The Three Princes of Serendip


When I was first selling in New York, I came across a wonderful new ice cream parlor that was just opening called Serendipity.


It was such an unfamiliar name that I actually looked it up to see what it meant.


Since then, I’ve had many serendipitous events in my life.


When I moved away from New York’s Greenwich Village, I thought that I would never find a bookstore to replace the Strand for me as any book-loving New Yorker would know. It’s miles of shelves encouraged browsing and adventure in the stacks….


In Delaware, I found nothing but book stores with a conservative orientation; it was off-putting so I stopped going unless I had no other option.


But then I made a serendipitous discovery, the second hand stores and thrift centers carried books and so, I was saved.


Since then, I have made wonderful finds of books that I was seeking to read or add to my collection that were practically new and wonderfully inexpensive. I found 1776, Keagan's valuable treatises on War, some previously unread Michener, many books on government and Washington and much, much more. I just bought the Greatest Generation by Brokaw who I am however disappointed to say is not a great writer in my opinion for every story seems like the last.


I go browsing around now when the libraries are having a sale or tend to just poke around in the second hand stores in and near my neighborhood.


The other day, I was looking for some coloring and maze books for my grandchildren and happened to wander into the Dollar Stores. I found just what I was looking for and as I passed by, I saw a book by Tom Wolf that I hadn’t read. It was a hard cover for a dollar so I rushed to pick one up. Well, let me tell you, it was the best Tom Wolf I have read since the Right Stuff.


If anyone wants to get a real handle on the breakthrough of this new millennium, Tom is the right guy to go to; he knows everything—and I am not being facetious. I don’t know where he gets his information but I do know something about the evolution of the computer business but he brings in asides that only illuminate. This book is terrific and I would recommend it to anyone. It’s called “Hooking Up” and it has changed my life as much as the Ascent of Man or as much as Connections did for me during my fine-tuning in the late sixties…. He talks about Noyce and microcircuitry and how it changed the world; he writes about Edward O. Wilson and shows how his views on insects literally changed the way we think; he gets into the latest trends in education and why they are flat wrong; he talks about why we call certain people artists who have no talent and never personally get involved in the medium they work with; and on and on. A totally edifying and electrifying experience if you love knowledge!


Tom tells you about things that are so enlightening in every venue of science that’s worthwhile and gets your motor going with the insights he weaves so well into this composite tapestry of who we are and where we are going.


We need more TomWolf’s.


I would encourage every person to run to their Dollar Store and pick up a book of this under-reviewed little gem for one dollar. (It would be a buy at 20 times that!) and prepare to enjoy a week’s worth of wonderful, insightful, though provoking reading….


And if you read this awesome text, please pass along your thoughts….


Best wishes,



Les Aaron

The Committee for Positive Change.

"Playing It Safe"

Character flaws seem pernicious at the highest levels of this government.


It's nice to know that we approved the appointment of a new Attorney General with such sterling attributes of moral courage.

During the original hearings, he didn't know whether water-boarding was torture or not.

But that answer was okay; it mollified a congress figuring that no one could be worse than the previous occupant of that august position.

And early on in his term, we have already hear him declare that he is not sure whether water-boarding, per se, is a form of torture.

Then, later, he said, he wasn't sure whether he was going to label it torture.

And now, it seems, he is ready to put the argument aside.

How convenient. If you don't like the decision, just forget about it....

Never mind, that citizens of our country have already been tortured using this method that sure looks like torture to this old veteran.

Never mind, that most of those who practice it, consider it torture.

Never mind, that it is banned by the Geneva Convention as torture.

And never mind that we, the greatest democracy that ever was, cannot find the core of our convictions to bannish the practice once and for all.

If our new Attorney General is ill-equipped to draw that distinction, just imagine how he will rise to the occasion on other questions of profound gravity to the future of this country.

It is clear, at least to me, that syncophancy trumps commitment to one's oath to uphold the law.

For it is the law that differentiates a democracy from other forms of government....

We had done it twice before and now Mr. Bush has the great honor of elevating cowardice and dishonesty to attributes worthy of a pension and a medal for service to this country.

When bad governance prevails, we all suffer and few have suffered more than the innocents who have had to countenance this government--a government of collusion, corruption and lies.

How dare he deliver a state of the Nation; how dare he dictate our lives with such abandon.

And woe those poor unfortunate parents who believe that by listening to their president, and sacrificing their young men and women they were benefitting this country.

MY prayers go out to them for being so deceived.

Les Aaron


Les Aaron

Dear Activist:

It's with deep sadness that I announce that Dennis Kucinich, a hero to many of us who stood his ground come hell or high water, has been forced to leave the race for democratic candidate of the Party.Let us not forget that Dennis is the one candidate who stood up against the War; and who aggressively supported the Middle Class even when it was unpopular and unfashionable to do so.

He was and is a man of great courage and conviction who stands with greatness...

It is the opinion of this writer that Dennis was never given the attention by the media he deserved. As a consequence, his message for the most part never got out. Most people who vote never did get to see Dennis or hear his impassioned speeches for democratic progressivism.

What could be called a form of selective censorship against progressive candidates exists today that has only served to exacerbate the problems facing this country today.

Among them justice and the right to hear truth in an unvarnished way.

People who simply shrug this notion off would do well to remember 1984's lessons for those of us who believe that the system will right itself.

It will not!

Today, most of us find ourselves exposed to biased reports that only serve to raise doubts and underscore disharmony further alienating us from the very process itself.

In this respect, the conservative interests have been served.


Increasingly, one of our principal freedoms has and is being compromised and our nominating process reduced to theatre and sound bytes that has effectively served to polarize voters and amplify negativity.

It underscores that Democracy has been dealt a damaging blow. But it serves as a distinct reminder that if we take the path of least resistance, we must then settle for the unfit pablum that the media dishes up.

If nothing else, Dennis has helped us to understand the dimensions of the job before us.

Dennis will deliver his bowing out speech tomorrow!


Les Aaron

The Committee for Positive Change

Taking Apart Government As A Path To Individual Freedom in America.


I’ve got it figured out.

I was wondering when I checked Meet-Ups, there were at least ten in the area for Ron Paul and maybe one each, if that many, for the other candidates.

Why the obsession with a man who has said that his goal is to take apart government.

On the one hand, it makes some sense.

This government is corrupt; it has done nothing for the common man except involve him in war and profligate ventures that amount to naught; exercises in exporting our might to what end? Individual advantage? The globalist dream that also conjured up a thousand points of light? Economic ruination?

In this respect, someone telling us that we shouldn’t be doing this; that we should return our troops from overseas; that we should get our own books in balance; and be responsible for ourselves has taken on the aura of a mystic. Ron Paul is a seer; he can see the future and it is a bankrupt country if we persist in what we are doing.

In the short term, Paul may seem enlightened, even capable of achieving what he espouses; it is in the longer term, when reason begins to settle in that the Ron Paul view of the world begins to fall apart.

Ron Paul is not a visionary; he is a Pied Piper, the Jack Kevorkian of a paternalistic democracy—one who is willing to set aside the masses for the sake of the individual.

And in the process, he is perhaps the most dangerous man who has ever run for government. Dangerous because he seems to offer solutions and ideas; but dangerous because he would turn America into a land of individuals who are not committed to anything larger than themselves.

If Ron is perhaps more than a tad mad, he is at the very least a tad right. Some of the things he points a finger at are perniciously wrong headed. We have no business salvaging the world, or making America the bastion of democracy, read Christianity, in an anti-Christian world. So at the very least he’s an interesting madman, an unconventional thinker in a conventional world. So, like most unconventional thinkers, he attracts a following.

Now, this following sees in what Ron stands for a reaction to conventional politics.

He is the odd man out.

He defies the common way of thinking about politics.

He is libertarian through and through.

He wants to not only tame government, he wants to jettison it.

He wants you to keep your money in your pocket; not pay it in taxes.

And that’s a very appealing concept to those who see their money going to support wars and intervention in the affairs of others.

He’s against all of that.

But by the same token, if you follow his ideas, you have to start getting a little queasy in the gut.

