A MidEast Solution That Will Work!

Dear General Abizaid....

Once we realize that Bush' s version of cut and run reeks of what we pulled in Vietnam, I offer you the follow recommendation predicated on the fact that both Sunni and Shia' are rational to an extent, informed and somewhat concerned about the future of their country.


Here's the plan: I propose that our top military strategists examine every single "hot" area and prioritize them according to the violence and bloodshed that has been doled out there.

We then develop a map of the top 100 hottest areas very defined with red lines around each entire area and listed as Hot Area number Ten and so on...

Step Two, We publish the map with the following information:

That all residents are being officially notified that they have one month to end the blood shed in the first 100 geographic areas; and that if they can't do it with barriers, security, whatever, we shall step in..

We shall come in with teams of engineers and bulldozers and demolish all the buildings and turn each area into a green area with no housing..

We shall do that one by one until we work our way through the first list. We don't care if you are Iraqi shiia' or Sunni. That's the policy.

We do now that innocents also live in these areas and will want to take advantage of the following offer:

using funds that would ordinarily be used to build missiles and weapons combined with Iraqi oil money, we shall afford every family who cares to do so a new residence in a protected walled area with security posted all around in what are considered quiet areas sequestered around the country.

We would expect our big US subcontractors to work at cost to make up for the 9 billion dollars they lost and the other waste and inefficiency that they thought they would get away with. They will be given deadlines and if they don't meet them, they will be penalized.. A full accounting would be made by the democratic led government purchasing office.

Among those who seek a new life, there will be separate areas for both Sunni and Shiite to eliminate the problem once and for all of having to live together. Where possible, the Sunni's will be sent to areas as close as possible to Sunni areas and that same formulae will apply to the Shiite areas.

Simple as that!

I guarantee that the good people will want to get out and be among their own kind living in quiet areas. For the rest, the trouble-makers who wont vacate, the hard-liners, they become part of the roadway. as we push forward.

In six months, you will either end all of the bloodshed, or you will have converted a good part of Iraq into a serene area that will be good for the environment and global warming.

Les Aaron

Turkey, the Key to a Resurgent Islam

Believe it or not, it looks as if we are losing the Turks...

Yes, things do change but the Turks for the last nearly one hundred years had rejected a theologically based government in the interest of westernization under Ataturk.

The Turks in Korea may have proved to be among our strongest allies; but now fundamentalism seems to be regaining popularity and the cause of progressivism has not been helped by the slowness of the Europeans to embrace Turkey in all of its diversity and recent remarks by the Holy Father in Rome.

For the most part, post WWII, the Turks have been "used and abused" by Europe to fill their labor shortage without gaining acceptance and, for the most part, being treated as separate people who could never gain citizenship under say the laws of Germany. For the most part, the Turks have chaffed under such treatment. Recently, the American's anti-Islamic attitudes have helped radical elements to gain credibility something that could not have happened perhaps ten years ago...including support for the Kurds which the Turks suspect of wanting their own state...

It is clear that Turkey's fundamentalist roots are in the ascendency gaining adherents from among an audience that was once dominated by western leaning modernists...

Turks are now wearing headscarves, once banned, and openly espousing Islamic fundamentalism. Religious schools are also growing. Today, which way Turkey will eventually go is still up in the air but it has not been helped by the Catholic Church's intemperate remarks or America's black and white attitudes towards the rest of the world. Recent talks with Turkish citizens revealed that they are tired of feeling like second class citizens in what they see as a world dominated by Western interests that do not necessarily coincide with their own...

Today, Istanbul's direction seems more a barometer of Western ideal and mores than a judgment, say, on Turkish readiness for the European union. If Turkey should go totally Islamic, consider it a turning point for a more moderate Islam throughout the world and keep an eye on the direction of Malaysia, Kula Lumpur and Indonesia....the largest Islamic country in the world and fourth largest in terms of population in the world.


les Aaron
The Committee for Positive Change....

Our Last Hurrah?

Is Maliki America’s Last Hope In Iraq?



We are way past the point where American military and/or political clout are going to change the dynamics in present day Iraq. That much is clear. Whether we open our eyes to it or not.



The current climate indicates that we are quickly running out of options.



