TIME TO LIVE

     For too long the good people of this earth have backed down and away from controversy and trouble, always looking for a way out. For too long people have said, "Oh, leave ------ alone. It is not our business." Well the time has come for these good people to realize and accept the fact that it is our business and if we avoid that fact then we are doomed.
     Let us start with the smaller world of the Village. For want of one delegate coming to vote, David Israel won his first election by one vote. For want of people to agree that one candidate should oppose him, the vote was split and as a minority candidate was sworn into office again.. For want of any known candidate having the courage to step up to the plate, an unknown candidate - me - ran the last election under greatly strained circumstances, with all media and arenas of publicity blocked - and for want of delegates willing to stand up to him, lest they lose their chairs and rooms and slots, etc we now had him for a third unprecedented term as he rammed undoing term limits through. For want of people standing up to him now we will put the final kibosh on our dream of a home - unless people stand up and step forward.
     I am happy to report that the campaign for Phyllis Richland for president of UCO is building up steam. At meetings all over the Village buttons are flying off the table, people are demanding bumper stickers and wanting to donate to the cause. Phyllis, a woman of ethics and values, refuses donations in order to avoid any possible statement of selling out for money, promising for money. She is a true independent candidate, knowledgeable, caring, open and honest and willing to hear from all, be they for or agin. Courage, my friends, courage and we will win and put a man out to badly needed pasture.
     Then we have the larger world out there. As a New Yorker, one cannot ever lose that tie and I keep up with the news from there. Today it has been stated the DeBlasio is not doing so well in the polls and you know what and why? He is another wimp, another woose who has found his way into politics and now is a prime example of the Peter principle wherein men find themselves climbing a ladder until they find themselves incompetent in their newest position. These men are weak, weak in heart, weak in determination, weak in the strength that it takes to govern such an entity as New York City. I do not care how many pictures of his kids are shown as family life is not what I, we, are concerned about. It is NYC life that we are concerned about and the city is slipping, way back and quickly too.
     And speaking of wimps and wooses, people who cannot take or make a stand, we have Obama. After the slaughter in Paris he still could not get his mouth wrapped around the words Islamic extremism or Islamic terror. He could not put a name to what was obvious and why? Only he and G-d knows. But the consequences are severe, for no one has respect for him in the international community and leaders of other countries who would take their lead from him are stymied, puzzled and disappointed. So much for the USA. So much for the President of the USA being the most powerful man in the West. Obama has ceded that position and unfortunately there is no one to take up the slack.
     Now that the slaughter has escalated, France is vowing to step up their war, calling it a war, for it is exactly that. Would that the world understood that, for the extremists, the murderers, the dregs of humanity understand that and the longer we hesitate, the longer we think that talk will do it - the stronger they get. Obama called them the JV of "militants" (hate that word) and considered them pretty much finished - and then we have Paris and their videos and threats to hit all over - Russia, the USA and of course they are always promising to wipe Israel off the map.
     And now we have strange allies once again. Putin has ordered his ship to cooperate with the French. He has offered a hand to the USA. And Kerry? He is still off pushing his boss's agenda - talk and talk and talk. Perhaps he needs to reread history and meet Chamberlain and other politicians of the time who gave away Czechoslovakia, the Sudetenland, made concessions, allowed Jews to be harassed and killed and denied knowing anything  about it though newspapers reported on it, and finally, when Poland was invaded realized that we had to stand up to bullying, that of the Nazis or any Fascist indeed.
     Here in the Village or out there in the world, when one is weak, and when the dictator, the ruler, has nought of any truth or honesty or decency about them, these same dictators resort to bullying and intimidation. Take a look around and see if I am wrong, for I and a great many wiser and smarter people than I believe this as well and have shown it to be true. This is no brilliant new discovery but one of truth and the aura of history behind it.
     And so we can hide - for a while - but the truth will find us. We can hide - for a while - but the terror will come home to us, no longer in foreign far away places. There are no longer any far away places and we need to internalize that truth quickly and deeply. We need to learn that safety demands sacrifices and perhaps one ought to ask our soldiers what they wish to do in this situation. Do they wish to be let loose on these animals, along side, finally, the armies of the world or do they wish to remain on leashes as "advisers" with very limited ROE or rules of engagement.
     I hate war. I hate people who bring us to that point. I hate their philosophy which believes that all those who differ from them are less and unworthy of life unless it be as slaves. I hate people who lie and refuse to see the truth staring them in the face. I, too, and most other people, wish only for peace and to be allowed to live a life with their families in that peace and struggle with normal things, but with that it must be remembered and noted that nothing is for free on this earth and if we do not defend that life we wish to live - it will be taken from us - be it here or in the larger world.
     Dennis Prager, a nationally known speaker, radio personality and pundit and incidentally a classmate of mine, when speaking of Israel made a statement that is true for the rest of the world as well. 
       "But to the extent there is any danger – well, we all have to decide how we want to live our lives in the few years we are granted. When it comes to fighting for good and against evil, we can either play it safe or we can we do good. Very rarely can we do both."
     Of courage, my friends, of courage.