Why?

Because in a Ron Paul government, what’s left of it when he gets through, there is little compassion or consideration of the old, the enfeebled, minorities, those who can’t take care of themselves; in Ron Paul’s thesis, they become canon fodder.

Under Paul, we have become a nation of those who believe in the adage of “Don’t Tread on Me.” Americans who believe that America is about “me” not “you.” It is a philosophy of the incredibly selfish; under Paul’s philosophy, there would have been no nationwide highway program, no GI Bill; no rural electrification. We would still be living in shacks shooting anybody who dared crossed onto our territory. There would be no system of health; there would no be no taxes; but by the same token, there would be no growth and there would be no reason for a Ron Paul to emerge as someone who would help us return to the Third World; there would be no need because we would have never left!....

So, what looks like a great deal going in, comes out looking as if the idea has been through the shredder.

Paul, is not the savior; he’s the destroyer.

He ends war.

He ends our abortive explotation of others.

But at the same time, he gets rid of taxes.

He ends government as we know it.

He doesn’t support the Draft; but neither does he support health care….

If we leave it up to, Ron, the national motto will now be “What’s mine is mine; and what’s yours is yours.”

Ron does not espouse helping his fellow man.

For him, there is no one waiting to greet those masses waiting to breath free….

For Ron, there’s just him and his family and screw everyone else.

To think, that literally millions and millions of people espouse similar principles tells me more than I want to know.

He doesn’t sound like the kind of doctor I would want to go to….


Les Aaron

The Committee for Positive Change

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Well, it seems we've had it all under our selected President, George Bush
Recession

Housing Slump

Corruption at the highest levels

A dishonest war!

Neglect of the Middle Class

Avoidance of concern about Global warming


Dirty water; dirty air

A justice department that wouldn't know justice if it fell over it!

A Health and Human Services Department that said the air over New York on 9/12 was safe!

A 1000 dollar a barrell oil!


A puppet who laughs and dances with Arab leaders who take our money and finance high crime and misdemeanors...


A government run by a religious midget who tells those who served that somehow we are not patriots!....because we don't agree with his special interests....


A government that lusts about sending our jobs overseas in order to destroy the middle class and turn his friends into billionaires...


A government that has put our rights and our freedoms on the back burner....


A government that has turned the rest of the world against us....


Yes, we would have to go far to find compassionate conservatives like these who are so wanting in so many ways.....


But miraculously, they listen to no one and have the audacity to stumble on not doing one human thing for anyone except their tight knit collection of right wing friends....


What a mess!



Give the democrats your blessings; they will need it this time!


Les Aaron

Something we can't seem to wrap our minds around:



Whatever happened to us?



200 years ago, we thought our freedom was worth fighting for.



200 years ago, we thought it was important that we establish a democracy unlike anything else in the world.



Through the perilous fight, we kept our heritage.



We did it through the trenches of WWI and when it came to fighting the

Nazi menace in WWII.



We persevered against those who would uphold a Cold War.



We met the challenges on our trip to the Moon against the threat of Sputnik.



We did all of these things to preserve our way of life…..



And then ground to a blinding halt seven years ago in an election that has not only changed us, it changed the world.



Now, what do we do as we see our freedoms curtailed, our liberties evanesce?



Nothing!







Are we a nation of wimps?



Have we become so domesticated, so manipulated, so controlled that we are afraid to open our mouths?



This question has been bothering me for the last seven years.


I've lived and traveled to a great many places; no where have I seen this level of apathy.

People are afraid to say anything on the Internet. The government is going to clamp down.



People are afraid that their mail is being read; and their personal life scrutinized.



And it probably is.



We’re also worried that If we don’t abide by the laws, the government will slip anthrax into our envelope….



Or not give us the antidote to the new strain of flu virus….



Or bin Laden will get us….



These bug-a-boos have seemingly had the collective effect of silencing us as a people.


Very odd because we have never known repression as a people.

We don't know what it means to be picked up on the street by MPs for doing nothing!

We do know, however, that we can no longer count on the media to tell us the unvarnished truth.

The media is in the pocket of big government.

As a result, our media has been especially docile and noncommittal.



But why?



Ah, something called contracts, and favoritism and big business conservatism perhaps?



Be that as it may, why have we, the so-called archetypes of liberty, been so afraid to say something against our government's hi-jinx?

This is what I don’t get.



In France, if the government opens its mouth, the Unions are right there….and if the government persists, everyone will be out on strike for a month…



In Italy, the papers attack their president freely.



In Canada, if the government doesn’t cut the mustard, the people will be right out there with letters, editorials, protests, even attacks on government institutions by so-called “radicals.”



In most of the free world, today, the people speak up. They do not feel intimidated.



Even when I was living in Korea, the people stood up for what they believed. They protested; ;they marched; they posted signs; held rallies....



Even in Japan, the papers reflect what the people think.



The only place that I’ve lived in where that hasn’t happened has been on a little island in the Carribean off of St. Maartin where they actually fought against breaking with the English Colonial Empire and it has worked out well ever since.



So, what happened to us?


How do you take back what is yours if you don't have a voice?

Where are our heroes?

Where are those people we respect?

Lying in fear of being sent to Egypt for torture?

Who knows?


But I'm beginning to think that the biggest thing wrong with this country is us.


les Aaron

US Country that condones torture says Ally.


Hey, did you know that during a recent meeting of diplomats the issue of torture came up and led to the subject of how you protect yourself against torture.

In the course of the discussion, some of the countries that still have not outlawed torture were named. America was among them.

The Diplomats were warned against being tortured in one of these countries.

Where did this debate take place?

Our closest friends and allies, Canada.

Three Canadian citizens have been retained and tortured by America.

Nice when your closest allies consider you as a country that condones torture wouldn’t you say?

Tell that to the Press liaison to the White House….


Les Aaron
The Committee for Positive Change

The Debates: A Deft Technique for Killing Enthusiasm



Sad to say, I am afraid that I am losing my enthusiasm for this election.



I feel like the newly wed who discovers that his bride was the girlfriend of the guy he hated all through school….



That’s how I feel.



What had started out as a love affair, has turned sour in my eyes.



Petty infighting, new revelations—either real or contrived—cases of trying to influence perceptions with artfully camouflaged accusations all leave me with a bitter taste in my mouth.



I don’t feel as strongly about Obama as I once did…

Now that I know, or think I know, that he picked out Reagan as his model, which I assumed was the point of all that jargon….



I remember Reagan….



And he was no role model for me….



And I don’t like the “slickness” of Willy or Hillary’s attempts to seem unscripted as she levels charges.



I understand wanting to win, but I don’t want to see this degenerate into the Hillary and Bill contest; or learn that Obama does best when he doesn’t get his hands dirty with the detail work.



I almost don’t want to know that.



I originally was for Dennis but settled on Edwards for his possibilities. But nobody’s buying into his arguments which suggests that the country is addicted to hope or that the majority are simply stupid!



In any event, I will probably vote for the candidate of the democratic party.



But I don’t like being taken for granted and maybe I should be paying more attention to what Mayor Bloomberg and his friends are saying.



Where are you, Dennis, when I need you?



Les Aaron

The Committee for Positive Change

What will it be: Peace or War?


Bin Laden’s son proposes a truce.

The deux ex machina of all terrorists, or the next best thing, shows up as if a virgin birth, immune from what his father did over the last ten years or so to show his disfavor with the west which indicates several possibilities.

bin Laden doesn’t listen to his son, this son anyway; or that this son is on a mission to buy time (maybe the old man needs a weekend in a good four star hotel as a change of pace from dark, and freezing cold caves…) or that this is really the truth—or at least close to the truth!....

The last option of course being the most insane possibility.

Why would a leader who has sworn Jihad against the west, who has devoted his life to characterizing the west as all killers and “unholy” all of a sudden change its mind and become benign?….

Even a crummy novelist would have trouble with that plot line…

This would be the hardest idea to buy even someone willing to give the other guy the benefit of the doubt, it is hard to forget the tangible results of his hatred or the smile that crossed his lips when he recounted the success of his missions.

