Polls in Palestine (and Israel)

We all see a lot of polls of Americans. But we do not see too many polls of countries abroad, especially those in the Middle East. What we get a lot of is breaking news (such as the Flotilla incident) and punditry. But what do "the people" think?

While I was reading an article in the Web version of the NY Times, a link to a poll of Palestinians was shown, and I went to check it out. What I found was very educational.

This is the link to the poll:
http://www.pcpsr.org/

I look at the data from this and I realize that most Israelis and most Palestinians want the same things, and that the main thing getting in the way is (lack of) trust. The lack of trust is due, in my opinion, to fear, and the fear is perpetuated by a combination of bad (extremist) leadership and sensationalist media.

I hope that everyone who looks at this poll makes an effort to tell others about it. Maybe some misperceptions can be removed. Ones about Israelis AND ones about Palestinians.

Thanks for reading.

Like Father Like Son?

An Unpublished Letter to The Editor

From: Alan Rotnemer
To: letters@nytimes.com
Sent: Sunday, June 06, 2010 10:28 PM
Subject: Re: For Paul Family, Libertarian Ethos Began at Home

To The Editor:

Mark Leibovich’s expose of the inheritance of traditions and values in the Paul family was both enlightening and intriguing. As I read it, I recalled a House vote for Resolution 951 in March 2008.

This resolution condemned Hamas’s terrorist rocket attacks on Israeli civilians. The vote on this resolution was 404 yea, 1 nay, 23 no vote/present.

At the time, I curiously looked up the details of the vote. Of the 24 non-affirmative votes, six were from representatives of our oil-rich state, Texas (the most by far of any state).

And the lone dissenting vote? None other than a Republican Presidential candidate from our Lone Star state, Mr. Ron Paul.

So now I ask – like father like son? Makes me wonder what kind of voice Nominee (for US Senator From Kentucky) Rand Paul will be on future Mideast policy.

The vote is documented here

Thanks for reading

Anthem of the (S-H-I-)Tea Party

Came up with this the other day after hearing of Rand Paul's nomination. You know the tune:

Gimme an "S"
Gimme an "H"
Gimme an "I"
Gimme a "Tea"
What's that spell?
What's that spell?
What's that smell?

And it's 1-2-3 what are my taxes for?
Don't ask me I don't give a cent
I don't want no government
And it's 8-9-10 goes the unemployment rate
Well it ain't no ifs, ands, or buts, WHOOPEE for those budget cuts

Anthem of the (S-H-I-)Tea Party
(John Lennon- AlanRockville)

---
Imagine there's no taxes
My money's only mine
Government is narrow
Lives by the divine

Imagine all officials
Back out on the street

(Ha-ha-ah-ah)

Imagine there's no health care
No entitlement
No wasted UN bureaus
Our might will build our tent

Imagine all the people
Living for themselves

(You-ou-ou-ou)

You may say that I'm greedy
Well that's true but that’s okay
Cause we’ll win this battle
“World is one” will go away

Imagine there's no liberals
Socialism's dead
World’s gone where it should be
Liberty has spread

Imagine all the countries
Vying on their own

(You-ou-ou-ou)

You may say I'm uncaring
Well that's true but I don't care
Civility’s not for us
In our world we never share





(Join me next time for the flip-side  "Give Banks a Chance")

Proof that Capitalism Works

This is a trying time for the people of Louisiana, and I send my deepest sympathies to them.

But I couldn't help this:

I researched past articles about oil spills and found a VERY old copy of an article written in October, 1978 that provides a proposed capitalist (read: non-Government) solution to these spills using a combination of advanced technology and camels. The article was from a paper called "Not The New York Times", published when the NY Times was on strike (just substitute "New Orleans" for "Santa Barbara"). (The first picture is my scan, the second came from the Times itself (just search for it)).

So far I sent this to John Stewart's and Steven Colbert's blogs.

I'm also trying to contact one of the writers of "Not The NY Times" (Carl Bernstein) to see if he can identify the original author. That whole newspaper was an absolute classic, and I wish I can get a fresh copy.

Thanks for reading.

A Proposal to Generate American Jobs

If I have not mentioned it before, my job, as well as those in my office, was replaced by people overseas (about 30 jobs total). Not only that, but I had to train my replacements (I hear that is common).

My time unemployed has given me the opportunity to think about how we can, in America, help keep our jobs. I have some ideas.

