[from Vivien Limon of Upland, CA.]

I did not sign up for this. when I was born we, as a country, were involved in the 1960’s. Change and peace and equality were all big things. But I know I was born in the United States of America. We are a nation that is unusual in that we have always followed the Constitution. A document written by some people who were brilliant. They wrote something that stood for equality and freedom. Our country, though it went through tribulations, still stayed strong and grew. We were a free people. Other countries copied our Constitution. Countries such as France and Japan. But now, it seems Abraham Lincoln’s words are ringing true. Our greatest enemy will be from within. It is. His name is George W. Bush. Not only has he established the Patriot Act which is and has some unconstitutional aspects…you shouldn’t be able to arrest just anyone off the street. He has engaged in wire-tapping of innocent individuals without any court orders. He has bypassed our courts in order to destroy the natural
environment without even a chance for the public to hear the reasoning. He has made this country a dictatorship. I didn’t sign up for a dictatorship, I signed up for freedom.

[posted in www.livejournal.com/~cushka.
Friday, Feb 17]

[From Vivien Limon, California (Southern, which is different than Northern)]

I have a problem I’m not willing to admit. They say talking about it is good for you. They also say that admitting it is the first step to recovery. So here goes…for the last six months or so I have been more than a liberal (bad word in the “free” United States now), I even have flirted. Ok more than flirted with calling myself a Socialist, Green Party and even Anarchist. I didn’t have any belief in our system anymore. Now, I won’t go into why I believe that our country is on the wrong track but I will say that I feel I have a horrible secret now. You know what that is? Capitalism. Yup. The same thing that defines our country and the hated Republicans…(I don’t really hate Republicans but I dislike some of the things they do). I own stocks. What’s more they are S&P 500 stocks. Sorry. But it gets worse. In the last two weeks I have begun to save money to buy a franchise…oh oh. I’m definitely a lost cause. I want to sell vitamins and Body Shop, and I’d like to get into online,
*cough, cough* stuff…I guess I’m hippocrite. I’m trying to redo my ideas. I still agree with some Socialist-Green Party-Anarchist stuff but I’m also going to have to admit that I like some things of Captitalism. Maybe I’ll make a political party called Pseudo-Capitalism or Half-Captitalism. I don’t know. Any ideas would be gratefully taken.

We were at the Urgent Care yesterday taking care of my sister’s bad ankle when I decided to look up (I rarely look up, which is a shame since so much of what’s special is found there). I saw a man sitting against the wall. At first glance, he looked homeless. I hate to say, I generalized. But upon closer examination, I decided I was wrong. His shoes, they looked like work shoes, were spotless and even looked new. His clothes were clean and again looked taken care of. He was wearing a cap, or a beanie looking cap. I decided because of the cap, he could be a navy or ship person. Then he started to read his book. The book looked like it was an older published book. It had no bookjacket. I couldn’t make out the title since I didn’t have my glasses (which are on order). His glasses were basic black and the kind of simplest kind. I mean nothing fancy or trendy. In fact, the kind that cost the least. But he was careful with them. At one time he saw a young boy try to exercise by doing
push-ups. He called to him, asked his name, introduced himself and gave him so tips as well as encouragement. You know what, it struck me after my initial impression that I was way off…I need to work on first impressions. Obviously, I’m not fair about them. But more importantly, how am I seen? What’s my first impression? Am I as simple as him? Do I want to be? Yes, I do.

[Mortart
Location:Monroe Township, New Jersey, United States ]

My initial posting under this title (12/18/05) has produced 18 comments so far from readers. This response is unprecedented. Much of it was undoubtedly spurred by the recent citation of Octogenarian as “The Blog of the Week” by WXPNews, a popular on-line magazine. The intensity of the comments shows that the Iraq war is probably the most critical issue of the day for public discussion. I am pleased that my blog is being utilized as a forum for debate (see below).

About half the comments support my view that the Bush Administration’s decision to invade Iraq was a dreadful mistake. The other writers vigorously defend it.

What disturbs me about the critics of my view is their illogical insistence that the war’s opponents are in effect opposing the war against radical Islamic terrorism. In making this argument,President Bush and his supporters clearly imply that that it is virtually unpatriotic to oppose the war. At the same time,they continue to explain that Iraq was invaded in response to 9/11. And when this explanation is dismissed, they return to those other excuses for the war: that Saddam Hussein threatened the U.S. with WMDs or that we are embarked on an idealistic crusade to introduce democracy to the Muslim world.

Arguing that those of us who oppose the war are also against the war on terrorism, reader Rick, for example, has written: “There are those poor fools who believe that if we just talk to the terrorists and try to understand their view a little better, then everything will be alright. Those are the types of people who, if allowed to be in positions of power, scare the hell out of me.”

In all candor, I am “scared out of hell” by the Iraq war’s defenders who fail to recognize that the Iraq invasion is actually hampering the war on terrorism. The invasion has set us back in this critical endeavor by diverting manpower and other vital resources to an unnecessary war.

As has been pointed out by many military and intelligence experts–at least those who have no partisan need to support the Bush Administration (e.g., Gen. Brent Scowcroft)–we have turned Iraq into a breeding ground and training center for terrorists and have lured Al-Qaeda and other jihadis into the country. In short, we have alienated the Muslim world and created new enemies.

Moreover, the situation in Iraq has allowed Iran–a far more serious threat with WMDs than Saddam ever was–to become an influential player in the country. In the past, Saddam, admittedly a very dangerous dictator, had been a barrier against both Iran (with whom he had waged war) and Al-Qaeda and other Islamic extremists who regarded Saddam as a religous infidel.

Meanwhile, in Afghanistan, where we had successfully destroyed Al-Qaeda and its Taliban hosts, the Islamic terrorists appear to be making a comeback.