On the other hand, maybe, bin Laden sees the hand-writing on the wall.

Maybe he understands that it is very hard to control a killing mission from an obscure cave in the middle of the a**hole of the world.

Maybe “yes” and maybe “no.”

There were always questions about our luke-warm pursuit of bin Laden.

And these were raised by the Special Ops guys sent in to get him….

Several months late and with a ten man team; it seemed sort of a gesture rather than a real commitment. After all, if we got bin Laden, what would happen to this great instrument of fear that the White House had with which to punish, control and anesthetize the people.

The Nazi propaganda machine understood that you couldn’t have control without fear. .

There’s a collateral thought.

Bin Laden may understand that the hatred of him has allowed this president to intimidate the people of this land, to manipulate and control them with fear. Maybe he’d be satisfied if we just left the Middle East?

With the acquiescence of bin Laden, the people will be able to cast aside the yolk of fear.
And they will speak their mind—even getting rid of the Bush’s and Cheney’s.

Is he that complex a thinker?

I don’t know but it would be hard to rule out any of these possibilities.

In any event, his son coming forward poses all kinds of interesting scenarios.

But then again, we must remember that bin Laden is the son of a man who had fifty wives and scores of children….

Most Arab men don’t seem to listen to children who stray….

So this may be nothing but a tempest in a teapot.

Anyway, for what it’s worth, it’s a hopeful sign in a world increasingly living with hopelessness….


Les Aaron
The Committee for Positive Change

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Question of the Week: Answers will be published the week of January 21.


Within the next couple of weeks, the Primaries will be largely decided one way or the other…. And I think it’s important that Internet users help communicate their point of view.


Question of the Week


January 21, 2007

I think we all recognize the critical nature of the Primaries and the need to have a democratic winner! Therefore, I am posing the following question to our mailing lists:


Do you think that the current democratic strategies are winning strategies; or are they doing more harm than good?

If not, how would you change what the democrats are saying and doing?

Answers to questions will be published and appear on our Blog, one of the top rated Blogs on the Internet:


The Ubiquitous Blue Blog: http://www.lesaaron.blogspot.com


ANSWERS FOLLOW:


I think the democratic candidates have to be very careful to not set up a circular firing squad. The media seems set on portraying Obama and Hillary as being in this huge war and not covering Edwards at all. I think this business of Obama accusing Hillary of being racist and Hillary accusing Obama as being full of bull should stop. It's silly and not helpful. I think they should run the risk of being seen as too much alike and just toot their own horns. Leave the other guy alone. One thing they could do that would be helpful is talk about what their vision for America's future is and how it involves us. Obama does this somewhat and is very successful at it.
Barbara



I'm not sure if you are speaking of the strategies of the candidates or of the
party as a whole. I'll answer the question based on the party as a whole. I
like that Dean insists on a 50 state strategy, this is the first time that it
will be tested in the general elections. It didn't work at all in the primary
process, which has only heard from two states, yet the field has shrunk
because of the results of those those two states. I'm hopeful that 50 state
strategy will have a greater impact in the general election.

If not, how would you change what the democrats are saying and doing?

I think that the party should do more to make sure that ALL candidates are
included in all debates and news coverage. I'd also like the party to make
sure that issues are covered instead of who cried and who didn't. I don't know
how to change the way that two states seem to winnow out candidates. It's down
to three and 48 states have not even been heard from.


“…..if by a liberal they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone
who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the
welfare of the people- their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs,
their civil rights, their civil liberties.. if that is what they mean by a
“liberal” then I am proud to be a liberal. “: John F. Kennedy

Claudette
Lead, SD

I'm going to go back to a comment I made a long time ago: if I could have taken all 7 original candidates and stuck them in a blender and poured out, I'd have the ideal candidate. I'm hoping the current race flap is just today's headlines and doesn't color the campaign from here on out, but if it does not, then the Reps have nothing to worry about because the Dems will just toast themselves. The LAST thing we need is a wounded candidate going against the Rep attack dogs.

Papajosh8515



Do you think that the current democratic strategies are winning strategies; or are they doing more harm than good?

If, by "current democratic strategies" you are talking about the race for the nomination, I would say that each of the top three, Clinton, Obama and Edwards, all have descended to some street fighter tactics that have proven, on the whole, not to work, and it demeans the process. The worst part about the process has been the media pundits, jumping on every word, taking out of context, caling the play by play as if they were watching a spectator sport on ESPN. Now I realize that some people might get bored by an actual discussion of policy and programs of each candidate, but is this a way to choose the next president of the United States?

The last two debates were interesting because you had a lively discussion on real issues and voters got a chance to really hear and see for themselves. Speaking of debates, it was so obvious that the anchors and pundits had an agenda in their questions: Cause a fight on stupid stuff. Nothing to do with real issues.

If not, how would you change what the democrats are saying and doing?

I think they made a good start on the last debate where they basically stuck to issues and stepped back from the bickering. That doesn't mean that you hold back on why you think you should be chosen as the nominee. That doesn't mean that you don't forcefully point out differences on agendas, policies, programs. Alice




The Democrats need to start attacking the Republicans, not each other. It's the

WAR
SUPREME COURT
ECONOMY

Not whether Obama puts his hand on his heart, or is inexperienced, or if Hillary cried or whatever. We need to GET RID OF THIS ADMINISTRATION and all the baggage with it, and I worry Hill and Barack are eating each other, and will cause us to implode.

Jesiana





The Dems strategies are not working because they are geared to each candidate. The Dms don't have a platform;



Each one needs to give a plan for each problem that he/she will face in the White House. Vague promises for change doesn't do it!

Each must do a position paper on:

Ballot fraud(without reform on this NOW the other things don't matter)

Iraq

Economy

Broken borders

Immigration

12+ million people here...what to do with them

Gay rights

Repeal of Nafta, Cafta

Repeal of Patriot Act



I could go on forever...



Michael



Do you think that the current democratic strategies are winning strategies; or are they doing more harm than good?

I believe the strategies used by the dems are being conducted by powers larger than the party... namely HUGE corporations.

Of course they are doing more harm than good.

If not, how would you change what the democrats are saying and doing?

I would hope the DNC would realize what it has done to hurt the nation and reverse its priority list.

The repubs are having their strings pulled by the same group of people - the megalo corps.

I think it's time for a whole lotta shakin' up to set things straight.

By that I would suggest choosing to write-in candidates names on our ballots at election polls during the primaries and general elections.

Humon





Do you think that the current democratic strategies are winning strategies; or are they doing more harm than good?



If not, how would you change what the democrats are saying and doing? (Les)



I would have them avoid criticizing each other. Criticizing never serves any useful purpose.

Sandra




In a message dated 1/17/2008 10:25:34 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, Hubmaster writes:

Question of the Week



January 21, 20



Do you think that the current democratic strategies are winning strategies; or are they doing more harm than good?

I think Obama, Clinton and Edwards have issued too many verbal attacks against each other, which weakens the Democrats, and gives comfort to the GOP. The voters need to know the plans of each of these Democratic candidates to deal with our country`s major problems.





If not, how would you change what the democrats are saying and doing?



The democratic presidential candidates should insist on only engaging in debates in which the candidates are allowed to pose a question to the other Democratic candidates on how they plan to deal with a particular problem facing our nation, and the respondent should be allowed a decent amount of time for their response to the question, to avoid sound bite answers.



Robert



They are doing more harm by trying to be more like Republicans, calling it moderate.



How to change? Adopt the Edwards philosophy! We are not going to help this nation by replacing a "bunch of Corporate Republicans with Corporate Democrats."



Everybody in this group is backing different candidates, but we all know John Edwards has the most principled position and is telling the people the truth.

Zack

Has democratic politics denigrated into individual cults of personality?

.



Is this more about Bill and Hillary than the welfare of the people?



I think these are the more important questions to ask at a time when politics among democrats seem less focused on the issues and more upon the personalities of the larger than life personas that seem to dwarf all other considerations.



