My Blog

Dear friends,

in honor of Thanksgiving, Chanukah, Christmas and the end of the fiscal year (tax deductions), I like to compile and distribute a list of charities that I feel strongly about. This year I asked friends to send me the charities that they feel passionately about. Here are their picks (and a couple ones that I like too).

This was cool for me because I learned about numerous charities that were new to me. Scroll down and I think you will be intrigued by them.

This list is not delineated by order of importance. That’s why you need to read the entire list. Also, some do not include a description because I figured the description is implied in the name. Each description comes from the charity’s web site.

Feel free to reply to this posting with more charities or to say why one charity or another is especially great.

Happy holidays,

Sharna

American Brain Tumor Association
http://www.abta.org/

Concern Worldwide

http://www.concern.net/
Concern Worldwide is a non-governmental, international, humanitarian organisation dedicated to the reduction of suffering and working towards the ultimate elimination of extreme poverty in the world’s poorest countries

Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network
The Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network is the nation’s largest anti-sexual assault organization. RAINN operates the National Sexual Assault Hotline and …
http://www.rainn.org/

Intersos
http://www.intersos.org/whoweARE.htm

INTERSOS is an independent non-profit humanitarian organization committed to assist the victims of natural disasters and armed conflicts.

Doctors Without Borders

http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/

Mercy Corps
http://www.mercycorps.org/
Mercy Corps exists to alleviate suffering, poverty and oppression by helping people build secure, productive and just communities.

IRC

International Rescue Committee

http://www.theirc.org/
The International Rescue Committee serves refugees and communities victimized by oppression or violent conflict worldwide. Founded in 1933, the IRC is committed to freedom, human dignity, and self-reliance. This commitment is expressed in emergency relief, protection of human rights, post-conflict development, resettlement assistance, and advocacy.

The New York Bariatric Wellness Program-
Specializing In Rehabilitative Care for the Severely Obese Patient
http://www.brookhavenrehab.com/bariatric.html

American Cancer Society

http://www.cancer.org

The Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of

America

http://www.myasthenia.org
Myasthenia Gravis comes from the Greek and Latin words meaning "grave muscular weakness." The most common form of MG is a chronic autoimmune neuromuscular disorder that is characterized by fluctuating weakness of the voluntary muscle groups. The prevalence of MG in the

United States

is estimated to be about 20/100,000 population. However, MG is probably under diagnosed and the prevalence may be higher. Myasthenia Gravis occurs in all races, both genders, and at any age. MG is not thought to be directly inherited nor is it contagious. It does occasionally occur in more than one member of the same family.

Jewish Federation of

St. Joseph

Valley
http://www.thejewishfed.org

National Multiple Sclerosis Society

http://www.nationalmssociety.org/

Alzheimer’s Services of Northern

Indiana

http://www.alz-nic.org

The

Parents Circle

http://www.theparentscircle.com/

Parents Circle - Families Forum (PCFF) is a grassroots organization of  bereaved Palestinians and Israelis. the PCFF promotes reconciliation as an alternative to hatred and revenge.

Chai Lifeline

http://www.chailifeline.org/

Chai Lifeline is a not for profit organization dedicated to helping children suffering from serious illness as well as their family members.

KFAR Jewish Arts Center
(tax deductible donations via our fiscal agent, Foundation for Jewish Culture)
1807 W. Sunnyside #2e,

Chicago

IL

60040

773.362.4760
http://kfarcenter.org

JUF

http://www.juf.org/about_juf/default.aspx

The Jewish United Fund/Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago is the largest not-for-profit social welfare institution in

Illinois

and the central address of

Chicago

’s Jewish community. JUF provides critical resources that bring food, refuge, health care, education and emergency assistance to 300,000 Chicagoans of all faiths and two million Jews around the world. JUF/Federation funds a network of nearly 70 agencies and programs that care for people at every stage of life, regardless of the ability to pay. Since 1900, JUF/Federation has worked to give voice to the community, and to assure that necessities are provided for its most vulnerable members—children, immigrants, the poor, the elderly and the disabled.

