Being Pro-Memphis: Attitude Does Matter

I have lived in Memphis for 56 years, and for the first time in my life, I feel Memphis is slowly chugging down the right track to realizing its potential - and hopefully becoming a progressive, dynamic Southern city of choice. Sure, we have the same laundry list of urban problems that exist in other major metropolitan areas - crime, poverty, corruption, as well as recession related economic issues. In fact, many of those issues loom larger than in other comparable cities and may end up being more difficult to reverse. My optimism stems from the sincere belief that Memphis has a strong core of pro-Memphis citizen/leaders, a Mayor who is honest, understands the issues and sincerely wants to make Memphis a better place. As citizens of the City of Memphis, we can’t leave this job solely to the people at the top of the governmental, business and social strata. While they can get top-down initiatives started all day long, it takes a supportive broad based citizenry to make it all work. Instead of harping on the ever-present negativity, maybe we should start supporting positive initiatives, as well as thinking more about solutions and acting on those ideas.

Turning a city around is not done in 5 years. We are lucky to have a beautiful preserved downtown area, the largest Urban Park in the country, the longest rails to trails bike path conversion in Tennessee, a beautiful new Law School and Art School downtown, one of the best distribution networks in the world – and soon we will have a refurbished airport with Southwest airlines!

The path to success is not a destination; it’s a never ending journey that starts one step at a time.

The Israeli "Settlement Issue".

The CA’s 10/21/10 AP news story (p.A4) entitled “Israeli settlers work quickly, build hundreds of new homes” is a good example of agenda based reporting. The agenda in this case is to misrepresent the “settlement issue” and to demonize Israel – part and parcel of the Palestinian strategy to delegitimize Israel in the court of global public opinion. The fact that the reporter’s name was missing from the piece also makes one suspect that their prior writings were equally as biased against Israel.

The term “settlements” is misleading. In most cases, the Israeli “settlements” in the West Bank are as large as most small American cities, with all the conveniences and infrastructure that would rival any new city in America. These cities contain hundreds of thousands of Israelis and a 10 month building moratorium will inevitably result in a backlog of building projects that are a result of natural growth. It should be noted that almost all growth has been up and not out.

The Palestinians theoretically should have a sense of urgency to make a peace agreement with Israel under these circumstances – that is if peace was their actual goal. Even if these settlements are in “any potential peace agreement scenario”, why can’t these Jewish citizens live in the Palestinian state like the Israeli Arabs live in Israel? Isn’t that insinuating that the Palestinians want to legitimize the “ethnic cleansing” of Jews from any potential Palestinian state?

Secondly, building in these Israeli cities is not an obstacle to the peace process, as the last 10 month moratorium has demonstrated. The Israelis have been waiting patiently to negotiate for the past year, but Palestinian political division, lack of Palestinian will to make peace, Iranian interference and a general inability for the Palestinians to deliver on any promises is the greatest obstacle to peace. There is no question that Israel has the legal structure, political unity and self-discipline to follow up on their side of any agreement.

Last but not least, President Obama has done more to retard the possibility of peace negotiations bearing fruit, as his administration has legitimized the “settlement building” issue - providing cover for the Palestinians to refuse to even sit down at the negotiating table. The Israelis can’t make peace alone, and there is no Palestinian entity that can deliver on ANY peace process proposals - nor is there even a legitimate Palestinian entity to make decisions on behalf of the Palestinian people. Israel is literally sitting in a cage, surrounded by hostile Iranian surrogate terrorist armies to their South (Hamas) , and their North (Hezbollah). Couple these border threats with the overt Iranian nuclear threats against Israel, and the “settlement issue” looks – and is – an insignificant and manufactured issue. The core impediment to peace is Iran. Without Iran’s support of Hamas and Hezbollah, the peace process would at least be able to see a ray of light.

Has Islam morphed into a Political/Religious Hybrid?

