THE MEANING OF ISLAM

In recent months, I have noticed an interest in the meaning of the Arabic word "islam".  Most of the conjecture is that the word means "peace" in English.  As a one time student of the language, I can assure that,  although its root word is "salaam", which does mean "peace", "islam" is not a substitute for "salaam".  Many Arabic-English dictionaries translate the word as "submission".  I, with my overabundance of temerity for venturing far afield, however, disagree with this and think that the better word would be "acceptance".

PENITENCE

In my opinion, reports that John Boehner has resigned his seat, in Congress, to become a monk, as an act of penitence, ordained by Pope Francis, to atone for the Speaker's role in contributing to global warning and oppressing the poor, are not credible

More likely, it was just listening to the Pope's speech, before Congress, that caused Boehner's tearful reaction that lead to the resignation.

WHO IS AN ANCHOR BABY?

Senator Ted Cruz has a birth certificate which shows that he was born in Canada, of an American mother, an a Cuban father, but has never been challenged, by Donald Trump, as to his qualifications to run for the Presidency of the United States of America.

President Obama, has an Hawaiian birth certificate which shows that he was born in one of the States of the Union, of an American mother.  Even if he had been born in Kenya, he like Cruz, and John McCain, who was born in Panama, Obama would still have been an American citizen.  

Donald Trump, Birther-in-Chief, by implying that Obama is not a legitimate U. S. citizen, is not impugning Obama but rather his mother, a daughter of a World War II  U.S. Army veteran.  At the same time, Trump's own mother was born in Scotland and, to my knowledge, he has never produced her naturalization papers to indicate that she was a U.S. citizen at the time of Donald's birth. Perhaps Donald, too, is an anchor baby.

"NO MORAL OBLIGATION TO DEFEND OBAMA"

Well, credit is certainly due Trump for being consistent.  He is, in effect, saying that he has no moral obligation to correct a lie being told about Obama.  From there, it follows that lies he tells about Obama, likewise, are not subject to to any moral test, so at the same time he can, with facility, say that Obama has been a terrible President despite an overabundance of statistics to the contrary.

Furthermore, Trump has precedent to back him up when he blithely promises many things that he will accomplish, as President, without offering a single plan, for how it will be done, for evaluation by the electorate.  Remember, for example, how Nixon offered us a secret plan to end the war in Viet Nam.  The war dragged on throughout his entire term in in office and and only came to an end, under President Ford,  a year after Nixon resigned the Presidency.  For his pains in hoodwinking the American public, Nixon was reelected to a second term in 1972.  For Trump, all his promises, even if not based on any reasonable expectation, can only assure him of being a two term President, considering the nature of the American electorate. 

AUTHENTICITY

I am reminded that authenticity is an important factor in any candidate's run for elected office.  If he or she can fake that, it can be a tremendous advantage.

CUBA

For a six year period in my life, from 1955 to 1961, business took me, frequently, to Cuba.  Indeed, Cuba was my introduction to Latin America, where I, later, spent much of my adult years.  I saw Cuba before the arrival of Castro; I was there when Fidel came down from the Sierra Maestra;  I was frequently there when he was forming his first Government.

I have always been sympathetic to Fidel even as I severely criticized his intellectual laziness in not finding an indigenous solution to Cuba's many problems.  Despite any claims to the contrary, Cuba was not a tropical paradise, at least not for 90% of its population.  In 1957, the per capita income of Cuba was $361.00 (at the time the per capita income in the U.S. was more than 10 times as great), yet 10% of the population had a life style equal to that, or better, than the middle class in the U.S.  Their standard of living was subsidized by a population that was forced to live on pennies a day.  Cuba was  in need of reform.

When Fidel arrived, triumphant, in Havana, he had a united populace behind him.  He could have brought about  reforms any way he chose.  By choosing another dogma, Marxism Leninism, instead of  developing a Cuban solution, he failed to reach most of his stated goals.  He would have been better off taking Singapore, another island nation, under an authoritarian regime, as his model than that of the Soviet Union.




   

APOLOGIES NOT IN ORDER

Both the Mayor of New York City and its Police Commissioner have apologized to James Blake, the tennis player, who was body slammed to the ground while peacefully standing outside his hotel. It is reported that the police union is extremely upset as apologies could set an unnecessary precedent.  It was merely a  case of mistaken identity as the police officer thought Blake was a man wanted for credit card fraud.  The use of physical force was deemed necessary and justified,  by the arresting officer, because he was in fear of danger to his credit rating.