OT: Letter to my Senators

Whistle
1

Dear Senators,

As a voting Republican in Missouri, I urge you to
support the road map to peace in the middle east.
It’s plain that Israel’s government is
trying to torpedo the plan by insisting, as a pre-condition
for the talks proceeding, that the Palestinians
renounce the right to return. This is the opening
salvo in an effort to prevent the
new peace process from getting off the ground.

Plainly we will need to
be willing to stand up to Israel if peace
is to be made. The ruling party has as a plank
in its platform that it will never allow
a Palestinian state. They are counting
on you to kowtow to their agenda.
It is not in the interest of Americans, or the world,
that this problem continue to fester.

Please put us first.

My best wishes, Jim Stone

My senators are both Republicans.

Palestinian negotiators have signaled that they
are willing to compromise on the right of
return–‘it won’t be a deal breaker’ – if there
is movement on other issues. Hence the American
roadmap to peace schedules negotiations
on the right to return for the end.

No Israeli
government has ever before demanded that
the Palestinians renounce the right as a
precondition of peace talks.
Sharon’s demand that they do so is a
transparent attempt to stop the peace
process from even beginning. Also to
destroy the new Palestinain government,
which cannot survive if it accepts
such a condition.

There will be considerable
support in Congress for Sharon’s agenda,
because many congresspeople are funded
heavily by lobbies that support it. They are counting
on you and me not writing letters like this one.

If you disagree with what I’ve said here,
please write a letter expressing your own
view. But please don’t do nothing! Whether
we bequeath the war on terror to our
children, and their children, may depend
on whether we exercise our democratic
rights in the next months. Best, Jim

2

Can’t let that one go by Jim. Here’s a letter to my senators:

I don’t think it’s too much to ask that the Arab world stop teaching their children in state-sponsored schools to hate and kill Jews. Nor is it too much to ask that the PLO really remove from its charter the resolution to destroy Israel (still never done). Also, it would be reasonable for the Palestinians to accept fair deals that have been on the table and rejected by them since 1948, i.e., equal partitioning of the land, including Palestine. That was rejected by the Palestinians in 1948, and their Arab brethren refused to allow them onto any of their lands as well. Arafat again recently turned down a deal that amounted to much the same -a homeland for the palestinians.

The real truth is that the elements that cannot be controlled in the Arab world want only one thing - the utter and final destruction of Israel. The shame of that is that among the palestinians are the brightest and the best and there is already a large thriving Arab population in Israel.

As a Jew, I’ve always felt that having a thriving free state of Israel makes it easier for Jews to walk the streets world-wide. Any such insistence that the Israelis give up land with no show that the other side is also making positive and meaningful moves toward a lasting peace is more transparent anti-semiticism. I’ve never appreciated those who fall back on cries of racism of any kind to blur realities, but sometimes it just is what it is.

I generally neither approve of nor participate in discussions of a political nature on the Board, but will not let this go unanswered.

Philo

3

Thanks for the good letter, Phil. Let’s see if I can use this
quote thing. Well, I can’t it seems. My response
is interspersed below. Apologies.

4

Philo you seem to forget that Israel didnt even exist until the US/UK decided to displace millions of Palestinians and invent it. You also seem to forget that Sharon was a leading terrorist at the time not to mention his dealings in Lebanon. I can come up with a huge number of quotes from him that display his anti Arab leanings but Im sure it would make no difference. As far as I`m concerned Israel is a terrorist state as is the US.
Sharon wants total control of the mid east nothing less. You mention Arabs living in the Jewish state. Can they vote, can they work where they and earn a living accourding to there wants and needs. NOT. There is no black and white in this world today. There is only the masses who are subject to the few. The masses have had enough. It is time for the bullies to get there heads knocked off.

Tom

5

Well, I think some of these statements aren’t accurate,
Blackbeer.
Arabs in Israel vote, for instance.

Palestinians were driven from their property, often
by terrorist attacks (the Irgun, the Stern Gang);
from whence the right to return flows.

