The Pay and Sit Bench

Now that the City of Sioux Falls has decided to charge $25 to reserve one of the taxpayer financed park shelters, maybe we should consider this pay and sit bench as well. Click on the link and see the article.

Pay & Sit Bench Keeps the Poor Standing, The Rich Relaxing
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/07/pay-sit-bench-keeps-the-poor-standing-the-rich-relaxing/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+GearFactor+(Blog+-+Gadget+Lab+(Gear+Factor))&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher

A Liberal Case for Israel

While I believe that Israel and the pro-Israel community need to think in terms of sound bites rather than debate with our arguments, I found this video to be poignant. I hope that you can find 4 to 5 minutes to watch this video. Pro-Israel or not, this video will give you something to think about.

Humanitarian Assistance

Quote of the Week: "There are 1.5 million people living in Gaza and ONLY ONE of them really needs humanitarian aid; ONLY ONE of them is locked in a tiny room and never sees the light of day; ONLY ONE of them is not allowed visits and is uncertain health. His name is GILAD SHALIT!" - author unknown - ONLY ONE of them is not able to have freedom!
                                          -From email from Steven Shamrak


Tomorrow, June 24, 2010 Gilad Shalit will have been held for 4 years since being kidnapped by terrorists from Gaza. He should be freed immediately. Assuming that he will not be freed by his captors, he should be given the minimal rights of a prisoner of war. He should be allowed visits and packages from the International Red Cross. Anything less is just inhumane treatment. Against any other soldier the world's response would be overwhelming condemnation but I guess Israelis are not human.

Ever So Rare...

Ever so rare as a day in June
For then, if ever, did God make perfect days.
                                         -George Smith

Lunch with my good friend Dick.
A walk through the center of the city.
Coffee with Carol and Max.
Walking and more walking
On the bike path along the river.
A nearly cloudless sky,
Warmth from the sun,
Coolness of the breeze,
Murmuring of the river,
Sweet scents of late spring in the air.
O what a glorious day.
Paradise!

Milton Friedman on Greed

I was sent the following video and I just thought that it is too good not to post. While I completely agree with Friedman that capitalism and free enterprise are truly the best means for advancing the welfare of society, he does not delve into the need for government oversight. We know that unsupervised greed can create tremendous havoc for our economy. Capitalists require restrictions so they do not go too far. We saw what unrestrained capitalism did with our last investment bubble. It nearly destroyed our way of life. We are still feeling the effects and will for some time. We are also seeing the effect of regulations not being enforced properly or the right regulations put in place in the fiasco going on in the Gulf of Mexico with British Petroleum.

Both of these events deserve a great deal more input than I am giving them here. I hope that you enjoy this video. The message is pertinent but only a portion of the story. Comments are always appreciated.

The Right to Vote

With the low turnout in the South Dakota Republican Primary election and the similar turnout in the Sioux Falls City election in April, I am very concerned about the lack of voter interest. My parents and my education instilled in me a regard for citizenship. Our democracy is anchored on our citizens assuming their responsibility to make informed choices as to who should lead them.

The Right to Vote is not an ideal to be taken lightly. With this right goes a responsibility to use it and use it wisely. Originally in America, only white males who owned property were granted this right. With much struggle over the last 2 plus centuries, America enfranchised all citizens over the age of 18. Is it because everyone is eligible and it is so easy to register that so many of our citizens do not vote? If the ability to vote were taken away, would people finally realize its value? Or are we so apathetic toward our government at all levels that we just do not care? The knee-jerk response I receive when I ask why people do not vote is that most do not believe that voting makes any difference. I just will not accept that freedom and democracy are spectator sports. Voting is the minimum we must do to maintain our democracy.

