Monday, September 28, 2009

A Century of Horrors ( a book report)

Communism, Nazism, and the uniqueness of the Shoah
By Alain Besancon

This is a very short book, only 94 pages. It was originally published in French in 1998. The English translation was published in 2007.
There were several purposes. The first was to bring to light the carnage inflicted on innocent people during this century. The second to point out how readily we understand the Nazi slaughter but know so little about what happened in Russia and China under Communism and third the definition of the word Shoah.
His claim is that the number killed under Communism ranged from 85 to over 100 million. While the millions killed by Germany have been well documented, those under Communism are clouded in mystery as the borders were sealed and there doesn’t seem to have been concern on the part of the Western countries to find out and perhaps stop it. It has always been the case that a tragedy to a person or even in the case of the World Trade Center where over 3,000 died is deemed of great importance but when the number is in multiple millions the human mind is not capable of grasping the enormity of it. These were not only Jews but also other ethnic groups.
A large part is devoted to the ongoing hatred of those of the Jewish faith. We see it today with the leader of Iran threatening to wipe out all in the State of Israel. There are deep references to religion in general with specific emphasis on the ‘chosen” people and their part in the crucifixion of Jesus.
Shoah is the word the Jewish community prefers as compared to holocaust. Holocaust indicates sacrifice. Shoah means catastrophe which they feel is more appropriate to describe the senseless paroxysm of evil that occurred.
This is not light reading. In my mind hatred between people’s and religions is ongoing. It can only end in complete tragedy for all mankind. That is the conclusion I reached after reading. How tragic that we cannot accept all people as equals.

Jack B. Walters
3961 N. Hillwood Circle
Tucson, AZ 85750
(520) 722-2958
September 28, 2009
jackbwalters@yahoo.com

Thursday, September 24, 2009

With Wings Like Eagles

A History of the Battle of Britain

By; Michael Korda

Another prize found at the library. It was published just this year. I found it extremely interesting. It is not what you might expect. It did quote from a few pilots about their dog fights but for the most part it concentrated on the strategy and planning that helped to make the pilots efforts successful.
Students of history will remember that all of the Allied countries drastically reduced the size and quality of their armed forces after winning the First World War. This continued into the early 1930’s until it became apparent that Hitler was rearming at an accelerating rate. Until then the RAF consisted of bi-wing fabric airplanes not much improved since the war. The author gives credit to a few leaders that started the modernization which resulted in the production of Hurricanes and Spitfires plus the network of radar sites which were most valuable in allowing for better utilization of the limited fighter force.
Stanley Baldwin was the Prime Minister up until 1937 when he resigned. He was one of those who believed that bombers were more important than fighters but could not accept the havoc bombing would inflict on innocent civilians of any country. It was easier to get Parliament to approve funding for fighters to be used to defend English cities. His attempt to speed up production was what brought his downfall. He was replaced by Neville Chamberlain. Before he left the radar network was in place and the first Hurricanes were reaching fighter command. He also appointed Sir Hugh Dowding as Air officer Commanding-in-chief of fighter command. This was the man who directed throughout the battle while facing extreme criticism and to whom it was said by Winston Churchill, “To him the people of Britain and the free world owe largely the way of life and the liberties that they enjoy today”. We all remember Chamberlain for giving in to Hitler and proclaiming, “Peace in our time”. This author goes out of his way to give him credit for continuing the production speed up of modern fighter planes without which England certainly would have been defeated.
2,000 young fighter pilots were all that stood between Hitler and victory. Their victory like the defeat of the Spanish Armada and Nelson’s victory at Trafalgar is etched deeply into the national conscience as the most important victories in their long history. September 15th each year the “Battle of Britain” is commemorated. That was the final decisive day after which the threat of imminent invasion was over. They had held out long enough so that worsening weather made an invasion impossible. Hitler then turned his attention to Russia. Had these young men, with the courageous support of the men and women on the ground, not been successful, history would have been altered. America would not have had England as a base to assemble our soldiers. The Axis Powers perhaps would have prevailed.
I would be remiss if I did not end this with Churchill’s famous words spoken August 20, 1940; “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few”.
If history is important to you, I strongly recommend this book to you.


