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Stephen
Views the News  9/21/08

http://stephenviewsthenews.blogspot.com/

* A note to the Jewish community – Like most ethnic
groups Jewish people think of themselves as special. It is human nature. We
like to think that we are intelligent and aware. We have a history of
emphasizing education for our children. Has something been added to our matzo
ball soup to make us susceptible to mishegoss political advertising? Polls show
that a segment of Jews are concerned that Barack Obama will not be a friend of Israel.
Is it based on knowledge or Republican ads and slime emails that say be wary of
Obama, his middle name is Hussein? Lets not be shnooks. Is there any evidence
that as a Senator he sought policies that would be harmful to Israel? Did you listen to Obama’s
comments when he visited Israel in July? Obama said,"The
most important thing for me to share is the historic and special relationship
between the United States
and Israel,
one that cannot be broken… One that I have affirmed throughout my career
and one that I will intend to not only continue but strengthen in an Obama
administration."

If you want specifics about where Obama stands on Israel
stop reading farblongjid emails and visit the Obama sight
where he presents his position on 3 key policy matters:

Ensure a Strong U.S.-Israel Partnership

Support Israel's Right to Self Defense

Support Foreign Assistance to Israel

It should also be noted that Obama
selected as his running mate Joe Biden, the Senator from Delaware
with a proven record of support for Israel. The American Israel Public
Affairs Committee (AIPAC) recently released a statement saying, “Biden is
a strong backer of U.S.–Israel ties and a leader in the fight against
Palestinian terrorism.”

Another subject of utmost importance to
Jews is religious freedom. As a people we have a long history in this area. In
my lifetime American Jews could not attend certain schools, would not be hired
by many corporations, would not be accepted in many neighborhoods and could not
become a member of many country and private clubs. Much has changed for the
good over the last several decades for all ethnic groups and none of us want to
go backward. What was your reaction when John McCain said, “America
is a Christian nation?” This was
my reaction on October 4, 2007. Recall that John McCain bent over backwards
to attract the support of the Christian Right – a group that wants its
interpretation of the Almighty to be the policy of the United States of America. McCain
then chose Sarah Palin as his running mate – a woman who embodies this
same right-wing Christian fundamentalist philosophy. If this group had its way
and, God forbid, your daughter was raped, emergency birth control would not be
available to her. This is not an environment that Jews and most fellow Americans
want. I suggest that before you enter the voting booth on November 4th
you give some thought to what a McCain presidency really means for you. Shalom
and L'shanah Tovah – Peace and Happy New Year.

For more information about the Jewish
community supporting Barack Obama visit JewsForObama.com.
You can watch Obama’s address to AIPAC at the website Jewish
Americans for Obama.

* Is Obama ready to lead America? ~ The answer to such a
question regarding any candidate who has not already served one term as
President is at best an educated guess. Performance under fire can be the only
accurate gauge. All we can do is look at indicators. One that struck me as
pertinent was noted at dailykos.com
this week and which I verified at
Obama’s senate web site. On March 22, 2007 – 18 months ago, Obama
wrote a letter to Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke and Secretary of the
Treasury Paulson. Obama anticipated the financial crisis we are now
experiencing when he wrote, “…I urge you immediately to convene a
homeownership preservation summit with leading mortgage lenders, investors,
loan servicing organizations, consumer advocates, federal regulators and
housing-related agencies to assess options for private sector responses to the
challenge.” This was 18 months ago. You may want to read the entire
letter because it apparently was ignored by the recipients – the two
highest financial “experts” in our federal government.

* A note to the Obama campaign ~ clean up your act – I
strongly urge that the Obama campaign be more responsible with some of the
claims they have made that wilt under scrutiny.
The quantity and quality of misleading statements in the Obama campaign may pale
in comparison to their Republican opponents but that is no reason to be less
than completely forthright The American people are up to their armpits in
political bullshit. The Obama candidacy and campaign has the opportunity to
offer American voters an alternative to the type of leadership that this
country has staggered under the last eight years. This must not be jeopardized.
If Barack Obama allows his campaign to be misleading or dishonest then it
probably makes little difference who wins in November.

* Bilingual bifurcation – Both the NY Times and
Washington Post criticized
a McCain Spanish-language ad. The ad accuses Obama and Senate Democrats of
“killing immigration reform.” Obama supported the bipartisan John
McCain-Edward Kennedy efforts to enact such reforms and voted for their final
proposal last year. Comprehensive immigration reform was blocked not by
Democrats but by Republicans. Esa es la verdad.

* An opportunity to be pro-active – Many of us were
disappointed by moderators’ questions during the presidential primary
debates this year. At times nonsensical or superficial, such questions do not
serve our interests.OurFuture.org
offers a petition to moderators of upcoming debates - Tom Brokaw, Gwen Ifill, Jim
Lehrer, and Bob Schieffer – requesting that they ask questions worthy of
a great nation in trouble. A reading of the petition alone offers a refresher
course about the state of our nation.

* Correction - In my
previous blog I noted that McCain has about 120 lobbyists working on his
campaign. “The Democratic National Committee, using publicly available
records, has identified 177 lobbyists working for the McCain campaign as either aides,
policy advisers, or fundraisers…  According to a Mother Jones review of Senate and House
records, at least 83 have in recent years lobbied for the financial industry
McCain now attacks.” Let no one say that I have a propensity to overstate
my case.

* What took so long? – “Members
of the American Psychological Association have voted to prohibit
consultation in the interrogations of detainees held at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba,
or so-called black sites operated by the Central Intelligence Agency
overseas… The referendum prohibits psychologists from working in settings
where “persons are held outside of, or in violation of, either
International Law (e.g., the U.N. Convention Against Torture and the Geneva
Conventions) or the U.S. Constitution, where appropriate,” unless they
represent a detainee or an independent third party.” One wonders what
went through the minds of these psychologists that it took so long for a
statement of ethics and morality to be established. This is not a matter of being
a conservative or a liberal. It is a matter of being a human being with a
conscience and honoring the principles and international agreements on human
rights that America
once championed.

* What’s in your wallet? - With bank profits down or
extinct an easy source of revenue for American financial institutions is credit
card holders. There is pending legislation before the House of Representatives
that is aimed at credit card reform. “This bill will give consumers a
fair shake -- stopping credit card companies from arbitrarily jacking
up interest rates on your card debt, and more fairly distributing your
payments to costly, high-interest debt first.” Not surprisingly, the
powerful bank lobby is hard at work attempting to kill this bill. Consumers
Union has available a petition to your congressman urging the passage of a
law that actually protects consumers from what has been under-regulated and
predatory policies by these companies.

 * “We will be a better country when each religious
group can trust its members to obey the dictates of their own religious faith
without assistance from the legal structure of their country.”

Margaret Mead (1901 – 1978) American cultural anthropologist