Special Olympics

http://www.specialolympics.org/

Evans Scholars Foundation

http://www.evansscholarsfoundation.com/

The WGA-sponsored Evans Scholars Foundation administers the nation’s largest privately funded college scholarship program.  Since 1930, over 8,500 deserving young caddies have earned their college degrees through Evans Scholarships.  Today, more than 820 caddies attend college each year as Evans Scholars.  The Evans Scholarship was founded by golf great Charles “Chick” Evans Jr. (1890-1979).

Mazon
http://www.mazon.org/
MAZON allocates donations from the Jewish community to prevent and alleviate hunger among people of all faiths and backgrounds.

Muscular Dystrophy Association

http://www.mdausa.org/

Voluntary health agency providing information and supporting research into neuromuscular diseases, including Muscular Dystrophy.

St. Coletta’s of IL. Foundation

http://www.stcolettail.org/

Providing support and funding for special needs individuals in the areas of:
          Residential Care
          Educational Programs
          Medical Care
          Religious and Pastoral Care
          Vocational Services
          Specialized Facilities

Les Turner ALS foundation

http://www.lesturnerals.org/

The Les Turner ALS Foundation is the only independent publicly supported non-profit organization in the Chicago-area devoted solely to the treatment and elimination of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), better known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.

Walter Payton Foundation

http://www.payton34.com/

The Walter & Connie Payton Foundation’s
largest program is our

Holiday

Giving
Program. This program helps provide gifts
for in-need children during the Holidays.

ACLU Foundation
http://aclu.org/

The ACLU Foundation is the arm of the ACLU that conducts our litigation and communication efforts. Gifts to the ACLU Foundation are tax-deductible to the donor to the extent permissible by law.

Susan G. Komen for the Cure

http://ww5.komen.org/home/
Nancy G. Brinker promised her dying sister, Susan G. Komen, that she would do everything in her power to end breast cancer forever. In 1982, that promise became Susan G. Komen for the Cure and launched the global breast cancer movement. Today, Komen for the Cure is the world’s largest grassroots network of breast cancer survivors and activists fighting to save lives, empower people, ensure quality care for all and energize science to find the cures. Thanks to events like the Komen Race for the Cure, we have invested nearly $1 billion to fulfill our promise, becoming the largest source of nonprofit funds dedicated to the fight against breast cancer in the world.

Brain Aneurism Foundation

http://www.bafound.org/

Leukemia Lymphatic Society

http://www.leukemia.org/hm_lls

Planned Parenthood
www.plannedparenthood.org/

As Good as Gold Dog Rescue

http://asgoodasgold.org/
As Good as Gold, Golden Retriever Rescue of Northern Illinois is a membership based, all-volunteer 501(c)(3) non-profit organization; and we invite you to browse our website to learn more about As Good as Gold.

America

’s Second Harvest
www.secondharvest.org/
The Nation’s Food Bank Network is the nation’s largest charitable hunger-relief organization.

Communities in Schools of

Chicago

http://www.chicagocis.org/
Communities In Schools of Chicago (CISC) is a unique organization that works exclusively to connect

Chicago

public school students and their families with existing social services to address critical unmet needs. Our goal is to ensure that all children have the opportunity to improve their chances for school and life success by meeting their social, emotional, and health needs. When these needs are met in a place where they feel safe and comfortable – right at their schools – attendance and test scores increase, higher numbers of students graduate, resulting in improved academic lives and brighter futures. Most importantly, we do all this at no cost to the schools.

March of Dimes
http://www.marchofdimes.com Information and answers about pregnancy, your baby, folic acid, prematurity, genetic disorders, birth defects and much more.

Heifer International

http://www.heifer.org/

With Heifer’s proven approach – almost 60 years in the making – to helping people obtain a sustainable source of food and income.

American Jewish World Service
www.ajws.org/

A nonprofit organization dedicated to providing nonsectarian humanitarian assistance and emergency relief to disadvantaged people worldwide.

Logan

Center
http://www.logancenter.org/

LOGAN

is committed to supporting people with disabilities in achieving their desired quality of life. Through our commitment to this mission, we help individuals and our community come together to Discover the Potential in each and every one of us.

Children’s Memorial Hospital of Chicago

Chicago

children’s hospital describes services and presents health and medical information on a wide range of children’s diseases.
www.childrensmemorial.org/

United States

Holocaust

Museum

http://www.ushmm.org/

Magen David Adom (

Israel

’s Red Cross)

http://www.afmda.org/

World Wildlife Fund

www.worldwildlife.org/

For a previous year’s list:

http://smarcus.blogs.friendster.com/my_blog/2005/11/give_a_little_b.html

Bill O’Reilly is at it again, crusading against an issue by providing half facts and truths.

