AUGUST
28, 2005 --
LPR Credit
card interest rate update…
Juniper Bank --
20.49%
Discover -- 22.49%
Providian -- 29.09%
Anyone doubt major
media would take notice if they had to pay such usurious rates? Here,
another passage from William F. Weld's "Stillwater," p. 229
"America has both gentle and heartless in it. You can live a wonderful life
in the gentle part of America, which is most of it, but if the heartless part
notices you, it will come snuff you out, and the place you live."
The credit card interest rates are what happens when the heartless notice some
of us. LPR fears that the heartless oil industry has noticed most of us.
Where is our gentle, but firm, response? For the common good.
Cindy Sheehan …
Previously, LPR briefly mentioned a program, "Beyond Iraq", held
at New York's Riverside Church, April 4, 2005, on the 38th anniversary of of
the address given at the church by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, criticizing
the Vietnam War.
LPR noted only a few of the speakers, that evening (which also marked the 37th
anniversary of Dr. King's assassination).
LPR did not note that the long list of speakers included Ms. Cindy Sheehan,
who, with Ms. Celeste Zappala, represented Gold Star Families for Peace.
It is LPR's recollection that Ms. Sheehan, now rather more well known than
last April, spoke very harshly of the Bush administration in her Riverside
Church remarks.
LPR Recommends …
 |
Margot
Leitman as a substitute teacher in her one-act play, "Just
Here for the Day," At the UCB Theatre, 307 West 26th Street,
Manhattan. For more information go to www.margotleitman.com.
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AOL Sports News, Please Take Note …
Jim Armstrong, AOL Sports News, August 28 suggests that all sports adopt a mercy
rule like the one used in Little League baseball. Well, the Broadway Show League
has the rule, except that for the game to end, the difference has to be 15 runs,
not Little League's 10. And the Winsted Women's Softball League also has a 15
run mercy rule. AOL, please check to see just how widely the mercy is used, at
present.
NOTE
TO LPR CLICKSTERS:
If we don't speak out against economic
bullying by Oil, Credit Cards, Municipalities, WHO
WILL?
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AUGUST
21, 2005 --
As
on August 15 …
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…up
6 cents (regular), six cents (plus) ,and ten cents (premium)
from August 12, but still trying to be humane. (Winsted
Gulf Station)
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An
LPR Point for the Bush Administration to Ponder …
Escalating prices at the gas pumps do not inspire confidence in the Administration
and lack of confidence in one area may tend to lead to lack of confidence generally.
Participatory
Journalism …
Thirty or forty years ago, the term "participatory democracy" was
used to refer to political demonstrations.
For LPR, the term seemed a bit redundant -- democracy suggests political action
of all the people.
Perhaps, today, however, "participatory journalism" -- LPR has not
seen it used to date -- describes bloggers who wish to participate with the
established media in offering information, ideas and, yes, even
news.
Welcome us, established journalists, don't resent us -- we're all together
in First Amendment mode.
There
The New York Times Goes -- Against Israel Again …
The Times lead editorial, "Gaza
Reality Check," August 18, concluded that it was time that Palestionians,
in Gaza, had a better life after 38 years.
The time frame obviously goes back to 1967, when, per the Times, an "Israeli-Arab
War took
place."
The editorial acknowledged that Israel was attacked by five Arab countries in
1948, noting that truces were then signed, but did not point out that the Arab
states did not make peace with Israel -- until Egypt in 1982, followed several
years by Jordan.
That was not a separate 1967 war, but a continuation of the war begun by the
Arabs in 1948, with hostilities continuing on low flame throughout, erupting
again
in 1973, and then Lebanon 1978.
The Times has traditionally been cool to Israel since its publisher, Adolph S.
Ochs, in 1917, opposed the creation of a Jewish national home as envisioned by
the Balfour Declaration.
The tragedy is not only that the Arab world, at large, has yet to make peace
with Israel. The tragedy is heightened that the Palestinians have been used as
pawns to maintain belligerency towards Israel.
The Times cites an unnamed Israeli official as saying that Israel used its citizens
as negotiating chips in Gaza.
Where is the unnamed Arab official to acknowledge that the Arab world has used
Palestinians as belligerency chips against the Jewish State? Where is The New
York
Times to acknowledge the price Palestinians have had to pay for the refusal of
the Arab world to live in peace, cooperation and friendship with Israel?
LPR now expects that pressure will next be applied to Israel vis-a-vis the West
Bank. How long will it take until consensus is reached at the U.S. State
Departmentis that pressure on Israel only encourages Arab anti-Israel revanchism?
NOTE
TO LPR CLICKSTERS:
If we don't speak out against economic bullying by Oil, Credit
Cards, Municipalities, WHO WILL?
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AUGUST
14, 2005 --
Mysterious
NYC …
A few
weeks ago the New York City Council called for ending Sunday
parking meters -- to accomodate churchgoers. On the Riverdale section of the
Bronx, people do not have to feed meters on Sunday as this sign indicates,
and there is no church at the location
of the sign.It was not clear from news reports if anyone on the City Council
referred to free Sunday street parking on Riverdale Avenue.
"Follow
the Money"
This was the famous counsel given to The Washington Post from Deep Throat,
in reporting the Wastergate story.
Can't The Washington Post, and the other media heavy hitters take this counsel
in reporting stories of great economic impact on the country -- including the
oil squeeze on motorists -- how much a gallon has gas gone up inthe past year
or so -- about
one dollar? But as yet no ohe seems to be following the money and the decisions
to demand these extraoerdinary prices.
A follow the money piece on 27.4 credit card interest rates might also be interesting
if a bank CEO told the media how much an individual would pay -- on 10 thousand,
at that rate, with minimum month payment.
But -- when it comes to banks and oil, the money doesn't seem to get followed
until fraud hits regulators in the face.
"Discipline,
courage, resilience."
This advice for athletes, given by Olympian and Senator Bill Bradley would
serve the people, generally, in good stead,
particularly when faced with an array of threats, including an economic threat.
My father, Sol Zukerman, had a number oil sage comments -- one of them was: "No
good is going to come of this."
LPR believes that no good is going to come from a lack of disciplined response
to the oil squeeze on motorists, discipline that reflects courage and demonstrates
our resiliences to those who would hammer the common good with a heavy hand.
Viva America…
This is not the time to become dispirited, even anxiety-ridden by the absence
of effective common-good leadership in Washington. This is the time to be
encouraged in the good sense of the American people and their commitment to freedom,
including economic freedom that
Madison recognized in Federalist No. 57.
We have the internet to promote our legacy of liberty. Let's use it.
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