I have a radical idea as a possible solution. Any registered voter who did not vote in the last 2 elections will be dropped from the roles of eligible voters for the same category. This sounds complicated but let me use the examples of the 2 elections previously mentioned to explain my proposal. If you did not vote in this last South Dakota Republican Primary or the prior one 2 years ago, you would be dropped as a registered Republican but not from the voter roles. If you did not vote in this year's Sioux Falls City election or last years, you would not be eligible to vote again in another city election. This proposal is drastic but I think it would get people’s attention. Actually, I would not be too harsh. If you did not vote in the last 2 elections, you could get back on the roles for the next one by going to the County Courthouse and re-registering to vote in the next election. I believe this to be a small but necessary inconvenience for those who want to maintain this basic right.

The Right to Vote is the cornerstone of our Freedom and the foundation of our country. My father told me when I was a youth that Freedom is not Free. Every citizen must do his or her part to insure that our government works. By people not voting, a minority of the electorate decides how we are to be governed. This is a travesty. I pray our citizens wake up and understand that they must play their part.

Blessed

On Sunday, Deb and I were driving back to Barry and Debby’s home from the Savannah airport having just dropped off Josh for his long trip home to Zurich. Our beautiful weekend of family getting together for Nathan’s Bar Mitzvah was slowly coming to a close. I do not know how we got on the subject of raising children. I don’t remember if Deb asked me about my philosophy (like I would have one) or what. We talked about parent’s difficulty in making the right decisions with children especially teenagers. As a parent, you want your kids to learn independence but how independent? When a situation arises, a parent does not have the luxury of saying let me think about that for awhile. I will get back to you. Usually, a decision is required immediately. Some parents are just lucky, I guess. I know that Carol and I have been. I know other parents and friends, who are fantastic people but struggled and still struggle with their children's problems.

Our discussion brings me to the point of this blog. Following our discussion, I reflected on how blessed Louis, of blessed memory, and Bernice are. What a fantastic weekend of such nachas for Bubi. She has so much to be thankful for. Look at Bubi and Zadi’s children and their spouses. Could one have asked for better spouses? Well, maybe they batted 75% because they got me in the mix. Their children’s successes are not bad but look at their grandchildren. Wow!! Absolutely, these kids (I use the term loosely.) are some of the brightest, most talented, intelligent and well-rounded that I know. I am prejudiced about David and Deborah but all of my nieces and nephews (including my Rosenthal niece and nephew who do not count as part of this group – sorry Jackie and Harry) are incredible people. A book could be written about all of them and what they have accomplished. Lastly, we come to the top for me, Carol’s and my grandson Drew. He may be only 4 but what a great child. As the ditty goes, “the seed does not fall far from the tree.” He fits with this family.

Well the Bar Mitzvah weekend was excellent. Nathan did an incredible job but what would you expect? It is in the genes. I am saddened that it all came to an end. The time I spent with family and friends was great. I know that I feel blessed but I am just a small part of the blessings that have befallen Louis and Bernice. I wish I understood what they did right because the results say that they did it exceedingly well. Thank you Bubi and Zadi.

Israel and Our Failure at Social Networking

I find this article on Wired.com to be powerful. We in the Pro-Israel community have constantly been looking at ways to get our message out to the world. This article discusses how the "Peace Flotilla" used social networks that literally cost them nothing to win the public relations campaign in this battle with Israel. We need to study, understand and learn. We should be the best at this not our adversaries. Our adversaries mobilize loosely connected groups while we try to centralize our communication. We look to only convert the faithful while we also need the uncommitted. I believe that this article is a wake-up call. The article does not provide all of the answers nor all of the questions but we should use it as a starting point.

Please read the article, pass this blog or the article on to others and please comment if you would like.

How Free Explains Israel’s Flotilla FAIL

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/06/how-free-explains-israels-flotilla-fiasco/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+wired/index+(Wired:+Index+3+(Top+Stories+2))&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher

Israel's Critical Security Needs for a Viable Peace

While I believe that Israel and the Palestinians need to agree on peace between themselves, this video shows the strategic problems for Israel in going back to the 1967 Armistice Lines. This video makes a good argument for its case. One can argue that if true peace comes, there is no need for what this video proposes. On the other side, if there is true peace between them, the Palestinians will understand Israel's need for security. This video graphically shows the problems whether you agree with the conclusions or not.