First, let me state that there is one aspect of our current Income Tax system that I find to be unfair. It's the Capital Gains Tax Rate. This allows people who are investors - as opposed to producers (laborers) - to pay a lower tax rate on income. Why should that be?

The answer frequently given by economists and politicians is that investment stimulates job growth. I am finding, however, that this is not always true. I'm a living example of the opposite. The company I used to work for is making record profits - did they really need to lay me off, or is this a matter of maximizing stockholder returns? I cannot blame upper management for this decision as they need to "listen" to the market, but if we can change the system, maybe we can save American jobs.

The solution I have is a potential win-win for American workers and those who invest in them.

First, end the "income inequity" that I mentioned before by bringing the Capital Gains rate back to the standard income rate.

Second, companies will need to show American jobs created or lost within a given year. If they have a net "gain" in American jobs (American new jobs gained minus jobs "lost" due to overseas hiring or outsourcing), they can produce a positive dividend for their stockholders. The dividend would be tax-free and could end up, for an individual stockholder, exceeding the amount they might have gained with the Capital Gains break. If however, the American jobs gain is negative, there would be a negative dividend on stockholders, with the proceeds going towards unemployment benefits.

If you think this is a good idea, please let me know by commenting. Even further, please let me know how I can promote this idea. Perhaps if we got a petition this could come up for a congressional vote.

Thanks for reading.

Gun Rallies - This is a Test!

Just today, in my former home state of Virginia, there was a rally in a public park expressing support for those who wish to be able to carry their guns in public.

This is part of an overall movement to redefine the role of government. The "guns" issue is just part of the rally cry.

To the people at this rally, our government has become too intrusive, and we are weak in the world because we rely on alliances and world agreements to shape our policy (as opposed to letting us just act unilaterally).

I wish I could have been at the rally. I'd have a "conversation" with the group. I'd ask them: Are they against the following:
Prohibition of drugs
Prohibition of prostitution
Speed limits (hey, can't I drive as fast as I want - why would I buy a sports car anyway?)
(There are plenty of others that I'm sure you can think of, if you catch my drift)

For me, SOME prohibitions make common sense. To me, SOME regulation makes common sense. My dogma is no dogma, I take each case as it comes.

So the question for me is not whether they are right or wrong - they are wrong - but rather, what do we do about it?

There are 2 parts to this battle - the ideological and the tactical. Within that there is the logical and there is the emotional.

I've explained the ideological - their view is dogmatic, not flexible, and driven by fear and rage. It preaches that we cannot live the life "we want" because of government. Yet, as I explained above, it is full of contradictions. They'll go along with government control when it benefits them.

Tactically, what we need to do is continue to win at the ballot box. I know that there were recent losses in Virginia and Massachusets, but if we have an effective strategy, the moderates will be with us.

Part of the strategy is to make sure that people understand the impact of having virtually no government. Imagine having a country where anyone can carry an Uzi, where health care is totally free market, where anyone can do anything they want to our air and water. Let's have explicit commercials, books, and web sites that describe this world, and let's see then what people think.

Thanks for reading. Comments welcome.

Let's reload and pull the trigger

I am fascinated as well as angered by the language and actions of those on the right. I can't get into their mindset, but they must be acting out of fear.

What am I talking about? the use of the "gun" metaphor in their remarks. Some examples:
1. Sarah Palin's statement that her backers need to "reload".
2. Senator McCain's statement that America has "pointed the gun, but not pulled the trigger" on Iran. (Just exactly what is he advocating?)

Given some events in my neighboring (and formerly home) state of Virginia, where guns are now allowed to be carried, we may be seeing the progression of an alarming trend. (I'll have more to say about the current administration in Virginia in a future post.)

What kind of country are we moving towards, and what can we do about this?
(See my earlier post on the Tea Party for some suggestions).

Thanks for reading.

Update 4/18 - It was reported that Secretary Gates was critical of the Obama administration on Iran policy, but he has since denied it. My comment about McCain stands - during the 2008 primary campaign I never heard him utter the word "diplomacy".

Defeating the Tea Movement

A lot has been published recently around the Tea Party movement, especially given that they have become so visible during tax season. Much of what I have read attempts to mock, trivialize, or name-call their members. Some characterize them as racists or unfettered followers of a naive libertarian agenda (enabled by Fox News). But a recent poll shows that they are growing in size and are attracting mainstream Americans.

A recent Washington Post article by 2 Democrats has the view that we need to cave in to their views. I disagree.

