tomorrow I guess?”It just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me I guess.I don’t think there is anything wrong in counting your blessings and giving thanks for having the talent to throw a ball really well.But when you start heaping praise and believing that somehow a higher power is helping you win a game, as opposed to the other team who probably has another athlete praying for the same things, it’s just absurd.God doesn’t take sides in my view, and I believe if he’s trying to help anybody out there these days it’s people who are struggling to make ends meet or who are actually in bad situations in their lives.So please, Mr. Lewis, Mr. Tebow and the rest of you professional athletes out there, stop bothering God about winning your games.He’s a busy guy and on his list of priorities I would like to think helping you win the Super Bowl falls pretty far down, just above “Hey God can you help me sleep with that one hot girl in my class please?”But that’s a different story. My biggest pet peeves in sports are athletes who claim God had a hand in winning their sports games. My biggest pet peeves in sports are athletes who claim God had a hand in winning their sports games. My biggest pet peeves in sports are athletes who claim God had a hand in winning their sports games. My biggest pet peeves in sports are athletes who claim God had a hand in winning their sports games...One thought on “Wes Side Stories: God doesn’t play sports”
Ted Rudow III, MA on December 5, 2011
Sports really foster the spirit of competition. It’s the spirit of the world the “me first” spirit–do what’s best for yourself, win no matter who you have to hurt or step on in order to get ahead of the next guy. That’s the spirit of the world, which is just the opposite of what Jesus wants to teach people–to love your neighbor as yourself. Of course, some form of sports is fine. It’s good exercise and can be good fun. But things in the world are so different, and when athletes get to the professional level where they’re being paid to win, it gets extremely competitive. It becomes almost a life-and-death spirit. For example, the soccer players in the World Cup practically ran themselves to exhaustion, suffered injuries and bruises, and still kept playing, because they wanted to win no matter what it cost them physically.It’s a spiritual thing. It’s the spirit of competition and pride, proving you’re better than the other guy. They do it by sheer brawn, by their own strength, which really feeds their pride. It’s their idea of success. Winning means success in the world, so to win is a very big motivator. It just seems to be sort of an instinct with men especially to want to compete and to win. When they watch the World Cup or other sports events, it’s almost like an extension of those human desires to compete and win. That’s why some people get so into it, because they can relate to that drive to compete. The physical exertion, and then finally the goal, is exhilarating for some people. But the world just loves it! See how this competitive sports thing has been the final stages of every great civilization and empire.
Ted Rudow III, MA
Class of 1996

Brotherhood

2011-12-03T12:30:00.000-08:00

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/12/03/18701638.php
Brotherhood
by Ted Rudow III, MA ( Tedr77 [at] aol.com ) Saturday Dec 3rd, 2011
The Muslim Brotherhood’s political arm on Thursday distanced itself from a more conservative Islamist party as early vote tallies indicated that the two factions would claim the two largest roles in the first Parliament elected since the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak.
-->
The Society of the Muslim Brothers often simply "The Brotherhood" or "MB") is the world's oldest class and one of the largest Islamist parties, and is the largest political opposition organization in many Arab states. It was founded in 1928 in Egypt by the Islamic scholar and schoolteacher Hassan al-Banna and by the late 1940s had an estimated two million members. Its ideas had gained its supporters throughout the Arab world and influenced other Islamist groups with its "model of political activism combined with Islamic charity work" The Brotherhood's stated goal is to instill the Qur'an and Sunnah as the "sole reference point for ...ordering the life of the Muslim family, individual, community ... and state". Since its inception in 1928 the movement has officially opposed violent means to achieve its goals. The MB's non-violent stance has resulted in breakaway groups from the movement, and been criticized by al-Qaeda for its support for democratic elections rather than armed jihad. The Brotherhood's nonviolent stance has resulted in breakaway groups from the movement, including the Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya and Al Takfir Wal Hijra. Osama bin Laden similarly criticized the Brotherhood, and accused it of betraying jihad.
Ted Rudow III, MA

Manufacturing wars

2011-12-01T12:37:00.000-08:00

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Your Right To KnowFriday, December 2, 2011
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Manufacturing wars

Photo: AFP
Ted Rudow III, MA, Encina Ave, Palo Alto, CA
President is authorised to use military force against those who perpetrated the 9/11 attack and those countries that harboured those individuals. Well, more than a decade later, there was an article in The Washington Post where the US officials were anonymously saying that al Qaeda, the group that perpetrated the 9/11 attack, according to the government, was now dead.
There's only two leaders left, they say, in that entire region. It already rendered them "effectively inoperable". There is no more al Qaeda left in Afghanistan or Pakistan according to the US government. The group that perpetrated 9/11, according to it, is no longer even existing. And yet, we are engaged in mobilizing the military in a big way, constantly escalating war situation in many parts of the world.
There are six different countries in which the US is actively using drones: Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Somalia, Libya and Yemen, against groups that didn't even exist at the time of 9/11. What we are doing is not only going way beyond what we were supposed to be doing when the Congress authorised military force, but what we are really doing is we are constantly manufacturing the causes of our war.
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False reasons

2011-12-01T10:21:00.000-08:00

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Peninsula readers' letters: Dec. 1
From Daily News Group readers Posted: 11/30/2011 06:44:38 PM PSTUpdated: 11/30/2011 11:31:24 PM PST
False reasons for war
Dear Editor: The president is authorized to use military force against those who perpetrated the Sept. 11 terrorist attack and countries that harbored those individuals. Well, here we are more than a decade later and there was an article in The Washington Post a week ago about U.S. officials anonymously saying that al-Qaida is now essentially dead.
There's only two leaders left in that entire region, they say. There is no more al-Qaida left in Afghanistan or Pakistan, according to the U.S. government. And yet, here we are engaged in extraordinarily broad military efforts, constantly escalating in numerous parts of the world.
There are six countries in which the U.S. is actively using drones -- Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Somalia, Libya and Yemen -- against groups that didn't even exist when 9/11 was perpetrated. Not only are we essentially going way beyond what we were supposed to be doing when Congress authorized military force, but we're also constantly manufacturing the causes of our war.
Ted Rudow III, MA
Palo Alto

2011-11-30T11:26:00.000-08:00

rsn

The causes of our war

by Ted Rudow III, MA Wednesday, 30 November 2011
President is authorized to use military force against those who perpetrated the 9/11 attack and those countries who harbored those individuals. Well, here we are more than a decade later, and there was an article in The Washington Post from a week ago where U.S. officials anonymously are saying that, in essence, Al Qaeda, the group that perpetrated the 9/11 attack according to the government, is now dead.
There’s only two leaders left they say in that entire region. It already rendered "effectively inoperable". There is no more Al Qaeda left in Afghanistan or Pakistan according to the U.S. government. The group that perpetrated 9/11, according to it is no longer even existing. And yet, here we are engaged in extraordinarily broad military efforts, constantly escalating in numerous parts of the world.There’s six different countries in which the U.S. is actively using drones; in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Somalia, Libya and Yemen, against groups that didn’t even exist at the time that 9/11 was perpetrated. What we’re doing in essence is not only going way beyond what we were supposed to be doing when the Congress authorized military force, but what we’re really doing is we’re constantly manufacturing the causes of our war.

The causes of our war

2011-11-29T15:59:00.000-08:00

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/11/29/18701316.php

The causes of our war
by Ted Rudow III, MA ( Tedr77 [at] aol.com )
Tuesday Nov 29th, 2011

President is authorized to use military force against those who perpetrated the 9/11 attack and those countries who harbored those individuals. Well, here we are more than a decade later, and there was an article in The Washington Post from a week ago where U.S. officials anonymously are saying that, in essence, Al Qaeda, the group that perpetrated the 9/11 attack according to the government, is now dead.

There’s only two leaders left they say in that entire region. It already rendered "effectively inoperable". There is no more Al Qaeda left in Afghanistan or Pakistan according to the U.S. government. The group that perpetrated 9/11, according to it is no longer even existing. And yet, here we are engaged in extraordinarily broad military efforts, constantly escalating in numerous parts of the world.
There’s six different countries in which the U.S. is actively using drones; in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Somalia, Libya and Yemen, against groups that didn’t even exist at the time that 9/11 was perpetrated. What we’re doing in essence is not only going way beyond what we were supposed to be doing when the Congress authorized military force, but what we’re really doing is we’re constantly manufacturing the causes of our war.
Ted Rudow III, MA

Black Friday?

2011-11-24T12:03:00.000-08:00

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Share comment FEATURE THIS Black Friday? : Indybay by indybay.org Wed Nov 23 11:55:24 PST 2
Black Friday is one of the busiest shopping days in the USA. There are two popular theories as to why the day after Thanksgiving Day is called Black Friday. One theory is that the wheels of vehicles in heavy traffic on the day after Thanksgiving Day left many black markings on the road surface, leading to the term Black Friday.
The other theory is that the term Black Friday comes from an old way of recording business accounts. Losses were recorded in red ink and profits in black ink. Many businesses, particularly small businesses, started making profits prior to Christmas. Many hoped to start showing a profit, marked in black ink, on the day after Thanksgiving Day. Just like so many of our other holidays, the true purpose behind having a holiday called "Thanksgiving" is being totally obliterated by a tsunami of greed. Meanwhile, more Americans than ever are living in poverty this year and very few people even seem to notice. However, perhaps we should all take time this week to remember the tens of millions of Americans that are going to be deeply suffering this winter. They keep telling us that "the recession is over" and yet poverty continues to spread like an out of control plague. But for most Americans life is still relatively "normal", and so the horrible suffering going on out there doesn't really affect them.
Ted Rudow III, MA

Black Friday's origins

2011-11-24T11:43:00.000-08:00

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Peninsula readers' letters:November 24
From Daily News Group readers Posted: 11/23/2011 05:34:05 PM PSTUpdated: 11/23/2011 10:14:27 PM PST
Black Friday's origins
Dear Editor: Black Friday is one of the busiest shopping days in the United States. There are two popular theories as to why the day after Thanksgiving Day is called Black Friday. One theory is that the wheels of vehicles in heavy traffic on the day after Thanksgiving Day left many black markings on the road surface.The other theory is that the term comes from an old way of recording business accounts. Losses were recorded in red ink and profits in black ink. Many businesses, particularly small businesses, started making profits prior to Christmas. Many hoped to start showing a profit, marked in black ink, on the day after Thanksgiving. Just like so many of our other holidays, the true purpose behind having a holiday called Thanksgiving is being totally obliterated by a tsunami of greed. Meanwhile, more Americans than ever are living in poverty this year and very few people even seem to notice. Perhaps we should all take time this week to remember the tens of millions of Americans who are going to be deeply suffering this winter. They keep telling us that the recession is over, yet poverty continues to spread like an out-of-control plague. But for most Americans, life is still relatively "normal" and so the horrible suffering going on out there doesn't really affect them.
Ted Rudow III, MA
Palo Alto

Black Friday?