The Real Palestinian Traitors

Is it my Jewish – Western or Judeo – Christian values? Khaled Abu Toameh must be lost in the wilderness. As an off-shoot of a quote from former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir who said, “We will have peace with the Arabs when they love their children more than they hate us.” When the Palestinians care more about their own people rather than stealing the world’s generous donations, there will be a chance for peace. Khaled’s lone voice does not give me confidence that the situation will change. But one voice is hugely better than none. Maybe we will see other Palestinians take up his call.

In his article, Mr. Toameh really nails the problem of corruption. Here is an excerpt from the article. If you are interested in the entire article, I have put the link below.

The real traitors are those who established another corrupt dictatorship in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and stole billions of dollars of international aid that was supposed to improve the living conditions of their people.

The real traitors are those who built a casino for the Palestinians instead of building them a hospital and a school.

The real traitors are those who are trying to silence journalists and reformists who want to see a better life for their people.

To view the entire article, go to: http://www.hudsonny.org/2010/05/the-palestinians-the-real-traitors.php

Khaled Abu Toameh (born 1963) is an “Israeli-Arab-Muslim-Palestinian” journalist and documentary filmmaker. He is the West Bank and Gaza correspondent for the Jerusalem Post and U.S. News and World Report, and has been the Palestinian affairs producer for NBC News since 1988. His articles have appeared in The Sunday Times, Daily Express and many others.

See his Wikipedia bio at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khaled_Abu_Toameh

Pentagon to Troop-Killing Superbugs: Resistance is Futile

I do not know how worried most people are about the new superbugs that have found ways to overcome our most powerful anti-biotics. Historically before penicillin bacteria were a very significant factor in causing death. Our world population exploded once these new cures were found. Like most living organisms, bacteria has found ways to counter anti-biotics and today we are faced with an enormous problem. If this research is accurate and a new system of defense has been found, our Defense Department needs to be congratulated. Separately, I see from one of the comments that there maybe a chance that we have also found a means of destroying viruses.

Here is the link to the article if you are interested:
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/05/pentagon-to-troop-killing-superbugs-resistance-is-futile/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+wired/index+(Wired:+Index+3+(Top+Stories+2))&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher

Christians United for Israel Sunday

I want to talk about miracles. I read a story a long time ago that I want to give credit for to Rabbi Harold Kushner in his book, To Life. My problem is that I do not have the book with me and so cannot find the specific quote. I hope that my attribution is correct but if it is not I hope that the correct author will accept my apology. Plus, I am butchering the story. At least maybe you will understand the message.

When the Jews were crossing the Red Sea, Sholmo and Haim were pushing a cart. God had split the sea and the walls of water were on both sides of them. All that they could do was complain about pushing this cart through the mud and how much mud was getting on their sandals and clothing.

Rather than see and accept the miracle that was happening all around them, they could not break out of their self-centeredness. Having just been freed from slavery, they could only see trauma not miracles. Has the effect of centuries of inhuman treatment and the Holocaust at the hands of Christians in Europe blinded us from miracles?

Today, Christians United for Israel is having a day of prayer and support for the State of Israel. Thousands of churches and hundreds of thousands or maybe millions of Christians are standing up to be counted for their support of the Jewish state. Isn’t this a miracle? For how many centuries would our people cried for such support? Today, we would rather think that these people are anti-Semitic or have some other agenda. I say that we need to wake up and say thank you for their help.

I close with a couple of attachments. Please click on them and watch the video and read the article.

The first is a video by Pastor John Hegee of CUFI. The video is entitled, Christians United for Israel Sunday 2010 - A message from Pastor John Hagee

The second is an article written by Dennis Prager on the Conservative Website, Townhall.com. The article is entitled, Obama, Israel and the Genesis Prediction.

http://townhall.com/columnists/DennisPrager/2010/04/20/obama,_israel_and_the_genesis_prediction

Like this blog and most things I put up, I do not expect everyone to agree with my views. I hope, no really I pray that you find my Random Thoughts at least provocative enough to think about them. I would appreciate any comments.