The title of his most recent “Talking Points” column is titled “Birth Control Pills for 11-Year Old Girls.”

His temper tantrum takes aim at three  Portland middle schools that house medical clinics aimed at treating children without access to appropriate health care. O’Reilly would have you believe that the clinics are handing out birth control pills like Halloween candy. Not so.

1. Parents have to sign a consent form to have their child treated in the clinic. The form states the services offered at the clinic including, now, the distribution of birth control pills. This is just one service the clinic provides. It also offers dental, mental health and other services the kids could get if their parents could afford (or easily have access to) a pediatrician or internist. (New York Times)
2. O’Reilly says birth control doesn’t prevent again disease. Guess what?  The clinic also distributes condoms. Is he second guessing the medical staff that they don’t inform the girls that birth control doesn’t prevent against disease? Also, would O’Reilly prefer that these young women use neither condoms nor birth control pills? That’s like saying, “if she doesn’t have her partner use a condom, she deserves to get pregnant because she’s also going to contract a disease.”
3. O’Reilly ignores statistics about teen and pre teen pregnancy. Did he mention the likelihood a teen mom will drop out of high school? How about her statistically eventual life of poverty supplemented by welfare? How about the likelihood that her children will end up having babies as teens? What about the statistic that teenage moms have babies with low birth weights?

When I entered middle school I was two months past my 12^th birthday, 4’10, overweight, with a bad perm, braces (the clear kind that turned yellow instead of metallic), red oversized glasses, acne and bangs with no style. I was going through puberty.

Sitting next to me in homeroom was a 14 year old girl who was 5’6, very overweight, and was spending her second year in 7^th grade. At the end of the year she earned a social promotion to high school so that she wouldn’t turn 16 in seventh or eighth grades. She was post pubescent.

I have no idea what happened to this girl. I do know that our lives were very different. Would I have taken advantage of the distribution of birth control pills at my middle school just because they had them? Absolutely not. Sex was the farthest thing from my mind in 1989. However, I did not represent every student at my middle school. Some girls might have benefited from a clinic at our school. I was not one of them.  In fact, many girls in my high school walked across the stage pregnant. I also don’t know what happened to them. I hope they and their babies are great. The statistics predict otherwise.

To imply that providing birth control pills will somehow make girls sexually active is simply ridiculous. That’s like saying allowing the distribution of the flu vaccine will encourage every person who gets it to be exposed to the flu.

Bill O’Reilly should visit the school that I spend 30 hours observing in 2001. It was a school for pregnant teenagers (some as young as 12). Despite their teachers’ attempts to help them graduate from high school, they knew they were fighting an uphill battle. How can you expect a young girl to think about the causes of WWI when soon she will be responsible for a young life when she is so young herself?

Once again is taking an issue from which he is completely isolated and using it boost his ratings and even sell his book:

“It is ironic that the week my book "Cultural Warrior" comes out in paperback, intense culture battles erupt across the country. First the sacrilege in

San Francisco

now the pill for sixth graders.” (O’Reilly)

How sick is it that this is how he makes a living: preying on poor middle school children who need healthcare. The Cultural Warrior is making money committing war crimes.

Yesterday Turkey temporarily withdrew its ambassador to the United States in response to a House committee’s resolution defining the WWI Turkish massacre of 1.5 million Armenians a genocide.

President Bush opposed the resolution because Turkey is a moderate Muslim state favorable to U.S. policy in the Middle East. Turkey adamantly denies the genocide and is hostile to the label.

Given the Muslim world’s generalized anger towards the United States, was this a necessary resolution given that the genocide happened 90 years ago? Is promoting a truth worth risking an important alliance? 

It is a tough diplomatic call. I’m not sure that I have the answer. However, had the world taken note of the plight of the Armenians then perhaps there would have been no Holocaust. The event happened. Armenians suffered terribly during the Young Turks quest to exterminate them. With the situation in Darfur worsening, how can we not take note of the horrors of the past no matter the nation that committed them?