2011-11-23T11:37:00.000-08:00

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/11/23/18700876.php
Black Friday?by Ted Rudow III, MA ( Tedr77 [at] aol.com )
Wednesday Nov 23rd, 2011
Black Friday is one of the busiest shopping days in the USA. There are two popular theories as to why the day after Thanksgiving Day is called Black Friday. One theory is that the wheels of vehicles in heavy traffic on the day after Thanksgiving Day left many black markings on the road surface, leading to the term Black Friday. The other theory is that the term Black Friday comes from an old way of recording business accounts. Losses were recorded in red ink and profits in black ink. Many businesses, particularly small businesses, started making profits prior to Christmas. Many hoped to start showing a profit, marked in black ink, on the day after Thanksgiving Day. Just like so many of our other holidays, the true purpose behind having a holiday called "Thanksgiving" is being totally obliterated by a tsunami of greed. Meanwhile, more Americans than ever are living in poverty this year and very few people even seem to notice. However, perhaps we should all take time this week to remember the tens of millions of Americans that are going to be deeply suffering this winter. They keep telling us that "the recession is over" and yet poverty continues to spread like an out of control plague. But for most Americans life is still relatively "normal", and so the horrible suffering going on out there doesn't really affect them.
Ted Rudow III, MA

Spartan Daily

2011-11-23T11:34:00.000-08:00

Spartan Daily
November 22, 2011
Black Friday apocalypse

News Sports Opinion A&E
Black Friday apocalypse
by Ryan Fernandez Nov 21, 2011 6:39 pm
Ryan Fernandez
They’re just outside the doors.
They’re just standing there, some silently, some making inhuman noises tinged with impatience. Others appear to be engrossed with whatever shiny, flashy thing they have in front of their faces.
They’ve stood there for hours, seemingly impervious to the cold and the dark, waiting for an opening, a structural weakness that would allow the gathered horde access to the only things that would sate their hunger.
For the unlucky people holed up within the store, fear is the most palpable emotion, with undercurrents of resentment and rage.
The people within have taken up defensible positions in automotive, menswear and linens, but they know the brunt of the assault will fall on electronics and toys, with lesser sorties against winter clothing and housewares.
They’re hiding behind makeshift barricades of tables and pallets stacked high with consumer goods — scanner guns and handcarts are their primary armaments, with an occasional grabber arm to augment their reach.
No, a zombie apocalypse is not upon us.
It’s Black Friday.
Why do I liken one of the busiest shopping days of the year to an event that heralds the end of the world as we know it?
It’s simple: What term, other than “zombie,” would you use to describe people who gather in large groups to mob a building, are utterly single-minded in their pursuit of whatever gratifies them at the moment, and will press toward their goal without pausing to heed bodily injury (either their own or others)?
Combine those traits with the ferocity and aggressive athleticism present in modern-day undead, and you have a living nightmare.
Also, I just rewatched the original “Dawn of the Dead” and I now understand the whole anti-consumerism theme that George Romero is supposed to have injected into it.
I make no claim to the moral high ground because I, too, have participated in the wanton post-Turkey Day carnage.
I have braved the cold and the darkness of the wee hours just for the chance to get something on sale.
I have stood in line at Walmart, Best Buy, Target, Toys R Us, J.C. Penney, Sears (but never Macy’s — I can never find anything that fits there) and so many other stores.
I have felt the thrill that comes with claiming the last DVD player on sale for 60 percent off.
I’m even considering going to Costco because the warehouse giant is offering a free cookbook to early-bird shoppers — and maybe I’ll pick up a gallon of Pepto-Bismol and a pound of Alka-Seltzers while I’m at it.
You can’t imagine how mortified and intrigued I was to learn that there would be stores open on Thanksgiving Day, just for people who finish eating ahead of time and can come up with an excuse to leave the celebration a little early.
I know, the sheer greed of the companies and the relentless consumerism of the public is disgusting, but feelings of revulsion can’t compare with a serious discount on LCD TVs.
Let’s face it, people confronted with their hearts’ desires (rather, their hearts’ desires as defined by slick marketing campaigns) are not the most rational beings, least of all when they’re in large groups, have endured hours of cold, and are afraid they won’t get what they want and all their suffering will have come to naught.
I’ve seen the videos and read the news stories of crowds trampling people just on the threshold of a store’s entryway, and those horror stories have made me more afraid than any gory zombie flick.
The deals to be made in person are tempting, but I think I’ll forego the horde this year and shop online.
When push comes to shove, I’d advise the shoppers to let go of the Blu-ray player. Do you really need a fifth player, even if it is 60 percent off?
To the retail workers out there, be safe, and remember, they’ll go after the ones bringing out new merchandise first.
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
The other theory is that the term Black Friday comes from an old way of recording business accounts. Losses were recorded in red ink and profits in black ink. Many businesses, particularly small businesses, started making profits prior to Christmas. Many hoped to start showing a profit, marked in black ink, on the day after Thanksgiving Day. Just like so many of our other holidays, the true purpose behind having a holiday called "Thanksgiving" is being totally obliterated by a tsunami of greed. Meanwhile, more Americans than ever are living in poverty this year and very few people even seem to notice. However, perhaps we should all take time this week to remember the tens of millions of Americans that are going to be deeply suffering this winter. They keep telling us that "the recession is over" and yet poverty continues to spread like an out of control plague. But for most Americans life is still relatively "normal", and so the horrible suffering going on out there doesn't really affect them.
Ted Rudow III, MA
Class of 1996

Zombie higher education

2011-11-22T15:56:00.000-08:00

San Mateo Daily Journal
Tuesday
November 22 2011
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Letter: Zombie higher education?
November 22, 2011, 03:24 AM Letter
Editor,
The student loan market is back in the news as it makes its relentless march to the $1 trillion mark. This crippling figure comes in the face of a decade of lost wages for middle class Americans, just as the housing-bubble people were supplementing a disappearing middle class with more debt. The allure of housing lay in the fact that we had never seen, in our history, national home prices fall, until they did in dramatic fashion.
The same cultural nostalgia for education in every respect has created a zombie higher education system that is now expanding like the mortgage market at the height of the housing bubble. This is a subject of increasing concern to the Obama administration, which remade the federal student loan program and is now proposing changes that may make it harder for the for-profit colleges to qualify.
In the five years since Congress deregulated online education, enrollments at for-profit colleges have nearly doubled. Six major corporations owning such institutions have enjoyed initial public offerings on Wall Street. Graduates of another for-profit school — a college nursing program in California — said that they received their diplomas without ever setting foot in a hospital. We have heard countless stories of people going to for-profits, only to land minimum wage jobs once they graduate. Just like the subprime debacle, many of these people will remain silent, and the market will pretend nothing is wrong.

Ted Rudow III, MA
Palo Alto

Blogs

2011-11-21T10:46:00.000-08:00

BLOGs Sports Politics
Hong KongJoe FrazierDon KingLarry HolmesMore Topics »Original Text:Show alternative translations
Matt Young - Top Blog Posts
Overview News Blogs Top Stories Spartan Daily " href="http://flair.wittysparks.com/blogs/Matt+Young/page/target=_blank%3E">blogspot - Author: Ted Rudow III,MA - 2011/9/28 ...Speaker touches on ‘humanity’ in concerns with Israel-Palestine conflict by matt.young Sep 22, 2011 12:17 am Dorian Silva, Spartan DailyEnglish professor Persis M. Karim ...

Inequality

2011-11-19T14:08:00.000-08:00

Follow the money

2011-11-18T11:51:00.000-08:00

Friday, November 18, 2011
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Read more at the San Francisco Examiner: http://www.sfexaminer.com/opinion/letters-editor/2011/11/kill-central-subway-save-sfmta-budget#ixzz1e5QXyRPf

Follow the money
Last Sunday, “60 Minutes” aired a report highlighting instances in which congressional officials reportedly bought stocks around the same time Congress was discussing legislation affecting those companies or industries. The show looked at the lucrative investments of lawmakers including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, House Speaker John Boehner and Republican Rep. Spencer Bachus of Alabama.
Members of Congress reap huge profits using insider information in ways that could put any of the rest of us behind bars. But the politicians allow themselves exemption from insider-trading laws.
A new bill filed by Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., would make it illegal for elected congressional officials, their staffs and executive branch employees to make investment decisions from pending information that’s not available to the general public. It would also forbid them from spreading such information public for personal gain.
Ted Rudow III,MA Palo Alto

Raisethefist.com

2011-11-18T11:10:00.000-08:00

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On Sunday, "60 Minutes" aired a report highlighting instances in which congressional officials reportedly bought stocks around the same time Congress was discussing legislation affecting those companies or industriesThe show looked at the investments of various lawmakers -- including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, House Speaker John Boehner and Republican Rep. Spencer Bachus of Alabama. The retired U.S. representative from Washington's 3rd Congressional District was grieved about members of Congress reaping huge investment dividends using insider information in ways that could put any of the rest of us behind bars. Baird said: One line in a bill in Congress can be worth millions and millions of dollars to a member of Congress who picks up clues during testimony and deliberations for bills. Yet the politicians allow themselves to bypass insider-trading laws. Baird never received more than six co-sponsors for a bill that would make it illegal for lawmakers to trade stocks on nonpublic information. The bill filed Tuesday by Massachusetts Republican Sen. Scott Brown would make it illegal for elected congressional officials, their staffs and executive branch employees to use information about pending bills that's not available to the general public in making investment decisions. It would also forbid them from making such information public for personal gain. Are not many world leaders driven by the same corruption, the same lust, the same greed? It's just plain greed and selfishness!
Ted Rudow III, MA

2011-11-16T10:31:00.000-08:00

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Peninsula readers' letters:November 16

From Daily News Group readers

Posted: 11/15/2011 07:12:51 PM PST
Updated: 11/15/2011 11:11:51 PM PST

Reaping profits

Dear Editor: On Sunday, "60 Minutes" aired a report highlighting instances in which congressional officials reportedly bought stocks around the same time Congress was discussing legislation affecting those companies or industries. The show looked at the investments of various lawmakers, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, House Speaker John Boehner and Republican Rep. Spencer Bachus of Alabama.

