Re: Solution To The Palestinian/Israeli Conflict

Dear Free Press,

Although I agree with the underlying sentiment of Patrick's letter, I don't think it's feasible. If the U.N. was going to isolate by force every country that has a conflict with it's neighbors or an internal group, the planet would be riddled with isolated nations, which seems to me to be a strange activity for a group called The United Nations.

Actually, it wouldn't, because the U.N. has neither the power nor the mandate to do so.

However, I do agree that pressure must be put on both parties to adhere to U.N. resolutions, not simply to condemn the Palestinians but frown on the Israelis. And I agree that third-party intervention or arbitration is probably the best chance for success, since both cultures have such a "you give in first" attitude historically. I also think that the U.N. should make it clear that they favor the Rabin approach (and those who tried to follow suit) to peace between these peoples, NOT the Sharon approach, which is a recipe for unending hostility.

I will argue one other point, though: Patrick's use of the phrase "the

Bush wins Triple Trifecta as worst president ever

"The worst president in our lifetime" is how many Americans view George W. Bush.

But Bush is not merely the worst president in recent memory.  He's the worst in all US history.  And he's won the distinction not on a weakness or two, but in at least nine separate categories, giving him a triple trifecta.   

It's a record unmatched by any previous president.  

Let's count the ways:  

TRIFECTA ONE:  Economy, Environment, Education  

Economy:
Until now, Herbert Hoover has been the president most closely associated with economic disaster.  He presided over the 1929 stock crash, and choked while the economy collapsed around him. 

Bush did not preside over the 2000 Nasdaq crash.  But he's turned the biggest federal surplus into history's biggest deficit, which a nervous global banking community sees as a potential weapon of mass fiscal destruction.  Bush has lost more jobs than Hoover.  A top Bush advisor has called outsourcing "just a new way of doing international trade." 

Bush has achieved the economic trifecta by simultaneously collapsing the

Solution To The Palestinian/Israeli Conflict

Solution To The Conflict Between Palestine and Israel:

There can be only one solution to the conflict between the Palestinians and the Israelis -- Forced intervention and separation.

The framework and mandated legal basis for peace between Palestine and Israel already exists:  International law in the form of United Nations Security Council Resolutions, backed by a host of UN General Assembly Resolutions, addressing specific elements and issues between the parties, that spell out in detail what is required of each side.  The singular problem remains getting both sides to cease the hostilities and accept what is required of each as detailed in these UN resolutions.  And there is a method in place to do just that, force -- equally and without prejudice -- both sides to comply fully with international law; thereby providing peace, security and economic opportunity for both sides living side-by-side in peaceful coexistence and within the expanded Middle East region.

Bush Military Record

Dear Harvey,

        I wish I had the ear of the DNC. They're going about this Bush military issue the wrong way. Why wait for Rove & Co. to find a couple true believers to lie about having served with Bush? Why try to prove a negative? They should:

1.        Find people to establish where Bush WAS at that time. He had to be working on that campaign. He might have been attending meetings, appearing at benefit dinners, dating, partying, whatever. ANYTHING they establish as to his whereabouts and any good time he might have been having while he was SUPPOSED to be on a military base, during wartime, keeping in a state of readiness (e.g. drug & alcohol free at the very least) would be a good example of his lack of responsibility & patriotism, and his elitist attitude that the rules don't apply to rich, powerful people like the Bushes.

        And if anyone argues that Reservists don't have to be in a state of readiness, point out how many have been sent to war by HIS administration.

2.        Get a couple volunteers who served at his base at that time and assemble

Duck hunt

Intelligence briefing

An Odd Accusation From Ralph Nader

After several decades as one of America’s great public-interest advocates, Ralph Nader has developed an extraordinary response when people say they don’t think he should run for president in 2004.

     During a Feb. 4 interview on NPR’s “All Things Considered” program, Nader had this to say when asked about an editorial in The Nation urging him not to run this year: “It’s a marvelous demonstration by liberals, if you will, of censorship. Now mind you, running for political office is every American’s right. Running for political office means free speech exercise, it means exercising the right of petition, the right of assembly. And so when they say ‘Do not run,’ they’re not just challenging and rebutting; they’re crossing that line into censorship, which is completely unacceptable.”

     News anchor Melissa Block followed up: “Wouldn’t censorship, though, be if anyone were physically preventing you from running? They’re not saying that you can’t run; they’re asking you not to. They’re asking you to make that decision for what they consider to be the greater good of the country.”

Move on video dissemination

 The Serving Earth group is arranging for the MoveOn.org video entitled "Uncovered: The Whole Truth About the Iraq War" to be shown at as many local libraries as possible. They need volunteers from central Ohio communities to contact their local library, post flyers provided by MoveOn in high traffic areas, and assist with a group discussion following each screening. If you'd like to help out with this project, please contact Becky at 488-7122 or at servingearth@aol.com.

Raising hell

AUSTIN, Texas -- Friends of liberty, raise hell! To the barricades, or at least to the post office and the emails. A British citizen named Katharine Gun faces two years in prison for revealing that the U.S. National Security Agency tried -- and succeeded -- in getting the Brits to help us with illegal spying operations at the United Nations. The targets were the delegations of the six countries on the U.N. Security Council that were undecided on how to vote on the critical Iraqi war resolution.

            Now, there are two schools of reaction to this tawdry, slimy little spy episode: It was illegal, immoral and wrong, and Katharine Gun should get a medal for exposing it. Or, some are shocked, shocked to hear of spying at the U.N., where it is apparently only slightly less common than dirt.

            Well, if it wasn't much of a secret to begin with, why is this woman going to prison for telling the truth? Give her a medal anyway.

Senator facing-both-ways

We await Michael Moore's concession speech after his hero, General Wesley Clark, tasted the ashes of defeat in Tennessee and Virginia and sensibly threw in the towel.

            If Howard Dean was the hero of the dot-coms, Clark was a creation of the Arkansas-Hollywood axis embodied in Clinton-era stage managers such as Harry and Linda Thomason, Mary Steenburgen and Ted Danson. It was supposed to be "The Man from Hope: The Sequel," this time with a genuine military officer rather than Bill the Draft Dodger. The rollout movie for the Clark campaign was Linda Thomason's "Native Son," alluding to Clark's early years in Little Rock.

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