I wish I could find brave people who aren’t afraid of the politics, who don’t make hollow or artificial decisions.
So many appearances, so many speeches, so many statements these days are politically orchestrated, tied into money and not done in the spirit of bravery and just plain old fashioned righteousness.
Hillary Clinton drinks a shot glass of liquor to please the common white folks.
Barak Obama all of a sudden wears an American flag pin.
We write in this week’s Jewish Times about a Jewish student who is given a hangman’s noose.
What is the response?
“He was a behavior problem and deserved it.”
The school’s head master actually told me that if I could get the parents to sign a waiver, he’d show me the child’s academic and behavior records.
What kind of head master skill sets were these learned from?
Throw the kid “under the bus.”
Let’s not take a serious, hard look at ourselves, warts and all, and find a way to keep any child from hurting.
Instead, let’s blame the kid.
A rocket lands on a shopping center in Ashkelon, nearly killing people, including children and all of a sudden I’m told that this is the result of Israel’s occupation.
No, the people who fired the rocket are wrong. They must be stopped.
But there’s politics involved. There’s money, there’s image, there’s this, there’s that.
There’s no bravery, though.
We do a series of stories on child molesters, and some of the victims of this abuse are simply called “crazy.” Yet, their lives are forever maimed by people who hide truths in the name of religion. It’s not the system, it’s them.
Again, bravery, I miss you so much.
I think we’re broken, across the denominational board.
We’re caught up in mission statements that are merely filled with marketing words, not deeds.
We so desperately need heroes to come forward and help us re-invent this system, and yet we stifle so many good people who are afraid to tell us the truth.
The truth hurts, it is said.
As scripture tells us, it is the truth that will one day set us free.
When is someone going to step forward and ask why is it that a tank of gas is so expensive?
The people who are making these decisions don’t care that others can’t afford to drive to work these days, not to mention take the family on a vacation.
I read an article about a woman who had to leave her rented house, because her landlord foreclosed on the mortgage. No warning to the tenant, no nothing, just get the hell out.
The Tibetans are beaten and religiously strangled by a China that is one of this world’s worst violators of human rights. Yet, we are sending athletes there this summer to compete. Don’t want to tell the truth, don’t want to anger the big sleeping monster.
Israel is under a constant barrage by a leader in Iran who has sworn to sweep it from the earth. The last time someone threatened to kill our people, he followed through on his plan.
President Bush stands up and for once is brave enough to tell it like it is.
But even that gets swallowed up. Because it doesn’t make Barak or Hillary look so good.
The world needs a hero or two.
The world needs them now. 

ah.. the truth will set you free… a delightful passage from the book of JOHN… great jewish scripture dude..

yup…twist the facts, manipulate the truth, have a huge chip on your supposedly righteous shoulder….way to go Phil….you are a supreme example of journalism…I wish we all had a column to further our agenda.  Rhetoric is not reporting.  Keep your stuff on the op-ed page….just never call it news.

Just wanted to add, the signing of the waver would be the parents choice, he was not offering it up for anyone to look at.

And once again, most of us are not justifying such an act, just denying it was anti-Semitism

Phil, If they won’t tell the truth, look at the truth, acknowledge the truth, at least you ARE!—about sexual abuse of children, a private school’s shameful admin., sub-par community events and more.(how much money did the Assoc’d system spend on that event, anyway? Was it solely underwritten by the law school? I’d like to know—the truth!.)  Presenting truths others turn from—That must be what drove you to become a journalist. That is why we need a free press. That is when journalism fulfills its highest principles.  Keep up the good work at the JT.