For Turkey, recognizing a past crime might help the country move forward and put this event behind them. Why is there such a close tie to a horrible event that happened so long ago? The records are clear. A genocide was committed. It wasn’t committed by the Turks living today. What is the issue with apologizing or even compensating the survivors? Germany has moved forward because it has fulfilled its penitence. Why wouldn’t Turkey want to get beyond this event? It’s hard to trust or respect a country that can’t reflect upon its history and apologize for misdeeds even when there are so few consequences to apologizing: there are no soldiers who can be tried in court. There will be no trial. It’s an apology.

By apologizing Turkey demonstrates that it will not participate in nor tolerate future genocides.  Why Turkey doesn’t jump at the chance to remove this horrible event from the world agenda? If Turkey changes its policy of denial the country should be given the opportunity to join the European Union and take its place on a world stage that condemns genocide.

http://www.armenian-genocide.org/

http://www.genocide1915.info/

http://www.unitedhumanrights.org/Genocide/armenian_genocide.htm

I didn’t write the following, but signed the petitions:

<b> Tell Congress: "Stop Denying Emergency Contraception to our Servicewomen!" </b>

Last year nearly 3,000 military women reported sexual assault while on active duty in the United States Armed Forces. Part of the recommended regimen for treating survivors of assault is to inform them about and offer them emergency contraception, yet it is only sporadically available to servicewomen at their base pharmacies and medical facilities in the U.S. and overseas.

This is simply unacceptable. Women in the military deserve more from their country. Until this sexual violence ends, we must at least ensure that they can prevent any pregnancy resulting from these criminal acts. With over 350,000 women serving in our nation’s armed services, it is reprehensible that this administration will not allow them complete access to emergency contraception. You can help: take action to support the Compassionate Care for Servicewomen Act. here

<a href="http://www.capwiz.com/now/issues/alert/?alertid=10162416&type=CO">Click here  to take action</a> 

<b>Contact your legislator – Support the Family Leave Insurance Act (S1681)</b>

No one should be forced to choose between the family they love and the job they need. The Family Leave Insurance Act of 2007 (S1681), a bi-partisan bill recently introduced in the U.S. Senate, provides up to eight weeks of paid leave to workers who need to take time off for a family or medical leave. It is an important step in the right direction for workers who cannot afford to take the unpaid leave guaranteed by the Family and Medical Leave Act.

We need your help to ensure that Americans have both the time and the resources to take a leave from work to care for themselves or their families. Contact your federal legislators today to urge them to support the Family Leave Insurance Act of 2007. 

Click here for more information and to send an email: <a href="http://capwiz.com/we/issues/alert/?alertid=10158291&type=CO.">Click here  to take action</a>

<b>Attend a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) hearing on media ownership September 20, 2007</b>

NOW members and friends have been active in responding to the concentration of media ownership among a small group of companies.  We’ve helped offset Federal Communications Commission (FCC) plans to change media regulations to allow fewer companies to own more media properties.  NOW has long recognized that we cannot achieve equality for women without diversity in media ownership and management, program content that is responsive to and respectful of women, and access for all to a broad range of information.

The FCC has announced that it will hold an official hearing on the topic in Chicago on Thursday, September 20th, 2007.  The time, place, and panelists for the event have not yet been announced.  Chicago NOW members are encouraged to spread the word and participate in this rare opportunity.  To learn more or get involved, look for updates in future Chicago NOW Action Alerts, or visit www.stopbigmedia.com or www.chicagomediaaction.org .

<b>source: Chicago chapter of NOW</b>

Maimonides, a revered Jewish scholar, listed health care first on his list of the ten most important communal services that a city had to offer to its residents (Mishneh Torah, Hilchot De’ot IV: 23). Almost all self-governing Jewish communities throughout history set up systems to ensure that all their citizens had access to health care. Doctors were required to reduce their rates for poor patients, and when that was not sufficient, communal subsidies were established (Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh Deah 249:16; Responsa Ramat Rahel of Rabbi Eliezer Waldernberg, sections 24-25.)

Source:

Religious

Action

Center

Some of the most stressed out people in the

United States

this month are Conservative and Reform Rabbis. While most of us spend our last Sundays of summer enjoying the sun, they are busy preparing their High Holiday sermons trying to find words to inspire Jews (and some non Jewish spouses) who only seek this spiritual guidance one to two days a year.

