Ex Blazer Fan Living in Israel

Richard Brownstein and his family moved to Israel several years ago. He has the most extensive Blazer paraphanalia in the world. He has a blog that is fantastic. Both he and his wife write in it. Not only has he writings and pictures, but a 90 second video I hope all who read this would watch. Go to http://www.brownsteins.net/ As soon as we know who the #1 pick will be, I'll have to write to him and tell him about it.

Letter to Editor Saying Israel Doesn't Want Peace

I blew my top today when I read a letter from Albany, Oregon to the editor in today's Oregonian saying that "Israel has never really wanted peace." It went on to say that Israel only wants the peace process, negotiations and is stalling so it can get all or most of the land. She went on to say that Hamas has only pitiful rockets and AK-47's, as if they were simply slingshots. Also she felt that the United States and Israel didn't like the outcome of a democratic election that the Palestinians held.

After screaming a lot, I sat down and answered her letter and sent it in. To me this lady knows nothing but the slander she has been reading; the propaganda of the Palestinians. Of course, a little bit of anti-semitism must be part of the mix in her beliefs. People who are so quick to believe the worst of Israel also believe the worst of Jews. I'll print my letter if it doesn't get printed in the paper.

This lady thinks that the Palestinians held a democratic election. The parties were two terrorist organizations; Fatah and Hamas. Fatah isn't any peaceful party, but was crafty enough to state that they recognized Israel. They were suddenly the darling of the USA and Israel. Abbas's history is a shocker at best. He's not a friend of the Jewish people, but is the lesser of the two evils. If I were a Palestinian, I would have feared for my life if I had voted for the more docile party, knowing that revenge was around the corner and I could be killed for doing so. No, it's not the democracy that we know in Portland, Oregon. They're just using the word. This anathema of terrorists terrorizing the opposite party in the name of democracy should be obvious.

Of course Israel wants peace. Only idiots want to have a continuing war in their land. Israelis are not idiots.

Slandering Israel from Palestinians in Portland

Nadene Goldfoot
Free speech is all well and good in America. At Portland State University the Palestinians will have their day to slander Israel in the name of "free speech".

On June 19th, 2007 they will have a free all day propaganda session from 10am to 5pm in Hoffmann Hall. This reminds me of the recent Reed College night propaganda speech I attended. Only a few of the packed audience were Jews. I was curious to see how the Palestinians presented their case.

Way back during World War II, propaganda was spread about Blacks, Japanese and Jews. This is one way of fighting those you hate, and there's always the uninformed who are willing to gobble it up as it suits their thoughts exactly. A Wolf Creek man stated that "we should kill off all the Jews". Rumors implied that Jews were shirking their army duties. Others stated that "Jews controlled all the wealth of the world". In Bend people were saying that Jews were just making a big profit out of the scrap and rubber businesses.

Hitler said that if you repeat something often enough, others will believe it. That's exactly what the Palestinians will be doing now in this Portland State U. all day session.

Anti-Semitism in the U.N.

Yesterday ex-President Carter spoke in Ireland in a human rights meeting about Israel and how he thought they were making all sorts of mistakes. Tuesday the members of the U.N.'s new human rights watchdog decided to watch Israel very closely but are stopping their observations in Cuba and Belarus. After all, they need everyone on Israel's borders.

Why is it that this group continues to single out Israel for this type of condemnation? Could it be that they just don't like the Jewish country? The United Nations is made up of a lot of Arab nations and they certainly are using every conceivable method to pound at Israel.

At least the United States objected. Here the United States has received help in dealing with terrorism from Israel, from security measures in airports to dealing with terrorists in other ways. Canada objected. So there are two rational countries on Israel's side. Why didn't other countries object?

Israel has its own human right's groups. Jews are very self critical. The Physicians for Human Rights, an Israeli group, has made sure through their supreme court, to be heard. They are asking Israeli authorities to offer immediate medical treatment to anyone needing it at the Erez Crossing at the Gaza Strip. Palestinians are fleeing Hamas gunmen and wish to get out of harm's way. Israel has already taken in two people hit by Hamas gunfire 24 hours after they were wounded. Last week three wounded people were allowed into Israel.

What is so galling is that Jews came up with the most humane ideas in the world, such as kosher killing of animals for consumption. Jews have treated women and babies more humanely than any other country in the world. Jews are a most humane group. This is really what it means to be Jewish, and their enemies have the power to cast accusations that are believed by others.

No other country has had such trials as being attacked and told they would be driven into the sea by others in the "hood." Then to rub salt into the wound, no other country has had to put up with this vilification of their morality that they need to be watched by watch dogs to keep them from breaking some human right. We, who were were the teachers of human rights, are now being watched for the wrong reasons.

Jewish Doctors Fight Diabetes in Israel

I read an article in a Portland university newspaper by a political science student stating that Israel has no value and is costing the United States too much money. He dismissed the facts that Israel has been producing all sorts of valuable items including many scientific ones that can help the world.

Evidently Diabetes in the United States is costing 1/8 of all federal money in health care. It's so wide-spread that they are calling for a new government post just for diabetes and it's financial problems. They expect the cost to soar in the next two years by 60%, and in the next 30 years 62 million American could die from it.

In 2004 Israel had already started a diabetes program in Jerusalem at the first Russell Berrie International diabetes Symposium. It involved more than 300 scientists from Israel with goals to have three diabetes centers with the highest level of scientific research and clinical care. This program was designed to triple the current level of research in diabetes.

I wonder how much the current state of affairs fighting terrorists have affected the program. How many of these scientists have had to do their milueem (serving in the army) and not be able to work in their labs or clinics helping people? How many of these doctors will die serving to protect their country instead of finding a cure for diabetes?

