barbara friedland

Sufferin' succotash, Rudy Giuliani

It really isn't about the lisp.

It is cruel to critique Rudy Giuliani on the basis of his speech impediment.  Or his Frankenstein monster like looks.

What is fair is to assess this man as a liar and incompetent who has used the tragedy of 9/11 to restore his image, make a boatload of money and run for President.

Granted the American public, or rather those registered as Republicans and living in the early decision states, kicked him to the curb.

The former Mayor, ongoing thug, secured one delegate at the cost of around 50 millions dollars spent.

It is has been documented that his incompetence, hubris and ego exacerbated the tragedies of that attack.

He is not responsible for ignoring intelligence memos and rolling eyes at briefing sessions about Al Qaida.

That distinction belongs to the Bush Administration.

It can only be conjecture in regard to the scenario of that day if Al Gore had been allowed to assume the office that he had won.  That would be President of the United States,

I believe that the twin towers would still be standing.  Gore is and was, a wonk.  I imagine him at 3 a.m., not taking phone calls about impending war but reading intelligence memos.

He might have retained Clarke and other Clinton staff who understood the potential and now actual power of terrorists.

Bush had the memo titled:  Bin Laden Determined to Attack the United States, but refused to read it.  He was too busy drinking, I mean working on a speech restricting stem cell research.

The safety of this nation had to wait because Bush was putting up roadblocks for medical and scientific advancement.

Sorry millions of folks hoping for a cure.  Your former President was on the job.

Back to Giuliani and his part in this sad mess.

He was advised not to put disaster control offices in the World Trade Center.  Whoops.  Also, his posse, that fed on the Mayor's ego or power, refused to leave his side. Instead of, I don't know, doing something useful. They all employed the executive boondoggle. MBWA-  Management by walking around.

Communication and other problems contributed to tragedies experienced by the rescue personnel, the true heroes.

Okay, Mayor G looked brave walking around.  But next to Bush unable to stir for seven minutes and Cheney hunkered down in some undisclosed location, it wasn't hard to be perceived as courageous.

Giuliani, who should be a disgraced former Mayor and a Presidential candidate of ridicule, is still  invited on television share his world view.  Actually, to lie and posture.

Shame on you George Stephanopoulos .  When people you interview prevaricate, it is your job to correct the record.

Not later, but right then when people are watching.

That is why you get the big bucks and the make-up crew.

Indict Bush.

Black

A man walked into a Starbucks.  He ordered a venti black coffee.  Two years later, while running for public office, this was used against him by his opponent.

We will never achieve racial blindness, or even myopia, if our nation can not even dialogue about this topic.

At the beginning of my professional life, I worked for a Baltimore politician.  His district was primarily comprised of Jewish and black voters.

The precincts in the Jewish neighborhoods had a rate of 90%+ turnout.  Others hovered around 12 or 13%.  

Guess which areas received the most attention before and coverage on election day?  It had nothing to do with race and everything in regard to  numbers.  In strategy sessions, we might have used the terms black and Jewish, or cited the actual polling place or neighborhood.  Our interest was only focused on winning.  

I suppose inadvertent eavesdroppers could have heard aides say things like: that blacks in so and so area never show up, so let's limit coverage to peak times.  And place 3 or 4 volunteers all day a few precincts away.

I am not privy to President Obama's inner circle.  But they must have discussed tactics in terms of dealing with his race in the Presidential campaign.

We as a nation can not get beyond issues we are afraid to discuss.

In a parody of an old joke- even paranoids have enemies- sometimes one person simply dislikes the other.  

Regardless of race, religion or favorite brand of soap.

Not to say that this country does not have a racial divide.  It is testimony to the destruction wrought by the Bush/Cheney reign that our country could elect a man of mixed race to the highest office. Of course, John McCain and Sarah Palin, by virtue of their idiocy and venom, certainly helped.

But the prejudicial blowback was immediate, moronic and, unfortunately, ongoing.  Some of the words were encoded.  Like birth certificate.  And Kenya.  How many times does the man have to produce documentation that he was born in this country?  Frankly, such paperwork could probably be counterfeit. (Not that I believe for a nano second that Obama's documents are not perfectly valid.)

What should be compelling to anyone are the historical birth announcements in Hawaiian newspapers on the day that Barack Obama was born.  