Former U.S. Rep. Brian Baird was grieved about members of Congress reaping huge investment dividends using insider information in ways that could put any of the rest of us behind bars. Baird said "one line in a bill in Congress can be worth millions and millions of dollars" to a member of Congress who picks up clues during testimony and deliberations for bills. Yet the politicians allow themselves to bypass insider-trading laws. Baird never received more than six co-sponsors for a bill that would make it illegal for lawmakers to trade stocks on nonpublic information.

The bill filed Tuesday by Republican U.S. Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts would make it illegal for elected congressional officials, their staffs and executive-branch employees to use information about pending bills that's not available to the general public in making investment decisions. It would also forbid them from making such information public for personal gain. Are not many world leaders driven by the same corruption, the same lust, the same greed? It's just plain greed and selfishness.

Ted Rudow III, MA

Palo Alto

Reaping?

2011-11-15T13:27:00.001-08:00

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/11/15/18699591.php
Reaping?
by Ted Rudow III, MA ( Tedr77 [at] aol.com ) Tuesday Nov 15th, 2011
On Sunday, "60 Minutes" aired a report highlighting instances in which congressional officials reportedly bought stocks around the same time Congress was discussing legislation affecting those companies or industries
-->
The show looked at the investments of various lawmakers -- including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, House Speaker John Boehner and Republican Rep. Spencer Bachus of Alabama. The retired U.S. representative from Washington’s 3rd Congressional District was grieved about members of Congress reaping huge investment dividends using insider information in ways that could put any of the rest of us behind bars. Baird said: “One line in a bill in Congress can be worth millions and millions of dollars” to a member of Congress who picks up clues during testimony and deliberations for bills. Yet the politicians allow themselves to bypass insider-trading laws. Baird never received more than six co-sponsors for a bill that would make it illegal for lawmakers to trade stocks on nonpublic information. The bill filed Tuesday by Massachusetts Republican Sen. Scott Brown would make it illegal for elected congressional officials, their staffs and executive branch employees to use information about pending bills that's not available to the general public in making investment decisions. It would also forbid them from making such information public for personal gain. Are not many world leaders driven by the same corruption, the same lust, the same greed? It's just plain greed and selfishness!
Ted Rudow III, MA

Reaping?

2011-11-15T13:27:00.000-08:00

Vets day

2011-11-15T10:00:00.000-08:00

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Nov. 10 Readers' letters
From Mercury News readersPosted: 11/09/2011 08:00:00 PM PST

Visit veterans hospital, learn about sacrifice
Armistice Day (also known as Remembrance Day) is Nov. 11, and it commemorates the armistice signed between the Allies of World War I and Germany at Compiègne, France, for the cessation of hostilities on the Western Front of World War I, which took effect at 11 o'clock in the "eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month" of 1918. In November 1919, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed Nov. 11 as the first commemoration of Armistice Day. Congress amended this June 1, 1954, replacing "Armistice" with "Veterans," and it has been known as Veterans Day since. If you want a glimpse of what war is all about, go down and volunteer at one of our hundreds of veterans' hospitals. Talk to the vets and see what war has done to change their lives. See what the price is in limbs, eyes, and minds.
Ted Rudow III, MA
Palo Alto

Veterans Day

2011-11-11T10:50:00.000-08:00

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Veterans Day

Editor,

Armistice Day (also known as Remembrance Day) is on Nov. 11 and commemorates the armistice signed between the Allies of World War I and Germany at Compiègne, France, for the cessation of hostilities on the Western Front of World War I, which took effect at eleven o'clock in the "eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month" of 1918.

World War I — known at the time as "The Great War" — officially ended when the Treaty of Versailles was signed June 28, 1919, in the Palace of Versailles outside the town of Versailles, France.

However, fighting ceased seven months earlier. For that reason, Nov. 11, 1918, is generally regarded as the end of "the war to end all wars." In November 1919, President Wilson proclaimed Nov. 11 as the first commemoration of Armistice Day.

In 1953, an Emporia, Kansas, man named Stephan Riod, the owner of a shoe-repair shop, had the idea to expand Armistice Day to celebrate all veterans, not just those who died in World War I. Congress amended this act on June 1, 1954, replacing "Armistice" with "Veterans," and it has been known as Veterans Day since.

If you want a glimpse of what war is all about, go down and volunteer at one of our hundreds of veteran's hospitals. Talk to the vets and see what war has done to change their lives. See what the price is in limbs, eyes, and minds.

Ted Rudow III, MA
Palo Alto

If you want a glimpse of what war is all about

2011-11-11T10:31:00.000-08:00

RSN

If You Want a Glimpse of What War is All About

by Ted Rudow III Thursday, 10 November 2011
Armistice Day (also known as Remembrance Day) is on 11 November and commemorates the armistice signed between the Allies of World War I and Germany at Compiègne, France, for the cessation of hostilities on the Western Front of World War I, which took effect at eleven o'clock in the "eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month" of 1918.
World War I – known at the time as “The Great War” - officially ended when the Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, 1919, in the Palace of Versailles outside the town of Versailles, France. However, fighting ceased seven months earlier when an armistice. For that reason, November 11, 1918, is generally regarded as the end of “the war to end all wars.” In November 1919, President Wilson proclaimed November 11 as the first commemoration of Armistice Day. He said, "America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations".
In 1953, an Emporia, Kansas, man named Stephan Riod the owner of a shoe repair shop, had the idea to expand Armistice Day to celebrate all veterans, not just those who died in World War I. Congress amended this act on June 1, 1954, replacing "Armistice" with "Veterans," and it has been known as Veterans Day since. If you want a glimpse of what war is all about, go down and volunteer at one of our hundreds of veteran's hospitals. Talk to the vets and see what war has done to change their lives. See what the price is in limbs, eyes, and minds.
Ted Rudow III, MA

History of Veterans Day

2011-11-11T10:02:00.000-08:00

San Mateo Daily Journal
Friday
November 11 2011
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Letter: History of Veterans Day
November 11, 2011,
Letter
Editor,
Armistice Day (also known as Remembrance Day) is on Nov. 11 and commemorates the armistice signed between the Allies of World War I and Germany at Compiègne, France, for the cessation of hostilities on the Western Front of World War I, which took effect at eleven o’clock in the “eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month” of 1918. World War I — known at the time as “The Great War” — officially ended when the Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, 1919, in the Palace of Versailles outside the town of Versailles, France.
However, fighting ceased seven months earlier when an armistice. For that reason, Nov. 11, 1918, is generally regarded as the end of “the war to end all wars.” In November 1919, President Wilson proclaimed Nov. 11 as the first commemoration of Armistice Day. He said, “America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations”.
In 1953, an Emporia, Kansas man named Stephan Riod the owner of a shoe repair shop, had the idea to expand Armistice Day to celebrate all veterans, not just those who died in World War I. Congress amended this act on June 1, 1954, replacing “Armistice” with “Veterans,” and it has been known as Veterans Day since. If you want a glimpse of what war is all about, go down and volunteer at one of our hundreds of veterans’ hospitals. Talk to the vets and see what war has done to change their lives. See what the price is in limbs, eyes and minds.

Ted Rudow III,MA
Palo Alto

What war is all about

2011-11-10T11:39:00.000-08:00

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/11/10/18698637.php
If you want a glimpse of what war is all about
by Ted Rudow III, MA ( Tedr77 [at] aol.com ) Thursday Nov 10th, 2011 11:03 AM
Armistice Day (also known as Remembrance Day) is on 11 November and commemorates the armistice signed between the Allies of World War I and Germany at Compiègne, France, for the cessation of hostilities on the Western Front of World War I, which took effect at eleven o'clock in the "eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month" of 1918.
-->
World War I – known at the time as “The Great War” - officially ended when the Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, 1919, in the Palace of Versailles outside the town of Versailles, France. However, fighting ceased seven months earlier when an armistice. For that reason, November 11, 1918, is generally regarded as the end of “the war to end all wars.” In November 1919, President Wilson proclaimed November 11 as the first commemoration of Armistice Day. He said, "America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations". In 1953, an Emporia, Kansas man named Stephan Riod the owner of a shoe repair shop, had the idea to expand Armistice Day to celebrate all veterans, not just those who died in World War I. Congress amended this act on June 1, 1954, replacing "Armistice" with "Veterans," and it has been known as Veterans Day since. If you want a glimpse of what war is all about, go down and volunteer at one of our hundreds of veteran's hospitals. Talk to the vets and see what war has done to change their lives. See what the price is in limbs, eyes, and minds.
Ted Rudow III, MA

