Why I married a Coal Miner's Daughter/Ah, those Clever Jews

No, Loyal Listeners, I have not combined two disparate or discrete Posts into one Blog Entry, despite the inference U may have drawn from the bifurcated title above. Let me tie together these two compatible subjects, brilliantly one presumes. My marriage, of course, keeps me grounded (and humble) as U see often right here. So, because of this nurturing relationship, last nite was a wonderful family celebration, sharing in the unbridled joy of the successful, so far, mine rescue in Chile. Not that a familial connection is necessary at all for participating in this great event of common humanity, where a medical tech willingly climbs into a capsule and goes 2000 feet underground to remain in the hole until everyone else is out. Just amazing, and witnessed live, it has been estimated, by more than one billion inhabitants of our SHARED planet.

OK, ready for the perfect segue - for decades now, we have been told that Peace will come to the Middle East, just as soon as the Jews and Palestinians agree on their respective SHARES of Palestine. Well guess what folks, while the entire planet has been justifiably transfixed on the unfolding miracle in South America (brought to us by American ingenuity - rescue tunnel and capsule US design and construction), the Peace Process collapsed in total ruins. The President has demanded a construction freeze in the "occupied territories" as a unilateral Israeli concession. In return, Israel simply requested that the Palestinian Authority issue a statement acknowledging that "Israel is now, and after the final peace agreement is signed, will be the national home of the Jews." The Palestinian leadership flatly refused to agree that Israel will continue to exist after the completion of this so-called peace process.

So much for trading land for peace. What a charade. The process that has been conducted since the early 1970s has been exclusively the Israelis giving land for empty promises of peace. This straight forward (and clever) request that the Palestinians say that at the end their will be an End - of the armed struggle to liberate Palestine - is long overdue and worthy of acknowledgment by the many billions of peace loving folks sharing our planet. Just saying...