Our leaders are running around like chickens with their heads cut off echoing words that have little or no relationship to what we can see with our eyes or read in the many accounts of the war on the ground...



At this time, we seem to be investing Maliki with all of our hopes and expectations meanwhile wondering if he is really an Ahmed Chalabi in disguise.



Only there is one problem.



He is not up to the task. That much is clear.

Or maybe the task needed to be rethought.

At the very least, our leadership hoped that he would begin the process.

But the problems run deep in this troubled land.

And, what is more troubling, Maliki seems unable to find a way to encourage all sides to the table to even begin the process of laying the groundwork for peace.



In this, he has proved to be another lightweight who is in over his head and not the solution that the Iraqi people were hoping and praying for.



Of course, it doesn’t help that he has already been denigrated as a pawn of George Bush or the henchman of Moktada Al Sadr—it’s hard to say which is worse if you are a Sunni…



The current view seems to be that we have nothing up our sleeve that will move the Iraqis one step closer to peace and democracy or at the very least end the bloodshed that has characterized the last three years…No matter what name we put on it, it is looking more and more like a pattern of genocide much like what happened in the Congo....



This raises the very legitimate issue if we have nothing to offer, why are we staying? Certainly, then, all we are accomplishing is adding to the numbers of dead and wounded while we bleed our treasury dry…



Despite our unrealistic government, it is hoped that our military leadership will point out that we have embarked on a no win mission while others clamor for more troops.....



It is this writer’s view that the answer was never more troops but more understanding and more vision. We’ve already failed on that score the day we set out on this suicidal mission based on lies and blatant ignorance.



In the end, of course, it’s those who have least to gain who pay the awful price. Our intransigence doesn’t offer much solace to the poor and Middle Class who bear the burden of responsibility while the rich, their hands full of dollars, sail off to the malls

In their expensive gas guzzlers practicing denial….



Ironically and paradoxically, the cycle of violence continues with the Middle Eastern’s Jihad against the west underwritten by petrol dollars that our privileged class is pleased to provide.



If ever there was a time for the generals to stand up, it is now!...

And the stench is growing!





Les Aaron



The Committee for Positive Change

A Little Nostalgia At Holiday Time...

I was in DC this past week and couldn't resist going to the Vietnam Veteran's memorial; the last time I went, it was pouring, the fog hung over the memorial and I and a guide were the only one's there. I was looking for my years which was 59 and 60 since that's when Kennedy came to our group of Advisers seeking volunteers. WHat did we know. We all volunteered.

The last time I went to the Wall, I couldn't get by the first panel as my eyes misted up. This time, I didn't see any of my close buddies on the wall which gave me reason to feel good; but so many names were on the wall that it staggered one's mind. . So I walked it up and down; only this time all the tourists were there with cameras. I didn't see the old vets hanging around in their field gear so I walked up to the concessions. I was looking for an "I" Corps insignia and a 1st Cav insignia. I only had eight bucks and they were five dollars each but the concessionaire gave me a break. I hobbled back on a very bad leg that was swelling by the minute after I fell off some uneven payment and it was killing me.. I drove back to Virginia and somehow felt it had been a worthwhile day. I was going back to see my grandkids and I was thankful that I could spend time with themand see things through their eyes....and I thought maybe that's one of the things that Thanksgiving is all about.

Les

Stepping Aside to Help the Party

In a message dated 11/19/2006 1:43:29 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, Hubmaster writes:
Hillary Clinton is a terrifically talented politician. She has demonstrated her skill by winning in New York State, an almost impossible task in a land that has been Balkanized by its diverse perspectives and points of view.

Nevertheless, despite overwhelming respect for her intelligence, talents and insights, I hope that she chooses to make her first priority a Democratic win rather than personal stardom.

Why am I saying that?

Because I believe that no what Hillary does she cannot change the perceptions of her held by a majority of the voting public. To put it bluntly, Hillary is a polarizing force. If she were put up against John McCain, the American people would undoubtedly vote in John McCain.

Whatever their views about McCain, he is still remembered as the “war hero,” the man who survived five years of pain for his country.

Hillary, on the other hand, will always be viewed as the woman who wouldn’t stand by her man or bake cookies; or the woman who voted for the War and always avoided the serious issues of our time. In short, a politician who was so conscious of her prior political "gaffs," that she bent over backwards to seem politically correct at the expense of her credibility..

