The Writers Guild strike has no end in sight, Broadway stagehands recently ended their walkout, and the Directors Guild has begun their contract negotiations. These job actions, while justified, deprive people of their entertainment options. Why can't there be strikes by the people who do things we wish they would stop doing? Let's take our military in Iraq, for example.
While Congress is unable or unwilling to bring our troops home expeditiously, a military strike would accomplish a similiar result. And not the kind of military strike that Turkey inflicted upon northern Iraq yesterday, or US forces carry out in Iraq and Afghanistan. No, a genuine military strike where soldiers refuse to fight, lay down their weapons, and write picket signs instead. Picture this conversation between a soldier and military brass.
PENTAGON: What are your strike demands?
SOLDIER: No more killing.
PENTAGON: But you're a soldier. Killing is part of the job description.
SOLDIER: Then change our job description. How about replacing killing with talking?
PENTAGON: You're not trained to talk.
SOLDIER: I think that's a skill you can pick up without training.
PENTAGON: So if you don't kill the enemy, won't they kill you?
SOLDIER: That's where the talking comes in. Everyone wants something. We can find out what they want, tell them what we want, and try to make everyone happy.
PENTAGON: That won't make Halliburton happy.
Newspaper ad next season
Get your human growth hormones autographed by your favorite major league baseball stars!
And on the campaign trail...Oprah Winfrey campaigned last week for Barack Obama. Desperately searching for his own celebrity to support him, Mike Huckabee said he would have Jesus campaign with him. When told of Jesus's lack of availability, Huckabee said he was not aware that Jesus was no longer alive, saying he had been campaigning nonstop and didn't have time to get the news.
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Monday, December 10, 2007
CIA Tapes Were On My Netflix Queue
The White House said it begged, begged the CIA not to destroy those interrogation tapes. I mean, the last thing the White House would want destroyed is direct evidence that the United States uses torture.
Besides, the tapes showed detainees being waterboarded, which isn't torture according to President Bush and Attorney General Mulkasey; it's just a refreshing pick me up. So if the tapes showed waterboarding, and waterboarding isn't torture, then The White House would have wanted everyone to see the tapes, because there's no torture shown on them. In fact, I'm sure Bush and Cheney would have loved to have submitted the CIA tapes to the Human Rights Watch Film Festival.
Other torture tapes the CIA is thought to have destroyed include:
1) Every Bush news conference since he took office.
2) Every Bush speech since he took office.
3) Every episode of Comedy Central's Mind of Mencia.
And, doesn't the fact that the CIA still uses tapes and not DVD's, say something about its technological capability?
The National Intelligence Estimate said Iran ended its nuclear program in 2003. Bush reacted to that news the way any irrational, reckless and intellectually challenged person would. He said "Iran was dangerous, and is dangerous." Iran's most potent weapons are persian rugs. I guess Bush fears the US being rolled up in wool berber.
Mitt Romney gave a speech about religion, where he basically urged voters not to let his being a Mormon stop them from voting for a morally bankrupt, vapid, intellectually dishonest multimillionaire.
And on a self-indulgent note, I hope you'll join me this Thursday December 13, for my look back at 2007, The End Of The Year As We Know It, at Vox Pop, 1022 Cortelyou Road(at Stratford Road) Ditmas Park, Brooklyn at 8:30 PM. Sadly for me, it's free!
Besides, the tapes showed detainees being waterboarded, which isn't torture according to President Bush and Attorney General Mulkasey; it's just a refreshing pick me up. So if the tapes showed waterboarding, and waterboarding isn't torture, then The White House would have wanted everyone to see the tapes, because there's no torture shown on them. In fact, I'm sure Bush and Cheney would have loved to have submitted the CIA tapes to the Human Rights Watch Film Festival.
Other torture tapes the CIA is thought to have destroyed include:
1) Every Bush news conference since he took office.
2) Every Bush speech since he took office.
3) Every episode of Comedy Central's Mind of Mencia.
