Patriotic Leanings....

Have you noticed how cool it now feels to be PATRIOTIC?!

I confess that in and around Berkeley, it used to be that the only people with American flags fluttering in their yards were...Republicans....And the flags were faded and nothing about the scene looked happy. (And the truth is, there were only one or two in a twenty mile radius....)

NOW I see houses and businesses with tons of bright, new flags -- American flags! -- and life size Obama cardboard cutouts. And my thirteen year old daughter spontaneously painted her nails on Inauguration Day.

In Berkeley it is once again cool to be patriotic....I think that is pretty cool.

Go out and enjoy your country and be proud of it....

Celebrate....

A wonderful way to honor Martin Luther King, Jr., a wonderful way to honor Barack and Michelle Obama, a wonderful way to honor your country:
Log on to the USA Service website and find something to do that will help someone...tikkun olam....

No matter if you're very busy and don't have much time, no matter if you're broke and don't have much money, no matter if you help people every day and think that's enough, make tomorrow, this Monday January 19, 2009, different. Step out of yourself just a little bit and find one little (or big, for heaven's sake) thing you can do that will make a difference in someone's life....
Let's all join together as a country, as one nation, let's show the world and each other that on this day AND from this day forward, we can work together....Tomorrow, let our numbers speak loudly and clearly....

Let's show each other we can do it!

As far as I can see it, there is no excuse....Just do it....
http://usaservice.org/content/home/

Today's Question....

So today I have a burning question....Well, I should probably say "this morning" because later I will probably have more questions without answers.....

I want to know how many people make health care decisions, basic health care decisions (like whether to call the doctor, make an appointment, undergo a procedure, take medicine, etc.) based primarily on financial concerns.

And I want to know the breakdown. Basically, are members of Congress making health care choices based on finances?

Are the majority of people in this country, (this otherwise developed nation), forgoing basic health care because they can't afford it?

That's what I want to know....That's it....

Freedom to Exist....

These words are not my own. I reprint them here in an effort to effectuate wider dissemination -- read, step back, reflect...before you condemn....


Assaf Wohl
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3646169,00.html

Members of the United Nations,

Democracies, dictatorships, republics, and the honorable secretary-general:

Within a few hours, media outlets in your countries shall present horrific photos of blood, fire, and rubble from the Gaza Strip. The Palestinians will be screaming, in front of the cameras, about the massacre undertaken by the State of Israel. Initially, you may show understanding for our operations in the Strip, yet once the photos of wounded civilians reach you, you shall press us, as is your custom, to stop defending ourselves.

The first signs of this phenomenon can already be seen. Calls to "end the violence" from across the world are being heard loud and clear – yet they are only being heard now, after years of violence, and after Israel finally decided to respond. The European Union already rushed to declare that it condemns Israel's "disproportional use of force." Several news networks have brought together panels whose members are scrutinizing the law books at this very moment in order to ascertain whether the Jewish State violated some international law.

I do not intend to deal with the question of where were these condemners and critics for the past seven years, when Hamas' murderers set the timers of their rockets to coincidence with the end of the school day in Israel, because of a declared aim to kill as many children as possible. The question we should be discussing at this time is as follows: Why do the countries of the world and global media outlets obsessively engage in strict criticism that is only directed at Israel? After all, there is not even one country out there that is required to adhere to the moral criteria which the world demands of us – of us of all people, the ones who as opposed to the rest of the world face threats of extermination.

Our Arab neighbors are well familiar with this double standard vulnerability. On their part, they are not bound by any kind of moral code. And so, they learned to exploit the international strictness towards Israel. A long time ago, they already understood that they cannot face the State of Israel on the battlefield. Indeed, when it comes to photographs and videos, they boast uniforms and weapons, yet once the fighting gets underway, they are quick to take off their uniforms and assimilate among women and children used as human shields.

They also make sure to place their arms depots in hospital basements and to fire rockets at population centers out of schoolyards. Their great hope is to elicit an Israeli response that would unintentionally hurt a few children. Once that happens, they will wave their bodies before the cameras and cry out to the world for help. This was the case in Lebanon, and this may happen tomorrow in the Gaza Strip.