Such perceptions change glacially if at all.

Hillary needs to recognize this and to step aside in order to give another candidate with a better chance to win the opportunity to emerge and rise in the firmament, a candidate that carries little or no emotional baggage that can make him or her less palatable to the voting public.

The fact of the matter is that whoever winds up being the candidate of choice must be able to appeal to a broad cross-section of voters ranging from the left to the Independent whose numbers are growing and whose influence is increasingly being felt.

That infers and imputes that they be untainted by their positions on the issues; not easy!

For her sacrifice, Hillary should be awarded with senior status within the party and an appropriate position in a new democratic government.

We must in the end put personal ambitions aside and consider what is best for the democratic party.

For the first time in six years, we have an opportunity to put forth a candidate who has a chance to win, a candidate who the voters can become emotionally engaged with, a candidate who can communicate to a wider audience in effective sound-bytes. The democrats need someone who can handle him or herself when exposed to the expected cabal of cable hit men who seem to love to invent hair brained scenarios involving democrats. We need someone who can stand up to their gutter politics and can give as good as he/she gets. In short, we need to understand that the 08 election is going to be a walk in the park.
In the meantime, we have a full plate and need to get cracking pushing forward a sound and coherent democratic plan to not only reverse much of the prior special interest legislation but to also move forward on many fronts ranging from quality of life issues to education, health care, the environment and the economy.
.

The long and short of it is that we have our work cut out and we cannot afford to lose time.

And the election for the next democratic president begins today.

Les Aaron

No Time To Drag Our Feet...THE CHALLENGES AHEAD

What we need to do…

tHE Republicans are trying to suggest that the Dems are going to jeopardize all of the Republican programs and policies made to date.

One would suspect from that republicans see themselves as infallible and perennially “right.”

Let’s address this cult of “rightness” for just a sec….

Am I missing something? Please help me here. Can anyone recall a piece of legislation over the last six years that was passed with total transparency that benefited the interests of the majority of the population that didn’t address narrow interests, that wasn’t circumscribed or limited by presidential edict?

I can’t!

To the best of my knowledge, I can’t think of one piece of legislation that doesn’t need to be exhumed and sent packing big-time.

The danger is that we become complacent.

The real work of Congress is yet to come. It consists of getting rid of all this narrow gauge self-serving legislation that has benefited the advantaged and special interests vs. the public good; that has pushed us to the tipping point environmentally and otherwise; that has decimated our middle class and stolen opportunity from the poor and disadvantaged.

But that’s only for starters! WE also need to get to work immediately to initiate remedial programs to address this country’s needs in a bubble-free real world.

Democrats need to work hand and glove to institute policies of their own pertaining to a myriad of challenges we face ranging from health care to insurance to jobs, including alternative fuels and energy sources, international policy, Fast Track, NAFTA and other agreements that we have entered into that benefit business owners but rob this country of a futureWe need to get down to the business of rebuilding the middle class. We need to level the playing field internationally. We need to provide for the poor and needy. We need to support equal education for all through grants and full scholarships for the disadvantaged. We need to get business out of bed with government; we need separation of church and state. We need to return to the rule of law. We need to balance the budget and eliminate our growing deficit with China, Saudi Arabia and Japan. We have to respect habeas corpus, posse comitatus, privacy agreements. We have to end eavesdropping the way it is presently conducted sans court orders. And we need to restore the fundamentals of democratic government. This is a tall order that will demand the sacrifices of the best and the brightest but it needs doing if this country is ever going to get on a fast track to restoring our reputation and our world standing.

Most importantly, we have to reintroduce hope back into the equation. We have to commit to science once again. We have to encourage the filing of patents and ideas that will produce a plenitude of innovation and technology to move this country forward once again.

WE seen this as a great crusade to put America back on top again—a crusade that will restore jobs and provide a new genesis for hope and aspiration…


Incidentally, despite the democratic win, the sky has not fallen. In fact, every democrat who is taking the chairmanship of the various committees has said that no progress can be made until the democrats and the republicans learn how to work together.

That seems like a good start to me!