And, doesn't the fact that the CIA still uses tapes and not DVD's, say something about its technological capability?
The National Intelligence Estimate said Iran ended its nuclear program in 2003. Bush reacted to that news the way any irrational, reckless and intellectually challenged person would. He said "Iran was dangerous, and is dangerous." Iran's most potent weapons are persian rugs. I guess Bush fears the US being rolled up in wool berber.
Mitt Romney gave a speech about religion, where he basically urged voters not to let his being a Mormon stop them from voting for a morally bankrupt, vapid, intellectually dishonest multimillionaire.
And on a self-indulgent note, I hope you'll join me this Thursday December 13, for my look back at 2007, The End Of The Year As We Know It, at Vox Pop, 1022 Cortelyou Road(at Stratford Road) Ditmas Park, Brooklyn at 8:30 PM. Sadly for me, it's free!
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Scary Foreign Policy Now 50% Off!
The US dollar is decreasing in value, in direct proportion to the value the US has to the rest of the world. Halliburton is now overcharging the Pentagon in euros. And in light of our reckless and dangerous foreign policy, it seems appropriate that foreigners only think of the US as a great place to get Timberland boots at bargain prices. We've gone from being a beacon of hope and opportunity to the world, to just being a huge clearance sale.
But if you watched the Republican debate, you would think the US is still THE GREATEST COUNTRY IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD! And if you judge a country's greatness by the number of detainees held indefinitely at Guantanemo, by our support for torture at the highest levels of government, and our bullying approach to international affairs, then yes, WE ARE NUMBER ONE!
In the last Democratic debate, virtually all the Democratic and Republican candidates(except Dodd, Kucinich and maybe Richardson) favored continuing the inane policy of not having relations with Cuba. The Bush Administration says they won't deal with Cuba until Cuba becomes like the US. To accomplish that, Cuba would have to make its health care and education system worse.
The government of Sudan is guilty of crimes against humanity, but they do have a sick sense of humor. How else could you explain their conviction of a British teacher who committed the heinous sin of asking her students to name a teddy bear?Since many of the kids in the class(as well as tens of millions of boys around the world) are named Muhammad, they went with that name for the stuffed animal. Just as a class in the Hasidic enclave of Borough Park, Brooklyn would probably name their teddy bear Moshe. And a class in Greenwich, Connecticut would name its teddy bear Biff. Maybe Sudan should focus a little less on teddy bears, and a little more on the hundreds of thousands of real people, who have been killed on their watch in Darfur.
Last Tuesday, the Middle East Summit was held at the ideal place for peace talks, the US Naval Academy. Men and women walking around in military uniforms provide just the right ambiance for negotiating an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
After doing absolutely nothing for seven years, Condi Rice is desperate to have something that looks good on her resume when she interviews for a job a year from now. Bush told Abbas and Olmert, "Call me whenever you like", with the sincerity of an ex-girlfriend saying she still wanted to stay in touch. In this era of lowered expectations, the Summit was considered by some to be a success, because the two sides agreed to, TALK! But not too much talk, and don't rush into talking about anything substantive. They pledged to come up with an agreement a year from now. I thought I was a procrastinator. At least when I put off doing things that can further my career, no lives are lost as a result.
But then I saw in Haaretz today, that Olmert thinks an agreement by the end of 2008 is unlikely. So essentially, the summit brought the two sides together not to talk about ending the conflict, but to keep talking until the end of next year, when it would be nice if they negotiated a peace deal, but if they don't, there's no harm done. And they should call Bush whenever they like. Because when it comes to not finding peace, Bush is just the right guy to call.
But if you watched the Republican debate, you would think the US is still THE GREATEST COUNTRY IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD! And if you judge a country's greatness by the number of detainees held indefinitely at Guantanemo, by our support for torture at the highest levels of government, and our bullying approach to international affairs, then yes, WE ARE NUMBER ONE!