What happened?  His mother, barely out of her teens and in a troublesome marriage, decided that decades hence her son would be President.  So lying in a hospital in Kenya, she contacted cronies on the island and had them place the announcements. 

Good plan.

Last year there was a video of a woman at some type of forum, perhaps a town meeting or teabagging extravaganza.  She was middle-aged with stringy blond hair and weeping profusely.  She kept repeating that she wanted her country back.

What on earth does that mean?  Lady, the time to be getting upset was in 2000. and four years later, when unelected folks took office.  That is unconstitutional.  And clearly was extremely harmful to the health of our nation and world.

I am very disappointed with Barack Obama.  Do I care about his race or what he had for breakfast?  Not in the least.

But I feel he has acquiesced to the Senate, the former administration and Wall Street thugs.  In today's Baltimore Sun, one oped piece is titled:  On banks, Obama talks tough, does little.

No duh.

It would be near impossible not to trip over a Goldman Sachs millionaire at the Treasury Department

In accordance to my indifference to Obama's race, I also cannot be impressed by his intelligence if he doesn't employ it for the common good.

Am I a racist?  No, just a liberal.

Indict Bush.

In defense of Britt Hume

And I am a Buddhist.  Don't know what sect Tiger Woods believes to be part of- his mother is Asian and thatcould generate an army of possibilities.

Ironic to use a military terms to mean boatload inre a faith devoted to peace.

Back to Britt Hume.  Here comes the criticism.

He is obviously a man of faith who came to this particular path through a tragic circumstance.

Not only did his son die, but he committed suicide.  Thus a double burden for a parent who becomes wracked with guilt and pain,

If Hume finds solace through Christianity and doesn't start the next Crusade, then I support him.

Life is hard and can be horrific.  People need tools of both faith and intellect to overcome problems and grief.

Apparently Britt Hume said:   I don"t think that faith (Buddhism) offers the kind of forgiveness and redemption that is offered by the Christian faith. 

Funny, we Buddhists, and I can speak of the Nichiren Daishonin Sect as evinced the in lay organization SGI, believe just the opposite.

In all other religions, one seeks penance and atonement from forces outside oneself.

In Buddhism, one is able to change his own immutable karma, thus altering future actions and acquiring new results.

It is a transformation on basically the cellular level.

Hume is talking, I guess, about Divine absolution.  Chanting provides the opportunity of human revolution to overcome all problems. Folks are forced to grow and change to deal with the issue at hand.

People with whom I practice Buddhism would do exactly what Hume did- granted not on national television.

If we find someone who is suffering, we invite them to learn about our Buddhist organization and practice with us.

Although we try not to insult other religions, there exists a belief of superiority.  It is not unheard of for someone from the SGI to proclaim our path is the only way to enlightenment.

Hume appears to delving to the core of his being and proffering what he deems as comfort.

Let's be real here.  This is Fox News.  How often is anyone even kind or caring about another person.

Hume is a commentator not an investigative reporter. He shares the airwaves with a motley crew of folks who make crap up and then deliver it as gospel.

Beyond the misuse of fascist and socialist, as well as racist labels, Fox literally manufactures its own news. According to this network, America is a place where Republicans defend the country and Democrats create deficits.  Need I say more?

Glenn Beck, another denizen of Fox, cries and moans and carries on.  His doesn't display a whit of compassion.  Or sanity for that matter.

Bill O'Reilly snarls that he is there for the kids in his no spin zone, as mounting evidence of sexual misconduct mounts.

People of faith, those who truly believe and have benefited from their religion, want to help others assuage their pain.

I believe that was Hume's motivation.

Of course Tiger Woods really should chant: Nam Myo Renge Kyo and return to Buddhism

Indict Bush.

On faith

As a child, I always yearned to be part of an organized religion.  It seemed to provide structure to the weekends and often augmented a family's social life.

My mother would tell me I should be grateful.  Church was boring.  But we were Jewish and thus I longed to go to synagogue on Saturdays and Hebrew training after school.

My father was adamant.  His pride in the Jewish people seemed infinite.  His disdain for the artifices of the religion was also very apparent.

Judaism, he declared, was an ethnic division.  He proudly called himself a Jewish American while simultaneously declaring to be an atheist.

