Daily Archives: 04/22/2010

(Community Matters) “At the F8 conference in San Francisco, Mr Zuckerberg unveiled a number of products aimed at putting users and their friends at the ‘centre of the web'” on BBC

(Community Matters) A candidate for office in Philly is refuting rumors that he’s straight, claiming to be bi-sexual.  What was that show . . . . . The Twilight Zone.

sorry, but my gaydar rings just looking at the picture

Hat Tip: Andrew Sullivan

(Community Matters) Senator Schumer has his own perspective on US – Israel relations

(Community Matters) An extraordinary open letter from an important Israeli journalist published in Israel’s most important daily, Haaretz
By Ari Shavit

Dear Mr. Prime Minister,

It isn’t every day a journalist writes an open letter to the prime minister. But today is no ordinary day. Nor is this an ordinary hour. This is the hour when the clock is about to strike midnight. A rare confluence of circumstances has created a situation in which on Israel’s 62nd Independence Day, the state of the Jews is facing a challenge the likes of which it has not known since May 14, 1948. The year between this Independence Day and the next will be a crucial one.

Shortly after you became prime minister, exactly one year ago, I entered your office for a few minutes. Uncharacteristically, you rose to greet me and gave me a hug. Also uncharacteristically, I hugged you back. I told you that as a citizen, a Jew and an Israeli, I wished you success. I told you I thought I knew how heavy the burden laid on your shoulders was. You replied that I don’t know. That even though I think I know, I don’t. That there has never been a time like this one since Israel’s resurrection.

Based on previous conversations, I knew what you were talking about: the nuclear challenge, the missile challenge, the delegitimization challenge. The hair-raising conjunction of an existential threat from the east, a strategic threat from the north and a threat of abandonment from the west. The danger of a war unlike any we have had before. The danger of Israel’s allies not standing at its side as they did in the past. And the sense of isolation. The sense of siege. The sense that once again, we must meet our fate alone. Continue reading →

(Community Matters) There’s sometimes a fine line between leading by polls and being responsive to voters. I am pleased to see Republicans beating a hasty retreat in their opposition to financial regulatory reform in response to voters’ overwhelming disgust with irresponsible and unaccountable practices by money center & investment banks.

In anticipation of the question about HCR and polls, there are times when our leaders must put doing the right thing ahead of popular sentiments. In the 1960’s this was civil rights legislation. Most recently, health care reform. Why? 1) we were headed to a national, financial train wreck if we did not do anything, 2) insurance companies & healthcare concerns spent over a billion dollars misleading the public on the realities of HCR and in their Congressional influence peddling, 3) a society as wealthy as ours owes some basic, sustainable level of healthcare to all its citizens – a chevy or buick level of care, not cadillac.