America faces one of the worst dilemmas in History. Voters making the wrong decision can cause a rise in taxes, the immigration issue to be forgotten, problems with health care, education, Medicare, Medicaid, Iraq, Terrorists, stem cell research, abortion, China, billions spent on third world countries while America goes without. The rebuilding of New Orleans, windmills in Ted Kennedy's back yard, oil that is available in Alaska, and a myriad of other crisis.

I don't envy the Candidate who wins the election to become our next president. They will be faced with all these problems. As of this date, I have not been impressed with ANY of the candidates, regardless of their political parties.

This is call for an immediate Death to Hate, from wherever it comes.

Americans who hate others who hate them. Death to hate!

Others who hate Americans for hating them. Death to Hate!

Governments who push the fear button to direct hate. Death to Hate!

CIA spooks who stir up hate on blogs and elsewhere. Death to Hate.

Beware anyone who is telling you and me who to hate. Their agenda is hateful.

Death to Hate!

-the ever-lovin', Arye Michael Bender

Because we Jews shuffled so easily into Third Reich ovens, our next generation - in what was then Palestine - adopted the opposite extreme. We became belligerent.

The winners of WWII carved up the world map and wrenched Israel from Palestine, creating inevitable conflict. America bestowed its blessing only on Israel, and continues to do so. Perhaps in fear of losing the Jewish vote?

The stage was set in 1948, and a drama of destruction has been playing to a full house ever since.

If America were to take a true neutral stance, it might influence a more peaceful outcome.

Impassioned neutrality favors peace, not war. Slaughter is a result of war, not peace.

Arye Michael Bender

Sharpton Targets Degrading Rap Lyrics

Here is another sign that America is beginning to stir from the cultural nightmare we've been living far too long...

The following appeared today on the Associated Press wire:

A tremendous post on the Rule of Reason blog supports with copious amounts of evidence the notion that America was not founded on Christian moral principles. It's an important discussion of the need and justification for the seperation of church and state.
 
It's not a short read, but I won't quote any here because it's too tightly-written an essay to quote from. If you care at all about the issue, you'll read the piece in its entirety.

Here's an interesting story that makes some interesting connections between the war in Iraq and Europe's weakened defense posture. While I'm loathe to accept American blame for such a thing (and the author does make it seem like some heinous act we've conducted), the argument does make a sort of sense.
 
Essentially, it goes like this: Europe turned over its defense to the US, to build up its welfare economies. Now, the US is involved in a war with Iraq, and thus less able to defend Europe. That leaves the EU more vulnerable to Russian and Iranian threats. Thus, the story says, Europe should increase energy taxes to reduce consumption and thus harm both the Russian and Iranian energy economies.
 

I originally wrote this as a comment to another thread. After reading it, I decided that it makes a clear statement about the personal relationship I have with the land I of my birth.

What is your personal relationship with America 2007?

This is America, land of print so tiny and so confusing that you need to hire a lawyer to understand. This is America, a land where radio announcers speak so fast at the end of a spot, nobody can comprehend whatever it was they said. This is America, where television commercials place a disclaimer on the screen for a third of a second with print so dense that by time you see it, it's gone.

This is America, land of the free... Oh wait... Just a minute. Seems like while we were trying to make sense of that contract, our freedoms were sold to the highest bidder.

Never mind.

- Arye Michael Bender -

The blog Principles in Practice has a nice article on American energy independence. A quick quote:
 
"It is taken for granted," said Alex Epstein, a junior fellow at the Ayn Rand Institute, "that OPEC, a despicable cartel of tyrannical regimes that coercively limits their oil production to raise prices, can manipulate our energy future on a whim. But such a state of affairs is completely unnecessary; it is a product of U.S. environmental regulations that strangle domestic energy production.

An important 4th of July read. One needn't wait until today, of course, but it's certainly a good enough occasion for a review.