In the last Democratic debate, virtually all the Democratic and Republican candidates(except Dodd, Kucinich and maybe Richardson) favored continuing the inane policy of not having relations with Cuba. The Bush Administration says they won't deal with Cuba until Cuba becomes like the US. To accomplish that, Cuba would have to make its health care and education system worse.
The government of Sudan is guilty of crimes against humanity, but they do have a sick sense of humor. How else could you explain their conviction of a British teacher who committed the heinous sin of asking her students to name a teddy bear?Since many of the kids in the class(as well as tens of millions of boys around the world) are named Muhammad, they went with that name for the stuffed animal. Just as a class in the Hasidic enclave of Borough Park, Brooklyn would probably name their teddy bear Moshe. And a class in Greenwich, Connecticut would name its teddy bear Biff. Maybe Sudan should focus a little less on teddy bears, and a little more on the hundreds of thousands of real people, who have been killed on their watch in Darfur.
Last Tuesday, the Middle East Summit was held at the ideal place for peace talks, the US Naval Academy. Men and women walking around in military uniforms provide just the right ambiance for negotiating an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
After doing absolutely nothing for seven years, Condi Rice is desperate to have something that looks good on her resume when she interviews for a job a year from now. Bush told Abbas and Olmert, "Call me whenever you like", with the sincerity of an ex-girlfriend saying she still wanted to stay in touch. In this era of lowered expectations, the Summit was considered by some to be a success, because the two sides agreed to, TALK! But not too much talk, and don't rush into talking about anything substantive. They pledged to come up with an agreement a year from now. I thought I was a procrastinator. At least when I put off doing things that can further my career, no lives are lost as a result.
But then I saw in Haaretz today, that Olmert thinks an agreement by the end of 2008 is unlikely. So essentially, the summit brought the two sides together not to talk about ending the conflict, but to keep talking until the end of next year, when it would be nice if they negotiated a peace deal, but if they don't, there's no harm done. And they should call Bush whenever they like. Because when it comes to not finding peace, Bush is just the right guy to call.
Monday, November 26, 2007
The Hunt for Illegal Nuts
You can find productions of The Nutcracker virtually everywhere this holiday season.
This item appeared in the New York Times on Thursday:
Israel has asked for help from the United States in cracking down on illegal pistachio nut imports from Iran, after Washington warned that the trade was hurting efforts to curb Tehran's nuclear program.
I think the hunt for "illegal nuts" should focus on the occupants of The White House, who fit that description perfectly.
Israel imports pistachios worth $26 million annually, mostly from Turkey. But Washington says nuts from Iran are mixed in with the shipments, undermining economic sanctions meant to force Iran to stop developing its nuclear abilities.
How fitting that nuts from Turkey and Iran get mixed together. Both kinds of nuts deny genocide. If part of the US's bullying approach to stop Iran from building nuclear weapons involves monitoring sales of pistachio nuts, you have to wonder who the real nuts are.
The latest spin on Iraq this week is that THINGS ARE GOING REALLY WELL NOW! Maybe it's not that progress is being made, it's that eventually even horrible, despicable things have to wind down for the time being. And the so-called progress is 1000 Iraqis returning to Baghdad, out of 4 million who fled the country. The media reports that things are getting back to normal in Baghdad are probably plagiarized from stories like NEW ORLEANS IS READY FOR BUSINESS! The recent election results that gave the New Orleans City Council a white majority, show that New Orleans may be ready for business, but apparently not ready for black people. For most of us, Katrina was a humanitarian disaster. To some Republicans, it was just redistricting.
When President Bush flew over New Orleans after Katrina, he remarked about the partying he used to do there, and also about Senator Trent Lott losing his multimillion dollar Mississippi Gulf summer home. While I felt sorry for Lott's housing loss, I'm certainly not sorry that he announced today that he would retire from the Senate at the end of the year. Lott almost had to resign after he said that our country would have been better off if deceased bigot Strom Thurmond had been elected President. Lott tried to back down. He went on Black Entertainment Television, he changed his name to "T Lotty". But Lott was just showing his true color(white). He once spoke at a white supremacist meeting and afterwards he claimed he had no idea who the group was. I would have thought the hooded sheets might have been a tipoff.