Les Aaron
THE COMMITTEE FOR POSITIVE CHANGE

BLOG: LESAARON.BLOGSPOT.COM

THE GUIDE FOR POSITIVE CHANGE IS READY!

I am very pleased to report that I have published
"No Time to Gloat." Rebuilding America Begins Today!...

The book has gone into print and I expect it to be available to fill orders after I have received my copy. The book will be 8 1/2 x 11 and perfect bound consisting of 310 + pages and full color printed cover.

Here is an excerpt from the intro:

‘“No Time to Gloat.” Rebuilding America Begins Today.’



Here are some highlights of what this book is all about, how it will empower you with the insights you need to impel a revolution that will help restore the America we know and love:



FEATURES: Twenty Ways to Return America to Greatness—framing the debate—marketing democracy—the grass roots, what it means—“branding” as a technique for political campaigners—zero budgeting as a way to cut to the chase—highlights of the historical record—The Power of the Internet, what is myth and what is not!—the specious Values arguments—America, a nation in crisis!—Recalculating the vote—what we need to do about voting machines—building a consensus—Jobs—It’s the Economy, Stupid!—Whatever happened to our Constitutional Rights?—Smoke and Mirrors: the politics of the Right Wing—the ”Real” Issues—

Dirty Tricks: Segretti Links to the Current Day Republican Party!—Rebuilding the Democratic Party: What it Takes—Where do we go from here?—Media: How the FCC Changed the Rules—The Gingrich, Powell, Murdoch triumvirate—Media Today: Access, Concentration, Ratings and Entertainment—The End of Meaningful Content!—The Monarchy Prevails!—The Human Factor and Democracy…



And if you don’t see the subtleties of politics reaching into every conceivable segment of our lives, be prepared for the worst case scenario!



If we agree to nothing else, we must agree to one salient point: If we contributed to the current condition through our inaction, it is we alone who must fix it.



There is no alternative.



We Must Reverse What We Have Allowed to Happen…







Anyone interested in being included in the initial print run should let me know ASAP and I will include you in the initial run. All first run editions will be inscribed and signed.

As I've already mentioned, a minimum of ten percent profits will go to democratic and liberal causes and once costs have been met, we will increase our contribution levels accordingly.

For many of us who have worked hard to precipitate change, we cannot be lulled into believing that it's all over; in fact the work of winning back the White House and America is just beginning.

We hope that you will join us and order what we feel is not only an important guideline for positive change. To all of those who have been so instrumental in pushing me to complete this book, all I can say is thank you from my heart and soul.

To be included in the first run, let me know via email. The cost of the book is only 24.95 plus 3.50 shipping and handling.

Thank you.

Les Aaron
The Committee for Positive Change....

For more information, please contact: hubmaster@aol.com
If you have been placed on this list by mistake, our apologies. Please let us know and we shall see that you are not included in future mailings.

Are We Doomed to Repeat the Past?

Not too many years ago, the government of one country was threatened by the prospect of one the "isms" taking control and robbing them of their freedoms. At the time, it was a different “ism” from terrorism but just as frightening.
...To assure the people that their freedoms were protected, they were told that if they didn't support this new party of the people fully, there was no way to know what these enemies would do.

So in fear they were made to understand that they would lose what they so painfully sacrificed to achieve. In the end, people supported this party that promised protection for the masses.

And through use of fear, this party helped make the population uncertain and doubting of any and all threats—either real or imagined--to the hegemony of this country and its ability to survive an onslaught from this foreign country that threatened it.

In the process, the people were told that some of the freedoms inherent in their democratic system had to be sacrificed in order to assure that the government would have the necessary power to act in their behalf. And the people acquiesced figuring that their first priority would be for protection of their interests and their families.

But it didn’t end there. The threats posed by this enemy seemed to grow even larger. The party that stood up to the threat explained that to provide the people with the necessary level of security, the people would have to vote this party into power above all of the other parties.

Moreover, they were told that some of the citizens of this country were sympathizers of this great "ism" and should be identified and separated.

Later, they were told that they were a great people infiltrated by people who were not up to their standards. Using standards of Eugenics, it was easy to identify who these people were who stood in the way of this country achieving the greatness they deserved.