But there’s no point in rehearsing this long and
complex story or apportioning blame.
Here’s the bottom line for me:
The Israeli-Palestinian problem is a luxury
the world can no longer afford.
The present Israeli government is opposed
to Bush’s peace program because
it is opposed to any peace process.
Likud’s official position is that
it will not allow a Palestinain state.
Sharon was a vocal opponent
of the Oslo accords. They mean
to expand. If they have their way there will
be no peace, as the demand that
the Palestinians renounce the right
to return before the peace process
begins demonstrates.

I take the
idea that we not allow the present
government of Israel to scuttle
the roadmap to peace to be
different from the recommendation
that we abandon Israel, to which
I’m opposed.

Please let’s not debate the past here.
It isn’t a question of the past
but of the future. In this case,
that’s somewhat up to us. Anybody
who doubts that your voice can
make a difference, remember
Bush/Gore in FL. Best

6

I’m not too wild about creating the offcial palestinian state until there is a decent government to lead it. The Palestinian leadership has shown no initiative in trying to stop their own terrorists. And the Israeli “incursions” are a direct part of their efforts to protect their country. If a Palestinian state was created with the current leadership, I fear the results would be disastrous. It would become a war between two legitimate nations, and this would make it much easier for the conflict to expand into the whole region. This, I think, could be far more “destabilizing” than anything the US has done in the region.

7

Well Jim I broke my own rule about partaking in political topics here because my emotions sometimes run away with me. Of course my letters have already been sent and they were similar to yours. I can`t help but to take the side of the victoms of aggression all over the world. When 3/4 of the worlds population has never even seen a glass of clean drinking water and we are spending trillions of dollars on weapons to kill them with I get very upset. Israel is none copliant in at least 64 UN resolutions. I have them all in my files. There actions are unexceptable. They have the magic WMD and therefore pose a threat to the stability of the mideast.
The Palestinians have no WMD nor do they even have an army. There fore there means of dealing with force is uncoventional. But it is all they have. We have decided that our quality of life is more important to us then the planet and every creature on it. This too is unexceptable yet the people most affected by our greed and waste have no conventional way to deal with us. We call it terrorisum, I call it selfdefence. The road map is of course a farse as it does not deal with the major problem in the area which is the Israeli nuclear threat. We promised to rid ourselves of these weapons but like many of our promises we have found reason not to do that. In fact the administration has asked congress for funding to develope a small tactical nuke(5 kilotun) for use in our “war on terrorism”
We do not have the moral high ground here. And the world knows it. You will see in the next couple of years what it is willing to do about it. I pray for peace, but I know it will not come unless we make it happen. And we make it happen by realizing that we have a responability to our children to leave them a world in which to live. This planet is not ours for the takeing it is ours to preserve. It is a garden to be tended. Our wars, our causes are but quick sources of profit for those who have no other idea then to profit. The just causes that are presented to us are ludicrous to say the least. It is no suprise to me that the world is striking back.

Tom

8

Jim,
Check PM

9

Dang! Did it again. Message interspersed, until the
end when it isn’t. I’m a refugee from the
age of papyrus. [


quote=“antstastegood”]I’m not too wild about creating the offcial palestinian state until there is a decent government to lead it. The Palestinian leadership has shown no initiative in trying to stop their own terrorists. And the Israeli “incursions” are a direct part of their efforts to protect their country. If a Palestinian state was created with the current leadership, I fear the results would be disastrous.

But there is a new government. And the old corrupt one
curtailed terrorism pretty effectively in the decade following
the Oslo Accords. However the settlements kept growing,
making a state less and less likely, the economic condition
of the Palestinians kept worsening, until the uprising. As you
know, even the strongly pro-Israel American government has stated
repeatedly that the behaviour of Israel since the
uprising is ‘provocative’ of terrorism.

So I think the facts
support the conclusion that a Palestinian
government, and the Palestinians themselves, would
curtail terrorism if a Palestinian state was created.
As Phil O observes, these are intelligent and
industrious people. They would be disinclined to
throw away their new state.

Of course if one wants
absolute guarantees, nobody will ever
make peace with anybody; for peacemaking always involves
some risks.

It would become a war between two legitimate nations, and this would make it much easier for the conflict to expand into the whole region. This, I think, could be far more “destabilizing” than anything the US has done in the region.[/quote]

Ain’t gonna happen. Israel can whip all of these
countries put together simply with its conventional
military, and they know it. Further, Israel has WMD.