Christians United for Israel

My mind is in a whirl. The past three weeks have been soul changing. Much of the foundation on which my religious education was based has been shattered. If anything, my faith in Judaism, Israel and the Jewish people has strengthened. Is it not strange that this is the result of Christian support? And I believe that they would celebrate if they knew.

A little over two weeks ago, several of us from Sioux Falls attended “A Night to Honor Israel” at the Living Word Christian Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I went to a similar event about three years ago and was moved then as well. Pastor Hammond really knows how to put on a great production. As you may have seen by an earlier post, the featured speaker this year was Dennis Prager. I wish more Jews could have been there to hear Dennis and feel the warmth for Israel and the Jewish community at that church. I was moved.

Dick Lewin, Dennis Prager & Stephen Rosenthal at A Night to Honor Israel in Minneapolis.

Since that event, I read Standing with Israel, by David Brog. David is the Executive Director of Christians United for Israel (CUFI). It is noteworthy that David is Jewish and was the Chief of Staff to Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania. This book is well worth the time to read. David, while Chief of Staff, was curious as to why Evangelical Christians are so Pro-Israel. His book goes into great historical detail with the explanation. Many things I did not know about Christian theology, David explained. A couple of interesting side points were that an evangelical Christian was responsible for Theodore Herzl meeting with Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany. The Kaiser gave official recognition of the Zionist movement at its very beginning. British Foreign Secretary Lord Arthur Balfour and the British Prime Minister Lloyd George were bible literalists. They believed that the Promised Land still belonged to the Jews. They were responsible for the Balfour Declaration. I was moved.

Pastor Michael Bang, South Dakota CUFI State Chair & John Summerville, Regional Director for CUFI

This past Thursday, Christians United for Israel for South Dakota in Sioux Falls organized their first meeting. Pastors Michael and Vicki Bang did an outstanding job. Carol and I attended the luncheon for pastors and the evening meeting for the public. Like the meeting in the Twin Cities, I cannot express how welcomed, as Jews, we felt. At both events, I saw people whom I have known for some time that I had no idea were Pro-Israel. John Summerville, the Midwest Region Representative of CUFI, gave exceptional presentations at both meetings. I was moved.

I was raised to be skeptical of Christians. Because of our last 2000 years of history, I grew up believing that most Christians are anti-Semitic. They base their belief on scripture that God gave the land of Israel to the Jews and that those who bless Jews will be blessed and those who curse Jews will be cursed. We skeptics would think or say that these Christians do not really mean what they say. They have ulterior motives. How can they care about us when so much of their domestic agenda many Jews oppose? I know that we have difficulty understanding people of faith. Most Jews question everything including God. So we believe that anyone who has such strong faith as these Christians are not all there. You can say that I have lost my mind. I believe them. I do not blame others for being skeptical. I hope that others will use their skepticism to educate themselves. Be a skeptic from knowledge. I pray that we do not let ignorance and prejudice cloud our views. Most hatred of the Jews comes from ignorance. May those quick to scream prejudice at others' ignorance not be ignorant themselves. I admit that I have had plenty of those feelings in the past. Like many other prejudices that I have overcome, knowledge sheds the light of understanding. I hope that others open their eyes and be moved like I have been.

I am proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with Christians United for Israel. I hope that many of my fellow Jews will do likewise. 

Another Zionist Plot

This is a story that rarely seems to make the media. It is one that the Israel bashers do not want you to see or if you do, not to be believed. 

_________

The Zionist plot you never hear about: Saving Arab children 

There is a cardiac ward in a hospital in Tel Aviv where children lie on cots as doctors and nurses check charts and adjust advanced medical equipment. It is busy here. Some of the children sit up on stretchers in the halls, watching, playing with toys or taking spoonfuls of cereal from their parents.