We are treated to emotional lapses and grandiose sweeping statements and the anger of one of the candidates. But does that enhance what we are trying to accomplish? Or does it demean the actual gravitas of the subject matter?



Many are concerned that the main byproduct of so many forums has been less enlightenment than pettiness and divisiveness.



The “Talking Heads” tend to exacerbate the divisions brought forth during the forums and help turn molehills into mountains.



The Networks decide among themselves who should have the right to speak. Accomplished candidates are simply arbitrarily left out of the debates.



Questions are asked to provoke rather than enlighten and it seems that the entire process has become more show business than meaning.



I would appreciate your views on my comments.



Am I right? Or am I barking up the wrong tree?



Are we more concerned with how to get there then what happens once we arrive?



Please remit your answers to hubmaster@aol.com.



Thank you.



The Committee for Positive Change



Les Aaron

A quick profile of how America is viewed globally by its friends.


Here’s something you can shake your head about.



We all know that Bush went hat in hand to call on the Saudis.



To sweeten the meeting, Bush announced a 20 billion armament deal to which the Saudis

agreed.



And why not?



They had all of those American oil dollars gathering dust.



I mean the price of oil has doubled during his administration if memory serves...


Then, in an attempt at reciprocity, Bush asked the Saudi oil minister if they could increase oil production.



And the Oil Minister said that there were sufficient supplies of oil out there, an evident slap at the west.



As of now, Saudi Arabia supplies one third of all OPEC oil.





In another slap in the face for the US in international markets, China refused to bail out Citicorp after it reported losses of ten billion dollars in mortgage investment losses.



Singapore, Kuwait agreed to buy into what we consider American assets.



It seems that we are seeing the results of all those billion dollars in bonuses being handed out to astute Wall Street and Investment Company stakeholders.



All this, while American business is being sold out to foreign interests.



If this is how our friends treat us, how will our enemies react to our slipping status in the world?



Maybe the ”talking heads” haven’t been asking the right questions at these debates?



Something else to think about.



The Committee for Positive Change

Les Aaron

hubmaster@aol.com

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Les Aaron

My proposed new democratic slogan: The Party That Self Destructs Every Four years…
Seriously, folks, it must be in the water.

It seems that we, the beleaguered democrats who always save the country from Republicans by returning us to sanity and solvency, somehow always manage to be labeled as the cranks…

Among other things we’ve been called: We are idealistic, liberal, misinformed, without values, cowards, unpatriotic, without spirituality and now a new descriptor has been added to the definition.

Of course, everyone of these pejorative terms is false.

We are ultimately the heroes; the republicans don’t go to war. They are either too busy or too self-centered while they wave the flag, cherish their crosses, and run for cover….

Now, it seems that we eat our young.

What other impression can non-democrats come up with---even those addicted to fair play.

We beat each other up all of the time.

And make it easier for the republicans to demean and decimate us as inhuman and hardly worth preserving. If anyone has ever qualified to be on the endangered list, it is we.

Many have not forgotten the negativity that characterized the Ted Kennedy and Carter run-off prior to the Election of '76.

Then there was the internal feuding among those of the so-called Rainbow Coalition that was no coalition at all.

And then, of course, there was the contention between Kerry and Dean that seemed to go on forever and helped destroy Dean's chances--although the voters loved him for his ideas and the hope he offered.

Now, it's the Clinton vs. Obama controversy that is helping to bring us to a new low.

This is a fine line, folks. Yes, we deserve to know about each of the candidates in as much detail as necessary; but we have to be careful of the fine lines.

Clearly, Clinton has challenged Obama who she claimed is attempting to take on the mantle of Kennedy and Martin Luther King although there’s nothing wrong with that. (Excuse the Seinfeldian reference—I couldn’t resist!)

To dispell that perception, Mrs. Clinton has implied, inferred or intimated that as good as Martin Luther King was, that none of his actions would have borne fruit if it had not been for the efforts of LBJ to push through the necessary legislation.

This is a sticky wicket for most blacks.

Hmm! Contentious I would say… Some might say that the good reverend stuck the pen in Johnson’s hand…

While this might seem to some a tempest in a teapot, others especially minorities are distressed that the implication is to denigrate Mr. King, certainly among the holiest of holy to most blacks!

However, I must confess that the dignity and common sense displayed by some of the black historians, reporters, statesmen and women, and others was the most impressive thing I have ever seen. It gave me new hope and faith in America and America’s people of all colors and nationalities can negotiate their differences with sound judgment and statemanship and that our nation will not be torn assunder.

But now other innuendos and rumors are beginning to fly.

Of course in any of this, I don’t rule out the role of the Talking Heads or the Dirty Tricksters of the extreme right who will do anything to maintain the status quo—more weapons, more ammo, more deals where we sell our ammo and weapons to enemies so we have to build better ones. Get the picture?

Many I listened were hoping to inflame this into a race war. Reporters like Joe Scarborough on CNBC and O'Reilly of FOX seemed ready to pounce.

Here’s the latest accusations: Obama has been accused of being anti woman's rights or a child of Islam among a few of the recent charges.

If this is the case, it signals to us who have been aligned in politics for more than thirty years that it is possible to self-destruct.

In the end, whether republicans will win again because of our failure to pay attention to the sensitivities of the people or whether we can set these differences aside before the end of the Primary season and sit down and smoke the peace pipe will determine in large measure whether a democratic party is still viable.

I wouldn’t bet on it..

For all concerned, there seems to be little choice.


Les Aaron
The Committee for Positive Change

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This is turning out to be a very quirky Primary unlike any I’ve experienced.



Imagine this possibility for example:



The Republicans could literally have five front runners with each of them having won at least one Primary before February 5th….



Here’s why:



Huckabee won Iowa handily; next, McCain won New Hampshire changing the line-up of Republican leaders; the next day, Romney won the Caucus in Wyoming….and he could win again in Michigan



That’s three winners already—with Romney holding onto the greatest number of delegates won so far in the Republican Party.



But there’s talk about a win in South Carolina for the former Senator and Law and Order star from Tennessee

And let’s not forget, Giuliani seems to think that he has Florida locked up, although some might differ with him….



If you tally this up then, you'll see that there is a possibility then that the Republican Party may have five winners….



With the democratic Party, you have three candidates who are trying their hardest to kill each other off….and it may be Hillary and Obama, the leading candidates, could cause their own chances to tailspin, killing of the chances for a democratic victory….



We don’t know if it will come to that, and, hopefully, cooler heads will prevail but as of now, it seems that the race pot is being stirred. In this, I don’t count out the “dirty tricksters” or the talking heads on FOX and CNBC who have been calling it just about everything but racial politics….



Democrats never to seem to amaze me for their ability to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory.



Makes you think….





Les Aaron

The Committee for Positive Change

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From: The Committee for Positive Change
Answers to the Question of the Week, January 14, 2007

Question of the Week

January 14, 2008

Do you believe that Hillary's emotional moment had an effect on voting results?

And do you believe this moment was real or contrived?

Please tell us why.

Please make all of your responses printable.

The best responses will be circulated on many databases and lists.


Thank you.


Les Aaron
The Committee for Positive Change


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Answers to Question of the Week:



Yes, I think Hillary's emotional moment had an effect on the voters. She usually comes across as a very reserved, cold woman. Her emotional moment was not contrived, I think she was exhausted and disappointed in the Iowa results, so for once let her guard down and came across as a real, emotional person who really cares about others. I won't vote for her, but my feelings toward her softened. Cyn.


If the voting machines were manipulated, the Democratic Ticket can't win no matter who we nominate. If the machines were manipulated, it was by Republicans tricksters to give Hillary win; which means they still can do anything they want with elections.
Zack



I agree with Zack`s point that if Hillary`s win in New hampshire was due to manipulation by Republican tricksters, then it does not matter who the Democrats nominate, that candidate cannot win against the GOP election tricksters. I think that Hillary`s emotional moment helped her some, and I think it was genuine and not contrived. What helped Hillary the most was the news media gurus, who acted as bullies against her, especially the bully Chris Matthews.

Robert


Do you believe that Hillary's emotional moment had an effect on voting results? (Les)

No, but I believe whoever had their fingers in the voting machines certainly did.