So where do we stand now? An American general has been quoted as admitting that one reason for the insurgency that continues to kill and maim our troops is our very presence in the country. And despite all the hoopla about the Iraq elections and the photos of happy voters with their purple fingers, the country is in chaos and is facing a civil war.If extremist Shiite factions gain control, which is very possible, Iraq–or at least the huge regions that they would rule–could wind up as a theocratic ally of Iran.

And for this, we invaded Iraq?

[Posted: Sunday, December 18, 2005]
[octogenarian.blogspot.com]

[Mortart
Location:Monroe Township, New Jersey, United States ]

About 25 years ago, the eminent historian Barbara W. Tuchman wrote a best-selling book entitled “The March of Folly–from Troy to Vietnam.” Tuchman, who died in 1989, noted that one of the great paradoxes of history is that governments often mindlessly pursue policies that actually clash with their own national interests.

She cited, for example, how Britain’s King George III repeatedly alienated his American colonies with excessive taxation, made rebels where there had been none, disregarded rising discontent, and forfeited control of the North American continent.

Similarly, Tuchman explored our nation’s 35-year involvement in Vietnam, beginning with President Roosevelt’s endorsement of French colonial rule. She argued that the Cold War-inspired domino theory raised the stakes, and described President Lyndon Johnson’s insistence on military victory as “benighted.” The result, she wrote, was a “final uneasy escape” and the loss of essential trust in government.

If Tuchman were alive today, she could have added the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 as the latest episode of governmental folly. The justification for the war has changed so many times that it’s hard to keep up. There were no weapons of mass destruction and Saddam Hussein did not pose an imminent threat to the U.S. Nor did the invasion bolster the essential war on terrorism or make the U.S. more secure.

Instead, it has turned Iraq into a breeding ground and training center for Islamic terrorism, accentuated international hatred of the U.S., and inspired a new generation of jihadis eager and willing to fight us. And yet the war’s advocates dare charge that those who objected to the Iraq invasion are opposing the war on terrorism.

Proponents of the war now excitedly claim that democracy is being introduced into Iraq, as demonstrated by the big turnout of voters in the recent parliamentary election. The problem is that you don’t export democracy. You export machine tools and airplanes and soy beans and corn.

It is premature to boast about the democratization of Iraq. The sectarian and ethnic barriers are formidable, and the odds are not favorable for genuine success. Moreover, to contend that the U.S. would necessarily benefit by the spread of democracy in Iraq to the rest of the Middle East is ludicrous. If there were free and open elections in Egypt and Saudi Arabia, two autocratic countries friendly to the U.S., the victors in both would undoubtedly be radical Islamists violently opposed to our presence in the Middle East.

The post-World War II democratic successes in Germany and Japan are not analagous to the situation in Iraq, as the Bush Administration likes to argue. Germany and Japan had homogeneous populations, were more advanced industrially, and had formally surrended after harsh military defeats.

But the basic issue is this: In the unlikely event that our objectives are realized in Iraq and that the country is turned into a stable working democracy, was it worth the many thousands of American troops killed and maimed and the expenditure of an estimated trillion dollars or more?

[Posted: Sunday, December 18, 2005]
[octogenarian.blogspot.com]

[Mortart
Location:Monroe Township, New Jersey, United States ]

The society page of my local newspaper recently reported that Bess Myerson, who was named “Miss America” in September 1945, was the featured speaker at a fund-raising luncheon for a local charity. The report brought back to mind the memory of how her selection as “Miss America” that year affected my personal life.

While Bess was becoming a national celebrity in Atlantic City, N.J. as the first Jewish “Miss America,” I was in the Army stationed in India. I shared a barracks with about 20 other soldiers. Virtually all of them came from small towns, and few of them had ever known a Jew before meeting me.

There was one other Jewish guy in our outfit, but I was the only one in my barracks. During our service together over the previous year and a half, I had been fully accepted socially. Although I felt comfortable as “one of the boys,” however, I also felt that I was regarded as a somewhat exotic personality because I was unchurched and came from some place called the Bronx.

About all my barracks-mates seemed to know about the Bronx was that it was the home of both a famous zoo and the New York Yankees baseball team. Their knowledge was expanded when it was revealed to the world that the new “Miss America” also hailed from the Bronx. The news accounts played up the fact that Ms. Myerson was the daughter of an immigrant Jewish house painter and his wife.

Shortly after Bess Myerson’s selection, my mother mailed me a photograph of the new “Miss America,” clipped from PM, a now-defunct, daily New York City tabloid newspaper. The photo ran over two full pages in the paper and pictured the statuesque Ms. Myerson with a gorgeous smile on her face and a bathing suit on her magnificent figure.

I immediatgely hung the photo on the wall behind my bed. Most of my barracks-mates had pictures of Hollywood movie stars hanging behind their bunks. A handful posted photographs of girl friends back home. But none of them projected the sexy aura of the new “Miss America.”

My bunk–and especially the photo hanging on the wall behind it–quickly became the focal point in the barracks where my buddies gathered to gaze with rapture at the Jewish girl from the Bronx who had become “Miss America.”

As guys who came from small towns in which everyone seemed to know everyone else, I had the feeling that they assumed that I knew Bess Myerson personally. Of course, I had never made that claim. The Bronx, after all, had many hundreds of thousands of residents, although I wasn’t sure that my buddies knew that. Nevertheless, I maintained a nonchalant air when questioned about the quality and nature of Jewish girls from the Bronx.

The fact that both Bess Myerson, the stunning new “Miss America,” and I were both Jews from the Bronx seemed to have earned me almost as much respect as if I had been awarded a medal for bravery in combat.

[ Posted: Friday, December 23, 2005 ]
[octogenarian.blogspot.com]