For a 23 year old Jewish American, the 1977 march by the USA Nazi party in Chicago was a civics lesson that I will never forget. To refresh your memories: In 1977 the Illinois National Socialist Party of America (NSPA) attempted to demonstrate their political existence with a march on Skokie, Illinois. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) interceded in behalf of the NSPA, in the case of the National Socialist Party of America v. Village of Skokie, wherein an Illinois appeals court ruled that the presence of the swastika, the Nazi emblem, would constitute deliberate provocation of the people of Skokie. However, the Court also ruled that Skokie's attorneys had failed to prove that either the Nazi uniform or their printed materials, which it was alleged that the Nazis intended to distribute, would incite violence. The March went on in Chicago and nothing happened.

Thirty four years later, we have a similar situation with Florida Preacher Jones wanting to burn a Koran to prove the political and physical threat of extremist Islam. The Florida ACLU condemned Mr. Jones's message Wednesday as un-American but defended his right to free speech."We cannot pick and choose who is protected by the Constitution," spokesman Brandon Hensler said. "We're very concerned about this wave of anti-Muslim sentiment. But the answer is not to infringe on their right to say what they want to say." I personally agree with the ACLU. Anything else would have made them hypocrites of the first degree.

Preacher Jones, as strange as he may seem, has some valid points to make in his version of a 2011 civics lesson. Preacher Jones claims that Islam is a hybrid religion/political movement similar to communism or the Nazi party, and should not be able to hide behind the cloak of American sensibilities that separate church and state. Furthermore, he claims that the overt threat of violence from the four corners of the Islamic world - if he were to burn the Koran, has not only stifled our free speech, but has intimidated our President and our military.

No one is claiming that all Muslims are terrorists or followers of an extremist version of Islam. That is the asymmetrical argument. What is being claimed is that the Islamiphobic atmosphere that has gained steam and pervades the airwaves is being fed by Islamic insensitivities to American feelings (9-11 Mosque), actual threats of physical harm for expressing our civil rights, and the feeling that our constitution is being exploited for political gain under the guise of religion.

While the nature of Islam today can be debated, it is not a stretch to see the asymmetrical nature of a political version of Islam that is able to exploit our Western values and turn them into tactical advantages in the broad grey area created by a religious/political hybrid. President Obama has demonstrated a heightened sensitivity to the perceived grievances of the global Muslim community - grievances that are no different than what this country has suffered in the name of free speech - be it the Nazi party, the Klu Klux Klan, flag burners, or artists that depict Jesus in works of art produced with human excrement.

The Muslim world is feigning great offense with the Koran burning, and I understand their frustration, but threatening violence and denigrating this country for defending free speech is throwing fuel on the fire.

How will history judge the US involvement in the Iraq war?

They say that history is the narrative of the victor, so even history can be interpreted through a partisan filter. I don’t believe there is any dispute that Saddam’s Iraq was waging war across the Middle East; after all he fought a 10 year war against Iran that killed up to 1 million, invaded a number of his neighbors, and gassed thousands of Kurds who resided within Iraq’s borders. History will probably say that the USA became involved for good reasons: Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait, a US ally – and the potential for Saddam to wreck havoc with the free flow of oil, and more importantly – his overt threats to uses weapons of mass destruction to dominate/blackmail the region.

The partisan talking heads can claim whatever they want, but between Saddam’s claims and bad US intelligence on the matter, both Democrats and Republicans in Congress voted for the invasion of Iraq – after all possible alternatives had been exhausted. The fact that Saddam was bluffing about the weapons is just Monday night quarterbacking and is not relevant to the question about how history will judge the US involvement in the Iraq war. The outcome of our presence there has yet to be determined. If we can finally leave (we will have 50,000 troops there indefinitely), and the Iraqi government sustains the rule of law and becomes an enlightened Democratic beacon of hope to the region, then our presence was a tremendous success. If Iraq falls into the same religious chaos that caused the Iraq/Iran war, then it will be considered Iraq’s failure, not the USA.