By not appreciating Israel's worth and respecting their right to exist in this world, they may be cutting off their own nose. If they find they have diabetes, perhaps they will realize what they have done.

Israel is not just draining the United States of money and existing as a nonproductive entity. These creative Jews from all over the world have the chance to put their minds together and come up with all sorts of valuable items that not only help to keep them afloat as a country but enable them to give back to the world. All can benefit in what Israel can produce. Is the world going to sit back and allow Iran to try to wipe them off the map? I wonder how many care. Where are Israel's friends now?

Escapee from Iran Marries Portland Girl by Nadene Goldfoot

My cousin's daughter has married an Iranian Jew, Daniel, who escaped from his country. His parents had to use all their money to pay a group of smugglers to get him out. He became part of a group of 14 boys who fled on camels at night to a border town. After another nightfall they continued their journey in pick-up trucks and were carried over the border to Pakistan, also a Muslim country.

After being in Pakistan for two days, the Pakistani Police caught them. They tore Daniel's shirt while looking for hidden money. Finding none, they threatened to send the boys back to Iran, and were about to, but changed their minds for the price of twenty dollars. Luckily they hadn't found the $1,000 Daniel's mother had sewed into his shirt. That was for a plane ticket to Austria. One cannot go directly to USA from Pakistan, so there is an arangement with Austria to allow Iranian refugees to stay there until their receive immunity from the American government.

After they arrived in Pakistan, they went to the UN embassy and were granted official UN protection papers requiring all UN member countries to help them. With this backing they received temporary Swiss passports. They showed these to the Austrian embassy and were granted visas. This took a month to be completed. Then they were allowed to travel to Austria. He stayed there for 8 months until the American Embassy had his papers ready.

At the age of 16 years he arrived in America. He stayed with religious Jews and went to a Satmar camp one summer where he won a scholarship to Yeshiva University. Daniel decided to study Talmud and to become a doctor, so he studied religious subjects in the morning and medical studies in the afternoon. Luckily he had a brilliant mind. Not many could do this at the same time. He loved studying the religious subjects and was torn between the two. Finally he decided that he could bring happiness into homes by being a doctor.

Entertainment Industry Controlled by Who? by Nadene Goldfoot

There remains the unmitigated belief that Jews control the entertainment industry in the United States. Considering that the Jewish population is only 1/4 of 1% of the world's population, you must wonder how such a small group could gain control of such a large industry. For such a grand feat, Jews should be awarded a grand prize.

There are, in fact, many Jews in the entertainment industry. It has been an area that they have found success. It was Samuel Goldwyn and Louis B. Mayer (MGM) that produced the first full-length sound picture, "The Jazz Singer." Mayer of MGM even created the idea for the Oscar. Many are the founding fathers of other Hollywood studios. Adolph Zukor built the first theater used just to show motion pictures. George and Ira Gershwin and Irving Berlin were famous composers. Harry Houdini Weiss was a superb magician and stage performer. Flo Zigfield of Zigfield Follies was the creator of American burlesque. Steven Spielberg is a most successful filmmaker. They were there at the inception of the industry and helped to create it. Does anyone wonder why other Jews have tried to follow in their footsteps?

There just happens to be a lot of talent in the Jewish community that lends itself to this industry. It didn't come to the people overnight. Jews have done their fair share of suffering and found that making jokes about it lessened the burdens. Thus comics and jokes were created long ago, before Hollywood. The arts has been held in high esteem in the Jewish culture. Children were expected to take up some form of musical instrument. In every synagogue was a Cantor who sang the prayers. The ability to sing was cultivated. Yiddish Theater has been a cultural experience dating back into time. All this background fomented and was able to be used in the emerging United States. It simply has been a transfer of what one did in the old country to New York or Hollywood.

There is nothing sinister in finding many Jewish people in the entertainment fields. They are there as individual citizens and not as a group bent on a diabolical plot of taking over an industry. People tend to try to be successful in areas they feel competent in, and this is one of them.

Jews tended to congregate in cities in New York, New Jersey, Florida and Connecticut as well as Hollywood. Here were the very centers for the entertainment industry. Many new entertainers had their starts in the Catskills and then branched out to other places. They were in the right places at the right times.

Several years ago in Portland, Oregon, a school board member was quoted as saying that "he sees Jews running everything. Today they run the country." Some even thought that Jews constituted at least 3% of the city, though in reality they make up only less than 1%, because Portland is not a big center for Jews, even on the West Coast. Yet Jews have managed to make their mark here.

The reason for that is their culture. Education is regarded as the most important asset that a person can have. After years of being expelled out of seemingly safe havens and finding the opposite, Jews have had to run for their lives. The easiest thing to take with you is your head and what's in it so that you can use what you know to relocate and help your family. Education is part of our religion. One learns to read and write Hebrew at an early age and to discuss what was read. Spouses are chosen for their intelligence and not their brawn, though it's nice if the male has both. Alcoholism was not a part of the culture. Wives were treated as princesses. This created a nice environment for learning.

The Jewish mother has had a lot to do with the success of the children. She is a drive that causes excellence in her children leading them to become doctors and lawyers. She has caused so much Jewish guilt, that a child dare not bring home anything but A's in school. My father told me to be the best in whatever I wanted to be." I became a teacher, but was chided and a disappointment because I didn't go for a higher degree. This is the typical Jewish household.

Jews have lived through the quota system of only allowing a certain percent of their group into colleges and universities. Many who were capable of becoming doctors were not allowed in because the quota was filled. The entertainment industry has been one field that they have been able to enter as individuals pursuing the American dream. All they needed was chutzpa and talent.