Spartan Daily

2011-11-10T08:49:00.000-08:00

Spartan Daily
last update 2:05 amNovember 10, 2011

What happened to Thanksgiving?
by Brittany Patterson Nov 8, 2011
Brittany Patterson
Last weekend I was on the hunt for Thanksgiving-themed merchandise. My ultimate goal: two-dozen cupcake liners with cute cartoon turkeys pasted on the side, and maybe a pilgrim or two.
Instead, I was assaulted with candy canes, mistletoe and cinnamon-scented pine cones.
Don’t get me wrong, I love cinnamon-scented pine cones — in fact, they are probably one of my favorite parts of the whole Christmas establishment — it’s the time element that disturbs me.
People, it’s the beginning of November. Half of the country is still eating their Halloween candy.
If I’m not mistaken, here in America (and apparently in Canada, too), we have this weird holiday that comes near the end of November in which we celebrate when the Wampanoag Native Americans helped the Pilgrims at the colonial settlement in Plymouth in 1621, by providing them with seeds and teaching them how to fish. Apparently we sat down and shared a harvest meal together.
Maybe you’ve heard of it — we call it Thanksgiving.
To honor their generosity, Americans deep-fry turkeys, gorge themselves on stuffing and green bean casserole and fight with their families.
We also have this curious case of amnesia when it comes to the fact that later on, Americans systematically wiped out most of the Native Americans in this country.
We compensate with pumpkin pie — lots of it, topped with Cool Whip.
But all snarkiness aside, Thanksgiving is this a nationwide excuse to eat gluttonous amounts of comfort food with family. As college students, come October we’re practically willing time to travel faster to get to Thanksgiving break. And it’s not just the break from classes — many of my friends are genuinely excited to go home and see their parents, friends and pets.
According to the History Channel’s website devoted to Thanksgiving, in 1863 President Lincoln declared the final Thursday in November as a national day of thanksgiving. Congress finally made Thanksgiving Day an official national holiday in 1941.
This holiday has been celebrated for hundreds of years, and yet when I went to Michaels craft store yesterday, I was bombarded with ornaments, Frosty the Snowman gift tags and gingerbread houses.
Christmas wreaths and glitter-covered fake poinsettias snagged me as I wandered in disbelief down the aisles.
Where were all the poorly drawn pictures of turkeys dressed as pilgrims? Why were there no fake gourds, pumpkins or Indian corn to be found?
Target was no better.
Fake trees and shimmering garlands galore.
We’re a country that loves our holidays. I mean, we fabricated Valentine’s Day so we could give one another little pieces of paper marked with clichés and eat lots of heart-shaped candy.
So why do the retail giants seem to have forgotten about Thanksgiving?
Maybe recently the collective American psyche has grown a conscience and we feel guilty about our past.
But our solution, to stretch out the Christmas season an extra month, is worrisome on its own.
I worry that if the current rate of pushing up the Christmas season continues unchecked, by the time I’m 30, the familiar melody of “Jingle Bell Rock” will be heard immediately following “The Star-Spangled Banner” and fireworks on the Fourth of July.
Americans will watch in awe as brightly colored lights explode above us, while we manically shove hot dogs down our throats, followed by a mass migration to the nearest Walmart. Proceed to Christmas. Do not have other holidays. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200.
We’re going to jump straight to Christmas and completely ignore the millions of turkeys that are currently sitting naked and frozen in grocery stores across the nation.
According to the American Psychological Association’s 2008 holiday stress poll, they found that more than eight out of 10 Americans anticipate stress during the holiday season.
The holidays stress me out — the pressure of buying the perfect gifts, the subsequent economic strain caused by purchasing said gifts, traveling all over to meet with family all while fighting the urge to eat my body weight in chocolate and ham.
I take the whole year to recover from the previous year’s Christmas season. The last thing I think this already stressed-out country needs is a shorter recovery period for one of the most stressful times of the year.
Regardless of Thanksgiving’s checkered past, it’s current role is to bring families together. Whether you’re watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, football or just stuffing your face, Thanksgiving is important. It is by all counts a national holiday and more importantly so, it’s unadulterated family time. There’s no hiding behind gifts — just your massive food baby — and sometimes I think we need to have a day where our biggest concern is how many pieces of pie we should eat.
Relax, the turkeys are already dead. We might as well enjoy them.
...................................................................................................................
There are those who wear a smile, yet ache inside; those who are engulfed in a sea of emptiness; those who suffer from pain, guilt, bitterness, and condemnation; those who feel remorse over the past or fear the future.-So many lost and desperate folks in the world today! It reminds me of the words to that old Beatles song, “All the lonely people, where do they all come from?” Well, I’ll tell you where they come from-all the lonely people come from selfish living. All the lonely people, the lost and the forlorn, come from a society where people look to their own needs and not to the needs of others. That’s where all the lonely people come from-from a dog-eat-dog society, from a lot of wrongful living.
Ted Rudow III, MA
Class of 1996

World Bank

2011-11-10T07:54:00.000-08:00

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Peninsula readers' letters: November 9Nov 9, 2011 mercurynews.com
then go right ahead. I'll put my faith in government of, by and for the people. to be learned from Argentina's default on its debt in 2001 is the exact opposite of Ted Rudow's... In this article: IMF , Poverty , World Bank ,...Read more...

Raisethefist.com

2011-11-08T10:13:00.000-08:00

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Rage in the streets, workers thrown from their jobs, creditors demanding their moneys Greece, but nearly a decade ago, that scenario played out in this region of South America. In a story that may provide a lesson for Europe. Argentina, spiraled into a chaotic default and remains a pariah in world financial markets. With uncertainty still hanging over a European bailout package, it remains possible that Greece could default on its debts entirely, making it an outcast like Argentina.
But the tales of other countries in crisis have shown that it's possible to push through tough measures and emerge with growth on the other side. It is a scenario that is beginning to resemble what happened in Argentina, whose $100 billion default in December 2001 was the biggest in history.
In the Argentine case, five presidents stepped down in two weeks, deadly riots shook Buenos Aires and Argentines lost their life savings. Much later, Argentina issued a take-it-or-leave-it offer to bondholders, offering to pay about 35 cents on the dollar. Today, the government still owes about $15 billion to hard-core creditors and has lost judgments in U.S. courts to pay up. With the country still blocked from tapping international capital markets, it is mostly because of booming demand for its agricultural products that Argentina has been lifted from economic calamity. Ted Rudow III, MA

Debt

2011-11-08T09:58:00.000-08:00

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Greece could be like Argentina

Tuesday, November 08, 2011
Dear Editor,
Rage in the streets, workers thrown from their jobs, creditors demanding their money - that's Greece; but nearly a decade ago that scenario played out in South America. In a story that may provide a lesson for Europe, Argentina, spiralled into a chaotic default and remains a pariah in world financial markets. With uncertainty still hanging over a European bailout package, it remains possible that Greece could default on its debts entirely, making it an outcast like Argentina.
But the tales of other countries in crisis have shown that it's possible to push through tough measures and emerge with growth on the other side. It is a scenario that is beginning to resemble what happened in Argentina, whose $100-billion default in December 2001 was the biggest in history.
In the Argentine case, five presidents stepped down in two weeks, deadly riots shook Buenos Aires and Argentines lost their life savings. Much later, Argentina issued a take-it-or-leave-it offer to bondholders, offering to pay about 35 cents on the dollar. Today, the government still owes about $15 billion to hard-core creditors and has lost judgements in US courts to pay up. With the country still blocked from tapping international capital markets, it is mostly because of booming demand for its agricultural products that Argentina has been lifted from economic calamity.
Ted Rudow III, MA

Palo Alto, California

USA

Tedr77@aol.com
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/letters/Greece-could-be-like-Argentina_10118499#ixzz1d8Z6ke

The Lesson

2011-11-08T09:20:00.000-08:00

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Peninsula readers' letters: October
From Daily News Group readers Posted: 11/07/2011 04:15:17 PM PSTUpdated: 11/07/2011 10:52:00 PM PST
The lesson of Argentina
Dear Editor: Rage in the streets, workers thrown from their jobs, creditors demanding their money -- that's Greece. But nearly a decade ago, that scenario played out in South America. In a story that may provide a lesson for Europe, Argentina spiraled into a chaotic default and remains a pariah in world financial markets. With uncertainty still hanging over a European bailout package, it remains possible that Greece could default on its debts entirely, making it an outcast like Argentina.
But the tales of other countries in crisis have shown that it's possible to push through tough measures and emerge with growth on the other side. It is a scenario that is beginning to resemble what happened in Argentina, whose $100 billion default in December 2001 was the biggest in history.
In the Argentine case, five presidents stepped down in two weeks, deadly riots shook Buenos Aires and Argentines lost their life savings. Much later, Argentina issued a take-it-or-leave-it offer to bondholders, offering to pay about 35 cents on the dollar. Today, the government still owes about $15 billion to hard-core creditors and has lost judgments in U.S. courts to pay up. With the country still blocked from tapping international capital markets, it is mostly because of booming demand for its agricultural products that Argentina has been lifted from economic calamity.
Ted Rudow III, MA
Palo Alto

Outcast?

2011-11-07T09:55:00.000-08:00

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/11/07/18698086.php
Outcast?
by Ted Rudow III, MA ( Tedr77 [at] aol.com ) Monday Nov 7th, 2011
Rage in the streets, workers thrown from their jobs, creditors demanding their money—that’s Greece, but nearly a decade ago, that scenario played out in this region of South America. In a story that may provide a lesson for Europe. Argentina, spiraled into a chaotic default and remains a pariah in world financial markets. With uncertainty still hanging over a European bailout package, it remains possible that Greece could default on its debts entirely, making it an outcast like Argentina.
But the tales of other countries in crisis have shown that it’s possible to push through tough measures and emerge with growth on the other side. It is a scenario that is beginning to resemble what happened in Argentina, whose $100 billion default in December 2001 was the biggest in history.
In the Argentine case, five presidents stepped down in two weeks, deadly riots shook Buenos Aires and Argentines lost their life savings. Much later, Argentina issued a take-it-or-leave-it offer to bondholders, offering to pay about 35 cents on the dollar. Today, the government still owes about $15 billion to hard-core creditors and has lost judgments in U.S. courts to pay up. With the country still blocked from tapping international capital markets, it is mostly because of booming demand for its agricultural products that Argentina has been lifted from economic calamity.
Ted Rudow III, MA

Spartan Daily

2011-11-04T13:54:00.000-07:00

Spartan Daily
last update 2:50 amNovember 4, 2011

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There Will Be Snacks: What happened to rule of law in the US?
by Matthew Gerring
Oct 31, 2011 10:11 pm
Matthew Gerring
So, we kill U.S. citizens, without trial, with robots now. It’s officially a thing. We’ve done it a few times and so far, no harm no foul, so we can all expect to see more of it in the future.
Not just adults, either — we now also assassinate 16-year-olds without trial, with robots.
By the way, the three men — Anwar al-Awlaki, Samir Khan, and al-Awlaki’s son Abdul Rahman al-Awlaki — were killed in Yemen, where there is no declared war whatsoever. But that’s old hat now. That’s so 2005. Undeclared war all over the Middle East is a given.
The U.S. citizens thing, though, that’s new.
This definitely isn’t the first time we’ve killed U.S. citizens without a trial, but probably the first time it was premeditated and done openly, and probably also the first time that people heard about it and just sort of yawned and went back to whatever they were doing.
Their names are going to fade into history, and most people will continue to live their lives not knowing who they were or why they should care.
Yes, the information is out there, and nerds like me, who care about such stupid, annoying stuff as constitutional rights and due process or whatever, will absolutely remember their names, but most people won’t.
Their alleged crime was producing propaganda for al-Qaida.There is precedent for this. Benjamin Gitlow was an outspoken Communist in the 1920s, and wrote a manifesto calling for the overthrow of the U.S. government. His case went all the way to the Supreme Court, and the justices decided that calling for overthrowing the government went beyond what’s allowed by free speech, so he went to prison.
Prison. Nobody shot the guy.
You could argue that all three men killed by drone attacks were traitors, and you might also argue that they committed crimes, and possibly deserved to die, and I don’t really have a problem with any of that.
The problem is they were U.S. citizens, and as such were entitled to a trial by a jury.
Democratic countries with independent judiciaries don’t just murder their citizens. We’re supposed to be better than that. We’re supposed to extend the same rights to all our citizens, and apply the same measure of justice when they violate our laws.
But assassinating our citizens is just a thing we do now. It’s no longer an isolated incident. And nobody cares except for a handful of liberal nerds, because none of those assassinations happened here.
Normally I wouldn’t write the next line here, because I really hate being dramatic and heavy-handed. It makes me cringe, much like listening to a retired former hippie with a MoveOn button on his jacket, reading annoying rhyming poems with lame slogans about George Bush in 2011.
But it has to be said, because there’s just no limit anymore. Everything is on the table. First it was spying on innocent Americans, then it was torture, then it was random incursions into countries where the congress has not approved a war, and now it’s assassinating our own citizens on the opaque orders of the military.
And as I was saying, nobody cares, because none of the assassinations happened here.
Yet.

