[Peace-discuss] My letter to Obama re Israel/Gaza on Dec 28, 2008

[Morton K. Brussel]

So, what are you doing?

--mkb


On Dec 28, 2008, at 8:01 PM, LAURIE SOLOMON wrote:

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> Hmmmm!  A big hmmmmmmm!  He has done nothing in the past or the  
> present to persuade the current administration or the  
> democratically controlled chambers of Congress to rein in the wars  
> in Iraq and Afghanistan or the provocative behaviors of the US  
> government toward other countries like North Korea, Pakistan, Cuba,  
> Venezuela, and others or to rein in other client states who have  
> been undertaking actions against other places at our behest and  
> bidding; so why do you think he will listen to your petitions and  
> demand that Israel be reined in – let alone open up Gaza to  
> journalists, UN officials, and humanitarian relief workers on a  
> significant scale (not just open up selected locations to a chosen  
> few when and if the Israelis decide that they get a benefit from   
> doing so much the same way that the US troops in Iraq controlled  
> information via embedding selected journalists and others with  
> specific military units?  I also doubt that he will seek the  
> elimination of settlements on the West Bank or elsewhere, although  
> he might ask the Israelis to shut down some of the less significant  
> small settlements that are most visible to outsiders so as to give  
> the appearance of closing down settlements and/or to slow down the  
> creation of new settlements.
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> However, you and others obviously get pleasure out of writing  
> letters and petitioning politicians in the traditional symbolic but  
> generally ineffective way that the establishment officially  
> sanctions as the democratic way under representative democracy  
> along with elections.  Thus, I will not try to dissuade you or  
> others from such ritualistic genuflecting before the alter of  
> representative democracy; but I must ask how those practices have  
> been working out for you?  Have you ever elected members of the  
> majority party in either of the chambers of Congress who have  
> gotten you the significant changes you had hoped for; have you  
> gotten elected a presidential candidate in the past 8 elections who  
> has represented your interests and supported your positions to the  
> same  extent that the opposition has supported the establishment  
> interests; or have you obtained via petitions and letters  
> significant policy changes in important areas over the years in for  
> instance health care or environmental policies, in foreign  
> policies, in criminal justice and national security policies, or in  
> educational policies?  In light of all the letter writing and  
> petitioning efforts, are the poor any better off, has downward  
> mobility amongst the middle and working classes decreased or  
> stopped, have fraudulent and predatory corporate practices been  
> controlled  to any significant extent so as not to freely prey upon  
> the individuals who make up the poor, working class, and middle  
> class communities; or has deregulation actually stimulated  
> competition rather than furthered  corporate take-overs and mergers  
> so as to result in less competition?
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> Isn’t it time we stop engaging in pro forma exercises and actually  
> start undertaking forceful actions and demanding in depth positive  
> responses from elected officials and political parties as well as  
> civil service bureaucrats under the pain of disruptive sanctions  
> against those who supposedly claim us as their core supporters and  
> political base?  Just wondering when it will be time to stop pro  
> forma petitions and ritualized letter writying and how we will know  
> that that time has come?
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> From: peace-discuss-bounces at lists.chambana.net [mailto:peace- 
> discuss-bounces at lists.chambana.net] On Behalf Of Jenifer Cartwright
> Sent: Sunday, December 28, 2008 2:56 PM
> To: Peace- Discuss
> Subject: [Peace-discuss] My letter to Obama re Israel/Gaza on Dec  
> 28, 2008
>
>
>
> You can send yr own msg after you click on    http://change.gov/ 
> page/s/yourvision
>
> Here's what I sent to Prez Elect Obama just now:
>
> President Elect Obama,
> The US MUST rein in Israel. or cut off $upport if it continues its  
> aggression. Israel's behavior twds Gaza and the Palestinians is  
> unacceptable, and the current attacks -- which have been condemned  
> by most of the world -- are not to be permitted. Start talks w/  
> Hamas as well., of course, and listen to their demands. Reinstate  
> the cease fire immediately. Eliminate the settlements on the West  
> Bank asap. Restore full humanitarian aid to Gaza immediately.
>  --Jenifer Cartwright
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> You can send yr own msg after you click on
>
>
>
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