Stories you might have missed

Posters on entrance doors to our local CVS

urging quitting smoking

1.  CVS has dropped the sale of cigarettes from all their stores and began to promote in store health promotions such as flu tests, etc  The sale of cigarettes generated tens of Millions of dollars in sales.
Hats off to the CVS stores.

2. Connecticut backs Pre-Kindergarten schooling. On  May 5, 2014,  Governor Malloy  praised the Connecticut General Assembly on their passage of final legislation to establish the Office of Early Childhood. This is a major step in moving our state towards universal access to pre-kindergarten.

Carl Bennett

from the stamfordhospitalfoundation.org

3. The Carl and Dorothy Bennett Foundation donated $9.1 million to Stamford Hospital making them the largest donors for a total of more than $20 million  They  created the Carl & Dorothy Bennett Cancer Center.

4. The Hartford Courant celebrates its 250th Anniversary this year and is recognized as the oldest continuously publishing newspaper in the United States. It is also the largest daily newspaper in the State of Connecticut.

5. Kudos to the Stamford Advocate which has just turned 185.  The paper began as the Stamford Intelligencer in 1829 and closed down after a few months for lack of funds. It reopened as the Sentinel and has been publishing continuously since it first appeared on February 16, 1830.

Is Middle East Peace Dead? Avi Shavit Israeli Journalist and Author Offers Some Alternative and Realistic Scenarios at Stamford's Hoffman Memorial Lecture

Ari Shavit speaking at Temple Beth El in Stamford in September

 A crowd of over 500 people attended

In the 30th annual Hyacinthe and Harold E. Hoffman Memorial Lecture held at Temple Beth El, Shavit began his lecture with the grim reality of the Summer 2014 war of Israel against Hamas forces.

The war resulted in the loss of many many innocent lives and many more wounded--precipitated by the firing of thousands of rockets from Hamas batteries located on public and private locations in Gaza.

The dismantling of many tunnels extending from Gaza into nearby Israel has largely removed the threat of the Gaza terrorists entering Israel

What is to stop the endless outbreaks of violence that has marked the struggle between Israel and her neighboring Palestinian neighbors since the founding of Israel?

Here is the link to the 57 minute lecture in case you have missed it.

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClLJB0O-s1U

from youtube.com 

     HERE ARE SUGGESTED AND SELECTED CHALLENGES FOR OUR COMMUNAL CONSIDERATION: 

Shavit presents and covers many challenges that Israel and her neighbors face in bridging the gaping gap to peace.

Perforce, I cannot cover them all; Shavit has already done so succinctly and fervently!

However  I wish to call your attention to several key points that I URGE us to consider with special attention--- before  time runs out.

I do hope that these  points will engender a discussion that will promote the perilous path to a detente and longer lasting peace.

At 33 minutes into the lecture, Shavit admits that peace is indeed impossible if we follow the usual methods we have followed in the past.

Both sides, he says, need to act as if  they are on the road to a two state solution!

There is no need for the old peace solutions that sought rushed rapid formal signed documents on the White House lawn. Instead,we must turn from these unrealistic scenarios to informal unilateral gradual steps that assume the posture of peace.

He urges that Israel "freeze settlement activity beyond the borders  and gradually, in a very cautious way, pulling out of certain areas of the West Bank without abandoning the security control."

 Shavit urges that we give to the constructive middle of the road Palestinians what we abandon.

Rawabi, A new West Bank City of 40,000 inhabitants is rising

Photo from theguardian.com

Then, he says, let's encourage the Saudi's and the Gulf states [Qatar to be included, in my opinion ] to give 10-20 billion dollars to build cities like Rawabi, located in the West Bank near Birzeit and Ramallah, 12 miles to the north of Jerusalem. (For background on Rawabi click here.)

Construction on Rawabi began in January 2010 with an estimated cost of $850 million. This project consists of 10,000 homes in six neighborhoods to grow to a population of about 40,000 people.

The point he is making is that the shell- shocked Palestinians of Gaza, numbering over 1.5 million souls, will be given hope and encouragement to move to such model cities;  above all, they  will be given the dignity that they are so lacking by witnessing and experiencing devastating wars funded by Hamas, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Iran.

It was just announced on October 12th, that a fund of $5.4 billions has been established at a Cairo meeting to rebuild Gaza. The two largest donors are Qatar, which has pledged $1 billion, and Saudi Arabia  $500 million. To read the Wall Street Journal article, Click here.

IT MAY BE NO COINCIDENCE THAT THE VERY NATIONS THAT FUNDED HAMAS AND OTHER TERRORIST GROUPS WITH HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS IN WEAPONS OF DESTRUCTION AND CONCRETE FOR THE TUNNELS ARE ALREADY THE VERY STATES COMMITTED TO REBUILD AND REJUVENATE THE PALESTINIANS' AND ARABS' FUTURES IN THE WEST BANK AND GAZA-- BLAZING A MORE GRADUAL DETENTE IN A JUST CAUSE.

from resourcesforlife.com 

His final point is his urging and issuing a WAKE UP CALL TO YOUNG DIASPORA JEWS UNDER 30--too often fatigued, confused and alienated from the seemingly hopeless Middle Eastern politics.

There have been FOUR attempts at peace that have failed in the last 36 years:  Camp David (1978), Oslo Accords (1993), The Annapolis Conference (2007) and the recent Kerry- Abbas diplomacy attempts intensified before the summer of 2014's outbreak of war.

He urges diaspora Jewish youth to wake up to the economic, political and democratic miracle that the 'Start up Nation' Israel represents.

