THE BASIC ABOUT THE REPUBLIC OF YEMEN

YEMEN has always been a wild and crazy place, I believe. My father went there

in the sixties to check it out for the New York Times, his employers at the time I remember he had a great and exciting time. As he was certainly a world traveler, it struck me that he was unusually intrigued by the place. He told me and my brother stories about how wild it was. He was blindfolded and taken at gun point to meet people in caves who gave him leaves of Quat, a plant that releases a strong stimulant (perhaps like cocaine?) that many Yemeni men chew all day long. He said he was rather scared the whole trip because very little was know about the unruly place then.

Today, in the New York Times, I was interested to read this by Glen Carey (Bloomberg News Dec. 29, 2009)

Yemen, home to one of the world’s oldest civilizations, is the poorest country in the Arab world as well as a haven for Islamic jihadists.

(...and)

Yemen gained new attention in 2009 from American military officials, who are concerned about Al Qaeda’s efforts to set up a regional base there.

With fears growing of a resurgent Islamist extremism in ... Somalia and East Africa (a short distance away from Yemen, on the African mainland), administration officials and American lawmakers said

Yemen could become Al Qaeda’s next operational and training hub, rivaling the lawless tribal areas of Pakistan where the organization’s top leaders operate.

The Pentagon is spending more than $70 million over 18 months, and using teams of Special Forces, to train and equip Yemeni military, Interior Ministry and coast guard forces, more than doubling previous military aid levels. The White House is seeking to nurture enduring ties with the government of President Ali Abdullah Saleh and prod him to combat the local Qaeda affiliate, Al Qaeda in the Arabian

Peninsula, even as his impoverished country grapples with seemingly intractable internal turmoil.

General Information on Yemen:

Official Name: Republic of Yemen

Capital: Sanaa (Current local time)

Government Type: Republic

Chief of State: Ali Abdallah Saleh, president

Population: 22.23 million

Area: 328,065 square miles; slightly larger than twice the size of Wyoming

Languages: Arabic

GDP Per Capita: $1,000

Year of Independence: 1990

Web site: Yemen parliament.com (In Arabic)

Sound familiar? It should. That has been the American way of fighting terrorist

insurgencies for years now. It does not work. Americans should understand the there is

no AL Qaeda hub, no one place the organization operates from. All of these poor

countries have populations ripe for the picking of desperate young people. These “terrible people” who want to kill us are just poor young boys (and girls) who cannot see a future for themselves in their homeland.

Jihadist organizations prey on them. We should protect them. Al Quaeda is everywhere they are.

Instead of millions of dollars spent on the ground fighting people we cannot

see, those funds should be used to shore up stable governments (governments the people want, not governments we fabricate like in Afghanistan) so that infrastructures of financial, health and educational systems can be built and populations can hope for progress and eventual prosperity in the future.

We should educate ourselves, also, about every single country in the world.

Everyone is a player, large or small. If we want to fight terrorrism, troops on the ground is not the way.

I’m just sayin’.

Friendship, 2010 and Beyond

The Miriam Webster Dictionary says a friend is “one attached to another by affection or esteem.” Wikipedia adds that friends exhibit “mutual trust and support.”The Oxford English Dictionary wanted over $50 for a definition, the price of a monthly subscription. They are not my friends. Thesaurus words associated with friendship were camaraderie, fellowship, companions, closeness, rapport, respect, understanding andmutual affection. To me, trust, respect and understanding seem the most important.

The arrival of 2010 and my advancing middle age have turned me to look at

my friends. I have paused to think about the meaning and character of my relationships

because a few have made me doubt the solid nature of a relationship I have always

assumed to be real friendship. Many times I have counted people as friends but they were not. Perhaps we had enjoyed one instance of great fun, or perhaps they were friends of a friend, perhaps we were thrown together because our children had so much fun playing. There are so many ways to acquire “friends.” Some people bond over a

sport, a club, a hobby, or even alcohol and drugs.

I have been assessing my friendships. I need to nurture the ones that are of the “mutual affection and understanding” kind, not the “fun, party, and drink” kind. As age grows, my desire to party diminishes. Social climbing has never been interesting, nor has ‘‘joining.” I don’t fit well into groups.

