Holy month of peace - or terror?

On Saturday, the 5 ½ million Jews in Israel and 13 million around the world celebrated Rosh Hashanah, the beginning of the year 5767. The Jewish New Year, like the Islamic month of Ramadan are both based on the lunar calendar; with twelve months of 28 days, leaving a week left over when matched with the secular calendar. Every four years the Hebrew calendar adds a leap month into the mix to even things out, but the Islamic calendar keeps moving back a week each year so Ramadan meanders through the seasons in a 35 year cycle.

This difference in observation of calendars may be indicative of the intransigence that keeps these two groups in a constant state of war for hundreds of years.

As Jews, we start the new year with a celebration – dipping apples in honey (good fruit, sweet year) and then this Monday, the solemn day of reflection and atonement for the past year’s sins and transgressions and attempt to have one’s name inscribed in the book of life for the coming year. Over the next few weeks a series of minor Jewish holidays celebrate the gift of the Torah (the original version of the old testament) and the celebration of Succoth- a festival of pilgrimage.

The day after Rosh Hashanah, 400,000 Lebanese swarmed to Beirut to kick off the holy month of Ramadan- a month of fasting and prayer, similar in purpose to the Jewish Holy week. These two holidays share a common purpose, acknowledging we are all servants to a higher power, and that peace on earth and doing good works will pave the way for a brighter future, both here or hereafter.

Yet the holy gathering, normally a smaller, and more subdued affair, was subjugated and perverted by the desire of Hezbollah to brandish swords, or as sheik Nasrallah bragged, 20,000 missiles, paid for by Iran and Syria, still hidden away under the mattresses of children waiting for another chance to start flinging them at Israel; and itching for any excuse to start bloodshed again.

Last week, just before Ramadan, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad addressed the 192 member states of the UN and after professing global respect for Jews, Christians and Moslems alike, he reiterated an all too common belief in the Islamic world, that since once upon a time, Israeli Jews took Arab land, all there deserve to be wiped off the map and die. This was declared a statement of peace by the man spending hundreds of millions of oil money to provide a massive arsenal for Hezbollah and enrich uranium for ‘peaceful purposes’.

If the ranting of a few maniacs from Iran and Lebanon were isolated and unique, one could hope that the majority of global citizens would readily embrace peace and prosperity. Yet this was also the week when a comprehensive global threat assessment, agreed to by all16 intelligence agencies that comprise our Department of Homeland Security, released in a classified report says that these are not isolated incidents, but that the US’s military activities in Iraq and global unilateralism are fomenting terrorism in places around the globe.

After 9/11, our country had the opportunity to lead a global fight to defeat pockets of terror; with the cooperation and support of every major (sane) leader; instead, we started a global war that has incited anger, distrust and retribution; taking the low road of torture, prisoner abuse, and waving the flag with a cowboy mentality.

As Muslims and Jews fast in prayer this week; maybe, just maybe a vision of peace will emerge. 

Leib Lurie is a Troy Civic Theatre Board Member, Optimist Club member and CEO of phone message service OneCallNow.com. You can reach him at Leib@Lurie.net

Or see these columns on his blog at www.llurie.blogspot.com

The Revolution IS Now televised

I had decided to take a break from politics this week, and focus closer to home, in a way. Over the July 4^th weekend, a Kettering friend called to ask if we knew anyone who could host a foreign exchange student; the original host family had a medical emergency and cancelled.

With an empty bedroom, a weekly TDN deadline for interesting new material, and an extremely understanding spouse; we said ‘bring him on’.

After a few weeks of prep, which included redecorating a room from ‘Dad, I painted over the My Little Pony with palm trees and clouds” wallpaper to something a bit more staid and plausibly European male looking.

Loci (pronounced Low-tzee) is a Junior at Troy High school. It’s been a bit of a challenge becoming instant new parents of a 16 year old. Getting the Hungarian medical forms and grade reports translated, handling Visa forms, Board of Education requirements, class selections, and buying school supplies after a three year hiatus was a blur. My son, wife and I had to go through deep background checks, and thankfully, the Troy Rotary Club agreed to sponsor his visit.

Loci is from a small town, the size of Tipp City about 30 miles north of Budapest, Hungary’s capital.