Their mission is difficult. Before the 19^th and 20^th centuries, the Rabbi was most likely the wisest person in his small community. Today Rabbis have to intellectually, emotionally and spiritually stimulate attorneys, teachers, scientists, writers, politicians, CEOs, and physicians in a 20 to 30 minute speech that relates to their 21^st century lives and incorporates the values of a books of laws and ethics that are a couple of thousand years old.

Sometimes the Rabbi does a great job and his/her words are remembered for years to come and requests are made for the sermons to be published online. Other times, Mrs. Cohen’s 40 day bout with insomnia is cured in three minutes and Tammy’s right contact pops out because she rolls her eyes when she hears about how she should get more involved at her synagogue. Less frequently, the Rabbi gives a controversial sermon that causes an uproar and either he/she leaves the synagogue or the congregants may even start their own synagogue.

The High Holiday speech that I want

America

’s Rabbis to deliver might lead to angry congregants, cancelled memberships, new synagogues. But it doesn’t have to. If it’s done right, perhaps the results could lead to real progress in this area without needing to bring out the guillotine.

The title: Why Universal Healthcare is a Jewish Value

No scratch that. I already see people walking out angry.

The title: Is Universal Healthcare a Jewish Value?

Much better.

Yes, you are correct. I did just see Michael Moore’s “Sicko.” The film makes the compelling argument if every country in the Western world provides universal health care, why doesn’t the

United States

?

Moore

provided anecdote, after anecdote, after anecdote, of poor or middle class people unable to afford adequate health care leading to their great physical, psychological, and economic suffering or even death.

You cannot help but leave that movie feeling embarrassed by our health care system and how we treat our poorest people.

The difficulty is how do you dismantle a system in which so many people make so much money off of? As a capitalist country, and given the years and years of school that doctors complete, how can we limit the salaries of our greatest resource?

I don’t have the answers to these questions. What I want is for the Rabbis of America to mandate their congregants to works towards fixing

America

’s health care system. There are numerous Jewish sources that support universal healthcare. The speech should write itself. The difficulty will be writing it in a way that motivates congregants, and especially Jewish physicians and policy makers, to work for change. The following responses, “you’ll have to wait for hours in line, you’ll have to wait for months for surgery, you receive substandard treatment,” are refuted by Moore, but also are irrelevant when so many poor and working and middle class people experience the above problems because they do not have insurance or their insurance companies have denied them funding for treatment.

If the

United States

ever offers Universal Health Care, it will be because of the private sector, not the Congress. Rabbis must ask their medically insured congregants and physician members, “What are you going to do to help fix this broken system?” They must explain why Universal Healthcare is a Jewish Value and that as leaders in the community they must commit to reforming it before the "book is closed and sealed. "

Next month our beloved country turns 231 years old. I know of a great birthday present that the 2008 Presidential Candidates in both parties can give the citizens of the United States and the world as a whole:

STOP CAMPAIGNING

That’s right. Beginning July 1, until the summer recess, every presidential candidate should cease and desist fund raising, trips to Iowa City and stints on the Daily Show. Instead, what would be great, especially for the candidates currently getting paid by U.S. taxpayers in the legislative branch, is if they would get some work done.

Just showing up to vote is not good enough. Demonstrate your potential as the next possible leader of the free world by building political consensus to pass bills and/or override vetoes. There is a lot of work to do, and the Country needs you to stop eating cat fish in South Carolina and start finding solutions to the following issues:

1. Iraq-what the hell now?

2. Homeland Security

3. Overriding Bush’s Stem Cell Research Veto

4. Immigration Reform

5. Ensuring Educational Reform mandates are funded

6. Bargain with China and Russia to enable progress in the Save Darfur campaign

7. Gun Control

8. Alternative Energy Sources

9. Health Care Reform

10. Afghanistan

These are urgent issues. These are pressing issues. I don’t really care what you are going to do as President. I mean, I do care, but not yet. What the voters want is for you to accomplish something in the job that you have now, instead of promoting what you might do in a job that you may or may not be hired for.

Call your travel agent and postpone your trip to Concord and make a reservation at Mr. Smith’s in Georgetown. I recommend the Original Smith’s Burger. It’s big, but you’re going to need your strength.

You have a lot of work to do. 

