AND THE WALL CAME TUMBLING DOWN

    The US media is engaging in a manufactured media orgy commemorating the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.  Gorbachev deserves the credit for ending the Russian occupation of Berlin and the dissolution of the Soviet Empire in Eastern Europe.  
    What the USA needs now is it’s own fearless leader who is willing to bite the bullet by ending our imperial misadventures.  But so  far all we get from Obama is delay and dithering.  How many meetings must Barack have to see the obvious folly of staying in Afghanistan?  
    What nobody is talking about is that the implosion of the Soviet Empire began with their misadventure in Afghanistan in the 1980s.  The loss in Afghanistan led to the Red Army’s demoralization and pushed the Soviet economy over the brink.  
    What makes us think our nation can escape the laws of history?  Since 9/11 we’ve engaged often ineptly in a two front war on terrorism while at the same time seeing the global economy create capitalism’s greatest crisis since The Great Depression.  
    We face a health care crisis at home which is a drag on our economy, we face global warming which we contribute to more than any economy, we face the impoverishment of the middle class while the super rich are bailed out and we now face a major escalation of the war on terrorism in Afghanistan.  
    The problem in the USA is that our “Berlin Wall” is invisible - there is no "Check Point Charlie."  Ours is based on cultural hubris, political cowardice, managerial incompetence, economic greed and a false belief in "American Exceptionalism.".  Our “Berlin Wall” began with 9/11 and the narcissism of Wall Street.  
    Our metaphorical Brandenburg Gate is the Mayor of Kabul, the Oval Office, Capitol Hill and K- Street.  For more proof of the obvious check out Jim Hightower’s latest rant:  DYING FOR KARZAI

    PS:  In picture above a woman begs outside Kabul's Darul Aman (Abode of Peace) Palace.  Built during the 1920s but repeatedly sacked, it is slated as a home for the Afghan parliament.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

To	The Oregonian (Portland)
Subject	Health Care Reform
Message	The House of Representatives made history by passing H.R. 3962, the Affordable Health Care for America Act. My Congressman David Wu voted Yes - joining other Oregon Democratic Congressman in supporting this important reform which includes a public option plan.         Those who did not vote for the bill including Washington's Brian Baird and Oregon's Greg Walden have time to reconsider and support reform in the upcoming final House vote. While HR 3962 is not perfect it's a down payment on bringing about real health care reform.         As a political scientist who has taught the Politics of Health Care at Pacific and PSU, I'd prefer a single payer plan like Canada's. But the House bill will cover 36 million Americans who don't have coverage. It will also prevent insurance companies from discriminating against people with pre-existing conditions.         Russ Dondero         PS:  Join me in writing your own "letter to the editor" supporting President Obama's health reform.  Check out the link below:   http://my.barackobama.com/HouseVoteLTE

HOUSE PASSES HEALTH CARE BILL

FROM PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA:  

    This evening, at 11:15 p.m., the House of Representatives voted to pass their health insurance reform bill. Despite countless attempts over nearly a century, no chamber of Congress has ever before passed comprehensive health reform. This is history.

    But you and millions of your fellow Organizing for America supporters didn't just witness history tonight -- you helped make it. Each "yes" vote was a brave stand, backed up by countless hours of knocking on doors, outreach in town halls and town squares, millions of signatures, and hundreds of thousands of calls. You stood up. You spoke up. And you were heard.

    So this is a night to celebrate -- but not to rest. Those who voted for reform deserve our thanks, and the next phase of this fight has already begun.

    The final Senate bill hasn't even been released yet, but the insurance companies are already pressing hard for a filibuster to bury it. OFA has built a massive neighborhood-by-neighborhood operation to bring people's voices to Congress, and tonight we saw the results. But the coming days will put our efforts to the ultimate test. Winning will require each of us to give everything we can, starting right now.

    Tonight's vote brought every American closer to the secure, affordable care we need. But it was also a watershed moment in how change is made.

    Even after last year's election, many insider lobbyists and partisan operatives really thought that the old formula of scare tactics, D.C. back-scratching and special-interest money would still be enough to block any idea they didn't like. Now, they're desperate. Because, tonight, you made it crystal clear: the old rules are changing -- and the people will not be ignored.

    In the final phases of last year's election, I often reminded folks, "Don't think for a minute that power concedes without a fight," and it's especially true today. But that's okay -- we're not afraid of a fight. And as you continue to prove, when all of us work together, we have what it takes to win.

    Let's keep making history,
    President Barack Obama

    PS:  The faith community made a difference and still can - check out Rev. Chuck Currie's blog for more on this historic vote and what you can do as things move over to the US Senate and eventually to a conference committee.  The vote tonight is the first stage of a three part act. 

http://chuckcurrie.blogs.com/chuck_currie/2009/11/breaking-news-house-passes-affordable-health-care-for-america-act.html

THE DAY AFTER

   RAD:  The horrific event at Fort Hood in Texas makes one realize the fragility of life and one's mortality.  In that light I've posted the quotes in the post below to bring solace to us all but especially the family and friends of the maimed and killed.                                                                                  
    On the morning after such horror we should be careful about drawing conclusions about what caused a soldier-psychiatrist who happens to be a USA born and raised Muslim-American to perpetrate such evil. Time will tell.  Speculation is rampant.  Already some are rushing to judgment focusing on the ethnicity and faith of the perpetrator as if that explained anything definitive.                                
    The US military has always included men and women from many races, ethnicities and faiths.  In WW II Japanese-Americans served their country with honor despite the fact their families were interned; Native-Americans served herorically despite centureis of mistreatment of their tribal peers; and African-Americans served bravely in segregated units.                                                                                         
    It is too easy to default to reasons of race, ethnicity or faith when the issues of this case are too complex for such one-dimensional analysis.  In the simmering pot of American pluralism people of different races, ethnicities, faiths, genders and sexual orientations have served their nation well abeit facing the slings and arrows of prejudice.
    It is clear from what we know so far that the accused was a very troubled person as his psychiatrist peers at Walter Reed in DC noted.  With all the warnings out there - why didn't anybody step up and go to the higher ups to note their concerns?  As with tragedies of this sort, including Oregon's own Kip Kinkle case, there is a conspiracy of silence which precedes such horrific events.  Why?              
    Let's also keep this tragedy in perspective, The Oklahoma City bombing on April 19, 1995 by American militia movement sympathizer Timothy McVeigh, with the assistance of Terry Nichols was the most significant act of terrorism on American soil until the September 11 attacks in 2001, claiming the lives of 168 victims and injuring more than 680.                                                                          
    Finally, while the NRA will no doubt say at some point that “people, not guns, kill people” it’s hard to imagine such slaughter being possible without access in this case to automatic weapons.  And yet our 2nd Amendment fetish for unlimited access to personal weapons of mass destruction will no doubt continue – despite Fort Hood or similar events such as the killings at Virginia Tech.

MOURNING IN AMERICA

   Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal.  ~From a headstone in Ireland

    When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.  ~Kahlil Gibran

    Sorrow makes us all children again - destroys all differences of intellect.  The wisest know nothing.  ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

    We must embrace pain and burn it as fuel for our journey. ~Kenji Miyazawa

        Time is a physician that heals every grief. ~Diphilus

        The deep pain that is felt at the death of every friendly soul arises from the feeling that there is in every individual something which is inexpressible, peculiar to him alone, and is, therefore, absolutely and irretrievably lost. ~Arthur Schopenhauer

        In the night of death, hope sees a star, and listening love can hear the rustle of a wing.  ~Robert Ingersoll

        Every evening I turn my worries over to God.  He's going to be up all night anyway.  ~Mary C. Crowley