........................................................................................................................
The United States has confirmed the killing of the radical Yemeni-American cleric, Anwar al-Awlaki, in northern Yemen. "If you are somebody that believes the President of the United States has the power to order your fellow citizens murdered, assassinated, killed without a shred of due process ... then you are really declaring yourself to be as pure of an authoritarian as it gets." (Constitutional scholar Glenn Greenwald)
I thought what we did with the Germans after World War II was the right thing. They were put on trial and given their day in court, and a historical record was created and the message was sent that this is what will happen to you if you commit mass murder, we believe even the most heinous person should have their day in court because we're going to try to be civilized even though they're uncivilized, even though they're barbaric. We're not going to be that way.That used to be a standard we tried to aspire to, or at least say that we aspired to it.
Ted Rudow III, MA
Class of 1996

2011-11-03T11:30:00.000-07:00

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/11/03/18697019.php
Zombie higher education
by Ted Rudow III, MA ( Tedr77 [at] aol.com ) Thursday Nov 3rd, 2011
The student loan market is back in the news as it makes its unrelenting march to the $1 trillion mark. This crippling figure comes in the face of a decade of lost wages for middle class Americans. Just like the housing bubble people were supplementing a disappearing middle class with more debt.
The allure of housing was that never in our history have we seen national home prices fall, until they did in dramatic fashion. The same cultural nostalgia for education in every respect has created a zombie higher education system that is now expanding like the mortgage markets at the height of the housing bubble. This is a subject of increasing concern to the Obama administration, which, remade the federal student loan program, and is now proposing changes that may make it harder for the for-profit colleges to qualify. In the five years since Congress deregulated online education, enrollments at for-profit colleges have nearly doubled. Six major corporations owning for-profit institutions have enjoyed initial public offerings on Wall Street. Graduates of another for-profit school -- a college nursing program in California that they received their diplomas without ever setting foot in a hospital. We have heard countless stories of people going to for-profits only to land minimum wage jobs once they graduate. Just like the subprime debacle, many of these people will remain silent and the market will pretend nothing is wrong.
Ted Rudow III, MA

PP&J

2011-11-02T10:42:00.000-07:00

Peninsula Peace and Justice Center
www.PeaceandJustice.org OCCUPYTHEFUTURE
TonightOtherVoices TV: An Activists' Round Table Discussion and A Live TV Speak-Out Featuring You!Tuesday, November 1, 7:00 PMCommunity Media Center, 900 San Antonio Road, Palo Alto
Panelists:
Hilton Obenzinger - Author of "Busy Dying", an account of the 1968 occupation of Columbia University / Stanford writing teacher
Joshua Schott and Donni Wang - Stanford students, Occupy Stanford Activists
Event URL: http://www.peaceandjustice.org/programs/Other_Voices_TV/Occupy the Future 2011-11-01 19:00:00 - 2011-11-01 20:00:00 Community Media Center An Activists' Round Table Discussion and A Live TV Speak Out Featuring You the 99%! Bring your thoughts, hopes, and desires ... And bring signs! Your messages will be sent to The White House and Congress. Occupy Wall Street actions are spreading around the world. The rich and powerful are responding with increasing violence, only to be met with renewed and increased determination. What is it all about? Where is it all going? How do we turn our anger over flagrant economic inequality into meaningful changes in the system that has brought us to this point? We will gather a panel of activists and analysts to discuss the many aspects of Occupy Wall Street (people to be annoucned). But YOU will be the vital part of this installment of Other Voices TV -- we intend for this to be a live, on-air SPEAK OUT about what is happening in our country. I spoke out as I call and said that I was thankful for the students of Stanford who were going actived. I quoted from Toynbee, who said that "The only thing we learn from history is that we never learn from history!" Bring your thoughts, hopes, and desires ... And bring signs! PPJC will send DVD copies of this program to The White House and our Congressional Representatives. Join us and add your voice! FREE and open to all. Wheelchair accessible. Other Voices TV can be seen live at 7:00 PM on the first Tuesday of each month on mid-Peninsula cable channel 27. The program is also streamed live on the internet (select channel 27). On demand video streaming is available on our website beginning two days after the initial broadcast. The current program is rebroadcast throughout the month on cable channel 27 (an internet webcast can also be seen at these times): Tuesdays 7:00 PM Wednesdays 2:00 AM & 10:00 AM Thursdays 11:00 PM Fridays 6:00 AM & 2:00 PM Saturdays 4:00 PM

Raisethefist.com

2011-11-01T10:39:00.000-07:00

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The true name of Halloween is Samhain, This was the Celtic Lord of the Dead. For 3 days from Oct 29-31, the Celtic people, along with their priestly class called Druids, would hold an ancient rite which would mark the beginning and the end of the year. A druid was a member of the priestly class in Britain, Ireland, and Gaul, and possibly other parts of Celtic western Europe, during the Iron Age. Very little is currently known about the ancient druids because they left no written accounts about themselves.The druids then also appear in some of the medieval tales from Christianised Ireland like the Táin Bó Cúailnge, where they are largely portrayed as sorcerers who opposed the coming of Christianity. Usually a week before the rites of Samhain began, the Druid had ordered the people of the Celtic tribe to disperse throughout the countryside and gather thousands of wicker reed.This is a very strong and durable stick. Wicker furniture has been made from it and most of us are familiar with it. They would then construct a giant human effigy that would stand from 30 to 50 feet, as the Wicker Man. A wicker man was a large wicker statue of a human used by the ancient Druids (priests of Celtic paganism) for human sacrifice by burning it in effigy, according to Julius Caesar in his Commentarii de Bello Gallico In modern times the figure has been adopted for festivals as part of some neopagan-themed ceremonies, notably without the human sacrifice element. Many cages had been built within it. Each prisoner would be tied to one of the cages.Then the Druids began their idea of fun and games. Yet, I have seen many Christian churches throughout this nation hold Halloween Parties within the church building. Every single one of these things is directly from the celebration of Samhain. You are simply trying to turn something evil into something good!
Ted Rudow III,MA

Playing with fire

2011-10-27T10:03:00.000-07:00

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Peninsula readers' letters: October 27
From Daily News Group readers Posted: 10/26/2011 06:39:02 PM PDTUpdated: 10/27/2011 12:36:08 AM PDT

Playing with fire
Dear Editor: President Barack Obama may be widely regarded at home as the least pro-Israeli president in decades, but he has secretly approved giving the Jewish state a bunch of special bunker-busting bombs ideal for destroying Tehran's ruling mullahs' nuclear ambitions and so powerful that George W. Bush blocked handing them over.
Capable of penetrating deep beneath the surface, the bunker-busters would be crucial for any air strikes at Iran's nuclear sites. Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has wanted the bunker-busters for years and, as first reported by Newsweek, Obama agreed to hand over 55 of the sophisticated and powerful weapons.
Given Israel's track record of preemptive bombing strikes to destroy nuclear sites in neighboring nations, and Iran's ambitious and suspicious nuclear program, the American bunker-busters may increase the chance of another Middle East war. Iran's unpredictable and bellicose president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has vowed to wipe Israel off the map. Iran continues to defy international sanctions with a clandestine nuclear program. Meanwhile, Netanyahu now has the means to carry out his threat that "Iran will not acquire nuclear arms, and this implies everything necessary to carry this out."
Ted Rudow III, MA
Palo Alto

Spartan Daily

2011-10-26T11:59:00.000-07:00

Spartan Daily
last update 11:18 pmOctober 25, 2011
Political stances should outweigh religious views

News Sports Opinion A&E
Political stances should outweigh religious views
by Jaimie Collins
The wise Thomas Jefferson is often attributed with writing the historical phrase “separation of church and state.” To this day, that ideal is still considered to hold importance in the election of our country’s leaders.
Unfortunately, United States voters and presidential candidates may not feel the same way.
During a convention on Oct. 7 in Washington, D.C. Pastor Robert Jeffress, the Southern Baptist Convention leader from Texas, introduced Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry, and altogether stole the show.-------
One thought on “Political stances should outweigh religious views”
Ted Rudow III, MA on October 26, 2011
During a GOP debate last week, Texas Governor Rick Perry was asked about his support of the death penalty. (Texas has the highest rate of execution in the country.) Rick Perry was steadfast, saying, to cheers of support from the audience, that he had “never struggled” with the potential that Texas could have execution of an innocent person. At a June 2011 anti-abortion event, Perry told supporters that he believes “human life [is] a sacred gift from God.”Can you be pro-life and pro-death penalty? How does one reconcile these positions? A good saying is, “The speak peace, but war is in their heart” It is as if they find refuge in the belief that the life of a fetus is more important than the life of a fully-conscious human being.
Ted Rudow III, MA
Class of 1996

History of Halloween

2011-10-26T09:49:00.000-07:00

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/10/26/18695229.php
History of Halloween
by Ted Rudow III, MA ( Tedr77 [at] aol.com ) Wednesday Oct 26th, 2011
The true name of Halloween is “Samhain.” This was the Celtic Lord of the Dead. For 3 days from Oct 29-31, the Celtic people, along with their priestly class called Druids, would hold an ancient rite which would mark the beginning and the end of the year. A druid was a member of the priestly class in Britain, Ireland, and Gaul, and possibly other parts of Celtic western Europe, during the Iron Age. Very little is currently known about the ancient druids because they left no written accounts about themselves. The druids then also appear in some of the medieval tales from Christianised Ireland like the Táin Bó Cúailnge, where they are largely portrayed as sorcerers who opposed the coming of Christianity. Usually a week before the rites of Samhain began, the Druid had ordered the people of the Celtic tribe to disperse throughout the countryside and gather thousands of wicker reed.This is a very strong and durable stick. Wicker furniture has been made from it and most of us are familiar with it. They would then construct a giant human effigy that would stand from 30 to 50 feet, as the Wicker Man. A wicker man was a large wicker statue of a human used by the ancient Druids (priests of Celtic paganism) for human sacrifice by burning it in effigy, according to Julius Caesar in his Commentarii de Bello Gallico In modern times the figure has been adopted for festivals as part of some neopagan-themed ceremonies, notably without the human sacrifice element. Many cages had been built within it. Each prisoner would be tied to one of the cages.Then the Druids began their idea of fun and games. Yet, I have seen many Christian churches throughout this nation hold Halloween Parties within the church building. Every single one of these things is directly from the celebration of Samhain. You are simply trying to turn something evil into something good!
Ted Rudow III,MA