The people accepted the words of the new leadership and took pride in their greatness. Those who didn't fit the true standards of this people were identified and segregated. It turned out that many people were “imposters” seemingly living as if they were loyal citizens when in fact the new leadership of this country knew otherwise. They were all identified and separated from the main body of the people despite their more than significant contributions to mathematics, physics, the law, education, education, technology and other seemingly worthwhile pursuits.

To avoid future incidents of enemies of the state taking over, gradually the rights of these "other" citizens were removed until they had no more rights left. At that point, you could look around yourself and see only people like you. Diversity, creativity and culture suffered under the austere programs of the leadership who demanded more conformity and ruled increasingly by fear. Eventually, there were spies everywhere and mistrust so that eventually no one trusted no one else. In their pursuit of their deserved greatness, they had made enemies all over the world.

As we all know, this was Nazi Germany. But in the interests of fighting terrorism, may we be pursuing a path that denies us the very things that made us great as a people?: Have we too willingly accepted the government's arguments without subjecting them to the litmus tests of debate and investigation? Was our own congress to willing to defer to the Executive rather than serve as a form of check and balance to protect the liberties of the American people? Are we too willing to abdicate our own responsibilities as a people and deferring decisions to a leadership that says things that don’t seem to ring true or pass the test of credibility?


Les Aaron

Should Ignorance Be a Major; There Are So Many Educated In It!

wHAT KIND OF A LESSON DO WE SEND TO OUR KIDS...


IT IS BAD ENOUGH WHEN OUR KIDS CAN'T RECOGNIZE THE MAN RESPONSIBLE FOR WORLD WAR TWO? BUT WHEN ADULTS STILL DON'T UNDERSTAND WHAT HAPPENED IN VIETNAM, HOW SURPRISED SHOULD WE BE THAT WE HAD A PRESIDENT DECLARE WAR WHO DIDN'T KNOW A SHIA' FROM A SUNNI, WHO DIDN'T KNOW THAT UNDER SADDAM, IRAQ WAS MOSTLY SECULAR, THAT BELIEVED IN HIS CONVERSATIONS WITH CHENEY AND GOD, THAT THEY WOULD CLING TO DEMOCRACY IF OFFERED....

Well, if the president is such a retard, maybe a lack of education and involvement is all you really need to get by....

Is that the message? And should it frighten us?...

WHY ARE WE SO PROUD TO BE JOCKS AND SO CONTENT TO BE IGNORANT?

WHY DO MANY OF US WEAR IGNORANCE LIKE A BADGE OF HONOR?

WHY DO WE HAVE SO LITTLE RESPECT FOR HISTORY?

When I first started watching the Late Night NBC Show and heard Jay talking to college graduates and asking them questions that they couldn't even begin to answer that I would think would be appropriate for third graders, my immediate reaction was that it was a set up.

No, cut it out, Jay.

Americans can't be that dumb!....They have to know that there is only one moon in our sky...(college astronomy graduate)....They have to be able to locate Florida on a map....they have to know where China is on a globe....

They're just pulling our collective legs.

Oh, I wish it were so...

But now I'm not so sure. You see, I am a Vet who served in the Nam era, and I am always coming up across bad information and attitudes based on ignorance from people who you would think of as smart. "Why didn't we use nuclear weapons?" is one of them...
"We could have creamed them if the government stayed out" is another...
All indicative of people who don't know the first thing about what happened in this far away land that took the lives of 50,000 of our best and brightest. (Have all the best and brightest been killed off??? (A question for another day)....

Well, there's only so much you can chalk up to not having the facts...

I thought I would do better with college seniors getting ready to graduate.

I was teaching them when the Iraq war broke out.

I later asked individual students what they thought about Iraq.

Most didn't seem to think much about anything, especially Iraq....

Most probably couldn't find Iraq on a map.

Most also tended to believe what the president said. I was shocked. I had come from a generation that questioned everything. And was mostly liberally disposed.

But we didn't make giant assumptions and we all thought we were pretty well informed.

When Cuba's fight for freedom and independence, several of my crowd went down to stay with Castro. I was living in Miami at the time and everybody knew what was happening.