Jack B. Walters
3961 N. Hillwood Circle
Tucson, AZ 85750
(520) 722-2958
September 24, 2009
jackbwalters@yahoo.com

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act of 1985

This letter is in response to an e-mail received from a friend who is like me in that he searches for facts to explain or help understand current events. He alerted me to the Act mentioned in the title. While we argue about stupid end of life issues during the current discussion about health care, it is important to review past actions to understand how we got to where we are today. An important part of history occurred in 1986 with the passage of this Act. It mandates that all hospitals are required to provide treatment for all without consideration as to their ability to pay. This sounds so nice. On review the Federal Government did not see fit to reimburse these facilities leaving private and public hospitals to pick up the costs.
This is another constitutional matter, in my opinion, where the Federal Government has usurped the rights of the States by dictating policy without regard to costs private citizens are forced to bear. Guess who actually pays? You guessed right, it is you and me, tax paying suckers who live our lives trying to do what is right.
Google Wickipedia and you will see that over half of all emergency cases are uncompensated. This includes over nine million illegal immigrants. So when our current President says they won’t get free health care, he is wrong because nothing in the legislation being debated changes the current law, at least to my knowledge.
I will be sending this particularly to those who are most opposed to legislation currently under consideration. They flood my e-mail box with hate filled rhetoric about our President. Let me be clear, the legislation is an abomination. Forcing all citizens to purchase from the thieves in the health care industry or be fined is so ludicrous that it defies understanding. Also adding mandated costs on industry by providing a portion of the cost or be fined will only continue driving all manufacturing out of our country.
Now here is the punch line. I didn’t know, and I’ll bet you don’t know either who was President when this Act was signed into law. Hold your breath, it was Ronald Wilson Reagan, the hero of all the wild eyed right wing conservatives, who can’t wait until sanity is restored and the current occupant of the White House finishes his term in office.
If you are one, I challenge you to defend your hero. I can’t wait to hear from you.

Jack B. Walters
3961 N. Hillwood Circle
Tucson, AZ 85750
(520) 722-2958
September 19, 2009
jackbwalters@yahoo.com

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Health Care

86% of Canadians approve of their government health care system. Their costs are 1/2 ours and they live longer. They do not place the cost burden on industry which gives their companies an edge when competing with us.
We don’t have to adopt their plan. Thanks to LBJ we have a system. It is called Medicare and Medicaid. All that is needed is to lower the age for joining Medicare to 50. We also have CHIP for children; it was expanded earlier this year. Expand it again to cover all children regardless of family income to the age of 18.
Drop the end of life counseling, it is a distraction. Cut down on fraud which robs Billions each year and make people pay for frivolous lawsuits.
Control costs without adding 100,000 Federal employees. Those between 18 and 50 will have to wait till the next time. One step forward is better than doing nothing.


Jack B. Walters
3961 N. Hillwood Circle
Tucson, AZ 85750
(520) 722-2958
August 13, 2009
jackbwalters@yahoo.com