This item appeared in the New York Times on Thursday:
Israel has asked for help from the United States in cracking down on illegal pistachio nut imports from Iran, after Washington warned that the trade was hurting efforts to curb Tehran's nuclear program.
I think the hunt for "illegal nuts" should focus on the occupants of The White House, who fit that description perfectly.
Israel imports pistachios worth $26 million annually, mostly from Turkey. But Washington says nuts from Iran are mixed in with the shipments, undermining economic sanctions meant to force Iran to stop developing its nuclear abilities.
How fitting that nuts from Turkey and Iran get mixed together. Both kinds of nuts deny genocide. If part of the US's bullying approach to stop Iran from building nuclear weapons involves monitoring sales of pistachio nuts, you have to wonder who the real nuts are.
The latest spin on Iraq this week is that THINGS ARE GOING REALLY WELL NOW! Maybe it's not that progress is being made, it's that eventually even horrible, despicable things have to wind down for the time being. And the so-called progress is 1000 Iraqis returning to Baghdad, out of 4 million who fled the country. The media reports that things are getting back to normal in Baghdad are probably plagiarized from stories like NEW ORLEANS IS READY FOR BUSINESS! The recent election results that gave the New Orleans City Council a white majority, show that New Orleans may be ready for business, but apparently not ready for black people. For most of us, Katrina was a humanitarian disaster. To some Republicans, it was just redistricting.
When President Bush flew over New Orleans after Katrina, he remarked about the partying he used to do there, and also about Senator Trent Lott losing his multimillion dollar Mississippi Gulf summer home. While I felt sorry for Lott's housing loss, I'm certainly not sorry that he announced today that he would retire from the Senate at the end of the year. Lott almost had to resign after he said that our country would have been better off if deceased bigot Strom Thurmond had been elected President. Lott tried to back down. He went on Black Entertainment Television, he changed his name to "T Lotty". But Lott was just showing his true color(white). He once spoke at a white supremacist meeting and afterwards he claimed he had no idea who the group was. I would have thought the hooded sheets might have been a tipoff.
Sunday, November 18, 2007
In the Las Vegas debate Thursday, the Democratic candidates had to keep their answers short because CNN didn't want to keep the audience off the gambling floor for too long. Wolf Blitzer started cutting them off as soon as they started speaking. And in the case of Dennis Kucinich, Blitzer barely let him speak at all. He practically prefaced each question to Kucinich with, "You have absolutely no chance of winning but...". The first primary is several weeks away, but the "frontrunners" get much more time to speak than the "second tier" candidates. How can you have frontrunners when no one has voted yet?
General Musharraf wants to keep the state of emergency in Pakistan until after elections are held. What better way to hold a free and fair election than have your opponent under house arrest during the campaign? That means he would have about as many public appearances as Fred Thompson. And Musharraf might decide to put off the election indefinitely, something Rudy Giuliani wouldn't mind, since he talked about postponing the Mayoral election in New York after September 11.
The Annapolis Middle East Summit has been criticized by Republicans like Mitt Romney who revealed his vast knowledge of the conflict when he said, "How could you possibly have a peace conference at this stage? Who would you talk to?" Apparently Romney has never heard of the President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas, who will be at the Summit and hopefully will be spoken to. What should have been a week-long meeting, now is rumored to only run for a day, and if they listen to ignorant words like Romney's, the Summit might wind up as a 10 minute conference call.
CBS News writers are threatening to go out on strike, which would give Katie Couric a chance to do what she does best- a news broadcast without any news. The best part of the CBS Evening News is the recorded voice of Walter Cronkite at the beginning of the show. Originally they were going to go with a video of Edward R. Murrow rolling over in his grave. But Katie isn't the only one. All the 6:30 PM network news shows fail to report what's really important. I guess the war in Iraq must have ended, because it wasn't even mentioned on tonight's NBC Nightly News. But there was time for a 5 minute story on teenage paparazzi.Thank God, we live in a country that allows a free, independent press to flourish. They don't get to see stories like that in Pakistan.
