Update, Gerontology Project

From the number, quality and enthusiasm of the volunteers, the project bodes well.
Keep in mind the purpose: To change the role and perception that the increasing
aged population represents a burden to society and they must be allowed to languish away, adapting to the status quo as best they can. We are going to
change their role so their accumulated experience and wisdom is seen as an asset.
In the process their lives will become richer and more fulfilled. That will require
changes in societal attitudes and infra-structure, all favorable to progress.
Thank you all for joining this crusade.

EGYPT REBORN!

Hallelujah, Huzzah and Hooray, the iron boot has been removed from the necks of the
Egyptian masses. The army finally recognized that its future is irrevocably bound with the Egyptian masses and pushed Mubarak into oblivion. I hope all will now
concentrate on building a government of the people, by the people and for the people
and not indulge in an orgy of vengeance or theocratic strife.
The youth of Egypt deserve the opportunities that now lie before it. Western
political and economic leaders must extend every possible aid and support to
bring into being a progressive modern Arab state that has for so long been missing in the Middle East. The energy and desire is in the population. Give them the tools and inspiration! Bring them to our universities and research centers. Send our best to theirs. This is the moment for joint efforts between East and West. Both will benefit.

Wither Florida?

Gov. Rick Scott has released the new state budget, in a ceremony in of all places a Tea Party gathering in a church. The insensitivity to the character of a state
and the importance to citizens of all political persuasions, is breathtaking.

Recently the state borrowed a huge sum of money with which to lure high tech
research centers such as Scripss, Max Planck, Torrey Pines and others to our state.
The purpose was to establish a growth center for cutting edge research which would attract satellite industries offering thousands of well paid jobs to highly trained employees and make a significant dent in Florida's unemployment. But from whence will those highly skilled employees come--from abroad, other states? Why not from Florida? For that to happen the administration must include in the budget a substantial investment in higher education facilities, faculties and student recruitment. None of those priorities appear in the budget. The high hopes purchased
at such high cost are being neglected in a budget process designed to demonstrate how tough the new governor can be, not how smart. The high tech center is an asset to be exploited, not left to blossom on its own.

Playing with fire, while firing the fire dept.

Within some three weeks The House will be dealing with the new federal budget.
Many of the newly elected right wingers are seriously planning massive cuts in all
programs without regard to their merits, or their contribution to our recovery from
the deep recession which bedevils the nation. They are prepared to shut down the federal government if that's what it takes to get their way. Apparently they haven't a vague notion of the disastrous consequences on our credit markets of such a cavalier action. We as a nation may soon see the consequences of electing members of
Congress based on emotions rather than wisdom and judgment.
The nation has operated on a deficit budget for decades. We finance even basic operations such as defense using borrowed money. Because we are such a huge market, the nations which sell to us are willing to
lend us the money to buy from them. We have
become addicted to this system and now use it to finance almost all government operations and programs. The wealthy want a free ride and fight against all taxes. The middle class is now impoverished and cannot pay more taxes.Our consumption is financed by credit, increasing the national deficit. As a result of these structural defects we are unable and unwilling to take the painful measures which could gradually eliminate the deficits: increased savings and taxes devoted to actually paying down the debt.
To try to change the deficit financing system now, without taking the steps to pay off the debt will fail. So we must continue on the same path and hope our creditors
will continue to finance our profligacy. When they stop we will enter bankruptcy
and the great American Legend will end.

Joining the informed

The Feb 6th edition of the New York Times carries a series of opinion pieces by the
most esteemed and best informed columnists on the American scene, dealing with the events in Egypt. Also dealt with are the impacts the turmoil is having on Jordan.
Most of the writers are on the scene, in Egypt, and Jordan and have been present at many demonstrations, at danger to their own life and limb.
Included in the group are such informed and keen observers as Frank Rich, Tom Friedman, Nicholas Kristof, David Brooks and Roger Cohen. Reading their articles
will yield a broad understanding of events in that region, and America's neglect
and lack of awareness of the powerful forces for change that are arrayed as well as our vital stakes in events there.
I am gratified to find my writings, which preceded theirs have been in essential agreement with their opinions and observations. If that makes me a N. Y. Times
liberal, I glory in the designation.

Surrounding the Vortex

The cauldron bubbling in Egypt could spill over and burn a number of its neighbors. Not the McDonalds coffee type of superficial skin scald. The burn will be third degree, deep into the muscle which supports their fragile governments and desperate populations. From No. Africa to the rim of Asia there is not one Arab
state that can be considered stable, and offering a decent standard of living to their inhabitants. The oil sheikdoms, Dubai, Oman, Quatar are the exceptions because they have an artificial prosperity supported by oil. Without the oil their magnificent buildings would revert to sand dunes.

Egypt has been the anchor and foundation of what could be the revival of a great
civilization rivalling the Byzantine. Using modern technology in place of a grazing
economy, the deserts could be made to bloom once more, as the Israelis have demonstrated. With adequate grains, fruits, vegetables and animal husbandry the populace could supply its own needs with a surplus for export to get foreign
currency for capital development. Using that capital to develope infrastructure that
would support high tech manufacturing, their large populations could grow into
a light industry economy. But if Egypt falls the example would be disastrous. The
mullah led Jihadists would control everywhere. Anger, hate and envy would be the
behavioral norm. There is a surplus of that allready. America, do all that you must
to assure this revolution succeeds!

THE GREAT SPHINX......

.....has awakened from decades of slumber and is roaring in rage because of the
decline which the autocratic Mubarak reign has imposed on the nation. Egypt's population is among the youngest in the world, and it is also the nation with the highest youth unemployment. The young men and women of Egypt are bright and ambitious, not yet contaminated with Islamic zeal for Jihad. They want opportunity to
participate freely and openly in national debate regarding access to the world of
technology. They hold no fear that relaxation of the iron fist will bring in its wake a radical Islamic regime. They feel the numbers and momentum are with them, enough to crush the Brotherhood if it tries to preempt the revolution.
The American administration and media are paralyzed with fear that the largest Islamic state will somehow disintegrate into another rogue such as Iran. That drives the Israelis, the Saudis and the Americans bananas. But this time the odds are overwhelmingly on the side of democracy and modernity.
Obama, cast off the grip of caution. Reach out to the future, which can be ours.
Hanging on to remnants of power through Mubarak is the path of cowardice, not caution. The youth of Arabia will curse us, and justly so, if we deprive them of this
first good hope of democracy.