The Real American Emergency

Finally, an article that lays it all out in plain language. We were tired of reading so much commentary which danced all around the "F" word (fascism). Hope many folks find and read this.

Oz and Beth Grimes

Catholic Priest Cover Up

Are Catholic priests above the law? If any adult sexually abuses a child in their family, the law doesn't sit back and hope that the other family members will do the right thing and make sure that the abuser (if the abuser is habitual) is exiled to some place where there are no children to abuse. It wouldn't matter to the law if the abuser were the father or mother -- the abuser would be put on trial and if convicted would go to prison. We all seem to be living the fairy tale of "The Emperor's New Clothes." Why hasn't anyone been arrested? Could it be that everyone is afraid to be the one to suggest arresting priests or sending them to prison? Does this mean that it's O.K. with us as long as they don't do it again ? How are we any different then Cardinal Law? And what are our actions, or inaction, saying to our children?

A.M. Goodwin

Americans must not be deceived by the Catholic Church's version of the dancing chicken regarding Pedophiliac Priests in this nation. I am a Christian, and read the same Bible as the Catholics do. But nowhere can I find in the Word of God where He tells us to "conference" on the "how to's" of sinful behavior. While Jesus did tell us that we are to forgive 70 x 7 times, (and we should), Paul also taught us that we must submit ourselves to governing authorities since God has established all authority. The idea of a conference in Dallas in June to discuss these issues is one I consider blasphemous. Our laws tell us that child molestation is a crime.

Barry Wright

A Close Look at Israel and Palestine

There is a quote -- I'm sorry I can't remember from whom -- which says becareful how you hate because you can become what you dispise.

When I hear the UN plead to be let through to the towns of the West Bank and hear the Israeli spokesperson say that the reason that aid agencies aren't entering the towns is because the aid agencies don't want in; when I hear the stories of women in labor who have lost their babies because the Israelis shot at ambulances and hear the Israeli spokesman label these stories as Palestinian propaganda; when I see the blasted landscape of Jenin and hear the Israelis say the reported killing of civilians is a terrorist tissue of lies, I think of others who have taken similar positions -- the Serbian denial that there had been a wholesale slaughter of Bosnians; the white South Africans refutation that they tortured and killed South African blacks; the Argentine military saying the stories of 17,000 disappeared under their rule was false; and, yes, the Nazi governent denying the industrialized slaughter of millions of Jews, Gypsies, Catholics, and political opponent, during their regime.

My heart bleeds for the Palestinians, but I also find myself pitying the Israelis for what they have become.

Carole Craig (Dublin)

As I read the stories of victims in Israel's war against Palestinians and the shameless, state-sponsored killing of civilians by the Israeli military, it is impossible not to think of the early days of the war against Jews in Nazi Germany: Israel now seeking its own final solution.

As it was then, so it is now, the U.S. is slow to hear the cries of the brutally oppressed. One difference in Israel and the Palestinian Territories however, is that the U.S. has armed and continues to arm the Israeli military, to the tune of many millions per day, in Israel's mission to rid the region of their foe -- their David.

After experiencing Israel's occupation and oppression for so long, coupled with the pathetic response of the U.S., the fact that some Palestinians see no other options than to strap bombs to their backs and strike out the only way they can-they have no real military-should not detract from the responsibility of the occupying force-the State of Israel.

If the U.S. is unable to control the recipient of millions of dollars in aid and arms, which it supplies, then other nations of the world must step in and lead the way. And ordinary people must demand their politicians step up and advocate an equitable solution, not a final solution.

Jim Loughborough

What is the Problem in the Middle East? Approximately one year ago, Palestinians and Israelis were about to achieve a long lasting peace in the region. Suddenly, suicide bombs start popping all around Israel. This triggered Israeli response (Arial Sharon's) to reoccupy Palestine. Arial Sharon is a soldier; he did what he knows best.

That was what the European Union wanted Sharon to do. Sharon took the bait. Because the United States support Israel, Sharon's mistake dragged the United States into this difficult situation. If we look at the bigger picture we will see that the EU and Russia want to eliminate the United States' dominant power on the oil rich nations. In order to achieve that, the EU goals are to build a strong anti-American resistance in the Arab nations. The Israeli occupation of Palestine just helped their plan. The United States are losing ground in Europe and start losing ground in the Middle East as well. If we keep continuing on this path, more will follow. U.S. prosperity depends on international relations. Losing power will have devastating effects on U.S. economy. A country existence depends on its economic strength.

We have to keep close attention to overseas. European countries are not forming the EU for social gathering. They have goals. The United States should analyze all the possibilities and be prepared for it. The world is rapidly changing and if we are not the ahead of the game we may find ourselves in Russia's situation.

Karahan Mete (Davis, CA)

Israel's incursion into Palestinian territory makes it more urgent than ever to terminate U.S. support for Israeli domination of the West Bank and Gaza. Even many of Israel's long-time supporters now understand that, to provide justice to Palestinians -- and also to salvage democracy and morality within the Jewish State itself -- the thirty-five-year occupation must end. Peace and justice activists confront overlapping challenges.