Raise the fist

2011-10-26T08:10:00.000-07:00

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Barack Obama may be widely regarded at home as the least pro-Israeli president in decades, but he has secretly okayed giving the Jewish state a bunch of special bunker-busting bombs ideal for destroying Tehran's ruling mullahs nuclear ambitions and so powerful that George W. Bush blocked handing them over.
Capable of penetrating deep beneath the surface, the bunker-busterswould be crucial for any air strikes at Iran nuclear sites. Mr. Netanyahu has wanted the bunker-busters for years and, as first reported by Newsweek, Mr. Obama agreed to hand over 55 of the sophisticated and powerful weapons.
Given Israel's track record of pre-emptive bombing strikes to destroy nuclear sites in neighbouring nations and Iran's ambitious and suspicious nuclear program, the American bunker-busters may increase the chance of another Middle East war. Iran's unpredictable and bellicose President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has vowed to wipe Israel off the map. Iran continues to defy international sanctions with a clandestine nuclear program. Meanwhile, Mr. Netanyahu now has the means to carry out his threat that Iran will not acquire nuclear arms, and this implies everything necessary to carry this out.
Ted Rudow III, MA

Life in Iran?

2011-10-25T16:00:00.000-07:00

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/10/25/18695026.php
Life in Iran?
by Ted Rudow III, MA ( Tedr77 [at] aol.com ) Tuesday Oct 25th, 2011
Barack Obama may be widely regarded at home as the least pro-Israeli president in decades, but he has secretly okayed giving the Jewish state a bunch of special bunker-busting bombs – ideal for destroying Tehran’s ruling mullahs’ nuclear ambitions and so powerful that George W. Bush blocked handing them over.
Capable of penetrating deep beneath the surface, the bunker-busterswould be crucial for any air strikes at Iran nuclear sites. Mr. Netanyahu has wanted the bunker-busters for years and, as first reported byNewsweek, Mr. Obama agreed to hand over 55 of the sophisticated and powerful weapons.
Given Israel’s track record of pre-emptive bombing strikes to destroy nuclear sites in neighbouring nations and Iran’s ambitious and suspicious nuclear program, the American bunker-busters may increase the chance of anotherMiddle East war. Iran’s unpredictable and bellicose President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has vowed to wipe Israel off the map. Iran continues to defy international sanctions with a clandestine nuclear program. Meanwhile, Mr. Netanyahu now has the means to carry out his threat that “Iran will not acquire nuclear arms, and this implies everything necessary to carry this out.”
Ted Rudow III, MA

Spartan Daily

2011-10-25T05:21:00.000-07:00

Spartan Daily

October 24, 2011

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Opinion

Wes Side Stories: Reflecting on the War in Iraq

by Wesley Dugle Oct 23, 2011

Wesley Dugle

Last Friday, President Obama officially stated that all U.S. troops would be out of Iraq by the end of the year.

It was a monumental declaration that appears to have put an end to a struggle that has been going on now for nearly nine years.

It was mind boggling to me to see that the war was officially coming to an end because in all honesty I hadn’t truly thought about it in a long time.

In fact, most of this country has barely talked about it for the last three or four years with the economy tanking and tea partyers and Wall Street occupiers protesting but when you look at the numbers its amazing no one has even taken note of it lately.

More than $800 billion have been spent over in Iraq in this past decade and it’s hard not to think the war’s cost had something to do with our downgraded economy.

Just over 4,400 American soldiers have paid the ultimate price for Operation Iraqi Freedom and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have perished as well and yet it’s barely a blip on the media’s radar.

There’s no anniversary for the war every year like we do 9/11 and yet arguably both are just as important to how America’s foreign policy has been shaped today.

I know the war definitely affected me.

Up until the war broke out I would say I was largely ignorant of the world around me.

Sure, I was in middle school and I didn’t know any better, but the events that happened in the world while I was there in many ways shaped my political and social outlook on the world today.

The events of 9/11 were the first to really change me.

I was too young to really understand just how shocking the event was but it still rattled me nonetheless when I understood for the first time that there were people out there that wanted to destroy America.

It was at that moment my shell of ignorance began to crack and I started to see the world outside of my hometown a little differently.

But just two years later, on March 20, 2003, is when things officially changed for me.

I remember coming home from school that day and seeing my parents watching the television as President George W. Bush declared war in Iraq.

Bush was stating that Saddam Hussein and his regime were connected with Osama Bin Laden and 9/11 and that they were in control of weapons of mass destruction.

This was infuriating to me.

I remember asking myself “Wait, when and how is Osama Bin Laden in cahoots with Saddam? Why are we declaring a war when we should be diverting all our sources to catching the monster who actually attacked us? And why are we issuing a preemptive strike on a country that we think has WMDs while another that actually has them (North Korea) is the one we are negotiating with?”

It was at that point my shell of ignorance shattered and I realized just how screwed up our government was.

It was infuriating to me that we would attack a country prematurely without any hard evidence and waste valuable resources while our economy was hurting and the real monster was still at large.

After that day I learned never to trust my government again, to ask questions, and to not simply just follow the commander in chief and whatever he says (this goes for Obama as well).

It changed me in a way that helped me take more notice of the world around me and dare myself to question what our government tells us is right.

The war has barely been in the minds of many Americans over the last few years however, but either way you look at it this conflict has had a profound effect on this country today.

With all this said though, despite the fact that we should have never been there in the first place, I wish Iraq and it’s people nothing but the best for they have probably suffered more than we have over this conflict.

I really do hope that Iraq can evolve into a stable peaceful democracy and even if we did not go in there for the right reasons I hope that some measure of success and peace is yielded from this war.

The war was one of the biggest events of the last decade and even if most Americans don’t think about it much today, I will never forget the impact it had on me and this country.

Ted Rudow III, MA

Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize in a stunning decision that honored the first-year U.S. president more for promise than achievement, and drew both praise and skepticism around the world. But critics called the Nobel committee's decision premature, given that Obama has achieved few tangible gains, as he still grapples with challenges ranging from the war in Afghanistan and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to nuclear standoffs with Iran and North Korea, and now the war on Libya. The raid has further strained ties between the United States and Pakistan. Both Democratic and Republican lawmakers are calling for a review of billions in aid to Pakistan in light of the revelation that bin Laden was living inside a heavily fortified compound in a wealthy Pakistani suburb. Former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf criticized the United States for attacking the compound without Pakistan's knowledge, calling it a violation of Pakistani sovereignty. "It's very important to use this defining moment, I think, to rally the American people and to remind the American people that we are spending trillions of dollars, billions every week, on this open-ended longest war in American history and that we have economic priorities, economic recovery, job creation priorities here in our own country that this money can be used for," U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee said. We've got to remove our young men and women from harm's way, and we've got to really make sure that our presence in countries throughout the world does not create more danger and more anger toward the United States, which, you know, diminishes our national security.

Ted Rudow III, MA

Class of 1996

Spartan Daily

2011-10-22T15:23:00.000-07:00

Spartan Daily
last update 4:09 pm
October 19, 2011

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Virtual Money: A commentary on Google Wallet
by francisco.rendon Oct 3, 2011 1:11 am
WHAT IS THE PRICE WE PAY FOR CONVENIENCE?
Leo Postovoit, Spartan Daily

The end is near, friends.
Google released the first version of the Google Wallet application last month, foreshadowing the death of paper money and the birth of the “wallet-phone.”
This app, available now to all Nexus 4G users on the Sprint mobile network, will eventually, according to Google’s website, contain “all the cards you keep in your wallet today.”
You can scan your phone at Mastercard PayPass stations to make transactions with a quickness usually reserved for viral videos, Facebook messaging and, when it’s convenient, telephone calls.
Beyond this, Google is also using its status as a corporate behemoth to get special offers and rewards, like free cupcakes at a local bakery and discounts at local stores, for people who make purchases with the Wallet app.
No doubt, within a short amount of time, having your wallet in your cellphone will be more convenient than having to fumble with bills and coins or having to reach for the right piece of plastic and signing a printed receipt.
Not even Abraham Lincoln and George Washington can compete with free cupcakes.
I will leave the “Big Brother” implication alone, with the observation that a phone this smart would advance it to become the central instrument of most people’s financial, social and business activity.
Beyond the “1984” paranoia however, this phone represents a larger trend in our society — the movement toward convenience.
We love making things easy in the global culture of consumerism in which we live.
In large cities, the places where consumerism thrives most, companies are all suing each other and fighting tooth and nail to be the one to offer the next convenience that makes all the city dwellers’ lives that much easier.
But do our conveniences make our lives better?
If you brought a cellphone to the middle of the desert or a village in the mountains and expected them to scan your Google Wallet to make a digital transaction, you would be out of luck.
Beyond this, your cellphone holds little practical use when you are in a place without the infrastructure to support it.
Gold, one of the oldest forms of currency humans have used, was valuable because of its malleability, its ability to be reshaped into any form themaker required, such as jewelry or ornaments.
So why, exactly, are our numbers on a screen valuable?
Ultimately, currency — and indeed what we actually own — is becoming less and less real.
While we once had a representative piece of the gold in Fort Knox assigned to our money, our greenbacks’ only monetary value lies in what the government assigns it.
This theoretical value, shifting through decisions of government officials and foreign economists, may soon only be numbers on the screen of a conveniently sized phone.
Most people have no idea how this neat little screen on a phone actually works, how to make one or how to fix it if anything goes wrong. If our screen screws up, it ruins our day and we have to pay someone to fix it or replace it.
Yet if you even suggest the idea of taking away a high schooler’s cellphone, I suggest you anchor yourself against the oncoming tide of obscenities.
I am 23 years old, and yet many people my own age lack not only the ability to state outright problems within their social environment, but once in difficult situations they find themselves even without the ability to express what it is they want.
Our generation’s increasingly apparent lack of communication skills demonstrates that technological advances, far from making us better people and teaching us practical applications of knowledge, are actually proving fundamentally disempowering, particularly to the youth of our culture.
In my spare time, I have done community-building service with youth ages 12 to 14, and I have found that rather than exploring their communities and affecting each others lives, more and more young people choose to remain inside their homes, on computers, texting their friends and watching television.
Increasingly, despite all the bright lights and loud sounds we can buy in a store, we are more and more finding ourselves slaves to the conveniences that corporations market so aggressively.
If these things are taken away from them, they often do not know what to do. I worry about what will become of future generations as their relationship with money goes in the same direction as that of the traditional telephone.
Yet because the option is available to us, and it is, undeniably, more convenient, Google wallet will no doubt become more prevalent.
So here’s to the free cupcakes.