Aging is not easy, as anyone who is fifty and over will tell you. It can be a very rewarding (a hackneyed term) time, of course, but there is pain as well. What an aging person needs is different from what a twenty year old needs from friends. In youth we do seek support but we also still have trustworthy parents or relatives to rely on. As older adults we seek deeper fundamental characteristics in close friends. We have no way to stay sane without someone by our side to tell us whether our thoughts and behavior are accurate and realistic. Perhaps there are a few people who can guide themselves without help. Perhaps, but how lonely. Companionship is a huge component of friendship and one of the most important in old age.

So as this new decade and new year approaches I am examining my friends. There are not as many as I thought, to my surprise. Many people are really almost acquaintances and many obviously do not understand me or do not care enough forme. Usually this work both ways, luckily. Does our relationship comprise the qualities of affection, esteem, mutual trust and support? Each friendship is different, of course. As I look over the landscape, some will be those I trust and count on to keep me sane and happy. Some are clearly around for diversion. Most, thankfully, are steadfast, loving

and caring of me and it is mutual. These will last until the day I die.

TV and the Internet

How many of you watch TV online? Probably everyone sometimes if you are under thirty. And you probably use the site HULU. It is now part of Comcast so watch out. If you can give THEM you feedback!

If Hulu (or an equivalent online TV service) begins expensive subscriptions it will cause viewers to skip TV shows entirely except for the shows/seasons I might purchase through iTunes, who's prices must remain at the current level or we will quit that also. Like current cable companies, online TV services should offer packages from basic to loaded and the consumer can choose related to content and perhaps less or more advertising. The sites should clean up their acts, too, literally. The sites are poorly designed and full of c__p. Weeding through it all is a nightmare. Just give us the information for your services in a clean lineup and separate out the ads out (if you must have them!) to the side - preferably the left - it is easier to read a right hand column (remember newspapers?)

I love watching TV on my computer, personally. I don't have to go out and purchase a huge flat screen for a fortune and it goes every where with me. Media moguls, get with the program!

THE CITIZEN'S HEALTH CARE PLAN

The Citizens Health Care Plan

• The Public Option: The Federal government should jump start non-profit insurance cooperatives without initial loans but with large grants (similar to bail-outs) No beneficiary premiums would be required for people with incomes lower than $45,000 for individuals and $65,00 for families of three or four. Tax credits won’t work because poor people do not have stable incomes. They may not file income tax returns.

• Employers with any number of full time employees must offer coverage with the lowest cost plan that meets requirements set by the government. There should be competition between insurance companies as well as real public option as described above.

• Long term care should cover the full cost of at least $75 a day for individuals who have worked at least five years.

• Abortion should be covered by the case of rape, incest or health emergency with the mother or the fetus. Abortion should be available to any woman 18 or under. A private health care plan can refuse coverage.

• Illegal immigrants must pay for basic insurance if they are working in the US. Visitors to the US will receive care with pay. If they cannot pay they will be deported as soon as they are healthy.

• Children should receive care without cost paid for by Medicaid. If the parents are not citizens the family will be returned to the native country as soon as the child is healthy.

• Any health insurance plan should be paid by funds from a surtax to high-income earners of $500,000 a year and increasing exponentially with the level of income. Makers of pharmaceuticals pay sums allocated according to market share and earnings.

• Health Insurance premiums must be capped and adjusted according to incomes of subscribers. These amounts could be set by the Federal or State governments as decided by the people in an election.

ABOUT ABORTION

To the Los Angeles Times, November 8, 2009

The issue before the senate currently contains the following, I believe, that was an editorial in the Los Angeles Times last September. The editorial described the financial coverage allowed in the House Health Care Bill (there have been so many it is confusing) for women who want abortions:

U.S. law bars federal Medicaid dollars from being used to pay for abortions except when the pregnancies result from rape or incest or threaten the mother’s life. It also prohibits insurance plans for military personnel, federal employees and lower-income children from covering abortion. This page (of the healthcare reform bill) has opposed these rules because they deter poor women from obtaining the constitutionally protected medical care available to women with means. Legislators in California and about a dozen other states agree, and they provide funding for elective abortions with their own states’ Medicaid contributions.