Sandra


I don't believe that Hillary crying had any effect on the voters. I don't
believe it was contrived. I do, however, believe that only a misogynist would
be turning a normal human reaction into a news story.

Claudette


I THINK HILARY WAS SINCERE AND EXAUSTED TOO
Sikaczeus


I don't think Hillary's near tears episode was contrived. I think she was exhausted and trying to hold it together.

The morning after the NH primary I saw Obama give a rally at some high school gym. He was almost punch drunk with exhaustion and sick too. I felt like excusing him off the stage and sending him to his room for a nap. We push these guys way too hard. They are human.

I believe Mitt has cried twice since Hillary's near tears. Where is the coverage of that? Is Mitt a girly man for crying? How bout Bush, father and son? I really don't make much of it. Crying is no big deal. Barbara

Well, I don't know if the moment was contrived. But here's what I read.

She has a moment of frustration because she realized that her megalomaniacal dream was on the verge of being blown away. She was crying, not for us, but for her own inflated ego.

Ultimately, I think most people will see through it. You gotta remember that in the so called "Muskie Moment", Muskie still won the NH Primary. It just ruined the rest of his campaign. And what she herself isn't ruining, Bill is managing to ruin with his constant meddling unlike any other political spouse that I have ever seen. Why, it reminds me, of, well, it reminds me of Hillary when she was first lady. Liz


Do you believe that Hillary's emotional moment had an effect on voting results?
Indisputably. And the exit polls reflected as much. Which to me is rather disheartening for the health of our republic.



And do you believe this moment was real or contrived?
This raises the question what IS real about the Clintons? Isn't every single action, word, deed, for the simple aggrandizement of their own agenda and lust for power? I read an interesting comment somewhere about how those who are supporting Hillary invariably remember Bill with much fondness. In other words, instead of seeking a future, they seek a restoration. And going back to the past is not looking forward. Hillary is popular because of her husband. But he can only get back in the White House through the back door, and I have zero doubt he will assert his influence over her very heavily.

Papajosh8515

Do you believe that Hillary's emotional moment had an effect on voting results?
Yes, I do. And you know what? It is going to boil down to the "sisterhood" against the "brotherhood". Every woman who has been passed over for a promotion so a male could get it; every woman who has been treated with a certain disdain by men; every woman who is struggling to pay bills, get health insurance for the family and keep things going; something just clicked when Hillary misted up. And something else: A lot of the educated upper class women who were going for Obama finally internalized "I get it" after the vicious attacks on Hillary by all sides of the press. In fact, while the pundits and media gleefully played and replayed her "misty moment" and just about buried her they did Clinton a big fat favor. They went too far in ganging up on her and the voters responded. Secondly, Hillary's remarks during that misty moment (she didn't cry - she simply misted over a little and her voice quavered a little) but she held fast and basically said that it means so much to her because she has fought all her life for so many things to help families and those in need. and I think that resonated with voters -- particularly women. I'm not saying that this is not going to be a very tough race for both Hillary and Obama. I simply feel she turned a corner as far as the press is concerned. I hope so. Alice


I believe it was real and I do think it helped her because it showed her more human side and not the ice queen persona as she is often portrayed.
Glenda

Hi Les She appeared surprised to me and while the answer being all about the children which seems to be calculated there is nothing wrong in my opinion with Hillary using it, after all, that's the answer every gop'er has used at some time or other. As for myself I have been seriously worried about the children and what kind of America they are and will be living in, and I really REALLY do wish a Democratic candidate had the chutzpa to say that (and mean it and has a plan to change it- 'cause untill one does I don't see a single candidate who is worth my vote)
Merrick47

Through the Looking Glass Politics



Wow!



What’s wrong with this picture?



If anybody has read any of my posts, you’ll know that

I’ve been preaching to the choir that it’s necessary to get

Of the Iraq one note tune and start fixating like crazy on the economy

And the issue of jobs.



This is even before we decided to allow the one remaining leg of the economy, housing, to collapse into a dead heap.



Yes, we can ask ourselves how did we manage to exacerbate things,

And then find ways to rationalize the Bushian solution which is Hoover-like with the addition of “meanness” and intent.



There is almost a latent cruelty about this administration.



It’s not only make as much money as we can for the few but to screw the public at large.



It was okay to con the people into unpalatable loan arrangements but it became the people’s fault for accepting them. Figure that one out. It’s like Double Indemnity all over again.



Nevertheless, the right wing is very successful in treating the rest of us like bad children.



They dump credit cards with unbelievable options into our laps (Most of us don’t read the small print), then punish us when we use them.



One might ponder who in God’s name is looking out for us.



And it’s almost too late to ask the question because nobody is….



Most people are suffering just trying to put food on their plate and keep the roof over their heads; but the rich right doesn’t want to know about them; they’re still saying that by easing their taxes it will be better for all of us.



And the lie of the generation gets bigger and bigger and nobody holds their toes to the fire.



Things are so out of whack now, it’s getting harder and harder to even know where to begin.



How do you define an Autocracy after all?



Is it the few of the top have all of the wealth?



If that’s it, we qualify.



We also qualify as being a banana republic exporting scrap and our vital natural resources and importing manufacturing goods at a loss every month to the tune of nearly one trillion dollars to the Chinese mainly.



I suppose there is some satisfaction to that after all.



While the Middle Class erodes in front of our eyes, at least we don’t have the responsibility to worry about the country because we don’t own it any more.



With rationality long gone, one must ask themselves how most of us managed to pop up on the other side of the looking glass…



The party that has promised us smaller government has grown so large it keeps falling all over its own shoes.



It’s not a pretty sight out there.





In the meantime, our only candidates are out there debating whether Martin Luther King could have really made it without President Johnson?







Anyone for tennis?





Les Aaron

The Committee for Positive Change….

hubmaster@aol.com

A Reminder!....





It is getting dirty out there..



And it will get a lot more dirty before it’s over.



That’s the Primary I’m talking about.



We haven’t even started with the general election yet.



One cannot but help remember past primaries when Kerry and others

Attacked Dean endlessly—even when he was the only guy making

Sense….



Or the way the Rainbow Coalition ended up in endless bickering about

Who had the best message….



Democrats have a way of killing themselves off before an election even

Begins. It’s kind of a rite of Spring.



And all the republicans have to do is sit back and let us do all the work for them.



What a wonderful bit of nonsense this really is.



And is it any wonder that the republicans have won all but one of the elections in the last

Twenty years.



But what’s worse is that we don’t seem to learn from experience.



Every four years, it’s Groundhog Day over and over again.





We should have learned the truth by now.



But we don’t.



Maybe it’s because we put the bad news out of our minds as quickly

As we can, which means this self-destructive streak could go on forever

like the poor lemmings who never seem to figure it out that maybe

playing follow the leader isn’t such a good idea after all.



All in all, it’s a pretty embarrassing statement to make.



The bad guys win because the good guys keep killing themselves off!





The really sad part is that we really have three pretty good candidates to represent us.



But I suspect that they will pretty much self-destruct by the time of the Election.



Wouldn’t it be much smarter now to go into some kind of hibernation so that they don’t utter another syllable until the Primaries are over?



That way, there will still be at least one candidate left standing to take on the mean and cruel crowd who want to do away with government but use our Army all over the world keeping our country safe for greedy rich and the few; while, at the same time, the poor and disadvantaged are allowed to flow freely through all of the disappearing safety nets into oblivion where they don’t vote and don’t cause trouble.



This has been the republican approach to government for the last twenty years and while all those Reaganites pat themselves on the back, the plight of the poor and the Middle Class seems to only get worse.



If we keep going like this, we will be back in sweatshop England during the Industrial Revolution only we won’t have any more industry left since it will all be in places we can’t pronounce and the only thing we will do is flip burgers or heft bed pans for minimum wage while the government encourages us to consume and even offers to help us by inflating the prices of gas, food and heating fuel.



What a wonderful outlook. And we thought 1984 was fiction….