These children are not Jewish. Indeed, none hold Israeli citizenship. Many come from China, Russia, Hungary, Yemen and other nations far from Israel. On closer inspection, you will discover that half of the children being treated here are Palestinians from the West Bank. All of these kids are receiving some of the best medical care available in the world, to heal their broken hearts.

For the rest of this short article:
http://www.nationalpost.com/story.html?id=2996168

Jewish Suspicions of Christians

On Sunday, a small group from Sioux Falls went to Minneapolis to the Living Word Christian Center for "A Night to Honor Israel." I am still mulling over my thoughts on this wonderful evening. I expect I will blog on the entire evening in the near future.The featured speaker for the evening was Dennis Prager, to me a tower of Jewish thought and wisdom. I wish everyone could view his entire speech. One of the thoughts that he discussed, I found on YouTube from a similar address that he gave. In this short video, he simplistically explains to both Christians and Jews why Jews are so reticent to believe that Christians can truly love Israel and the Jewish people. I hope that you will take the time to watch this short video and then examine your own views.

The False Religion of Mideast Peace - Aaron David Miller

This is a very long article in Foreign Policy Magazine. While the length is oppressive, the thoughts are instructive. He basically leaves one with the impression that currently, peace between Israel and the Palestinians and Israel and the Arabs is unattainable. With all of the complex problems facing the US both at home and abroad, we cannot bring enough focus to work with the parties to solve this problem. He does not say it specifically but only another war will create the needs to find a chance for peace. The two times that great progress was made was following the 1973 Yom Kippur War, which led to peace between Israel and Egypt, and following the Gulf War when we began the Oslo Process. Barring such catastrophic events, we will remain stuck in a quagmire. He does not say we should give up but we should have a realistic understanding of where we are at.


For information on the author, Aaron David Miller, you might look at the Wikipedia post on him:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_David_Miller


A small excerpt from the article:


I can't tell you how many times in the past 20 years, as an intelligence analyst, policy planner, and negotiator, I wrote memos to Very Important People arguing the centrality of the Arab-Israeli issue and why the U.S. needed to fix it. Today, I couldn't write those same memos or anything like them with a clear conscience or a straight face. The notion that there's a single or simple fix to protecting U.S. interests, let alone that Arab-Israeli peace would, like some magic potion, make it all better, is just flat wrong. In a broken, angry region with so many problems, it stretches the bounds of credulity to the breaking point to argue that settling the Arab-Israeli conflict is the most critical issue, or that its resolution would somehow guarantee Middle East stability.


A brilliant, empathetic president has made America the focal point of action and responsibility for the Arab-Israeli issue at a time when the country may be least able to do much about it. The painful truth is that faith in America's capacity to fix the Arab-Israeli issue has always been overrated. It's certainly no coincidence that every breakthrough from the Egypt-Israel treaty to the Oslo accords to the Israel-Jordan peace agreement came initially as a consequence of secret meetings about which the U.S. was the last to know. 


The link to this article :
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/04/19/the_false_religion_of_mideast_peace

Bravo Google!!

I don't know if you read Google's blog, but I receive in my RSS feeds. I think that it's a good post to receive. These 2 recent articles discuss the way Google handles requests from governments and censorship. If you believe that knowledge is power as I do, you have to cheer for Google in doing all it can to keep information flowing. I am not advocating that Google is totally altruistic. This may just be a response to the mess with China but I think this is the right thing to do. So Bravo Google!! 
If you have the time, enjoy these two posts.
Greater transparency around government requests

4/20/2010 11:04:00 AM

Article 19 of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights states that "everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers." Written in 1948, the principle applies aptly to today's Internet -- one of the most important means of free expression in the world. Yet government censorship of the web is growing rapidly: from the outright blocking and filtering of sites, to court orders limiting access to information and legislation forcing companies to self-censor content. 