Here are five brief commentaries on “news” stories that have caught my attention (and ire).

1. Plan a Havana holiday! Adios Cuba! Meet the Rolling Stones of Cuba! Oh My God! Matt Lauer and the Today Show are in Cuba! Good work guys! Thank you for showing Americans the "positives" of Cuba: the beach, the music, the food, the dancers, the clothes, the CIGARS. Who needs news about dissidents? Who needs news about poverty? Matt, I know what you are up to though. You’re trying to score that last interview with Castro before he dies to ensure your legacy as a serious journalist.

Matt, your legacy will be your haircut and "Where in the World is Matt Lauer?" a segment named after a children’s show on PBS.

Oh but, spoiler alert, there’s an update on Elian Gonzales.
Today Show

2. Oh President Bush. Do you really think suddenly embracing environmental causes after denying their validity will reverse your legacy of the failed war in Iraq? Also, I need to tell you something. You can’t reverse global warming by bringing back the Cold War. Cold War is a metaphor like "axis of evil."
Time and New York Times

3. What the hell is up with the Cubs? I have been a Cubs fan since I dreamed of marrying Ryne Sandberg as an elementary schooler. I don’t mind them losing (although that Bartman mishap and the ensuing losses took years from my life). You know things are bad when your pitcher and catcher get in a fight in the bullpen. Then you have the coach, who acts like a five year old whose American Girl doll just fell down the gutter. Here’s an idea. Instead of entertaining us with your antics, just win more games than you lose. Oh. And act like men, not little babies. 
ESPN

4. Have you ever heard of a guy named Norman Finkelstein? He is up for tenure at DePaul University and has caused a fire storm (never really seen a fire storm) because his scholarship includes criticism that Jews use the Holocaust to promote Israel’s sometimes flawed agenda and that Survivors also have bilked Germany out of money. He is part of the Jewish left (to orient him with me think left, diagonal, a few more hundred yards, there, I think) that finds peace with the opportunities afforded to him that weren’t allotted to racial minorities by vehemently criticizing other Jews. There are many of them. I had a professor at DePaul who was also Jewish and also hypercritical of Israel. I’m not sure if he received tenure. You’ve never heard of him because no one usually hears about professors except other professors.  And no one read his stuff except us (because he forced us to buy his book which I think so uncool.) I don’t think the Jewish Community should get involved in preventing Finkelstein’s tenure. If DePaul’s president, the Rev. Dennis Holtschneider, wants Finkelstein’s scholarship a mainstay on his campus, that’s his and the University’s right. It’s called academic freedom. Just like it’s my freedom to say Finkelstein’s work is more about his own personal issues as the child of Holocaust survivors than its basis in reality. Also, he’s a political scientist, not a real scientist. We don’t have to believe what he says, all he has to do is back up his claims with speculative research.  Or maybe he’s still angry about the fact that his parents named him Norman Finkelstein.
Chicago Sun Times

5. Paris Hilton is in jail. I’m not going to make fun of her because I don’t really care. But I thought, as an educator, I should recommend some books for the rest of her stay to enrich her being.

Einstein:by Walter Isaacson
The Assault on Reason by Al Gore
I Feel Bad about My Neck by Nora Ephron
A Woman in Charge by Carl Bernstein
Presidential Courage by Michael Beschloss
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
Not on Our Watch: A Mission to End Genocide in Darfur and Beyond
Don Cheadle, John Prendergast, John Prendergast
Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom
Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
Angela’s Ashes: A Memoir by Frank McCourt
I know why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
(sorry, that last one was mean)
This blog was posted in memory of Dave Adams. 

I can’t stop thinking about Liviu Librescu.

He was the Holocaust survivor who was killed by the gunman at Virginia Tech on Monday who killed 32 people before killing himself.

He died on the day when Jews around the world commemorate the Holocaust with "Martyrs and Heroes Remembrance Day."

It’s not that he was any more important or that his life was more worthy or valuable than any of the other professors or students who were murdered on Monday. 

It’s just that, well, I can’t stop thinking about him and thinking about the philosophical and theological questions that accompany any tragedy such as this one.