0 Vote up Vote down Ted Rudow III, MA

Standard Poor’s decision to downgrade the United States has led to a lot of criticism of Standard Poor’s. The White House called their performance, which included a miscalculation of about $2.1 trillion, “amateur hour.”The move by S&P, one of three leading credit rating agencies, came just days after Congress approved a $2.1 trillion deficit-reduction plan.S&P didn’t just miss the bubble. They helped cause it. They were paid by the banks to award their AAA-stamp of approval to all manner of financial products that were anything but riskless -- which, ironically, makes them an accessory to the resulting explosion of U.S. debt. Lowering the nation’s rating to one notch below AAA, the credit rating company said "political brinkmanship" in the debate over the debt had made the U.S. government’s ability to manage its finances. There’s not much mention anymore of the recession or economic hard times, because the people at the top are doing great. And that is an upward redistribution of wealth by cutting taxes for the wealthiest, and in subtle ways, raising them for the poorest and for the middle class. The big business game is to see how fast you can rob the other guy.
Ted Rudow III, MA
Class of 1996

Indian summer

2011-10-22T12:43:00.000-07:00

Ever wonder about ‘Indian summer?' - Half Moon Bay Review : Letters To Editor

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Ever wonder about ‘Indian summer?'
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Posted: Thursday, October 20, 2011 2:39 pm
Ever wonder about ‘Indian summer?' 0 comments
The origins of the term Indian summer are uncertain, but several writers suggest it may have been based on the warm, hazy conditions in autumn when native American Indians chose to hunt. The earliest record of the use of the term is in America at the end of the 18th century. Although William R. Deedler also refers to a reference by a French man, John de Crevecoeur, in 1778:
"Sometimes the rain is followed by an interval of calm and warmth which is called the Indian Summer; its characteristics are a tranquil atmosphere and general smokiness. Up to this epoch the approaches of winter are doubtful; it arrives about the middle of November, although snows and brief freezes often occur long before that date."
The term was first used in the British Isles at the beginning of the 19th century, but there is no statistical evidence to show that such a warm spell tends to recur each year.
Ted Rudow III
Palo Alto

Stage is set

2011-10-22T12:13:00.000-07:00

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Peninsula readers' letters: October 22
From Daily News Group readers Posted: 10/21/2011 06:16:06 PM PDTUpdated: 10/21/2011 11:04:06 PM PDT
Stage is set for Iran confrontation
Dear Editor: To understand American policy toward Iran, one must understand who the authors are of such policy and what their motivations are. The Brookings Institution itself was created by and for the corporate-financier elite. It is a policy think tank that represents the collective interests of the big oil corporations, banks and military contractors that fund it. Quite obviously then, policy toward Iran, or any nation for that matter, from within the halls of the Brookings Institution will revolve around expanding the global financial, social, political and military hegemony of its corporate sponsors.
America and Israel conspire to silence this troublesome voice, to quell and to put out these fires which burn and trouble the world for them. They conspire together, and so a leader has risen of their own making, of their own choice, a zealot for the cause of the Jews -- Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister. The stage is set. You can be sure of a confrontation and an escalation of confrontation between these two houses that battle at war.
Ted Rudow III, MA
Palo Alto

From Anne Eshoo

2011-10-21T11:11:00.000-07:00

October 19, 2011

Dear Mr. Rudow,

Because I share your deep concern and frustration about the foreclosure crisis which is devastating families and communities across our country, I want to update you on some of my recent work.

On October 12, 2011, I joined my colleagues in the California Democratic Delegation to introduce a plan for effectively addressing the foreclosure crisis. We detailed the plan in a letter to President Obama, a copy of which is attached for your review.

Like millions of Americans, I'm extremely frustrated that more progress has not been made to address this crisis. Much of the problem was not caused by irresponsible borrowing, but by the risky financial speculation that inflated prices and disguised bad debt as safe. Now, as millions of people find their homes underwater and their monthly payments increasingly unaffordable, the Administration has done very little to come to their aid.

In a recent meeting with the Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, I asked the Director if he had ever met with a family facing foreclosure. He answered that he hadn't. This sends a deeply troubling message, and I hope the Administration will act promptly on our proposals, which include:

o Directing the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the conservator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, to establish a plan to refinance all mortgages they own or guarantee;

o Establishing a principal reduction plan that would allow a restructuring in Chapter 13 bankruptcy for underwater mortgages; and

o Instituting a "Homeowner's Bill Of Rights" to stem some of the most flagrant servicer abuses once and for all.

These actions can each be accomplished swiftly through administrative action and without new legislation which would be difficult to pass in a divided political environment. Our plan would have a meaningful impact on millions of borrowers and their communities, in contrast to previous Treasury initiatives that have helped a comparatively small number of homeowners. The only thing missing is the political will to act, and I intend to continue pressing for it.

A number of useful pieces of legislation have been introduced that also would help to relieve this crisis, but while Democrats and Republicans may agree on the scale of the problem, we so far have not been able to agree on solutions. The impact of the crisis is being felt not just by individual borrowers, but by families devastated at the loss of a home, communities impacted by declining tax revenue, and an industry devastated by loss of stability. I will continue to fight for homeowners to bring this crisis to an end as quickly as possible.

If you have any other questions or comments, let me hear from you. I value what my constituents say to me, and always need your thoughts and benefit from your ideas.
I've created an ongoing e-newsletter to keep constituents informed on a variety of congressional issues and legislation. Many constituents tell me how much they value reading it, and if you would like to as well, you can go to my website at http://eshoo.house.gov and click on Sign Up for ENews. Your email address will never be used by anyone except my office to communicate with you, and your tax dollars will be conserved by using electronic communications rather than traditional mailings.
Sincerely, Anna G. Eshoo
Member of Congress

The stage is set

2011-10-18T11:02:00.000-07:00

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To understand American policy toward Iran, one must understand who the authors
are of such policy and what their motivations are. The Brookings Institution itself was created by and for the corporate-financier elite.
It is a policy think-tank that represents the collective interests of the big oil corporations, banks, and military contractors that fund it. Quite obviously then, policy toward Iran, or any nation for that matter, from within the halls of the Brookings Institution will revolve around expanding the global financial, social, political, and military hegemony of its corporate sponsors.
America and Israel conspire to silence this troublesome voice, to quell and to put out these fires which burn and trouble the world for them. They conspire together, and so leader has risen of their own making, of their own choice, a zealot for the cause of the Jews [Netanyahu, Israeli prime minister]. The stage is set. You can be sure of a confrontation and an escalation of confrontation between these two houses that battle at war.
Ted Rudow III, MA

The CLASS gone

2011-10-17T15:28:00.000-07:00

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/10/17/18693989.php
The CLASS gone
by Ted Rudow III, MA ( Tedr77 [at] aol.com ) Monday Oct 17th, 2011
The Obama administration has announced it is pulling the plug on a long-term home care program included in the 2010 healthcare reform law. The Community Living Assistance Services and Supports, or CLASS program, was designed to give the disabled and elderly cash to receive care at home instead of usually more expensive institutional care.
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The administration estimated that although monthly premiums typically would have ranged from $235 to $391, they could have reached as high as $3,000 under some scenarios. The program was co-authored by the late Sen. Edward Kennedy and Democratic Rep. Frank Pallone of New Jersey. Pallone criticized the Obama administration’s decision, saying, "While we are fighting so hard against Republican attempts to cut Medicaid ... abandoning the CLASS Act is the wrong decision. Soon enough, those in need will have nowhere to go for long-term care."
The end of the CLASS program eliminates an estimated $86 billion in savings that the health reform law was projected to generate. The overhaul is now expected to reduce the deficit by $124 billion between 2012 and 2021 (Aizenman, Washington Post, 10/14). Since there's not much love in families any longer and the relatives don't want to take care of you, they vote in laws so that the government will take care of you. And now that too has ended!
Ted Rudow III, MA

The stage is set

2011-10-17T09:06:00.000-07:00

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/10/17/18693964.php
The stage is setby Ted Rudow III, MA ( Tedr77 [at] aol.com ) Monday Oct 17th, 2011
To understand American policy toward Iran, one must understand who the authors are of such policy and what their motivations are. The Brookings Institution itself was created by and for the corporate-financier elite.It is a policy think-tank that represents the collective interests of the big oil corporations, banks, and military contractors that fund it. Quite obviously then, policy toward Iran, or any nation for that matter, from within the halls of the Brookings Institution will revolve around expanding the global financial, social, political, and military hegemony of its corporate sponsors. America and Israel conspire to silence this troublesome voice, to quell and to put out these fires which burn and trouble the world for them. They conspire together, and so leader has risen of their own making, of their own choice, a zealot for the cause of the Jews [Netanyahu, Israeli prime minister]. The stage is set. You can be sure of a confrontation and an escalation of confrontation between these two houses that battle at war.
Ted Rudow III, MA

Indian summer

2011-10-15T10:09:00.000-07:00

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Peninsula readers' letters: October 15
From Daily News Group readers Posted: 10/14/2011 05:50:05 PM PDTUpdated: 10/14/2011 11:43:42 PM PDT

Origin of 'Indian summer'
Dear Editor: The origins of the term Indian summer are uncertain, but several writers suggest it may have been based on the warm, hazy conditions in autumn when native American Indians chose to hunt. The earliest record of the use of the term is in America at the end of the 18th century.
William R. Deedler also references the term to a French man, John de Crevecoeur, in 1778: "Sometimes the rain is followed by an interval of calm and warmth which is called the Indian Summer; its characteristics are a tranquil atmosphere and general smokiness. Up to this epoch the approaches of winter are doubtful; it arrives about the middle of November, although snows and brief freezes often occur long before that date."
The term was first used in the British Isles at the beginning of the 19th century, but there is no statistical evidence to show that such a warm spell tends to recur each year.
Ted Rudow III, MA
Palo Alto