Although what Musharraf has done is totally reprehensible, it's hard to fear a guy who was a guest on "The Daily Show". And one hopes that even Musharraf can see the irony in appearing on a show that regularly ridicules our President, while doing so in Pakistan results in a three year prison sentence.
And yet I think it's great that the Bush Administration is actively talking with a leader who does things we disapprove of. While they're at it, can't they make time in their schedule for Ahmadinejad? Or do they only talk to world leaders who wear ties?
General Musharraf wants to keep the state of emergency in Pakistan until after elections are held. What better way to hold a free and fair election than have your opponent under house arrest during the campaign? That means he would have about as many public appearances as Fred Thompson. And Musharraf might decide to put off the election indefinitely, something Rudy Giuliani wouldn't mind, since he talked about postponing the Mayoral election in New York after September 11.
The Annapolis Middle East Summit has been criticized by Republicans like Mitt Romney who revealed his vast knowledge of the conflict when he said, "How could you possibly have a peace conference at this stage? Who would you talk to?" Apparently Romney has never heard of the President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas, who will be at the Summit and hopefully will be spoken to. What should have been a week-long meeting, now is rumored to only run for a day, and if they listen to ignorant words like Romney's, the Summit might wind up as a 10 minute conference call.
CBS News writers are threatening to go out on strike, which would give Katie Couric a chance to do what she does best- a news broadcast without any news. The best part of the CBS Evening News is the recorded voice of Walter Cronkite at the beginning of the show. Originally they were going to go with a video of Edward R. Murrow rolling over in his grave. But Katie isn't the only one. All the 6:30 PM network news shows fail to report what's really important. I guess the war in Iraq must have ended, because it wasn't even mentioned on tonight's NBC Nightly News. But there was time for a 5 minute story on teenage paparazzi.Thank God, we live in a country that allows a free, independent press to flourish. They don't get to see stories like that in Pakistan.
Although what Musharraf has done is totally reprehensible, it's hard to fear a guy who was a guest on "The Daily Show". And one hopes that even Musharraf can see the irony in appearing on a show that regularly ridicules our President, while doing so in Pakistan results in a three year prison sentence.
And yet I think it's great that the Bush Administration is actively talking with a leader who does things we disapprove of. While they're at it, can't they make time in their schedule for Ahmadinejad? Or do they only talk to world leaders who wear ties?
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Department of Torture
You would think that refusing to call waterboarding torture would disqualify someone from becoming the highest law official in the United States, but Michael Mukasey was sworn in as Attorney General this week. Instead of being sworn in with a stack of bibles, he took the oath over a stack of naked Iraqi prisoners.
And our Senator from New York Chuck Schumer happily joined every Republican and several Democrats by voting to confirm Mukasey. Schumer basically said that other than being in favor of torture, he was perfect for the job. He thinks waterboarding's OK, but other than that... That's like saying, "The waiter never brought our food but other than that..." "The taxi never took us anywhere, but other than that..." Senator Feinstein defended Mukasey by saying, "He's a judge, he wants to get all the facts." Mukasey doesn't want all the facts, he just wants to keep half the Bush Administration out of jail. And how could John McCain, a man who was tortured as a POW, support a man who won't condemn torture? I guess, as a Presidential candidate, McCain doesn't want to offend the Pro-Torture lobby in the US.
The previous pro-torture Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said during his confirmation hearing, that even if the US sometimes tortures people, "at least we don't behead them." That's quite a lofty standard to hold yourself up against. And another blast from the past, Donald Rumsfeld, during the Abu Graib scandal, said "I heard about the torture in January, I didn't realize how bad it was until I saw the pictures. Why did he have to wait for the pictures? Doesn't "torture" tell you enough? Apparently Rumsfeld thought, "Maybe it's the nice kind of torture, maybe it's the tickling torture".