All I can say, if we want to survive at all, it’s about time that democrat treated democrat with a little respect and a little dignity.


That way, when the elections come around, we might even have a candidate to put up.





Les Aaron

The Committee for Positive Change



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How others see us…

The Global Perspective



Probably the best thing to happen to democracy’s reputation is the American Primary.

What most Americans don’t realize is that the International media—including the Arab press—is following news of the Election process assiduously and the readers love what they are reading or seeing…

Why?

Because it paints a very different picture of America than the one they are used to.

It is not about aggression or trying to force feed the rest of the world a diet of American democracy.

No, it’s about what really goes on during the longest and most grueling election process in the world.

Most had little or no familiarity with American politics, and this baptism of fire for many is an education in itself about how the process works and what it means to Americans.

So just imagine what the world must be thinking about America, a land they’ve come to know as “bullies” and aggressors—eager to tell others how to run their lives and their governments.

Nobody wants to be talked down to treated as somehow inferior but that aspect of our nature tends to be remembered and disliked; now, for the first time, our friends and “enemies” have a chance to see what we are really like.

Imagine, a country where a woman and an African-American are running for president.

What a wonderful notion and so alien to most people from around the world where women are treated still as chattel and Africans are still viewed as slaves or the forgotten masses.

In their minds, they must see America through this new filter and wonder whether their previous perceptions were perhaps too hasty. To know these things, after all, has to be transforming. And that is good!.....

Many countries are led by dictatorships so to have endure a process as long and as convoluted as the American process is surely a wonderful thing to people looking in and an amazing glimpse into our way of life for more than half the world.

Foreign reporters and editors assigned to cover the process, have literally changed the dynamic of an America sticking its two-cents in here, there and everywhere. Most tend to think of America’s involvement in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq and fanning the flames of war in Iran.

Perhaps not any more.

Now, they learn that that is not the American essence; that America’s liberties and equalities set us apart from most other nations and it is this very process, the longest election process in the world, that better defines us and our aspirations.

Most of the reporters are having a field day with this…

And if it helps the rest of the world get over the notion of America as being made up of privileged rich folks from Texas who only care about oil and money, so much the better.

Sure, we have a long way to go.

But one has to applaud the openness of the process.

And the beginning of understanding among those with whom we could strike up friendly relationships around the world.

A far greater opportunity than beating them over the head with our cowboy politics.

Les Aaron
The Committee for Positive Change

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America's End; or Time to Pack Our Bags...
Survivalists uber alles!

Your editorial about the End of an America that has become slothful and corrupt, may not be that far off the mark, Glenda.



Democracy is a concept that we don’t know too much about over time; except that Athens became smug and arrogant and thought it could rule the world, bankrupting itself in the process. Plus, the Pythagoreans came into the picture virtually wiping out the scientific approach in the blinking of an eye.





We are seeing our science under attack from the spiritualists who argue with everything of reason that threatens their hegemony. Is that a sign?



Or will it come from Nature?.



We all know that the Sun, itself, will burn out give or take another billion years.



And that science has shown that we have ice ages every 10,000 years or so.



If that doesn’t happen, Global Warming may actually raise the oceans levels much more than originally predicted. If the Greenland ice sheet melts—which contains a body of water large as the Gulf of Mexico, and the Western part of Antarctica, the size of Texas, breaks off, and through typical glacial melting, we could see a rise in ocean levels in this century of eighteen feet!...



Eighteen feet! That’s enough to change the entire coastline as we know it, change the conformation of the Great Lakes, the Missippi and all other great bodies of water; not to mention the fact that if you want to visit Hawaii or the Pacific Islands, you’d better go now while they’re still there….



Nobody of course wants to be alarmist so we are pooh-poohing this results, but they are very real and supported by some of the world’s leading climatologists including the head of NASA’s research team….



Then there’s the routine of volcanic activity that is unpredictable. They say that the area around Yellowstone if it goes could send up enough particular matter to kill virtually every living being and blacken the skies for years. Sort of works against the idea of long term planning and mortgages….



In the Permian Age, volcanism combined with an asteroid striking earth—the size of Central Park—wiped out about 95% of all life—and made it possible for little mammals to survive as they did in the Triasic . The existence of the Iridium layer proved that an Asteroid hit and later research discovered a deep trench off the Yucatan that filled the bill of “smoking gun.”



So, the theory goes that life on earth, in human form was a fluke, and the product of Asteroid activity in the first place so perhaps it’s not so crazy that life will be extinguished by the forces that gave it life.



Not too far out, if you buy into science.



So what does it all mean?





Need we point out. Darwin was right whatever you might think: Our end is survival. Survival of our species.

It means that the sci-fi writers had it right: Build a fleet of ships that can take us on the ride of our lives….



Into a universe filled with unknowns…



Mankind has a strong will to survive!


Something to think about when you want to ponder the big issues…



Les Aaron

The Committee for Positive Growth…

Bush and the Middle East: A Farce In Triple Time


A non-starter.


It’s a time for empty suits and bloated egos

When you see the poseurs standing around waiting to grovel before the man/boy who was selected to run this country into the ground, I might add, and listen to him talk about finding a solution between Israel and Palestine, it is hard not to gag.

Does he and his devoted cadre of sycophants expect us, the citizenry, to swallow the idea that a president—who never ventured to Palestine or Israel, a man who is detached from the pyrotechnics of this embattled land—with a simple regal gesture is going to construct a solution in one two day trip to Israel? That with some sleight of hand, he is going to accomplish what no other president has been able to accomplish for thirty years despite their attention, concentration and dedication to that purpose?

What kind of smoke is he blowing?

This whole proposition might be funny if, indeed, it wasn’t so tragic!

The fact is that there can be no settlement with the Palestinian nation unless it includes the Gaza strip which is now controlled by Hamas, the party in power that is supported by Iran.

If anything, the president’s delusions do little more than camouflage the true nature of the problem in order to provide some sort of legacy to a man who has succeeded at nothing except bankrupting his country in a host of harebrained schemes that has virtually dismantled the Middle Class and destroyed our standing in the world.

Am I being too harsh?

I think you’ll agree; I’ve understated the case.

In truth, we have done nothing in seven years to ameliorate the challenges facing this part of the world and the blame must be placed at the feet of the most ill-suited occupant of the State Department in memory and a president who is more occupied with photo ops than finding solutions to both domestic and international problems.

It is time we got real.

Having an incompetent, ill prepared staff that prides itself on its lack of preparedness, does no one any good.

And the republicans seem the last ones to catch on.

Les Aaron
The Committee for Positive Change
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Slow is Better….

If you want a quick lesson in how communications have changed all you need do is look at the Primaries….

Well, in the course of one caucus and one election, back to back, it looks like we’ve lost all of the experienced candidates…with the decision by Richardson to back away. As he said, it’s hard to campaign when you’re outspent ten to one…

That’s one question we need to deal with. Under the present system, it forces all of the candidates to spend most of their time not talking about what they see for the country and how they will change things but, instead, fund-raising!.....and there’s something viscerally wrong with that!....

But the fact remains, the democratic contenders are falling like flies even before ½ of 1% of the votes have been totaled.

Woops! There goes Joe; woops again! There goes Dodd—too bad, both good guys who lost because they were associated with the past and the mess that is Washington.

What does one make of that.

Of course, the younger generation only know the value of speed; perhaps I’m more like the Slowskys (Comcast commercial?) and find that too much speed is kind of a precursor to saying things we didn’t mean without adequate contemplation….

And once said, criticism and bad answers are hard to put aside.

Hey, in case anybody’s interested, the old days are looking better and better.

In those days, the candidates were really concerned with meeting the voters and trying to oblige them; that came from the old precincts and the smoke filled rooms where you had to serve or you didn’t get the support of the party….

And, overall, they proved to be pretty human….

What’s more, I don’t think the old polls made too many bad decisions: We always got a president who cared about the country and the people with maybe the exception of Hoover who thought that by doing nothing, he would be doing something.

And certainly he was an expert in “doing nothing” to address the problems of the people; because it took Roosevelt to change the mess he left.