We have spent the past few weeks showing him the basics of living in Troy; McDonald’s, Subway, La Fiesta, China Garden and Bakehouse Bread (better croissant’s than home, and his mom runs a café’). Stocking up at Kroger, and using a microwave (a common appliance in Hungary, except for his traditional cooking Mom). Using a riding lawn mower, clothes dryer and loading a dishwasher (Not so much a technical issue as a cultural one).

This column was going to focus on the exchange program, but this afternoon CNN broke our reverie. Tens of thousands of young people were storming the Parliament and TV station in Budapest, launching a vehement protest demanding the resignation of the Prime Minister, Ferenc Gyurcsany was re-elected giving his party firm control in April.

Mr Gyurcsany's spoke privately to his party in May, the speech leaked on Sunday.

Sprinkling obscenities in his talk that shocked our Hungarian teenager, Mr Gyurcsany said: "We lied in the morning, we lied in the evening." He proudly told his fellow MP’s (members of Parliament- his party) that he and his party had lied about the economy for 2 years; it was in sad shape, but due to the lies, the ‘Expletive voters’ didn’t know a thing.

Monday evening, Loci and I were glued to CNN web cast broadcasting live. At 2am, tens of thousands of protesters were rallying in Budapest and dozens of cities around the country; crying for Gyurcsany’s resignation. Loci translating for me, as a wild eyed leader admonished the crowd, “Don’t fight the police, we are all Hungarian’s. Only one man and his party friends are the target of our anger tonight. They lied to us, and must go”.

Nonetheless fearing a government coup, and with visions of Tom Hanks in “The Terminal” – with Loci trapped in Troy; we called his parents. Even at 2am the family was glued to the television, angry at the lies used to fool the public into voting for a corrupt and dishonest party who won on the basis of deceit; appointed thousands of supporters to cushy jobs and now wish to press for tax cuts for large businesses and steep austerity measures and benefit cuts for the poor and working class.

Thank goodness something that nefarious could never happen here; and that most voters are too compliant to protest even if it does.

Leib Lurie, A New York City native, lives in Troy. You can reach him at editorial@tdnpublishing.com

Or see these columns on his blog at www.llurie.blogspot.com

Are our prosecutors any better than our generals?

War is hell. Soldiers and far too often, Innocent civilians die. Leaders need to galvanize the people to support the objectives; and make sure that the war is being fought for the right reasons, against the right enemy, with the right tools to assure success and victory.

Abe Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson, FDR and Truman got it right. Solid justification, clear visionary leadership, coalition building at home, and effective diplomacy abroad. Johnson & Nixon got enmeshed in a losing situation and both made it worse; for the soldiers, the locals, the horrific cost in bodies and budget, and declining relations with the world. Now George Bush appears to be heading for the same destination; Morassville.

Monday, in moving and somber reflections centered on the three airplane crash sites, we heard that terrorists have not attacked the USA since 9/11; thanks to vigilance and hard work by the 16 disparate agencies cobbled together under the ersatz control of the Homeland Security agency.

We heard the neo-cons once again point to the same kind of sectarian religious and territorial violence that tore apart Kosovo, Bosnia, the Sudan and the Congo as indicative of the transcontinental hatred of Al Queda against the US. More than 5 million people have died in the Sudan and Congo conflicts since 9/11; yet the horrors there are no more likely to migrate across the ocean than dozens of other internal wars that claim thousands of lives every week.

The government’s operation of the US war on terror is a particularly vexing one for me.

George Bush conveniently unveiled 14 top terrorists last week, in front of an East Room audience of 9/11 widows and parents; all of these evildoers were captured up to 5 years ago. Yet the White House waited for the start of the election season to announce their transfer from CIA secret prisons to Guantanamo and then, soon, to bring them up on charges.

Personally, I think the CIA should have secret places for handling certain people. I don’t want to know about it, just get results. Maybe that happened here. Maybe not. But last week seemed a coincidentally and politically convenient time to trot them out as examples of our success against terrorism.

The White House is using the emotions of the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks as a time to ask Congress to write new rules for handling trials of terrorists. The Supreme Court (with seven of the nine members appointed by Republicans) made a clear decision in June; the President’s plans for military tribunals was against the law. As dangerous as the remote threat of terror may be, giving up our constitution is even more dangerous for our collective American future.