He urges them- as well as their Arab and Palestinian counterparts to join the dialogue on establishing Middle East Peace.

He challenges the diaspora Jewish youth to use their skills in FIXING the status quo by assisting Israel to build power and water plants in Gaza and the West Bank and to help with the enlarging of Gaza into the  Northern Sinai and the expansion of the West Bank territory with assistance of Egypt and the Saudis.

Indeed,  there are already 57--YES fifty-seven --different youth and adult NGO's in Israel, consisting of both Israelis, Palestinians and Arabs that joined together to promote mutual understanding by sharing and exchanging their respective cultures: languages, music, drama, literature, history and sports.

ALLMEC,  the Alliance for Middle East Peace lists all 57 on their website. (click here).

Here is one youtube video clip depicting the sharing of Islamic and Israeli culture by one of the 57 groups. http://www.anewway.org.il/  Click on the video entitled Musa Abu Ganem, Principal Ahed High School, Hura.

Shavit presents his case so well:  "In order to guarantee the future of this great community {Stamford), in order to guarantee the future of Israel that will have no future without your young generation--and in order to guarantee the future of our great people, we must reach out to young American Jews and other young Jews throughout the disapora with a new kind of vision of Israel that is liberal that is democratic and that is  just ....We must learn to bring our narrative back...to convince them that is up to them to  care and to deal with it, with us, by listening to them and by working with us... "

                    

Perrot Library in Old Greenwich commemorates the Roosevelt family

Kudos to Perrot Library which has established a Roosevelt Table featuring many books on the illustrious family in its reading room.

This 'exhibition' coincides with the PBS seven part, 14- hour series on the Roosevelts.

This fabulous in-depth series was produced under the watchful direction of Ken Burns and represents the first time the lives of these three iconic personages have been woven into a single narrative.

from Amazon.com

A Tribute to the founder of The Stamford CT library: John Day Ferguson, 1832-1877

John Day Ferguson 1832-1877

Founder of the Stamford Library

from Stamford History.org

The plaque at the entrance of the Ferguson Library located at Atlantic Avenue at Broad Street in Stamford reads:

  In honor of John Day Ferguson
Through whose efforts this library was founded
1832-1877
A Man of Sterling Character of Endearing
Qualities and Fine Culture. A Citizen who
Gladly Devoted to the Best Interests of
His Town His Time, His Energy and His High
Intelligence.

The Ferguson Library in downtown Stamford

The library began with a bequest of $10,000 from Ferguson which was conditional upon raising $25,000 "by subscription or otherwise." 

The Stamford History website aptly pays tribute to Ferguson with these kind words:  "His intelligent, unselfish and unwearied interest in everything that pertained to the schools [of Connecticut] was enhanced by the characteristic courtliness and geniality of his intercourse with the teachers, and his habitual demeanor towards the children made every youthful face brighten at his visits. At his death,the School Board passed a resolution 'that the public schools of  Stamford, owing so much of their excellence to John D. Ferguson, be closed on Wednesday, December 12, 1877, the day of the funeral.

There are three possible levels of Russian complicity in the shooting down of Malaysian Airlines flight mh-17

Mike Morell, Deputy Director of the 

Central Intelligence Agency

Photo from Wikipedia

Mike Morell, Deputy Director of  the  Central Intelligence Agency,  appearing on the Charlie Rose show,  indicated three possible levels of Russian complicity in the shooting down of the mh 17 with the loss of nearly 300 civilians.

On the first level,  world opinion is nearly unanimous that Vladimir Putin has created the Ukrainian separatist group and has funded and equipped them with sophisticated anti-aircraft missiles with which to take down Ukrainian military aircraft.. Thus Putin is complicit in shooting down mh 17.

The second level of complicity would be triggered if indeed Putin gave the separatists this particular anti-aircraft missile system and trained them in how to use it.

The third level of complicity would occur if the Russian Special Forces were actually there assisting the separatists in the shoot down. This is the most difficult to prove.

The anti-aircraft equipment has been removed, most probably into Russian territory.

The only way to determine levels two and three is through intelligence sources.

So, at a bare minimum, Morel comments, Putin is supporting these insurgents.

Latest GM recall involves another 800,000 vehicles. Yet sales are up!

General Motors has gone through many restructurings in the past

as depicted by the Outs and the Ins 

Logos from hooniverse.com

Yesterday GM announced six more recalls, involving problems other than faulty ignitions switches: air bags, seats and turn signals "parts that may not been welded together properly and a loss of power steering." 

That brings the total number of GM cars recalled since January to 29 million -- yes, yes- that number is not an error.

Yet, despite this plague of recalls and a $3.8 billion outlay to cover these defective ignitions,   GM is selling more cars than ever.

This flies in the face of reality.

One would think that the prospective car buyer would shy away from buying a GM product.

But, such is not the case.

What is happening is that when the GM car owner is waiting at the dealership for the recall rectification, savvy car salesmen are convincing many many owners to upgrade and switch to newer models with "new bells and whistles."

It was just reported that it is the sale of big S.U.V.s that is pushing sales up-- way up-- as tens of thousands of these vehicles are rolling off the showroom floor.

Did GM deserve to be bailed out by the US Taxpayer?

And should the automaker be broken up into four separate units to allow more transparency as I previously suggested? (See my prior blog, click here)

And finally should the Chief of their legal department be allowed to retain his position,  or should he be fired? 

You must decide for yourself as we contemplate the wisdom of keeping this behemoth alive as it is.

HAPPY 238TH BIRTHDAY, AMERICA

HAPPY 238TH BIRTHDAY, AMERICA