Letters to the Editor, October 26, 2005

My video on Palestine

http://www.rys2sense.com/anti-neocons/viewtopic.php?t=587

Feel free to view and link it.

Ryan Dawson

More than 2,000 and still counting!

And this is only American Service Members,
not counting the estimated 100,000 Iraqi
civilians killed as collateral damage.

Join a candlelight vigil to offer condolences to the families and friends of
the American servicemen and women who have given their lives.
Vigils across the country will take place at 6:30 PM
tomorrow night, Wednesday, October 26.

To find a vigil in your community, visit:
http://www.democracyforamerica.com/attend_vigil

Charles Beers

United Press International - Intl. Intelligence - Commentary: Dumb, but smart Feith (Arnaud de Borchgrave)

http://www.upi.com/InternationalIntelligence/view.php?StoryID=20051024-090713-3995r

Richard Perle, the former chairman of the Defense Policy Board, and his protégé, Feith, co-authored in 1996 a white paper for The Institute for Advanced Strategy and Political Studies, an Israeli think tank that called for the ousting of Saddam as a means to transform the balance of power in the Middle East in such a way that Israel could ignore pressure to trade land for peace with the Palestinians or Syria.

The document was titled "Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm" and was designed as a policy manifesto for the then incoming Binyamin Netanyahu government.

The think tank's principal thrust was to generate support for the confluence and inseparability of Israeli and American security policy.

Mark Dankof

The Jewish Brain

Dear Editor,

I am writing regarding the controversy over the New York Magazine's recent cover story: "The Jewish Brain: Are Jew's smarter?"

Before anyone can claim that the Jews have higher IQs, we need to examine the word "Jew". For example, most people do not understand that Jesus, who spoke Aramaic, was not a Jew and that the Jews did not crucify Jesus as was claimed by misguided Christian zealots through the centuries. The ancient Hebrew populations/tribes initially migrated from the Arabian Peninsula to parts of the Mid-East and beyond, including to Palestine. Today there are two basic "Jewish" categories, those that are Semites such as the Arab Jews and Sephardic and the others that are not, but rather inherited their faith via religious conversions.

The word Jew was coined 1000 years ago (in European languages) to describe a segment of the Northern European (Ashkenazi) population who converted in the 8th century to a Hebraic religion as practiced in Judea, Palestine at the time of Christ, and long before his celebrated birth. Other ancient Hebrews such as the Samaritans of Nablus, Palestine maintained different religious cultic practices. Only recently were the Samaritans officially recognized as part of the larger Jewish community by Israel to substantiate their claim to "ancient roots" and historic Palestinian land. Ironically, many Samaritans are active in the Palestinian resistance movement and live in peaceful coexistence with their Muslim and Christian neighbors. In January, I visited Nablus and witnessed Abbas campaigning there for the presidency of the Palestinian National Authority. He was flanked by Muslim, Christian and Samaritan (Arab Jewish) secular and religious leaders.

Frankly, I believe that any ethnic or religious group or society that encourages its young to read and write and develop strong study habits helps its children to develop into intelligent adults who then can apply these skills to a variety of areas. Many Ashkenazi Jews have proven their brilliance in all walks of life as have many other people throughout the world, including Palestinians, who have had social-economic advantages and/or native intelligence and opportunity, are backed by family and community encouragement and receive sufficient nutrition to allow them to thrive.

Genevieve Cora Fraser

Massachusetts gcfraser@gis,net

Tom Flocco Intel Update: 28 Indictments in the Works

D.C. Appellate Court throws out Bush suit against DOJ to block Fitzgerald indictments

Washington, DC-October 25, 2005-www.

Earlier today the District of Columbia Appellate Court threw out a Bush administration suit against its own Justice Department, attempting to block the issuance of Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald's indictments against White House officials. READ MORE at http://www.tomflocco.com/

Jon Carlson