To prove his point, he cited history.  Jews never became Polish or Russian, even after of generations of residing in the respective country.

In the mid twentieth century, Germany could be added to the list.  Pogroms and Holocausts routed and decimated the Jews.

They, we, were separate.

All the contributions made by our people came from medicine, science and thought.  Limning milk from meat, he believed, never helped anyone.

I once told a friend, a scientist, about my father's declaration that three Jews had crafted all meaningful conversation in the twentieth century: Freud, Marx and Einstein.  Every important issue emanates, he said, from the theories created in psychiatry, physics and political systems of these three Jewish men.

My friend, surprisingly agreed in part.  He included Darwin- a goy- and basically agreed that my father was correct.

Thus, I was forced to navigate the issue of religion versus culture.  As I matured,  I realized that I could not take faith in the traditional religions that I studied.

I was looking for something to explain things to me.  I was surrounded by many agnostics as well as friends who blanketed themselves in their faith, to deal with the vicissitudes of life.

Nothing could address my major question:  Many theologians have tried to explain suffering.  But no one, to my mind, successfully posited the reasons for the disparity of tragedy.

The world seemed to me to be a capricious and cruel place.  Too many carried burdens of poverty and loss while some frolicked among plenty.

Bridges would fall and crush a queue of motorists while hundreds, arriving within minutes, were spared. This example, spared of its specifics, seem to reiterate throughout the world, every day.

Religions plays a important role in our lives.  They not only seek to make sense of madness, but strive to help carry believers through both the challenges of existence and its natural rhythms of birth, death and change.

I needed something larger than my own life: a cause to that elevated the mundane to a more important plane. But I was also searching for logic, not fables.

And so I found Buddhism.  Which is a faith and a philosophy.

I am a JewBu and able to remain true to my culture and heritage while believing in a mission of peace, education and culture.  With karma thrown in as well.

To be earn love is to first love thyself

And that entails a great deal.

It is easy to proclaim great personal affection, self directed, and then dive into a basket of fried food.  Or non nutritious glop.  Where is the love?

To have an affair with oneself, there must be compliments and forgiveness.

Mistakes will always be made.  Atone, try to remedy, do not reiterate and move on.

Although, if the errors extend to stealing the Presidency and destroying the world, maybe more penance is needed.

Self love is not blind egomaniacal thrust.  It allows one to have clear introspection.  

The omission of one's faults do not correct one's character, but allows darkness to fester.

Self awareness leads to personal discovery which should and could result in positive change.

On this ongoing journey, do not skimp on yourself, and proffer what you would demand for and from others.

Especially children and other family.

Some necessities include friends who support, food that heartens and non stop education. In all forms.

Everyone has different addictions.  Curb the noxious and curtail the middling.

That translates to less television and no heroin.  As per example.

To add to the mix of growth and happiness, is faith and dreams.

Such enriches life is knowing that you worked for a cause bigger than your daily routine.

And whimsy together with reaching beyond is what gives the mundane sweet thoughts of future accomplishment.

To love oneself means letting go of anger and hate.  Crushing fear while laughing at obstacles.

And, on a more secular plane, fine leather and cashmere couldn't hurt.

A life of no regret means demanding more, expecting honesty and eradicating injustice.

Which is my cue to say:  Indict Bush.

Tiger's Brand or put a tiger in your tank.

What an odd persona to sell: perfection.

Apparently, that is the brand that Tiger Woods and his people artfully created and cultivated.

Okay, as a marketing maven, I understand enhancing the image and slurring over, shall we say, less attractive characteristics.

Coca Cola, usually rated as the best brand in the world, knows not to sell the actual properties of the soda.

Dental decay, weight gain versus chemicals, empty calories and carcinogens.  Come and get it.

Rather, Coke- trademark- is fun.  Tastes good with food and always available at parties.  Extending the  promise, popular people drink it.

Beer companies have even more imaginative ads.  Presto:  twins.

What does that have to do with hops except drink too much and you are seeing double.

Back to Tiger.  He seems to have career and martial issues presently.

And yet, there is nothing that Michael Phelps can do to hurt his image.  

Smoke dope, nope.

Drunk driving.  Uh uh.