But it was also an opportunity for Roosevelt to start to put into effect the ideas of an old New York Dem named Al Smith and get us out of the Depression. I don’t suspect too many of you are around who remember how bad those days really were….
Too bad, we don’t’ have somebody with that kind of vision today; America could sure use it. In fact, I don’t think I heard one idea come out of the republicans in I don’t know how many forums. So, if they get the nod—which at this point seems to defy all odds-- you can count on things staying basically the same, if that’s possible.


In the old days, it would take weeks to see what happened at the Convention at the local theatre; now everything is instaneous—including a rush to judgment.

It seems that if it doesn’t happen fast, it’s not worthwhile.

And in the process, thought seems to suffer.

Maybe it would be good idea for the Media to put away all of the Talking Heads editorials for a couple of days to see whether they still make sense in the clear light of dawn. Most of them seem top of the head responses that tend to poison the well rather than adding meaningful clarity….

It’s like the old Saturday Night Live bit with the shooting of Buckwheat (from Our Gang) where Chevy Chase has to fill the time by saying something but he doesn’t know what to say….so it’s always another way of saying that “Buckwheat was shot today.” Funny but all too often, true..

Anyway, the Primary has boggled the mind. .

And, by the way, whatever happened to Dennis? Did Fox tie him up and feed him to the wolves? Or was that ABC? It’s amazing how drunk with power the media gets when their franchise is simply to provide equal and fair access to entertainment and the news.

Certainly, censorship is not among the powers ceded them by the FCC Act of 1934.

Who knows? It would surprise me considering that crew who will do anything to create the headlines of destruction….

It just shows you how fast things move these days.


In the old days, too, if you didn’t go to the Convention or lived in one of the first Primary states, it wasn’t often you got to see a candidate in the flesh.

In those days, the candidates would get on a train and travel around the country that way stopping off a predesignated sites along the way.

I think Eisenhower was the first president to fly and until Wilson and TR, no president had ever traveled abroad…

Of course, their movements were covered assiduously by the media. In those days, there were hundreds of different magazines and newspapers covering every aspect of the candidate plus the news on radio which was much more thorough than it is today.

We got to know the candidates as well as we knew ourselves…

However, the Gray Lady was still the doyen of all newspapers and if the Times didn’t print it, it wasn’t worth printing….at least in the English language papers….

I was raised on Murrow and CBS Morning News plus the evening news programs with Huntley Brinkley, and Walter Kronkite.

And of course, there was the voices of the Drew Pearson and Robert Trout and the inimitable Kaltenborn on at night who analyze what happened that day in his deep, stenorous tones….

You couldn’t escape the news even if you wanted to….

Looking at the Republican side of the Primary, it looks like we have a few winners: McCain in New Hampshire, Huckabee in Iowa and the irrepressible Romney always in second place. Paul had a strong showing in the polls and has raised lots of money.
Rudy seems invisible. Rudy who?

So, far most of the republicans have stayed with it except Tancredo who quit before things got hot and Hunter was kind of written off as a non-vote getter by the arbitrary lords at Fox & Company….

Too bad for democracy….

And they really came down hard on Paul at tonight’s so called debate.

McCain is still patting himself on the back for being a stand up guy. In the end, his leadership credentials are somewhat exaggerated when you think of what he stood for or accomplished. He didn’t change anything Rumsfeld did that I can recall and, mostly, he seemed largely ineffectual—too willing in the end to play the right wing game.

But if one looks at the specifics, McCain always played the good soldier. And he may speak out, but he always can be counted for falling in line again. .

And what were his solid credentials?. It seems all he talks about is the Surge and how he promoted it. Think about it. That Surge wouldn’t have been needed at all if Bush sent in enough troops in the first place. Am I not right? Where was he then when it would have made a difference.

Anyway, this is my stream of conscious for the morning.

Today, no problems were solved; more soldiers died in Nam and we lost some good candidates.

That’s all, folks.

Les Aaron
The Committee for Positive Change
hubmaster@aol.com

Staying Objective
-This is a hard election.

And it seems to be getting harder.

That is for a critic who tends to like the entire democratic line-up.

Including those who’ve dropped out.

I still don’t know why Biden, Dodd and Richardson and Kucinich were so quickly considered the second tier and had their race over before ½ of 1% had cast their vote…..

I guess Obama because of his previous Convention Speech, Edward’s former candidacy and Hillary’s star power.

Wasn’t Edwards partially formed during the last election that he entered. He seemed like a naïve waif eager to please everyone; instead, he pleased no one; now he has gone in the opposite direction and no one believes that he can do the job or that the job is necessary.

We are all now in the healing mode. Come together. Be friends. Become collegial again. Don’t fight. We’ve had enough of fighting.

And what is the likelihood of that happening?

Almost immediately, it started to feel like one of those Celebrity Guest lists that seem to draw the attention of the freelancers taking photos for big commissions—especially if you could find someone in disarray or beating their wives.

In this case, the second tier in my opinion was as bright or maybe even brighter in some respects as the first-- especially when they so glibly talk about experience.

Well, Biden, Richardson and Dodd had more experience than anyone of the current front runners; in fact, next to the second tier, they are all ingénues….

But it was an unfair ranking and it still troubles me.

Dodd with his old fashioned democratic stands that reminds me of the Tip ONeal school or Richardson with his “been there and done that” speeches as one of the first Latin American candidates with solid credentials and old Joe Biden, who could waltz rings around everyone. And what about Dennis who stands tall for his stands and humbly stands by each debate while the moderator ignores him. It’s been figured that he normally gets 25% of the attention of the other “super stars.” Despite that, he wins most of the debates!

I especially like Joe but I didn’t do anything to help him this time.

And I regret that!

I didn’t like the stupid thing he said about Obama in the beginning but that is typical Joe with his Italian Irish sense of humor.

Joe asked me to go to Philadelphia to the debate to stand in his corner. I didn’t. And I feel somewhat guilty about that, too..

I did help his son become Attorney General when he ran in the state two years ago.

And I would do so again!

And when Joe returns, I’d willingly stand in his corner.

I am from the old school, the Tip ONeal school where there’s old fashioned dignity and respect for one another and you go into politics to serve; not to make a profit or lock up the rest of your life and you don’t throw unwarranted barbs around, and everyone’s a good guy until proven otherwise.

Even in the old days, there was dignity among the moderate republicans.

Dirksen talked to ONeal. And Lehman or Rockefeller took positions that today would perhaps seem far too liberal.

The whole idea of collegiality seemed to fall apart after the Watergate Hearings and the dirty tricksters of Dick Nixon.

His first choice for Press Secretary was his lead speech writer, an old school chum who actually quit the Nixon White House after meeting the Inner Circle and Spiro Agnew.
He retired and wrote a book on his experience called, Catch a Falling Flag.

Dick Whelan was a fair-minded, blue collar, straight arrow republican; no Nixon nonsense for him.

This loss of collegiality was why so many good politicians like the former New Jersey Senator, Bradley, left Congress and others decided not to run again.

It was a totally different ball game then.

My own life has gone pretty much full circle. I practically grew up in the home of a prominent republican politician and then gravitated from a very conservative WASP-like household to the Max Lerner, Murray Kempton schools of liberalism, eventually supported the Rainbow Coalition and then got on the bandwagon for Gore—about a 360 degree traverse.

And I didn’t even see anger until the Rainbow Coalition.

It’s been a long and awarding trip.

But now I am in the dubious position of loving the candidates so pardon me if my eyes seem to well up an indication that I have to end this soon—before a Hardball snoop catches on.

One thing’s for sure: I will always be in business considering the full slate of Troglodyte brain challenged candidates from the right; and thank heaven for that….

Les Aaron\
The Committee for Positive Growth…

The “Dirty Tricksters”


They claimed that Muskie cried and he lost the election.

But it wasn’t a tear that brought him down but the efforts of one Donald Segretti, hired by Nixon’s Inner Circle to raise doubts and cast suspicions and ‘do the dirty’ to the opposition.

And they excelled.

In fact, they’ve virtually interfered in every election since Nixon.


