Letters to the Editor, February 24, 2004

On answering my telephone today (Feb 23, 2004), I was informed that I had received an award from AlJazeerah. When I asked who was calling the caller uttered "fu...you" and hung up. I contacted the appropriate agencies and was informed to keep a log of the call and if need be future calls. This I have already done and felt that I should pass this information along to you for publication.

Armand DeLaurell

Editor: It's so sad that there are people who do not tolerate their fellow citizens to express their free opinions. It's good that you informed local police authorities. You also need to inform the FBI about the incident.

Live coverage of the case on the wall

The Israel-wall case before the ICTY can be followed live on Internet from http://www.icj-cij.org/videostream.html

There are high- and low-bandwidth Windows Media streams available with audio in English or French. Stream-hosting is by xs4all Internet, the company which has supported and hosted ICTY Tribunal Live (since 1998) and Domovina Net (since 1995).

John Kerry, Dennis Kucinich, and the very sad and frustrating American politics

Even if John Kerry's grandfather wasn't Jewish, Israel has bought and paid for just about every US politician and if anyone makes it known they are not pro-Israel, they spend the money to get them out of office. Dennis Kucinich is the only candidate for President who has publicaly said Pal.s need their own homeland and that the US needs to develope a balanced policy in the ME, and he hasn't won a single state and will probably lose his seat in House of Representatives.

Very sad and frustrating but its true.

Pat Morrison

Have the Neocons Killed a Presidency? Patrick J. Buchanan, 02-17-2004

Mr. Buchanan,

Your editorial outlines how a special interest group used a crisis to capture a President.

Does it make any difference whether that group is English Tory, Nationalist Chinese, or Zionist?

Such groups represent small, desperate, political entities. The Presidency's of Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, Eisenhower, and now Bush have been shown susceptible to such manipulation. The Constitutional protection is lodgment of the war making power in Congress. As a simple example of the arrogation of that power by the Presidency consider who gets to identify and declare enemies. How many times have you heard a President declare 'the evil empire' or 'the axis of evil'? Such a power is assigned to Congress. As a more profound example of this abuse consider how it was that Franklin Roosevelt was able to declare war on Japan without even mentioning it to Congress - I don't mean December 8, 1941, but rather November 26, 1941.

So long as America organizes it elections like pep rallies we will have such vulnerability because we will get amiable but daft chief executives with staffs who can and do promote anything from America first to America last.

You close your editorial with what appears to be an apology for Bush, viz., " ... a president who came to office with good intentions and a good heart ... ". I don't think you would have accepted such apologies if you had come to office on the Reform ticket. This is not a new problem in human governance, consider Aesop's fable of "The Fox and the Monkey":

http://www.nimblewisdom.com/Aesop_s_Fables/The_Fox_and_the_Monkey

which concludes with the line, "O Monkey, and are you, with such a mind as yours, going to be King over the Beasts? " " There was also a president who had a desk sign that read, "The buck stops here." I agree with your concern about whether this President knows the buck, in this sense, is at issue.

Yours,

Dan Fritz

We all have our dreams

By Maisoon Rice

We all have our hopes and aspirations, we all have our dreams

But Peace, I don’t understand, is so difficult to attain, it seems.

Our personal successes and achievements are all well and good

Do we acknowledge wishes of others, whose future can affect our daily lives and our fickle mood??

What is our gain from these accomplishments if we choose to ignore

The problems of others, struggling to make ends meet, and striving for oh so much more!

Can we justify their torment and their sorrow with dignity or pride?

Or do we, instead, choose to deny them our Humility by turning our backs on them and hide.

Can we do anything, big or small, to minimize or end their sadness and their tortuous pain?

For their anguish, dear God, is our Failure too, and sadly not our gain.

When was the last time you reached out and offered the poor, the homeless and the hungry a helping hand?

Or did those who are less unfortunate, choose to bury their haughty heads, instead, in the cold sand.

What will it take to unite our now dysfunctional Brotherhood of Man?

Will it be love, respect, Compassion, indeed can it be done

If we-put our faith and hearts into it, Yes! Yes! We can!

Time is of the essence, as it is short and sweet

The task facing us, though very arduous, is our battle, which is not impossible to defeat.

Earth, a planet hungry for peace

The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03).

The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers in the West Bank (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03).

Opinions expressed in various sections are the sole responsibility of their authors and they may not represent Al-Jazeerah's.

editor@aljazeerah.info