Israelis and Palestinians

Schoolyard State Department Lacks Leadership

Remember playground politics when an aggressive individual would decree who could talk to whom and would control followers’ personal spaces to prevent the exchange of information. Should you find out something about this bully person? Are secrets being kept from you? If so, why? Why should we not talk to all parties in any issue?

If Mr. David Welch did turn down the new Palestinian Platform, then there are at least two things wrong about this scene. A duly elected Democratic government is in power and has actively compromised with rivals and is now constructing a more permanent arrangement that will lead to peace. If Mr. Welch, an apparent U.S. Assistant Secretary of State, feels free to prematurely denounce these efforts, then he is foolish in his choice of actions. If he already named to whom he would not speak, perhaps he should resign and position himself where he cannot harm so many diligent efforts. Perhaps he should look up compromise in the dictionary and try to imagine the place of it in ‘his’ foreign policy that unfortunately represents the great United States of America.

Support this truly democratic effort, do not interfere in the negotiations and respect the government they choose to construct using those democratic principles so precious to the people. Dictation of what this new government may say is antithetical to the precepts we so hold dear, even if large toes are stepped upon. Bow out and allow the proceedings on the world stage rather than behind doors of our closing.

Peace comes from civilized dialogue, however spirited it may be. Since Mr. Welch is evidently a soothsayer or is making a faulty attempt to direct the course of events, perhaps a more unilateral approach should be taken, in order to reestablish our prestige in the world as a champion of freedom and individual rights of self expression. We must now prove a lack of hypocrisy as our president offers freedom to the people. We must be prepared to hear that which we did not expect to hear. One cannot dictate like a King and offer believable elections.

This compromise is a real chance for peace. The decisions concerning this delicate time should be allowed considerable more study, lest the world think we are constructing puppet governments.

Let Them Each Bring A Stone

Stop unilateral construction
Set local differences aside
And let pilgrims in with stones
To pave this disputed way
Let them each bring a stone
One each for the dead
Both Jew and Palestinian
And any others so died
In this strife
Pave the way to these sacred sites
With these stones
While praying for the end of conflict
So the new generation
Will understand peace.

Control of the Future

Control of the Future


Palestinians must halt hostilities to others and to each other
Truce must hold peace is the goal first
Before commerce dependent on other than war trade only can develop
Peaceful trade corridors fanatics must yield or cease influence
Leaders step forward war acts set aside
Emerge to lead and control your criminals restore civil order
Or let a savage junta rule your violent future
Cast this aside
Welcome a new beginning
Stop the violence

Now is the time
To achieve peace
Resolve pullout timeline
And hold to it
Munitions profiteering
Begins to pale
Dawn of the end of petroleum
Commands technological investment
Rather than a wasting war

Iraq has an elected leader
Us must cede to his assessments
If he does not want more troops
Bide his decision
Lest he be considered a puppet
Either that or hold an election
Including Baathists.
End these wasteful wars
Death in the name of religion
Must not torment the human community

By the end of the first decade second millennium after Christ
The leaders of our world do not feel obligated
To work towards world peace
They still must show accomplishments in the name of humanity
Or vanish in brief ignomy
No matter what your professed religion
Unfetter yourself from inherited hatred
And welcome a new beginning
By the beginning of the second decade of the new millennium
Our claim to fame our legacy.

It's Just How You Look At It

Come on let’s get real about the value of experience in understanding alternative economic development. Living in other communities doesn’t condemn one to never understanding what it is to be a Tucsonan. Oldtimers and newtimers alike can relate to a military friend of mine who returned from overseas and said we must be thankful for our way of life. Transplants to Tucson are a prodigious influx of fine minds from all over the world. The quality of their experience is not to be underestimated.

Take the late local real estate boom and the hovering specter of deflation in housing prices as viewed by the speculators. It’s kind of like buying petroleum at $70 a barrel and looking at current prices at $50 a barrel while wondering where the investment went. Speculators and small owners are keeping home prices higher while holding out for a surge in home buying when the only people left who want to buy are wealthy or credit risks. It reminds me of Houston during the 1980s where empty subdivisions sat molding on mud while buyers avoided the area.

New Orleans residents are being charged high insurance rates while insurance company profits mount and payouts lag. New Orleans is an example of how local conditions can affect the local housing market in that too many expenses to the buyer can prohibit a sale. Many sales are lost as costs like interest rates, taxes, insurance and utilities rise. Potential buyers vanish in the wake of these floods while citizens pay more for expected conditions, some forced to pick and choose, eliminating discretionary spending in luxury and service areas. Credit card and home mortgage defaults rise as credit charges accumulate. Some of this applies to Tucson as well.

Tucson real estate? Just think what would happen to the existing market if a water emergency were declared amid water shortages or even if water rationing were instituted! The bottom would drop out of the housing market as these longed for emigrants fail to arrive to buy the new houses because they don’t want to live out of a gallon jug of water. Some people might even pull up stakes and move out, leaving behind inflated mortgages for the credit people to absorb. If property values drop, tax valuations must also, leaving the government with less money generated and a horrendous water problem to solve.

We need to seriously discuss issues that affect property values and taxes. The quality of life and the open spaces upgrade property values in Pima County. The possibility of another copper mine in this area brings to mind a long time strategy of preserving our natural resources whenever possible. What happened to that idea? Is there a copper shortage? Let’s see what our congressmen and women and senators can do to save the Santa Rita Mountains from becoming another mine dump. Shall we sully Davidson Canyon in order to sell more cement to build more houses to bring more population who will use up the water supply? Public policy needs to reflect common sense.

I suggest that people sit back and think about what there is about Pima County that either brought us here or kept us here. I am a Tucson native who returned home because I learned, like the prodigal son, that there is no place like home. My idea of home is the wide open spaces, cultural events, multicultural atmosphere, and proximity to Mexico. Our future Tucson is in the making and citizens have the freedom to speak out. Elected officials and policymakers need to listen or find another address.