The way I see it, whatever the risks of peacemaking amount
to, they cannot match the risks of the status quo,
which is intolerable for multiple reasons.
I agree with our government–it’s time to make
peace. Best

10

Here’s my letter.

Dear Senators,

Would you please resign and encourage the Governor to appoint Green Party members as your replacements?

Humbly,
A Voter.

11

Hi, Tom,

When I was in the civil rights movement, there were
plenty of people I knew who opposed it because they
thought America was beyond redemption. They felt
the only hope was for things to get worse, until
finally the system collapsed and something new
and better replaced it. I didn’t believe that–I believed
in the basic integrity of the USA and I figured, as
did my colleagues, that if we managed to
dramatize what apartheid meant, the nation
would respond appropriately.

Of course I’m not suggesting that you, Tom,
think things should be allowed to get worse,
etc. And I’m delighted that you’ve sent
your letters, more than delighted.

My concern is that radicalism disempowers
radicals. I don’t feel that there is any
nameless, faceless system that is making
various nefarious decisions; or that
the country is run by forces whose only
concern is profit. There are people,
there are political forces and economic forces,
there is a nation that is in many ways extraordinarily good,
in quite a few ways not so good, we’re
part of it–and so we can make a
difference.

There is no simple description
or explanation of what’s going on.
Nuance matters terribly if you want
to know what’s going to happen.The religious right, of which I consider
myself a member, is strongly pro-Israel.
Many of these folks want a Greater Israel,
because they believe that it will be
the fulfillment of prophecy. They voted
for Bush. There are
also powerful pro-Israel lobbies more militantly
expansionist than most Jews, and it’s
plain that they have made considerable
inroads in Congress. There are
people in the administration who
sympathize with the right wing
in Israel; Colin Powell does not, nor
does Tony Blair; nor do most Europeans.
The president is receiving political advice
that it will be dangerous to oppose
Sharon, that doing so may cost him the next
election.

In this mix of diverse forces,
I continue to believe that my two cents
matters. And yours. Above all I’m
pretty sure I know what will happen
now if we do nothing–and I’ve
had enough of the Palestinian-Israeli
problem for one lifetime, not to
mention 9-11, Guantanamo, the
erosion of civil liberties.

I’m sympathetic to what you’re saying,
and I appreciate pretty keenly your concern
for the victims of aggression, many of
whom don’t get counted here. I don’t think we’re as bad
as you do. A muted voice sometimes carries
further. I think there is real hope.
Best, Jim

12

Green Party members! :laughing: What a mess this country would be in then!!! :laughing:

~Larry

13

I sometimes wish Jim that I could express what goes through my little pea brain as colmly as you do. But there isnt a muted bone in my body. Way to many years of outrage, to much time in the "third world" to much respect for those who dont want to be a part of a failing experament. You are right there is hope. As long as there is life there is hope, as long as there is unfettered access to information there is hope, as long as there is freedom of speach there is hope. I am worried about the last two.
I have no time for the religious right or left or any of that noncense. I have seen the priests blessing our guns and I have seen their priests blessing their guns. That was in Nam. As far as Im concerned religion is just as dangerious as any roge state. The only perfect human I ever saw was a Budist. As far as the peace movement is concerned it of course is world wide and was completely ignored by this addministration. An addministration I might add whos head was appointed by the supreme court not elected by the people. But that is a different story. Kent State is still burned into my head as well as the national convention and somemany other outrages that I cant list. I think we are very close to that jackbooted mentality again. This time the use of fear as a means to
to keep us in check and support the military industrial complex. I have spent months connecting the coorprate and political dots and in my humble opinion the fix is on. But yes I will keep writting letters to my inaffectual representatives and I will keep fighting to keep religion out of my government, and I will keep fighting to do away with lobiests but my hope groes less with each and every human being who losses their life to systems that consider life as unconsaquential.