Nor was it the first time that dirty tricks was used to bring down a politician.

For that, you would have to go back to Jefferson’s attacks on Adams or even
Later on, the attacks on Jackson’s wife by the Washington faithful.

Muskie took the attacks very hard.

But Jackson gave it back in spades.

Today, I wonder in watching the attacks on Clinton whether it might not be the descendents of the ‘dirty tricksters’ starting up again.

It wouldn’t be a surprise.

At the time—the elections of 68, everyone thought that all of the accidents, all of the mistakes were simply dumb democratic mistakes; nobody realized that there were a crew of mischief makers who were losing speeches, misdirecting the media, tampering with airplanes so that they didn’t arrive on schedule and doing other things to make the democratic candidates look especially foolish.

The great genius of republican politics was awed by the Segretti tactics and borrowed them himself to do the Willy Horton bit against the democratic candidate and spread the pictures of him looking foolish riding in a tank.

And their were many acolytes ranging from Dick Armey to Newt Gingrich.

Most of us may not realize that these were the antecedents of the Segretti’s “dirty tricksters.”

Even the swiftboaters owe their genesis to the days of Nixon when a veteran by the name of Kerry told the truth on the Dick Cavett Show….

Nixon made it a point to go after this man Kerry using another pro-government Vietnam veteran. As it turned out, the recent Swift Boat attacks were the work of the same man Nixon used to go after Kerry but thirty some odd years later!.....

And these kind of tactics never seemed to end.

We could go on and on. The Bush tactics against McCain accusing him of fathering a black child in order to destroy his presidential aspirations.

The attacks on Clinton with the Whitewater charges….the unjustified assaults on Gore…the lost votes, the interference with the voting process by the Secretary of State of Florida.

All more evidence that the Segretti tactics are still in play….

So it is not entirely out of line to think that maybe the republican attack team is already in political mode and starting their attacks on Hillary.

It wouldn’t surprise me.

Hillary’s been the bane of hard-liners since she served on the Watergate Committee.

Republicans have long memories for that sort of thing.

Nor are they very introspective when it comes to their own failings. Their Senator who likes young boys, or the kind of people who build bridges to nowhere, or take money from Indian reservations (How do these people live with themselves? ), or make deals with big oil companies, or lose 9 billion dollars of tax funding and treat it as if it were nothing….


In any event, now the rumors are spreading that the democrats are messing around with the votes.

I think that highly unlikely since the two owners of the voting machines are sworn to see a republican get into office and wouldn’t help democrats if someone’s life was in the balance.


All we can suggest is that democrats keep their perspective.

And remember when it comes to wheeling and dealing, it’s not the democrats who are the experts; it’s the other guys you don’t hear too much about who are busy building the next traps we need to avoid….

Les Aaron
The Committee for Positive Change

hubmaster@aol.com

Would Bush & Company Risk War to Stay in Power?



That is the question on which the election may turn.



Considering that he went to War for trumped up reasons before, it is not out of line to speculate that he would do so again—especially if that meant that keeping republicans in power.



As cynical as that sounds, it reflects a government that stretched the definition of cynicism.



Until now, I have refrained from expressing my views waiting to hear if the Iranians would take credit for the incident of the other day. They have not and I find that Iranians not blowing their horn is more curious than if they had done so.



Quite to the contrary, the Iranians have commented that:



The films shown of the incident were file footage—and that’s a very real possibility.



And, two, that the sound track was faked which I find increasingly credible.



After the bombing of the Cole, I believe the American fleet is under orders to prevent hostile craft from approaching inside of 500 yards of said vessel.



The sound tape did not include at the same time a warning or ship’s signal to the Iranian sailors that if they didn’t turn around, they would be fired upon. I find that quite inconsistent with the accompanying dialogue. I would have expected to hear the ship's warning system, bells, and armed men on deck which we don't really see.



The entire affair seems very questionable.



For many of us who were serving around the time of the Tonkin resolution, it is almost a feeling of déjà vu. And any history buffs will no doubt recall Teddy Roosevelt’s “Remember the Maine” as the reason for advancing the Spanish American war.



If you recall, Bush had backtracked after the NIE report was made public claiming that he only found out about the report while he continued to raise the threat level, an obvious lie.



However, now he is back at it again using this excuse to claim that: 1. Iran is very dangerous (in the same tone that he used to declare that Iraq had WMD) and 2: that “everything is on the table.”

\

It is especially curious that this whole affair has arisen just prior to Bush’s trip to the Middle East.



One might speculate on his real reasons to visit the Middle East since he hadn’t visited Israel, a professed enemy of Iran, before. Is it simply to stoke the flames of war? To involve Israel in doing America’s heavy=lifting?



Why?



To perpetuate the status quo?



Read to keep Republicans in power.



For years, the philosophy of the republicans has been a strong offense is a good defense.



And the best offense that the republicans have is the use of fear. Fear is the mechanism that has allowed Bush & Company to get away with literally murder.



But 9/11 has grown cold. Could it be that Iran is viewed as the new 9/11, a device for keeping republicans in power.



Let me say this, I would never advance this argument if I hadn’t thought long and hard about this government’s willingness to use aggression and warfare to advance secret, personal agendas; nor the fact that Bush & Company has twisted and distorted our fundamental American documents to their own ends. But they have and, thusly, everything they do should be examined under the microscope of justice and objectivity.



Right now, it is contingent upon us to take this presumed threat very seriously and to appoint a Congressional investigation into the facts.



If we do not assert ourselves now, we stand the risk of seeing another Iraq for political reasons I fear.



With Bush & Company, history has a way of repeating itself.



\And I am concerned that our leaders have not picked up on this.



I invite commentary and discussion.



Les Aaron

The Committee for Positive Change

hubmaster@aol.com

Live Free or Die


New Hampshire Proved Why It Should Be First in the Nation



During my semi-retirement, I was hired as a consultant for a major publishing company based in Philadelphia. My task was to win over new clients to advertise in the company's many trade books.



Largely, my assignment required me to spend a good deal of time in Northern New England.



At times, I would drive because there were few airports outside of Logan that could get me where I wanted to go. At the time, I was living in the mountainous area in Western New York State... and it was easy for me to drive down my mountain and be in Vermont in about an hour and a half.



I knew the territory.

Before, I had lived in Boston before working for a computer company which took me from MIT down to New Bedford.



I loved the area—especially in the Fall—and so it was a perfect territory for me along with the other 26 states I handled.



Mostly, I would go into either Keene, Nashua or Lebanon which is in northwest New Hampshire.



What I discovered proved to be quite true. The motto “Live Free or Die” seemed very appropriate although each part of the State seemed to have different loyalties and different points of view.



Keene for example seemed to be an iconoclastic little town set off north of some of the old Massachusetts mill towns, pretty much not near anything so it was kind of a laboratory for doing things a little differently; Nashua was a manufacturing center that seemed to have its fortunes more tied to the progressiveness of Boston; and tiny Lebanon seemed to be a college town posited up in the sparsely settled northwestern part of the State that perhaps was more Libertarian and independent than some of the more urbanized areas in the south….



So when I sat glued to the TV last night, I wondered how all of these independent minded folk would behave and I was pleasantly surprised to see that they had retained their sense of independence by bucking the Iowan tour de force and backing their own candidates overwhelming.



Clearly, many had doubts about what Romney was all about. And Huckabee did not have the core of fundamentalists to cling to. This election was clearly about other things.

It was about change. There was no doubt about that. The election of McCain showed that they didn’t want a lackey in the White House and it was less about the war or catering to the fears propagated by the White House and more about the economy and changing the mind-set of our leaders from its self imposed isolation and hard-nosed policy making.



The people of New Hampshire not surprisingly made a statement.



They wanted peace; they wanted a good economy. They wanted health care and good jobs. They wanted to keep their roofs over their heads and they wanted good education for their children. It boiled down to that and perhaps a strong undercurrent was finding candidates we could believe in once again.



All in all, the New Hampshire citizens gave us a very good example why they should be the first Primary in the State.



And they made us all proud.



Les Aaron

Committee for Positive Change