The global reality is that you could take all the militaries from around the world and combine them, and they would not be as big or as well equipped as the US military. Whether we like it or not, the US military is the SWAT team for the rest of the world. That is a difficult position for the US to be in, but without this global force, many people believe that the same type of brutal chaos that is ravaging Africa and the Middle East would run rampart across the globe. Of course, the opposing view is that the US foreign policy is causing “bad feelings” and “resentment” around the world, and that our military involvement around the globe makes Jihadist do what they do. Pick your side.

At the end of the day, it was an exercise in the USA trying to protect its national interests - and no country should be faulted for making that attempt.

The Turkish Flotilla Incident

Regarding the NYT 7/10/10 Editorial entitled “After the Flotilla”: As regrettable as the death of 9 Turkish citizens may be, the premise of the editorial - that there should be an inquiry by an “impartial international body” to discern Israel’s guilt or innocence in the flotilla affair – ignores the fact that Israel was indisputably within international law to place a Naval embargo around Gaza. The outcome of Turkey’s attempt to breach the embargo was clearly to create an international incident, and the videos and other evidence clearly show that the entire flotilla and Turkish passengers were pre-prepared for a violent encounter whose outcome was unpredictable.

Israel has agreed to conduct an internal investigation which I am sure will be more impartial and larger in scope than other ”impartial” U.N. investigations into recent Israeli military actions. The “Goldstone” report into Israel’s defensive war in Gaza was a 175 page anti-Israel tirade, ignoring the obvious and predictably demonized Israel. Another U.N. investigation would surely end up with the same conclusion.

Israel’s Navy operates under the same international codes as that of U.S., Britain, France or Russia – none of whom would ever subject their Navies to a hostel international inquiry, especially when there were no legal grounds.

Sophistry and the Art of Deception

Sophistry – “to make a clever argument with the intent to mislead or be dishonest".

When I recently saw this word for the first time, I was compelled to look it up because it was in reference to how the press, the United Nations and the leftist global movement were piling up on little Israel for enforcing a blockade against Hamas in Gaza. Never mind that at the core of Hamas’s charter is a reference to destroying Israel, never mind that Hamas has shot over 10,000 rockets into Israel from Gaza since it took over in a violent coup on June 15th 2007. Never mind that the “innocent” Palestinians in Gaza elected Hamas to a legislative majority of seats in 2006, never mind that Israel allows 10,000 tons of Humanitarian aid in to Gaza DAILY, never mind that Egypt is an equal participant in the blockade of Gaza.

I could go on and on about the hypocritical absurdity of the dual value system that the world uses to judge Israel, but being on the defensive constantly isn’t going to change the tactics of the masters of “sophistry” – the Muslim/Arab world. After all, they have monopolized the United Nations and the global agenda for over 60 years, at the expense of legitimate tragedies of humongous proportions. Let’s be candid and honest. In the last 3 days, over 150 people were massacred in Kyrgyzstan and hundreds of thousands left homeless. All the UN could muster was serious “concern”. It is likely that thousands will die there before the week is out, yet not a peep out of the Arab world, no UN Security Council condemnations, no requests for inquires – virtually no response or concerns.

Are we to blame Israel, Iran, Turkey or so-called peace activists for the brutal recorded assault on the Israeli Navy personal? Maybe all of the above, but President Obama - in my opinion - is the main ingredient in the accelerating tensions in the Middle East. His policy of engaging terrorist regimes like Syria and Iran, the perception that he is leading a strategic reversal of American foreign policy – has created a fear that America’s global security treaties born through decades of multi-lateral understandings with dozens of countries are becoming worthless at breathtaking speed.

The fear of being caught isolated without the American security umbrella, be it Japan, South Korea, Israel – or even Europe, has created a scenario where countries like North Korea and Iran are more apt to exploit these fears by “probing” to determine Obama’s leadership resolve. Sinking a South Korean Navy Vessel – killing 26, or sending a locked and loaded flotilla into an inevitable clash with the Israeli Navy are not random acts. In both instances, President Obama blinked by not supporting both South Korea and Israel – and event went out of his way to limit their response.

