Is the US Legitimizing Deligitimization?
I haven't actually read either Clinton's remarks or those of Gutman, the US Ambassador to Belgium and son of Holocaust survivors, but if reports are accurate, it seems that Clinton has decided to conflate religious practices with government policy. Whether ignorance or intentionally diminishing Israel's rightful claim as the only democratic government in their region. the remarks are powerful weapons for the delegitimizers. Almost as bad, it elevates the claims of those who maintain that the "Arab Spring' will lead to other democratic governments in the region, even though it won't be the kind of democracy defined by equal standing in the eyes of the law for ALL citizens. "After all, " they will say, "if Israel can have a flawed democracy, why can't we?" Clinton and Gutman have strayed from the traditional rules of diplomacy, and in my opinion not by accident. Can it be that neither of them read the chapter entitled, "You Can't Un-ring a Bell " , in Chris Matthews' book Hardball?

FOR COLLEGE BOUND STUDENTS

Now that you are graduating, you will be soon going off to college. I‘m sure you know how proud your mother and father, relatives and family friends (especially me) are of you. Growing up in East Cleveland, my summer before going off to Ohio State didn’t do much to prepare me for college life. No one I knew had ever gone to college and couldn’t give me any advice. So I eventually learned what I now know, but it took a long, long time. Fourteen years ago, when my son was heading off to the University of Miami, I gave him this advice so he didn’t have to figure it all out for himself. Time changes many things, but most (if not all) of this advice is still relevant.

The purpose of a formal education is to learn how to learn. Teachers can only teach you so much; the rest depends on how well you learn how to learn. Over the next four years (and beyond) you will take many different subjects, packaged in a certain way called “courses”. Buried in the information taught in these courses (and your other experiences) are the nuggets of knowledge that you will have to dig out for yourself and repackage into wisdom. Here are some of the really important things to learn:

How to excel at oral and written communication. Good writing requires good thinking. Understand the meaning of every word you speak, write, and hear.
How to solve problems. Evaluate the options.
How to get what you need from yourself.
How to get resources ---information, money, and people.
How to make good decisions.
How to deal with “no” ---accept or reject.
The second “3 R’s”---- your responsibilities, rights, and remedies.
How systems (social, political, educational, legal, financial and business institutions) work and how to work within them.
Understand our financial institutions ----where to get money, how to get money and how to manage it (banks, stocks, property, and other investment markets).
Understand our legal system---courts, laws, and lawyers.
Understand who has the power, how they got it and what they are willing to do to keep it.
How to successfully complete a difficult project.
How to manage others in successfully completing a difficult project.
Understand why people behave the way they do and why you behave the way you do. All people are imperfect; learn how to identify their flaws and get to know yours.
What really matters. Find the truth for yourself—don’t rely on others. Everyone sees the world thru their own filter of beliefs, values, and experiences. These change over time as you get more knowledge, experiences, etc.
There are no absolutes, except this one.
Success in life is living your life in your own way. Do what you love and it will never feel like work, it will be fun.
All things in this world succeed or fail based on expectations, not the actual outcome.
What you have to offer will be a thoroughly unique combination of skill, knowledge, aptitude, ability, and experience.
If you could excel at only one thing, it should be the ability to learn. If you’re really good, the second most important thing to excel at is negotiating.

Some people are content (although I can’t imagine why) to bury themselves in reruns of Rocky and Bullwinkle and drink the Kool-Aid. What a waste of life. A f riend of mine likes to remind us that life is not a dress rehearsal--- and that may be the wisest observation of all.

"Small' Businesses Owners' INCOME TAX Rates and Job "Creation"

Finally somebody is getting at details of the relationship between small business taxes and job creation. In a piece on NPR this morning, they described their attempt to validate the claim that increasing the marginal tax rate on small business owners who earn in excess of $1 million would have a significantly adverse impact on economic growth/job creation. NPR contacted several Republican senate offices to get the names of small business people to to interview about this topic. The Senators could not provide any names of small businesses for the interview. NPR also contacted business organizations who made the same claim and got the same results ... no interviews. Then NPR they put out a request on the Internet for people willing to be interviewed. While the interviews were only anecdotal, each interviewee said that their marginal tax rate was not affecting they're hiring decisions. NPR disclosed that these respondents have voted Democrat in the past, but apparently no Republican business people responded. Unfortunately NPR's effort was weak, because they didn't indicate whether the respondents actually earned over $1 million, didn't indicate how few small business owners, say sole proprietors, earn over $1 million, and they didn't give an example of how much additional taxes would be imposed on someone earning, say, $1.25 million. But it's a start. Political views and/or other arguments against tax increases aside, facts are better than false propaganda.