Clearly, this is a more conservative generation than I'm familiar and where I live now is mostly Republican.... so I am not sure how representative things are and whether anyone can safely make judgements.

in New York, there was still a liberal bent to the crowd and a million different opinions and the God saving grace of diversity....

I know lot's of young people, however, and in our polite conversations, it never seems to get beyond lawns, cars, brands, babies, jobs.... and I am really starting to get worried about this generation that we parents coddled and protected. Perhaps we protected them too much it occurs to me...

Les Aaron
The Armchair Curmudgeon

"America Sans Democracy!"

What makes America America...

A Relevant Reminder:

America is one of the few places on earth with a government that is based upon a document that protects individual freedoms and guides the government in their enforcement..
The Founding documents are the elements in a contract that Americans agree to; it provides protection and freedoms for its citizenry that is the envy of the World.

Some of its features include the First Amendment that protects privacy for the individual against snooping and eavesdropping. Our laws allow people to consult with their lawyers so that they will not incriminate themselves. We have other important laws that make us the stand out democracy on earth. Among them, habeas corpus which requires that anyone who makes a case against you has to present his charges in a court of law within a specified time period so that you aren't just forgotten in jail as you might be in some banana republic. Far different from places like South Korea where you could be picked up walking on the street for whatever reason and held in jail indefinitely!...

Freedom of speech is another feature of American democracy that stands apart. Even in England, under the War Secrets Act you can't openly speak your mind.

America was also created as a Republic where the concepts of church and state were prevented from intermingling. This was because of the experience of our early founders who for the most part were fleeing religious oppression. Among those who were to design our government, it was recognized that the questions of religion had no business in government.

Government was of the people and our representatives were charged with the responsibility for representing their districts and their constituents. And to make sure that all people were represented and protected according to the laws of the land, the Senate and House had different jurisdictions and each division of government had the ability to balance the other two divisions.

To keep government on the up and up, we even had a free media that because of its size and diversity, operated to assure the public of balanced news reporting.

We were also a government free of the prospect of the military taking over inasmuch as certain laws on the books precluded such an eventuality such as Posse Comitatus which ruled that no US military could be stationed in America.

But, today, it grieves one to realize that most of these guarantees that are at the very foundation of America are negotiable and can be disposed of arbitrarily by a sitting government. These protections which were seemingly carved in stone, for the most part have been jettisoned without the hue and cry of the American people, our courts, our elected officials and the media. Now, we learn after the fact, that our government is free to snoop on us, read our paperwork, listen to our conversation--without even the protections of the Courts—in the purported fight against the invisible forces of terrorism..

Today, American citizens can be confined--and tortured according to the definition approved by the president and not have access to legal guidance. And this is called American.
Today, the machinery has been set up to erode the protections of posse comitatus in violation of the law of the land. . To add to our concerns, the government has also made it possible to exercise Martial Law in America if the government deems it necessary.

The government has also absorbed the power of the other two houses so that it operates virtually independently without intervention to produce legislation that it wants to pursue in the interest of its narrow base that is viewed as extremist right wing.

The protections of the Constitution have been tossed aside virtually at will and, consequently, by this very act, government has attenuated or, in effect, effectively ended the contract that existed for more than two hundred years between the American people and its government. DeToqueville made the point one hundred plus years ago when he commented that American democracy is without equal, but it suffers from one flaw that it is a form of government that it is easy to manipulate and change into a form of tyranny without the people being the wiser.

And all of this has been done through the government's ability to usurp power and impose its own authority to fight terrorism.

In the end, it may appear to some that in the pursuit of terrorism and the exercise of fear, we have lost most of those freedoms and constitutional rights that differentiate us from most of the rest of the world. What are we if we cannot point to our freedoms and protections, including the rights of habeas corpus, the right to engage a lawyer on our own behalf, the right to plead one’s own case, the right to protection against imprisonment, torture and the other heinous forms of dictatorship that have made themselves apparent in this so-called War against terrorism. Aside from asking ourselves whether we are any safer today than we were on September 10th, we must face the reality that we have morphed under this government to a Superpower that rules by Divine Right without the advice of the people or their necessary support, absent the balance provided by the Fourth Estate. In the end, when such a government can maintain its place and when you tally all the scores, it seems clear that the terrorists have already won!

Les Aaron The Armchair Curmudgeon