To read the rest of the blog:

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/04/greater-transparency-around-government.html

Controversial content and free expression on the web: a refresher

4/19/2010 09:23:00 AM

Two and a half years ago, we outlined our approach to removing content from Google products and services. Our process hasn’t changed since then, but our recent decision to stopcensoring search on Google.cn has raised new questions about when we remove content, and how we respond to censorship demands by governments. So we figured it was time for a refresher.

To read the rest of the blog:

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/04/controversial-content-and-free.html

Disconnect

This poll just proves a point that I have been discussing for several years. We Americans do not like the way that our government in Washington works. The disconnect is that whenever there is a problem Washington is the place we turn for the solution. We have tried a Republican controlled Congress and Administration. We are now trying a Democrat controlled Congress and Administration. We have tried a divided Congress and Administration. Whatever we have tried, our politicians have not gotten the message. We want them to work together to find common sense solutions to our problems. Since they have missed that message, it seems to me that we need to take the responsibility back upon ourselves. We, the people, need to demand more local control to implement common sense solutions. Unfortunately, this is easier said than done and the political animosity found in Washington has filtered down to the states. We will continue to find it easier to complain than take responsibility.  

Poll: 4 out of 5 Americans don't trust Washington

By LIZ SIDOTI (AP) – 1 hour ago

WASHINGTON — America's "Great Compromiser" Henry Clay called government "the great trust," but most Americans today have little faith in Washington's ability to deal with the nation's problems.

Public confidence in government is at one of the lowest points in a half century, according to a survey from the Pew Research Center. Nearly 8 in 10 Americans say they don't trust the federal government and have little faith it can solve America's ills, the survey found.

To read the entire article, click on the link below:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jd_jiGbsExSJ0dfp1Na1YjnRJsfgD9F64DD80

Legislative suicide? - Senior Beacon - Washington, DC

While attending the annual AIPAC Policy Conference in March, I reconnected with a cousin of mine, Stuart Rosenthal, also originally from Fort Worth. As you can see from the link, Stuart is a successful publisher of a Senior newspaper in the Washington, DC area. Here is an editorial from his most recent publication discussing the problems of the deficit and senior programs. His editorial is timely and poignant.


http://seniorb.md.newsmemory.com/default.php?goTo=1&selDate=20100401


You may have to click on page 2 to get to this editorial.


Legislative suicide?

As publisher of the Beacon and chair of the Maryland Commission on Aging, I am used to advocating for programs and serv ices that address the needs of the region’s older adults.

Most of the time, that means lobbying for more govern ment funds.

So today, I want to lobby for something that may seem surprising: I want to ask our government leaders to face facts and address the dire structural, financial crisis our country is facing, even though that means we aging advocates will also have to face some unpleasant facts.

When I advocate for senior programs, I talk about the demographic realities of our aging population. I point out wherever I can how much our increasing longevity and the huge population bulge created by the 78 million baby boomers are changing the makeup of our society.

In 10 years, Maryland will look like Florida does today (with nearly one in five adults 65 and over). Fairfax County, Vir ginia is aging even faster than Mont gomery County and Prince George’s Counties in Maryland.

And as our “senior class” is growing fast, our working class and numbers of school age children are growing much more slowly or even shrinking.

This huge, but gradual, de mographic shift means we need to focus now on how to revise our government spend ing priorities, diverting more of our resources toward those in later life.

Even before our current recession, I often encountered deep denial of these facts among legislators and bureaucrats. But today, in themidst of constant budget short falls, things are even worse. Now cuts are being made in senior programs (as in al most all other government spending) even as the numbers and needs are rising.

And when it comes to national problems like funding for Social Security and Medicare, the pressures are even greater. Medicare’s hospital insurance fund has been facing annual deficits since 2008, and Social Security is heading for them shortly. In fact, it appears that even this year, So cial Security will be $28 billion in the hole (taking in that much less in Social Security taxes than it pays out in benefits in 2010) ac cording to business columnist Allan Sloan.

Many types of solutions have been pro posed to address Social Security’s prob lems: push off the retirement age, tax high er levels of income, raise payroll taxes, re duce benefits. There are also proposals for addressingMedicare’s shortfalls.