America's Contribution to the World's Economy

There were two articles in this week’s Arizona Daily Star that caught my attention.
It seems that we as American’s can only handle one crisis at a time. The health care debacle consumes everyone. I include myself in this remark. I have written a number of letters which were shared with my House Representative and others who I felt might agree. I didn’t bother with our Senators as they have shown repeatedly that they have no interest in the subject other than handing a defeat to President Obama.
The subject of this letter is America as the number one exporter of death. Our most profitable industries are ‘defense”. Millions are employed in the only industry we have left that is protected from foreign competition. Good wages are paid to employees in, I would venture to guess, every State in the Union. It has always been my belief that this was done deliberately so that voters in all States would become irate should their cushy jobs disappear.
9/13/09- AZ overseas arms sales on rise by Enric Volante. This article starts by stating that arms sales last year boomed to more than $1 billion. Arizona deliveries rose 72% from 2006. Raytheon led the way. The biggest buyers among at least 25 countries included Egypt, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates. Secretary Clinton finalized an agreement to clear the way for large sales to India. Raytheon officials stated that they do business with more than 40 allied nations.
9/15/09- “The poor get poorer; leaders buying arms” an opinion piece by AndrĂ©s Oppenheimer. Overall defense spending in Latin America and the Caribbean grew 91 % over the past five years to $47.2 billion in 2008. While this is going on the World Bank estimated that the number of poor in Latin America will grow to six million this year. In Latin America the United States has competition for arms sales from Russia and France.
My opinion is firm in that America should provide assistance to any country that wants to improve the lifestyles of their people. Just a small portion of these enormous funds channeled in such a way as to minimize corruption could make a huge dent in the outrageous poverty billions of people are forced to accept today. Perhaps, just perhaps, these people might look at America in a positive light. Wouldn’t that be better than the bitterness that drives them to become “terrorists”?
Weapons flooding into the Middle East I am convinced will one day, if not already, be used against our armed forces in the area. Three nations already possess nuclear capability with others closing in. It is just a matter of time before the holocaust begins. This is where the bible tells us it will begin. We are certainly doing our part to help make this prophesy come true.
As to South and Central America, they have many problems to resolve. Buying military aircraft and missile systems will not resolve them. One false step and chaos will be the result with us and Russia taking sides. This is just what we need, another world war between us. Will we never learn? Will we never get past the macho image we like to project of being the #1 Super Power as far as weaponry is concerned?
I have no illusions that a change will occur. Those of us who voted for our current president had hoped he would back away from using our troops as our means to resolve problems. We are still in Iraq. We have increased our forces in Afghanistan. The missile system is still under construction in Poland. War appropriations continue spiraling upward.
It is amusing to me that those who claim we are a Christian nation are the most militaristic in their approach to the world. I wonder how they will react when the chickens come home to roost. Perhaps they won’t care as the chosen ones will be lifted up to heaven leaving the rest of us to pay the piper.
It probably won’t make a difference at that time if we have a health care system or not.


Jack B. Walters
3961 N. Hillwood Circle
Tucson, AZ 85750
(520) 722-2958
September 16, 2009
jackbwalters@yahoo.com

Monday, September 14, 2009

THE FAMILY

THE SECRET FUNDAMENTALISM AT
THE HEART OF AMERICAN POWER

By; JEFF SHARLET

Mr. Sharlet immersed himself into the heart of the fundamentalist movement to find out personally what was happening. In addition he did deep research into the beginnings and gives great detail and insight. There are numerous endorsements from reputable news outlets and individuals, sufficient to assure me that the content was verifiable. He lays the program open to scrutiny and proves at least to someone like myself that he is telling the truth.
The book was released in 2008. A friend, knowing my inquiring mind, recommended it to me. I purchased it to read while on my annual visit to family back East. I finished it before landing in Tucson. It was a tough read, not just because of the small print and length but because of the content.
Most of you who will read this report will not be pleased. Rather than get angry with me, I ask you to check it out for yourselves and read other books that might counter this one. While I don’t take issue with the millions who seek support by attending fundamental churches, I do take umbrage at the driving force of the leaders, who as the author states, are more interested in power than in helping the poor. There are numerous references to their admiration of fascist regimes including Hitler in the thirties, stating that where two or three are gathered together great results can be achieved. This was in reference to Hitler and Mussolini. This was not necessarily supporting the ends they achieved but rather the totalitarian process which is more productive than a democracy with the many factions to be listened too. Page 130- What was desired was a “God-controlled Fascist dictatorship”.
The other theme that runs throughout the book is that the poor will be with us always and that real progress will only be achieved by ignoring the poor while keeping the power and influence in the hands of a select few individuals whose only requirement is devotion to someone called Christ. Not the teachings of Jesus which we try to adhere to but some vague person of power. The quote about “bringing a sword not peace” is repeated several times.
These people provided leadership supporting using our armed forces or by supplying weapons to dictators around the world resulting in millions of dead people, women and children included, all in the attempt to eradicate communism. Our government leaders such as Ford, Reagan, H. Clinton and many others are implicated in the search for a world order under the banner of Christianity. Places like East Timor, Chili, El Salvador and others are documented.
On page 260 there is a quote by Senator Sam Brownback. It was, “Washington right now is a town where if you’re going to be powerful, you need religion. That’s just the way it is”.
My personal opinion is that religion as the driving source can be dangerous whether Christian or Muslim. Spending our capitol and the lives of our troops in the field because of religious beliefs is wrong. Only when we band together as people of God, whoever called, will be able to rise above hatred and move forward creating a better world for all.
I wonder who, if anyone will take the time to read this book?


Jack B. Walters
3961 N. Hillwood Circle
Tucson, AZ 85750
(520) 722-2958
September 12, 2009
jackbwalters@yahoo.com