Nelson Mandela in Johannesburg, 13 May 2008
Courtesy of Wikipedia
From a letter to Winnie Mandela in Kroonstad Prison, dated 1 February 1975
Mandela,Nelson, Conversations with Myself, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, 2010,
Pages 211-212
Pages 211-212
1. Nelson Mandela dies and leaves a rarefied legacy demonstrating an amazing transformation during his 27 year jail sentence. He metamorphosed from being a radical and violent protester to one who seeks and then effects reconciliation and compromise. What is notably praiseworthy and unusual is that he worked his MOJO, not only on his adversaries, such as de Klerk, but particularly with his supporters whom he convinced to lay down their ammo and negotiate. He spearheads the end of apartheid.
FW de Klerk and Mandella (File, AFP)
The two shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.
The NFL shells out nearly $800 million to settle SOME concussion lawsuits.
4. Issues concerning the disastrous effects of climate change continue to plague us and thus loom large a year after Hurricane Sandy struck the east coast. New York and New Jersey are still prone to massive displacement/uprooting of its loyal denizens and massive power outages.
5. Two fifty year milestones were remembered with a media blitz including fantastic coverage in magazines, newspapers, C-Span, the History Channel, the major networks and radio.
View from the Lincoln Memorial to
The Washington Monument on August 28, 1963
(courtesy of Wikipedia)
The march also heralded the powerful message of Rabbi Joachi Prinz, the Rabbi of Berlin before World War II, who addressed the marchers and condemned not those who harbored hatred and bigotry, but those who remained silent in the face of injustice, brutality and mass murder.
Rabbi Joachim Prinz speaking at the March for Freedom and Jobs
50 years after the assassination of JFK, the country still struggles with whether his short tenure as President merits to be called the reign of Camelot or reign of mediocrity. Can we trust Jacqueline’s assessments?
6. The President continues to be vilified by his Republican political enemies despite an S&P that has soared nearly 30%, an unemployment rate that continues downward, with more and more people signing up for the Affordable Care Act and despite the fact no American blood has been spilled --through our diplomatic overtures-- and black ops, no doubt-- in the Middle East.
7. Pope Benedict XVI announces his retirement and is replaced by a little known cleric who is getting good press for the Vatican--which, unfortunately, desperately needs it!
8. Atmospheric carbon pollution is to be attacked on two fronts. First, the President has the Executive authority to impose stricter standards and controls on mid western coal- fired industrial plants. Meanwhile, the Eastern States have petitioned the E.P.A to improve the air quality coming from the Rust Belt. Kudos to Governor Daniel P. Malloy of Connecticut who is leading the Eastern governors in the petition.
Coal-fired industrial pollution
Courtesy of joinmosaic.com
9. In a bold radical move designed to reform and improve our faltering and embarrassing early education system, the President calls for universal pre-kindergarten education. Serious debate must be forthcoming as America's education system fall further behind those in Europe, the Middle East and the Far East.
(A MUST READ: Why Other Countries Teach Better)
Isn't it time for a bottoms up overhaul, fellow citizens?
(A MUST READ: Why Other Countries Teach Better)
Isn't it time for a bottoms up overhaul, fellow citizens?
10. Volcker rules are enacted to stem the proprietary trading by financial institutions.They are enacted to protect the rights and trust of innocent investors in these institutions and to avoid problems of TRANSPARENCY.
11. Putin continues to play the strongman TSAR, posing at times like a bare chested Charles Atlas. Is he trying to reconstitute and rebuild the old empire now that Russian population stands at only 180 million? Is he only trying to prevent the Ukraine’s (45M population) entry into the EU, or is this only a power play to serve as a diversion as he casts his eyes over all the other former republics of the USSR?
Putin's latest move is a $15 billion bailout which was accepted by beleaguered Ukrainian President Yanukovych.
Putin's latest move is a $15 billion bailout which was accepted by beleaguered Ukrainian President Yanukovych.
12. Relief at the pump: the US stands to surpass both Saudi Arabia and Russia in oil production as early as 2015. Gas prices are coming down at the pump with regular selling in NJ for $3.20 per gallon.
In 2014, Toyota will be introducing a car that runs on natural compressed gas to cost about $1 a gallon to run. T. Boone Pickens has been seen driving a Honda Civic GX, available in 35 states and he wants you to know it.(click here).
In 2014, Toyota will be introducing a car that runs on natural compressed gas to cost about $1 a gallon to run. T. Boone Pickens has been seen driving a Honda Civic GX, available in 35 states and he wants you to know it.(click here).
Honda Civic GX, Third Generation
courtesy of Wikipedia
Is the gas car the wave of the future?
Stay tuned.
There is one caveat: The pros and cons of fracking are a hot issue and won't simply evaporate!
Stay tuned.
There is one caveat: The pros and cons of fracking are a hot issue and won't simply evaporate!
Courtesy rebellesociety.com
13. Kudos must go to an unsung teenage heroine: to 16 year old Malala Yousafazi raised in the Swat Valley of northwestern Pakistan. She was shot in the neck and head by the Taliban in a school bus as she left school for daring to flout and publicly denounce their orders banning girls from getting an education, going to the market, watching TV, listening to music, etc.
The Taliban has leveled school after school killing students, teachers and innocent bystanders in the Swat Valley because the Taliban have embraced the violent interpretation of Sharia.
Despite the Taliban’s threats, Malala continued attending her dad’s school for girls in Mingora. In 2009, she began “The Diary of a Pakistani Schoolgirl,” a blog for a BBC website. 
Congratulations are in order for Malala: In October, she was awarded the European Union's top human rights award, the Sakharov Prize and then named one of 6 recipients of the coveted United Nations Human Rights Award. The latter is granted every 5 years and counts Nelson Mandela and Amnesty International as prior honorees.
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