But these aren’t painless, and legislators won’t risk their reelection by even sug gesting that such things need to be done to preserve the programs.

Instead, Congress appears to be heaping fuel on the fire by passing expensive new entitlement programs in the healthcare arena. Yes, the recent legislation holds out the promise of cost savings in the long run, but much of those will materialize only if Congress acts in ways in the future that it hasn’t been able to in the past.

And what about the even larger prob lem of reining in federal deficits generally (now exceeding a trillion dollars a year)?

In an effort to address these while pre venting blame from attaching to individual members, Congress briefly contemplated appointing a bipartisan commission that would presumably call for a combination of spending cuts and tax increases. Congress would then take a single vote on the entire package of suggested solutions.

While it was a cowardly and constitu tionally suspect way of addressing the issue, at least it was an attempt. But Con gress couldn’t even agree to the commis sion!

So President Obama has appointed a bi partisan presidential commission instead: One that doesn’t obligate Congress to vote on its results.

But this commission doesn’t face the facts, either. Its official task is to eliminate the federal deficit by 2015 — not counting interest payments on the national debt. Ac cording to the administration, the project ed 2015 deficit would be $752 billion— but $571 billion of that is for the interest pay ments that aren’t counted, according to columnist Robert J. Samuelson.

So even if the commission were to solve its stated problem, it would only address 24 percent of the deficit in 2015, and make no progress toward reducing the accumulated national debt, much less addressing long termneeds of Social Security andMedicare. What will it take to get our so-called lead ers motivated to do what needs to be done? Do we need our legislators to make a sui cide pact, with everymember willing to risk his or her job to get it done? Or do we need a more enlightened electorate, willing to re ward representatives whomake difficult de cisions rather than call for their ouster?

The decisions we need to make as a so ciety will result in short-term pain, no doubt. They will anger and possibly hurt many of those we care most about. But painful measures can’t be put off forever, and they can be mitigated by careful ad vance planning.

The time to start that planning has long since come.

I invite you to share your thoughts on this subject, or any others of concern to you, by writing us at: Letters to the Editor, The Beacon, P.O. Box 2227, Silver Spring, MD 20915-2227, or info@TheBeaconNewspapers.com. 

Attending a reunion?

We’d like to hear from you if you are planning or attending a high school or col lege reunion in the area, or if you’ve recent ly attended one. Please contact our manag ing editor, Barbara Ruben, by calling (301) 949-9766 or e-mailingbarbara@theBeaconNewspapers.com.

---

---

FROM THE PUBLISHER 

By Stuart P. Rosenthal

I admit that I have not been a great fan of President Obama. He is, however, my president and I expect him to uphold our democracy’s highest ideals. This article, from the Washington Post, is just a continuation of the arrogance that this administration has shown in its style of governing. The greatest example of this arrogance was the health care debate. The President promised the American people that it would be totally open for all the world to see. We would be able to watch the committees on C-Span. The text would be published on the internet for the public to read. When the bill was decided behind closed doors and members were bought off to vote for it, I was and still am outraged. This article shows, to me, a President and an administration that believes it knows best in all areas and will only tell us what it wants us to hear.

My hope is that others in the Fourth Estate will be as outraged as the reporter in this article and will use their paper and ink, blogs and newscasts to demand a more open administration. The citizens of the United States deserve nothing less.

Obama's disregard for media reaches new heights at nuclear summit

By Dana Milbank

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

World leaders arriving in Washington for President Obama's Nuclear Security Summit must have felt for a moment that they had instead been transported to Soviet-era Moscow.


They entered a capital that had become a military encampment, with camo-wearing military police in Humvees and enough Army vehicles to make it look like a May Day parade on New York Avenue, where a bicyclist was killed Monday by a National Guard truck.


In the middle of it all was Obama -- occupant of an office once informally known as "leader of the free world" -- putting on a clinic for some of the world's greatest dictators in how to circumvent a free press.


To read the entire article, click on the link below:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/13/AR2010041303067.html