Easing Europe's conscience

The states demanding that Israel adhere to certain moral standards do not even dream of asking the same of her enemies. After all, we are dealing with theocracies and dictatorships, where homosexuals are publicly hanged, where women are regularly stoned for undermining their "family's honor," and where children suspected of theft have their arms severed. What do these states have to do with the value of human life? We should therefore ask representatives of global opinion: Be honest with yourselves - Do the lives of humans being butchered daily in Iraq, Afghanistan and Darfur arouse you into similar action? Reality indicates this is not the case.

My answer to the question regarding the obsessive preoccupation with the actions of the Jews is purely sociological. Many of you, the shapers of public opinion, and mostly the Europeans amongst you, are interested in easing your conscience: If only can only show that the Israelis-Jews are not so moral or innocent, perhaps they deserve everything you did to them before they were able to establish their state? After all, here they are, occupying and butchering the poor Palestinians; they are certainly no better than us!

To that end, you are willing to help out the lowliest terrorists. Therefore, you bought into their slanderous Mohammed al-Dura tale, and therefore you will rush to buy into various blood libels in the coming days. Those who launch missiles and mortar shells into kindergartens know that they will always enjoy a protective umbrella from you. They draw their self-confidence from the intolerable ease with which they enlist your public opinion in their favor.

Therefore, you would do well to think twice before you move to stop the punishment they lawfully deserve. After all, you are the only lifesaver that can spare this radical terror group the measure of justice hovering above it.

Serenity before Thanksgiving Dinner....

**errata

"me" = "we"
(God I hate errors....)

Recycling....

Around my neighborhood, I've noticed an increasing number of people making the trek to the Berkeley Recycling Center. Pulling their shopping cars behind them, sometimes two bungee-corded together, like a train. For a couple of years now, I see these people on a daily basis, all heading west, towards the Bay. But they stop short of the sparkling waters which lead out to the Golden Gate Bridge. Their destination instead is the Berkeley Recycling Center, where bottles and cans are turned in for a few dollars.

When I was so fortunate as to live "up the hill," I would hear the tumble of bottles in the night, breaking the dark quiet before the trash and recycling trucks came by. When I began to look, I saw people, the people who were raiding our trash and recycling bins. Some neighbors got angry -- "if they take all the recycling, the city can't afford curbside pickup!" Perhaps they weren't angry, just practical....Perhaps they were all just being practical....

After I moved off the hill, and my own financial situation was shrinking, (just ahead of the trend which has now overtaken most of us), I used to fantasize that if I needed to, I could collect discarded paper and bottles from the offices in the suburb where I worked -- and where the office buildings, incredibly, were not required to recycle -- and haul it in the back of my van to the Recycling Center in Berkeley. My job out there (in those removed suburbs) ended before I added "recycling" to my resume....

A while back I was going to pick up my daughter from her best friend's house. There was a young woman pulling a full shopping cart (filled not with food but with recycling); her baby -- toddler-age -- was perched on the handle. It was an unwieldy load and it brought tears to my eyes. I was just about to lose my job. I was supporting my three teenagers. I could see myself in that procession. Hastily I stopped my van. I had two single dollar bills and gave them to the woman; I briefly explained why I couldn't give her more. A few tears rolled down her cheeks. She told me how hard it was trying to take care of her child and earn a few dollars here and there. We agreed the only thing to do was keep on going, one foot after another. We shared a laugh (at the expense of people who didn't understand how hard it was to keep going) and then me made our separate ways down the street.

Recycler pushers now seem to travel in loose packs. People by the twos and tens, heading down little side streets and major boulevards, towing their precious scavenged cargo. Last week at dusk I saw a slim man who was dressed as BZ usually dresses for work: pants and a button down shirt, rolled up to his elbows. But this man wasn't going to an office, or to any other "regular" job. He was towing an overflowing shopping cart that must have outweighed him, making his way to the Recycling Center so he could get a few dollars for his dinner....