Total absence of service for others or selfless acts.  Apparently not.

And my personal favorite- bring a hooker home for Thanksgiving.

To his mother's house.  The same person, I am assuming based on my nephew's regime, who had to drive her son to 5 am swim practices.

But I digress.

Back to Tiger.  The problem is in the packaging.

For out and out hypocrisy and contradictions perhaps the golfer should contact Sarah Palin.

I'm all for no sex ed as effective birth control.  Meet my pregnant daughter.

Better yet, rebrand Tiger.

Parents, hide your daughters, especially if they are white, thin, blond, and don't mind married men.

You think golf is boring, wait until you see his swing off the links.

Big stick on the course and off.

And if all else fails:  No one in his posse killed anyone and not one dog was harmed in the making of the commercial.

Indict Bush.

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Water for Elephants Am I being too sensitive?

I am almost finished with the book Water for Elephants.  It is a prosaic story arc separated from mediocrity only by the in depth detail about working for a circus during the depression.  The last one, not the Bush generated economic collapse.

I love elephants.  They are the only other animals, besides man, that cry.  I have several pachyderms throughout my house.

One is a hand carved tower of elephants, made from wood with tusks adorning each one.

I also have a picture painted by an elephant with the proceeds going to a group working to help these animals survive in Thailand and India.

My only concern is that someone might think I am a Republican.

Indict Bush.

Mr Nast- why did you adorn the GOP with this magnificent symbol and saddle the Democrats with an ass?

But I digress.  Back to the book.  The ending is apparent and what is interesting is why one of the two villains- both one dimensional, evil and dastardly men, is Jewish.

Not the owner of the circus- which would make more sense.  But the animal trainer is Jewish and psychotic, violent and sadistic.  Plus, he married a shiksa.  

Wait.  At first I rejected the reality of the characters of this novel because two are seemingly without any positive trait or meaningful actions.  But doesn't that describe Bush and Cheney?

Cruel, heartless and evil.  Okay.  Maybe the author can justify some of the characterizations.

The protagonist is Polish and the elephant in question, only responds to commands in Polish- don't ask.

It is a strange book.  A trite trifle camouflaged by exquisite backstory.

And the previous administration is one beset by total failure and lack of humanitarian goals.

It is time to indict Bush, Cheney and the entire flank of criminals.,

I blame George W and Ronald Reagan

that I was late to work yesterday.  Actually, I was on time, just not early.  As has been my habit recently.

I usually take one of the tunnels to travel eastside to westside in Baltimore City. But yesterday, all the roads were crowded with vehicles sausaged together.  I wasn't aware during rush hour, but a water main had broken in the downtown area.  Commuters were advised to find alternate routes.  Those unfortunately caught in the snarl of flooding, traffic and work crews, were delayed by more than 2 hours.

For all the folks who hate government, despise taxes or simply reduce tax rates for the uber wealthy, here is a scenario where citizens need the public sector and money.

To replace old and failing infrastructure.  Not just here in my town, but throughout the United States.

Clean up crews are still working to pump out a downtown garage, more than 24 hours later.  Businesses were disrupted and closed.

Even the Orioles game was affected, since the streets in question are en route to the Stadium.

Of course Bush was evil and stupid.  A lying war criminal and apathetic Commander in Chief.  His otiose indifference exacerbated the ramifications of the 9/11 attacks.  Possibly, with the available intelligence, they could have been stopped.

Bush the torturer.  The man who merrily left business and financial systems unregulated.  That is old news.

Everyone knows his failings.  But there is so much more.  

The bulging deficit.  The compromised environment.  Lost time in science and ecology.

Plus the absence of actually governing.

Ronald Reagan used to say that government was the problem.  No evil leaders are the problem.

President Eisenhower oversaw building the interstate highway system in the United States.

Now we can't afford to maintain it.

People need to pay taxes.  If we want schools, police, roads, mail delivery and garbage pick up.

Government can also be a partner to find solutions to problems facing us and the world presently.

People who make more money, need to pay more taxes.  Trickle down means just that. Maybe some gruel will pass through.  To the poorer classes.  You know, the men and women who fight our wars.  Remove trash and fix the roads.

And since the Bush/Cheney assault on the middle class, other public servants are financially struggling while trying to help the citizenry.

