Here's To 2009!

With Friends Like These...

Hamas lobs missiles into Israel. Israel retaliates with air strikes. People die. If not killed instantly, their deaths can be agonizing. Many are women and children. Why? A dispute over land. Each seems determined to annihilate the other. Nice neighbors.

Here in the 'hood if one neighbor doesn't like another they pretty much ignore one another, knowing full well neither is likely to change. Maybe nations should take a lesson from neighborhoods.

Frankly I'm tired of the whole mid east mess. We cannot negotiate nor legislate that they like one another. The history is too sordid and deep. You'd think we would learn. It's tough to sit back and watch it without your blood boiling no matter where your sympathies lie. Maybe it's time, though, that we do just that.

It's always the Israelis against everyone else yet no one has the guts to stand up and point out their part in the conflicts. In particular the establishment of illegal settlements in the West Bank and cutting off life lines to Gaza. Why is it that they are always the victim and no one else can lay claim?

It concerns me that we pour billions of dollars into Israel because they are such a strong "ally". Yet we turn a blind eye when they blatantly use those dollars in counter productive actions against everyone else in the region. What, exactly, have we received in return for that aid to warrant calling them "ally"?

Everyone else in the region is accused of wanting to drive Israel out of existence. Remember they are the ones threatening military action against Iran and guess who they'll expect to come to their aid? Us. As in U.S. They have a stronger, better armed military than any of it's neighbors. Is it not time to let them fend for themselves? They resist all our efforts for peace talks, they rattle their sabres with great abandon and they are as guilty as their adversaries of killing hundreds and thousands of people who are guilty of nothing more than the unfortunate fate of living in the region.

Both sides have their arguments. Neither are totally justified. Neither will compromise.

It's time for it to end. Full stop. A lasting full stop. Or hit them where it hurts the most. In the pocketbook. Oh, and in the spirit of the season, this is hardly what I'd consider the Holy Land. It's more like Dante's Inferno.

Oprah, Maybe YOU Ought To Read The Books You Recommend!

If Oprah wants to go into politics it would seem she has some of the necessary qualifications. The willingness to recommend something even if she, personally, hasn't read it!

Just like in Washington where staffers read pending legislation and give their bosses a synopsis thus suggesting how they should vote. If it turns out to be a bad piece of legislation the caveat seems to be "I voted for it based on the information available (from members of my staff who read it.) If they did. Or did they merely skim it and pass on a less then accurate summation?

A mere two years ago Oprah was embarrassed and angry when she found a book she had strongly recommended turned out to be fiction rather than non-fiction. Remember Jame Frey and A Million Little Pieces ? The story about a young man's decent into and ascent from the world of drug and alcohol addiction. It was replete with bone chilling detail and characters that should have made one suspect. Why the author didn't present it as a brilliant piece of fiction is still a puzzle.

Next there was Love and Consequences a piece of fiction represented as a memoir that wasn't even written by the same person!

Now there is one of the greatest love stories the book club has ever come across. Angel at the Fence: The True Story of a Love that Survived. This one is such a pat man-meets-girl-man-loses-girl-man-gets-girl, it's a wonder that even with the briefest of skimming one might be suspicious! A man in a concentration camp meets a young girl on the other side of the fence who gives him apples to sustain him until he is moved out. Years later, after a blind date, they discover their past connection while reminiscing. It's a wonderful, heart warming story. The problem is it's not true!

My, oh my. It reminds me of the old saying, "Please Mother, I'd rather do it myself!" It also reminds me of the recent turmoil we had here regarding whether certain major pieces of writing should be on school's required reading lists. I've yet to learn if those opposed had actually read the books to which they objected.

I would guess Oprah has little time to delve deeply into the books she recommends. As with the politicians and their legislation, she depends a great deal on staff. If it were me, however, putting my name on a recommendation that could boost an author onto the best seller lists, I'd want to make darn sure it was warranted.

Having made my living in public relations for a good many years, I know a bit about "spin" and embellishment. So this an across the board recommendation to a person who's name is considered trustworthy, if they want it to remain so, and the staff that serves them, read the book - and if anything looks to be a little much, check it out. If you don't have the time, don't make the recommendation.

The same goes to the politicians. The least you can do for us is read what you're going to vote on or make darn sure your staff does!

As for the authors; what the heck is wrong with good fiction anyway? A good read is a good read!

Job Description For First Lady? And Pay??

There seem to be more and more talk regarding the role of first lady. Whether there should be a job description and whether or not she should receive a salary. The latest was a column in the Spokesman Review by Lauren Stiller Rikleen . Ms. Rikleen is a partner in a law firm and executive director of the Bowdich Institute for Women's Success. I was pretty sure I knew where it was going before I read it!

This is one of those times I find myself smack in the middle of the generational divide! I don't think there should be either.

How can a job description be written for a job that has no boundaries? The most obvious responsibility is the one of official hostess. To aid in that undertaking there is a complete staff including an officer of protocol. Beyond that the position is whatever the first lady would like it to be.

I find it interesting that universities are now compensating the wives of their presidents for the time and talent brought to the position. Here's where I most likely differ with the younger generation. That there is a marriage is by choice. A partnership. One feels obligated, I'm sure, to carry out the social responsibilities, but I'm not sure I would want my child's tuition money going to the social niceties rather than qualified instructors and crucial course work. Especially when considering the financial stress universities are now suffering.

On the Presidential level, our money pays for all of it. Everything from the first lady's social secretary to the White House staff.
All of her expenses are paid for with tax dollars. Transportation. Lodging. All of it.

I guess I'm looking at this from a less than privileged point of view. Even at our level, I as spouse, had social obligations because of my husband's job. No one would have dreamed of suggesting I should be paid for my time dining with clients neither of us much cared for, or entertaining a spouse while the men conducted their business, nor compensate me for the time taken away from my own responsibilities for just the comings and goings. If he travelled abroad and I accompanied him my expenses came out of our own pocket. And I surely did not have a staff to educate me as to how to behave in China!

Times are changing. The role of first lady is also changing. But no two are the same. That they choose to do good works and make an impact that would otherwise be much more difficult is laudable. But to put a price tag on it just doesn't seem right. It's part of being the spouse of the President.

It's bad enough the Congress has legislated themselves automatic pay raises. It's our money. It seems to me we should have a say as to whether or not they deserve one. To put a dollar figure on the first lady's role, to me, seems to diminish the honor of being in that position.

Since, again, it would be our tax dollars, just what criteria should be used - and would we have a say? Or would it be a form of pork on the Presidential level!

Happy Birthday Bacchus!

Nine years ago today, along with eleven siblings, this little guy came into the world. One month later we chose him. Three months later he was home with us and has been there ever since.

There have been raucous good times with our Bacchus, some serene and everything imaginable in between! He has truly enriched our lives.