In my opinion, abortion should be available to women who need one for any reason at all. It should be her choice and perhaps also the choice of the father. A baby should not be born into an environment that is lacking in any way. A child of fourteen or fifteen should not be forced to ruin his or her life if they make a mistake. Make abortion available but make that woman AND the man suffer the consequences. They should pay a lot of money (also something required in the House version of health care reform) for that mistake (Then watch those boys put on those condoms!), and perhaps some other consequences such as community service and some classes they must attend.

If they choose to have the baby they should BOTH bear the responsibility of their behavior and pay lots of money to insure the welfare of the child. They should also be required by law to go to regular doctors visits during pregnancy and afterwards. Social workers should be required by law to regulate and supervise the environment in which the child grows up in. The choice to have a baby is a lifelong commitment and this should be part of the education of minors who are sexually active.

Just my opinion,

Elizabeth Brady Woods

Pasadena, CA

Afghani Election

Americans have the wrong idea about politics in Afghanistan, and the countries of that area, including Pakistan. There is no such thing as an election that is not corrupt. It is not possible to install a government that is not corrupt. The Taliban know that and possibly even pay for the area's governments to look the other way. The people of the region are terrified for their lives. Americans are making things more dangerous for the locals everyday that we are there. What David Shenand said about building our defenses against enemies here at home is the right way to think. We all need to realize we are getting our own killed while helping a bunch of thugs. The whole region of Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, and Afghanistan is in a centuries old turmoil that can only be rectified by the people themselves. We need to step back (out of Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq) and build up our own country's intelligence and defenses.

We need to fix our own ailments, healing the cankers that are destroying us, the leading Democracy of the world. We should be proud of the education we give our children, proud of how we care for the medical needs of our citizens, and proud of our scientific advances in stemming global warming. We should be leaders in guarantying the civil rights of all of our citizens. We have no credibility until we do this. Ms. Clinton, look homeward and work to disengage from hopeless and dangerous governments. Work to form a strong bond with friendly countries. Work for your people, Secretary Clinton, not the corrupt puppet governments of the East.

Imigration 101

President Barack Obama

1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW

Washington, DC 20500

October 1, 2009

Dear President Obama,

Immigration is an economic and cultural “tradition” in the US. Were you aware

that the American Apparel crack down was going to occur? I hope not. Those people,

and many others like them, have been in this country many years and are Americans, except on “paper.”

America has had open borders for more than two hundred years. It has been

a fruitful and beneficial policy. Our population is as diverse as the United Nations. Our

Constitution welcomes all people to our shores. Immigrants who have been woven into American life by doing jobs we won’t do, shoring up our economy and raising our children should be respected and rewarded for what they’ve contributed to our society. We must reward them with citizenship, not arrest them.

Perhaps our borders need to change with the times, however. We can’t just allow people in without documenting them these days. Unfortunately, it is now too dangerous

for us to have completely open borders, there is so much illegal trafficking. The safety

of our citizens is suffering from many kinds of criminal activity by many unscrupulous

people, not just undocumented workers. There is much illegal commerce interfering with our peace and prosperity.

We can tighten our borders by screening immigrants for everything we need to know in order to keep all Americans safe. We want that. Arresting workers and forcing families to leave and return to their countries of origin is cruel and counter productive. Many haven’t been “back home” for decades. Many will be arrested for political views when they disembark their flight “home.” These are important people in our lives. People such as the woman who helped raise my child, the grocer down the street who has been caring for his community and raising two sons, the seamstress who lost her only son in Iraq or the doctor who plans to return to his home country to serve the poor there.

The proper and respectful procedure in rounding up illegal residents should be

to do background checks, see if they have any record of criminal activity, examine their current situation to see if they are good people and make them citizens, not deport them.

We need them here.

An amendment should be discussed and perhaps added as an “update” to our Constitution, which was crafted long ago. There are good productive people here from all over the world who should stay and help us advance to meet our challenges.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth Brady