I NEVER was a big fan of Goldie Myerson, nee Mabovitch, but the oft-quoted quote attributed to her is one that deserves attention.
Mrs. Myerson or, as she was known after divorcing her husband, Meir, is supposed to have said Peace will come when the Arabs will love their children more than they hate us.
According to The Jewish Press and Harvey Rachlin Jun 16, 2015 as picked up by Israel’s leftist HaAretz newspaper1, she never made that statement. But she could have.
If Muslim parents would cease indoctrinating their children that being a shaid(ah) — martyr — while killing “infidels” — that is, anyone who believes differently, including other Muslims — then maybe — maybe — there would be peace in the Middle East.
As I key this, there are Muslim-Muslim conflicts in Lebanon, Iran, and Syria; there is increasing resistance to despotic governments in Gaza and in PLO-controlled lands; Jordan’s royal house sits on teetering thrones, as do the rulers in many other Muslim countries.
In every case, children are canon fodder. The Iraq-Iran war excellently proved the point.
Paying Attention – not
The other day I had occasion to call a Humana Advantage Customer Service Representative (CSR).
The CSR asked my name which I provided.
Then he asked if he could address my by my given name.
I replied, firmly, NO! As far as the CSR was concerned, my first name is Mister.
My negative response must have gone in one ear and out the other (there apparently being nothing in between to trap it); he immediately called me by my given name.
Unlike some CSRs, notably those at TIAA, the Humana guy never got the idea.
English, please
My Spouse went to a local food store the other day. She was looking for food coloring. Add a few drops to a clear liquid and instant color. Great for party ice cubes.
In addition to coloring food, food coloring also may be used to trace a leak, and we had a leak. (My First Born disassembled a tank from a toilet and with dexterity and strength that I now lack, replaced the failed parts.)
ANYWAY, when the Spouse asked for help, the clerk’s reply was “no English.”
Granted, this is south Florida, and, granted, the U.S. lacks an “official” language, but English IS the common language so customer-”facing” personnel should know basic English.
President Trump wants new immigrants to know some English in order to garner citizenship. Exceptions could be made for the very old who can’t cope with English’s oddities — and there are many.
When my Spouse applied for citizenship c1986 she was questioned in English and required to read and comprehend something written in English.
Ditto when she tested for her first driver’s license.
If she spoke Spanish or Creole she could have asked for a translator, but what happens when she sees a non-pictorial road sign in English; lacking basic English she would be out of luck.
Made In China & QA/QC
Much of the products imported from China are just “junk.”
Much of the products imported from Japan in the late 40s and early 50s likewise was “junk.”
What made the change in Japanese goods?
U.S. importers such as Honeywell that performed their own QC on incoming products.
I owned a Honeywell H3v 35 mm SLR that served faithfully for a couple of decades.
Toyota and Nissan (nee’ Datsun) cars and trucks are among the most reliable vehicles on U.S. (and other) roads today.
Japanese companies learned that if they expected to sell to the U.S. market, they would have to institute strict QA/QC in their plants. They did.
China needs to learn from the Japanese.
China products sell because they are cheap. Cheap as “inexpensive to buy” and cheap as in “poor quality.”
Other countries also make “cheap” stuff of somewhat higher quality. Honduras and Mexico to name two.
U.S. importers can do much to improve the quality of Chinese goods without greatly increasing the purchase price How? Incoming QA/QC. Any items that fail are headed for the dump — “landfill” if you prefer — since for most Chinese items, it is not worth returning the product to the manufacturer. Besides heading to the landfill, the importer deducts the price of the discarded product from the payment to the Chinese company.
The Chinese are not stupid.
This is NOT an issue of tariffs so there will be no “tariff war.”
Impeachments
It’s a funny thing, but only two U.S. presidents have faced impeachment.
Both were Democrats.
Richard Nixon was hounded out of office; he was not impeached. The same tactic is being used against Donald Trump.
- A simple majority in the House is all that’s needed to formally impeach a president. But that doesn’t mean he or she is out of a job. The final stage is the Senate impeachment trial. Only if two-thirds of the Senate find the president guilty of the crimes laid out in the articles of impeachment is the POTUS removed from office. 4
An interesting side note is how a Republican and a Democrat were paired as a marriage of convenience. An articled titled United States presidential election of 1864 by John M. Cunningham5 explains how this came to be. The 12th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified on June 15, 18046 had the president and vice-president candidates from the same political party. Lincoln and Johnson ran under a National Union Party label cobbled together by Republicans and “War Democrats” to assure Lincoln’s second term.
U.S., Russia, and Iran – the difference
When the U.S. and Russia, nee’ USSR, were the only two nuclear powers, the swords were rattled but neither country was willing to risk “mutual destruction.” The peoples of both countries had, for the most part, a desire to live.
Iran — and China, too — have a different mind set.
If a few million Chinese die from radiation or starvation, the Chinese government won’t shed any tears.
If an Iranian or Iranian proxy, e.g., Hamas and Islamic Brotherhood in Gaza and the PLO-controlled areas, and Hezbollah in Lebanon and Syria — dies fighting the “infidels,” that is, anyone who does not think as they think, then the dead will go meet Allah and the men will wed 70 virgins. (What the women get is beyond me.)
Americans and (former) Soviets want to live.
Chinese don’t care.
Iranians and their proxies want to die as martyrs.
The Western mentality of avoiding “collateral damage” rarely is set aside, but it does happen.
It happened in Dresden, Germany when England and the U.S. firebombed the city day and night to punish the nazis for bombing London.
Hiroshima and Nagasaki, while they at least had some military value, were punished for Japan’s refusal to surrender and, this scrivener suspects, as payback for Pearl Harbor. The U.S. DID warn the Japanese cities of impending doom. Did the Japanese government prevent the cities’ residents from fleeing?
Sources
1. HaAretz: https://tinyurl.com/sy66dvy
2. Johnson: https://tinyurl.com/yd3adfen
3. Johnson: https://tinyurl.com/y79aq7b9
4. Clinton and Impeachment process: https://tinyurl.com/ygclyote
5. 1884 Election: https://tinyurl.com/zh6zwdv
6. 12th Amendment: https://tinyurl.com/h6htfyx
PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.
Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.
Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.
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