Tom

14

Ah yes, the mean old USA, us Evil Satans always wanting to slay the innocent peasants…Such Tripe!!! Yeah sure, we “conquered” Japan and Germany, and look at their poor destitute masses now! Check Iraq & Afganistan in a few years! And those gazillions of dollars we’ve sent to help pracically everyone on the planet were really an evil plot…

I suppose 9/11 was just “self defense” too? Do you think it’s appropriate to send some poor ignorant slob to blow up women & kids? Boy, that’s always productive… and look how effective Bin Laden was in promoting his cause…Of course, if it hadn’t been for him we would have never had the will to go into Iraq…

Sigh…more “No war for oil” mentality. Quit assuming the quick & easy (& evil) motives for everything. Open up your mind & start examining all sides of the issues…maybe watch Fox news & get less biased facts. Maybe then you’ll start believing tere’s a few honorable men who happen to dissagree with your politics, even when they RELUCTANTLY go to war.

And just for the record, I too think Israel has been getting a free ride for too long, and think it’s time for the US to pressure them to the table if necessary. I really hope the new Palistinian Government can establish a free peaceful state despite the radicals on all sides…

15

Well, maybe you can be a bit kinder to Blackbeer,
who is plainly writing from his heart. Can you tell
the difference between somebody who is spouting
ideological rhetoric and somebody
who has been through the wringer? Here’s an
honorable and intelligent person who disagrees
with you…‘tripe’ is a bit strong, I think.

When Kent State happened I was in England;
we marched on the American Embassy, thousands
of us. About three blocks away we were met by
a wall of bobbys. There was a rather tense
face off until a police commander, riding a
horse, rode between the police and us,
gave us a thumbs up sign, then waved the
police back a hundred yards. It was
symbolic but it calmed things down. In the USA
it would probably have been water cannon
or tear gas; at Kent State bullets.

Some of us have been through
stuff, especially those who went to
Vietnam, that can change you
forever.

16

Green Party members! What a mess this country would be in then!!!

I’m a proud member of the Green Party. And one day I will be president. So watch out. :wink:

17

Cranberry for pres. Hey, I like that!

18

I had this come through by email and thought I would share it. I did do the translation from German to English so I hope I used the right words:


If we would reduce whole mankind to a village of 100 inhabitants
in proportion of all existing people, then this village would have


57 Asians
21 Europeans
14 Americans (north and south)
8 Africans

52 would be women
48 would be men

70 non-white
30 white

70 non-Christians
30 Christians

89 heterosexual
11 homosexual

6 people would possess 59 % of the entire world wealth and
all 6 people would come from the USA

80 would not have sufficient housing conditions
70 would be illiterates
50 would be underfed
1 would die
2 would be born
1 would own a PC
1 would have an academic degree

If you look at the world from that point of view, it becomes clear
for everyone that the need of solidarity, understanding,
acceptance and education is necessary.

If you did wake up healthy and not ill this morning - you are luckier
than 1 million humans, who will not experience the next week.

If you never experienced a fight in a war, never the isolation of
imprisonment, never felt the agonie of torture or hunger

  • then you are luckier than 500 million humans in the world.

If you can go to the church without the fear that it is threatened
to you that someone arrests you or kills you are you are luckier than 3
billion humans of the world.

If there is food in your refrigerator, you are clothed, have a roof over the
head and a bed for sleeping - you are richer than 75% of the
inhabitant of this world.

If you have an account with the bank, have some cash in your purse
and some money stached in a little box you belong to the 8% of
wealthy people on this planet.

If you read this message, you are blessed doubly because

  1. Someone has thought of you
  2. You do not belong to the 2 billion humans who are not able to read.

And… You have a PC!

Someone has said once

work - as if you need no money
love - as if you never got hurt before
dance - as if nobody is watching
sing - as if nobody is listening
live - as if the paradies is on earth.

This is the International week of friendship. Send this Mail to
all, which you call friends and other nice humans.

If you do not pass it on absolutely nothing will happen!
If you do pass it on, you may get a smile from someone.

at least a small ray of hope


Sleep well
:slight_smile: Brigitte
[/list]

19

If there is food in your refrigerator, you are clothed, have a roof over the
head and a bed for sleeping - you are richer than 75% of the
inhabitant of this world.

That really spoke to me. I think I have a rough life, but when I put it into perspective, I see I’m actually very very lucky to have the life I do. Even when we didn’t have running water, electricity or phones growing up, my parents would always say ‘there are people worse off than you’. How true that really is.

20

I still think you should be president. By the time
you are, your views are likely to be
somewhat more centrist. Only a little.
It’ll help you carry the midwestern states. Best