2011-10-14T15:18:00.000-07:00

Raisethefist.com

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Click here to watch video
The Populist movement started the end of the first Gilded Age in the 1890s. The movement developed from farmers' alliances formed in the 1880s in reaction to falling crop prices and poor credit facilities. The leaders organized the Populist, or People's, Party (1892), which advocated a variety of measures to help farmers. It form to be a mass disruptions and mass protests by unemployed workers, especially in the 1930s during the Great Depression. It took roughly four years for the organize to happen. We first started seeing the first uprisings around 1933, and continued in 1934, 35, 36. 37 is the Flint sit-down strike. Marches of unemployed, people going into the street, in some cases actually occupying factories, as we saw later on with the Flint sit-down strike. So there was massive unrest and disruption across the country, from both farmers as well as unemployed people. And what's interesting about that is it was farmers who were in debt both in the 1890s and the 1930s. Today it's students in debt, to a great extent, to large banks. That energy was channeled into what we now know as the New Deal. Since the 30s, and especially starting in the 50s, 60s and 70s, the right actually claimed the label and mantra of populism, and they have successfully changed the entire discourse and politics of this country under populist rhetoric. New research shows household income has declined more in the two years after the recession officially ended than it did during the recession itself. Money needs to flow from the top down, not from the bottom up. Ted Rudow III, MA

The Populist Movement

2011-10-13T10:33:00.000-07:00

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The Populist movement

Ted Rudow III, MA, Encina Ave, Palo Alto, CA
The Populist movement started at the end of the first Gilded Age in the 1890s. The movement developed from farmers' alliances, formed in the 1880s, in reaction to falling crop prices and poor credit facilities. The leaders formed the People's Party (1892), also known as the Populist Party, which advocated a variety of measures to help farmers. Mass protests were staged by the unemployed workers, especially in the 1930s during the Great Depression. It took roughly four years to organise this. The first uprising started around 1933, and continued in 1934, '35, and '36.

The marches of unemployed people went into the street, in some cases actually occupied the factories, as we saw later with the Flint sit-down strike. So, there was massive unrest and disruption across the country, from both farmers and unemployed people. And what's interesting is, it was farmers who were in debt both in the 1890s and the 1930s. Today it is the students who are in debt, to a great extent, to large banks.

That energy was channeled into what we now know as the New Deal. Since the '30s, and especially starting in the '50s, '60s and '70s, the right actually claimed the label and mantra of populism, and they have successfully changed the entire discourse and politics of this country under populist rhetoric. New research shows that household income has declined more in the two years after the recession officially ended than it did during the recession itself. Money needs to flow from the top down, not from the bottom up.

The Daily Star

2011-10-11T06:29:00.000-07:00

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The real story behind the U.S.-Pakistani dispute October 01, 2011 02:12 AM
By David Ignatius The Daily Star
Behind the recent verbal confrontation between U.S. and Pakistani officials about the Haqqani network lies a delicate political-military effort to split the Haqqanis as part of an end-game strategy for the war in Afghanistan.Admiral Mike Mullen, the departing chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, rebuked the Pakistani spy service, the Inter-Services Intelligence directorate, for using the Haqqani network as its “veritable arm” in Afghanistan. But U.S. officials know the ISI also facilitated a secret meeting during the last several months between the U.S. and a representative of the Haqqani clan. This is the double game that’s always operating in U.S.-Pakistani relations.Some U.S. officials believe that the recent wave of attacks by the Haqqanis on U.S. targets in Afghanistan may, in fact, reflect the determination of hard-line members of the clan to derail any move toward negotiation. The U.S. wants the Pakistani military’s help in isolating and destroying these “unreconcilable” elements of the network.The sparring with Pakistan illustrates the wider dilemma of the Afghan war. How does the U.S. bring pressure on the Haqqanis and other Taliban factions, even as it withdraws troops with a 2014 deadline for completing its mission? As Husain Haqqani, Pakistan’s ambassador to the U.S., has said: “The more the U.S. says it wants to leave Afghanistan, the harder it will be to leave.”What angered Mullen and other U.S. officials was Pakistan’s failure to act on intelligence reports about planned Haqqani attacks. A time line helps disentangle the threads of the dispute:On Sept. 8, General John Allen, the NATO commander in Afghanistan, is said to have warned General Ashfaq Kayani, the Pakistani army chief, that two truck bombs had been assembled in Miran Shah, the Haqqanis’ base in North Waziristan, and were headed for Afghanistan. Kayani is said to have pledged he would take action.On Sept. 10, one of those truck bombs struck a NATO base in Wardak, just east of Kabul, wounding 77 U.S. soldiers. That was the real trigger for Mullen’s anger: Some senior officials concede that Pakistan may not have had enough time, or precise “actionable” intelligence, to stop the bomb-laden truck.On Sept. 13, insurgents from the Haqqani network attacked the U.S. Embassy compound in Kabul. Though Mullen mentioned this attack in his denunciation of ISI-Haqqani links, U.S. officials don’t see any evidence of a Pakistani role in planning or executing the operation, a message the CIA privately communicated to Islamabad. However, in the days after the bombing, U.S. officials presented Pakistan with a series of “what ifs,” to convey the danger of the situation: What if the 77 soldiers at Wardak had been killed? What if the U.S. ambassador in Kabul had died? What then?On Sept. 18, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with the Pakistani foreign minister and delivered the first of a series of U.S. rebukes, asking how Pakistan could promote the Haqqanis as a prospective negotiating partner and yet sit by idly while they attacked Americans. On Sept. 22, Mullen delivered his blunt testimony. On Sept. 25 and 26, two longtime congressional supporters of Pakistan, senators Lindsey Graham and Mark Kirk, warned of a halt in military aid.But military liaison continues, with General James Mattis, the commander of U.S. Central Command, visiting Islamabad last weekend and warning that Pakistan had to choose sides.The message seems to have gotten through to Pakistani military leaders, who reportedly concluded at a secret commanders’ conference on Sept. 26 that they don’t want a confrontation with the U.S. But surely, this is a sick relationship when the partners have to go to the brink of open confrontation to get the other side to listen. If they were a married couple, you would send them to a counselor, or, failing that, a divorce lawyer.With all the noise about the Haqqanis, it’s important to remember that the real issue here is the larger war in Afghanistan. President Barack Obama’s goal remains a political settlement with “reconcilable” elements of the Taliban, and secret contacts have been continuing around the world. The message to the Haqqanis is that they can best protect political power in their ancestral homeland in Paktika, Paktia and Khost provinces by coming to the table now.But does the Taliban – or the Pakistani government, for that matter – take the U.S. strategy seriously? How can the U.S. gain enough leverage to tip the process toward negotiation? That’s what this war of words was really about.David Ignatius is published twice weekly by THE DAILY STAR.
Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Opinion/Columnist/2011/Oct-01/150184-the-real-story-behind-the-us-pakistani-dispute.ashx#ixzz1aTi8O1gd (The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)
Ted Rudow III, MA October 07, 2011
The rest of the world is not going to stand for America starting another war just to boost its economy, no matter what its excuses are. But they are doing this in Paskistan. We are in an invariable cycle. It always happens. You don't have to be a prophet to predict it, all you have to do is look at history. They can sing "The party's over," the war is over, but now we have to pay the fiddler. And there isn't going to be any way to pay the fiddler. The only way America has ever pulled out of the depression that always follows, is with a war. They will choose some other kind of a war again.The next time, by the time America finds out it can't solve its problems at home, and wants to try to start another … war on some poor little nation to pull its self out of a hole at the expense of starving or destroying its neighbours, the rest of the world is going to say “no, we're not going to let you do it!” They're going to stop them. America is not going to be able to do as it pleases and oppress the poor and start wars, starve the poor to feed the rich.

Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Opinion/Columnist/2011/Oct-01/150184-the-real-story-behind-the-us-pakistani-dispute.ashx#ixzz1aTi00c7M (The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)

Populist movement

2011-10-10T11:29:00.000-07:00

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/10/10/18692944.php
Populist movement
by Ted Rudow III, MA Monday Oct 10th, 2011
The Populist movement started the end of the first Gilded Age in the 1890s. The movement developed from farmers' alliances formed in the 1880s in reaction to falling crop prices and poor credit facilities.
-->
The leaders organized the Populist, or People's, Party (1892), which advocated a variety of measures to help farmers. It form to be a mass disruptions and mass protests by unemployed workers, especially in the 1930s during the Great Depression. It took roughly four years for the organize to happen. We first started seeing the first uprisings around 1933, and continued in 1934, ’35, ’36. Thirty-six, ’37 is the Flint sit-down strike. Marches of unemployed, people going into the street, in some cases actually occupying factories, as we saw later on with the Flint sit-down strike. So there was massive unrest and disruption across the country, from both farmers as well as unemployed people. And what’s interesting about that is it was farmers who were in debt both in the 1890s and the 1930s. Today it’s students in debt, to a great extent, to large banks. That energy was channeled into what we now know as the New Deal. Since the ’30s, and especially starting in the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s, the right actually claimed the label and mantra of populism, and they have successfully changed the entire discourse and politics of this country under populist rhetoric. New research shows household income has declined more in the two years after the recession officially ended than it did during the recession itself. Money needs to flow from the top down, not from the bottom up.
Ted Rudow III, MA

Afghans a mess

2011-10-09T09:29:00.000-07:00

RSN

Afghanistan a Mess Despite U.S. Promises
by Ted Rudow III Saturday, 08 October 2011
As the United States and NATO marked 10 years of war in Afghanistan on Friday, a grim picture emerges from scores of interviews over six months across the country with ordinary Afghans, government officials, soldiers, and former and current Taliban, along with recent data. The difference between the often optimistic assessment of U.S. generals and the reality on the ground for Afghans is stark.
After more than 30 years of war and chaos, Afghanistan is really a mess. Despite all the American aid and promises to rebuild the country, it's a wreck. The capital, Kabul, is becoming more prosperous, but only because that's where most of the U.S. and coalition troops are based to provide security, and because that's one of the few places the aid organizations feel safe enough to operate.
But for Afghans, it has been a decade of one step forward and two steps back. Maybe it's because they have such a short attention span and memory. As one journalist commented, a short memory is a great boost to self-esteem. It helps when you can so easily forget the past and tune out reality. Americans can forget that the country is as bad off as it ever was. Last Updated on Saturday, 08 October 2011