And Mukasey is an observant Orthodox Jew. I wish he would also observe that torture is illegal and immoral. In fact, I think God would be happy if Mukasey traded in one of his ritual observances in exchange for condeming torture. How about it's OK to drive on the Sabbath, but not to hold someone's head under water so they think they're drowning? That's a good tradeoff.
As a proud Reform Jew who doesn't keep Kosher, and if he ever drove, would drive on the Sabbath, I despise torture, war, lying, deceiving, and treating human beings in an inhumane way. And after two weeks traveling in Eastern Europe, where millions were brutally tortured and killed, it would have been nice to return home to a country incapable of torture, and incapable of invading and ravaging another country. But my ticket was to the US, not Iceland.
And our Senator from New York Chuck Schumer happily joined every Republican and several Democrats by voting to confirm Mukasey. Schumer basically said that other than being in favor of torture, he was perfect for the job. He thinks waterboarding's OK, but other than that... That's like saying, "The waiter never brought our food but other than that..." "The taxi never took us anywhere, but other than that..." Senator Feinstein defended Mukasey by saying, "He's a judge, he wants to get all the facts." Mukasey doesn't want all the facts, he just wants to keep half the Bush Administration out of jail. And how could John McCain, a man who was tortured as a POW, support a man who won't condemn torture? I guess, as a Presidential candidate, McCain doesn't want to offend the Pro-Torture lobby in the US.
The previous pro-torture Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said during his confirmation hearing, that even if the US sometimes tortures people, "at least we don't behead them." That's quite a lofty standard to hold yourself up against. And another blast from the past, Donald Rumsfeld, during the Abu Graib scandal, said "I heard about the torture in January, I didn't realize how bad it was until I saw the pictures. Why did he have to wait for the pictures? Doesn't "torture" tell you enough? Apparently Rumsfeld thought, "Maybe it's the nice kind of torture, maybe it's the tickling torture".
And Mukasey is an observant Orthodox Jew. I wish he would also observe that torture is illegal and immoral. In fact, I think God would be happy if Mukasey traded in one of his ritual observances in exchange for condeming torture. How about it's OK to drive on the Sabbath, but not to hold someone's head under water so they think they're drowning? That's a good tradeoff.
As a proud Reform Jew who doesn't keep Kosher, and if he ever drove, would drive on the Sabbath, I despise torture, war, lying, deceiving, and treating human beings in an inhumane way. And after two weeks traveling in Eastern Europe, where millions were brutally tortured and killed, it would have been nice to return home to a country incapable of torture, and incapable of invading and ravaging another country. But my ticket was to the US, not Iceland.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Polish jokes
WARSAW, POLAND.
I'm sitting in the business center(the lobby actually) of the Polonia Palace Hotel in Warsaw, directly opposite a hugh Stalin-era monument that is now oh so appropriately two beautiful theatrical spaces, a multiplex movie theater and a cafe. And across the street from the former Stalin edifice are two(count'em two) shopping centers. What better statement about the overthrow of Communism? And the street we're staying on is called Jerozolimskie, or Jerusalem. Who says irony is dead?
And they must have planned today's parlimentary elections in Poland, just for the American political comedian who just arrived. Although all the returns haven't been tabulated(apparently there were some hanging chads in Lodz), the opposition party seems to have won, thanks to a disastrous performance by the present Prime Minister in a debate. It's nice to know that in Poland,unlike the US, voters actually pay attention to debates.
Here in Poland, the outgoing Prime Minister and President are twins. As incompetent as they turned out to be, at least for a brief time they actually ruled a country. The best American twins seem to do is go into rehab after being child stars.
Warsaw was 80% destroyed during WWII, and during a wonderful walk Ruth and I took today, it has been miraculously restored, especially in the Old Town which Eisenhower said was the most devasated area he'd ever seen when he toured it in 1945.