Dr. Librescu, 76, was born in Romania. According to an Associated Press article, "When Romania joined forces with Nazi Germany in World War II, he was first interned in a labor camp in Transnistria and then deported along with his family and thousands of other Jews to a central ghetto in the city of Focsani, his son said. According to a report compiled by the Romanian government in 2004, between 280,000 and 380,000 Jews were killed by Romania’s Nazi-allied regime during the war."

He stayed in Romania after the war and became an engineer, only to find that his career would not progress because he refused to become a Communist Party member. When he requested the government allow him to move to Israel, he was fired from his job.

"After years of government refusal, according to his son, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin personally intervened to get the family an emigration permit. They moved to Israel in 1978." (AP)

Dr. Librescu left Israel for Virginia in 1985, a sabbatical that turned into a lengthy career at Virginia Tech University.

What is being reported is that as the popular professor was teaching his engineering class on Monday, he heard gun fire from another classroom and used his body to block the door as he encouraged his students to flee via window. Eventually, the gunman penetrated the door and shot and killed Librescu.

I wonder what he was thinking as he stayed back while his students escaped. I wonder if it was the instinct of a caregiver, of a person with military training, of a hero, or if consciously he decided that he had already been given both second and third chances at life and sacrificed himself on behalf of others who hadn’t survived the Holocaust and on behalf of the students who had so much more time left to live.

I wonder if he knew all along that the fact that he survived the Holocaust when so many others didn’t was only a loan of time that he would some day need to repay.

I wonder if his last words were assailing God for letting him down again or thanking God for allowing him to live the life that he did.

Or maybe he didn’t think he would die, that he was invisible, that he wouldn’t be let down again by God or the universe or whomever.

Or I wonder if after seeing the evils of the world multiple times he simply felt better giving up his life than living more of it. 

And as I think of Dr. Librescu and the fact that he saved college students lives, contributed much research to the field of engineering, and stood up for his belief against Communist pressure, I wonder how I, how all of us, can do more to save lives, to contribute to society to overcome outside pressures in order to live more meaningful lives.

I hope and pray that I never encounter the dilemmas, challenges and tragedies that Dr. Librescu lived and died through during his 76 years.

But I do hope that I use my abilities to change my world for the better in any way that I can.

The following is a Hebrew prayer read after a death. I bolded the most meaningful line (to me):

O God, full of mercy, Who dwells on high,
grant proper rest on the wings of the Divine Presence -

in the lofty levels of the holy and the pure ones,
who shine like the glow of the firmament -for the soul of (…)
who has gone on to his world,

because, without making a vow,
I will contribute to charity in remembrance of his soul.

May his resting place be in the Garden of Eden -

therefore may the Master of Mercy
shelter him in the shelter of His wings for Eternity,
and may He bind his soul in the Bond of Life.

God is his heritage,
and may he repose in peace on his resting place.

Amen.

I am fascinated by the Don Imus controversy in which he called female basketball players at Rutgers “nappy headed hos.” What is most interesting to me though is not that Imus is being called a racist, nor his lame apology, nor the ass whooping that Al Sharpton gave to him on the Reverend’s radio show.

What is most interesting to me is that while there is great recognition of the egregious racism that Imus professed during his comment on his radio show last week, no one is discussing the misogynist content of the statement.

Because while it is not ok, nor should it be ok, to be racist, it is acceptable to be sexist, hateful and exploitive of women.

In fact, during Reverend Sharpton’s interview with Imus, he focused solely on the on the race issue and not on the sexism issue.

I guess that’s understandable considering that Black and White rappers regularly disparage women in their lyrics. I guess that’s understandable that no one has mentioned the objectification of women when Howard Stern and Mancow earn their salaries by vilifying women.

I was going to include some lyrics by Snoop Dog, or Eminem, or transcripts of Stern, Cow, and Imus, but as I read through them I found them too disgusting for me to print.

Sexism, like racism, is not a new issue. However, unfortunately its ramifications are not comprehended by the listeners of these shock jocks and rappers. Ask anyone who works with young women, and you will be told society’s message to them is not to be smart, not to be successful, but to be sexy and sexual beginning in their tweens – to act like “hos.”

What is the answer? It would be great if listeners stopped subscribing to sexist content. But if they don’t, then we at least have to acknowledge the damage media inflict on women and our toleration of it for whatever, in my opinion, inexcusable reason.

Imus ridiculed the Rutgers basketball players for being black. But he also derided them for being women. And while he should be chided for the crime of racism, he should also be rebuked for sexism.