Rather than yield, as sworn to do in upholding the constitution, to the two other branches of Government, Bush is demanding Congress quickly pass a law that allows the military to set up kangaroo courts, with the same rules Stalin used to send people to the Gulag, and Castro’s and China’s Communist governments use on dissidents. After all, the 9/11 widows paraded in the East Room expect the 14 evil-doers to be punished.

Regardless of the jurisdiction and court rules eventually hammered out with Congress, bringing terrorists to justice has proved elusive for our government. Of the 417 terrorists identified by different agencies of Homeland Security over the past five years, only 81 have even been indicted, and just 39 convicted. Even the city of Washington DC, whose four term Mayor snorted coke, has a prosecution and conviction rate five times higher.

This Fall, the number of American Soldiers Killed in Iraq, which had nothing to do with 9/11, will exceed the number of Americans killed on 9/11.

Are we safer yet?

 

Leib Lurie is a New York Native and Troy Resident You can reach him at Leib@Lurie.net

Or see these columns on his blog at www.llurie.blogspot.com

Who will count the vote this Fall?

In June, when the Episcopal conference met in Columbus the media covered their discussions and vote, but barely mentioned how they CAST those votes. The conference had decided to jump headfirst into the twenty first century, no more black and white smoke; no more paper ballots. The Ohio Conference would be the ideal place to show off Ohio technology, Diebold electronic voting machines (the same one selected by Ohio Secretary of State Blackwell and mandated for Ohio). The bishops and Lay Leaders of the church decided to give the new machines a test run with some early procedural votes.

Hmmm. 104 people in the room, 119 votes cast. The Episcopal Procedural council had approved the use of paperless electronic ballots but they put in a caveat. If the results were off by more than 10%, the machines would be too suspect for use. The group tried again. 105 people voted, 123 votes cast. Almost a 20% difference. The remainder of the 10 day Ecclesiastic conference was conducted the 19^th and 20^th century way. With paper ballots, counted laboriously and tediously, but accurately.

Last week, the New York Times reported that numerous ballot discrepancies had been found in a scholarly study of the 2004 election. A large color picture showed the ballots for a Ward in Miami County being checked for accuracy. The study found 450 people signed in to vote; but the official tally released by the Board of Elections had 550 votes cast. A 22% over vote. The Director of Miami County Board of Elections was interviewed and called the story nonsense.

The study by Steven Rosenfeld found this was just one of hundreds of Ohio precincts with similar discrepancies, and asked for more detailed study.

The story broke because of a lawsuit against Secretary of State (and Candidate for Governor) Blackwell demanding that ballots (and the printout records from the electronic machines) not be destroyed this month as permitted by Federal law. Blackwell promised to issue a memo to all counties to protect and not destroy ballots. The actual memo Blackwell DID release was somewhat different. He said simply that each election board should look at and to post their county rules for retention. After laughing off the details documented in the New York Times, one might think our county would be the pillar of virtue in following the mandates of the state. One would be wrong. There are no such rules posted on our County’s Board of Election’s web page.

Last week we had yet another major story affecting Ohio’s elections. A Federal court threw out all of Blackwell’s recent ‘emergency voter drive’ rules. Blackwell had issued a set of emergency rules that placed severe restrictions and handcuffs on voter registration drives. A volunteer working at the Dayton Mall, for instance, gathering voter registrations from people who shop from surrounding counties, would be required to drive to each county and hand over the forms personally within 48 hours or they would be void, and the volunteer subject to fines and jail. Further, Blackwell’s rules effectively mandated that every church or non-profit group organizing a voter drive would need a high speed Internet connection and costly projector so all volunteers could receive the ‘official’ on-line training class. Generally federal judges act within reason to prevent abuse of the law and the people by rogue officials.

Yet still, as candidate for Governor, after being knocked down twice in 3 weeks by Federal judges, Blackwell insists that he is not only the right person to be our next Governor, but he sees no problem or conflict in his royal-like purview of Ohio’s election.

Former Russian dictator Josef Stalin said “The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything”.

Unbelievably, as of now, Ted Strickland’s opponent will be counting the votes in Ohio this Fall.

 

Leib Lurie is a Troy Resident You can reach him at Leib@Lurie.net

Or see these columns on his blog at www.llurie.blogspot.com