The buildings were rebuilt to the original pre-WW II designs, and they look like they have been around for hundreds of years in its timeless beauty, instead of the 55 or 60 years since it was rebuilt. Thank God, there is no Donald Trump or Bruce Ratner in Poland, or else they would have replaced the historic buildings with ugly 60 story high rises, and an arena or two.
After enjoying several delicious meals, including potato pancakes and pieroges, I called my parents in Brooklyn tonight(the reception was much clearer than when I call from my Panasonic cordless in Park Slope.) My father said, "Of course you loved the food, it's ours".
So Poland is really not foreign to me. Yes, the language is impossible to decipher(we just mastered "thank you"), but we feel very much at home. In a city where almost a million Jews were slaughtered by the Nazis, we are walking its streets, having enjoyable(despite the language barrier) conversations with the people, laughing, drinking fair trade coffee and eating good food.The emptiness of a city without the Jews who once were as integral a part of Warsaw as we are now in New York, is always with you. To forget, or never to have known about, the horror of their extermination is a sin. But we all must also take its lessons to heart. And Jews, like myself, must always treat all people with compassion and humanity. Because we know, better than most, how horrible the alternative is.
Well, as I prepare to leave the lobby, and hope that the internet charges aren't enforced, I close with a bit of hope. Twice during the last two days here, I heard Louie Armstrong's rendition of "A Wonderful World". After all that has happened here in the past, let's hope that the future of that wonderful world is a bright one here in Warsaw.
I'm sitting in the business center(the lobby actually) of the Polonia Palace Hotel in Warsaw, directly opposite a hugh Stalin-era monument that is now oh so appropriately two beautiful theatrical spaces, a multiplex movie theater and a cafe. And across the street from the former Stalin edifice are two(count'em two) shopping centers. What better statement about the overthrow of Communism? And the street we're staying on is called Jerozolimskie, or Jerusalem. Who says irony is dead?
And they must have planned today's parlimentary elections in Poland, just for the American political comedian who just arrived. Although all the returns haven't been tabulated(apparently there were some hanging chads in Lodz), the opposition party seems to have won, thanks to a disastrous performance by the present Prime Minister in a debate. It's nice to know that in Poland,unlike the US, voters actually pay attention to debates.
Here in Poland, the outgoing Prime Minister and President are twins. As incompetent as they turned out to be, at least for a brief time they actually ruled a country. The best American twins seem to do is go into rehab after being child stars.
Warsaw was 80% destroyed during WWII, and during a wonderful walk Ruth and I took today, it has been miraculously restored, especially in the Old Town which Eisenhower said was the most devasated area he'd ever seen when he toured it in 1945.
The buildings were rebuilt to the original pre-WW II designs, and they look like they have been around for hundreds of years in its timeless beauty, instead of the 55 or 60 years since it was rebuilt. Thank God, there is no Donald Trump or Bruce Ratner in Poland, or else they would have replaced the historic buildings with ugly 60 story high rises, and an arena or two.
After enjoying several delicious meals, including potato pancakes and pieroges, I called my parents in Brooklyn tonight(the reception was much clearer than when I call from my Panasonic cordless in Park Slope.) My father said, "Of course you loved the food, it's ours".
So Poland is really not foreign to me. Yes, the language is impossible to decipher(we just mastered "thank you"), but we feel very much at home. In a city where almost a million Jews were slaughtered by the Nazis, we are walking its streets, having enjoyable(despite the language barrier) conversations with the people, laughing, drinking fair trade coffee and eating good food.The emptiness of a city without the Jews who once were as integral a part of Warsaw as we are now in New York, is always with you. To forget, or never to have known about, the horror of their extermination is a sin. But we all must also take its lessons to heart. And Jews, like myself, must always treat all people with compassion and humanity. Because we know, better than most, how horrible the alternative is.
Well, as I prepare to leave the lobby, and hope that the internet charges aren't enforced, I close with a bit of hope. Twice during the last two days here, I heard Louie Armstrong's rendition of "A Wonderful World". After all that has happened here in the past, let's hope that the future of that wonderful world is a bright one here in Warsaw.
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