We should know what we're talking about. Sometimes we pass along easily disproved or impossible-to-verify exaggerations. Repeatedly, we confuse slogans for arguments. One example is our tepid response to the Palestine Authority's instant assertion that Israeli forces in Jenin massacred 500 Palestinians. The plausible evidence is horrendous enough: some Israeli troops beat captured Palestinians and used others as human shields; blocked ambulances on flimsy pretexts; vandalized homes and offices; shot noncombatants, or humiliated them to teach them a lesson; and imposed on innocent civilians massive destruction and collective punishment. To all this and more, we object.

But disseminating dubious claims of a large-scale massacre hurts our credibility. It is likewise harmful to compare Israeli actions to those of Nazi Germany. The extermination of millions of Jews and others -- systematic, totalistic, bureaucratic, scientific -- may not be unique, but calling every atrocity Nazi-like demonstrates either a weak grasp of history or a calculated misuse of it.

Jews opposed to Israel's war crimes -- our numbers grow, despite the mainstream media's determination to ignore us -- are often moved by the welcome we receive from appreciative Palestinians; they should not have had to wait so long for our presence. But many Jews won't march behind banners that equate the Star of David and the Nazi swastika. If those banners disappeared, along with the superficiality that inspires them, there might be more of us.

Another challenge is to respond with more than lip service to the spread of anti-Semitism. We rightly expect Jews of conscience to oppose Israeli aggression, just as we oppose the U.S. government's post-September 11th assault on Muslim civil liberties. But we should also expect Palestinians and their supporters to reject those who blame, not Israel, but "the Jews."

Some Arab governments continue to use inflammatory language and disseminate anti-Semitic literature. Synagogue arsons, beatings, and other anti-Jewish incidents escalate throughout Europe. Hate groups in the U.S. use the Palestinian cause to incite violence against Jews.

Despite claims to the contrary by mainstream Jewish organizations, every criticism of Israeli policy is not generated by anti-Semitism. But let's not make the opposite mistake. Sometimes the perception of Jew-hatred is right on target.

So let's drop the slogans. Let's communicate more effectively. And let's unite behind the understanding that justice and liberation, democracy and safety, can only come about if they come to all of us, together.

Dennis Fox, Brookline, MA

After having long assumed a lazy, good-old-boy posture toward the Israeli/Palestinian conflict -- allowing hardliner Ariel Sharon to believe Washington wasn't going to say boo about a steadily worsening vamping on the occupied territories and their beleagured people -- Resident Bush suddenly did a flip-flop that should have jiggled the Richter Scale.

Now he's Mr. Engaged, issuing pronouncements left and right. Well, right anyway.

And why? Because things have gotten so bloodily violent and fratricidally destructive that teeth and eyeballs are whizzing through the cordite- scented air of the Holy Land?

Nope. Dubya wants the killing to stop because it's killing chances of his plan to kill Iraqis ever getting off the ground. It's all so palpably bogus.

"Uh, okay Israel. Kinda, sorta pull back. Not that you're wrong or anything, But it would look good. Yasser Arafat, you're a bum. You've betrayed your own people. The only thing worse is Bill Clinton, who upset the whole apple cart by being too pushy for peace. And no...oil doesn't enter into my thinking at all."

I get spam e-mail from bunko artists promising miraculous enhancement of my manhood, $19.95 for a 30-day supply of guaranteed pills, that are more believable.

Dennis Rahkonen (Superior, Wisconsin)

Mad Cow U.S.A.

The first case in America of Mad Cow Disease in a human was dismissed by apologists for our food industry because the woman was born in England. We are assured that she could not have acquired variant CJD here because the American meat industry has reformed its practices and can be trusted. But meat inspection in America is a sham and "USDA- certified" means absolutely nothing. No meat inspector can stop a production line when he spots a diseased animal. The CDC has no enforcement powers. The new food safety bill in Congress is now being attacked by agricultural companies and probably will not become law. Let us hope that this woman contracted vCJD by eating meat in England, not America, but we sure can't trust the self-serving meat industry when it says its methods are safe.

Gregory E.Pence, Professor of Bioethics, University of Alabama Medical School

Wahhabi Roots

The Bush Administration oilmen and the Saudi Princes fully agree on one thing. They never will tell the American public the truth that Wahhabi clerics actually run the government of Saudi Arabia. Although the Bush Administration calls the Saudi government "our good friend" and "moderate," the Wahhabi clerics -- the power behind the throne -- are as extreme as the Taliban clerics of Afghanistan.

Here is a February 18, 2002 Associated Press news report about an instance of Wahhabi "justice:" "A Saudi court has sentenced a man to six years in prison and 4,750 lashes for having sex with his wife's sister...[which is] considered a serious offense under the strict Islamic judicial code that Saudi Arabia follows." The woman will receive 65 lashes, even though the court found she both did not consent to the relationship and had reported it to the police.

"The strict Islamic judicial code" is administered by Wahhabi clerics. The Saudi Arabian courts and most other major government functions, such as issuance of travel papers, are controlled by the Wahhabi sect. They make no secret of their hatred of infidels in general and of American infidels in particular. They preached sermons openly celebrating the September 11 attack. Yet President George W. Bush and the oilmen constituting top officials in his administration repeatedly refer to the Wahhabi-run Saudi Arabian government as "our good friend." With a good friend like this.

Irwin D. Bross, Amherst, NY