The lack of a credible US response backing up Israel – either in word or deed – will surely result in deeper military probing by Israel’s enemies– which will make it more likely that a preemptive strike and/or a military conflagration will take place sooner rather than later.

The Battered Wife Syndrome legal defense: An abused defense?

Regarding the CA editorial “Bresden holds complex case” dated 4/23/10: The Gaile Owens case is a slam dunk for the death penalty. She hired a guy to kill her husband, and it was carried out according to plan. This was pre-meditated 1st degree gruesome murder, and is a prime reason why we have the death penalty. My only shock is why it has taken 24 years for the system to bring her up for execution.

I believe the battered woman syndrome (BWS), which I admit exists in obvious and extreme cases, is now too often used as courtroom trickery - a back door legal defense where lawyers find easy traction in a courtroom with no one to defend the murdered male. BWS in most cases is used when there is nothing else for the defense to hang their case.

We live in a society where personal responsibility is no longer a value that is a desired trait, and this spells nothing but trouble for our society. Women are not idiots – after all, they have been fighting for, and deserve equal rights - and there are resources where they can call or go to in order to document domestic violence. They can get a lawyer and get a divorce; they can go to the doctor and document physical abuse.

As a male, it unnerves me that in Memphis, Tennessee a man who lives a normal quite life can be brutally executed by a disgruntled wife in a premeditated fashion and then sees his character assassinated again in court without the benefit of defending himself.

The Mary Winkler case was a travesty of justice. If Gaile Owens execution is suspended or delayed any further, it sends a duel message to the community.

Men: You better be on your best behavior, or you may end up brutally murdered and your character bludgeoned without the benefit of a defense.

Women: Why hire a divorce lawyer? You can have your husband murdered, collect the insurance money and have a happy life. If you get caught, you (and your lawyer) can make up whatever slander you want against the deceased in order to get off on a “battered wife syndrome” defense.

Does this sound like justice to anyone?

Obama the Paper Tiger

One has to admit, when it comes to staging a political public relations event to distract the press – and at the same time enhance his image as a global leader, President Obama’s recently ended “Nuclear Security Summit” in Washington DC was a masterful stroke of genius.

Unfortunately, there was more smoke and mirrors than substantive results. The recent discovery of an expansion of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons production, the consistent violations of North Korea’s nuclear program, and the clear and present danger that Iran’s nuclear program presents to the Middle East and the entire world was not even on the table for discussion.

President Obama has no problem making outrageous and offensive demands of Israel in order to curry favor from the Arab world. How can our President expect Israel to take him seriously when he is preoccupied with building permits and zoning issues in Israel’s capital, while a fanatical Iran is openly threatening Israel’s existence and at the same time building nuclear bombs? When it comes to the heavy lifting of confronting Iran over its nuclear program – a program which will surely start a dangerous arms race in that region (or worse), Obama is a shameful paper tiger.

Pakistan, which is desperately defending its main cities from Taliban assaults, could fall any day if it were not for the U.S. military propping up the Pakistani government. The odd of their nuclear arsenal falling into Taliban hands - with the help of Pakistan’s Taliban sympathetic security services, is now a likely scenario.

Iran’s entry into the nuclear weapons club will usher in an era of uncertainty and paranoia around the world – especially in the Mideast - that will equal the darkest days of the US/Russia cold war. The only difference is that Iran has demonstrated in the past – unlike Russia – that it has been consistently willing to share their most sophisticated weapons to various fanatical groups who are more than willing to use them without any limitation.

The Summit’s fancy gilded dinners, tuxedo-ed cocktail parties, grand closing proclamations, and the PR enhancing Obama press conferences cannot mask the fact that his Presidency is incapable of providing leadership on the serious foreign policy issues of the day. In the absence of America’s moral global leadership, the world is cast into the ocean on a boat without oars, and – in my opinion, the world is entering a phase more dangerous than we could eve r have imagined.