If you don't want to pay taxes, or your fair share, no problem.  No bailouts either.

And your Mercedes is going to suffer from driving off road.  Even private security details rely on police departments.

Also, if you hate government, then by all means, don't run for public office. Or steal it when  you lose.

Indict Bush.  Use a federal prosecutor.  Another way that government can help us.

Since when is being frugal news?

Where has everyone been?

While seemingly the rest of the world has been acting like Goldman Sachs bonus babies, I have been rewashing Saran Wrap.

In my life, there is a perfect storm of frugality and the deep seeded belief, planted by my mother, that waste is a sin.

Even if one has obtained wealth legally and morally- which should eliminate a majority of the rich- it is obscene to indulge like a sultan while a majority of the planet has trouble scrounging up enough food each day.

I often look at the seemingly random distribution of money and misery throughout our world.

Knowing about such suffering does not stop me from buying a cashmere sweater- half off or more- but makes me try to use my own resources fairly.  And wisely.

I have never been ostentatious.  With dovetails to the other part of my nature.

To acquire.  

But for the right price.  As much as I want many beautiful things that I see, I won't up ante up too much for ownership.

But find something that I have been craving discounted and I am a woman obsessed.

It is all I can think about.  My reaction, I can only surmise, mimics others who are enslaved to their addiction.

Of course my body does not go through withdrawal.

However, alcohol and drugs are not available in most office environments.  But shopping is available as soon as one is logged on.

It's like a user working in a methadone clinic.

Thus, I can steel myself from buying the expensive and luxe cashmere sweater sporting my favorite color combination.

But what happens when it is discounted?

75%?

The jacket that cinches in my waist with wool as soft as silk.  The fabulous gold ring that I will wear the rest of my life.

All on sale.

A gin and tonic could never be as satisfying.

Adding to my misery and testing my willpower is the Republican depression our nation has plunged into, with retailers sacrificing inventory just to stem losses.

So every day I bring my lunch, eschew fancy coffees, reuse and make do.

Unless the garden emporium can find another baby bonsai bush.

Indict Bush.

Dick Cheney for President

I say this seriously, as a liberal and patriotic American.

Of course, lord knows, I don't want him to win, just be the Republican nominee.

But you cry, he is a traitor, liar, incompetent and war criminal.

Precisely.

It seems that even some GOP voters have vestiges of love for our country.

Many could not pull the lever for the ticket with Palin as the running mate of a 72 year old cancer survivor.

As often as she winked and blinked, lied and cried- a majority were steadfast in their belief that she had as much claim to the line of succession as a piece of burnt toast.  

Traditional Republican strongholds voted for the opposition whom they perceived as liberal.

Boy, were they, and we, wrong.  About the liberal thing. 

But I digress.

Back to my plan.  We need to keep control of the two houses of Congress, and not count Senator Lieberman as one of us, plus hold onto the White House.

Nothing says I love the Democrats as Dick Cheney lumbering out of his cave.

What's not to like?  He and his partner stole the Presidency and then proceeded to obliterate America.

You name it, they destroyed it.

The economy.  Check.

The military.  Uh huh.

An effective strategy to fight our enemies.  Damn straight.

The list goes on:  The deficit, alternative sources of energy, the environment, the Constitution, the middle class.

Bam. Pulverized.

Oh, I forgot: separation of powers and the role of the Congress.

Cheney is a reminder of one of the darkest eras of America and certainly the worst Presidency in our history.

So, even without pictures of him sucking the blood of puppies, put the man front and center.

Oh you protest, he has already run the government for 8 years.

Okay, technically he was considered Vice President.  And also, he is never going to win. (Yes, I know- his ticket didn't win last time.  2000 and four years later. But presently, he will not generate enough votes to steal the office.)

He makes Palin looks smart and ethical by contrast.  

Just unhinge Cheney's coffin every so often and let him speak.  In fact, he will pop out uninvited, for a duplicitous screed on his own power.

But President Obama must stop throwing money at financial criminals constantly and immediately cease turning over the Treasury Department to the likes of Goldman Sachs.  A lot of folks perceive such people as dangerous as Cheney.

And they wouldn't be far wrong.

So, Dick Cheney for President.

Of course, we could simply indict him.

And Bush.

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