In my view, the Tea Party is a well-organized political movement that has both top-down leadership and a grass-roots feel. However, I do not support most of its views, and I would like to suggest how those of us who support more progressive ideas can work together to come out on top at critical times, such as votes on important bills and at the next election.

The reason this movement is able to gain strength is that they are, like the Progressives of 2006 and 2008, NOT in power.

There are many problems on our President's plate and he has now been in office long enough to have "taken ownership" of them. This is what the Tea Party capitalizes on.

The former President Bush created many of the problems that exist today, such as the Mideast tensions (if you agree that we should have concentrated our efforts in Afghanistan we'd probably be out of there by now), the rise of Iran (and Hamas and Hezbollah). Needless to say, the state our economy has fallen to was mostly on Bush's watch and due to his tax-cutting-but-high-spending policy.

The Tea party shifts responsibility for our troubles to President Obama and the Democrats. Of course we know that's wrong, but how do we answer it?

It is correct for Obama to point out that we are on the path of improvement. But as we all know, it is slow and may not be complete. It may be too little too late for the 2010 and 2012 elections.

It is my view, therefore, that we point out the Tea Party's errors in judgment by PROJECTING what things would be like if THEY were currently in power, or got into power in 2010. The purpose of this would be to counteract their simple solutions of "lower taxes, less government".

The basic message of the Tea Party is appealing, we all would like freedom, minimal government intrusion, less adventurism abroad, and of course, less taxes.

But what would the world be like if we followed their agenda to the letter?

This is where leadership, a continuation of the 2007-2008 Progressive grass roots movement and creative use of the media come in.

The basic idea is this: come up with commercials, TV, and other media (books, web) "specials" that provide human-based stories of life under a Tea Party regime.

Don't be over-dramatic, make it look "realistic".

An example: let's say we have another Katrina. Let's "show" a major metropolitan area devastated by a natural disaster. But, for the twist, we show that there is no FEMA, and the Tea-party-based state governments have reduced their budgets to only pay for basic fire and police. Those who have the money (thanks to the high-bracket tax cuts) will be able to escape and rebuild (we could show them sipping some "gourmet tea"), but the middle class and lower will be shown suffering. The contrast would need to be clear, accurate, and emotional.

We could probably come up with great examples in health care, but I'll leave it up to you, the reader to think of ideas.

The promotion of these ideas would come top-down and grass roots. The former would gather funding to prepare the media and get it distributed and publicized (what's moveon.org doing these days?). The grass roots organizations would lead rallies to show that the people do not want Tea-Party leadership to happen.

I am convinced that there are many of us who want to see progressive government that isn't "socialist" but is practical in that it recognizes that it must regulate to protect people from being victims of powerlessness. Not just powerlessness against their governments, but powerlessness against the other "big" decision makers in society, such as banks and health insurance companies. Ultimately we want a world of "checks and balances" between government and business to ensure our individual freedom and influence.

It is for this reason that I feel the Tea Party (and especially Sarah Palin's) ideas are incorrect in that they only see "government" as the enemy. It's an easy scapegoat. But think about it - it was government that abolished slavery, that stopped child labor, that gave us Social Security and Medicare. In all cases, other forces (very much like the Tea Party) tried to stop this government regulation by claiming that it infringed on individual freedom, violated states rights and was bad for (free market) business. But I ask, do you want to return to those days?

Let's get moving, let's take on the Tea Party. But let's get this right so that we can get what we need out of our government.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. Looking forward to your commnets.

Update: May 7, 2010 - I wrote the above post prior to the Louisiana oil spill. People are complaining that Obama reacted too slowly. But imagine if a Tea Party administration - with no EPA or other cleanup agency - was in power.


Update May 21. 2010 - Now that Rand Paul was nominated, it will be incumbent upon us to keep track what he says and does. Let's not demonize him, but see how consistent he is (or isn't), what he tries to eliminate from government and what he tries to add to it. I'll post more as I get info.
By the way, I just composed a song for the Tea Party movement. I'll put the link to it when I get it posted. 

Update November 5, 2012 - After seeing the effects of Hurricane Sandy on NYC, I went back to this post to remind myself what things would be like if the Tea Party was in power. Also, I looked at a clip from "An Inconvenient Truth" to validate Al Gore's projection of what could happen in NY down the road. 

Update December 12, 2012 - I posted an entry after the Governor of Michigan's decision to limit the power of Labor Unions.