But he won’t be.

One of the only good things to come out of US involvement in Iraq is that people who are against the war still recognize and appreciate the sacrifices and commitments of soldiers fighting in the Middle East. This 21st century philosophy is based on the recognition that the treatment of Vietnam Veterans by anti-war protesters (spitting, name calling) was immoral.

It’s nice to see that in that regard history hasn’t repeated itself.

However, while minivans feature yellow ribbons that read "Support the Troops," those same vehicles are probably driving past the very places where the men and women who served in Iraq and Afghanistan are getting ill treated.

It’s not anti-war protesters this time, rather the military itself is failing the troops at outpatient medical centers. The Washington Post recently exposed the bureaucratic nightmare and filth that is Walter Reed Medical Center.

Life beyond the hospital bed is a frustrating mountain of paperwork. The typical soldier is required to file 22 documents with eight different commands — most of them off-post — to enter and exit the medical processing world, according to government investigators. Sixteen different information systems are used to process the forms, but few of them can communicate with one another. The Army’s three personnel databases cannot read each other’s files and can’t interact with the separate pay system or the medical record keeping databases.

The disappearance of necessary forms and records is the most common reason soldiers languish at Walter Reed longer than they should, according to soldiers, family members and staffers. Sometimes the Army has no record that a soldier even served in Iraq. A combat medic who did three tours had to bring in letters and photos of herself in Iraq to show she that had been there, after a clerk couldn’t find a record of her service.(Soldiers Face Neglect, Frustration At Army’s Top Medical Facility)

While the American people have learned not to scapegoat the servicemen and women for the failings in the so called "War on Terror" the military and the government have not heeded history in their treatment of veterans.

Do you remember learning in your U.S. history class about the Bonus Army. In 1932, about 20,000 veterans and their families camped out in Hoovervilles in D.C. demanding payments owed to them by the U.S. government. The Veterans were removed by the military and the outcome was both humiliating for the soldiers and an embarrassing period in our nation’s history.

Any student who studies that period asks, "How could anyone let that happen to people who have served our country?"

Seventy-five years later, soldiers who are not injured enough to be hospitalized, but injured enough to need consistent medical treatment, fail to receive the care that they need because of an incompetent system.

How can we entrust our military with the task of rebuilding an entire foreign nation when it can’t manage the medical treatment of its veterans?

Some soldiers and Marines have been here (Walter Reed) for 18 months or longer. Doctor’s appointments and evaluations are routinely dragged out and difficult to get. A board of physicians must review hundreds of pages of medical records to determine whether a soldier is fit to return to duty. If not, the Physical Evaluation Board must decide whether to assign a rating for disability compensation. For many, this is the start of a new and bitter battle. (The Hotel Aftermath)

Since the Washington Post uncovered the disaster that is Walter Reed, investigations are taking place, military personnel have been fired, and even legislation is being proposed to improve the system.

Here’s what I don’t understand. If one of these men or women did not report for duty, he/she would be court martialed. That system is fairly expedient. Why does the system fail them when they need medical care?

Why isn’t the system computerized? Why is there so much paperwork? Why can’t you pull up a soldier’s file online and find their condition and recommended treatment? If the military can build  or contract state of the art weapons, why can’t it have an adequate electronic infrastructure to mainstream veteran’s benefits?

Sgt. David Thomas, a gunner with the Tennessee National Guard, spent his first three months at Walter Reed with no decent clothes; medics in Samarra had cut off his uniform. Heavily drugged, missing one leg and suffering from traumatic brain injury, David, 42, was finally told by a physical therapist to go to the Red Cross office, where he was given a T-shirt and sweat pants. He was awarded a Purple Heart but had no underwear. (The Hotel Aftermath)

This week, Democratic Senators Barack Obama and Claire McCaskill will introduce a bill to "improve the quality of care and require more frequent inspections at active duty medical hospitals" (Obama). 

Lobby (email) your Senators and Representatives to support such a bill without political wrangling or maneuvering.

To learn more about this issue, you might need to read about it on the internet. None of the soldiers is named Anna Nicole Smith.

One of the Washington Post articles (requires registration where they ask you some weird questions)

You can sort of read about it on the ABC web site

Press release about the legislation